Store Paying Insane Prices For Sealed NES Games
Not too long ago, I was spending some time in a Barnes & Noble browsing the magazine racks. I picked up a toy collecting magazine since I used to be into that stuff a decade ago and I was curious what has happened lately. While flipping through the pages, I spotted an ad featuring some classic NES games.
Upon closer examination, I noticed that the advertisement wasn’t even for selling games; it was all about buying games — sealed games in particular. Considering we had just published the Rarest & Most Valuable Games guides for the classic Nintendo systems, I found this especially interesting. Also, since most of the actual games weren’t especially rare on their own, I was amazed by how much this store was willing to pay for sealed version of the game.
I suppose that, especially with those early NES games with the black boxes, it is hard enough to find complete copies of the games with the boxes in good condition, let alone have a copy that is still factory sealed. (An eBay completed auction search for “NES Sealed” shows that others seem to agree)
However, think about one more thing: It would be one thing if this store was SELLING these sealed games for these prices, but since he is actually BUYING these games at these prices, he must think that they are actually worth significantly more if he is paying a magazine to run an ad and plan on selling them for a profit. Perhaps he doesn’t plan on selling them right away, but instead hoarding them and holding onto them in anticipation of rising values.
What are your thoughts on this matter?
13 Comments:
it’s possible he’s suffering from a terminal illness and wants to be able to see as many sealed games in his possession as possible before he kicks the bucket. but, i think your idea of hoarding and reselling is a bit more realistic…
I used to work at a video game store and people are not always looking at EBAY for these games. We used to get calls from people willing to pay up to 1,000 dollars for a sealed nes game or a sealed psx game.
not everyone is as computer savvy as we are.
maybe hes a bubble boy and can only played factory sealed games or he will die from the germs of previously played games.
I’m not sure how I feel about hoarding sealed games. As long as it doesn’t affect me, who cares what people do. But if I go into a store to purchased the latest release of some game only to find people in line ahead of me purchasing handfuls of copies to put into boxes and store for years on end as an investment, that just rubs me the wrong way.
It’s sort of like comic book store owners hoarding copies of new release books that they know will have a huge demand so that they can turn around a few months down the road and sell them at much higher prices. I guess since newly released games down really go out of print, it’s not completely the same, but it’s close enough to bother me.
This summer there is a huge collectibles auction. A lot of the items come from Brian’s Toys and they have AFA graded sealed video games. The site that has some info is http://www.premiercollect.com/ and the whole catalog of what is being offered can be downloaded at http://linktracker.brianstoys.com/click.pl?jump=156
Page 41 of the catalog is where the video game section starts. I think the opening bids on a lot of the items are outrageous and wonder how well some stuff will sell.
It seems very much like comics selling for more than guide if they are ’slabbed’ by the grading authority. Seems silly to me but hopefully it doesn’t drive up prices of loose carts. Btw a used video store near me has a sealed raid2029- i think thats the name, you know, one of those blue games- for eight dollars. Who thinks crap games will be worth a bunch sealed?
He is betting that the prices will keep on rising.
Crap I remember back in 2004 you could still get Black label FF7 sealed for $20 at some Media Plays…
In any case I highly doubt he is going to resell quickly. Unless he knows some people who can’t use the Internet I guess.
But still for business reasons you generally have to sell for 3X what you buy for. So maybe he is just hording for himself.
I think most rare sealed game sales are fraud anyway, it is getting rather rampant.
Yeah, I’ve always wondered about the fraud aspect.
I’m assuming die hard collectors would be able to spot fakes, but I’m not sure if there are tell-tale signs.
He is buying them, most likely, because graded sealed games for atari, NES and SNES are now in the market place and he probably thinks the value will sky rocket.
the VGA is now the grading authority for sealed games:
Look here: http://stores.ebay.ca/BigHedToyz
there are a whole bunch for sale in here. Looks like he might have some affiliation with VGA.
At 4/8/2008 8:18 PM, racketboy said…
Yeah, I’ve always wondered about the fraud aspect.
I’m assuming die hard collectors would be able to spot fakes, but I’m not sure if there are tell-tale signs.
THere are many tell tale signs (faded corners touched up with fine marker, reseals with very slight imperfections etc…). Problem is, if it is graded and in a hard case like that, and the grader missed the ‘tell tale signs’ then you can not open it to examine it for yourself without breaking the graded seal.
Will you please add Donkey Kong 3 to the games
I would like for you to add
Donkey Kong
Donkey Kong Jr.
Donkey Kong 3
Mario Bros. Arcade
To the Factory sealed Games List
Post a Comment
Links to This Post: