When did secondary market prices for NES get so out of hand?

spmahn

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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?
 
the market of old video games? This stuff isn't like steel or wheat lol, its not an economic system. Its a bunch of old, outdated technology thats worth as much as a person will buy it for. Why are people trolls when they try to get as much money as they can for something?

I do agree with your viewpoint that it has become harder to find reasonably priced retro gaming goods. However your opinion that the "market" owes you reasonable prices or that the prices should return to "reasonable" is ridiculous.
 
[quote name='mrspicytacoman']the market of old video games? This stuff isn't like steel or wheat lol, its not an economic system. Its a bunch of old, outdated technology thats worth as much as a person will buy it for. Why are people trolls when they try to get as much money as they can for something?

I do agree with your viewpoint that it has become harder to find reasonably priced retro gaming goods. However your opinion that the "market" owes you reasonable prices or that the prices should return to "reasonable" is ridiculous.[/QUOTE]

An economic system is anything you want it to be. There is a market for everything, just because it's not a commodity doesn't mean it isn't a market with the same economic forces controlling it. I'm not arguing with people having the freedom to get as much money as they can, I'm not calling people trolls for doing that. What I am calling people trolls for is controlling the market and inflating the prices above and beyond where they should be. If the supply and demand for Game X say that it's worth $5, but a handful of people control 90% of the supply or Game X and attempt to sell it for $20, but only one of them successfully sell it at that price, it doesn't mean that Game X is now worth $20, it means that it's worth $5, and one person got lucky to find a person ignorant enough to pay him $20 for it.
 
reseller trolls? What in the world are you talking about.

Just because you can't get a game at the price you want it at or feel it should be at, doesn't mean you are right. How do you know Battletoads is not worth 19.99? Maybe a seller values his copy at 19.99 and doesn't want to give it up for less than that before fees.

Who are you to determine what something is worth? Why are you god of ebay?

If you think a bunch of resellers can get together to collude on prices for old NES games, then you're insane.
 
I pretty much agree with what you said OP. But the bigger reason why this is happening is because people are idiots. Rather than ask why something costs so much, they just buy it because they're afraid it'll go higher.

I can't say I blame re-sellers... if I can get $50 for more something, why wouldn't I?
 
[quote name='confoosious']reseller trolls? What in the world are you talking about.

Just because you can't get a game at the price you want it at or feel it should be at, doesn't mean you are right. How do you know Battletoads is not worth 19.99? Maybe a seller values his copy at 19.99 and doesn't want to give it up for less than that before fees.

Who are you to determine what something is worth? Why are you god of ebay?

If you think a bunch of resellers can get together to collude on prices for old NES games, then you're insane.[/QUOTE]
lol confoosious pretty much nailed all the things I was going to say next.

There are no set values to old video games dude lol.
 
[quote name='confoosious']reseller trolls? What in the world are you talking about.

Just because you can't get a game at the price you want it at or feel it should be at, doesn't mean you are right. How do you know Battletoads is not worth 19.99? Maybe a seller values his copy at 19.99 and doesn't want to give it up for less than that before fees.

Who are you?

If you think a bunch of resellers can get together to collude on prices for old NES games, then you're insane.[/QUOTE]

I know Battletoads is not worth $19.99 because it's not worth $19.99. Battletoads was perhaps a bad example because prices for it are all over the map, but in general look at completed listings on eBay for an auction compared to the Non-Auction Buy It Now listing, and you will generally find a price disparity of about $10 or more for almost everything. There actually is a lot of organized collusion that goes on in the collecting world, go to NintendoAge for evidence, it definitely occurs, but just because it may not be organized doesn't mean that there isn't an effort amongst resellers to artificially drive up prices.

lol confoosious pretty much nailed all the things I was going to say next.

There are no set values to old video games dude lol.

Yes, actually there are, just like anything else. Ultimately it always comes down to "it's worth whatever someone is willing to pay you for it", but that doesn't mean that you can't assess a games supply and demand as well as previous price history and come up with a reasonable price point of what a person should be paying for a particular game.
 
No one person gets to determine the value of anything. Name any game and you'd be wrong on how much it's worth because it's just YOUR OPINION.

If you or anyone else could solely determine the value of something, why even have auctions?

You would just state the value of everything from on high and buyers and sellers would have to transact business at that price. Are you f'ing insane? Do you really think you have that power?

You are one of those whiny buyers who think everything should be what you determine it should be. Guess what? The world doesn't work that way. Grow up.
 
[quote name='confoosious']No one person gets to determine the value of anything. Name any game and you'd be wrong on how much it's worth because it's just YOUR OPINION.

If you or anyone else could solely determine the value of something, why even have auctions?[/QUOTE]

Uh, it's easy to determine the value of something, assess factors like the supply and demand, and past sales prices, and you can easily determine an approximate value for what something might be worth.

What you can't determine is what someone is willing to pay an item, since that involves a lot more personal and psychological factors which can't be accounted for. But you can still tell a person, you got a great deal, or you paid too much, and not necessarily be wrong.
 
It's all just your opinion. You, that is, YOU, do not have any say into how much something is worth other than to you.

the value of something is constantly fluctuating, especially for items like old nes games that are no longer produced.

It's not up to you to determine what a game is worth. You just think it's too high, which is fine, but that doesn't mean there is some vast conspiracy by "reseller trolls" to set the price.
 
You guys are failing to understand what spmahn is even trying to say. There is a median value for most games and system. He isn't saying anything like what you're talking about. Are YOU an idiot?

He isn't declaring what a game is worth, he's declaring what the typical market value of it is worth based on what it has previously sold for. Why did this get thrown off topic so much?
 
[quote name='Potatoeman']You guys are failing to understand what spmahn is even trying to say. There is a median value for most games and system. He isn't saying anything like what you're talking about. Are YOU an idiot?

He isn't declaring what a game is worth, he's declaring what the typical market value of it is worth based on what it has previously sold for. Why did this get thrown off topic so much?[/QUOTE]


no it isn't. Any item is worth what the NEXT person is willing to sell it for. And what the next person is willing to buy it for.

If it was discovered that there was real gold in the zelda controller, does that mean that you take the median price of all the selling that happened prior to the discovery? Of course not. Value is about the future, not the past.

This isn't about the value of something. This is about spmahn being whiny because he thinks NES games are too high on ebay.

So what if Game X sold 500000 copies at $10 if no one is willing to sell it at $10 anymore? If someone is willing to pay $20 for it, the new value is $20 and that has nothing to do with "reseller trolls." If two parties agree to exchange $20 for that game, why would the value of the game by $10? Why is spmahn right about the value of that game instead of the two people who conducted the transaction? Isn't that a bit self-centered?

@skiizm - yes, this is equally as ridiculous as that thread.
 
Bingo OP! Though I have no problem with these sellers sitting on these high prices I do hate how this trickles down. No one knows how to use the "completed listings" function or chooses not to look since it is more convenient to roll with everyone else. The only thing I can think of to do to combat this is to educate people on how to use the tools properly. I have repeatedly told sellers at flea markets/yard sales/Craigslist that the price they are quoting is for a brand new sealed game/complete/ and most importantly inflated. This works sometimes, as this is how I got a complete Steel Battalion for a reasonable price off of Craigslist. The guy legitimately thought the list prices were what people were actually getting.

Also another thought for conversation: world market vs local market. IE your neighborhood may have been a Genesis town but in my state we build houses out of SNES's.
 
[quote name='confoosious']It's all just your opinion. You, that is, YOU, do not have any say into how much something is worth other than to you.

the value of something is constantly fluctuating, especially for items like old nes games that are no longer produced.

It's not up to you to determine what a game is worth. You just think it's too high, which is fine, but that doesn't mean there is some vast conspiracy by "reseller trolls" to set the price.[/QUOTE]

But the value is NOT constantly fluctuating in most cases. Generally when all other things are considered equal, X game will typically sell for Y price, thus Game X is worth approximately Y. If you pay less than Y, well you got a good deal. If you paid more than Y, well you probably paid too much. This is especially easy with a console like the NES where games generally all fall into a few categories "Rare not in demand and cheap" "Rare in demand and expensive" "Common in demand and expensive" "Common not in demand and cheap" or "Uncommon but not in demand and cheap". Prices on a 25 year old console aren't going to fluctuate much at all, they are eventually going to settle at a certain point and stay there.

So what if Game X sold 500000 copies at $10 if no one is willing to sell it at $10 anymore? If someone is willing to pay $20 for it, the new value is $20 and that has nothing to do with "reseller trolls." If two parties agree to exchange $20 for that game, why would the value of the game by $10? Why is spmahn right about the value of that game instead of the two people who conducted the transaction? Isn't that a bit self-centered?

But what if NO ONE is willing to pay $20 for it, but reseller trolls still insist on trying to sell it for $20 anyways? Yes, every once in a blue moon you may catch a fish with your bait, but that's an exception to the rule.
 
Yes, most things don't fluctuate.

But if something suddenly increases in value and a game that sold 3 years ago for $10 is now $20, what's the problem? Why do YOU get to decide that the value should be $10?

Why do you get to decide that someone is overpricing the game? Why is the buyer foolish? Why is the reseller a troll?


[quote name='spmahn']
But what if NO ONE is willing to pay $20 for it, but reseller trolls still insist on trying to sell it for $20 anyways? Yes, every once in a blue moon you may catch a fish with your bait, but that's an exception to the rule.[/QUOTE]

So what? That's their right. If I'm sitting on a copy of Earthbound and the minimum I'm willing to sell it at as $2500, am I a troll? No. It's just what I would be willing to part with it for. If it doesn't sell, it doesn't sell. I'm not forcing anyone to buy it and I'm not artificially inflating the market.

If someone else comes along and puts a But It Now on Earthbound for $100, do I rant and rave at him for valuing it too low? Of course not. The market is the market.

I have no idea why you think you have the right to determine what someone else should list their games for. Things are worth different things to different people. If someone isn't willing to part with their game for less than $20, that doesn't make them a reseller troll. It simply means "hmmm, if someone is willing to pay me $20 for this, cool. If not, I'll just keep it." Everyone makes this calculation every single day.
 
Maybe it's the fact that a lot of people had gaming systems as kids, got a Wii, and get nostalgic for the old stuff and they want to get it, either just to have the physical thing they had as a child or they don't have Wi-Fi and can't download the games on the Wii?
 
[quote name='confoosious']no it isn't. Any item is worth what the NEXT person is willing to sell it for. And what the next person is willing to buy it for.

If it was discovered that there was real gold in the zelda controller, does that mean that you take the median price of all the selling that happened prior to the discovery? Of course not. Value is about the future, not the past.

This isn't about the value of something. This is about spmahn being whiny because he thinks NES games are too high on ebay.

So what if Game X sold 500000 copies at $10 if no one is willing to sell it at $10 anymore? If someone is willing to pay $20 for it, the new value is $20 and that has nothing to do with "reseller trolls." If two parties agree to exchange $20 for that game, why would the value of the game by $10? Why is spmahn right about the value of that game instead of the two people who conducted the transaction? Isn't that a bit self-centered?

@skiizm - yes, this is equally as ridiculous as that thread.[/QUOTE]

Wow, so you're saying the market is completely unstable and can fluctuate based on the different buyers and sellers? Thats exactly what we were trying to discuss.

I don't know what the spmahn was trying to imply about "reseller trolls" with his last sentence, but everything before then was reasonable.
 
[quote name='confoosious']Yes, most things don't fluctuate.

But if something suddenly increases in value and a game that sold 3 years ago for $10 is now $20, what's the problem? Why do YOU get to decide that the value should be $10?

Why do you get to decide that someone is overpricing the game? Why is the buyer foolish? Why is the reseller a troll?[/QUOTE]

Because the game still only sells for $10, but the seller decides to list it in perpetuity on eBay at $20, hoping that someone will catch onto the bait, as unlikely as it may be. As a result, Person B sees that Person A is trying to sell Game X for $20, so he thinks it must be worth $20 too, so he lists his for the same price. Person C, D, and E all do the same thing. So even though the game only sells for $10, you can no longer buy it for $10 because Person B is stubbornly trying to sell it for $20, despite the fact that he's had the same games listed for the same price for over a year and no one is biting, but since it doesn't cost him anything, he has no real reason to reduce his prices.
 
The market is always going to fluctuate, it all depends on how available the item is, what the current market value is and what somebody's worth has put on the item. It's really hard to corner a niche market like this, prices are always going to fluctuate depending on those three factors. We may not like it but nobody is forcing you to buy it either way.
 
