Are $calpers and Re$eller$ getting worse ?

[celerystalker]

I disagree regarding garage sales. In my experience, the people who put those cheap prices without research are typically elderly or estate sales being held by people far out of touch with internet culture or collecting. If I run across anything old enought to be on a cart these days, it's usually an elderly mom selling something her adult child hasn't touched in 20 years, and they are completely oblivious as to the crazy values some things have reached. Why would they? 15 years after the NES was popular, not much cost anything, so why expect that a game like SCAT or Kickmaster that they may have tried to sell at a store back when but only got an offer of $.10 would now cost over $100? Why would it even be worth researching from their point of view? It's one thing if it's a 30-45 year old selling their old stuff, but when it's a 60+ year old or estate sale situation, it's a different animal.

[Gameguy]

As long as you don't come up to them knowing you have a $30 game they marked at $10 and try and talk them down to 2 for $5 with one them being it I think it's moderately different.

There is a point I think a bit differently about, at least more recently. If it's a cartridge game or a console, is it fully guaranteed to work without issues? Usually when people are selling games at a garage sale they haven't bothered to play them recently, you have to take a chance that they haven't developed problems from poor storage. Or with consoles there's a good chance they're broken in some way. As you've mentioned Zelda, the battery could be dead and need replacing. It's rare but I've also come across games with the boards swapped too so the game doesn't match the label. Usually I won't pay more than $5 for any game unless it's something really sought after, or disc based and in high demand.

I'm not going to demand all games for $0.25 each, but I still want them cheap if I can't test them and don't know the seller. I bought a dead copy of Donkey Kong Country 2 for $10 at a flea market, I didn't feel good about that when I tried playing it at home.

[Tanooki]

Celery -- You're assuming a bit much, I've come across people between their teens and 40s who do this at garage sales/flea markets too. I've done it when I wanted to let loose some stuff the last time I did one about a year and a half ago as i put some NES stuff outside, including a boxed up Hogan's Alley and I didn't price it by ebay. You really never do know. Even if you're right and it's all oblivious people, I think the difference I stated fits. They pulled it, they thought about it, they put a sticker on it, that's what would make them happy. Same thing on ebay, but ebay is entirely different as you have to compete, and you still do see low low end BINs that fly by and people snap them up, it's just scarce now. You pay what is listed, that's what they want, same at the local stuff too. I still believe the sleazy reseller person would talk them down further just to stick it to them. You're right if it's an estate sale and another beast entirely, but again that's their choice. Someone died, last thing they care about is thinking a lot about clearing out stuff, that's why you can get all sorts of cars, furniture, art, and more for less...but I do hit those up and some of them do have high end prices as well so you can't blanket statement saying all estate sales are picking on the elderly too. Each case is unique.

Gameguy -- You and me both. I've learned I need to do some thinking about some Genesis games. There's discussion all over on piss poorly made PCBs Tengen used when making Genesis games and more and more of them are failing. It causes common games up to the expensive Grind Stormer to just up and drop dead. You can resurrect them if you have the skils, supplies and equipment doing a digital organ transplant moving the chip to another board. But even aside from that we see blown batteries, old chips that just do up and fail, and more will happen as time goes along. You can assume fairly well, but no longer trust a cartridge game won't be blown buying it blind and that is a factor. In my flea marketing days out in CA and what little exists here I've hit a couple snags too. I picked up a Crystalis with a dead battery from age, this I eventually a few years later getting a kit fixed, and then there was a Super Punchout too and that one had a blown battery. Tried to clean it, it appeared no traces were shot with a friend of mine who did electronics, yet even when we transplanted a new battery to it, it never would save again rendering it fairly useless. Back in the 90s the one time I trusted mail order games (Funcoland) I got a broken copy of River City Ransom that would only play as much as a few moments into the first gaming screen, 10-20% of the time if lucky into the second before it would just quietly freeze. It's why I don't like paying much with unprotected locations for items like these as they fail. Someone asking for $30 or $300 for a game at a flea market on a chip I'll ignore, or laugh and just walk away as it's playing with fire.

[jonebone]

Didn't read the thread...

But better question, is it ever going to get better? The answer is no unless the values of the hobby completely tank. Unless that happens, reselling only becomes more abundant with each passing day.

