games getting overpriced...and turning people into dicks

[bob]

I have preached it before, but owning a video game store catering to the retro market is the stupidest business venture you can be in.  Straight up morons and it makes the whole market worse.  You have the mom/pops actually competing with ebay and nobody really wins.  In actuality, ebay fees are much less than the stress and financial burden of sitting on a bunch of inventory and paying the overhead of a rental property.  All of that coupled with the fact you will only get the attention of .0000001% of the retro audience actually willing to pay someplace close to market value.  I actually think it's good that "walk-in" supply is drying up for these stores because it will make them realize they are in a terrible venture.

I went to a gouge shop a few weeks ago, looked around at the stale inventory and my first question is always "where's the turbografx stuff?"
The answer is typically..."Oh, when we get that, it goes right to ebay."  or they ask "Do you know how hard it is to find that stuff?"  So they essentially hear me ask the question, but then treat me like I have never heard of it.

[xelement5x]

I have preached it before, but owning a video game store catering to the retro market is the stupidest business venture you can be in.  Straight up morons and it makes the whole market worse.  You have the mom/pops actually competing with ebay and nobody really wins.  In actuality, ebay fees are much less than the stress and financial burden of sitting on a bunch of inventory and paying the overhead of a rental property.  All of that coupled with the fact you will only get the attention of .0000001% of the retro audience actually willing to pay someplace close to market value.  I actually think it's good that "walk-in" supply is drying up for these stores because it will make them realize they are in a terrible venture.

I went to a gouge shop a few weeks ago, looked around at the stale inventory and my first question is always "where's the turbografx stuff?"
The answer is typically..."Oh, when we get that, it goes right to ebay."  or they ask "Do you know how hard it is to find that stuff?"  So they essentially hear me ask the question, but then treat me like I have never heard of it.

I think the main benefit to owning a shop is being a place that people who just want money fast will take their stuff to and sell it to you at whatever price just to get it out of their house.  These places make huge bank on the Mom that found a box of old NES carts in her basement and is happy to get $20 for it when the store will take them and resell individually for huge amount more. 

I still see people like this come into GameStop occasionally (where GS won't take it), and thankfully most GS employees point them to a local shop so it doesn't at least get tossed in the trash. 

[T2KFreeker]

People, in the end, are inherently greedy. Not everyone, obviously, but many people really are. I hate this shit though as the gouging is getting so bad. My Son, just the other day as the people in the chat know, got took for $75.00 for a copy of Eternal Champions for the Sega genesis. A "Sealed" copy that turned out to be shrink wrapped... Needless to say, there was no getting the money back, even though they say they got the price for the game from ebay...point being, they couldn't point out anywhere where anyone sold a sealed Eternal Champions for even $20.00! Oh, and of course, they can't say for sure if it was factory sealed or a reseal, they just know the game was sealed. What a load of Bullshit! I am seeing the Retro Gaming community getting raped by people over and over and people seem to be more than happy to bend over and take it in the ass over R@R3Z and all that other shit! It's just crap anymore. The thing i hate the most too is how much "Value" the games have. Just stupid. The game is "WORTH" the joy you get from enjoying it. You can't do that being a Polyurethane sealed Shelf Monkey either. Yeah, I said Shelf monkey! My Word.

Shelf Monkey (NOUN) - One who displays one's collection on a shelf and then proceeds to push it in others faces like a Baboon would show it's ass at the Zoo to show dominance. If you have a collection of sealed in plastic with a grade, games sitting on a shelf, and show it to everyone you know, post pics on line, and have your own youtube channel where you can brag about your "Investment" and how much it's "Worth", you sir are a Shelf monkey. Get used to it, Collectard!

[BlueBMW]

All of the above...

People know I've been selling a lot of stuff lately.  I'm burned out on the retro scene.  Its not fun anymore.  I just want to play and enjoy some games but now its all too much about money.  Its all about completing a collection or bragging about how much something is worth.  I'm slowly trimming back to just the essentials and stuff that I'm nostalgic about.  The rest I'll run on everdrives or emulators.  I dont really see it getting better unfortunately.  Maybe in 30 years or more things will change but for the next 10 years I dont see a light at the end of the tunnel.

[ClodBuster]

Shelf Monkey (NOUN) - One who displays one's collection on a shelf and then proceeds to push it in others faces like a Baboon would show it's ass at the Zoo to show dominance. If you have a collection of sealed in plastic with a grade, games sitting on a shelf, and show it to everyone you know, post pics on line, and have your own youtube channel where you can brag about your "Investment" and how much it's "Worth", you sir are a Shelf monkey. Get used to it, Collectard!

I like that definition!

[wildfruit]

I keep my games in a cupboard so every time I open it I get a waft of old manuals smell. Mmm

[Gentlegamer]

It's cancer.

[SignOfZeta]

This guy was a cunt long before the Sega CD incident. If you were a better judge of character (which you probably are now) you'd know that. We live in a world that glorifies profit and lopsided deals. There is no greater deal or honor than to have completely hosed someone on a transaction. ALWAYS pay as little as possible and ALWAYS charge the most people will pay. Unless people seem weird or iconoclastic or deliberately anarchistic/anachronistic I wouldn't assume they wouldn't do the same thing. To not profit as much as possible on every deal is a very nonconformist decision. To your ex friend had an awesome score and he'll tell his friends about how he lucked out and feel no shame or remorse at all. He probably won't mention you in these stories, but if he does you'll be the "jealous communist faggot".

