Overpriced retro game stores... name them, avoid them!

[PreZZ]

I visited a retro game store today, and oh boy were they overpriced... here are a couple of exemples
mad dog mcree 2 on sega cd- 157.77 (ebay price of 19.99)
final fantasy 3 with beat up box- 199.99
sega genesis model 2 one controller- 69.99 (I bought one last month for 19.99 at a local shop, and saw it three different stores 24.99 to 29.99)
sega nomad console with power supply-199.99
corpse killer for saturn 57.77
beat up nes with one controller 99.99
kasumi ninja for jaguar- 160.00 (on ebay for 9.99 to 20$???)
zero 5 for jaguar- 700.00 (last sold listing on ebay 149$)
soccer kid for jaguar 400$ (available on ebay brand new for 50 to 80$!!)
An employee asked me if he could help me (not sure if he was the store owner), I told him I collected retro games and told me if I want to visit the basement they have tons of awesome retro games. I told him he was so overpriced that I didnt care if he has a sealed stadium event because i dont have a million dollars. Said to him he has the most overpriced store i had ever seen and would never come again, and he told me he uses ebay for pricing. I defied him to find me an auction of used model 2 without any games for more than 30$ (he sells them for 69.99), he had no answer and I left... heres a link to the store with ridiculous prices for jaguar: https://jeuxokiko.com/boutique/index...ory&path=83_84

[Xander]

I don't know any store that can compete with ebay, and I think it's normal. Coincidentally I went to a gaming store that deal in retro games in Montreal today. Gamebuzz on St-Catherine. They had a fairly solid selection, even several games I'm actively looking for (Shining Force CD, Koudelka, Legend of Mana, etc..). The best priced item were 2 time what I could find on ebay, the worst could go as high as 5 times the ebay price.

In Saguenay there is a store called Jeux Video Hi-Tek or something similar, prices were usually between 1x to 2x the ebay value, I think those were the best price I've ever seen for a store specialized in retro gaming. I gave them some of my business

[PreZZ]

at super mercado in st hubert city, they have the biggest retro selection I have seen since 2001. They sell for about the same price as ebay, but you can haggle and they will sell for lower. I went to multi jeux in chateauguay yesterday, they have a small selection but fair prices. I bought gunstar super heroes, eternal champions and baku baku (saturn) for 35$ all CIB.

[Collector_Gaming]

In comparison to ebay.... Thats every store?


You said you found some that compete with ebays pricing. I say theres something a miss here.

See the problem that people don't even begin to understand is the over head cost.

When you open a store you have lease, utilities, any possible employees, up keep of shop.

Ebay. You have......... ummmm ... uhhhhh.... Gas to go hunt for items in the wild to sell? perhaps?

Unless your apart of this new trend for ebay shops where they open up a physical shop in the area of where they are located but yet its never opened.. you just plaster your items in the store front. (i seen one near me in vermont. and also one in lake george NY)... Never understood those at all.

[recorderdude]

In comparison to ebay.... Thats every store?


You said you found some that compete with ebays pricing. I say theres something a miss here.

See the problem that people don't even begin to understand is the over head cost.

When you open a store you have lease, utilities, any possible employees, up keep of shop.

Ebay. You have......... ummmm ... uhhhhh.... Gas to go hunt for items in the wild to sell? perhaps?

Unless your apart of this new trend for ebay shops where they open up a physical shop in the area of where they are located but yet its never opened.. you just plaster your items in the store front. (i seen one near me in vermont. and also one in lake george NY)... Never understood those at all.

When you open a store, you also need to give people a reason to spend the money on gas to drive to it instead of just going on ebay and buying a game from their own home without any costs. You're thinking about satisfaction of the seller while, in fact, the customer is always first. If a store sets its prices equal to or higher than ebay, ESPECIALLY if it's mostly geared toward the niche market of retro gaming, it won't last very long. People will avoid the higher prices and just buy online. If the sell enough at SLIGHTLY lower prices, they can still turn a profit and afford all of the costs.

Also, don't undermine the cost of listing fees and shipping for ebay sellers. Especially with low-value items, the shipping and listing costs can absolutely murder a sale. Let's say, for example, you sell a loose cartridge of sonic 2 for the genesis. It sells for $3 total, which is around what it's worth. Even for something that small, Shipping costs $2, and listing fees plus paypal fees are at LEAST fifty cents. Congratulations, you made fifty cents on the sale. Going through all that trouble to make so little is a considerable amount of stress and effort.