[Tanooki]

I kind of was leading towards that in my original big post. It's not worse, it's just more populated. Same tactics better or worse and more at it. It's why I stopped caring which was for the best and went with something else. You'd need the bottom to fall out like beanie babies or the rest before (and if) it would recover. Or you'd need something so scandalous and rampant which would blunt force cause a correction such as comics had happen. The books from the scamming scalping period and a bit before went straight into the toilet value wise almost entirely, but the truly valued stuff that truly is lower in existence (total population) and even lesser so the nicer in condition it goes still commands serious value. In time games should go there, but it could be years yet I think.

[Gatucaman]

I disagree regarding garage sales. In my experience, the people who put those cheap prices without research are typically elderly or estate sales being held by people far out of touch with internet culture or collecting. If I run across anything old enought to be on a cart these days, it's usually an elderly mom selling something her adult child hasn't touched in 20 years, and they are completely oblivious as to the crazy values some things have reached. Why would they? 15 years after the NES was popular, not much cost anything, so why expect that a game like SCAT or Kickmaster that they may have tried to sell at a store back when but only got an offer of $.10 would now cost over $100? Why would it even be worth researching from their point of view? It's one thing if it's a 30-45 year old selling their old stuff, but when it's a 60+ year old or estate sale situation, it's a different animal.

Well i got Kickmaster for $4 a couple of years back on a flea market after being boned by a hipster.

[Tanooki]

The 2nd kickmaster I ever had was like 2 years ago and it was like $4 or $6 as well, something in that area and I really gave it a good push unlike the one I had a few years earlier. I knocked off most the game but it got so bland, boring, and annoying to keep playing I got rid of it, and yet again a couple months ago I had another in a lot and it still wasn't that good. Given I turned the lot enough to get even and a little ahead out of it so it was even cheaper, but wouldn't have been had I still found it didn't get better but worse with age unfortunately. It's really not about the game anymore, nor is it about the fake or actual real rarity, it's about the business and nothing more than the business of it. The fact there's an increasing amount of those making a business of it now is the issue, it hasn't gotten worse, it has become more and really over populated. There's so many resellers vs stock vs actual interested keeping buyers (gamer or collector) the chance of not paying is next to nothing short of the most common of commons and that's the problem.

[celerystalker]

Well i got Kickmaster for $4 a couple of years back on a flea market after being boned by a hipster.

Flea markets and garage sales are different all together. Regular flea market sellers ought to know better, as a lot of them want to act like retailers. All I was saying was that it's not ethical to take advantage of people who aren't in a position to know better. Store owners, people running regular flea market booths, ebay sellers... they try to operate a sales operation and have a responsibility to know their stuff, and it's not your job to educate them. A little old lady at a garage sale may be a different story, is all I'm saying.

[Gatucaman]

The 2nd kickmaster I ever had was like 2 years ago and it was like $4 or $6 as well, something in that area and I really gave it a good push unlike the one I had a few years earlier. I knocked off most the game but it got so bland, boring, and annoying to keep playing I got rid of it, and yet again a couple months ago I had another in a lot and it still wasn't that good. Given I turned the lot enough to get even and a little ahead out of it so it was even cheaper, but wouldn't have been had I still found it didn't get better but worse with age unfortunately. It's really not about the game anymore, nor is it about the fake or actual real rarity, it's about the business and nothing more than the business of it. The fact there's an increasing amount of those making a business of it now is the issue, it hasn't gotten worse, it has become more and really over populated. There's so many resellers vs stock vs actual interested keeping buyers (gamer or collector) the chance of not paying is next to nothing short of the most common of commons and that's the problem.

Welp, to being honest, i finally made the sin of buying Vice Project Doom at Ebay only because i had to use the promotion of a free shipped service to mexico via Estafeta, which is decent enough to not he as jewed enough when it cames to shipping, but most NES games are overpriced, even the widespready ones.

And yes, i payed $29 for Vice only because i had birthday money.......................and i didn't enjoy it that much, the music is really bad, and some of the platforming is bleh due to the enemies pushing you back.

But then again IF i ever buy another NES game at fake ebay price, maybe Lolo 3, cause i have found NO ONE who is willing to sell it for under $18 and that fucking title is now at $40 the cheapest!, and i had no fucking luck finding the Lolo sequels on flea markets, i have only found the original, and i only want to play the 3rd one.....

