RarityGuide.com vs VideoGamePriceCharts.com: Pro and Con

I would love to hear what people think of RarityGuide.com and VideoGamePriceCharts.com, two sites that provide video game price guides for collectors. PROS and CONS for each site.

RarityGuide.com
Pro - I love that they include prices for Atari systems. I also like the raritymeter score they have and that the score is based upon more than just the number of units produced.

Con - Recent systems like Gamecube and Xbox would be nice additions.

VideoGamePriceCharts.com
Pro - Since I run the site I won't say anything here

Con - There is no rarity score at all. Some of the prices for sealed games are not very accurate (usually the really rare ones).

What do you think of the two sites? Pro and Con

The rarity score always seemed sort of arbitrary to me. I don't really know exactly how to interpret it and it's consistency seems off with different titles. Maybe it's just me. If it actually DID have number of units produced/sold, that'd be incredibly useful to know, but otherwise it doesn't really say much.

Rarityguide.com just has an abysmally small number of tracked games from PSone forward. Like, it could be one guy's collection of games, for all I know.

VGPC:

Pros: Gives me an fast and easy way to research prices when I'm too lazy to search through completed listings.
Cons: Completeness + Condition don't seem to be factored into price leaving some games with artificially inflated or deflated prices.

jj- Please don't fix that con, though, as a store near me prices from your charts and as a result underprices mint or complete in box items. I make a large sum of money from reselling the things they underprice .

RarityGuide:
Pros: Price guides for older games, systems, and accessories make it easier to research without having to go through completed listings on eBay. The site also offers an incredibly broad range of rarity guides for other collectables, which is nice.
Cons: The prices on the site for some CIB/L games seem to be arbitrary or out of date. Does the site automatically update prices like VGPC does? $110 for a CIB Lunar Silver Star Story is way over the actual market value (~$50.00): http://cgi.ebay.com/Lunar-Silver-St...286.c0.m14&_trkparms=66:2|65:13|39:1|240:1318

I have to say I didn't think VGPC was that good in the past but I'll say that you've improved the site quite a bit JJ.

I'd say VGPC is overall, more accurate and has a significantly larger database. And I love the graphs, which are good for seeing trends. The only thing I don't like is that the data is complied from all types of copies (disc only, complete, etc.).

But while RG shows values for different conditions of games, as Doomstink said, the prices on average seem really high for some items. I do like the extremely through filtering options but as there are only a handful of games for some systems (only 31 for the PS1? Come on...), it can end up being a bit useless. Still, I like how it covers different types of items (though I never check those) and even picks up different versions of games (like FFVII black label version, FFVII GH version, FFVII misprint edition).

Both are good sites but at the moment, I like VGPC a bit more.

Con for both... no mobile version. :lol:

Just noticed this thread

I have visited VideoGamePriceCharts in the past and it is a very useful guide as well and its always great to have many sources when wanting to check on a value of an item.

I'd like to address some of the cons listed for RarityGuide.com:

RarityGuide.com is geared more towards older game systems. That's why you see so few PS1 and PS2 games while older systems have a lot more. For example, next guide to be published is a complete Intellivision guide. So yes we do lag behind on more recent systems. Still, it is a young site and as it grows expect to see more games in it even for newer systems. Also we cover non-video game items.

Regarding the prices, this actually is one of the more common misconceptions about the site. We get lots of emails, how come your rarity guide says this game is worth $XXX while on Ebay I saw it sell for $YYY. The Rarity Guide is NOT an Ebay guide. The prices there are how much we've determined to be worth based on research we do, which includes (This is from our FAQ):

Research of books and periodicals on the subject.
Feedback from our community.
Our researchers' expertise and knowledge of a category being covered
Consulting with friends and clubs that have knowledge in the area.
Observing current market activity.
Monitoring newsgroups, bulletin boards, listservs and forums on the subject matter.
Even attending many garage sales, thrift shops and flea markets to get a first hand insight!

Still, if we get a report that a price seems way up, we investigate and adjust when necessary. We have a whole forum for that.

Thanks for the feedback here so far, definetly will be taking into account all what is said here for future improvements of the site.

I checked out both they are alright. As for myself, i don't need a site to tell me how rare a game is.

rarityguide

pros:

NIB, CIB, and L. i love these features. i also love the fact that you can view everything at the same time instead of individually. making it very easy and quick to view the prices. if i were to run a store, i would probably base my trade-in value from these. im sure some stores uses them now.

cons:

no chart. one of the best features of vgpc is the chart system that tells you how much the value of the game at a certain point in time. they also need to add the more current and last gen platforms.

videogamepricecharts

pros:

i use the site on a day to day basis. i base my value and estimation for most of the stuff i sell on ebay through this (and recent completed auction listings). the chart system is excellent. its given me the rundown on when the game was in demand and when its not. easily the best feature. i also love how every single gaming platform is covered. i also enjoythe blog.

cons:

the value of the games are based on the average sales on ebay. i have a hard time accepting this when there was a time when i searched how much a sealed copy goes for but there was a recent auction that only sold for $10 (the game was sniped of course so the buyer got lucky). the used copies were going for more than $30-$40 i think. i really wish i remembered which game it was though.. i rarely visit rarityguide only when i want to research NIB prices so im not sure if they too base their value on the average selling price.