I bought a copy of Borderlands 2 on ebay cheap, because it was just the disc. It came with a handwritten letter from the seller who hoped I enjoyed the game as much as they did.
I find this is very common with Japanese sellers! I bought a copy of Gunbarl (Point Blank 2) and it came with a very nice handwritten note and a pair of origami cranes
@@slamshift6927 I have the same experience with Japanese sellers. I've even gotten some small pieces of Japanese candy that isn't available in the U.S. packed in on a few orders
Once I bought Mario bros for my Atari 7800 and the seller had a hand written note that thanked me for buying the game and hoped that I enjoy it much as they did.
Most of my collection I have purchased off eBay and bad experiences have been minimal. It definitely doesn’t have the appeal of going to a game store but I find that the prices at my local stores tend to be much higher than eBay. Plus the limited time we have makes eBay a lot more convenient especially when I know what I want. Love this channel and look forward to the next videos each week!
I've been pretty OCD about caring for my games since I was like 7. It is very rare to find an item in-person that was treated with the level of care I practiced myself. Buying online is basically the only way I can find items that live up to my stupid expectations in terms of condition.
+1 I try to take precious care of all my belongings (I grew up poor), and I cringe when I see people act carelessly when their stuff. Shopping online let’s me zoom in and closely eyeball the photos to see how things have been treated.
@@totallyfrozen exactly!! I got my Genesis from my uncle and my parents mostly could only afford rentals outside of the holidays. So every game I got to own was like a precious jewel 🤩 Now as an adult, it's been all about finally owning those rental games for it in a condition that matches the games I kept safe my whole life 😅
For me, I have a retro game stores all over my surrounding area, but only go to one shop. 2 reasons, they’re super friendly and will let you try out games in the store, and their prices are always better than the others. I’ve built up my entire collection from just one store, almost.
Thankfully thus far I haven't had anything too strange in my online video game purchases - a few duds that needed to be returned but those went relatively smoothly. If I had to pick, I had found a copy of Popful Mail for a great price with the caveat being that it was in Quebec. Using the French I learned in high school and a bit of college, I was able to work through the the transaction and get it sent to the US without a hitch. Best part is the game was absolutely pristine and it's now one of the most treasured pieces of my collection. As always, love the video Retro Bird and love how you keep topics fresh! Keep em coming!
Purchased many things off of eBay and I have taken a couple chances from places like GameStop and Lukie games. Haven't gotten burned but I generally dissect the listings and ask questions to the sellers. The most unexpected purchase actually happened earlier this year when I bought a used copy of Megaman Legends for PS1 and it came with 2 copies of the game in the case. On a side note, I literally walked 13 miles with a friend of mine after school before either one of us could drive to go to the mall and pick up a copy of Metal Slug X for the PS1. It was dark by the time we finished and we had to make a collect call to get our parents to come and pick us up.
I've gotten into game and watches recently and have never found a single unit in real life in the past decade. So yeah, eBay helps a lot for the super rare stuff lmao
I've had a few orders where the seller said they "lost the item" or it was "out of stock", cancelled my order, then relisted it for $100 more than what I bought it for. And then form the other perspective, I resell my stuff online sometimes, once I sent someone a game but I somehow forgot to put the game in the case before I shipped it... So I sent someone an empty case. Even more shocking was they were really understanding and weren't mad at all, I sent the game the next day and they still left a 5 star rating, they were really nice about it.
If you kept in touch, and let them know the snafu through Ebay, not too surprising, most people are pretty understanding that stuff happens from time to time and as long as your honest about it, are willing to forgive.
The only thing I've run across that's a bit odd but not at all unwelcome is I tend to receive additional items when I make purchases. As I was hunting for Game Boy models I kept getting games sent to me along with the systems, sometimes advertised that way, sometimes not. Not complaining, just thought it was interesting.
@@cd4playa1245 Lmao this! When I would sell NES games I used to throw really cheap games in there as an extra bonus because the reality is I'm not going to list the game and sell it for 5 dollars or so and would rather make someone else happy with a surprise than throw it out
4:55 this is one of my favourite things about buying online... but not because I need my games in good condition, rather because I love when my games are specifically in BAD condition! I mean, playable of course, but a scuffed up label, and a bunch of stickers. I just love seeing that stuff on a cartrige. I call it "patina" like old cars. If I find something on the shelf that has a worn out label I usually buy it even if I dont care about the game.
I appreciate scuff marks and heavy wear as well, but only really if it's *my* wear. If it came from someone else, especially if it involves grime and such, it grosses me out a little. But I actually like it when my stuff gets a little roughed up. The first time I dropped my phone and cracked the screen, it was such a relief. Now I could discard all the months preceding it where I was basically a nervous wreck whenever pulling it out of my pocket. Now with the first big crack on there I could finally relax and use my phone normally haha!
Thank you for taking the jacked up copies off of the market you brave soul. I’m the opposite, having a game in bad condition drives me crazy to the point I’ve sold off bad condition games to buy good ones
I've heard of collectors such as you. Is it also because it tells a story? That's usually what I hear from them. I sometimes wish I could collect like that. I'm pretty OCD about the condition my games are in. I try to buy prestine stuff which means I'm paying a lot more than if I could just accept a beat up label. Definitely appreciate you giving those games a good home. 😎🤘
Seriously love this channel! Especially the hilarious expressions. :-) I've been buying *a ton* of games through eBay for the past few years. 99% of the transactions have been quite positive, and I've been lucky to have few real problems. Most of the issues have been sellers randomly cancelling orders, never shipping, or received items poorly packaged. Fakes are definitely something to be aware of though. Especially cartridges, you have to look really closely in some cases (compare labels, examine the texture, etc.). Really the only sure fire way is to compare the boards to trusted references online -- those are incredibly hard to fake. I've purchased some reproductions without realizing it, most of which I could have avoided had I been more careful. But honestly, as long as you stay away from listings that raise red flags, you're likely safe from that.
I've bought tons of games on eBay and mostly had very good experiences. You do have to be careful, though, because there's a lot of bootleg stuff out there. Just make sure the listing has lots of good pictures to inspect and the seller has a good track record on the platform before you pull the trigger. Good video as always.
I know what you mean, I got super smash tv for genesis and printed out the cover art for the box myself (accidentally in black and white) and I kept it as is looks cool regardless lol
You always come up with videos I need! I’m thinking about starting to mainly collect Sega Genesis only for a few years…Nintendo prices are getting crazy and I’m happy with my Nintendo collections.
Collecting for sega is so cool. Complete copies are easier to come by. I only have 2 sega games. Haunting starring Polterguy and Scooby Doo Mystery both complete in box. But I'm still proud of my sega collection. I have mostly Nintendo up to gamecube stuff and playstation stuff.
Awesome choice dude, the Mega Drive is the epitome of variety and quality. Lightening Force, Comix Zone and of course Rocket Knight are all great ones to look out for. Keep an eye out for PAL copies that may be cheaper, but also keep in mind that early PAL games may not be optimised, and later ones may be region locked :/
I bought a Game Boy game from a private Ebay seller in Japan. It arrived with an origami samurai hat. I thanked the seller and he explained that his wife made it and wanted to send it to me in England.
Online buying can be a little scary, but if you get to know what makes a good listing/seller it can be a marvelous experience. I made myself 90% of my collection off eBay and a little Amazon.
2:02 Funny thing is right when you said this I literally said out loud "wow, that's living on the edge!" True story. When I was a teenager I dated a girl for a long time. But a couple months into our relationship, I was at her house and clogged the toilet. Found out they didn't have a plunger and everything was just awkward with her family the rest of that day. The boyfriend is the reason they had to urgently go and buy a plunger. But to be fair, who doesn't have a plunger??
Despite living in a large city I’ve purchased 100% of my retro collection on eBay with generally good experiences. There are various local stores available, but it’s a better use of my time to go eBay and not sit in traffic and burn gas. I recently received a repro Mario 64 and had issues with a seller not shipping a few months ago, so it’s minor. I also agree with you on cigarette smell. I’m collecting to play these games so they don’t have to be like-new, but I don’t really want ripped labels and nasty carts either. I’m sure there’s plenty of residue left on the sticker, but it smells fine after letting it air out and scrubbing with alcohol.
Never actually bought games online before, always worried about getting a fake. Have dealt with cigarette smoke scented VHS tapes, and find that some good old rubbing alcohol on a paper towel usually cleans it right off. Planning on buying a second copy of Animal Crossing Wild World on line as a Christmas gift to myself, and feel that this video is pretty timely.
Went shopping on my local used website and found a 27fv300 trinitron in phenomenal shape for an amazing deal. Went to pick it up and the place was sketchy as hell, doors open and dark rooms, blankets on all their windows and it looked like they were living on the floor, looked like a drug house. The person was really weird too - stared a little too long, awkward conversation and seemed really keen on keeping me there longer than needed like he was waiting for someone else to show up. I picked up the TV, lugged it down 3 flights of stairs as fast as I could, got to the front door and drove my car as close as I could to his row house entrance, threw it in the trunk and got the heck outta dodge. That was the one time I regret going by myself to pick something up.
What comes to mind is actually an experience I had as a seller on eBay. It's not a glamorous story or anything, but I sold a brand new copy of Metal Gear Solid 4, except on the back of it part of the plastic wrapping was cut and bent backwards, in the shape of a fingernail and maybe 1 or 1.5 square centimeter of the game case was exposed. It was already like that when I bought it from Walmart, at the time I thought no big deal, I'm surprised it's in this good of condition considering typical Walmart shoppers. Well anyway the guy I sold it to on eBay, yep ended up complaining about it, I'm pretty sure I photographed both sides but I didn't over-exert myself to really emphasize that particular piece in the pictures. The game was brand spanking new aside from that so I didn't think it was a big deal and not worth emphasizing. Admittedly there was a super small, I mean barely noticeable, small scratch on the exposed plastic of the game case. It didn't bother me owning it that way and even if it did, cover art can be transplanted into a new game case, obviously I couldn't do that as the seller since I would've had to open it and break the plastic wrapping. But I noticed it that way when I bought it from Walmart and thought it was still worth the purchase since it was brand new, and that small stuff doesn't bother me. Anyway yeah I paid for his return shipping with no drama and afterwards the guy sent a message and expressed a little guilt for having caused a hassle over something so little. But I'm a gamer too, I understood we can be particular about the condition of our games even though my standards were different than his.