And i honestly see no point of trying to win auctions on Ebay because shillbidders and E-snippers are FUCKING EVERYWHERE, and even if you win, the end price will be not different that the cheapest BIN price shipping included, (which is something veridical by the way.)

.....................


Anybody wants to sell me Lolo 3 at a real price?

[Tanooki]

$29 seems like a lot for Vice Project Doom, but then again I don't attempt to keep up much on NES/SNES stuff anymore unless I think something maybe cheap, then I whip out the iphone. I gave up being on the nose with the values because I tired of it, same with SNES more or less. Seems odd to waste money just to get special shipping though. I never heard of it being terrible though, but considering it's not $50 already it must not be special either.

Do what you want with your money, just buy it if you want it that bad I guess. If you don't care about perfection you could do what that paul guy at NA does, find the shittiest working copy. That'll cut your expenses by a lot, and then you can leave it crappy or do something with it, your call as it's already a mess.

I'll have to argue against you on that one, at least so far, with me using ebay the last few weeks in relation to Sega Genesis. I've not been sniped so far, no shilling, nothing. People just don't because because it's NOT Nintendo NES or SNES games (or certain varied N64 titles from the later years.) A good large majority of the Genesis and GB/GBC/GBA aren't being screwed with thankfully so it's more like the old days of lower prices and less infuriating tactics. I doubt it'll last, but it might, as Sega really did piss off a lot of their fans and they're irrelevant to most 'retro' gamers these days because it's not Nintendo. Gameboy is handheld so most brush it off as bite sized games not worthy of their time and that ignorance makes things better for those who do.

[WelcomeToTheNextLevel]

Fuck scalpers and (overpriced) resellers. They ruined the classic game market, at least for several systems. Even some common SNES games in shitty condition are 20-30 bucks now. Those were often the rental mules. Well scalpers, overpriced resellers, hipsters, and Storage Wars like shows ruined it. People will fucking pay an arm and a leg for Nintendo shit. It's manifesting itself with the Wii U now. At least with older systems, even fairly rare ones like Sega Saturn, there was a time when you could find stuff dirt cheap for them, usually in the first few years after their discontinuation. With Wii U it seems the scalpers are already fucking up the market. I want to grab a Wii U when they are discontinued, at the time they're the cheapest, to collect. I'm not looking to make money on the thing.

[eskobar]

Welp, to being honest, i finally made the sin of buying Vice Project Doom at Ebay only because i had to use the promotion of a free shipped service to mexico via Estafeta, which is decent enough to not he as jewed enough when it cames to shipping, but most NES games are overpriced, even the widespready ones.

And yes, i payed $29 for Vice only because i had birthday money.......................and i didn't enjoy it that much, the music is really bad, and some of the platforming is bleh due to the enemies pushing you back.

But then again IF i ever buy another NES game at fake ebay price, maybe Lolo 3, cause i have found NO ONE who is willing to sell it for under $18 and that fucking title is now at $40 the cheapest!, and i had no fucking luck finding the Lolo sequels on flea markets, i have only found the original, and i only want to play the 3rd one.....

And i honestly see no point of trying to win auctions on Ebay because shillbidders and E-snippers are FUCKING EVERYWHERE, and even if you win, the end price will be not different that the cheapest BIN price shipping included, (which is something veridical by the way.)

.....................


Anybody wants to sell me Lolo 3 at a real price?

I have a Lolo 3 cart with the pcb in very good condition but the supports of the pcb are broken and the cart cannot be played because the pcb is a bit loose. You can put the pcb in another shell to play it.

Saludos

[Tanooki]

Swap the label. Heat it up so much the blue softens then slowly remove starting with a razor blade as to not warp or ruffle the sticker. Apply to replacement she'll using some new glue and you're good. It will be slow going.

[Gatucaman]

I have a Lolo 3 cart with the pcb in very good condition but the supports of the pcb are broken and the cart cannot be played because the pcb is a bit loose. You can put the pcb in another shell to play it.

Saludos

Sent you a message dude, Check it

[Gatucaman]

And got no luck

[Gatucaman]

Man, Why is it that is so much impossible to find Adventures of L O L O 3 or heck even the second one (even tough i am not interested on that one), sadly got burned out by Eskobar at the end of the day, and EBAY prices have gotten worse, with the game being sold at $45, WHY?

Now Tanooki, i know you think that is worthless to buying NES games in physical form, BUT, the thing is, i only buy good games that i wanted to play anyways, i have over 100 games, but for real, i have played and beaten most of these titles.

