The story about surprise price hike at the register is true...and very disappointing. Is that something you have experienced or heard about at retro gaming stores before? It can't be legal, can it?
I've walked out from a store when it happened. $10-$15 might not seem too much of a price increase, but the sudden action at the register put me in a bad mood, ya know???
Hey MJR! Something is wrong with your channel. RUclips doesn't recommend your videos. I was wondering why you don't upload. Then I visit your channel and see I've missed a lot of videos. I have turned the bell on today. I think you should look into it.
While not recent. I did encounter this a few years ago when I bout a sealed copy of pikmin 2 on wii. It still had the 19.99 sticker on it from when they first got it. I assume it had been there and unsold since it came out. It rang up for what it was worth and the cashier was annoyed when I disputed the price. Luckily the manager overheard and intervened and acknowledged the mistake and gave it to me for the marked price. I will say though if this became a trend I would be offended enough not to shop at the particular retro store that was doing the sudden price markup at the register.
Happened to me a few weeks ago. GameStop had Skyrim on switch for $30 so I went to go checkout and they said it’s now $60 and they wouldn’t honor the price even though they said they forgot to change the sticker. I didn’t buy it. But GameStop sucks anyway.
my brother and I went to a retro shop and had a real big stack going. The store owner came up to us and took our stack - "let me just clean the discs up for you guys" ... When we get to the register he changed all the prices. $7 to $60 ... $10 to $120 ... It was insane he just bumped his prices to a crazy amount. His reasoning was he set his prices a couple years ago. Our response was well that means these game have been sitting for a couple years until we wanted to buy them. We left and have never gone back since. Lost our business forever
@@SnunGod Right! It was super shady. He didn't even clean the discs. Felt even more ripped off cause we spent 1HR in there picking out all these games from crusty dust bins that he can now put in glass and charge some other poor customer.
@@Dchybrid Preach :( He even told us "did you guys know this $10 games goes for $80 now?" Just looked at him and said "oh no way ..." Why should I the customer, be responsible for what you charge
Those videos about the logistics of being a game collector are my favorites. The market is super inflated here in Brazil and we don't have the culture of garage sales and thrift stores, so the hunt can get a bit demotivating. But those videos always bring the fire back. Thanks dude.
Hey Dan! I watch your channel and Friday night tights as well! Love the new theme song you did for them! Crazy to see you watch the same vids as me lol
Top Recommendation: Collect what YOU want, not what's popular or "cool". Also, just because you're a certain age does not make you too old or too young to collect videogames!
Literally this. I dont have a huge collection but I have all the games that have lived rent free in my head since I was a child. That's all I need. Now I'm just expanding on it
Honestly changing the price when brought up to the counter is the most bull shit thing possible, I’d drop the game and leave without buying anything if I encountered that
That store is a disease to our local community. My last visit ever after dropping thousands over the years there was in February 2020 when they pulled that repricing stunt on me at the register. (Mind you this was Pre-Covid, so they can't blame that as the reason). They lost out on a $300 sale that they tried to shake me down for $450 at the register. I spoke to "the manager" on the phone about it (you know, the one that tells people to change their negative Google reviews about the place), and she said the game had to go back to the "processing center" for repricing. It then was still in their inventory a year later online at the new inflated and over eBay price. If anyone wants to join the bonfire when that place ever closes, I'll bring the marshmallows.
I used to go to flea markets with $20 back in the mid 90’s and sift through giant boxes from multiple vendors. Games were 2-$5 each. Most I ever paid was a CIB Castlevania 3 for $9. Those were the glory days!!!
90s were good,they sell games to get rid off them cheap like GameStop back in 90s they sell 299 and rare ones.they don't do that anymore.digital is killing.
Yep. I used to hit my local pawn shop in the late '90s and get NES games for 4 or 5 for $20. I can't remember which. Of course I sometimes sit and wonder. Why didn't I pick up that cheap copy of Little Samson. lol
The reason games were cheap was because the stuff was only a few years old. We actually have the same situation now. Go out and look for Xbox 360 and One games. They are cheap as hell. I was at a yard sale that was selling off an entire 30 game collection for $10. But that’s not retro enough for some people.
Recently game collecting can start to feel like a rich person's pursuit. Especially when prices are increasing all the time. When something is on the up, I tend to go after something else. Its also fun to diversify your collection, and play some cheaper games you might not have expected to like!
I find the constant price hikes really frustrating tbh. I’d love to play Silent Hill 2, Panzer Dragoon Saga, SMT Devil Summoner, etc. but I’m just not comfortable paying hundreds of dollars for a game I haven’t even tried yet. What if I don’t end up liking it? Then I’ve just wasted a bunch of money that could’ve gone towards something like travel or a house
@@kumatorahaltmanndreemurr This is why you play the emulated or everdrive version of the game first. It should give a pretty good idea on whether the game is worth it.
