More ebay bitching

[ChuChu Flamingo]

Totally nailed it Skips.

All these stupid rarity guides on hipsterboy(racketboy),resellerage(nintendoage), and people proclaiming misinformation (hagane is a blockbuster exclusive guyz) really makes me mad.

I also like how one of the biggest nintendo forums are run by man babies who cant even take someone expressing their opinions on resellers and other stuff without topic getting locked.

Also for offers on this site, can't even call them out (and guess what, everyone does it now on there as it is lead by example. Why put prices when you can fish for a bigger fish).

This guy has had this thread up for ages, puts prices up on ebay, but can't even do the common courtesy to give the reach around for forum members.

I even asked why prices on feebay and none there, oh i'll take off 10%. Pretty cool he knows the price he wants on ebay, but not on Nintendoage.

http://nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=6&threadid=140230

 

[LWK]

Ebay is the root cause of the death of all good scenes. Like has been said. Misinformation spreading. Demand for common games. A good example of this nonsense'ry is Mega Man X2. That game is as common as Earthbound. Honestly. I don't even consider Earthbound rare. A lot of times the demand makes no sense.

It is wayyyyyyyy to easy to corner a market with video games also. Mega Man X2 was like $60, bare cart. What is it now? $80'ish? I think this hipster beard and beanie combination poser nonsense is to blame to. I HATE that gaming became trendy. I miss the days when it was more underground and something that was considered socially shameful. Now everyone has their mario mushroom patches/stickers. All this stuff is super saturated. We already have each other as competition buying neo games, do we really need asshole european gougers, the hipster idiots with no tech knowledge or history being hardcore into games?

I think if gaming loses its trend factor in fashion and such, it may lower the bar and get people out of this niche searching mindset. To share a story.. I went into this store called gamesforless. It was the worst experience game related in the last ten years of my life. Some old guy running it, typical shirt tuck reseller looking scumbag. I swear, it's like these people have their own unwritten dress code... Looked like a car salesmen. The vibe was awful. Like walking into some Jehova worship session. TONS of games you'd want. The prices? You can forget about buying anything at that junkyard of stuff nobody will get the chance to play.

 

[ChuChu Flamingo]

I remember buying my copy back in 2007-2008 for 35 bucks.

 

[Skips]

I remember buying my copy back in 2007-2008 for 35 bucks.

I just get the SFC versions of games like this. You can get the SFC version for 25 or so still.

 

[ki_atsushi]

For the price of X2 and Earthbound carts you can get a SD2SNES. The days of collecting are over.

 

[GohanX]

Funny you should say that. I've been meaning to sell my X2 and X3 carts to buy a SD2SNES.

 

[Pasky]

I just get the SFC versions of games like this. You can get the SFC version for 25 or so still.

Don't worry, people are catching on to this as well. You could get SFC super metroid last year for $8. They're going for $30 now. Can't keep hanging on to this one unfortunately.

 

[andsuchisdeath]

Some old guy running it, typical shirt tuck reseller looking scumbag. I swear, it's like these people have their own unwritten dress code... Looked like a car salesmen. The vibe was awful. Like walking into some Jehova worship session.

Well, if I absolutely have to buy a video game in public, I'd prefer to have the guy who's selling it to me wear a suit.

Anyways, it sounds like the degeneration of brick and mortar has finally caught up to SoCal Neo Candy Central.

I can recall as recent as two years ago, there have been threads addressing 16 bit game prices and the wild, and you where advocating the idea of pursuing thrift stores as if it was a viable and ingenious option (perhaps it was for you at the time).

Whereas I remember expressing how thrift stores and flea markets were more expensive than ebay as far back at 2011/2012.

Well everyone, this is your punishment for being drawn to something that attracts a subculture of morons, idiots and losers now more than ever.

I know I've repented for my sins.

 

[Skips]

Luckily there is still a local place that sells stuff (well most of it) for reasonable prices. I know they use eBay as a price guide but they know it is inflated and usually knock 20-30% off the eBay price for stuff. I can still walk in there and get an SNES for $40 or Genesis for $20. Its not super saver deals or anything but it is reasonable and sometimes they will haggle five dollars or so off a price. I've stopped buying games for most consoles but I do go there to buy consoles for clients sometimes. They usually give me an OK to decent deal and will even let me open consoles to see what revision they are. This was incredibly helpful when I was doing the PC10 NES RGB mods and is also awesome if I ever need to pick up a Genesis/SNES for myself or others. I don't think they do that for everyone though, they know I repair and work on stuff so they don't mind. I wish more places like this were still around.