Again, though, from a buyer's point of view, you want to spend less for more, or at least break even, and, while people won't really think about the gas costs if they get a good deal, if they're only offered bad ones, they certainly will.

[jredmond3]

Every BIN listing on ebay lol.

For example, Splatterhouse 2 is one of the pricier Genesis games, sellers seem to take the actual value ($40-70), and add $100 to it, expecting it to sell at that price.

It doesn't make sense to me. I've used that tactic for really rare, one-of-a-kind type items, but even then I've kept the offer function on. I don't see how these people are expecting to sell their games for 2X 3X the actual going rate.

On an unrelated note there's a local flea market near me, there aren't any video games usually, but there's this one booth that has a shit ton of overpriced VHS tapes. They've had the same booth/table set up for at least 10 years. I'm not even talking about collectible / pricier VHS, mostly just common stuff.

[fairyland]

Isn't there some program out there that tells these stores how to price their games and they have a monthly update to it? I swear that Replay Games in the Utica NY area does this. What sucks is that stores price their 6 month old used games and they always go down in price a few months later but they don't ever bother to lower them down on the shelf.

There was a chain in Syracuse NY who's name I forgot that had (or perhaps still has) a store at the Carousel Mall. Their prices were always awful for everything and I assume they use a program as well. There is one in a rat hole of a town called Oneida NY that has insanely overpriced nice games as well. I've not been their in two years so who knows if they are around but the place is a like a museum. Several stores disappear a year or two after they open like the one in Canastota NY and their prices were awful as well, but their store in Vernon NY is still somehow open as of last year.

Honestly, I rarely buy anything at these stores. I go enough garage sales and thrift stores to find most everything I want for way too cheap. For example, today I found a like new Silent Hill Greatest Hits for $1.99 at the Salvation Army. Seems I already own two copies of it though, which I did not know about until I just looked a few minutes ago, but the point is that there is no need for me to pay $24.99+ at a shop for one which is what I'm sure it's going rate is at these places.

[jredmond3]

I think what retro stores, er what a lot of game stores (well, dumb ones anyway) do is look up ebay listings, sort of like how people on craigslist do. They see a game being sold for X amount (not actually sold mind you, just someone trying to sell it) then they price theirs the same way. I don't know why people don't know how to use the Completed auctions features.

[PreZZ]

157.77 for mad dog mcree 2 on sega cd... where the fuck did they find that price!!

[Gameguy]

See the problem that people don't even begin to understand is the over head cost.

When you open a store you have lease, utilities, any possible employees, up keep of shop.

Usually when a store sells used merchandise they would make sure to pay less than an item is worth so when they sell that item for actual value, they're still making a profit. I'm not sure why these stores aren't doing that, I would have thought if a game was selling on ebay for $50 that they'd pay around $20-$30 cash or trade in credit so they could sell it for $50 and make a profit. They would be selling multiple items per day so the profit would add up to enough to cover expenses. Apparently you're saying that stores will pay $50 for a $50 game and be forced to sell it for $100 to cover expenses. Maybe I just don't know how businesses work because that doesn't make sense to me. Unless they're paying $20 for a $50 game and pricing it at $100 anyway so it won't sell, which just seems stupid and greedy.

[DK1105]

Their is a local store right now that is trying to sell a loose master system for 300 bucks. Funny thing is I think it was missing the RF switch.

[o.pwuaioc]

8-bit and Up and Video Games New York both in East Village in NYC. It's stupid what beat up sports games go for there, let alone games actually worth something. Want Super Mario World? $19.99. Want Final Fantasy II? $49.99. It's ridiculous.

[PreZZ]

sometimes pawn shop have ridiculous prices, but they just dont know shit about retro games. But really when you walk in a retro store thats WAY overpriced, I dont get it. I am pretty sure the store I went today makes their money with the current gen stuff, and the retro part is probably the same stuff they are trying to sell for a decade. Kasumi ninja for 160$?!?! come on! who the fuck is stupid enough to buy this piece of shit for more than 15$

[recorderdude]

sometimes pawn shop have ridiculous prices, but they just dont know shit about retro games. But really when you walk in a retro store thats WAY overpriced, I dont get it. I am pretty sure the store I went today makes their money with the current gen stuff, and the retro part is probably the same stuff they are trying to sell for a decade. Kasumi ninja for 160$?!?! come on! who the fuck is stupid enough to buy this piece of shit for more than 15$

You've also gotta realize it's a jaguar game, so it's gonna be hard to find someone to buy that shit at ALL. Weird, unpopular stuff like that usually gets slightly underpriced by stores to move faster if it's not necessarily sought after. I've seen some retro stores do it before with other obscure games - which is how I got a CiB Bio-Hazard Battle GEN for $3.

