Why do major collectors here talk down the prices of games?

[homerwannabee]

I have noticed a common theme with a lot of major collectors in this hobby. And that is that many of occasion they complain how a certain game is overpriced and that the person is paying too much. I really don't understand the motivation to do this. Why would someone be upset that a game in their collection is worth more. I can see being maybe apathetic, but to be upset that one of your games is actually worth more makes no sense to me. I guess I am not too upset because I still have a long way to go to build up on my collection and with the big time collectors constantly talking down the price of most games probably helps me more than it hurts me at this point.

Edited May 29, 2007 by homerwannabee

[bretthorror]

I have noticed a common theme with a lot of major collectors in this hobby. And that is that many of occasion they complain how a certain game is overpriced and that the person is paying too much. I really don't understand the motivation to do this. Why would someone be upset that a game in their collection is worth more. I can see being maybe apathetic, but to be upset that one of your games is actually worth more makes no sense to me. I guess I am not too upset because I still have a long way to go to build up on my collection and with the big time collectors constantly talking down the price of most games probably helps me more than it hurts me at this point.

 

Probably because at the end of the day, the games are like crack to them and they want to get more at a lower price. I don't collect, but if I did, the quantity/quality of items would mean more than the value. I mean it would really piss you off to pay $250 for a Quadrun loose, then all the sudden a box of them is found and they go for significantly less. But, at the end of the day if you're constantly tossing around $300 for these boxed games, then you shouldn't be too worried about losing a few hundred bucks here and there. I honestly think if someone gets all NTSC carts, they'd simply try to buy the foreign carts out there. Or else start on another system. Half the thrill is in the buying. To be honest... I think the carts in the Brazilian thread are much, much more interesting than the US stuff simply because you just don't know where half that stuff came from.

 

I understand collecting games to play them. I understand spending a lot on a rare game you want to play. I almost understand spending thousands on decent games because they're rare or neat. I don't understand spending a couple grand on a piece of crap game. I also don't understand at all a person who looks at his collection and the first thing he'd say is "this is worth $2000". Are there many people out there like this? I don't know, but it's just something I was thinking about. If you flaunt the game and not the price, then at least you're probably collecting for a good reason.

 

Either way, for you collectors, happy collecting.

Edited May 29, 2007 by bretthorror

[Rik]

Yeah,i know what you mean and i feel the same way.The truth is,you wont get rich collecting classic games,if that was someones intention,perhaps collecting vintage wines,picasso's,classic cars,would be more profitable.I dont think most collect for a NEST EGG,i think most collect to get a piece of nostagiac history,relive their childhood,and simply for the love of the classic console games.

[Crazy Climber]

People are paying way too much for games lately, especially CIB stuff. I wouldn't say I am a major collector or anything but I have a good idea what a lot of games are worth and the people paying these high prices lately don't. They are just worried that another one will not be for sale so they panic bid and pay way too much for it. If they are patient they will find another one at a decent price Just my opinion.

[Scumdogg]

Talking up the price of anything in any hobby eventually does more harm than good, i feel. This is how ebay sellers got as bloated and greedy as they did, and it's even spilling over into flea markets and garage sales. You tell one guy his game's worth $100, next thing you know he's pushing for $120. Someone sees this and throws their game up on ebay with a $150 BIN. That sells, then four more people do the same thing. It's no good for the hobbyists or collectors, just the greedy profiteers.

I'd rather be able to get what i love cheap than have it be worth any money. If you're buying stuff to resell, buy stocks. It's easier.

[chubsta]

Talking up the price of anything in any hobby eventually does more harm than good, i feel. This is how ebay sellers got as bloated and greedy as they did, and it's even spilling over into flea markets and garage sales. You tell one guy his game's worth $100, next thing you know he's pushing for $120. Someone sees this and throws their game up on ebay with a $150 BIN. That sells, then four more people do the same thing. It's no good for the hobbyists or collectors, just the greedy profiteers.

I'd rather be able to get what i love cheap than have it be worth any money. If you're buying stuff to resell, buy stocks. It's easier.

 

About 6 years ago i used to be able to go to boot-fairs in theuk and there would always be atari systems and games for sale, usually for just a few quid. I havent seen any now for 2 years and ebay is full of them, often at ridiculous prices. Of course, all the games are 'super-rare', such as pacman and et, and priced accordingly.

 

It takes the real fun out of collecting as i know the only place i can get games is from ebay. The more 'talking down' that is done can only help IMHO

[+LS650]

Maybe they just don't like to see buyers getting ripped off?

