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The Almighty Buck Classic Games (Games)

The Art of Purchasing Used Games 71

Posted by Zonk from the don't-use-linden-dollars dept.
From Press The Buttons, an article entitled Acquisition: The Art Of Purchasing Used Video Games. In it, the author lays out useful tidbits for getting the most from your hard earned gold pieces. From the article: "Yes, you could go all willy-nilly and toss a handful of game paks into a shopping cart down at the local Electronics Boutique, but the most obvious way of obtaining a used video game is not always the most economical. Allow me to share with you a few rules I have learned over the years about locating and acquiring used video game entertainment."
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The Art of Purchasing Used Games More

The Art of Purchasing Used Games

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  • The question is (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Bongo Bill ( 853669 ) on Wednesday April 06, 2005 @11:52PM (#12162534) Homepage
    Why does this person regularly play a Virtual Boy?

    Perhaps the headaches he gets from it are what caused him to think that common sense is newsworthy.

    • Re:The question is (Score:4, Insightful)

      by NanoGator ( 522640 ) on Thursday April 07, 2005 @12:00AM (#12162586) Homepage Journal
      "Perhaps the headaches he gets from it are what caused him to think that common sense is newsworthy."

      Not everybody got headaches from it.

      Personally, I enjoyed it. It was the first time I had actually seen stereo video that was actually convincing. Every other stereo display I've seen was in color via LCDs. LCD + 3 channels per pixel + magnifying glass = looking-through-screen-door effect.

      I understand its lack of appeal, but it doesn't deserve to be bashed at every turn.
      • I did not know that. That not everybody got headaches from it, that is. I mean, I never knew anyone for whom it didn't cause headaches.
      • Ditto; I never got headaches from it. I liked it a lot. I still have a virtual boy in storage or boxed away somewhere. I ought to pick up the full compliment of games that came out for it; I bet I could get them all for only a couple bucks. If I found it tomorrow, I'd play me some red alert like nobody's business.
      • I enjoyed it as well. The Wario game was great.
        Still wish I'd have bought one.
    • It had some good games.

      3D tetris was probably the best rendition of 3D tetris I've played, with a ton of puzzles and setups.

      Wario was a great 2D rendition of the platforming antihero, and might be the best 2d sidescrolling Wario period.

      Teleroboxer is unparalleled. It is by far the best fantasy punchout-style 2.5 D boxing game. It was done very, very well by a talented group of first timers who probably didn't survive to make any other games.

  • Shipping Costs (Score:2, Insightful)

    by soniCron88 ( 870042 )
    FTA: "but if you're shopping online for used game paks from today's modern consoles and portables, be wary of the seller's location. 99% of the time any game being sold from China, Hong Kong, or some place you've never heard of is not a legitmate game pak."

    I won't even try to imagine how much the shipping cost would be from China or Hong Kong (which, incidentally, is part of China). I think the $10 Splinter Cell 9 + $59 S&H may just turn me off. You? ;)

    • Re:Shipping Costs (Score:3, Insightful)

      by jkeyes ( 243984 )
      If it was sent Air Mail I doubt it would cost more than $15 and seeing how some of these asshats on ebay are charging that INSIDE THE US! It might be cheaper.
      • high shipping is a way to get around ebay final value fees. Its not like if they lowered the shipping amount the end prices would stay the same. they would go up becuase everyone alreayd takes shipping into account.
        • This really bugs me and I have flat out flamed sellers for it when I ask them about some reasonable shipping (if I am in the same state or something) and they "explain" to me about avoiding the FVF. The final value fees they are "saving" almost always amount to about $3.00, yet they happily run 15 or so concurrent listings, buying "premium" features such as the gallery view and whatnot that cost them a hell of a lot more than $3.00.

          Some people are just dumb as bricks, I guess. Personally, I think eBay ough

        • The other thing that I've run into is that lots of buyers want to see a flat shipping rate. I started having much better results when I stopped saying 'send me your zip code/state/province and I'll give you an exact shipping quote' and started saying '15 bucks, period.'

          So, I give a flat rate, but put in the text that I'm more than happy to give a real quote.

          • Online stores have found this out too. People want to know the price right away. If they cant find it in 5 seconds they move on. Thats why most stores have switched to "free" shipping or flat rate. In the free case the flat rate is just built into the price.

            As a consumer I know I could possibly save A LITTLE money if it were an exact shipping quote, but it is such a pain in the ass when you are doing comparitive shopping. I might have to sign up for an account and enter my address before I can even find ou
      • You need to buy a box or find it. Pack it carefully if it's electronics. It's a bit of a pain but yea most of these shipping costs are really absorbidant.

