How has the economy affected game price?

[Nes]

How has the economy affected game price? Are there as many people bidding on ebay as before? Are prices going up or down?

[PapaStu]

Simple answer

More people are selling as money becomes tighter and they have more bills to meet. The things they are selling tend to sell for less, or not sell.

Fewer are buying becuase they have less disposable income around them. Those that are buying are getting better deals because of it.

[Letiumtide]

I've seen a lot of highly sought after games on ebay rise in price.

Snatcher and Suikoden II have both increased significantly. Whereas before I coud find one that would end around $60-70. Now I never seen one that ends on any less than $130 and most of the time Snatcher listings are just buy it now, which kind of blows, because they always have it at $200+.

[old_skoolin_jim]

Here's hoping they work in my favor... I'm putting Buster Douglas Boxing (SMS) up tonight... my seller ID is jimax_300 if anyone's looking.

[Bojay1997]

I would say that between forum sales and Ebay, I have found a lot of bargains over the last few months. While selected games might seem to be increasing in value, I have generally found that there are people selling who ordinarily would not have in the past and this is leading to increased supply of some of the better quality mint/new games on a lot of platforms. Sadly, bad economic times lead to increased numbers of sellers and fewer buyers which compounds the economic distress when prices fall.

[The 1 2 P]

During the holidays I sold much less on ebay due to extreme competition but lately I've been selling at a pretty good pace. I'm starting to move alot of stuff, but the trick is to start the auctions at fairly low/reasonable prices.

[swlovinist]

I agree with 1 2 p. My craigslist scores have been INSANE. My ebay sales have been better as of late. It all is how you sell things. Rare stuff will always be worth some good money, pending on what you have.

The short answer is that locally deals are great right now, and I too have noticed uncommon/common stuff on ebay going for a little less. It is all about supply and demand with some things. Have the only thing on ebay of a particular item, then you might get lucky if it is sought after. Have an item that has 100s of duplicates then you are pretty screwed.

[plastic]

I just purchased Batusugun, Battle Garegga, Layer Section, Shienryu, and Darius Gaiden for $150 shipped. All are complete.

I'd say it's working out in the buyer's favor... Then again, he seemed pretty eager to sell...

[Press_Start]

Don't know about game prices, the recession has affected everyone in one way or another. Lots of "need to pay the bills" threads popping up across the board, pick any video game forum and you'll find one guy selling his stuff to make rent. Had a lucky bargain or two. Outside of the friendlier circles, you still find people selling off stuff but it usually for the Ebay standard price (a.k.a. over the top).

I've seen a lot of highly sought after games on ebay rise in price.

Snatcher and Suikoden II have both increased significantly. Whereas before I coud find one that would end around $60-70. Now I never seen one that ends on any less than $130 and most of the time Snatcher listings are just buy it now, which kind of blows, because they always have it at $200+.

Yeah, tell me about it. Not too long ago, a few rare Turbo games graced themselves on the Ebay scene and here I thought this was my chance to nab them for a nifty price. Boy, was I wrong. It goes to show, even in a recession, there are some people who have too much money.

[Ed Oscuro]

I haven't seen too many "deals" in the area I'm looking at, although I haven't noticed any price increases either. I'll be investing my money the ol' fashioned way soon enough - too bad I can't drop more into gaming. Oh well!

[savageone]

I guess I haven't noticed any decrease in my eBay sales. In fact I'd say I'm having an easier time than ever before selling low value games, you know those types of games that are barely worth the cost shipping? IE: SMB / DH carts. I used to sell them for a penny plus shipping, now I get a whole dollar! Look out, SMB/DH is getting TeH RaReZ folks.

[InsaneDavid]

I've seen local arcade prices plummet and there are some great deals to be had.

As has been said it comes down to...

People that need money are happy to sell stuff, at nearly any price.

Those who can spare some money see it as a chance to grab stuff that would otherwise be expensive or hard to find.

[tom]

Here in Germany I found ebay sales have gone down, but usually it could be due to it being the beginning of the year. Jan/Feb, nobody has money to buy much as they are all stripped out from Christmas buying.