Really like what you said at the end: collect stuff that you see yourself playing and enjoying. Also, I really like the term "trade fodder". I'll need to keep that in my hat!
I recommend watching retro rick and Mr wrightway RUclips videos they have a lot of advice for what to buy to trade or sell to ad money to collecting fund
I can vouch for Pink Gorilla owning their price mistakes. A while back they had a copy of The Peace Keepers with a price tag way cheaper than normal. At the time, I thought it was cheap due to the label being in rough condition. At the register, they were puzzled when it rung up much higher and told me the price tag was a mistake. They immediately said they honor it though, I didn’t even ask. In fact, when I offered to let them correct the price (as I didn’t want anyone getting in trouble over it), they insisted I take it for the price shown on the tag.
That was really cool of them. Hopefully nobody takes advantage of that policy by swapping cases to make the game look cheaper than intended… that’d be a real shame.
Not always true. You just have to be lucky. Recently I arrived at a sale at 2pm, and there was a box of 60 PS2 games just sitting there (guessing they just put em out), well I offered them $80 without even looking at the games and they accepted the offer. I got home, and found Rule of Rose and Drakengard 2 in that box as well as a few other gems. You just never know what you will run into. You don't always have to get there at the crack of dawn. :)
@@McPatches3D thank you for speaking up about this ,it's strange to go to big family garage sale(5kids from 12 to 17) and not see evidence of one videogame from beginning of sale to the wrap up ,what you spoke of solves the mystery ,,,👍
I live in a small city in the UK and there's this independent game store I go to, found a copy of persona 4 on the Vita and the price on the case said £26.99 so immediately I went to the counter with the game in my hand and asked if this was the actual price, unfortunately it wasn't but he was going to let me have it for the stated price but I offered to pay the actual price, but the fact that he was willing to honour the mistake was awesome, that's why I love independent game stores. The actual price was £62.99.
Thats great. In my opinion the sticker price should always be followed, provided its obvious its a sticker/price mistake and not easy to swap them from cheaper games
One of my fave things to think about when game collecting is just collect what you enjoy, don’t get caught up in what’s valuable or what others are collecting just collect what appeals to you
Best advice here. I'm a ps2 collector mostly and ONLY buy games I plan on playing and enjoying. I'm not gonna buy "Timmy's tooth world" or something if it's rare or collectible cuz I know I'm not gonna play that
in Europe (at least here in Luxembourg, and in Germany, Belgium...) we have a law that says that if there is a price tag on an item, you have to pay this price. If the seller made a mistake, it's not your problem and he can't change it even if he loses a lot of money.
I think in the u.s. it would be considered a civil matter, you would have to get a lawyer. Easy for business owners to take advantage of people unfortunately.
@@henrydillard6217 exactly ,some come to the US to open a biz here because they can practically get away with murder for maximum profit ,,biz behavior they could NEVER get away with in their home country plus when they immigrate here the financial proper way ,they don't have to pay income tax or property tax for the first 6 years ,in Florida I found this out ,,,
I never had any XBOX stuff growing up and I just got a 360 and am SUPER excited to dive into the library. Went to some local stores and games are just so cheap. Thank you MJR for the advice and support of the collecting hobby!
I love your videos dude. I’ve been living overseas for a few years and watching you talk about games makes me feel like I’m back home in the States. Also, loving the retro games stores content!
I collect my games to keep. I don’t think about selling them but I think about how crazy the prices have gotten. I get the games I had in my childhood and the games I want to play eventually.
I've been focusing on current gen games and last gen ones personally. Trying to snag the interesting releases as they come out. Fortunately I haven't had any surprise price increases at the register, but my local store is cool as hell and they usually give me a discount and they keep their prices updated.
I've actually had trouble justifying getting any physical PS4 Xbox One games unless they're heavily discounted if only because I'm worried that they'll show up on PlayStation Plus or Xbox Live Gold/Game Pass. That being said if I find any 3DS Wii U PS3 or Xbox 360 games I will not hesitate to pick it up for the right price of course
@@GenerationZ313 I just came across a lot I got for $100 at a pawn shop..over 200 games mostly ps3, ps4, and xbox one, with some 360, ps2, and wii games as well. Amazing find!
I'm glad you said a word on making the mistake of turning collecting into investing. It isn't, and never will be. Collecting is fun and should always be a hobby. If you turn it into investing, 1) it's not fun anymore, 2) it's a bad idea. All games, with a handful of exceptions, will depreciate in value at some point, while assets like real estate won't. I see so many videos of people talking about which games you should get because they have monetary value, but that's because things are on fire right now. Sports cards, pokemon stuff, old toys, the rage over graded stuff, etc. And if you're buying expensive games to hold onto, you're already too late. Only collect for fun, and only collect with disposable income. If you're using video games for investing, buy land instead.