As far as brick and mortar stores go there have been ones that rip people off for very long time (well before shit got super expensive on eBay that is). We used to have a local place called GAMERS which was ran by an older lady and her son. The lady was alright but the son was some middle aged man and was a sleazeball. They were open from the early 90's until about 2006 or 2007. Even back in 2006 before they closed their doors they were charging above eBay prices ($60 for an NES in 2006). Her son ran the place like a dishonest used car salesman and did nothing but price gouge people. He also was trying to sell XBOX modding services and software (software that was built with the official XDK). He tried to do it with me when I went there for a replacement controller one time. I told him although modding the consoles was legal the selling/distribution of software built with the XDK was not (at least at that time it was not). He then began to rattle off how his lawyers informed him it was and he wasn't doing anything illegal. I went in the next day when his mom was working the store and told her. Her response was "that sum' bitch" (Which I found hilarious because it was her kid) and she mentioned she was going to put an end to that crap. The store closed not too long after that happened. But yeah I guess my point is people have been pulling this stuff well before prices began to sky rocket, eBay just gives them a central location to pull their price gouging shenanigans from (and allowed them to reach out to far more potential suckers). I personally don't blame eBay, I blame the fuckers like that sleazeball and the people that fall for that shit without questioning anything.

 

[snes_collector]

I think it also has to do with a completely different crowd into this stuff, hipster or not. When I started visiting DP in 2004ish, the crowd then was COMPLETELY different than what most of video game forum crowd is like now, especially on Nintendoage. Too many threads talking about how much something cost or what the next rare "rare" game is gonna be instead of talking about how something plays. This forum is the closest to that vibe that still exist imo.

Oh yeah, you guys talking about Megaman X2 for SNES, check this out: http://www.ebay.com/itm/MEGA-MAN-X-2-Super-Nintendo-SNES-game-SEALED-NEW-/311279572974?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4879b557ee I don't get this at ALL. I think I payed about $15 bucks loose for this when I got it.

 

[smokehouse]

I think it also has to do with a completely different crowd into this stuff, hipster or not. When I started visiting DP in 2004ish, the crowd then was COMPLETELY different than what most of video game forum crowd is like now, especially on Nintendoage. Too many threads talking about how much something cost or what the next rare "rare" game is gonna be instead of talking about how something plays. This forum is the closest to that vibe that still exist imo.

Oh yeah, you guys talking about Megaman X2 for SNES, check this out: http://www.ebay.com/itm/MEGA-MAN-X-2-Super-Nintendo-SNES-game-SEALED-NEW-/311279572974?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4879b557ee I don't get this at ALL. I think I payed about $15 bucks loose for this when I got it.

Yes, there definitely has been a shift.

I consider many VG collectors now to be far closer to toy collectors than to many of us. Toy collectors fixate on packaging, and condition, and display. Few actually play with the toys...the collect and display them...or try to sell for a profit.

Many of us "older" guys started getting older games in the mid/late 90's because we either played them back when new and wanted to play them again...or always wanted to play them but didn't have the $$ when they were new. As long as the item was in working order and not 100% shit conditioned (ex rental), most of us didn't care. We didn't "speculate buy" new items trying to get tomorrows rare game, today...and many of use thought it was silly/amusing when sealed games started becoming a thing.

This is a collector's item to many now...not a game. I've said it before and I'll say it again. It's not the physical case that = value in my book...it's the damn game. If you're a sealed game collector, I'm guessing you don't give a good shit about the actual game...you're obsessed with the flimsy plastic film covering that cardboard box. In my mind? That's a fucking joke...a fool and their $$ are easily parted. If you have $2K to drop on something as pointless as a sealed SNES game...you have more $$ than brains...

 

[Pasky]

I think it also has to do with a completely different crowd into this stuff, hipster or not. When I started visiting DP in 2004ish, the crowd then was COMPLETELY different than what most of video game forum crowd is like now, especially on Nintendoage. Too many threads talking about how much something cost or what the next rare "rare" game is gonna be instead of talking about how something plays. This forum is the closest to that vibe that still exist imo.

Oh yeah, you guys talking about Megaman X2 for SNES, check this out: http://www.ebay.com/itm/MEGA-MAN-X-2-Super-Nintendo-SNES-game-SEALED-NEW-/311279572974?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4879b557ee I don't get this at ALL. I think I payed about $15 bucks loose for this when I got it.

