First off this isn't another post bitching about the lack of a stead supply of cheap games, it's a post questioning the market forces that may be artificially inflating secondary market prices.
I've been monitoring the secondhand market for NES and SNES games for 15 years now, and while things remained relatively stable for a long time, but it seems like over the last couple of years, things just went crazy.
First of all, the supply of old games to be found "in the wild" at Tag Sales, Thrift Stores, and other places has almost dried up completely. Search the Thrift Store and Yard Sale threads and you will notice over the years a steady decline in the number of great or even good finds of Pre-PS1 Hardware and Software, and often times when it does come up, it's rarely at reasonable prices. Part of this may be due to increased competition from resellers, a lot of it has to do with two decades of collectors doing what it is that collectors do, which is collect, so there obviously isn't an infinite supply out there.
Secondly, while supply has decreased, prices have steadily been rising, but with no discernable proof that there is any real increased demand. The worst thing eBay (and that's a long list) ever did was allow people to list items for free, and only pay a fee if it sells. The end result of this is that while formerly people would list their items as an auction , and the market would determine the price, now what you see is an endless supply of Buy it Now listings that are almost all resellers listing items at inflated prices hoping to find a naive buyer. Since the seller isn't paying unless it sells, there's no incentive for them not to do this.
So now, if you're looking for a specific title, instead of being able to find an auction, bid, and be reasonably assured that you are going to pay approximately what it's worth, all you see is a bunch of trolls controlling the market, essentially engaging in price fixing, and artificially inflating the value of the used game market. This in turn drives up prices at Tag Sales, and Flea Markets, and even Goodwill, because the average person doesn't understand that just because someone lists game X for Y dollars, doesn't mean that it's worth Y dollars, and definitely doesn't mean that it will actually be sold for Y dollars.
Is there anything the collecting community can do at this point to combat this and get prices down at a more reasonable level back to where they should realistically be, or have the reseller trolls that think a cart only copy of Battletoads is worth $19.99 caused irreparable damage to the market that can never be fixed?
I've been monitoring the secondhand market for NES and SNES games for 15 years now, and while things remained relatively stable for a long time, but it seems like over the last couple of years, things just went crazy.
First of all, the supply of old games to be found "in the wild" at Tag Sales, Thrift Stores, and other places has almost dried up completely. Search the Thrift Store and Yard Sale threads and you will notice over the years a steady decline in the number of great or even good finds of Pre-PS1 Hardware and Software, and often times when it does come up, it's rarely at reasonable prices. Part of this may be due to increased competition from resellers, a lot of it has to do with two decades of collectors doing what it is that collectors do, which is collect, so there obviously isn't an infinite supply out there.
Secondly, while supply has decreased, prices have steadily been rising, but with no discernable proof that there is any real increased demand. The worst thing eBay (and that's a long list) ever did was allow people to list items for free, and only pay a fee if it sells. The end result of this is that while formerly people would list their items as an auction , and the market would determine the price, now what you see is an endless supply of Buy it Now listings that are almost all resellers listing items at inflated prices hoping to find a naive buyer. Since the seller isn't paying unless it sells, there's no incentive for them not to do this.
So now, if you're looking for a specific title, instead of being able to find an auction, bid, and be reasonably assured that you are going to pay approximately what it's worth, all you see is a bunch of trolls controlling the market, essentially engaging in price fixing, and artificially inflating the value of the used game market. This in turn drives up prices at Tag Sales, and Flea Markets, and even Goodwill, because the average person doesn't understand that just because someone lists game X for Y dollars, doesn't mean that it's worth Y dollars, and definitely doesn't mean that it will actually be sold for Y dollars.
Is there anything the collecting community can do at this point to combat this and get prices down at a more reasonable level back to where they should realistically be, or have the reseller trolls that think a cart only copy of Battletoads is worth $19.99 caused irreparable damage to the market that can never be fixed?