        And as someone in Canada they just go through the roof it's absurd how bad it gets.
    • I've recenlty bought a 99 cent item from China(new 4 port USB 2.0 PCI card) with flat fee all around the world shipping for 9 dollars.
      That's a total of 7.7 euro's, that kind of card is around 15/20 euro's where in stores where i live, so even though the shipping cost might seems high it still can come out as a good buy.
      When i got the package it turns out the guy paid like 4 dollars for stamps, so he made 5 dollars on the shipping. That's how he get his cut, fine by me.

    • Re:Shipping Costs (Score:4, Informative)

      by Guppy06 ( 410832 ) * on Thursday April 07, 2005 @02:34AM (#12163323)
      "China or Hong Kong (which, incidentally, is part of China)"

      Yes, but Hong Kong still maintains their own independent postal authority [hongkongpost.com], which is why you should address things directly to Hong Kong instead of China [usps.gov].

      "I think the $10 Splinter Cell 9 + $59 S&H may just turn me off."

      Um... we're not exactly talking UPS here. By Hong Kong Post's international rates [hongkongpost.com], you could get a small package ~150 g to the US for around $3.00 (1.00 HKD ~ 0.13 USD). The price will, of course, go up if you want bells and whistles like tracking, but if you don't want it overnight, there's no need to pay for overnight pricing.
    • He's got this one square on the head. I bought a Gameboy Advance copy of Super Mario Advance 4 from a seller "Junogame" from Hong Kong on ebay last month that was a fake. Its a blatant bootleg, with the name "Nintondo" on the back, bummer, but it works so so in the GBA, and the kids are happy.

      As for shipping, it was only $5 US for AirMail from Hong Kong and only took 15 days to reach me, not too bad.
      • The bootlegs I was scammed into purchasing were actually a bit better... Tactics Ogre actually came with a game manual, but in several places it said "see page 69", for example, when the booklet was only 15 pages long. Even came with a box.

        If you want to verify that your game is legit: there should be a two digit number imprinted onto the front of the cartridge, right hand side in the middle. Flip it back and forth to catch the light. If it's not there, it's not legit. This is the easiest way to tell,

      • but if you buy a "fake" GBA game for $10, isn't that basically buying a $10 GBA flash card which one can then erase and add your own roms/games?
    • $10 Splinter Cell 9 + $59 S&H may just turn me off. You?

      I have no idea how much shipping costs in the US, but I would be amazed if it costs anything like that.

      I posted parcel to Hong Kong from the UK last week. It was much heavier than any game, and cost me £4 to send by 7 day air mail.

      I have bought plenty of E-bay items from foreign sellers, and not once have I been ripped off or had to pay an extortionate shipping rates.

  • Well (Score:2, Informative)

    by 1019 ( 262204 )
    Despite the article's intentions, it's not really that informative and honestly, not that pertinent. From the sounds of it, he's on about buying NES Game Paks and proper care of them.

    Personally, I usually -only- buy games used. EB, Gamestop and other such chains normally keep a decent Used Games selection in stock. I've also been pleased with purchases made over Amazon's Marketplace as well as eBay, as long as you use Common Sense when purchasing. Blockbuster also sometimes has decent prices on used games.
    • EB, Gamestop and other such chains normally keep a decent Used Games selection in stock.
      Sometimes a little too decent... I can recall at least twice finding "used" MMORPG expansions. And then, y'know, laughing maniacally at the thought of some poor misguided fool buying them.
  • While Gamestop/ebgames is not the best place for buying used games, how in the world does Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt cost $10?? Gamestop sells it for 25 CENTS.
    • Hey, I don't pretend to know why, but that's about what an SMB/DH cart I sold recently on eBay went for. The starting price was around $0.40, so it wasn't my fault.

      Nostalgia is a powerful thing, I suppose.
      • Serious? Buyer pays shipping? Should I start buying these in bulk? In the greater seattle area you can find a NES, gun, controller, SMB/DH, and small collection of carts for about five bux. All it takes is a willingness to drive into garage-sale-area and stop at garage-sails. I think you could reasonably expect to score between two and ten such boxes every three hours hunting, if you set about it in a reasonably serious and methodical manner.

  • Pointless. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by nunchux ( 869574 ) on Thursday April 07, 2005 @12:54AM (#12162914)
    This fluff piece was so devoid of helpful tips created a vaccuum it actually sucked useful knowledge out of all of the articles around it.

    All the author seemed to care about are the most common Nintendo games-- Zelda and Mario. Is it really that hard to figure out how to get a deal on those? I mean, they only made millions of those carts... Why not tell us how to find something off the beaten track, like rare Dreamcast RPGs?

    He suggests buying new games that bundle or repack the classics on different systems (e.g. the original Super Mario Brothers on a Game Boy.) Never mind that many retro gamers want to own the original cartridge on the original system-- it's not just about the actual game (why not just use an emulator?), but recreating the experience. A game boy doesn't play the same as the NES.