"while assets like real estate won't." Any half decent investor knows that also can and will happen. It's investing, not money printing. And compared to real estate videgames (and a lot of other hobby based investing) have a far lower step-in cost and maintenance cost. Having said that, investing in general has been a trend for the last 3 or 4 years and it's mostly a bunch of people buying shit up not because something is undervalued or has the potential to increase naturally in value but rather because they, unknowingly, buy into a promise that someone else will buy it for more from them. Bitcoin is the extreme of that. The whole investing trend is a bubble. And videogames are quite a poor investment at this point.
The thing is, while I don't necessarily think of some of my stupid rare games (sealed and cib) as investments. I know they won't depreciate. There are less and less rare games out in the market, and even less of them being in good condition. I do personally think the grading side of gaming is a bubble that will burst and is a terrible thing to invest in. CIB in the other hand will always be in demand. Rare, fun games for systems like the SNES and mega drive have survived almost 30 years and are still tons of fun, will be fun still in another 30 years and even harder to get. It's really weird to think about it this way, but game collecting is, and has turned into a collection of art. I don't think it's smart to invest into it and bank on it. However, investing into your hobby by getting the high end stuff will probably turn a profit in the future.
I’ll give you a tip! Buy want you are going to play, not what’s going to live on your shelf. There are too many (Switch) collectors who buy absolute trash games just for collecting sake. Games are made to be played.
I used to tell my ex that collecting games was an investment into our future.. I was lying to her and to myself to justify spending money on games lol. I estimated that I had spent between $20k-$30k on games and systems over a ten year period while her and I were together. I sold over 90% of my collection when we split up and I made back maaaaaaybe $3k-$5k off of it. And that was lots of Nintendo stuff. So yeah, not a good financial investment. But it WAS an extremely enjoyable thing to do! I loved collecting stuff from childhood that I had and stuff that I had dreamed about having as a kid. So in that way it was worth it and I don't regret it. But don't lie to yourself and think you're investing in the future with buying games.
Agreed. Never consider something you collect for fun as an investment. Because it means to actually get a return on that investment means you need to part ways with it. Especially if you’re only buying one of everything. You can only sell it once. The return on investment is very limited. If you want to invest in something, buy more than one.
Because of your content, because of your videos and especially one like this I can say it help. I managed to find a copy of Gacha force for 87 bucks. No case but a third of the price and the disc was near mint. It is truly a game i love and I will always remember my 5 year search. Your hidden gems videos are how I found your channel. You are a valued member of the game space
Been collecting games for around 22 years here in the UK. Because i am 46 i have sometimes felt maybe i need to grow up,get rid because gaming was something only young people do. Love your channel. Only just discovered you this year. But you have showed me i am the perfect age for gaming. Which is ANY age. Thank you!!
On point one it was the game bound store that did that to me. Went in after you highlighted them and they said "due to covid" they havent had the time to update pricing. It was a $20 increase and i will not be back. When there are prices on the carts thats the price i expect to pay.
I tried, on 3 separate occasions since that video, to order from them online. Every single time it got cancelled because they couldn't find all or some of my games. That store was lucky to get some nice advertising from this channel, just to drop the ball lol.
Always sage advice from MJR. ✊ Definitely don't get discouraged, ESPECIALLY when older guys wearing gold chains driving new Teslas or BMWs pull up to the garage sale you're at, hop out of their car and ask the person running it, "Hi, do you have any old records or video games?" Happens all the time by me in NYC... just let it roll off your shoulder.
I’m most interested in Wii/DS/3DS/Switch at the moment since that’s what I play the most. Thankfully, most of those systems’ libraries are still pretty affordable (with some exceptions like the 3DS MegaTen games). There are a lot of Xbox 360/PS3/PS4 games I’d love to play, I just don’t sit down in front of the tv as often as I used to.
I collect games but mostly comic books and this has been happening at comic conventions recently. Because of the volatility in these markets and overall higher prices online, sellers will often re-price items when a buyer brings them to the counter, to match Ebay.
It’s happing in the sci-fi book collecting as well and I’ve had 4-5 places on biblio not accept my order then re-price up 20-30 dollars. Only happening on the signed first editions or limited editions from my experience.