Although I like going into brick and mortar retro game stores and looking around, my experience is that most charge online prices these days anyway and obviously can’t compete with online’s seemingly infinite inventory. So I just don’t see them as practical to shop at. It’s sad, I don’t want them to close, but that’s the reality.
I've been collecting a lot on Ebay the past few months... i ordered a 'brand new' SNES Mini... when i received it, i instantly knew something was wrong.. the controller colors were darker... there was lag in Mario RPG.. Mega Man X completely shut down in Chill Penguin's stage.. i instantly requested full refund.. i ship it back, the seller gives me half of a refund and claims pieces were missing.. the only thing i didn't send back was the rubber band on one of the controllers.. Ebay refunded the rest of the amount...
I think my BEST eBay experience was getting a brand new original 1st run wii system complete with wii sports in box SEALED never opened along with the Mario Kart wii wheel + game bundle also sealed never opened + Wii play wii remote bundle sealed never opened all in one for $400 flat & then after it shipped they even told me they threw in an extra brand new wii wheel also in the box. Now I know that’s still expensive but keep in mind none of these were used or opened!!! Came straight outta 2006-2007 untouched lol. Those were some awesome people. 😎
I won a bid on an awesome Game Gear game collection at a really low price... i paid instantly.. the shipping label wasn't printed for days.. i contact the seller, and he decides he doesn't want to sell them for that price.. but he also decides not to fully refund my money.... he said he had family emergencies.. so i guess he had to help someone.. or himself
Great points Dude! I'd say buying online is usually worth it. The challenge I've found lately are counterfeit copies as well as sellers not mentioning key descriptive details of an item. I recently purchased a Bionic Commando complete (NES) only to receive it and find out that there is a torn area off the side of the box where the CapCom logo is. This was not pictured. Also, there was rattling inside the cartridge despite it working. I removed a broken peace of plastic from the inside. Didn't return it because I believe I got a decent deal anyway and not worth the hassle, but I'm describing one situation of many that I've dealt with buying on eBay or other forums. I've got about two dozen more stories that top that one from buying retro online. Buy only if you're willing to do this back and forth stuff. Cheers and happy hunting!!
It depends on where you are. Where I'm currently living, online shopping is pretty much my only option when it comes to retro games so that's what I do. In the near future I'll be moving to a town that happens to have a retro game store nearby as well as a huge weekly flea market so actually going out and looking for games is going to be a thing I can do. I'm looking forward to that.
Yes it is worth it. All of the best deals I've ever gotten were from online sellers. Either from ebay sellers that I buy from frequently who remember me and cut me deals or from people in collector groups who sell for 5% to 10% below ebay prices. There's also the added bonus of not having to deal with crazy up charges from actual stores. In all my time as a collector never once has a game store cut me a deal both selling or buying. I get they have to make a profit but if your price is $50 over most ebay prices then I'm not interested. Of course this is just me and my experiences over the last 10 or so years as a collector. What about everyone else?
Yeah, some stores really suck and some are great! In my town, I've had one that was super overpriced (went out of business) and another more recent one that is way better.
Wow, I must just be super lucky with my local stores then. Fair trade in prices, loyalty programs, warranties, friendly staff and owners etc. I’ve certainly bought online as well, been on EBay since the 90s, but I think I agree with our host that the browsing in an actual store, when this is possible, is the way I prefer.
@@stuartleckie That sounds awesome! I wish I could say I've had similar experiences. My local shop isn't too bad about cutting deals but the $30 to $50 mark ups kind of negate any deals made and trade in is always worth 1/3rd of the actual trade in value of a game. The most recent shop I went into while on tour would not budge on any prices which were very high. Safe to say I left with only a few titles from the bargain bin hahahaha
I buy a lot of my games on eBay specifically because if you have patience, you can usually get a pretty good deal. I often offer some really low prices on the "make an offer" option, and every now and then it works out!
I’m still a big fan of the real-world hunt. I have a circuit of four used game stores, including a flea market and a couple pawnshops, I check out in my city on a regular basis. I like that I can haggle deals for multiple purchases, or just talk them down $20 or $30 because it’s been sitting on the shelf for so long. I know it’s cheap of me, but getting a bit of a discount feels nice. Regarding eBay, my experience is similar to yours: I find that the game store prices are either on par with or generally cheaper than the eBay listings. In fact, I was wondering if this is what prompted you to make this video. I’ve noticed that eBay listings, even when a game is readily available in good condition, are fairly overpriced. At least the “buy it now” options are. I remember purchasing a copy of Ninja Gaiden 3 for NES from eBay for $100. That was the cheapest price, and I had no issues because the game was in good condition. But literally the next day I walked into a game store and saw the game in good condition for about $64. I tried to return the eBay game, but I ended up keeping it because it wasn’t the seller’s fault I was being a cheapskate. 😜 Now I have two copies of NG3 on my shelf. Not a bad position to be in. Keep up the good work!
Yo! I'm a person who actually sells video games online -- I have to say you're right in saying that eBay is tilted in favor of the buyer over the seller. In fact it's much easier to scam a seller than some people think. It's nearly impossible to get screwed over on eBay (as a buyer) and most sellers know this. As a buyer, I like buying on eBay as much as Amazon. Just have to wait 3-5 more days than Amazon too.
Hi Bird. First time caller: I love your show....a lot. I have a question for you and/or your listeners that is not connected to the current program (gotta catch you while you're here). What is that sweet tube t.v. you adopted from your lady? Do I want one? I think I might. Can't remember if you've ever really talked about it in depth. I'm trying to find something sweet before my current crt is kaputz.
As time goes on I’m buying less and less online. I’m lucky to have a couple of well stocked retro game stores near me that have better prices than eBay and offer extremely fair trade in value. I’m all about the thrift and flip these days and it’s saved me a ton of money. Plus, the owners of both stores are really cool people who I like to support with my business 😎 👍 But I understand that if that’s not available to you, then online may be the only way to go and there’s nothing wrong with that. But after getting more than one fake and sellers claiming ignorance and having to jump through hoops to return stuff, I decided it’s now a last recourse for me.
I'm the same. In fact I basically decided to abandon my Dreamcast once I discovered eBay was pretty much the only option for buying games. I have maybe 7 or 8 stores in the area that sell retro games, and all they have is like 20 copies of Internet Browser 2.0, sports games, and nothing else.
It's good that you have some retro game stores in your country! Support those people! I don't have any retro game stores in my country and I have to get my games online.
For me I find that game stores are less expensive as eBay like the price for an original NES is insane right now which is why I am waiting to find one in-person for a good price
My only beef with buying used games online is how the government now charges Tax. Charging Tax on used goods is so scummy. I used to get some good deals on eBay in the past but with the added tax added in recent years, most deals just become normal buys now.
Also you are now required to fill out a special Tax Form for selling over $500 a year on Ebay or something really small like that. Used to be like $20,000. Everyone is getting a cut. Something you wouldn't have to deal with selling directly in person.
It's just one more way of going after the little guy. It's like "hello, this is used, which means taxes were already collected on it when it was bought brand new." It really is scummy to collect taxes twice on the same item.
A majority of my Sega collection (Genesis, Saturn, and Dreamcast) has been purchased online, mainly due to the lack of good games available at my local game stores. I recently just purchased a first party rumble pack for my dreamcast, but Unfortunately, the seller sent me a knock off third-party one. However, when I reached out to him he thankfully sent me the proper one. The weirdest part about this entire experience was how he did not mention anything about the third-party one, and sent out the right one without saying anything. Which makes me think he was trying to pull a fast one on me😅
Currently I do a mix of hitting up retro gaming stores and craigslist/FB market place. Im going to a Retro con this weekend so I might find some good games to buy
I think there are other retro gaming store websites that sell for a fair price than Ebay these days. The Retro Game Price scandal hit my trust on Ebay by a bit. Or you can always gets the Raspberry Pie. Easy with a complete package of games to play :)
I almost bought a preloaded raspberry pi package on eBay. I instead wanted to learn how to do it myself. What I did was buy a raspberry pi and loaded all the software and games on myself. Now that I know how to do it, it's pretty easy. I have had it now for 3 years and it's still running strong.
Just had a great interaction last night with a seller & grabbed a deal on a copy of Jade Cocoon for PS1. Been wanting to play this since I was a kid but it was always hard to find for less than $200 Canadian for a long time. When I asked to see back of discs they replied immediately with the pictures. Trick for cigarette smoke smell is to use as high % rubbing alcohol as possible & give that game a bath. Works great for me, even on computer hardware & consoles.
One time I bought a DS game on ebay and it was wrapped in a mac & cheese box cut to the shape to fit the game and some newspapers! it arrived in great shape and had a nice note inside. It was hilarious to see kraft mac and cheese in my mailbox!
My wife found an auction on Ebay that contained 50 loose games. The image showed several titles for multiple systems, and the listing was labeled as "some duplicates, with a few sports titles". She bought it, and when it came in most of the games shown in the image were not included, also it was ALL sports titles. Even worse, of the 50 games, there were 6 copies of Bulls vs. Blazers on the genesis, 8 copies of Evander Holyfield on the genesis, 9 Sports Talk Baseball for the genesis, and 27 copies of NHL All-Star Hockey for the Game Gear...four titles...over and over. Yes, this was brought up to Ebay with the complaint of not as described, but they told us there was nothing they could do. It was apparently our fault for not asking for further clarification as to what exactly was in the lot. We still have them in a box somewhere in the house because we couldn't even get $1 each when we tried to put them back up on Ebay.
I bought a copy of Sonic 06 from someone on Ebay a while back, and the copy they sent me had an unreadable disk and manual that had pages stuck to each other. Thankfully, the seller was really kind and apologetic about it and gave me a full refund. It was the first time I ever had to return and ship an item back. So not only did I get my money back, but I learned how to ship games!
My quick tip for games plagued by cigarette smoke, I leave a dryer sheet in the case for a little while. Usually comes out pretty well for next to no effort.
I ONLY buy IMPORTS online because I will almost never see them in the wild. I have bought many import Saturn, Pc Engine, PS3, and Xbox 360 games. Great Shmups!
Christ. Like 98% of my entire collection came off eBay. In fact most of my worst experiences come from game shops. I once bought 3 NES advantages from my local shop, back to back, because none of them would work.
I went to buy some snes games from someone through fb marketplace. I spent 14 years in the Army and have been in some dangerous areas, but this one was really bad. I kept waiting to get robbed by them (always be protected). I later saw in the news a few months later, they were bringing people in and robbing them then selling the stolen stuff. Glad people are scared of me and nothing happened while I was there.
A guy on eBay once asked me to CALL him because I challenged the authenticity of a sealed game he sold to me. Thankfully nothing fishy happened, he was worried I would pull a fast one which is fair. But it was weird to have someone request a phone call like that. It felt like my return was in jeopardy.
I hate it when I win a bid for a very low price and the seller backs out. They always give a very flimsy excuse like, my kid broke it, or I can't find it to ship it to you...
@@retroprojections I'm sorry to hear that. I've never had an experience like that, though I usually don't have the patience for auctions when I'm buying. I have sold items auction style though, and sometimes someone else gets a good deal on my listing. And they deserve it, that's part of the hustle!
2 stories: I ordered a copy of Splatterhouse for the PC Engine from Japan and it came with a nice hand written thank you letter in English and Kanji. I also found a Genesis on eBay for $5, but when I got it it was a 'Genisis' and had a knockoff playstation controller with a Genesis plug. After opening the console, I realized the whole thing was a clone. But it works!
I’ve probably purchased the majority of my GBA games on eBay. I’ve been cheated ONCE by a guy who sold me Advance Wars and when it arrived, it wouldn’t play. I opened the cart and found someone had melted the chip set. Perhaps they were trying to replace the battery and didn’t know how to solder. Anyway, the game was DOA and the listing was gone and untraceable so I never got a refund. IIRC, I’ve been lied to 2 or 3 times at brick n mortar game stores, namely Game Stop and MicroPlay. I’ll take my chances online. eBay is better than it used to be for buyer protection. The biggest downside to eBay is you’re paying top dollar for games there. Sometimes the prices are double or triple what the game is valued at. It also depends on the eBay seller you’re buying from. I once bought a GBA game from an eBay store (a variety store like a pawnshop). The game was Pac-Man Collection. Apparently, the woman had a GameBoy Color game (Pokémon yellow) that she wanted to get rid of because she sent it to me also. She just tossed it in as a surprise gift. 2 games for 1 price. I’m not a Pokémon fan, but I thought that was a pretty cool thing for her to do. Definitely gave her a Positive feedback.
I try to buy in store, but if you sign up for ebay and don't by anything for a month or so they start sending $10 coupons. I buy a game for just over ten bucks, only actually spend like two bucks, then make another account and wait for the next coupon.
When I first started collecting for snes again, I was ordering some Japanese games fpr the cheapness factor. I think it was fzero in box for like $15cad, but the seller sent an origami swan with it
I haven't had too many issues buying video games online - I try to stay as local as possible, but Chicago is such a desert. I did however buy a deloreon model from a shady facebook ad and it turned out to be a $20 scale model and definitely not the giant one I was promised. I'll share the really bizzare story when you talk about SELLING games online because boy-howdy do I have a whopper of a tale for you.
Almost all of my retro games have come from Ebay and it's mostly been positive. You really have to train yourself on what to look for and what listings to avoid. The only repro I have is ocarina of time that I bought locally from a friend. He didn't know any better and I wasn't mad because the price was still worth it.
I just wanna say that I’m not afraid to admit that I’ve got over 300 games in my collection and none of them are worth more than $100. Most expensive is probably my loose copy of Pokémon crystal… Ok happy collecting guys!
Don't worry one day someone will inform you a game you own is now worth a bunch of money. Happened to me the other day watching a video on That Video Game Show channel on "Most expensive and rarest PS1 RPGS" where I was informed that my copy of Arc The Lad which I've had for a couple of years now and paid like $30 for is now worth $150! Video games are weird like that. One day a game is worth this much then the next worth THAT much overnight.
While I have a few valuable games (most bought 5+ years ago lol), there are 2 I go back to every now and again, because I got them for absolute STEALS looking back, albeit at a store, not online: Pokemon Emerald (loose), for about $20 about 10 years ago, which is now worth $100 on the dot as of now, and Castelvania Order of Ecclesia (CIB), which I got at Gamestop for $20 a few years back and is now worth over $125. Game collecting just be like that I guess.
I was going after some Japanese-only Vita and PSP games based on my favorite anime. There were warnings all over the listing that it was in Japanese only - no English - but the seller still sent me a note after the purchase to make absolutely sure I knew it was Japanese-only before he sent it. It made me bookmark the seller and check his items first whenever I’m looking for something.
Interesting vid and buying online generally works out through eBay or game shops w/onlineshopping. I did buy a Genesis game from a Facebook group once though and it took a pretty long time for the seller to ship the game. So long in fact that I picked up a copy from one of the local stores I frequent. Well after promising to refund my the seller found the game and shipped it. So now I have two copies, but he did throw in another game had asked about for free so it worked out. I just returned the extra copy and held on to the freebie.
I remember in the late 90s my dad ordered Star Fox 64 on Ebay and when I got it, it was surrounded by an aura of cigarette oder. But me being a kid, I didn't care. I loved that game. Now I no longer own the cartridge. Dunno what happened to it. Now I just have multiple copies of an oderless rom of Star Fox 64 that play wonderfully on my PC and PS Vita. But it's just not the same without that cigarette stink :sadfaic:
I’ve been trying to get a not so common PlayStation 1 game I once owned. Its Philosoma. All I remember from it is that it’s a great shooter with FMV cutscenes that blend into the gameplay. It’s going for $60 or more compared to when I got it for less than $20. I’m going to bite the bullet and surrender my money because of the nostalgia I have with it.
I like using ebay and buy games on it quite often. I definitely prefer finding games "in the wild" but as you said it's unreliable to actually find the specific game you want. When it comes to price I think I honestly find better deals on ebay compared to anywhere else right now
I buy so many games online. I wish I could support stores more but they have hard prices that I don't wanna pay. So online it is. Also it opens up so many doors for new games I never knew of
In my case, online is really my only viable option. I live on an island province in Canada (P.E.I) that only has just over 130k people in the entire province and there just aren't viable options for buying retro games here. So, with that being said, my location is a setback and my dollar being down a quarter for every buck against USD is a setback. Add to that that many US sellers won't ship to Canada for whatever reason (or, those that do, use the Global Shipping Program which is massively, laughably, outrageously priced most of the time), and I'm well behind the eight ball before I even start. Yeah, online - ebay in particular - has become my 'go to' out of necessity with forums being a distant second. For about 2 years now, I've been using a shipping service within the US to have an address sellers are willing to send to; this is what I've had to do to try to finish my collection. I'm a CIB collector, so to be fair, most of what I'm still after is typically rather difficult to find truly complete and in great condition (I love Game Boy games, but it can be tough). I often find myself envious of those that don't have to jump through all these hoops to get their games, but if nothing else, every game has a story and the adventure has been nothing if not interesting. I can't wait for the next PRGE because the last one in 2019 was a magical experience (and my first convention); there's just no experience like it anywhere even remotely close to where I live.
I bought a bunch of cheap games for the NES - City Connection, Snake Rattle and Roll, Karnov, uh... 501 in 1 ($25 for that one), RC PRO AM, most of these were under $10, not that long ago. Hell I can get a whole NES for $20.
One time I bought a game from Japan(I'm in the USA) that was listed as Cartridge Only for $70. But received Complete-In-Box valued at around $150. I would of had to wait at least a month to ship it back to Japan and wait for the correct order. Which would have been worth $80 dollars anyway for my time investment IMO. So I just kept the Item and gave the Seller positive feedback stating "Better than I expected!". He was gracious for the feedback and left me positive feedback. The seller did not have another listing with the CIB I received, so I'm not entirely sure it was a mistake.
Never been burned buying on eBay before. But I do sell on the side on eBay and I’ve been screwed over plenty of times buy buyers who are lazy and don’t read the listing. eBay ALWAYS favors the buyer even if you can prove the buyer is at fault. And you can’t even call them anymore to try and hash anything out. They make you email a Rep. and it’s not even the same person each time you reply to the same problem or they tell you to ask other eBayers in the forums. They are lazy and treat sellers like crap.
I bid on a 100% pristine copy of Secret of Mana that I was going to have framed with a few imported mini figures and a hand-drawn Mana tree as the background. It arrived completely crushed and battered with packing tape over the sides to keep it shut and a prepaid postage sticker slapped right onto the box. Ebay fought with me to force the refund because they said that I *did* receive the item that I'd bought.
I bought a Sega Saturn game off eBay and was trying to %100 it. Had to beat the game with all 4 characters. It was pretty easy but time consuming. Each character took about an hour to beat the game. when I got to the last character the game froze on the last frame of the end credits...tried it a few more times and it happens every time...The disc looked clean with no scratches but when I put it up to the light it has a small amount of disc rot...only 2 small dots but enough to derail my %100 quest. Disc rot was something I never checked before when I bought old games online but for sure now it's the first thing I'm checking. It's something that's impossible to see from just the listings so I just have to buy and pray.
I ordered a for parts lot about a year ago. The surprising thing was everything was listed as tested and not working. When it finally was delivered I plugged each individual system up. All of them worked except for a PSOne and a N64 game. That lot ended up with 2 working Sega Genesis model 3s, a PSOne with screen and a DS lite.
I'm one of those people that live in a small town with no game stores, well, there are some electronics stores that sell pirated PS2 and Xbox 360 games and, original modern consoles (PS4, XONE and Switch) with sometimes original games bundled in, but, that's about it, luckily there is a neighbor city with 3 different game stores 50 minutes away from me, oh, I sure would love to live there, mainly to eat the best cookies in the region however!
Hah I sold a 486 with a monitor to someone on eBay and they were complaining about the smell - I didn't notice it, I don't smoke either. What it ended up being is the smell of curry. Yep, bought it from an Indian, and living in Brampton for a quarter century immunized my nostrils to that very pungent smell. I still have the PC that monitor came with and upon replacing the caps on it, yeah, the dust in the fan did smell of curry. Yum!
@@megamob5834 Then you know exactly what I am talking about. I moved to Barrie last year, I can't say I miss Brampton. I don't hate it, made a bunch of friends in high school, got a good career path started there, I wouldn't call it a dangerous city, hell it has lots of parks even, but there's just that one element... It's just not for me.
A year or so back I bought a the cheapest copy of Pilotwings 64 I could find on eBay. It was like 8 bucks and just had a stock photo in the listing; I just wanted to try Pilotwings 64 out and I wasn't that concerned about condition. I got it in the mail, and it came complete in box with manual, and the cart looked like new.
I buy games off amazon, best buy , walmart & other online sites that have video games. Sometimes I'll drive to walmart or best buy near my house to buy games. Online is more convinient because they'll have more of a selection to choose from & your not wasting your time driving to said stores. When I was a kid, online didn't exsist. I didn't drive either. I would hop on the city bus & take the metro to go to Toys R us that's near my house to buy Sega Genesis games at the time. I didn't buy many games because games were really expensive at $80. I didn't have much money either. Games would go down in pricing like $20...At the time I didn't know any better & just bought games I liked at $80 like nhl 94, nhl 95, nhl 96. Friends have the biggest influence on you when you are a kid. Now as an adult, I only buy what I like.
My weird situation was I bought resident evil village for ps5 (my accident not the sellers fault) so I turned it in at gamestop, they got a brand new copy of it and traded it in for credit on animal crossings new horizon for switch and then re ordered resident evil village for ps4 and beat it. Big mess but it all worked out in the end
I've probably only purchased 2 or 3 games online, and those transactions were pretty uneventful. I think most of the fun of collecting games comes from hunting down copies "in the wild". I have tons of memories of stumbling across games and buying them, which means that a lot of the games in my collection have a story behind them.
I ordered a 6 button Sega Genesis controller.. but got a 3 button.. i plug it in.. the directional pad doesn't work! The seller ended up just fully refunding me
I purchased a copy of DBz Budokai Tenkaichi 2 for Wii on eBay. When the game arrived, I received the correct case but inside was Super Smash Bros Brawl, another game on my to-buy list. I informed the seller and they let me keep the game while refunding me. So, that worked out pretty well in an unexpected way. I did have to print my own cover art though for it to fit in with my collection
I got eternal darkness off eBay last year and it came in real musty smelling. I just put dryer sheets in the case and rotated one through the pages of the manual everyday and it solved the problem easy enough. Don't think that would work with cigarette smoke though....
Online is sort of my only avenue. Theres a VERY limited local source for older games where I live. And the prices are typically at least 10-20% marked up from what I see like on ebay. I diiiiid buy a 3 button genesis controller locally because I really wanted one quick and I felt compelled to support local business, even a little. Most of the games the shop has are cart only and somewhat pricey so I cant go there as much as I'd like. Shame. If I were much richer I'd love to give them more money
I am the "it depends on" guy. Have made good experiences in both ways, online and flee markets. But I feel here in Germany the flee market stuff for retro games has moved to eBay etc. When I watch those US TH-camrs it seems like it is easier over there. With online merchants on eBay: there are a few which put on their games as used, but in fact those games I bought have even been in better condition than offered. The weirdest experience: Someone asked if I was interested in modded retro consoles (like the original Xbox).
Bought a 360 from ebay some years ago. Console came in a beaten USPS box without any protection, and when playing it randomly shut down. eBay refunded me and I shipped it back, but the seller claimed that I shipped back a different console and she threatened to report me to the FBI lol
I got a cigar smelly Final Fantasy X-2. The weird story is I bought SoulBlade for Playstation 1 in acceptable condition and it was the greatest hits version. What showed up in the mail was the black label version in mint condition. I'll tell you some people can be sooo dishonest.
My worst experience is I bought Tales of Phantasia and Advance Wars 2 off eBay and when it arrived the package was opened and the games were gone. I went back and forth from the seller to the post office about getting my money back until the seller was kind enough to refund me. I still don't have either in my GBA collection :(
Nothing too weird here, but I had a copy of castlevania 64 for my n64. I played it, loved it, played it again, wanted more! So I looked up a speedrun to see how the pros play. I quickly learned that every glitch that can be performed in the game, could only be performed on the version 1.0 cartridge. When I looked at my cart I realized I had the 1.2 version and so I was kind of out of luck. I looked everywhere, all my local game stores, and theres a good amount. But I couldnt find it. Even looking online, noone takes notice and lists what version the cart is, so by looking at the Ebay listings and squinting to see if anyone had a good enough picture of the imprint on the back of the cart.. I finally found a listing that had a clear enough shot of the back of the cart and I could just barely tell by the indented number that it looked like a 1.0 version. This game took over a month to finally get shipped to me as it got lost in the mail along the way. (A whole separate issue)The cost got refunded to me because it took so long and the next day it showed up of course. It was the 1.0 cart I needed thankfully and that's the end of my story.
Maybe it's not the answer to the question you've shared, but an important one - I've noticed an increasing of people who are selling a bad quality for an increased price. They tend to hide all the flaws of the product with bad quality photos and exciting descriptions. This is a common sense to skip them, but I want to admit - that amount of such people grows drastically and you should not/could not rely on the luck anymore (which was working before). And these are collectors-losers, who are trying to get rid of their old mistakes.
To add to the whole "Online you'll know what condition you're getting it in" you'll be able to choose between loose, CIB, New, etc. fairly easily without much issue, as long as you're paying attention to the fine print on certain items (So make sure it's not a Box and Manual only listing). Often you won't have that luxury at a game store, as the store may have it loose, but not CIB, or may have it CIB, and not willing to separate it from the box so as to sell it loose to you. I've had this issue a few times when I've gone to my local retro video game store. And in the case of Gamestop, they often throw out their game cases, which is just... please stop Gamestop. You're really not helping your reputation among gamers by doing that for a decade plus.
I went to a Gamestop recently just to check used games if any gems was there and oh boy !!!! I dont know how they are still open. Only sports games, nasty cases, gamestop generic case, nothing retro ... etc. Used games were also more expensive than new games on Amazon....
I bought a brand new Nintendo Wii off of ebay and it smelled of dill pickles. I was very clearly the first person to ever open the item. Still baffled by that to this day and it still smells of them. Makes me hungry. I think that's by far the strangest experience I've had buying online. I really love buying online. It's difficult for me to get to thrift stores that may or may not have games. Gamestop is the closest game store to me and they don't sell retro stuff in their store. On the subject of stores, anyone else have Funkoland they went to for their games? I miss those. The folks were always nice to me in there. As a kid being treated equal to adults was a real cool thing, and they did that. They also never steered me wrong on a game.
I bought a copy of Borderlands 2 on ebay cheap, because it was just the disc. It came with a handwritten letter from the seller who hoped I enjoyed the game as much as they did.
Wholesome
I've gotten a handful of fun notes too!
I find this is very common with Japanese sellers! I bought a copy of Gunbarl (Point Blank 2) and it came with a very nice handwritten note and a pair of origami cranes
@@slamshift6927 I have the same experience with Japanese sellers. I've even gotten some small pieces of Japanese candy that isn't available in the U.S. packed in on a few orders
Once I bought Mario bros for my Atari 7800 and the seller had a hand written note that thanked me for buying the game and hoped that I enjoy it much as they did.
Most of my collection I have purchased off eBay and bad experiences have been minimal. It definitely doesn’t have the appeal of going to a game store but I find that the prices at my local stores tend to be much higher than eBay. Plus the limited time we have makes eBay a lot more convenient especially when I know what I want. Love this channel and look forward to the next videos each week!
I love ebay for collecting...only have had 1 issue and got my money back immediately
@@Twomp209 same here, recently just got a defective ps2 controller that I’m in the process of shipping back.
Yeah, I think the convenience is a big deal for a lot of people.
@Metalllhead 😂😂
Yeah, local game shops tend to charge way more than ebay. It's really annoying.
I've been pretty OCD about caring for my games since I was like 7. It is very rare to find an item in-person that was treated with the level of care I practiced myself. Buying online is basically the only way I can find items that live up to my stupid expectations in terms of condition.
+1
I try to take precious care of all my belongings (I grew up poor), and I cringe when I see people act carelessly when their stuff. Shopping online let’s me zoom in and closely eyeball the photos to see how things have been treated.
@@totallyfrozen exactly!! I got my Genesis from my uncle and my parents mostly could only afford rentals outside of the holidays. So every game I got to own was like a precious jewel 🤩
Now as an adult, it's been all about finally owning those rental games for it in a condition that matches the games I kept safe my whole life 😅
I can’t get enough of that Retro Bird theme song, cracks me up every time!
I catch myself humming it when doing dishes or mowing the lawn or whatnot.