    His advice for eBay buyers is ridiculous. Of course you check the sender's location, that's eBay 101. Anyway, I don't recall ever seeing a flood of used game (or used anything!) sellers from China-- at most, there might be one or two UK or Australian sellers on a page.

    I could go on, but it's just too sad. Need we be subject to college newspaper quality articles just because they're about games?

    • I'm with you, the article was worse the pointless. On the other hand, it seems to have initiated quite a few comments from /.ers that actually are useful and insightful.

      Maybe we're looking at these articles the wrong way. Maybe the editors aren't saying "Hey, here's a really cool column to read.", but instead are saying "Hey, this might be an interesting topic to discuss. Here's a POS article about it for all of you to gripe about, just to get the ball rolling."

  • thrift stores (Score:5, Insightful)

    by b1t r0t ( 216468 ) on Thursday April 07, 2005 @01:20AM (#12163036)
    Geez, this guy isn't such a great used games shopper if all he thinks of is stores that specifically sell games. I don't know where he goes that charges $10 for Super Mario/Duck Hunt, but almost any game store knows that's a dirt common and knows better than to charge more than a dollar or two for it. Charging $10 for it is like saying "ha ha, we know you're stupid and we don't care!"

    Number one on my list is shopping at thrift stores. It's not as good of a source as it used to be, but that's how I got most of my Atari 2600 collection. You still have to leave your brain in gear, as they often price games without consideration to the game itself, so you could see a $4 SMB/DH next to a $4 Bubble Bath Babes. Okay, so maybe you won't find a Bubble Bath Babes, but I found a Chase the Chuckwagon and a 5200 Meteorites at the same thrift store. If you're one of those crazy "one of each" collectors, carry a list with you to avoid duplicates, and check the rarities so you don't pay too much for those commons. At least lately, thrift stores have been finally catching on that nobody wants to buy those endless copies of Sega sports games, and have been pricing them at a dollar. If they're complete and I don't already have one, or if they're in a good condition Sega CD jewel case, sure I'll pay a dollar for them.

    Also good are flea markets and pawn shops. Pawn shops aren't all that great for older games, but sometimes you can find an out of the way place with a good cache of stuff. There's always at least one guy at a good flea market with a bunch of cartridges. And I mean a real open-air flea market with people who only sell for one day or one weekend, not those stupid indoor flea markets in an old Wal-Mart building.

    • Re:thrift stores (Score:4, Interesting)

      by thegrassyknowl ( 762218 ) on Thursday April 07, 2005 @02:08AM (#12163228)
      I used to shop at Tr(C)ash Converters for stuff. It is amazing how often you'd find old units there that people just didn't want anymore. My mate got a Vectrex (yes a vectrex) and a pile of stuff for it for $40 a few years back.

      I grabbed a pile of Atari 2600 games, some with boxes and original manuals for abour $2-3 each.

      The newer, common stuff (mostly SNES and N64) are there, but they're still way over prices ($20 for a copy of Mario Bros on SNES... bugger that.

      Occasionally that have a C64 or an Amiga come by, usually with a stack of pirated disks in a box for a good price. Shops generally know the value of those to collectors though.

      If you're after not-quite "popular" stuff (Vic20, Atari PCs, Megadrive, old PC games etc) then go to a Trash Converters or equivalent store. If you want more "popular" stuff then you're going to need to shop around to get it in good condition and affordable. I put popular in quotes meaning stuff that everyone knows like the Amiga500, C64, Atari2600, Nintendo, etc, over the stuff that less people are aware of like Dreamcast, Vectrex, etc.

      If you want really rare stuff, you have to shop everywhere. I have only seen one Dreamcast, also at Trashies, but I have never seen any DC games anywhere but on Ebay.
      • Occasionally that have a C64 or an Amiga come by, usually with a stack of pirated disks in a box for a good price. Shops generally know the value of those to collectors though.

        K, what's fair price on a working c64 with a tuned 1541? I ask because I refused to pay $50 at a going out of business sale (I'd planned to offer 25 the next day and dude said he'd have taken it, except that someone had paid the $50).

        And I can make my own stack of pirated disks with a simple 1541X ;)

        • what's fair price on a working c64 with a tuned 1541?

          Well, to the sorts of people that buy them, quite a lot. The shop can ask practically anything up to $100(AU) and most likely still sell the thing. Over the $100 mark it just starts getting stupid, even though there are people that pay more - look on Ebay for C64 packs some time.

          As I said, they know that collectors find these things valuable, and ask a lot more than is reasonable given the state of most of the vintage hardware I've looked at...