Also, i been able to find some really hard to find titles for cheap, since market here in mexico has different rules, cause we are poor in income and we don't win in USD, And i can swear to all of you that the games that i have buyed properly were games that i have enjoyed and even completed, i even enjoyed games that people have a "fuck that game" mentality like Ninja Gaiden III, and i am talking about our american Ninja Gaiden III, "which isn't really a broken ruined forever that mah Famicom master-race", oddly enough the only game that i got whiplash disappointment was, if you believe it, VICE project Doom.

Are people like me just wrong or Out of touch because we want to own the carts, i mean, it's not like i want a full collection, i even refuse to call it a "collection", because to me that means, just showing shit, not using shit!, which is what videogames are meant for anyways., so no, i just don't feel like getting a Flashcart for NES, because when this problem started, i already had over 90 titles, and not liek many libraries that has games that only you like or mediocre garbage like Tiger Heli etc, no, i can speak that mine is at the very least a much richer and unique library of games, i didn't even like certain games that people called "Classics" like Kid Icarus, which i tough legitimately it was and poorly aged game and just couldn't enjoy it, same reason why i never bother with the original Metroid or even the first megaman game.

and dont even get me started on fucking 4chan /vr/ forums, when we cant even discuss the issue of the Retro Scacupster as i like to call it out, and people being belligerent to others with the "GET A FLASHCART STUPID". vibe, and scumbag scacupsters defending their dirty deeds with the dead excuse of "mah supply and demand".

[Tanooki]

I do? Huh, guess I have around 60 worthless games. No, I find supporting the scalper market worthless because the prices are just abusively high on anything on the upper end of the quality scale and anything (good or bad) perceived as so called rare (along with legit rares.) That's why I stopped caring and gave up buying the stuff online and off as well outside of super rare exceptions of fair pre-scam pricing and same with SNES too. Like you said, you have been able to find some cheap. Recently I bought NES games (and system) for the first time in over two years and it had two games in the $50-100 club, tried them, didn't like them, but I had them and what I paid for that lot wasn't awful by any means. And yes, prices despite online annoyances can be local as can availability. I could find heaps of games out west, but in this area very few and those that do are influenced by half price books asking the highest paid BIN price possible so it's pointless.

You're not out of touch. You're just smarter than the average person that has been brought up with disposable culture and cheap every few years if that replaceable items. Some people who are in their 20s and under are part of this club, but a lot of them into gaming/music/movies have been brought up in a mind controlled type way by the industry to not care if you actually have something in hand, and to not even realize you don't own something when you pay for it. They'd rather push convenience, cheaper pricing, and the ability to have a heap of stuff in one little device that could be shared among others. Few will realize or get mad when they find an old game vanished due to time, device/os changes and all that, or they just don't care and move along due to disposable culture leanings. Some though will realize they're getting screwed. Maybe they own a Nintendo console, had it broken or stolen, couldn't get it repaired, and find out that 100s or 1000s of dollars in games were stuck on it bound to the device and they're shit out of luck. Or they'll be a victim of a licensing agreement expiring or going sour, much like Ubisoft getting Turtles and it getting wiped off Wii-Ware/VC, or over on Kindle when there was a battle over Orwells 1984 (irony!) and Amazon reached out over Wifi and manually erased it off every paying customers device and their site (which they got sued hardcore for and lost as it was stealing.) I once had a Loco Roco game on my T-Mobile phone like a decade ago, Sony didn't want to host it anymore, and it got erased from me and I lost my purchase. Had I physically owned it like my Loco Roco UMD I had then they couldn't do that.

So no, you just respect your ability to pay for something and control it within the confines of the medium -- cart, tape, cd, dvd, blu ray, memory card, whatever. I use MP3s, but I buy CDs and make them because I won't trust Apple or someone might piss off a studio and lose those tracks just as I have ripped 3 blu-rays of mine and put them on mobiles too instead of just paying for a streaming/download. I don't feel out of date, I still use the modern tech but I find creative ways to control it still just as I'll buy any game on GOG.com over Steam given a choice as I get a physical keeper copy vs the DRM/front end saddled copies they have.

I don't much like calling what I have a collection too due to the modern idea of it with gaming, but it is one. I did collect them, but they're not amiibo desk toys, I use them. Just like I have a small Lego collection, I collected them but I enjoy building, displaying, then tearing down and doing it again later.