I'm not sure when the last time was that I bought a "retro" game, at least a year. I'm thinking I'll just enjoy what I've got for now to avoid stressing myself out over colectardation. Despite the best efforts of a small number of a$$holes, Laserdisc is still a buyers market. I'll just do those for a while.

[BigusSchmuck]

This guy was a cunt long before the Sega CD incident. If you were a better judge of character (which you probably are now) you'd know that. We live in a world that glorifies profit and lopsided deals. There is no greater deal or honor than to have completely hosed someone on a transaction. ALWAYS pay as little as possible and ALWAYS charge the most people will pay. Unless people seem weird or iconoclastic or deliberately anarchistic/anachronistic I wouldn't assume they wouldn't do the same thing. To not profit as much as possible on every deal is a very nonconformist decision. To your ex friend had an awesome score and he'll tell his friends about how he lucked out and feel no shame or remorse at all. He probably won't mention you in these stories, but if he does you'll be the "jealous communist faggot".

I'm not sure when the last time was that I bought a "retro" game, at least a year. I'm thinking I'll just enjoy what I've got for now to avoid stressing myself out over colectardation. Despite the best efforts of a small number of a$$holes, Laserdisc is still a buyers market. I'll just do those for a while.

+1 to the Laserdiscs. Still incredibly cheap even the rare ones.

[vmorr]

Plenty of these douches in my area, here's an example:

http://www.kijiji.ca/v-old-video-games/hamilton/mario-gamecube-games/1094562118

This guy literally buys everything Nintendo in sight, pays at the very least the going rate for it, and tries to sell it for astronomical prices. Lives in a crack house. I sold him a copy of Pokemon Silver for $20 that I couldn't sell for a couple months and he told me straight up that he was gonna flip it for $35. He only sells locally off Kijiji and we post ads in the same city, so I'm not sure how the f*ck he was gonna do that. He also at one time bought "all of the Smash Bros. GC Wii U controllers in the city" at regular price (~$35) and tried to flip for $45, but then in no time stores restocked and you can buy them for regular price with your eyes closed.

What really pisses me off about these people is that THEY ARE MAKING NO MONEY. THEY ARE POOR. f*ck sakes. There are 8 million other things these people could be doing/investing in shit instead with greater returns. But no instead waiting weeks to make $5-$10 off a Mario game is the new standard for success. The whole "buying and selling to support the personal collection" angle is also bullshit by any means. Meanwhile the games I wanna own to play just get more expensive and basically unobtainable.

[TR0N]

Sigh every body wants to be a collectard or a evilbay seller for price gouging.

[Jinxed]

yeah selling you're cables was a douche move for sure but whats wrong with a guy making a little money if he got a deal on something. who are you all kidding, most of us would do the same.
i once found some genesis games on kijiji for cheap, i bought them for my friend who i knew wanted them but could not afford them at the time, he turned around and sold them like a few months later, meh what ever its not worth losing friends over.
There is a local guy in saskatoon who hits up the garage sales for video games stuff to re-sell, i picked up a nice condition atari lynx 2 with a game for like $40. He made a little money and i got an item i wanted without all the hassle, i have no problem with that.
At the end of the day we have to remember they are only material items, we dont need them. If you cant afford it dont buy it, its not the end of the world.

[grolt]

This guy was a cunt long before the Sega CD incident. If you were a better judge of character (which you probably are now) you'd know that. We live in a world that glorifies profit and lopsided deals. There is no greater deal or honor than to have completely hosed someone on a transaction. ALWAYS pay as little as possible and ALWAYS charge the most people will pay. Unless people seem weird or iconoclastic or deliberately anarchistic/anachronistic I wouldn't assume they wouldn't do the same thing. To not profit as much as possible on every deal is a very nonconformist decision. To your ex friend had an awesome score and he'll tell his friends about how he lucked out and feel no shame or remorse at all. He probably won't mention you in these stories, but if he does you'll be the "jealous communist faggot".

I'm not sure when the last time was that I bought a "retro" game, at least a year. I'm thinking I'll just enjoy what I've got for now to avoid stressing myself out over colectardation. Despite the best efforts of a small number of a$$holes, Laserdisc is still a buyers market. I'll just do those for a while.

+1 to the Laserdiscs. Still incredibly cheap even the rare ones.

Love my LaserDiscs, but I'd say it's more of a Shippers market.

Those things are heavy as hell and cost a fortune to ship.  If you can find them locally then yes, definitely a bargain.

[SignOfZeta]

yeah selling you're cables was a douche move for sure but whats wrong with a guy making a little money if he got a deal on something. who are you all kidding, most of us would do the same.
i once found some genesis games on kijiji for cheap, i bought them for my friend who i knew wanted them but could not afford them at the time, he turned around and sold them like a few months later, meh what ever its not worth losing friends over.
There is a local guy in saskatoon who hits up the garage sales for video games stuff to re-sell, i picked up a nice condition atari lynx 2 with a game for like $40. He made a little money and i got an item i wanted without all the hassle, i have no problem with that.
At the end of the day we have to remember they are only material items, we dont need them. If you cant afford it dont buy it, its not the end of the world.

I think you must have a harder time finding friends than I do. I have enough friends that would never do this kind of shit in a million years, I don't need this kind of diversity, personally. Dudes that insist on making %1000 profit on stuff aren't invited to my place. 

[WoodyXP]

At the end of the day we have to remember they are only material items, we dont need them. If you cant afford it dont buy it, its not the end of the world.

This.  And don't let people borrow your stuff.