The Nintendo Cartridge Market in General

[harper]

Yeah it is still possible to find deals on amazon, half or even ebay but it kind of sucks all of the fun out of it. I mean I know there are games out there that we feel like we must get our hands on as soon as possible. But part of the fun is going to a thrift store or something and not only finding a good deal but maybe finding something you've never even seen or heard of before. Then getting home and looking it up and realizing you found something awesome (or not so awesome). Shopping online just takes all of the work out of it. When you don't have to actually work for something you don't appreciate it as much and end up getting bored with it.

[sabrage]

Yeah it is still possible to find deals on amazon, half or even ebay but it kind of sucks all of the fun out of it. I mean I know there are games out there that we feel like we must get our hands on as soon as possible. But part of the fun is going to a thrift store or something and not only finding a good deal but maybe finding something you've never even seen or heard of before. Then getting home and looking it up and realizing you found something awesome (or not so awesome). Shopping online just takes all of the work out of it. When you don't have to actually work for something you don't appreciate it as much and end up getting bored with it.

That's fun if and only if your local thrift store even gets those kind of donations with any regularity. Mine don't, and I'm not going to drive all over town only to return empty handed when I can easily make an order online and get on with my life. It doesn't detract from the enjoyment I get from the actual game at all.

[harper]

That's fun if and only if your local thrift store even gets those kind of donations with any regularity. Mine don't, and I'm not going to drive all over town only to return empty handed when I can easily make an order online and get on with my life. It doesn't detract from the enjoyment I get from the actual game at all.

I totally understand that. My local stores don't exactly have amazing deals and they don't have stuff all the time, when they do it's usually not anthing I don't already have or worth whatever price they have on it. But in my opinion I get a lot more excitement out of finding something out of the blue then just ordering something off of ebay which I could do any day of the week.

[jmbarnes101]

Isn't this similar to what happened to comic books a while back? That market eventually returned to normal didn't it?

Happened to both sports cards and comics. Both markets crashed and really haven't been the same since. Marvel went into bankruptcy and was recently bought out by Disney and both them and DC have mostly been limping along ever since trying to find a way to get back the market they had before the early 90's. The comics market is doing okay but the monthly comic readers have fallen off to a point where download and TPB's/HC's are likely to be seen as the only way to survive in the coming years. At this point, the comics are mainly published to keep things going with the big money coming in merchandising and movies. Obviously a lot happened in the past 20 years but this is it in a nut shell.

[jvalentine98]

About Ebay price gouging, I know what you mean. I was browsing for another copy of Resident Evil 3 on PSX and someone had it described as a "rare" game and had a buy it now of like $50. Really? That game sold 3 million copies or something and is anything but rare. Most auctions for it go for less than $20.

Same goes for Resident Evil Gaiden on GBC. It's not sought after that I know of, because it has a reputation for sucking. But low production run has kept the price up there and now you are probably going to have to pay $30-40 for a game you may not like.

[ApolloBoy]

Not sure what the backlash towards Ebay is about; the prices really aren't any different than they are on the Buy/Sell/Trade forums here at Racketboy.

Proof? I go on a number of boards and people usually charge significantly less than eBay prices for certain games.

[harper]

Not sure what the backlash towards Ebay is about; the prices really aren't any different than they are on the Buy/Sell/Trade forums here at Racketboy.

Proof? I go on a number of boards and people usually charge significantly less than eBay prices for certain games.

Yeah it seems to me like people here go by ebay so they'll know what not to charge. I always make sure that the prices on my stuff are at least lower than the lowest buy it now price on ebay to ensure a good deal.

[The Nihilist]

I hate that some game stores base their prices on ebay--especially if the game isn't seen on ebay a lot and the buy it nows are ridiculous.

I'm trying to get a Shantae cart from one dealer in town, they have the box for it but it's not a mint box--has a few cuts and worn edges.
They said the cart sells for $160, but since they have the box, it goes for $250.
90 more dollars for cardboard--and not even original packaging.

I told them that I'd do it for $160 and they can burn the box in front of me.
If I wanted to pay an extra 90 bucks for cardboard, I'd play Magic: The Gathering again.

So I'll go back in a couple months and try to haggle again for just the cart--I know they have had the game since '04 and it hasn't moved.

I don't want to pay/trade that much for a game. But the last cart that showed up on ebay went for $167, so I don't think it's going to get any better.
That and I want to score it before I deploy. Got a few more months

[sabrage]

Proof? I go on a number of boards and people usually charge significantly less than eBay prices for certain games.

Not going to point out any specific threads, and admittedly this could be entirely attributed to the games I'm interested in, but I've yet to open a For Sale thread and think "Wow! What a deal!"

[RyaNtheSlayA]

Proof? I go on a number of boards and people usually charge significantly less than eBay prices for certain games.

Not going to point out any specific threads, and admittedly this could be entirely attributed to the games I'm interested in, but I've yet to open a For Sale thread and think "Wow! What a deal!"

It's less of "Wow! What a deal!" and more like "Well that's a bit cheaper and I'm not going to get screwed over with shipping, and I could maybe even trade something I have that they want to save some cash."