Hiya,
You people!
eBay reflects the market value with great accuracy, barring the exceptional cases. What are these "exceptional cases"? That FF7 that sold for more than $200. That's a "collector's item". You know collectors (of anything, not just video games) go nuts with those kinds of things. Obviously, you won't go about thinking that your unsealed, unoriginal copy of FF7 will sell for more than $200, nor will you think the actual market value is that high. That's just one case. Try to focus on the average...
"I can find it cheaper somewhere else."
Yes, I'm sure you can. By all means, do so. Lufia for 50 cents? Amazing! However, not EVERYONE has a yardsale near them, nor does EVERY yardsale have someone selling Lufia at that price. Take into consideration that eBay includes
FINDING FEES.
"eBay doesn't have any good deals".
On the contrary, eBay has lots of great deals. Are you lucky enough to get them? Did you look for the right product at the right time? eBay does not have any sort of 'newsletter' that comes to your doorstep like you get with Best Buy, Circuit City, and so on through the newspaper. To check for my deals, I try to look at Cheapassgamer.com occasionally to see what's new... likewise, if you really want a good deal on eBay, you've got to be willing to go to the site and search for what you want
on a regular basis. eBay has a LOT of deals, and it comes down to luck, oftentimes... like ragtop70 who mentioned that he got Lufia for 50 cents at a yardsale -- heck, congrats to him, that's the best deal ever... but what did it come down to? Luck. Right place at the right time. eBay is no different... except you have to bid against other people... that is, the great deal is posted to everybody, and there just aren't enough copies to go around. Am I talking about those auctions starting at $0.01 with no reserve? Heck, sure! If you can get a game for that much, awesome (I'm sure somebody has)! However, there are a lot of other good deals out there that you just need to keep your eyes open for.
The point is, eBay's an accurate indicator for the market value of games. The market value isn't just going to be HANDED to you. You really think an air guitar is worth $5? You think it's worth it to PAY someone to fly over to your place and punch you in the face (you pay for shipping, by the way)? No. You need to use logic and common sense. Are you pretty sure you can find an air guitar somewhere other than eBay for cheaper? A punch in the face for cheaper? Go for it. If you can't, though, maybe you need to consider the offers on eBay and submit to that 'finder's fee'. After all, you can't find it for cheaper anywhere else, right?
There will always be success and failure stories arguing either way... here's one of mine. Very simple...
Iceman is my favorite band (a Jpop/Jrock group). I'd be able to buy their albums, DVDs, sheet music (if I were lucky), and so on... if I had a Japanese credit card (Yahoo Japan Auctions). I don't... so I'm stuck with eBay. Kept looking for weeks, and finally found their first album, Power Scale (1997). Paid about $15 total, even after shipping. All of their stuff is out of print, so for me, this was a great find. Thanks, eBay. Likewise, I managed to get two Ranma 1/2 wallscrolls (one full size, another one is kinda small) for $11 total, after shipping. Considering lots of wallscrolls can be $15 each (oftentimes before shipping), this was a great find as well.
On the other hand, I paid about $35 for another Iceman album on Amazon.co.jp (Japanese branch of Amazon.com). Like I said, Iceman's stuff is out of print... but they still had this album in stock, brand new, and sealed. Was it worth it? Well, who knows? What's the market value of this album when you can't find it anywhere else?
(And for you anime fans, Iceman is the group that performed "Shining Collection" from the anime, Gravitation. The composer of Iceman's stuff composed everything in Gravitation... he's also the composer of everything by TM Revolution. If you look around, you can download "Shining Collection" here:
http://www.nittlegrasper.com)
~Kap[/url]
