Game collecting is not what it once was

[prfsnl_gmr]

Probably being an idealist here, but one thing I'm disappointed I don't see is communities like Racketboy, NA, etc. working together on prices a little more.

I often sell items on here for "below market" prices, and I frequently give games, guides, books, etc. to other members. I know that some other members to that as well.

"We help each other out you see..."

[BoneSnapDeez]

The best thing to do is to "network" on forums such as these.

Become a frequent poster and establish a good reputation. Make your interests known.

Most of my best deals online have been from people PMing me on various forums saying "Hey I have some stuff you might like for [insert fabulous price here]."

[Fragems]

As far as pricing goes I am always pretty flexible on stuff, but as mentioned above we are an open community so the past few times I have listed really low prices I've had resellers try to take advantage of me. For instance last August when I was just trying to get rid of a lot of dups and games I didn't care for I had a lot of $0.50-1 items(atari 2600 games, disc only games in game stop cases, etc) and offered free shipping on orders over $25 or $30 I think. A reseller joined the forum and asked to buy all my items under $1 . If he hadn't flaked I would have spent $10+ over what he was paying me just to get the stuff to him .

So pretty much now I just price everything with fluff room to keep from getting taken advantage of by outsiders. I think there are quite a few sellers like that here who list high but are open to offers as long as they don't get low balled .

[ninjainspandex]

oXbox and PS2 and for the most part Ps1 and GBA are still pretty affordable to collect for, especially PS2 and oXbox, definitely a great time to collect those. I believe that the huge amount of bootlegging of GBA carts has really played a part in keeping the prices low on those.

[laurenhiya21]

I honestly don't know how game collecting used to be (since I really only started recently) but I definitely have the most fun collecting for PS2. So many good looking titles, and many of them are pretty cheap. PS1 sounds fun to collect for too but I hardly see any out and about :/ (although that's not saying much since I hardly see any games of any kind out here)

[retrosportsgamer]

I stopped playing/collecting from about early 2012 to late 2014, and returning I've noticed they prices of any first party or well received game is ridiculous. I remember buying ducktales 2 (loose) for 50 dollars in 2011, and even then I was somewhat overpaying. Looking at completed auctions its about 130 now. I was looking at a few uncommon games and things like Journey to Silius was 5 dollars, is now 25, Felix The Cat was 15, now 45. It seems to mostly be Nes/Snes/N64 but Turbografx in particular is ridiculously expensive compared to just a few years ago. I'd probably not bother buying half the games I have currently if I had to buy them in 2015.

Ugh.

I know this has been posted a hundred and one times, but...ugh.

$50 in 1991

equals $92.70 today

2.64% of all SNES games cost MORE today than they did at release when adjusting for inflation. 93.2% sell for less than half of what they originally sold for

Ugh.

I was waiting for you (didn't want to steal your thunder) to come in with this. THANK YOU

[Tanooki]

So pretty much now I just price everything with fluff room to keep from getting taken advantage of by outsiders. I think there are quite a few sellers like that here who list high but are open to offers as long as they don't get low balled .

That's what I do as I had enough resellers sign up over at NA who fresh off the boat would try and get anything of interest for at least 50% off of what I was already a little under ebay on so they could double their money sitting on it. I'd try and push them back up to where I'd reasonably settle at and would get ignored or textual abuse in PMs. You're not alone with scrubs trying to pull that.


Shenanigans aside, if you're a Nintendo person, my suggestion is a simple and obvious one. Look towards the pocket, look towards the land of the rising sun. Gameboy, any version, a vast majority of the games are super cheap, same can be said for the Famicom(NES) and Super Famicom(SNES) too. When I got fed up with it a year and a half ago I started buying back into the GBA stuff, a months later I walked into a lucky ignored ebay auction that netted me two bootlegs single carts(smb2j and bio miracle bokutte upa) attached to honeybees. I started to in a calculated way buy GBA and FC stuff and it has been a very fun affordable trip. I miss the whole hunt, there's not much hunt on your ass with ebay or forums, but the rewards are more old school pricing. The old GB and GBC too are not expensive, even at places I'm disappointed in around here now they're not high. Just one thing with that stuff, stay away from paper as it will add up.

[AppleQueso]

You can't really directly compare inflation prices like that because income hasn't kept pace with inflation.

Also I feel its worth pointing out that most of the people in here who seem to be arguing that it's 'not that bad' are people who've already established their large collections and/or have quite ample disposable income.

[MrPopo]

Also I feel its worth pointing out that most of the people in here who seem to be arguing that it's 'not that bad' are people who've already established their large collections and/or have quite ample disposable income.

Seems reasonable considering these are luxury items.

[AppleQueso]

Also I feel its worth pointing out that most of the people in here who seem to be arguing that it's 'not that bad' are people who've already established their large collections and/or have quite ample disposable income.

Seems reasonable considering these are luxury items.

luxury items which were just a few years ago far more accessable.