He should make a 2-3 second pause at the end and then insert Strong Bad's "SOMEBODY GET THIS FREAKIN DUCK AWAY FROM ME!"
Do you know what is says? Ive asked a couple times and never get a response.
Same!
@@danielpowers5891 Oh sorry. I must have missed your questions somehow. Looks like Doag responded to your comment with the lyrics :)
For me, I have a retro game stores all over my surrounding area, but only go to one shop. 2 reasons, they’re super friendly and will let you try out games in the store, and their prices are always better than the others. I’ve built up my entire collection from just one store, almost.
Thankfully thus far I haven't had anything too strange in my online video game purchases - a few duds that needed to be returned but those went relatively smoothly. If I had to pick, I had found a copy of Popful Mail for a great price with the caveat being that it was in Quebec. Using the French I learned in high school and a bit of college, I was able to work through the the transaction and get it sent to the US without a hitch. Best part is the game was absolutely pristine and it's now one of the most treasured pieces of my collection.
As always, love the video Retro Bird and love how you keep topics fresh! Keep em coming!
Purchased many things off of eBay and I have taken a couple chances from places like GameStop and Lukie games. Haven't gotten burned but I generally dissect the listings and ask questions to the sellers. The most unexpected purchase actually happened earlier this year when I bought a used copy of Megaman Legends for PS1 and it came with 2 copies of the game in the case.
On a side note, I literally walked 13 miles with a friend of mine after school before either one of us could drive to go to the mall and pick up a copy of Metal Slug X for the PS1. It was dark by the time we finished and we had to make a collect call to get our parents to come and pick us up.
I've gotten into game and watches recently and have never found a single unit in real life in the past decade. So yeah, eBay helps a lot for the super rare stuff lmao
I actually saw my first original game and watch CIB in person a couple of weeks ago (it was the boxing game by the way)
I've had a few orders where the seller said they "lost the item" or it was "out of stock", cancelled my order, then relisted it for $100 more than what I bought it for.
And then form the other perspective, I resell my stuff online sometimes, once I sent someone a game but I somehow forgot to put the game in the case before I shipped it... So I sent someone an empty case.
Even more shocking was they were really understanding and weren't mad at all, I sent the game the next day and they still left a 5 star rating, they were really nice about it.
If you kept in touch, and let them know the snafu through Ebay, not too surprising, most people are pretty understanding that stuff happens from time to time and as long as your honest about it, are willing to forgive.
Just want to say thank you for posting your videos! I always look forward to watching them!
Thank you! I appreciate that :)
I once ordered some games online and they smelt like cologne. I was very happy that the seller took the time to make his games smell nice
That's pretty interesting.
Some would view that as a negative thing. But better than smelling like cigarettes. ☺
I guess he tried to cover another, not so pleasant smell?!
@@gorrbaczow oh thanks for that thought, I’m throwing the games out now as we speak
The only thing I've run across that's a bit odd but not at all unwelcome is I tend to receive additional items when I make purchases. As I was hunting for Game Boy models I kept getting games sent to me along with the systems, sometimes advertised that way, sometimes not. Not complaining, just thought it was interesting.
That's actually never happened to me before. Sounds pretty sweet!
I may have done that once just because it was a difference of throwing something away or giving to someone in hopes they give you a good review.
@@cd4playa1245 Lmao this! When I would sell NES games I used to throw really cheap games in there as an extra bonus because the reality is I'm not going to list the game and sell it for 5 dollars or so and would rather make someone else happy with a surprise than throw it out
4:55 this is one of my favourite things about buying online... but not because I need my games in good condition, rather because I love when my games are specifically in BAD condition! I mean, playable of course, but a scuffed up label, and a bunch of stickers. I just love seeing that stuff on a cartrige. I call it "patina" like old cars. If I find something on the shelf that has a worn out label I usually buy it even if I dont care about the game.
I appreciate scuff marks and heavy wear as well, but only really if it's *my* wear. If it came from someone else, especially if it involves grime and such, it grosses me out a little.
But I actually like it when my stuff gets a little roughed up. The first time I dropped my phone and cracked the screen, it was such a relief. Now I could discard all the months preceding it where I was basically a nervous wreck whenever pulling it out of my pocket. Now with the first big crack on there I could finally relax and use my phone normally haha!
Thank you for taking the jacked up copies off of the market you brave soul. I’m the opposite, having a game in bad condition drives me crazy to the point I’ve sold off bad condition games to buy good ones
I'm inspired. Time to rough up my collection a bit ;)
I've heard of collectors such as you. Is it also because it tells a story? That's usually what I hear from them.
I sometimes wish I could collect like that. I'm pretty OCD about the condition my games are in. I try to buy prestine stuff which means I'm paying a lot more than if I could just accept a beat up label. Definitely appreciate you giving those games a good home. 😎🤘
@@samuelbaugh4952 - I am the same!
Seriously love this channel! Especially the hilarious expressions. :-) I've been buying *a ton* of games through eBay for the past few years. 99% of the transactions have been quite positive, and I've been lucky to have few real problems. Most of the issues have been sellers randomly cancelling orders, never shipping, or received items poorly packaged. Fakes are definitely something to be aware of though. Especially cartridges, you have to look really closely in some cases (compare labels, examine the texture, etc.). Really the only sure fire way is to compare the boards to trusted references online -- those are incredibly hard to fake. I've purchased some reproductions without realizing it, most of which I could have avoided had I been more careful. But honestly, as long as you stay away from listings that raise red flags, you're likely safe from that.
I've bought tons of games on eBay and mostly had very good experiences. You do have to be careful, though, because there's a lot of bootleg stuff out there. Just make sure the listing has lots of good pictures to inspect and the seller has a good track record on the platform before you pull the trigger. Good video as always.
Yeah, I've learned that lesson lol.
I bought a copy of Dark Souls Remastered that didn’t have a cover for dirt cheap on eBay so I drew my own cover with Colored Pencil, it was fun
I know what you mean, I got super smash tv for genesis and printed out the cover art for the box myself (accidentally in black and white) and I kept it as is looks cool regardless lol
You always come up with videos I need! I’m thinking about starting to mainly collect Sega Genesis only for a few years…Nintendo prices are getting crazy and I’m happy with my Nintendo collections.
Collecting for sega is so cool. Complete copies are easier to come by. I only have 2 sega games. Haunting starring Polterguy and Scooby Doo Mystery both complete in box. But I'm still proud of my sega collection. I have mostly Nintendo up to gamecube stuff and playstation stuff.
Glad the topics seem to line up for you!
Awesome choice dude, the Mega Drive is the epitome of variety and quality. Lightening Force, Comix Zone and of course Rocket Knight are all great ones to look out for. Keep an eye out for PAL copies that may be cheaper, but also keep in mind that early PAL games may not be optimised, and later ones may be region locked :/
I bought a Game Boy game from a private Ebay seller in Japan. It arrived with an origami samurai hat. I thanked the seller and he explained that his wife made it and wanted to send it to me in England.
Online buying can be a little scary, but if you get to know what makes a good listing/seller it can be a marvelous experience. I made myself 90% of my collection off eBay and a little Amazon.
I buy on ebay once in a while because the one used game store in my town has higher than eBay prices and they don't have the games I want.
Great video! We need more. We love them. Please upload more. We would watch 5 uploads a day if you make them! 😉
Hahah if only it were possible!
2:02 Funny thing is right when you said this I literally said out loud "wow, that's living on the edge!"
True story. When I was a teenager I dated a girl for a long time. But a couple months into our relationship, I was at her house and clogged the toilet. Found out they didn't have a plunger and everything was just awkward with her family the rest of that day. The boyfriend is the reason they had to urgently go and buy a plunger. But to be fair, who doesn't have a plunger??
Despite living in a large city I’ve purchased 100% of my retro collection on eBay with generally good experiences. There are various local stores available, but it’s a better use of my time to go eBay and not sit in traffic and burn gas.
I recently received a repro Mario 64 and had issues with a seller not shipping a few months ago, so it’s minor. I also agree with you on cigarette smell. I’m collecting to play these games so they don’t have to be like-new, but I don’t really want ripped labels and nasty carts either. I’m sure there’s plenty of residue left on the sticker, but it smells fine after letting it air out and scrubbing with alcohol.
Never actually bought games online before, always worried about getting a fake. Have dealt with cigarette smoke scented VHS tapes, and find that some good old rubbing alcohol on a paper towel usually cleans it right off. Planning on buying a second copy of Animal Crossing Wild World on line as a Christmas gift to myself, and feel that this video is pretty timely.
Went shopping on my local used website and found a 27fv300 trinitron in phenomenal shape for an amazing deal. Went to pick it up and the place was sketchy as hell, doors open and dark rooms, blankets on all their windows and it looked like they were living on the floor, looked like a drug house. The person was really weird too - stared a little too long, awkward conversation and seemed really keen on keeping me there longer than needed like he was waiting for someone else to show up. I picked up the TV, lugged it down 3 flights of stairs as fast as I could, got to the front door and drove my car as close as I could to his row house entrance, threw it in the trunk and got the heck outta dodge. That was the one time I regret going by myself to pick something up.
What comes to mind is actually an experience I had as a seller on eBay. It's not a glamorous story or anything, but I sold a brand new copy of Metal Gear Solid 4, except on the back of it part of the plastic wrapping was cut and bent backwards, in the shape of a fingernail and maybe 1 or 1.5 square centimeter of the game case was exposed. It was already like that when I bought it from Walmart, at the time I thought no big deal, I'm surprised it's in this good of condition considering typical Walmart shoppers. Well anyway the guy I sold it to on eBay, yep ended up complaining about it, I'm pretty sure I photographed both sides but I didn't over-exert myself to really emphasize that particular piece in the pictures. The game was brand spanking new aside from that so I didn't think it was a big deal and not worth emphasizing. Admittedly there was a super small, I mean barely noticeable, small scratch on the exposed plastic of the game case. It didn't bother me owning it that way and even if it did, cover art can be transplanted into a new game case, obviously I couldn't do that as the seller since I would've had to open it and break the plastic wrapping. But I noticed it that way when I bought it from Walmart and thought it was still worth the purchase since it was brand new, and that small stuff doesn't bother me. Anyway yeah I paid for his return shipping with no drama and afterwards the guy sent a message and expressed a little guilt for having caused a hassle over something so little. But I'm a gamer too, I understood we can be particular about the condition of our games even though my standards were different than his.