[Gatucaman]

I do? Huh, guess I have around 60 worthless games. No, I find supporting the scalper market worthless because the prices are just abusively high on anything on the upper end of the quality scale and anything (good or bad) perceived as so called rare (along with legit rares.) That's why I stopped caring and gave up buying the stuff online and off as well outside of super rare exceptions of fair pre-scam pricing and same with SNES too. Like you said, you have been able to find some cheap. Recently I bought NES games (and system) for the first time in over two years and it had two games in the $50-100 club, tried them, didn't like them, but I had them and what I paid for that lot wasn't awful by any means. And yes, prices despite online annoyances can be local as can availability. I could find heaps of games out west, but in this area very few and those that do are influenced by half price books asking the highest paid BIN price possible so it's pointless.

You're not out of touch. You're just smarter than the average person that has been brought up with disposable culture and cheap every few years if that replaceable items. Some people who are in their 20s and under are part of this club, but a lot of them into gaming/music/movies have been brought up in a mind controlled type way by the industry to not care if you actually have something in hand, and to not even realize you don't own something when you pay for it. They'd rather push convenience, cheaper pricing, and the ability to have a heap of stuff in one little device that could be shared among others. Few will realize or get mad when they find an old game vanished due to time, device/os changes and all that, or they just don't care and move along due to disposable culture leanings. Some though will realize they're getting screwed. Maybe they own a Nintendo console, had it broken or stolen, couldn't get it repaired, and find out that 100s or 1000s of dollars in games were stuck on it bound to the device and they're shit out of luck. Or they'll be a victim of a licensing agreement expiring or going sour, much like Ubisoft getting Turtles and it getting wiped off Wii-Ware/VC, or over on Kindle when there was a battle over Orwells 1984 (irony!) and Amazon reached out over Wifi and manually erased it off every paying customers device and their site (which they got sued hardcore for and lost as it was stealing.) I once had a Loco Roco game on my T-Mobile phone like a decade ago, Sony didn't want to host it anymore, and it got erased from me and I lost my purchase. Had I physically owned it like my Loco Roco UMD I had then they couldn't do that.

So no, you just respect your ability to pay for something and control it within the confines of the medium -- cart, tape, cd, dvd, blu ray, memory card, whatever. I use MP3s, but I buy CDs and make them because I won't trust Apple or someone might piss off a studio and lose those tracks just as I have ripped 3 blu-rays of mine and put them on mobiles too instead of just paying for a streaming/download. I don't feel out of date, I still use the modern tech but I find creative ways to control it still just as I'll buy any game on GOG.com over Steam given a choice as I get a physical keeper copy vs the DRM/front end saddled copies they have.

I don't much like calling what I have a collection too due to the modern idea of it with gaming, but it is one. I did collect them, but they're not amiibo desk toys, I use them. Just like I have a small Lego collection, I collected them but I enjoy building, displaying, then tearing down and doing it again later.

Thank you buddie for this words, and sorry for what i said about what i tought of your views on collecting NES carts, that assumption was a made on what i read from you before regarding SNES.

And by the way, i did beat VICE project doom just a few hours ago, and honestly, i did enjoy it better than my past sessions, maybe it was because i had to learn to only move a few pixels and to stay and fight the enemies, cause they are just too many of them, i still think the music is weak tough, so yeah, while i wish i havent resort to Ebay on this one, i think i was unfair on the game itself.

And, yes, i was blowing off steam after being burned out by Eskobar, :sad: man, what's worse is that the japanese lolo 3 is one of those cases when the famicom version is even expensive.

[JSoup]

I just don't buy into it anymore and I just pirate everything and spend my money on the current generation and PC games. I don't care about it anymore. Get a flashcart and be happy playing games. There is no reason to spend copious amounts of cash on older games. I will buy them up to $60. I just treat them the same as current prices. To each their own but I am much happier not "hunting" for games and just playing them now.

Similar here. Years ago I realized there was a difference between "I want to own this" and "I want to play this. If it's in the first camp, it's got to be at a price I'm willing to pay or I'm just not going to bother. That "must own" list is pretty short. For the rest, pretty much every video game created since the dawn of such things can be played at least three different ways outside of owning the game these days, so there is no time based stress on me to get all the things ASAP.