Says it was relisted due to a non paying bidder, probably someone fucking with him .

 

[snes_collector]

Yes, there definitely has been a shift.

I consider many VG collectors now to be far closer to toy collectors than to many of us. Toy collectors fixate on packaging, and condition, and display. Few actually play with the toys...the collect and display them...or try to sell for a profit.

Many of us "older" guys started getting older games in the mid/late 90's because we either played them back when new and wanted to play them again...or always wanted to play them but didn't have the $$ when they were new. As long as the item was in working order and not 100% shit conditioned (ex rental), most of us didn't care. We didn't "speculate buy" new items trying to get tomorrows rare game, today...and many of use thought it was silly/amusing when sealed games started becoming a thing.

This is a collector's item to many now...not a game. I've said it before and I'll say it again. It's not the physical case that = value in my book...it's the damn game. If you're a sealed game collector, I'm guessing you don't give a good shit about the actual game...you're obsessed with the flimsy plastic film covering that cardboard box. In my mind? That's a fucking joke...a fool and their $$ are easily parted. If you have $2K to drop on something as pointless as a sealed SNES game...you have more $$ than brains...

I agree completely. I was really young (early teens) when I first started going to DP. It interested me because at that point I never had stopped playing my Super Nintendo and to hear people constantly discussing it was very interesting to me. A lot of those old school guys really knew their stuff. It never was about the box or the manual to me, just playing the games. Back then though if people did collect complete, it was still about the games, not the paper. The games always brought more money, and that has completely flipped now.

 

[Pasky]

The whole game collecting shit is pretty sad. I know a lot of comic book collectors went into video games when the comic market took a shit on them and now they're speculating on carts. Then you have idiots like STV who have basically cornered a specific PCB market and drove prices to insane amounts and are now setting crosshairs on consoles. Now he has copy-cats and the Japanese (akiba-connect) caught on to how much retarded Americans and Euros will pay for things. Uninformed buyers and like Skips said, "gotta have it now" fuckers are really ruining the hobby for people interested in just playing games. I don't know how much these stupid "Retro" idiots on Youtube who showcase their shelves of unplayed games behind every fucking possible camera angle they record at have an influence on people wanting these games but it's getting pretty stupid now.

That's why I like this place and PCEFX forums so much, it's probably one of the few forums where people will shit all over someone trying to flip something or fling some bullshit their way. It also has it's hypocrisy with some members but whatever, at least I can call someone an asshole here if I think they're an asshole and not be banned for it.

 

[smokehouse]

I agree completely. I was really young (early teens) when I first started going to DP. It interested me because at that point I never had stopped playing my Super Nintendo and to hear people constantly discussing it was very interesting to me. A lot of those old school guys really knew their stuff. It never was about the box or the manual to me, just playing the games. Back then though if people did collect complete, it was still about the games, not the paper. The games always brought more money, and that has completely flipped now.

I knew shit had changed when people started asking me for super detailed pictures of the cart. It used to be "Is the label all jacked up? No. Is it 100% working? Yes? I'll take it, what's your Paypal?" Now it's all museum level documentation and nit-picking of every fine line detail of some stupid sticker on the cover of plastic shell. Rarely does anyone even ask me if the damn thing works anymore...no, they're way more concerned the label is picture perfect...

 

[smokehouse]

The whole game collecting shit is pretty sad. I know a lot of comic book collectors went into video games when the comic market took a shit on them and now they're speculating on carts. Then you have idiots like STV who have basically cornered a specific PCB market and drove prices to insane amounts and are now setting crosshairs on consoles. Now he has copy-cats and the Japanese (akiba-connect) caught on to how much retarded Americans and Euros will pay for things. Uninformed buyers and like Skips said, "gotta have it now" fuckers are really ruining the hobby for people interested in just playing games. I don't know how much these stupid "Retro" idiots on Youtube who showcase their shelves of unplayed games behind every fucking possible camera angle they record at have an influence on people wanting these games but it's getting pretty stupid now.

That's why I like this place and PCEFX forums so much, it's probably one of the few forums where people will shit all over someone trying to flip something or fling some bullshit their way. It also has it's hypocrisy with some members but whatever, at least I can call someone an asshole here if I think they're an asshole and not be banned for it.

...and this is why that vast majority of us will just leave "real" cart collecting to the wolves and get SD-multi carts. If a majority of you are like me...it is amazing how much I do not care about carts...I am 100% about the games on them.