Although I like going into brick and mortar retro game stores and looking around, my experience is that most charge online prices these days anyway and obviously can’t compete with online’s seemingly infinite inventory. So I just don’t see them as practical to shop at. It’s sad, I don’t want them to close, but that’s the reality.
I've been collecting a lot on Ebay the past few months... i ordered a 'brand new' SNES Mini... when i received it, i instantly knew something was wrong.. the controller colors were darker... there was lag in Mario RPG.. Mega Man X completely shut down in Chill Penguin's stage.. i instantly requested full refund.. i ship it back, the seller gives me half of a refund and claims pieces were missing.. the only thing i didn't send back was the rubber band on one of the controllers.. Ebay refunded the rest of the amount...
Those rubber bands can be expensive lol. Glad you got the full refund.
I think my BEST eBay experience was getting a brand new original 1st run wii system complete with wii sports in box SEALED never opened along with the Mario Kart wii wheel + game bundle also sealed never opened + Wii play wii remote bundle sealed never opened all in one for $400 flat & then after it shipped they even told me they threw in an extra brand new wii wheel also in the box. Now I know that’s still expensive but keep in mind none of these were used or opened!!! Came straight outta 2006-2007 untouched lol. Those were some awesome people. 😎
I won a bid on an awesome Game Gear game collection at a really low price... i paid instantly.. the shipping label wasn't printed for days.. i contact the seller, and he decides he doesn't want to sell them for that price.. but he also decides not to fully refund my money.... he said he had family emergencies.. so i guess he had to help someone.. or himself
Great points Dude! I'd say buying online is usually worth it. The challenge I've found lately are counterfeit copies as well as sellers not mentioning key descriptive details of an item. I recently purchased a Bionic Commando complete (NES) only to receive it and find out that there is a torn area off the side of the box where the CapCom logo is. This was not pictured. Also, there was rattling inside the cartridge despite it working. I removed a broken peace of plastic from the inside. Didn't return it because I believe I got a decent deal anyway and not worth the hassle, but I'm describing one situation of many that I've dealt with buying on eBay or other forums. I've got about two dozen more stories that top that one from buying retro online. Buy only if you're willing to do this back and forth stuff. Cheers and happy hunting!!
It depends on where you are. Where I'm currently living, online shopping is pretty much my only option when it comes to retro games so that's what I do. In the near future I'll be moving to a town that happens to have a retro game store nearby as well as a huge weekly flea market so actually going out and looking for games is going to be a thing I can do. I'm looking forward to that.
Yes it is worth it. All of the best deals I've ever gotten were from online sellers. Either from ebay sellers that I buy from frequently who remember me and cut me deals or from people in collector groups who sell for 5% to 10% below ebay prices. There's also the added bonus of not having to deal with crazy up charges from actual stores. In all my time as a collector never once has a game store cut me a deal both selling or buying. I get they have to make a profit but if your price is $50 over most ebay prices then I'm not interested. Of course this is just me and my experiences over the last 10 or so years as a collector. What about everyone else?
Yeah, some stores really suck and some are great! In my town, I've had one that was super overpriced (went out of business) and another more recent one that is way better.
Wow, I must just be super lucky with my local stores then.
Fair trade in prices, loyalty programs, warranties, friendly staff and owners etc.
I’ve certainly bought online as well, been on EBay since the 90s, but I think I agree with our host that the browsing in an actual store, when this is possible, is the way I prefer.
@@stuartleckie That sounds awesome! I wish I could say I've had similar experiences. My local shop isn't too bad about cutting deals but the $30 to $50 mark ups kind of negate any deals made and trade in is always worth 1/3rd of the actual trade in value of a game. The most recent shop I went into while on tour would not budge on any prices which were very high. Safe to say I left with only a few titles from the bargain bin hahahaha
I buy a lot of my games on eBay specifically because if you have patience, you can usually get a pretty good deal. I often offer some really low prices on the "make an offer" option, and every now and then it works out!
Same. If you can wait a couple weeks then eventually, usually, you will find a damn good deal.
I’m still a big fan of the real-world hunt. I have a circuit of four used game stores, including a flea market and a couple pawnshops, I check out in my city on a regular basis. I like that I can haggle deals for multiple purchases, or just talk them down $20 or $30 because it’s been sitting on the shelf for so long. I know it’s cheap of me, but getting a bit of a discount feels nice. Regarding eBay, my experience is similar to yours: I find that the game store prices are either on par with or generally cheaper than the eBay listings. In fact, I was wondering if this is what prompted you to make this video. I’ve noticed that eBay listings, even when a game is readily available in good condition, are fairly overpriced. At least the “buy it now” options are. I remember purchasing a copy of Ninja Gaiden 3 for NES from eBay for $100. That was the cheapest price, and I had no issues because the game was in good condition. But literally the next day I walked into a game store and saw the game in good condition for about $64. I tried to return the eBay game, but I ended up keeping it because it wasn’t the seller’s fault I was being a cheapskate. 😜 Now I have two copies of NG3 on my shelf. Not a bad position to be in. Keep up the good work!
Yo! I'm a person who actually sells video games online -- I have to say you're right in saying that eBay is tilted in favor of the buyer over the seller. In fact it's much easier to scam a seller than some people think. It's nearly impossible to get screwed over on eBay (as a buyer) and most sellers know this.
As a buyer, I like buying on eBay as much as Amazon. Just have to wait 3-5 more days than Amazon too.
Yeah, sellers are much more at risk than buyers in my opinion.
Hi Bird. First time caller: I love your show....a lot. I have a question for you and/or your listeners that is not connected to the current program (gotta catch you while you're here). What is that sweet tube t.v. you adopted from your lady? Do I want one? I think I might. Can't remember if you've ever really talked about it in depth. I'm trying to find something sweet before my current crt is kaputz.
As time goes on I’m buying less and less online. I’m lucky to have a couple of well stocked retro game stores near me that have better prices than eBay and offer extremely fair trade in value. I’m all about the thrift and flip these days and it’s saved me a ton of money. Plus, the owners of both stores are really cool people who I like to support with my business 😎 👍
But I understand that if that’s not available to you, then online may be the only way to go and there’s nothing wrong with that. But after getting more than one fake and sellers claiming ignorance and having to jump through hoops to return stuff, I decided it’s now a last recourse for me.
I'm the same. In fact I basically decided to abandon my Dreamcast once I discovered eBay was pretty much the only option for buying games. I have maybe 7 or 8 stores in the area that sell retro games, and all they have is like 20 copies of Internet Browser 2.0, sports games, and nothing else.
It's good that you have some retro game stores in your country! Support those people! I don't have any retro game stores in my country and I have to get my games online.
For me I find that game stores are less expensive as eBay like the price for an original NES is insane right now which is why I am waiting to find one in-person for a good price
That’s subjective 🤣🤣🤣 I am more of a support local guy if I can.
Always lookin' to do the right thing my friend!
My only beef with buying used games online is how the government now charges Tax. Charging Tax on used goods is so scummy. I used to get some good deals on eBay in the past but with the added tax added in recent years, most deals just become normal buys now.
Also you are now required to fill out a special Tax Form for selling over $500 a year on Ebay or something really small like that. Used to be like $20,000. Everyone is getting a cut. Something you wouldn't have to deal with selling directly in person.
It's just one more way of going after the little guy. It's like "hello, this is used, which means taxes were already collected on it when it was bought brand new." It really is scummy to collect taxes twice on the same item.
A majority of my Sega collection (Genesis, Saturn, and Dreamcast) has been purchased online, mainly due to the lack of good games available at my local game stores. I recently just purchased a first party rumble pack for my dreamcast, but Unfortunately, the seller sent me a knock off third-party one. However, when I reached out to him he thankfully sent me the proper one. The weirdest part about this entire experience was how he did not mention anything about the third-party one, and sent out the right one without saying anything. Which makes me think he was trying to pull a fast one on me😅
Currently I do a mix of hitting up retro gaming stores and craigslist/FB market place. Im going to a Retro con this weekend so I might find some good games to buy
I think there are other retro gaming store websites that sell for a fair price than Ebay these days. The Retro Game Price scandal hit my trust on Ebay by a bit.
Or you can always gets the Raspberry Pie. Easy with a complete package of games to play :)
I almost bought a preloaded raspberry pi package on eBay. I instead wanted to learn how to do it myself. What I did was buy a raspberry pi and loaded all the software and games on myself.
Now that I know how to do it, it's pretty easy. I have had it now for 3 years and it's still running strong.
@@marccaselle8108 That's really great for you :) .
@@Zahir658 thanks
@@marccaselle8108 NP. Nowadays, with so little time we have, we would rather have a pack full of games than searching to find the game.
Just had a great interaction last night with a seller & grabbed a deal on a copy of Jade Cocoon for PS1. Been wanting to play this since I was a kid but it was always hard to find for less than $200 Canadian for a long time. When I asked to see back of discs they replied immediately with the pictures.
Trick for cigarette smoke smell is to use as high % rubbing alcohol as possible & give that game a bath. Works great for me, even on computer hardware & consoles.
One time I bought a DS game on ebay and it was wrapped in a mac & cheese box cut to the shape to fit the game and some newspapers! it arrived in great shape and had a nice note inside. It was hilarious to see kraft mac and cheese in my mailbox!