[quote name='spmahn']Because the game still only sells for $10, but the seller decides to list it in perpetuity on eBay at $20, hoping that someone will catch onto the bait, as unlikely as it may be. As a result, Person B sees that Person A is trying to sell Game X for $20, so he thinks it must be worth $20 too, so he lists his for the same price. Person C, D, and E all do the same thing. So even though the game only sells for $10, you can no longer buy it for $10 because Person B is stubbornly trying to sell it for $20, despite the fact that he's had the same games listed for the same price for over a year and no one is biting, but since it doesn't cost him anything, he has no real reason to reduce his prices.[/QUOTE]


Again. So what?

Who is forcing people to buy it for $20? If no one buys it for $20, it will come back down to $10. If someone buys it at $20, it's worth $20 to that person. Let the market do its thing.

You have no say other than to not buy it. But you don't get to dictate what other people do.

Why don't you understand the free market?
 
[quote name='confoosious']Yes, most things don't fluctuate.

But if something suddenly increases in value and a game that sold 3 years ago for $10 is now $20, what's the problem? Why do YOU get to decide that the value should be $10?

Why do you get to decide that someone is overpricing the game? Why is the buyer foolish? Why is the reseller a troll?




So what? That's their right. If I'm sitting on a copy of Earthbound and the minimum I'm willing to sell it at as $500, am I a troll? No. It's just what I would be willing to part with it for. If it doesn't sell, it doesn't sell. I'm not forcing anyone to buy it and I'm not artificially inflating the market.

If someone else comes along and puts a But It Now on Earthbound for $100, do I rant and rave at him for valuing it too low? Of course not. The market is the market.

I have no idea why you think you have the right to determine what someone else should list their games for. Things are worth different things to different people. If someone isn't willing to part with their game for less than $20, that doesn't make them a reseller troll. It simply means "hmmm, if someone is willing to pay me $20 for this, cool. If not, I'll just keep it." Everyone makes this calculation every single day.[/QUOTE]

But if no one is buying then it's not a market. It's just a group of people perpetuating high prices for no other reason to try and catch some bait. If it were just one or two people listing items at higher prices because that's what they are willing to part with their game for, then that's one thing, but this is a massive number of resellers listing items at high prices on eBay and collectively inflating prices beyond what people are willing to pay, which ends up having significant ramifications as a result. That's all I am saying.

Who is forcing people to buy it for $20? If no one buys it for $20, it will come back down to $10. If someone buys it at $20, it's worth $20 to that person. Let the market do its thing.

But the prices don't go back down to $10, the person will just keep their listing going in perpetuity regardless of whether or not it sells.
 
[quote name='spmahn']But if no one is buying then it's not a market. It's just a group of people perpetuating high prices for no other reason to try and catch some bait. If it were just one or two people listing items at higher prices because that's what they are willing to part with their game for, then that's one thing, but this is a massive number of resellers listing items at high prices on eBay and collectively inflating prices beyond what people are willing to pay, which ends up having significant ramifications as a result. That's all I am saying.[/QUOTE]

You're wrong. You assume the market on ebay has collusion. It does not at all.

An individual seller will always work in their own self interest, not the market. If someone comes along and is willing to give up Game X for $5, they have a right to in the free market of ebay. What if someone listed Game X for $5 buy it now. Do you then say "ohhhh that game is worth $10, damn buyer trolls!"

No one ever logs onto ebay with an item and thinks "hmmm I'd be happy to get $100 for this and I could use the money but I'd rather list it at $150 along with everyone else because I want to make sure I support the collusion of all these other sellers." Nobody. Everyone works in his own self interest.

You're just mad because prices have gone up. This has nothing to do with seller trolls or collectively inflating prices. Because while people use completed listings as a guideline to list their items, they have no obligation to do so, which means it's still a free market.
 
i'm with confoosius on this one, the price is determined by what people are willing to sell for and if he is the only seller than that's what happens when you wait 20 years to buy the game. Maybe it's not worth $XX.XX to you but ur shit out of luck unless you find a new seller and if he's selling for the same price than there really is nothing you can do about it, they might try to undercut the previous seller but everyone is looking to make maximum profit in the end
 
[quote name='confoosious']You're wrong. You assume the market on ebay has collusion. It does not at all.

An individual seller will always work in their own self interest, not the market. If someone comes along and is willing to give up Game X for $5, they have a right to in the free market of ebay. What if someone listed Game X for $5 buy it now. Do you then say "ohhhh that game is worth $10, damn buyer trolls!"