[Atari5200]

I don't really care about people debating the price of carts, they will flucuate, what I have a problem with is people buying them up to drive up the price of carts, which I believe is happening with a specific person on this board, I see no reason to own more than 1 of a super rare cart than to just have them all so you, the owner of all or most of 1 game, can then set the market price yourself.

[homerwannabee]

I see the greed factor as a bad thing granted, but to be honest the one thing I do like about higher prices is that people start to realize that we exist as a hobby. I feel that this hobby has been totally neglected by the general public. Most people don't even realize that we exist as a hobby. Now this may be good when going to yard sales and the like, but to be honest I have not found much recently in the way of video games, the market has totally dried up. Also, everyone remembers the Antique Road Show segment in this community. But guess what? The segment is now over 6 years old. Since then absolutley nothing. You know people may have an image of a comic book collector and a Sports card collector, but atleast people have images of them. I would really like to see this hobby grow. It would be the greatest thing if twenty years from now I show up to a video game convention and there are 50,000 people. I am not too sure if the comic book hobby and the sports card hobby would be as big as it is today if the early collectors constantly talked trash about their holly grail items. Like if 30 years ago people were talking about how paying $100 for a Amazing Spiderman comic is the stupidest thing a person can do because they are everywhere you turn if someone is patient enough they can easily have one for a much cheaper price. Now say these nay sayers were succesful in their attempts to keep the price down on their valuable comics and an Amazing Spiderman comic was still hovering around $100 do you really think that this hobby would be as large as it is today? Yes low prices filter out the bad people but unfortenatley these are not the only people that get filtered out because of this.

Edited May 29, 2007 by homerwannabee

[Atari5200]

i agree with you Homer in most parts, I agree that game collectors are pretty much overlooked over any other type of collecting.

 

At least in my area the market has all but dried up. You can easily find hundreds of games at any of my local game stores or junk store if your willing to pay the price. The one store i think they ebay their prices because they all seem to jive with prices on Ebay, which can be good or bad, the junk store sells 2600 games for $1.99 regardless of the game and i've found some really good deals over the years, but their other games are outrageously priced, i know they aren't researching, they're just marking what they think they are worth, the 3rd store is the same way, but they stopped selling anything older than NES because it doesn't make them any money. I can usually find good deals, but they know certain games bring in top dollar, like they had a Dragon Warrior III for $100

 

So you can buy 1,000's if not 10,000's of classic games in my area, if your willing to pay the price. You're not going to get them for .25cents or 50cents each like a garage sale. I'm no means rich, i spent $38 over the weekend at a game store for a bag full of common Genesis carts and a boxed Syndicate for Jaguar.

[Scumdogg]

Actually Homer, price hikes and market speculation are responsible for the gigantic crash in the comic book market, which resulted in the devaluing of all but a handful of key issues. It might get your hobby recognized, but once your hobby is TOO recognized, then you have non-gamers buying up all of our games as an "investment". And i'm sure nobody here wants that. The absolute BEST place a hobby can be is under the radar. People complain that most of the old channels for finding games have dried up, well...it's because too many people that don't know what they're doing have "recognized" our hobby.

[Crazy Climber]

Maybe they just don't like to see buyers getting ripped off?

My thoughts exactly

[Crazy Climber]

I see the greed factor as a bad thing granted, but to be honest the one thing I do like about higher prices is that people start to realize that we exist as a hobby. I feel that this hobby has been totally neglected by the general public.

Trust me man, you want the hobby to be neglected. You think it's hard to get games now, just imagine if 50,000 people were fighting over them. It is not a good thing. People over paying for stuff either have no idea what it is worth and think they will never see another one for sale or they want to collect everything right away and don't have the patience to wait, causing a bid war, thus driving up the price. The same thing happened 5 or 6 years ago with loose stuff which although I was very interested in collecting I was scared away from it at that time due to prices. People were paying crazy prices for games, once every one got them all the prices went back down and people that paid several hundred for chuckwagon and Glib, Bumper Bash, etc... are going to be lucky if they break $100 if they re sell now. The patient people waited and found the same games for $50 or so and that is what they are worth. If 50,000 people all of a sudden joined up with this hobby how many of them do you really think will be in it for the right reasons like nostalgia and an overall love for Atari, sure a few but most will just be people with dollar signs in there eyes, think of how many people there are that already think like that and times it by a hundred. If you think that is a good thing you are mistaken, the same thing Scummdog mentioned above will take place. Prices will be so inflated it will cause a crash, Atari is cool and I love it, don't get me wrong but the day prices shoot sky high and I can see the fun of collecting has been replaced with the worry of the dollar value of what I own is the day I sell everything ad never look back (I would of course stay active in the homebrew scene and keep games I enjoy playing from my childhood) I could honestly care less if my games ever go up in value Thats why I "talk down" prices.