Last year a boxed Master Builder (Spectravision) went for Euro 70 on ebay, which is approx that pricing, but now I got a boxed Master Builder for Euro 2, and a boxed Polaris (Tigervision) for Euro 2 as well. That's like $2.50 each, bargain.

[Diosoth]

The used game stores are keeping their prices as they were but no one's buying. But I don't think this is related to the economy. I think it's due more to 2 factors

1) Virtual Console/PSN/XBLA- no one's going to pay $30 for a vintage cartridge if they can buy the same game for $5 online. I thik even the $60 or more price on PS1 SOTN copies has crashed due to the game being $10 online.

2) the store prices are too high to begin with. Final Fantasy VII doesn't need to be $70, it's a common game!

[MachineGex]

I've seen local arcade prices plummet and there are some great deals to be had.

As has been said it comes down to...

People that need money are happy to sell stuff, at nearly any price.

Those who can spare some money see it as a chance to grab stuff that would otherwise be expensive or hard to find.

I agree with Dave on the arcade stuff. I wish I could talk my wife into a pinball machine. I have seen several go for less than $400. Six months ago, I could not find a pinball for under $700-800.

In our area, a lot of people are moving because they lost their house. They list arcade stuff on Craigslist real cheap because they know they dont have much time to sell it. I picked up a Playchoice10 bartop for $150. That thing is in sweet condition. The guy selling it had to move because his dad was forced to sell the house.

Times are rough for a lot of people and they are dumping the "extra" stuff cheap. I have even seen several arcade machines in Pawn shops in the last 6 months. Times are tough.

[Diosoth]

I agree with Dave on the arcade stuff. I wish I could talk my wife into a pinball machine. I have seen several go for less than $400. Six months ago, I could not find a pinball for under $700-800.

In our area, a lot of people are moving because they lost their house. They list arcade stuff on Craigslist real cheap because they know they dont have much time to sell it. I picked up a Playchoice10 bartop for $150. That thing is in sweet condition. The guy selling it had to move because his dad was forced to sell the house.

Times are rough for a lot of people and they are dumping the "extra" stuff cheap. I have even seen several arcade machines in Pawn shops in the last 6 months. Times are tough.

At least one "vintage" game store in my shopping area went under. Not sure if it was really the economy at fault(since 4 Gamestops, a Game Crazy, a Game Rush, and another vintage store are still open) or just the fact their prices were so high, no one bought anything. Buying that life-sized Master Chief statue for floor display probably wasn't such a great "investment", either.

I know a guy with a Gamecube store display setup, console and all, he wants $200 for it. If I had a lot of cash, or even room, I'd probably buy it.

Unfortunately, economy aside, people are going to used game stores and deciding they should get those prices, so most of what I see on craigslist costs a fortune.

[Orion Pimpdaddy]

E-bay's overall sales were sliding way before the recession hit, so it is hard to say. My most recent experience is that large lots are not selling for as high as they once were. I think people may now feel guilty if they buy too much, but they still snag the single items.

[Cornelius]

E-bay's overall sales were sliding way before the recession hit, so it is hard to say. My most recent experience is that large lots are not selling for as high as they once were. I think people may now feel guilty if they buy too much, but they still snag the single items.

This is the point I was going to make. I've done pretty well recently selling stuff like SMB2 & 3 on eBay. People are willing to make smaller purchases even if they aren't necessarily a good deal.

I still have little to no problem selling an NES or SNES w/ a couple games for $50 locally on CL.

[CDiablo]

Ebay seems the same to me, and craigslist is full of a bunch of knuckleheads selling a toaster nes with SMB/Duckhunt for $150 and the like.

[pfp]

I put 70 ColecoVision games on eBay last night, and I've already gotten questions about shipping from Greece, Italy, and France.

As the dollar suffers, it makes it more economical for other nations to buy items from us, so quite likely the value in the US will drop b/c no one has money to spend on collectibles (I mean, what do you really GET out of owning a classic game when you're broke - you can't eat it, it doesn't keep you warm, and it doesn't keep the kids busy b/c they find it boring and silly compared to their modern stuff.

Internationally it will likely sail upwards b/c stuff is 10-40% cheaper to a buyer over there than it has been when the dollar was strong.