Is Conker's Bad Fur Day really worth $150?

[BillyHW]

So I discovered a classic game store at a nearby mall the other day. They even had a "Bentley" video game system that I had never heard of before. No Atari Lynx though. Boo.

 

The prices though seemed a little high to me. Is Conker's Bad Fur Day for N64 really worth $150? Is this normal?

[OldSchoolRetroGamer]

It was one of the last games made and it was changed drastically from the original concept as RARE decided this would be their swan song on the N64 the kinda thought "Fuck it" and so what started as another cutesy platformer ended up a mature (some would say immature) game with cursing, semi nudity, vulgar gross out scenes etc. There is nothing like it on the N64. There is also a lot of parody and tribute to everything from Alien to Clockwork Orange so the cartridge is in pretty high demand. Is it complete in box?

Certainly I would never consider anywhere near $150 (oh god I had one and even bought one for a friend back in the day!) even single carts are priced fairly high. Who knows what they will sell for though.

 

http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?ff3=4&pub=5574883395&toolid=10001&campid=5336500554&customid=&mpre=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fsch%2Fi.html%3F_nkw%3DConker%2527s%2520Bad%2520Fur%2520Day

[fiddlepaddle]

I'd say market value $50 to $75 cart only. If you're patient (give yourself a year or two), and look hard, I bet you could find one for $30 or less.

[high voltage]

I sold mine cib for $200, so I'm pleased to hear that

[icemanxp300]

Cart only $150 is insane. It's been rising steady now. Its in the $60-$70 zone as of now. As far as nabbing for $30 in the next few years maybe if it's a bad cart but I don't really see n64 dropping down in prices anytime soon.

 

UNLESS this goes to virtual console or something similiar I don't foresee the price dropping. I would say it is quite possible they go up.

[+Gemintronic]

This is the same reason I refuse to buy Towers II for the Jaguar. It's not worth $120 dollars!

 

Talk with your money. Don't buy normal games for "collectible" prices.

 

Here's a good check list:

 

1. Would you value the gameplay as much as a new game at the same cost?

 

If you can't then don't buy.

[Necron99]

generally cart only goes for $40-$60. CIB around $150.

[+wood_jl]

A single N64 game for as much as an Everdrive 64? HA HA HA!!!!

[+Gemintronic]

Nothing from the early 2000s should have a price above retail. Buying it would only promote the greedy who will in turn do it again for another game - and ANOTHER game..

[+save2600]

I agree. just say no to purchases like this.

[StoneAgeGamer]

Nothing from the early 2000s should have a price above retail. Buying it would only promote the greedy who will in turn do it again for another game - and ANOTHER game..

 

Sorry, but that's not how basic economics work. Its simple, something is worth what people are willing to pay for it.

 

If Conker is not worth $150 to anyone then no one will buy it for $150. Sure it may not be worth it to YOU, but it apparently it is to others. You can disagree with that, but it hardly makes the sellers greedy or the buyers stupid. No one owes you a game at a certain price. If there are no buyers then the seller has two options: lower price or don't sell it. I guarantee if you stumbled across a sealed Stadium Events at a flea market for $1 (assuming you decided not to keep it) and you would put it up on eBay and I highly doubt your BUY IT NOW would be its original MSRP or less. Now you could argue that's valuable because its rare and Conker is not very rare. Sure, but rarity is not the only thing that drives value.

 

P.S. I am only arguing about luxury items such as this, not basic human necessities which can be a different subject altogether.

[NE146]

Always funny to me seeing stuff selling for 3x the retail price.. and remembering when these things basically gathered dust on the shelves. Where were the buyers then? I think I bought my copy for $19 and heck, I never even got around to opening it.

[+Gemintronic]

Sorry, but that's not how basic economics work. Its simple, something is worth what people are willing to pay for it.

 

If Conker is not worth $150 to anyone then no one will buy it for $150. Sure it may not be worth it to YOU, but it apparently it is to others. You can disagree with that, but it hardly makes the sellers greedy or the buyers stupid. No one owes you a game at a certain price. If there are no buyers then the seller has two options: lower price or don't sell it. I guarantee if you stumbled across a sealed Stadium Events at a flea market for $1 (assuming you decided not to keep it) and you would put it up on eBay and I highly doubt your BUY IT NOW would be its original MSRP or less. Now you could argue that's valuable because its rare and Conker is not very rare. Sure, but rarity is not the only thing that drives value.

 

P.S. I am only arguing about luxury items such as this, not basic human necessities which can be a different subject altogether.