[homerwannabee]

Yeah, I here about what you are saying about a crash, but the fact of the matter is Comic Con had over 100,000 people go to their convention last year. This is despite the fact that most comics in the past 30 years are basically worthless. Stan Lee himself is more popular than he has ever been and a lot of people have huge respect for the early comic artist. This would be cool if David Krane was treated in the same way. It would be annoying for a little while but after the fad of collecting these games were over, the industry would still be a lot more populor and recognized. For instance Beanie Baby collecting is still recognized by most of society even though that industry really went into the toilet. Well I guess that is my two cents on the subject.

[CPUWIZ]

I do it (not that I consider myself a major collector) because all kinds of newbies (no offense), like homer, think they are Atari stock-brokers, simply in it to hype up the value of, for instance, labelless promo carts. What they do is put a false idea into other new collectors heads, of what a game is worth, simply because of their own opinion, not experience (or extremely limited). And then there are also people like Wonder007, who just don't give a rats ass about what they have to pay, and in the process are artificially inflating the perceived value of an item.

 

I said it before, I'll say it again, if you are in this for the money, you have already lost. And to people like Marco, or myself, you aren't a real collector. You will probably end up like most speed-collectors, selling in a couple of years.

 

I've known people who got so paranoid over what they "invested" in games, they had to sell them, because the burdon was too great. That's not fun, in my opinion.

 

Just my $0.02, no further comment.

 

Now if you could excuse me please, I have to walk back behind the fence and watch people hype up loose Rescue Terra I carts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WOOHOOOOOOO, if OOC is worth $3500.00, my CIB Lochjaw is worth $5000.00. LOL

 

David Krane was treated in the same way.

 

Blasphemy, you can't even spell his name.

[Crazy Climber]

Yeah, I here about what you are saying about a crash, but the fact of the matter is Comic Con had over 100,000 people go to their convention last year. This is despite the fact that most comics in the past 30 years are basically worthless. Stan Lee himself is more popular than he has ever been and a lot of people have huge respect for the early comic artist. This would be cool if David Krane was treated in the same way. It would be annoying for a little while but after the fad of collecting these games were over, the industry would still be a lot more populor and recognized. For instance Beanie Baby collecting is still recognized by most of society even though that industry really went into the toilet. Well I guess that is my two cents on the subject.

I would say David already gets a lot of respect, I have heard so many magazines and people refer to Pitfall! as the best game ever on Atari and one of the all time greatest games ever made. There is a lot of people who know who he is and what he has done and still doing. It's hard to compare him to Stan Lee though since Comic characters are very mainstream with movies, etc.. They just have a much wider audience and always will, I think that is a good thing. Could you really imagine kids trick or treating dressed up like Pitfall carts, it would just never happen

[homerwannabee]

I do it (not that I consider myself a major collector) because all kinds of newbies (no offense), like homer, think they are Atari stock-brokers, simply in it to hype up the value of, for instance, labelless promo carts. What they do is put a false idea into other new collectors heads, of what a game is worth, simply because of their own opinion, not experience (or extremely limited). And then there are also people like Wonder007, who just don't give a rats ass about what they have to pay, and in the process are artificially inflating the perceived value of an item.

 

I said it before, I'll say it again, if you are in this for the money, you have already lost. And to people like Marco, or myself, you aren't a real collector. You will probably end up like most speed-collectors, selling in a couple of years.

 

I've known people who got so paranoid over what they "invested" in games, they had to sell them, because the burdon was too great. That's not fun, in my opinion.

 

Just my $0.02, no further comment.

 

Now if you could excuse me please, I have to walk back behind the fence and watch people hype up loose Rescue Terra I carts.

 

WOOHOOOOOOO, if OOC is worth $3500.00, my CIB Lochjaw is worth $5000.00. LOL

 

David Krane was treated in the same way.

 

Blasphemy, you can't even spell his name.

Noob, I have been a member here for almost 4 years BTW I would not be surprised if your CIB Lochjaw is worth $5,000. I might be wrong but there are more boxed Video Lifes than Boxed Lochjaw's. Sell my collection in 2 years. Got me wrong on that account too. I am an investor to a certain extent, but I am thinking much longer term than you could possibly imagine. I made a commitement to myself to not to sell my collection until the year 2020(Yes I did sell my Quadrun but this was only to help pay for the promo cart). When this time rolls around. A lot of things will change. In fact a lot of people by this time will probably no longer be collectors, because they will probably sell out to someone who is willing to pay a lot more money than they originally paid for it. I guess you could say I am not looking to make a quick buck off my collection. I am in this for the long run. I guess you could say this is my retirement fund. Hey, atleast I am honest about what I am trying to do.