My wife found an auction on Ebay that contained 50 loose games. The image showed several titles for multiple systems, and the listing was labeled as "some duplicates, with a few sports titles". She bought it, and when it came in most of the games shown in the image were not included, also it was ALL sports titles. Even worse, of the 50 games, there were 6 copies of Bulls vs. Blazers on the genesis, 8 copies of Evander Holyfield on the genesis, 9 Sports Talk Baseball for the genesis, and 27 copies of NHL All-Star Hockey for the Game Gear...four titles...over and over. Yes, this was brought up to Ebay with the complaint of not as described, but they told us there was nothing they could do. It was apparently our fault for not asking for further clarification as to what exactly was in the lot. We still have them in a box somewhere in the house because we couldn't even get $1 each when we tried to put them back up on Ebay.
I bought a copy of Sonic 06 from someone on Ebay a while back, and the copy they sent me had an unreadable disk and manual that had pages stuck to each other. Thankfully, the seller was really kind and apologetic about it and gave me a full refund.
It was the first time I ever had to return and ship an item back. So not only did I get my money back, but I learned how to ship games!
My quick tip for games plagued by cigarette smoke, I leave a dryer sheet in the case for a little while. Usually comes out pretty well for next to no effort.
Absolutely! I do this as well.
That's a good tip. I'm going to have to try that for my Xbox 360. Thank you.
I bought a PS3 online from a seller who reiterated in the listing that it was perfectly working. It arrived and yellow light of death out of the box.
I ONLY buy IMPORTS online because I will almost never see them in the wild. I have bought many import Saturn, Pc Engine, PS3, and Xbox 360 games. Great Shmups!
Christ. Like 98% of my entire collection came off eBay.
In fact most of my worst experiences come from game shops. I once bought 3 NES advantages from my local shop, back to back, because none of them would work.
I went to buy some snes games from someone through fb marketplace. I spent 14 years in the Army and have been in some dangerous areas, but this one was really bad. I kept waiting to get robbed by them (always be protected). I later saw in the news a few months later, they were bringing people in and robbing them then selling the stolen stuff. Glad people are scared of me and nothing happened while I was there.
A guy on eBay once asked me to CALL him because I challenged the authenticity of a sealed game he sold to me. Thankfully nothing fishy happened, he was worried I would pull a fast one which is fair. But it was weird to have someone request a phone call like that. It felt like my return was in jeopardy.
Wow. Never heard of that before. Good story.
I hate it when I win a bid for a very low price and the seller backs out. They always give a very flimsy excuse like, my kid broke it, or I can't find it to ship it to you...
That's such a scumbag move. I'd give negative feedback for sure if someone did that to me online.
@@joshbarnes9267 it has happened to me four times. You can't leave feedback without a transaction. I would have if it was possible.
@@retroprojections I'm sorry to hear that. I've never had an experience like that, though I usually don't have the patience for auctions when I'm buying. I have sold items auction style though, and sometimes someone else gets a good deal on my listing. And they deserve it, that's part of the hustle!
Yeah, those lies are usually pretty obvious too.
2 stories: I ordered a copy of Splatterhouse for the PC Engine from Japan and it came with a nice hand written thank you letter in English and Kanji. I also found a Genesis on eBay for $5, but when I got it it was a 'Genisis' and had a knockoff playstation controller with a Genesis plug. After opening the console, I realized the whole thing was a clone. But it works!
I’ve probably purchased the majority of my GBA games on eBay. I’ve been cheated ONCE by a guy who sold me Advance Wars and when it arrived, it wouldn’t play. I opened the cart and found someone had melted the chip set. Perhaps they were trying to replace the battery and didn’t know how to solder. Anyway, the game was DOA and the listing was gone and untraceable so I never got a refund. IIRC, I’ve been lied to 2 or 3 times at brick n mortar game stores, namely Game Stop and MicroPlay. I’ll take my chances online. eBay is better than it used to be for buyer protection. The biggest downside to eBay is you’re paying top dollar for games there. Sometimes the prices are double or triple what the game is valued at.
It also depends on the eBay seller you’re buying from. I once bought a GBA game from an eBay store (a variety store like a pawnshop). The game was Pac-Man Collection. Apparently, the woman had a GameBoy Color game (Pokémon yellow) that she wanted to get rid of because she sent it to me also. She just tossed it in as a surprise gift. 2 games for 1 price. I’m not a Pokémon fan, but I thought that was a pretty cool thing for her to do. Definitely gave her a Positive feedback.
I try to buy in store, but if you sign up for ebay and don't by anything for a month or so they start sending $10 coupons. I buy a game for just over ten bucks, only actually spend like two bucks, then make another account and wait for the next coupon.
Unless you get lucky at a thrift store or garage sale, Ebay is always cheaper
When I first started collecting for snes again, I was ordering some Japanese games fpr the cheapness factor. I think it was fzero in box for like $15cad, but the seller sent an origami swan with it
I haven't had too many issues buying video games online - I try to stay as local as possible, but Chicago is such a desert. I did however buy a deloreon model from a shady facebook ad and it turned out to be a $20 scale model and definitely not the giant one I was promised. I'll share the really bizzare story when you talk about SELLING games online because boy-howdy do I have a whopper of a tale for you.
Almost all of my retro games have come from Ebay and it's mostly been positive. You really have to train yourself on what to look for and what listings to avoid. The only repro I have is ocarina of time that I bought locally from a friend. He didn't know any better and I wasn't mad because the price was still worth it.
I just wanna say that I’m not afraid to admit that I’ve got over 300 games in my collection and none of them are worth more than $100. Most expensive is probably my loose copy of Pokémon crystal… Ok happy collecting guys!
Don't worry one day someone will inform you a game you own is now worth a bunch of money. Happened to me the other day watching a video on That Video Game Show channel on "Most expensive and rarest PS1 RPGS" where I was informed that my copy of Arc The Lad which I've had for a couple of years now and paid like $30 for is now worth $150! Video games are weird like that. One day a game is worth this much then the next worth THAT much overnight.
While I have a few valuable games (most bought 5+ years ago lol), there are 2 I go back to every now and again, because I got them for absolute STEALS looking back, albeit at a store, not online: Pokemon Emerald (loose), for about $20 about 10 years ago, which is now worth $100 on the dot as of now, and Castelvania Order of Ecclesia (CIB), which I got at Gamestop for $20 a few years back and is now worth over $125. Game collecting just be like that I guess.
I was going after some Japanese-only Vita and PSP games based on my favorite anime. There were warnings all over the listing that it was in Japanese only - no English - but the seller still sent me a note after the purchase to make absolutely sure I knew it was Japanese-only before he sent it. It made me bookmark the seller and check his items first whenever I’m looking for something.
Interesting vid and buying online generally works out through eBay or game shops w/onlineshopping. I did buy a Genesis game from a Facebook group once though and it took a pretty long time for the seller to ship the game. So long in fact that I picked up a copy from one of the local stores I frequent. Well after promising to refund my the seller found the game and shipped it. So now I have two copies, but he did throw in another game had asked about for free so it worked out. I just returned the extra copy and held on to the freebie.
I remember in the late 90s my dad ordered Star Fox 64 on Ebay and when I got it, it was surrounded by an aura of cigarette oder. But me being a kid, I didn't care. I loved that game. Now I no longer own the cartridge. Dunno what happened to it. Now I just have multiple copies of an oderless rom of Star Fox 64 that play wonderfully on my PC and PS Vita. But it's just not the same without that cigarette stink :sadfaic:
Ah, yes, the interwebz is not equipped with Smell-o-Vision. Great point!
If only it was!
I’ve been trying to get a not so common PlayStation 1 game I once owned. Its Philosoma. All I remember from it is that it’s a great shooter with FMV cutscenes that blend into the gameplay. It’s going for $60 or more compared to when I got it for less than $20. I’m going to bite the bullet and surrender my money because of the nostalgia I have with it.
DK oldies can be expensive. But they are super reliable, and even offer a 120 day money back guarantee
I like using ebay and buy games on it quite often. I definitely prefer finding games "in the wild" but as you said it's unreliable to actually find the specific game you want. When it comes to price I think I honestly find better deals on ebay compared to anywhere else right now
I buy so many games online. I wish I could support stores more but they have hard prices that I don't wanna pay. So online it is. Also it opens up so many doors for new games I never knew of
In my case, online is really my only viable option. I live on an island province in Canada (P.E.I) that only has just over 130k people in the entire province and there just aren't viable options for buying retro games here. So, with that being said, my location is a setback and my dollar being down a quarter for every buck against USD is a setback. Add to that that many US sellers won't ship to Canada for whatever reason (or, those that do, use the Global Shipping Program which is massively, laughably, outrageously priced most of the time), and I'm well behind the eight ball before I even start.
Yeah, online - ebay in particular - has become my 'go to' out of necessity with forums being a distant second. For about 2 years now, I've been using a shipping service within the US to have an address sellers are willing to send to; this is what I've had to do to try to finish my collection. I'm a CIB collector, so to be fair, most of what I'm still after is typically rather difficult to find truly complete and in great condition (I love Game Boy games, but it can be tough).
I often find myself envious of those that don't have to jump through all these hoops to get their games, but if nothing else, every game has a story and the adventure has been nothing if not interesting. I can't wait for the next PRGE because the last one in 2019 was a magical experience (and my first convention); there's just no experience like it anywhere even remotely close to where I live.
I bought a bunch of cheap games for the NES - City Connection, Snake Rattle and Roll, Karnov, uh... 501 in 1 ($25 for that one), RC PRO AM, most of these were under $10, not that long ago. Hell I can get a whole NES for $20.
One time I bought a game from Japan(I'm in the USA) that was listed as Cartridge Only for $70. But received Complete-In-Box valued at around $150. I would of had to wait at least a month to ship it back to Japan and wait for the correct order. Which would have been worth $80 dollars anyway for my time investment IMO.