I am *this-close* to selling every last cart I have and just getting SD carts. I could easily pay for them with the $$ I'd get from these moronic shit-sticks.

 

[GohanX]

Doo eet!

 

[Skips]

...and this is why that vast majority of us will just leave "real" cart collecting to the wolves and get SD-multi carts. If a majority of you are like me...it is amazing how much I do not care about carts...I am 100% about the games on them.

I am *this-close* to selling every last cart I have and just getting SD carts. I could easily pay for them with the $$ I'd get from these moronic shit-sticks.

In all honesty I did that before I went on my modding hiatus and I could not tell the difference between the SD Carts and the real carts 99.9% of the time. There are some few exceptions but for the most part it plays the same.

 

[HeavyMachineGoob]

In all honesty I did that before I went on my modding hiatus and I could not tell the difference between the SD Carts and the real carts 99.9% of the time. There are some few exceptions but for the most part it plays the same.

If the flash cart is designed well, there will be zero difference. It's the same deal with single chip clones, they are true hardware-based and naturally have excellent or perfect accuracy, just depends on the handling of the technology (emulators have to approximate under-the-hood for speed, not accurate).

Take SNES for instance, most games are just a ROM chip, sometimes there's a logic chip to handle two ROM chips or there's SRAM + battery. These sorts of games are stupid simple to perfectly duplicate on a flash cart. Literally, the cart only has to load the SNES game into DRAM/flash/etc and execute. Thus perfect accuracy.

Now if the game has a co-processor, that's a bit different. The CLPD/FPGA is by all accounts the same thing as an ASIC, just capable of being "programmed" by an end user. No "emulation" or "simulation" going on. The only thing that separates a perfect FPGA co-processor and a bad one is the quality of the verilog/VDHL "code" being written to the FPGA. It's the same thing as chinese single chip clones. The technology is sound, but it can be marred by incompetence.

Long story short, all hail the flash cart. I love mine, they mean I don't have to waste excessive amounts of money on my NES/SNES/Genesis.

 

[Pasky]

If the flash cart is designed well, there will be zero difference. It's the same deal with single chip clones, they are true hardware-based and naturally have excellent or perfect accuracy, just depends on the handling of the technology (emulators have to approximate under-the-hood for speed, not accurate).

Take SNES for instance, most games are just a ROM chip, sometimes there's a logic chip to handle two ROM chips or there's SRAM + battery. These sorts of games are stupid simple to perfectly duplicate on a flash cart. Literally, the cart only has to load the SNES game into DRAM/flash/etc and execute. Thus perfect accuracy.

Now if the game has a co-processor, that's a bit different. The CLPD/FPGA is by all accounts the same thing as an ASIC, just capable of being "programmed" by an end user. No "emulation" or "simulation" going on. The only thing that separates a perfect FPGA co-processor and a bad one is the quality of the verilog/VDHL "code" being written to the FPGA. It's the same thing as chinese single chip clones. The technology is sound, but it can be marred by incompetence.

Long story short, all hail the flash cart. I love mine, they mean I don't have to waste excessive amounts of money on my NES/SNES/Genesis.

It's not nearly as simple as you're saying, there are other factors involved such as mappers being emulated properly with the fpga. Genesis and NES roms are subject to this especially, not so much SNES.

You're also forgetting other caveats such as games that rely on boot time ram initialization. They won't play EXACTLY the same as when a flash cart boots and then loads the rom because the initial ram state changed since the flash cart rom was the first thing run. Final Fantasy on NES is a good example of a game that uses initial ram state on boot up.

Flahscarts are great, but they aren't true 1:1 replacements. As far as casuals go, they'd never tell the difference other than mapper bugs.

 

[HeavyMachineGoob]

It is as simple as I was saying FOR SNES. I did not include NES or Genesis. IT CAN however be just as simple. NES has mapperless games, Genesis has just as many (if not more) ROM only games as SNES. Those games will run virtually identical to their real counterparts.

My point is people like to compare flash carts to emulators, which is wrong in some ways. Yeah, you can place hundreds of ROMs on an SD card, but a flash cart runs on original hardware and is 99% identical save for tiny errors, akin to typos. The technology itself lends itself to accuracy. Emulation lends itself to inaccuracy by nature of the beast.

Buy flash carts, enjoy the games as they were meant to be played, skip the emulators.

 

[T.A.P.]