[Xander]

sometimes pawn shop have ridiculous prices, but they just dont know shit about retro games. But really when you walk in a retro store thats WAY overpriced, I dont get it. I am pretty sure the store I went today makes their money with the current gen stuff, and the retro part is probably the same stuff they are trying to sell for a decade. Kasumi ninja for 160$?!?! come on! who the fuck is stupid enough to buy this piece of shit for more than 15$

Well here is how I think it works:

They can't resupply (well they do, but it's become rarer and rarer). I assume the number of people wanting to sell their old game is steadily decreasing over the years. And for those people nowadays still discovering their old game stash and wanting to sell them, the store has to compete with all the other stores in the city, craigslist, kijiji and ebay (along with any other kind of website imaginable that deal in those). So since they can't resupply easily it's not to their advantage to sell to a good price if they want to keep a display of vintage games at their store.

Now, not every gamer is in the know about what is a "fair price" for retro games. I assume those store with their very inflated price are fishing for the clueless gamer who might get a rush of nostalgia when they unexpectedly come into the store for a new game and then see the lost jewel of their childhood sitting behind glass or maybe that game they wanted so much but never had the opportunity as a child to buy it. I know when I started collecting I just assumed some stuff. Final Fantasy 1 was a godlike game to me when I was a child, I was fully expecting for it to be rare and to fetch at least 100$. I could have been the sucker buying it overpriced at some store. When I dug deeper into the hobby I saw that I was wrong But you don't know until you spend some time exploring the subject.

And losing a bit of shelf space due to very slow sales can also work as publicity. I know when I was in the store yesterday I did not buy anything that wasn't current gen, but me and my friend loomed over the vintage corner and we spent a good 10 minutes discussing about those games. And this is what I will remember about this store, it has a surprisingly good selection of retro games, it's overpriced but it's a nice display. I'm pretty sure it's a hook for several other customers, it helps keep people in the store and they will be slightly more likely to buy something.

Another strategy could be for a store to sell at real ebay price, but then I guess their display would be far less impressive. If a store have within ±10% of ebay prices, I'll buy there as I can get my hands on my game immediatly and can actually see the game condition beforehand. So I would assume they end up with a display of mostly sport game titles and I don't know many gamers who will want to buy used sport title. This display is much less likely to attract people.

So in the end, if I were a brick and mortar store that does not specialize in retro game but deal mostly current gen, I might be tempted to overprice on the retro stuff.

[dbm11085]

Video Games New York, in Manhattan. I've known of this place for many years (even at their original location on St. Marks before they moved to 6th St), but the general vibe to me is bad. Much of the staff are arrogant, and while they have a lot of neat vintage and import stuff, everything is overpriced. If it's an NES/SNES/N64 game with a box, it's instantly $50+. That's ridiculous. I remember seeing the SNES Chrono Trigger (cart only) for like $175 a few years back too...

There is another game store on the corner of St. Marks and 2nd Ave called 8 Bit and Up. They have different stuff than VGNY but I still find them somewhat overpriced. I get that it's NYC and people may be willing to pay a premium, but there has to be a limit.

[o.pwuaioc]

Video Games New York, in Manhattan. I've known of this place for many years (even at their original location on St. Marks before they moved to 6th St), but the general vibe to me is bad. Much of the staff are arrogant, and while they have a lot of neat vintage and import stuff, everything is overpriced. If it's an NES/SNES/N64 game with a box, it's instantly $50+. That's ridiculous. I remember seeing the SNES Chrono Trigger (cart only) for like $175 a few years back too...

There is another game store on the corner of St. Marks and 2nd Ave called 8 Bit and Up. They have different stuff than VGNY but I still find them somewhat overpriced. I get that it's NYC and people may be willing to pay a premium, but there has to be a limit.

