Ebay: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

[prfsnl_gmr]

I paid $4 for a SMB/Duck Hunt label variant last year, and I thought it was a king's ransom!

[Fragems]

Everything is about patience in the gaming economy right now if you hold out long enough you will almost always find what you want for a decent price.

The good thing is there is such a large number of games to be had that any given time you go out you should be able to find at least one or two good deals.

[prfsnl_gmr]

Everything is about patience in the gaming economy right now.

This is the key. Pick up good deals when you find them, and wait for good deals on the games you want really, really badly.

[jay_red]

Deals can still be had for sure (I have been on a mini hot streak this past week after a long stretch of nothing) but its not as good as it was even 5 years ago. I used to walk out of Goodwill with games/consoles every time, once my wife and I had both of our arms full of games we found on the shelf.

Ebay prices are rising for sure, and I would say its a very good time to be a seller. I sold a bunch of stuff recently to fund my new arcade cab, and got much more than I thought they were worth. Example, I went through my n64 games and found duplicates of Mario 64 (sold for $20) Pokemon Stadium 2 (sold for $35) Majoras Mask (sold for $40!) and all of these sold within hours of posting.

I feel though, that even with all of the prices going up, it makes legit finds (thrift, yard sale, pawn etc...) more satisfying. The best bet IMO is to stick to forums like here, where we all seem to provide fair prices for both parties.

[Fragems]

Everything is about patience in the gaming economy right now.

This is the key. Pick up good deals when you find them, and wait for good deals on the games you want really, really badly.

Or do what I do take the good deals you do find and sell or trade them for the stuff you do want.

[Retrogamer0001]

Thanks for the great responses guys. I know we have a ton of ebay threads, but like Flake pointed out, I really wanted to talk about the way things seem to be going on ebay for both buyers and sellers, and the price-inflating game market in general.

In my earlier example of Castlevania Chronicles more than doubling in price, I often wonder what kind of factors are involved. Is it Youtube exposure? Legitimate rarity? Human stupidity or greed, like cha cha is assuming? I find it difficult to believe that it's a "natural" kind of appreciation(or whatever counts as natural on Ebay) considering it seemed to happen almost overnight. It's mind-boggling, and the market truly does seem senseless at times.

As a Canadian buyer, two things really infuriate me - high shipping costs and a weak exchange rate. Shipping truly has gotten out of control. I'm not sure if it's simply due to the higher fees being passed on to Ebay buyers, but the effect on my end is that I'm simply not buying. I refuse to pay these kinds of unfair and exorbitant rates on single cart and disk-based games. Add in the exchange rate, which is actually a real difference maker now, and some sellers Global Shipping Program requirements (a scam if ever I saw one) and it's very likely I'll never make a purchase again.

This doesn't just apply to games, but everything on Ebay - why would I buy things like books or movies for $11 shipping on Ebay when I can get free shipping from Amazon? It almost feels like buyers are being driven away, and I've heard many sellers feel the same way.

[Jrecee]

Every once in a while I'll come across a game I own online and think "Are they nuts with that price?". Then see that they're all listed at that price. I was shocked to find out that Megaman 7 (paid $1 at a thrift store) was going for over a hundred. Games I just hadn't gotten around to getting yet have skyrocketed (I'll just wait on bucky o'hare, don't want to pay $11 I said).

Anyway, I just stay away from ebay now. Haven't ventured into the b/s/t section in a while. Not sure what prices look like in there.

On the positive side, my list of games to get is at under 200, and I will probably manage to get at least half of them for cheap. The rest will be paid for with the sales of doubles I acquire while bargain hunting. Most likely in the b/s/t section at sub vgpc prices.

For those of you who are poor and want complete collections, I feel bad for you. But the knowledge that I will eventually own everything I want to own makes me feel better about these constantly skyrocketing prices.

[Hobie-wan]

Haven't ventured into the b/s/t section in a while. Not sure what prices look like in there.

I've been bartering with the 122,000 miles of string I inherited.

[Fragems]

B/S/T usually isn't bad at all we have a good group of guys around her. There are some great deals to be had there if your buying and someone has what you want. If your trading it's also a decent place and selling is good but really slow unless you have more desirable items.

Personally I am all about speed so I prefer to toss stuff up on eBay and sell it as fast as I can. Then I use the money to go and buy another mountain of stuff .

[Retrogamer0001]

B/S/T usually isn't bad at all we have a good group of guys around her. There are some great deals to be had there if your buying and someone has what you want. If your trading it's also a decent place and selling is good but really slow unless you have more desirable items.

Personally I am all about speed so I prefer to toss stuff up on eBay and sell it as fast as I can. Then I use the money to go and buy another mountain of stuff .

I've been looking around the b/s/t threads but don't seem to be having much luck as far as finding anything interesting goes - of course, it doesn't help that I'm mainly looking for rare SNES games for a decent price. Anyone have a Dracula X or Mega Man X3 for sale?