        • I would have paid $50 US for a working c64. I'd prefer to get a semi-working one for $2 at a thrift store and refurb it for a couple bucks more. ALso on my list of items I'd pay $50 for(in person not on Ebay) are an apple 2e/gs possibly more for a complete gs kit, an acorn, and that other fruity toy PC.

      • If you want really rare stuff, you have to shop everywhere. I have only seen one Dreamcast, also at Trashies, but I have never seen any DC games anywhere but on Ebay.

        Really? Wow. My local car boot sale always has at least one stall with DC games, and there's usually a DC up for grabs as well. I'm in the UK, though.

        I think my best win was stopping by an auction house on the way back from a trip, and immediately getting a feeling that there was something good there when I walked through the door. 5 minutes

  • More tips: (Score:5, Insightful)

    by cgenman ( 325138 ) on Thursday April 07, 2005 @02:17AM (#12163261) Homepage
    Garage sales, garage sales, garage sales. You can pick up old cartridges by the bucketload for a few dollars at most garage sales. You can usually make a reasonable but small offer on the whole bunch and walk away with a crate of goodies. Plus these usually happen about the time that college students move out, so head on over to a college town around the beginning of June and get some steals.

    Going out-of-business sales and police auctions are your friends. A lot of people have a lot of old or used merchandise sitting around, and if you keep your ears up you can get some amazing deals.

    If you're going to E-bay, check the lowest price that the game has gone for in the past year, and stick with that price over time. Don't go over. It's easy to get swept up in bidding wars, but if youre patient the price always comes down to something reasonable. I've seen Ikaruga go for as high as 60 dollars the month before I picked mine up for 25.

    And if you don't really want to have it, but just want to try it, go with redoctane or another online game rental company. They're a lot cheaper than picking up a series of titles that don't deserve to be played for more than a day or two.

  • I purchased a used gameboy advance game off ebay. Turns out the save feature was non-functioning (this was an rpg). So I stayed up for 30 straight hours to beat it! (ok that didn't happen but hey who knows..) Around the same time the seller was banned from ebay so I knew all hope was lost for me. Biggie.

  • Slashdot: New for freaking morons. (Score:3, Funny)

    by Kris_J ( 10111 ) * on Thursday April 07, 2005 @03:10AM (#12163419) Homepage Journal
    It's official. I don't know the logic behind greenlighting an article on /. anymore.

    Sources of secondhand games:

    • EBs/ToysRUS and other high-profile games retailers
    • Pawnbrokers and other standard secondhand stores
    • Op-shops, thrift stores, "Good Sammy's" and other charity stores
    • Garage Sales
    • Swapmeets/Trash 'n Treasure/Flea Markets/Car Boot Sales, or whatever they're called locally in your area
    There. I guess that makes me an effing genius.
  • These guys have terrible prices for used games. Usually they are only $10 less than new! I find flea markets the best place for used games, I picked up my sega Nomad and several games for cheep cheep! In Canada there is a store called Microplay that sells used games, they are usually priced well.

  • Sex Ed? (Score:4, Funny)

    by Mr.Dippy ( 613292 ) on Thursday April 07, 2005 @08:15AM (#12164170)
    "The first thing you should do is slam it into your game console, right? No! Clean that game pak first, otherwise you'll be playing that game with everyone who has ever played it before. You never know how the previous owner(s) treated the game."


    I do this the first time I have sex with a woman. Clean it and wrap that rascal!!!!
  • I'm one of those people that usually only buys games used. I'm a lowly university student -- I can't afford to pay full price unless it's a game I'm REALLY looking forward to and want to support. However, I noticed a month ago that, oddly enough, the used PC game section at the EBs in my city (Winnipeg) have disappeared. I wonder if they've gotten too worried about pirating?
  • I've come to know and love Barterbee.com. It's a trading site where once you sign up, ($5 a month) you get 5 points. You trade a games for X amount of points and you can buy games for X amount of points. I've been able to come across some good finds, especially people looking to just unload all there old NES games. They give you mailers and if only costs the postage to send out the games.
    • There's not really much listed on there right now. If there were more people using it, I think it would be a good site to use. I signed up anyways, just to see how it works.
  • the online video game rental service generally has the lowest used game prices on current games, with shipping less than $2 per unit. On top of that, you always get the original game box/manual in new condition, as it is never sent with the rental game. And if the game is DOA, they will replace it.

  • On the other hand, you could take that $10 and buy a used copy of Super Mario Brothers Deluxe, a 1999 Game Boy Color release that includes the game in its original format along with the Japan-only sequel and a number of challenge modes.

    First off, it's downright hilarious how he spells out "Bros." and "DX". It's Super Mario Bros. DX, no "Brothers" about it.

    Also, I own SMB DX and it's a neat game but to say that it's the right way to go is not entirely accurate. I agree that the "Classic NES Series" reiss

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