Look up a few posts.

[Collector_Gaming]

Usually when a store sells used merchandise they would make sure to pay less than an item is worth so when they sell that item for actual value, they're still making a profit. I'm not sure why these stores aren't doing that, I would have thought if a game was selling on ebay for $50 that they'd pay around $20-$30 cash or trade in credit so they could sell it for $50 and make a profit. They would be selling multiple items per day so the profit would add up to enough to cover expenses. Apparently you're saying that stores will pay $50 for a $50 game and be forced to sell it for $100 to cover expenses. Maybe I just don't know how businesses work because that doesn't make sense to me. Unless they're paying $20 for a $50 game and pricing it at $100 anyway so it won't sell, which just seems stupid and greedy.

Well lets do a math example here


Lets start up by saying I want to start a store. Lets say I fill that store with common games lets say 500 of them... Lets say those common games go for 3 bucks a pop according to the average Ebay sale on commons... Lets also say I got all 500 of them for 1.50 each game cause ya know I want to atleast double my money. Thats 750 dollars I spent for my inventory. so that means i hope to make 750 dollars on the games. Lets say the lease on the commercial spot is a grand a month. (for some thats real cheap for some neck of the woods thats expensive so lets go nation average on a small commercial retail spot). Thats already got me in the shitter all on its own... Then add water, Electricity, and internet service which that vary's so much i'll just let your imagination play with that. Lets assume i want to hire 2 kids to come in and help with the stores operations so the store has optimal time frames of staying open and not allowing me to work my self to my death bed.
National average in america on minimum wage is what? $7.25? which is 290 a person or 380 dollars for me to keep both people hired a week which totals out to be 1520 dollars on a 4 week month stretch. and I am not even figuring other possible expenses like advertising in the local paper or other means like that.

It all adds up in the end. high prices make up for that deficit. Sadly internet business practices have destroyed that. Because instead of having a store why not have a storage locker (unless you have house space) filled with your product.. work for yourself by yourself for maximum keep. and just sell sell sell on ebay or amazon?. All your paying for additionally to your own living expense is possible storage space.

[recorderdude]

Well lets do a math example here


Lets start up by saying I want to start a store. Lets say I fill that store with common games lets say 500 of them... Lets say those common games go for 3 bucks a pop according to the average Ebay sale on commons... Lets also say I got all 500 of them for 1.50 each game cause ya know I want to atleast double my money. Thats 750 dollars I spent for my inventory. so that means i hope to make 750 dollars on the games. Lets say the lease on the commercial spot is a grand a month. (for some thats real cheap for some neck of the woods thats expensive so lets go nation average on a small commercial retail spot). Thats already got me in the shitter all on its own... Then add water, Electricity, and internet service which that vary's so much i'll just let your imagination play with that. Lets assume i want to hire 2 kids to come in and help with the stores operations so the store has optimal time frames of staying open and not allowing me to work my self to my death bed.
National average in america on minimum wage is what? $7.25? which is 290 a person or 380 dollars for me to keep both people hired a week which totals out to be 1520 dollars on a 4 week month stretch. and I am not even figuring other possible expenses like advertising in the local paper or other means like that.

It all adds up in the end. high prices make up for that deficit. Sadly internet business practices have destroyed that. Because instead of having a store why not have a storage locker (unless you have house space) filled with your product.. work for yourself by yourself for maximum keep. and just sell sell sell on ebay or amazon?. All your paying for additionally to your own living expense is possible storage space.

I will make one objection to this argument, even if it is a small one...I have yet to encounter a retro store that pays more than exactly one-third of the value of what they plan to sell it for, for rarer games, and often WAY less for commons - when trying to trade it in, stores were offering me a quarter for a loose copy of Ecco.

[Collector_Gaming]

I will make one objection to this argument, even if it is a small one...I have yet to encounter a retro store that pays more than exactly one-third of the value of what they plan to sell it for, for rarer games, and often WAY less for commons - when trying to trade it in, stores were offering me a quarter for a loose copy of Ecco.

and they sometimes don't sell for what they are asking either.

If I see a game for 20. I am gonna ask if i can get it for 15 just to see if I can. Thats another good reason for high prices. They know they are selling to a collector. Collectors want a deal. they know what its worth and are willing to play the haggling game. You can never go up once the haggling begins. So why not start at a crazy number