 

I think we are in agreement. Demand doesn't equal added value though. It's not a "rare" cart by any means. It just means sellers are willing to take suckers. Everyone else gets the penalty when the price goes up.

 

The blame lies squarely on those buyers who push the market value up without merit.

[98PaceCar]

I think we are in agreement. Demand doesn't equal added value though. It's not a "rare" cart by any means. It just means sellers are willing to take suckers. Everyone else gets the penalty when the price goes up.

 

The blame lies squarely on those buyers who push the market value up without merit.

 

I don't think you read what StoneAgeGamer wrote, so I'm not sure how you can agree with it and then state that it's the fault of the buyers. If a person is willing to pay a price for something, why should the seller take less? If a person is not willing to pay what a seller wants, the seller isn't obligated to lower his price any more than the buyer is obligated to raise his offer. If a person doesn't like the price that's asked, they are free to not purchase it. If a seller has multiple people that want an item, they are free to take the highest offer.

 

Like StoneAgeGamer said, simple economics. Just because it's outside of what you will or can pay, doesn't mean that's the case for everybody.

[+Gemintronic]

I don't think you read what StoneAgeGamer wrote, so I'm not sure how you can agree with it and then state that it's the fault of the buyers. If a person is willing to pay a price for something, why should the seller take less? If a person is not willing to pay what a seller wants, the seller isn't obligated to lower his price any more than the buyer is obligated to raise his offer. If a person doesn't like the price that's asked, they are free to not purchase it. If a seller has multiple people that want an item, they are free to take the highest offer.

 

Like StoneAgeGamer said, simple economics. Just because it's outside of what you will or can pay, doesn't mean that's the case for everybody.

 

I don't think either of you read my first post. I think we're even

[akator]

Ah... a 2-part question

 

Is Conker's Bad Fur Day for N64 really worth $150?

 

No.

 

Is this normal?

 

No.

[98PaceCar]

I don't think either of you read my first post. I think we're even

 

Touche!

 

Sadly, I think that in this particular case there is a perceived shortage of supply compared to demand and talking with your wallet will not have much effect. Purchases like this seem to be driven more by emotion and nostalgia, which will force prices upwards almost universally and as past history with Nintendo items has proven, there are plenty of deep wallets in the game.

Edited March 1, 2013 by 98PaceCar

[Necron99]

It is the buyers fault for not being patient and waiting for a cheap copy, it's also the Re-seller's fault who buy up all the $30 CBFD and resell them for $50, eventually the value changes to $50 because everyone thinks that's what it's worth.

it's also Ebay's fault because FFS it isn't a price guide!

[icemanxp300]

I see some assumption here in that some of you think these prices are "only" given by the seller. Sorry thats not the case. When "auctions" are bid up to said price that has nothing to do w/the seller. It certainly has nothing to do with beeing greedy. This game is currently being bid up in the $60-$70 range. Not everything is a buy it now.

 

I personally do bins most of the time but I select a nice average of what people bid the item up to. This way I sell it fast for what it would be bid up to under normal circumstances..

[Atariboy]

Is the Xbox port rising in value too?

 

After expecting another cute platformer, the immature direction they took this in was a complete turn off so I ignored it. But I would think the Xbox port would be the place to go if one wanted to actually play it. I do recall something about it being a bit more censored there but I can't imagine it's anything too drastic.

Edited March 2, 2013 by Atariboy

[StoneAgeGamer]

I don't think either of you read my first post. I think we're even

 

I did actually read your first post but obviously not very well, I must have missed the last line, my mistake. Sorry about that.

 

This isn't necessarily directed towards you, but I just see a lot of people complain about prices of certain things and how sellers are greedy. This is true, sellers are greedy to a certain extent, their job is to get the best price possible for something. However these people who complain about sellers being greedy seem to not realize their own hypocrisy. Buyer's wanting something for a lower cost are also being greedy to a certain extent as well because they want to pay less for the item. Its that struggle that often means that both the buyer and seller eventually meet in the middle somewhere. Yes some sellers completely overprice stuff and if it is truly overpriced I guarantee they are rarely selling it. There is a fine balance to meet as a seller, you need to price stuff to be worth your while, but you also need to keep money flowing so over pricing and not selling as much is a bad idea, just as under pricing and selling more, but barely making any profit can often be damaging in the long run.

[98PaceCar]

It is the buyers fault for not being patient and waiting for a cheap copy, it's also the Re-seller's fault who buy up all the $30 CBFD and resell them for $50, eventually the value changes to $50 because everyone thinks that's what it's worth.

it's also Ebay's fault because FFS it isn't a price guide!