In all honesty I did that before I went on my modding hiatus and I could not tell the difference between the SD Carts and the real carts 99.9% of the time. There are some few exceptions but for the most part it plays the same.

What are the exceptions?

I knew shit had changed when people started asking me for super detailed pictures of the cart. It used to be "Is the label all jacked up? No. Is it 100% working? Yes? I'll take it, what's your Paypal?" Now it's all museum level documentation and nit-picking of every fine line detail of some stupid sticker on the cover of plastic shell. Rarely does anyone even ask me if the damn thing works anymore...no, they're way more concerned the label is picture perfect...

I figure people don't ask if it works because they (rightly) assume you aren't trying to sell them a broken game like some asshole.

I didn't care about condition growing up, and I ended up with some really shitty copies of games over the years because of that. When I grew up, got a job, started paying for all this shit myself and really learned the value of a dollar, I started caring more about condition, and subsequently rebought a few games because my copies were junk. Some of them were expensive (fuck the asshole that sold me a garbage X3 back in the 90s claiming it was in 'decent' shape in the years before pictures became standard on eBay), and with the way prices are going, I don't blame someone for wanting to make sure the game they're getting isn't shitty before they dump a lot of cash on it.

Hell, I had to buy a few games multiple times because the asshole seller 'forgot' to mention or take a picture of a major flaw, like some retard carving his name into the back, or a chunk of plastic missing.

 

[HeavyMachineGoob]

Microscopic shitpicking that only nerds more anal than me would care about.

I don't lie to myself that emulation is perfect, far from it. If today's emulators really were 100% accurate, they would be so slow they would be unplayable. Transistor accuracy or bust. I would rather play a decent single chip clone than a supposedly super accurate emulator. I can tell you which is more accurate under the hood where it counts.

 

[LWK]

Well, if I absolutely have to buy a video game in public, I'd prefer to have the guy who's selling it to me wear a suit.

Anyways, it sounds like the degeneration of brick and mortar has finally caught up to SoCal Neo Candy Central.

I can recall as recent as two years ago, there have been threads addressing 16 bit game prices and the wild, and you where advocating the idea of pursuing thrift stores as if it was a viable and ingenious option (perhaps it was for you at the time).

Whereas I remember expressing how thrift stores and flea markets were more expensive than ebay as far back at 2011/2012.

Well everyone, this is your punishment for being drawn to something that attracts a subculture of morons, idiots and losers now more than ever.

I know I've repented for my sins.

You really just to have to go there to have a idea of it. It's just the worst type of vibe. Like imagine finding a stack of manuals, and instead of him saying 'oh a buck each', it's like some issue. Candy cabs are a dying breed to. I also buy in a mode called 'alarm mode'. It basically causes more problems because I want certain titles, but I KNOW if I do not pull the trigger on them, I may not be able to. SSVS is one of those games, so getting my copy last year was a really big deal, since I got it for fixing someones machine. I cannot in good conscience unload 500 on a game. I could have done 350 without a shred of guilt, because its the last SS title I needed, but I wish people appreciated the neo geo as much as I do. I saw a Neo Bomber Man on ebay for like 78 shipped last night. I was thinking of pulling the trigger on that, because I don't mind paying that. Now it's gone and I don't know if its in the hands of a gamer, or some asshole who's gonna flip it for double. Also. Breakers Revenge is a good competitive fighting game, but can someone explain why the hell a copy went for like 160+ or so recently on ebay uk? Was this game not VERY plentiful, sometimes selling for like 20$?

Ebay has RUINED EVERYTHING. Like.. It is beyond comprehension how much damage it has really done. As has been stated, people search, see someones inflated price that has zero bids, then adjust offline or in other online places. I swear if I hear 'it sells on ebay', I'm gonna just walk away and not even reply. I want that to become a negative stigma. For the record I do want a complete MVS. Mainly because I own almost every fighter, but I've had MVS carts since the 90's. I am very thankful to have certain games now, because the old rule of 'oh its mvs, it shouldnt be more then 50$' is long dead now. For the record, I buy games without labels at all. If it saves me $10 or $20 on a game, then hell fkn woot. Honestly, I keep my eyes peeled here, plenty of good people here who won't try to nail your coffin shut on prices.

 

[MuppeT]

I noticed that recently (I haven't sold stuff on ebay for a year or so) ebay suggests the price you should sell your item based on previous sales. Thus making it absolutely impossible to find something more on the rare side for the cheap. Item condition is not a factor for that calculator as it is automated. This will factor to keep the prices going up .