The VGA is BS

[Opa Opa]

I actually see the VGA as being useful for questionable seals and situations; especially for games like EarthBound that never had a plastic seal.

The only thing I don't like (and don't really understand) is seeing new titles already slabbed on ebay. Why would anyone pay hundreds for a graded game when it is still available at retail stores?

[winds]

Even though I don't collect VGA graded or sealed games, I still hate what their grading process has done to the hobby of collecting. I do admit though, that it's through no fault of VGA's, but the markets.

Especially in the SNES collecting community. What happens is, for some of the more obscure titles, a seller will look up prices on ebay to see if the game they're selling is rare. They'll see a VGA graded version of it listed at some stupidly insane price of $1000 and immediately think they've struck gold. Doesn't matter their copy is heavily damaged, they'll just discount it a little. The next seller will look at those 2 prices, and think he's struck gold too. Suddenly what was a $10 game just 2 days prior, is now a $200 game.

Look at Metal Warriors for SNES, or King of Dragons. I remember seeing those on ebay 2 years ago for dirt cheap. Now they're seemingly the "holy grail" of SNES collecting in sellers eyes.

Again though, this is the fault of the market and the sellers, not VGA.

However I will say i've read accounts of VGA grading fakes before. I can't find where I read that now, but if memory serves it was a Super Mario Bros. 3 game.

[AppleQueso]

^I can almost completely guarantee you that the spike in SNES prices has virtually nothing to do with VGA grading.

[Ack]

^I can almost completely guarantee you that the spike in SNES prices has virtually nothing to do with VGA grading.

True, though it is troubling to see how much SNES games have increased in price lately. Look at some of the Video Game Price Charts data for how some games have gone up in the last five years is somewhat shocking, as there has typically been at least a 100% increase. Unfortunately it seems to be relatively steady in the last couple of years. I hope we see a reversal in the trend, but I kinda doubt it.

[AppleQueso]

^I can almost completely guarantee you that the spike in SNES prices has virtually nothing to do with VGA grading.

True, though it is troubling to see how much SNES games have increased in price lately. Look at some of the Video Game Price Charts data for how some games have gone up in the last five years is somewhat shocking, as there has typically been at least a 100% increase. Unfortunately it seems to be relatively steady in the last couple of years. I hope we see a reversal in the trend, but I kinda doubt it.

Oh I know, it's insane. When I sold some of my SNES games a little while back, I did so assuming it wouldn't be too hard to just buy them back later.

...boy was I wrong.

[CRTGAMER]

I don't care for keeping games sealed, for the reason I have stated before in other Threads. What if years later discovering the now hard to find game is defective?

There is a niche of collectors that do keep games sealed and even graded to really make them special. As in Toy or Comic Book collector, they value keeping a game in absolute new pristine sealed condition. I can respect that, just not for me.

As far as affecting the overall market, I don't think VGA has that big an impact, except for a few rarities.

Looking thru the Digital Press Thread, an interesting point.

I have never heard of of the VGA before. Let me get his right...

I send some random company a game, who give it a vague rating, seal it in a tomb of carbonite and then send it back to me? I can then never remove the game from the carbonite box of doom because it will lower the rating?

Yes, exactly. And if they're really crafty I bet some of them opened it, and took the disk and then resealed plastic over it. Oh, how do I know this? Because how are you going to find out they didn't do that?

No, this very unlikely to happen, but very be ironic if found out decades later if a game is finally opened. I don't think I would chance sending a rare game to a P.O Box address to people I do not know.

[Ack]

AppleQueso, it's worse if you are trying to collect a complete set. Take the game Wild Guns. In 2007, the game could be purchased online for around $26.96. Today, it goes for $175.07, a roughly 650% increase.

[AppleQueso]

AppleQueso, it's worse if you are trying to collect a complete set. Take the game Wild Guns. In 2007, the game could be purchased online for around $26.96. Today, it goes for $175.07, a roughly 650% increase.

Yeah, I can only imagine.

I have my doubts that N64 will follow with such a dramatic spike, but it makes me want to hurry up and nab all the expensive titles on that pretty soon.

[Ack]

AppleQueso, it's worse if you are trying to collect a complete set. Take the game Wild Guns. In 2007, the game could be purchased online for around $26.96. Today, it goes for $175.07, a roughly 650% increase.

Yeah, I can only imagine.

I have my doubts that N64 will follow with such a dramatic spike, but it makes me want to hurry up and nab all the expensive titles on that pretty soon.

Yeah, you'll still have a bad time getting Clay Fighter: Sculptor's Cut right now, which has certainly gone up in the last two years. And Conker's Bad Fur Day is up there. But it's nowhere near as bad as the SNES just yet.

[winds]

^I can almost completely guarantee you that the spike in SNES prices has virtually nothing to do with VGA grading.

Unless you can provide proof, let's agree to disagree on that one.
With the widespread hype of titles like Stadium Events, and sellers on ebay jacking up VGA prices, our niche little hobby has grown widespread to the point where people actually make it a career buying games for cheap, and selling them for high. I know that practice has been going on for a long time, but never to the point it's gotten now. That's because you have different news outlets seeing these types of auctions, and reporting about how you should "keep your old video games because they're worth something".

Heck I even went to a yard sale where some guy was selling common nes titles loose. I asked him how much for the lot and his dad came and said "careful son, I saw a news report the other day about how these things are HIGHLY collectible". Of course that could have just been some sales pitch, but I have seen such news reports myself.

I've no doubt in my mind at this point that people seeing those insane VGA auctions all over the place has led to people who know nothing about video games suddenly making it their careers to buy video games and resell them to the collectors at inflated prices.