 

By the way, I really do enjoy playing the Atari 2600 so there is part player in me as well. If you don't think I am a collector than fine. It's semantic's when you come down to it.

Edited May 29, 2007 by homerwannabee

[Captain Beard]

I guess you could say I am not looking to make a quick buck off my collection. I am in this for the long run. I guess you could say this is my retirement fund.

Off the top of my head, I can think of at least 698,988 things that are better investments than Atari cartridges.

 

Just sayin'.

[homerwannabee]

I guess you could say I am not looking to make a quick buck off my collection. I am in this for the long run. I guess you could say this is my retirement fund.

Off the top of my head, I can think of at least 698,988 things that are better investments than Atari cartridges.

 

Just sayin'.

Ahh, you may be correct, but none of those 698,988 are as cool

[Atari5200]

I've never once thought about selling my collection. I have just now started to put my commons for sell at the local flea market when I go. I hope to pass on my collection to my son when I die, becaue i'll be damned if he's going to get everything I have before then, but it's hard and sometimes frustrating when you, as a collector, cannot collect simply because of the price a cart demands, but hey, that's collecting. Every hobby has it's rarities. I consider it more sport because I'm not going to sit on my ass on Ebay watching for crap, i get out there and actually hunt. How many "hunters" are there truely in this hobby anymore. I have little to no respect for "Ebayers" or anybody that collects mostly from the computer. Most of the fun of this hobby is getting out and actually hunting. Granted, there's just some things you cannot find in the wild, most of my Lynx collection is from Ebay, and i've yet in 10 years of living where i'm at, have seen anything Lynx related in the wild. But all my 2600 collection, 7800, jaguar, and pretty much every other system i have is all from the wild, other than some obscure systems like the GP32, Supervision, Wonderswan, things you would never see in the wild.

Edited May 29, 2007 by Atari5200

[homerwannabee]

I've never once thought about selling my collection. I have just now started to put my commons for sell at the local flea market when I go. I hope to pass on my collection to my son when I die, becaue i'll be damned if he's going to get everything I have before then, but it's hard and sometimes frustrating when you, as a collector, cannot collect simply because of the price a cart demands, but hey, that's collecting. Every hobby has it's rarities. I consider it more sport because I'm not going to sit on my ass on Ebay watching for crap, i get out there and actually hunt. How many "hunters" are there truely in this hobby anymore. I have little to no respect for "Ebayers" or anybody that collects mostly from the computer. Most of the fun of this hobby is getting out and actually hunting. Granted, there's just some things you cannot find in the wild, most of my Lynx collection is from Ebay, and i've yet in 10 years of living where i'm at, have seen anything Lynx related in the wild. But all my 2600 collection, 7800, jaguar, and pretty much every other system i have is all from the wild, other than some obscure systems like the GP32, Supervision, Wonderswan, things you would never see in the wild.

I got to admit that I still hunt for Atari games in the wild. Just this weekend I checked out 40 different Yard sales. Unfortenatley I came up empty handed for Atari Stuff. I also go to my local swap meet pretty religously week in and week out. I have gotten a few cool items in the wild like Pengo, Private eye, a Boxed Supercharger, a rare Atari made in Taiwan Heavy Sixer. A Sears Heavy Sixer, and a few Heavy Sixer Joysticks. But if it wasn't for Ebay, Atariage, and collectors meets and conventions, I would not have all of of my rare games

Edited May 29, 2007 by homerwannabee

[Marco]

I consider myself one of the stable factors amongst all the people constantly trying to talk up the prices of games

 

Cheers,

Marco

[FND]

I have noticed a common theme with a lot of major collectors in this hobby. And that is that many of occasion they complain how a certain game is overpriced and that the person is paying too much.

 

I think that most Long time collectors in this hobby are only trying to help out when they point out that something is selling at inflated

value, they have been around long enough to understand how the market can be affected by misleading factors

 

FND

[Keir]

I'd also like to add that the "major collectors" most likely put a lot of time and effort into building their collections without spending a fortune. Therefore, their perceived value of a game will be significantly less than whatever the going price is on eBay.

[jboypacman]

Well most major collectors have been collecting for a while so i think they would have a good ideal on the vaules of games are so it goes to understand that they would know if someone is asking to much for a certain game.

 

Besides this helps us "minor collectors"who are just getting our collections started and might not have the best ideal what something should go for.