You're just mad because prices have gone up. This has nothing to do with seller trolls or collectively inflating prices. Because while people use completed listings as a guideline to list their items, they have no obligation to do so, which means it's still a free market.[/QUOTE]

Ok, then what is causing the prices to go up? You seem to be arguing that they have gone up as a result of increased demand leading to higher prices, which doesn't appear to be the case when 95% of the BIN auctions on eBay that get listed with too high a price just sit dormant for months or years. What I am arguing is that prices have gone up because greedy resellers no longer care how long it takes for an item to sell, or whether or not it sells at all, and list their items at prices higher than what the market has demonstrated it is willing to pay. This is what I mean when I say the prices are artificially inflated. Past history may show that Game X only sells for $10 or less, and when it comes up for sale for $10 or less, it does sell. However 95% of the listings for Game X are from people trying unsuccessfully to sell it for $25, so although the market is unwilling to pay $25 for Game X, it is now impossible to purchase Game X for less than $25 because no one is willing to sell it at that price point, which essentially grinds the market to a halt and kills it.

i'm with confoosius on this one, the price is determined by what people are willing to sell for and if he is the only seller than that's what happens when you wait 20 years to buy the game. Maybe it's not worth $XX.XX to you but ur shit out of luck unless you find a new seller and if he's selling for the same price than there really is nothing you can do about it, they might try to undercut the previous seller but everyone is looking to make maximum profit in the end

No, the price is determined by what people are willing to pay for it, not what people are selling it for. I can sell a clump of dirt for $45, but that doesn't make my clump of dirt worth $45.
 
I agree the prices of old cart games have gone up a lot. I look at what I sold on ebay 5 or 6 years ago vs. now and for the most part the popular games have gone up in price.

Some of the expensive games have fallen on hard times due to be rereleased like FF7 and others have just plummeted. I can look at my DDR Mario sales from 6 years ago. I sold the game (without pad) for like 80 dollars multiple times.

I think the increase in price is largely due to the fact that there aren't as many games out in the wild any more. More and more are sitting in collector hands who aren't going to let them go, or if they do they do they want to get the most bang for their buck. The older systems are also much more popular these days. In college a few years ago people regularly had Goldeneye night, Mario Kart night, etc. etc.

When I search completed auctions on eBay I see for the most part very few people posting games for way more than the current value. There are of course some, but I think most people would rather have money in a sort of timely manner than spend 2 - 3 years trying to sell the one game. Unless of course you have a complete in box / mint or something else, and for a rare game you can pretty much name your price for that and sit on it if you want.

When I was selling my Zelda's Adventure Demo Disc on eBay was it wrong of me to list it for a lot and wait for someone? Was I being a reseller troll? I posted it up there for $350 and after about 4 months it sold for $350. There were none other listed on eBay at the time or within the past 90 days, etc.

If I put up my mint complete copy of Little Samson I'm going to want a good penny for it and if I don't get what I want, well I will hold on to it.

Also you have to take into consideration those who make much more detailed auctions, take pictures, really go into detail on the quality of the label, marks, etc. I see tons of auctions that would just say "Battletoads for NES. $4 shipping" and that is it. If I am buying a game for my collection I'll pay another dollar or two to see what the quality of the label is, etc.
 
[quote name='confoosious']The invisible hand of the market.

/end[/QUOTE]

But when prices are higher than what people are willing to pay, then there is no market. If you actually look into it, you'd see that the eBay market these days is much closer to an informal cartel than any sort of free market.
 
You're over analyzing.

Plus, having eBay charge sellers for items that don't sell is ridiculous. And who says Battletoads isn't worth 19.99?

Sorry, this is just ridiculous. If people are willing to pay something for an item, that is what it is worth.
 
[quote name='confoosious']You assume that no sales means no market. That is not true at all. Are you saying that just because no one has bought a declaration of independence lately that there's no market for one?

Again, the invisible hand of the market always prevails. Learn it. Live it. Love it![/QUOTE]

If someone was selling the Declaration of Independence, there would be a market for it, but they don't come up for sale very often. That's different than two dozen people selling the same game for the same high price that no one is willing to pay, and killing the market as a result.
 
You digress? How's that a digression?