So I just kept the Item and gave the Seller positive feedback stating "Better than I expected!". He was gracious for the feedback and left me positive feedback. The seller did not have another listing with the CIB I received, so I'm not entirely sure it was a mistake.
Never been burned buying on eBay before. But I do sell on the side on eBay and I’ve been screwed over plenty of times buy buyers who are lazy and don’t read the listing. eBay ALWAYS favors the buyer even if you can prove the buyer is at fault. And you can’t even call them anymore to try and hash anything out. They make you email a Rep. and it’s not even the same person each time you reply to the same problem or they tell you to ask other eBayers in the forums. They are lazy and treat sellers like crap.
I bid on a 100% pristine copy of Secret of Mana that I was going to have framed with a few imported mini figures and a hand-drawn Mana tree as the background.
It arrived completely crushed and battered with packing tape over the sides to keep it shut and a prepaid postage sticker slapped right onto the box.
Ebay fought with me to force the refund because they said that I *did* receive the item that I'd bought.
Makes you wonder what on earth the seller was thinking.
I bought a Sega Saturn game off eBay and was trying to %100 it. Had to beat the game with all 4 characters. It was pretty easy but time consuming. Each character took about an hour to beat the game. when I got to the last character the game froze on the last frame of the end credits...tried it a few more times and it happens every time...The disc looked clean with no scratches but when I put it up to the light it has a small amount of disc rot...only 2 small dots but enough to derail my %100 quest.
Disc rot was something I never checked before when I bought old games online but for sure now it's the first thing I'm checking. It's something that's impossible to see from just the listings so I just have to buy and pray.
I ordered a for parts lot about a year ago. The surprising thing was everything was listed as tested and not working. When it finally was delivered I plugged each individual system up. All of them worked except for a PSOne and a N64 game. That lot ended up with 2 working Sega Genesis model 3s, a PSOne with screen and a DS lite.
I'm one of those people that live in a small town with no game stores, well, there are some electronics stores that sell pirated PS2 and Xbox 360 games and, original modern consoles (PS4, XONE and Switch) with sometimes original games bundled in, but, that's about it, luckily there is a neighbor city with 3 different game stores 50 minutes away from me, oh, I sure would love to live there, mainly to eat the best cookies in the region however!
Hah I sold a 486 with a monitor to someone on eBay and they were complaining about the smell - I didn't notice it, I don't smoke either. What it ended up being is the smell of curry. Yep, bought it from an Indian, and living in Brampton for a quarter century immunized my nostrils to that very pungent smell. I still have the PC that monitor came with and upon replacing the caps on it, yeah, the dust in the fan did smell of curry. Yum!
hahah
That is a bad smell.
Hey, Brampton! I lived there for years 😆
@@megamob5834 Then you know exactly what I am talking about.
I moved to Barrie last year, I can't say I miss Brampton. I don't hate it, made a bunch of friends in high school, got a good career path started there, I wouldn't call it a dangerous city, hell it has lots of parks even, but there's just that one element... It's just not for me.
@@ryanyoder7573 It smells good when it's food, it does not smell good when its ingrained in electronics (or clothes, or any other non-edible matter).
A year or so back I bought a the cheapest copy of Pilotwings 64 I could find on eBay. It was like 8 bucks and just had a stock photo in the listing; I just wanted to try Pilotwings 64 out and I wasn't that concerned about condition. I got it in the mail, and it came complete in box with manual, and the cart looked like new.
I buy games off amazon, best buy , walmart & other online sites that have video games. Sometimes I'll drive to walmart or best buy near my house to buy games. Online is more convinient because they'll have more of a selection to choose from & your not wasting your time driving to said stores.
When I was a kid, online didn't exsist. I didn't drive either. I would hop on the city bus & take the metro to go to Toys R us that's near my house to buy Sega Genesis games at the time. I didn't buy many games because games were really expensive at $80. I didn't have much money either.
Games would go down in pricing like $20...At the time I didn't know any better & just bought games I liked at $80 like nhl 94, nhl 95, nhl 96. Friends have the biggest influence on you when you are a kid. Now as an adult, I only buy what I like.
My weird situation was I bought resident evil village for ps5 (my accident not the sellers fault) so I turned it in at gamestop, they got a brand new copy of it and traded it in for credit on animal crossings new horizon for switch and then re ordered resident evil village for ps4 and beat it. Big mess but it all worked out in the end
I've probably only purchased 2 or 3 games online, and those transactions were pretty uneventful. I think most of the fun of collecting games comes from hunting down copies "in the wild". I have tons of memories of stumbling across games and buying them, which means that a lot of the games in my collection have a story behind them.
I ordered a 6 button Sega Genesis controller.. but got a 3 button.. i plug it in.. the directional pad doesn't work! The seller ended up just fully refunding me
I purchased a copy of DBz Budokai Tenkaichi 2 for Wii on eBay. When the game arrived, I received the correct case but inside was Super Smash Bros Brawl, another game on my to-buy list. I informed the seller and they let me keep the game while refunding me. So, that worked out pretty well in an unexpected way. I did have to print my own cover art though for it to fit in with my collection
I got eternal darkness off eBay last year and it came in real musty smelling. I just put dryer sheets in the case and rotated one through the pages of the manual everyday and it solved the problem easy enough. Don't think that would work with cigarette smoke though....
Online is sort of my only avenue. Theres a VERY limited local source for older games where I live. And the prices are typically at least 10-20% marked up from what I see like on ebay.
I diiiiid buy a 3 button genesis controller locally because I really wanted one quick and I felt compelled to support local business, even a little. Most of the games the shop has are cart only and somewhat pricey so I cant go there as much as I'd like. Shame. If I were much richer I'd love to give them more money
Oh hey Señor Retrobird just mentioned game store prices
I am the "it depends on" guy.
Have made good experiences in both ways, online and flee markets. But I feel here in Germany the flee market stuff for retro games has moved to eBay etc. When I watch those US TH-camrs it seems like it is easier over there.
With online merchants on eBay: there are a few which put on their games as used, but in fact those games I bought have even been in better condition than offered.
The weirdest experience: Someone asked if I was interested in modded retro consoles (like the original Xbox).
I live in Brazil and if not for online purchases, I would have none of my 24 N64 games. It's expensive, but it works!
Bought a 360 from ebay some years ago. Console came in a beaten USPS box without any protection, and when playing it randomly shut down. eBay refunded me and I shipped it back, but the seller claimed that I shipped back a different console and she threatened to report me to the FBI lol
I got a cigar smelly Final Fantasy X-2. The weird story is I bought SoulBlade for Playstation 1 in acceptable condition and it was the greatest hits version. What showed up in the mail was the black label version in mint condition. I'll tell you some people can be sooo dishonest.
My worst experience is I bought Tales of Phantasia and Advance Wars 2 off eBay and when it arrived the package was opened and the games were gone. I went back and forth from the seller to the post office about getting my money back until the seller was kind enough to refund me. I still don't have either in my GBA collection :(
Your right retrobird, I've had that horrible cigarette smell from opening up bubble wrap from a game boy advance game lol.
Nothing too weird here, but I had a copy of castlevania 64 for my n64. I played it, loved it, played it again, wanted more! So I looked up a speedrun to see how the pros play. I quickly learned that every glitch that can be performed in the game, could only be performed on the version 1.0 cartridge. When I looked at my cart I realized I had the 1.2 version and so I was kind of out of luck. I looked everywhere, all my local game stores, and theres a good amount. But I couldnt find it. Even looking online, noone takes notice and lists what version the cart is, so by looking at the Ebay listings and squinting to see if anyone had a good enough picture of the imprint on the back of the cart.. I finally found a listing that had a clear enough shot of the back of the cart and I could just barely tell by the indented number that it looked like a 1.0 version. This game took over a month to finally get shipped to me as it got lost in the mail along the way. (A whole separate issue)The cost got refunded to me because it took so long and the next day it showed up of course. It was the 1.0 cart I needed thankfully and that's the end of my story.
Yeah, looking for small details that the seller isn't aware of is always interesting. I typically just ask for an additional picture.
I love shopping at my local game store, but buying a game online is sometimes the only way for me to get a specific game I want
When I was in my teens I would take the local bus to get around most of the time.
Maybe it's not the answer to the question you've shared, but an important one - I've noticed an increasing of people who are selling a bad quality for an increased price. They tend to hide all the flaws of the product with bad quality photos and exciting descriptions. This is a common sense to skip them, but I want to admit - that amount of such people grows drastically and you should not/could not rely on the luck anymore (which was working before). And these are collectors-losers, who are trying to get rid of their old mistakes.
To add to the whole "Online you'll know what condition you're getting it in" you'll be able to choose between loose, CIB, New, etc. fairly easily without much issue, as long as you're paying attention to the fine print on certain items (So make sure it's not a Box and Manual only listing). Often you won't have that luxury at a game store, as the store may have it loose, but not CIB, or may have it CIB, and not willing to separate it from the box so as to sell it loose to you. I've had this issue a few times when I've gone to my local retro video game store. And in the case of Gamestop, they often throw out their game cases, which is just... please stop Gamestop. You're really not helping your reputation among gamers by doing that for a decade plus.
I went to a Gamestop recently just to check used games if any gems was there and oh boy !!!! I dont know how they are still open. Only sports games, nasty cases, gamestop generic case, nothing retro ... etc. Used games were also more expensive than new games on Amazon....
I bought a brand new Nintendo Wii off of ebay and it smelled of dill pickles. I was very clearly the first person to ever open the item. Still baffled by that to this day and it still smells of them. Makes me hungry. I think that's by far the strangest experience I've had buying online.
I really love buying online. It's difficult for me to get to thrift stores that may or may not have games. Gamestop is the closest game store to me and they don't sell retro stuff in their store.
On the subject of stores, anyone else have Funkoland they went to for their games? I miss those. The folks were always nice to me in there. As a kid being treated equal to adults was a real cool thing, and they did that. They also never steered me wrong on a game.