Poll: Your Thoughts on Flipping Videogames

[shadow460]

Sounds to me like some folks are just upset that they didn't find the games themselves. Sorry guys, but if I see a rare item at a good price that I know I can sell, and don't want it in my own collection, I'm probably not going to just leave it behind just so you can find it. In the summer, I spend 8-16 hours on my weekends hitting yard sales, estate sales and flea markets to find things for my collection. At the same time, I'm also looking for items that I can resell to justify all the time I spend, not to mention money to pay for the things I keep.

 

Do I need the money? Nah, not really. But I enjoy the hunt, and it's part of the game to me. If I had to try to make a living doing this, I'd end up homeless.

 

Very well said. Sure, it sucks to know that some reseller grabbed up a rare item you wanted for your collection. The question is, "How bad do you want it?" Do you want it badly enough to get up early on a Saturday? If you won't get up early and go looking, be prepared to lay out some cash for it. I wanted that Conker's Bad Fur Day enough to get up at 8AM yesterday instead of sleeping in until noon. I knew it was available at below ebay pricing, but that there were several other collectors interested in it. Money alone wasn't enough--I had to get to it first.

 

I don't need the money from reselling, either, but it's nice to fund some of my collecting with it along with being able to help people build their collections--even if it means taking a loss on some stuff to ensure that the next guy doesn't have to pay inflated reseller prices just to get the basics. I'm able to download music from Amazon, buy PC upgrades, and even pay a bill or two with the money.

I don't just focus on classic gaming stuff. I can pick up a poorly maintained window air unit, bust my tail to service it (I'm a certified A/C tech), and easily turn a $50 profit for my effort. I've also flipped computer parts and entire computers.

 

Profits from flipping stuff are definitely not free money. Those of us who flip games are the ones who are willing to get up at the butt crack of dawn and burn through half a Saturday and half a tank of gas to find the rare stuff. Next time you buy something rare off of ebay, instead of complaining about how high the price has risen in the last three years, think about how much time and effort it takes to dredge that stuff up from the bottom of a pile of junk at a flea market or find it at a yard sale. I've got little love for resellers, either, but when I buy from them, they've done the leg work so I don't have to.

[Atari_Bill]

Sounds to me like some folks are just upset that they didn't find the games themselves. Sorry guys, but if I see a rare item at a good price that I know I can sell, and don't want it in my own collection, I'm probably not going to just leave it behind just so you can find it. In the summer, I spend 8-16 hours on my weekends hitting yard sales, estate sales and flea markets to find things for my collection. At the same time, I'm also looking for items that I can resell to justify all the time I spend, not to mention money to pay for the things I keep.

 

Perfect example, in October I picked up a Sega Saturn lot (boxed system, and a bunch of games, controllers and accessories) for $30 at a flea market. I barely even looked at it before I handed him the money. Turns out one of the games was Saturn Bomberman, which I sold just last week for $75.00. I'm hoping to get at least another $150 for the rest. I also grabbed a pair of nice Ray-bans at Goodwill a few weeks ago for $2, sold them for $75 too!

 

Do I need the money? Nah, not really. But I enjoy the hunt, and it's part of the game to me. If I had to try to make a living doing this, I'd end up homeless.

 

I can respect someone that builds their collection this way. I can even accept flipping some of your finds when it takes that amount of effort to get them. Bravo to you! 90% of my collection was built this way and it's not easy, I'll tell you that. My major issue in flipping is the person sitting at the computer (or smartphone these days) watching like a vulture for anything underpriced on an auction site, in the AA marketplace, or espcially folks snapping up as many of the limited releases as possible to immediately turn them around and put it to the people that didn't have the opportunity to buy them originally.

[Atari_Bill]

 

Profits from flipping stuff are definitely not free money. Those of us who flip games are the ones who are willing to get up at the butt crack of dawn and burn through half a Saturday and half a tank of gas to find the rare stuff. Next time you buy something rare off of ebay, instead of complaining about how high the price has risen in the last three years, think about how much time and effort it takes to dredge that stuff up from the bottom of a pile of junk at a flea market or find it at a yard sale. I've got little love for resellers, either, but when I buy from them, they've done the leg work so I don't have to.

 

Not always. When a flipper clicks a BIN and then relists the item using the original seller's picture before he even gets it, that's pathetic. When someone buys 3, 4, maybe 5 copies of that limited release only 20 made and immediately posts it on ebay after they sell out for 5-10x the normal price that's pathetic. I have little patience and will not deal with such people personally.

[the.golden.ax]

Not always. When a flipper clicks a BIN and then relists the item using the original seller's picture before he even gets it, that's pathetic. When someone buys 3, 4, maybe 5 copies of that limited release only 20 made and immediately posts it on ebay after they sell out for 5-10x the normal price that's pathetic. I have little patience and will not deal with such people personally.

 

I agree. Those types are the armpit of the gaming community. Remember though, that is less than 1% of 1% of resellers. Like many societal issues of the day, we should not use those examples while existent as an excuse to change what we do as a community.

[akator]

The term "flipping" apparently means something different to me than it does to many others here. I consider flipping different from reselling or making a profit from reselling.

 

There's obviously nothing wrong with buying something for one price and selling it for more. That's simple business. Even those who buy something here at Atari Age and turn around and resell it for more on eBay are simple resellers. 95% at least wait for it to arrive and test what they purchased before selling it to someone else.

 

Even if you find something at a yard sale for $5 and resell it for $500, that isn't flipping. That's just good business sense.

 

By my definition, most people here are not flippers. To me flipping is a nastier form of reselling:

• buying something and reselling it for more before actually having it in hand
  
• buying something and reselling it without repairs, cleaning, improvements or other things that are obviously necessary
  
• intentionally harassing someone to buy something at a ridiculously lower price than what is being asked in order to obviously resell it
  
• misrepresenting something because the truth would lead to less profit
  

As someone who has sold things here to see them show up on eBay a month later at a higher price, I don't think that's flipping. That person may have finally gotten their hands on something they always wanted, played it, and found out it wasn't something they wanted to keep. Maybe that person wants to keep the game, but needs to sell things to pay bills. I may have simply sold it for less than it was worth, which is all on me and has nothing to do with the reseller. Reselling it is not dishonest. Reselling becomes flipping when there is misdirection, dishonesty, or other underhanded things going on.

 

So... for all of you who consider yourselves "flippers" because you resell something for more than you paid for it, you are doing yourself a disservice. If you do honest business, call yourself a "reseller." The term "flipping" does not have positive connotations for most, regardless of the faddishness of the term because of reality shows highlighting idiots.

[boxpressed]

Hi all. I've finally finished the article I wanted to write about this topic. Life got in the way of expediency, I'm afraid. Anyway, thanks for all of your responses to the topic, and all comments on the article are welcome here or on the blog. This is a first draft, and I expect to make some tweaks, especially if the poll numbers change.

 

http://retroauction....tro-videogames/

[+Gemintronic]

I guess I'm not that savvy when it comes to Internet sales. My reading of flipping is simply to immediately buy and sell something just for profit. It carries no connotations of ill intent (for me).