You don't understand the invisible hand of the market. You say there is no market. But there is. And it's free. And it's glorious!

God Bless James Brown.
 
Popcorn_02_Stephen_Colbert.gif
 
[quote name='AugustAPC']
Popcorn_02_Stephen_Colbert.gif
[/QUOTE]

too late for the popcorn. What else is there to say after invoking the invisible hand?

I'm watching snoop get killed on youtube.
 
[quote name='AugustAPC']You think he's not going to offer a retort?[/QUOTE]

He probably will but what's the point?

Is ebay not a market? Is it not free? Pretty much ends that, doesn't it?
 
[quote name='confoosious']He probably will but what's the point?

Is ebay not a market? Is it not free? Pretty much ends that, doesn't it?[/QUOTE]

Now you ARE missing a point. That very well SHOULD end it. But it won't. Thus, popcorn.
 
[quote name='AugustAPC']You think he's not going to offer a retort?

*'nother mouthful of popcorn*[/QUOTE]

I have nothing left to add. He feels that it's just free market economics at play, I feel that it's an unfair market controlled by a small number of people who manipulate prices and make them artificially high in an attempt to make them appear normal. The invisible hand argument doesn't fly because there's a theoretically finite supply, and absolutely no motivation for these sellers to lower their price down towards what the market is willing to pay.
 
[quote name='spmahn']I have nothing left to add. He feels that it's just free market economics at play, I feel that it's an unfair market controlled by a small number of people who manipulate prices and make them artificially high in an attempt to make them appear normal. The invisible hand argument doesn't fly because there's a theoretically finite supply, and absolutely no motivation for these sellers to lower their price down towards what the market is willing to pay.[/QUOTE]

O really?

Pass that popcorn!
 
[quote name='confoosious']O really?

Pass that popcorn![/QUOTE]

Whatever boss, I give in, I'm through with you, your demonstrated inability to debate or act reasonably mature has caused me to reassess my argument (not really).
 
"I'm wrong so you're immature!" Now that is a mature response.

So the first 8 times I addressed your points one by one didn't matter, just the last time when you said something so ridiculous, I had to ask for popcorn.

There is no collusion. Selling prices have just gone up. In a few years, they might go down. Or up more. Buy it or don't buy it. But don't blame "reseller trolls" for shenanigans just cause you don't like the price.

One thing I can't stand is people who think they're entitled to something at a certain price and any deviation from that must be the work of bad people and trolls and conspiracies. The world doesn't revolve around you. Sometimes things cost more than we'd like and it's not anyone's fault. It just is.
 
[quote name='spmahn']Whatever boss, I give in, I'm through with you, your demonstrated inability to debate or act reasonably mature has caused me to reassess my argument (not really).[/QUOTE]

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[quote name='confoosious']"I'm wrong so you're immature!" Now that is a mature response.

There is no collusion. Selling prices have just gone up. In a few years, they might go down. Or up more. Buy it or don't buy it. But don't blame "reseller trolls" for shenanigans just cause you don't like the price.[/QUOTE]

It's certainly more mature that LOLZ LET ME GET MORE POPCORN! The only thing I've ever question was the reason behind the increased prices despite the lack of evidence that they were dictated by the market. You can claim free market or invisible hand all day long, but for either of those arguments to hold water, there needs to actually be an invisible hand pushing the market. If people are selling items for more than what the market is willing to bear, and have no motivating factor to lower their prices, then where is the invisible hand that will lead the market to reach equilibrium? It's not a fair market, it's a handful of people independently engaging in price fixing to manipulate prices, and doing a crappy job at it since no one seems to bite on their high prices.
 
edit: I'll give it a whirl. (edited like 4 times for clarity)

Everyone is out for their own self interest. This in effect sets the market for goods. And makes it the most efficient market for goods. I've heard ebay described as the perfect marketplace and I tend to agree.

When a seller lists something on ebay, he doesn't care what other people are doing. He simply cares how much money HE is making on the transaction. This will affect the market one way or another. But all he cares about is his own needs. There's no collusion going on. (Will he use completed listings or current listings as a basis for his decision? Yes, if he's smart. But that's just a guideline for him. He will doing whatever is in his best interest.)

I can accept oil barons and real estate magnates getting together to set prices. I don't think old NES game sellers care. They just want some cash.

Benadryl is KILLING me right now and I need to turn in.
 
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