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game stores that base their prices on eBay
I can't believe a lot of brick-n-mortar stores actually do this.
See, there's three problems:
1. A lot of eBay prices are PRICE-JACKED. That means they're artificially inflated and don't reflect the true value of an item (as evidenced by how many of those $40 copies of The Raiden Project go unsold).
2. A lot of times when people are going to a brick-n-mortar store they're hoping to get a better deal than on eBay. Otherwise, why not just go to eBay?
3. and this is one I see especially often: eBay prices are relative, and depend on things such as the overall quality of the item and whether or not the game comes in its original box or whatever. At your average brick n' mortar store, [i]Metal Gear Solid[/i] goes for a straight $15, and it doesn't matter if its black-label, green-label or the version that came in the Essentials Collection, nor the quality of the packaging or whether it comes with the manual or or or...
I don't mind people being greedy if only they weren't stupid about it.
Comments
lol, price discrimination
Case in point, TurboGrafx/Turbo Duo games. One reason being an owner of that console is tough is because you never find games "in the wild" but pretty much have to get them online. But they're always highly priced, even if its something dirt-common like Keith Courage in Alpha Zones (which was a pack-in game).
But at least there it's that the Duo itself is an uncommon but highly prized platform. Doesn't make sense that people want $40 for The Raiden Project (a PS1 shmup compilation) or Metal Gear Solid (been re-released like half a million times). Or, for that matter, I'm not entirely convinced Earthbound's prices are legit either, considering that game always has like 100 listings at any one time and I've heard three stories this month alone of people just stumbling across it at a flea market.
On a non-gaming note, I recently tried to scare up a copy of Roderick Thorpe's novel Nothing Lasts Forever, and couldn't find it for less than $11... for a mass-market paperback. Most copies went from $20 to $40. That's a ridiculous price for a book from 1979 that is pretty much only known for being the basis for Die Hard (by contrast, the novels that inspired Die Hard 2, MASH and First Blood can be found for less than $2, and they're just as old and just as OOP).
Sometimes, I hate collectors markets.
But Amazon is also the place where I found an $11 paperback.
And also generally, if a game is getting a low price on Amazon, it means its in shit condition and probably won't even play.
Really, the only good and useable game I got through internet shipping services like that was my European copy of Quake IV.
Well, and a Sold-Out Software-distributed Red Alert 2 copy, technically.
Y'know what sucks? There's actually quite a lot of value in that product, as demonstrated by the amount of fan demand for it. However, no one can get any of it because everyone wants some and stands ready to sue the pants off of anyone else who dares profit from it. Good going, private sector.
That said, I don't think they particularly care much about it, especially for titles that are not being rereleased. They're certainly aware that it exists, yes.
^^ Where did they say that?
It still doesn't answer the question of why brick-n-mortar stores like GameXchange would price their games at pretty much the same rate as an eBay seller, and often for a lesser-quality product. I mean yeah, even the cruddiest Earthbound goes for $70 easily, but when you're trying to tell me Breath of Fire II is worth $40--for just the cartridge, mind--then that's when I walk out.