 

Wouldn't it be the buyer's fault for not buying it at $30 before the re-seller bought it? Maybe it's the government's fault for letting people make money on the open market. Maybe it was the terrorists that are just using eBay to undermine the economy of the world so that we all descend into anarchy because we can't afford to buy Conker's Bad Fur Day cartridges!

 

Or maybe, you just don't understand how things really work and are just upset that you don't have a copy you could sell at the going rate. That seems a much simpler and more plausible answer. Read post 21 for a good explanation of how an open market system works. There is no blame to any part of a price going up or down, it's just how it works.

[TheGameCollector]

Conker's Bad Fur Day is the Earthbound of the Nintendo 64 and kind of always has been. (Just when it comes to people's false perception of rarity)

Edited March 2, 2013 by TheGameCollector

[Necron99]

Wouldn't it be the buyer's fault for not buying it at $30 before the re-seller bought it? Maybe it's the government's fault for letting people make money on the open market. Maybe it was the terrorists that are just using eBay to undermine the economy of the world so that we all descend into anarchy because we can't afford to buy Conker's Bad Fur Day cartridges!

Not is the buyer didn't do any research into the value of an item and just jumped on ebay and bought the lowest priced item.

Or maybe, you just don't understand how things really work and are just upset that you don't have a copy you could sell at the going rate. That seems a much simpler and more plausible answer. Read post 21 for a good explanation of how an open market system works. There is no blame to any part of a price going up or down, it's just how it works.

Actually, I own a CIB copy of CBFD I rarely buy or sell anything on Ebay, and my my copy is not for sale.

 

I understand how the market works and I would agree with you about no blame if Ebay didn't have BIN listings. Many buyers and sellers look at BIN prices as the value of the item instead of what they actually sell/sold for, also having a few $100 BIN listing will increase the Auction value due to buyers assuming it's worth $100. I'm not blaming all buyers and sellers, All i'm saying is that it only takes is a few gullible buyers and a few overpriced sellers to increase the price.

Sure, supply and demand play a large part of prices going up but that isn't the only factor here.

[98PaceCar]

Not is the buyer didn't do any research into the value of an item and just jumped on ebay and bought the lowest priced item.

 

Actually, I own a CIB copy of CBFD I rarely buy or sell anything on Ebay, and my my copy is not for sale.

 

I understand how the market works and I would agree with you about no blame if Ebay didn't have BIN listings. Many buyers and sellers look at BIN prices as the value of the item instead of what they actually sell/sold for, also having a few $100 BIN listing will increase the Auction value due to buyers assuming it's worth $100. I'm not blaming all buyers and sellers, All i'm saying is that it only takes is a few gullible buyers and a few overpriced sellers to increase the price.

Sure, supply and demand play a large part of prices going up but that isn't the only factor here.

 

I hear this sentiment a lot and it always bugs me. The simple fact is that when someone hits a BIN, that means they are satisfied with the asking price, whether it is high or low as compared to the average price or what others consider to be fair for an item. Sellers are free to ask whatever they want for any item, but that does not set the price. Just as buyers are free to not buy an item they think is overpriced, which won't necessarily drive the average price down. If too much time passes on a high BIN, ideally, the seller will get the hint and lower the price. If they don't, they risk sitting on inventory forever. This notion that people see high BINs and treat them as a price guide is just not true for the vast majority of people. Admittedly, some people probably do this, but these will average out over time as a single high or low anomaly won't affect the price too much on an item as common as CBFD.

 

But in the case of something driven by emotion and nostalgia, the prices are subject to more interpretation. If we were dealing with necessities, it would be vastly different. But we don't *need* to own video games, we *want* to own them. That brings into play the fact that not everybody has the same fiscal responsibilities just like not everybody values an amount of money the same way. To some, $100 dollars is the difference between having food on the table or going hungry for a week while to others, $100 is the difference in having a good steak vs having a normal steak on a single night. This means that many people will be willing to throw around money on a hobby more freely. It may also be that when compared to local sellers, the ebay BIN that you consider high is actually cheap. But regardless, no two people are going to have the same thoughts about how to spend their money and it's honestly not anybody else's business.

 

All of this adds up to the fact that no one person can say what a fair price for an item is universally. What you consider high, other people in different circumstances will consider low. So I don't think there's any blame to be cast on any part of the system. It's the beauty and curse of an open market system. All we can do is hold on for the ride and hope that we manage to buy low most of the time. Some things are going to increase in price, some will decrease, and truthfully there's little chance of being able to predict it with any sort of accuracy. People just need to understand this and stop complaining when prices on non-essentials are outside of what they want to pay.