Had that happen to me a couple years ago at the Columbus Ohio comic con, I wanted a signed copy of danger girl #1was willing to pay the 125. Asking price . When I went to pay he said it was $210. I left it there, hope he still has it 😆
It's a good point to "go left when they go right" when it comes prices. I missed the lull on Saturn and got priced out of almost everything, but I bought during the lull on Dreamcast and managed to get a very nice collection while spending less than $5 per game on average. Now the only time I buy classic games is when I get lucky with a flea market find or garage sale.
I dont know why but I always feel this sense of urgency when there is games I want. I have to just remind myself to relax and hope retro gaming becomes less popular
Emulation is king these days. The market bubble will burst. Nobody cares enough about physical games. It would be nice to have them but it's not worth the price.
I really don't see retro gaming ever becoming less popular, the ratio of retro gamers to total gamers will probably fluctuate but total population of retro gamers will only go up. That doesn't mean prices will only go up though, the demand can fluctuate a ton due to things like collectors no longer looking for a certain game as they have it, a recent trend in playing a certain older game, a sequel releasing bringing back attention to the previous older titles, etc. I agree though, I also feel a sense of urgency sometimes when I start thinking about price increases but always remind myself unless it's an absolute must-have that it can wait because I might find it cheap locally either through Craigslist/FB marketplace or a thrift store or the price might simply come down (especially right now, I think many of the titles that recently saw big price increases will start coming down in the next year or so)
I was on vacation in Florida and went to a flea market, wanted to collect some old sega games. Some had no price tag, some did, but regardless, when I went to ring them up, the guy paused, took out his smart phone, looked up online what the value of each specific game was, then said that was the price (marked up from what the price tag on the game itself was). Needless to say I didn't buy anything from them, but I'm glad you talked about this, because it is very discouraging. I don't understand why it's happening now :/
Lemme guess ,was it the Daytona Flea Market ?? I live in central Florida and have encountered this at multiple retro-game stores around my area ,,,the motivation is Control and Greed ,,,
@@wyldelf2685 Wow, it was, that's actually kind of incredible how you knew from my vague description. And yeah it wasn't just the flea market; it was a lot of the retro stores in that area :/
@@907toni something about the tone of your description felt like it was the "Game Dungeon",, had a few good finds there also had deals so bad it hurt to sit down the next day ,know what I mean ,,
@@907toni when you went game searching while on vacation in FLA ,,did you bring out of state games to trade in ?? Sometimes their pricing gets nicer if you have a trade in game the really want ,,,👍
I'm a collector (mainly vinyl records). Just agreeing with what you say about waiting for things to come about in time. Patience is key when trying to get the most out of a budgeted approach to things, good advice and key to making it fun :)
I'm in charge of the books and media department at a thrift store, and definitely with records I know you're likely to get a bargain. If I get a donation, it's never just 1 or 2, it's sometimes hundreds. It would take hours for me to sift through all that and appraise each record, so they go straight to the floor at a fixed price.
What some people do is go buy them out of the store just to sell online. Its very common around seattle tri city area... i have never found anything cool in a thrift store. Yard sales are best bets.
I’ve unknowingly been collecting for about 35 years, but seriously collecting for the past 20..... Since the big “C” hit and people were forced to stay home, the collecting scene had changed a lot with so many newbies coming into it. It’s cool to see games getting more recognition these days, but it’s tough to see the prices going the way they have been..... I’m just happy that I have all the games I want for my favorite system (PS3) already since I’ve seen the prices of many of these games go through the roof.
In some states, prices advertised have to be sold at the advertised price by law. If anyone tried to say that, I'd turn around and leave and never come back
In NY, where I'm from, but no longer live, the rule was if you were charged more than the advertised price, they would have to give you the item for free, plus reimburse you ten times the difference between what you paid and the advertised price. It was called a super refund, and it made grocery shopping much more entertaining
My absolute best find in a charity shop was the PS1 versions of Dino Crisis and Silent Hill for 50p each. Almost had a heart attack when the cashier rang them through. 😂
I collect games because my sons and I love it. We enjoy playing the games and going game hunting. I love having something they will have memories of for many years! They know this collection we are building together will be passed down to them when I am gone and maybe they'll share it with their kids and make even more memories.
I recently picked up GTA: Vice City Stories from a local game store. It had an 89.99 sticker on the front and when I asked to look at it and make sure it was complete I noticed a 24.99 sticker on the spine (they had all the expensive games with the cover showing and all the cheaper games lined up with the spines showing) and I joked like well is it $90 or $25 and he's like let me double check. So he looked it up in the system and said it was supposed to be 89.99 but it's actually gone down $10 so he charged me less than the sticker. He also gave me his staff discount for the mistake with the price tags lol
Wow. 89.99 bucks for that? What console? I don't see that price for either the psp or ps2 on price charting. I always look on there and ebay for comparison and try to find a reasonable range that I will be willing the pay if the store or ebay listing is a bit within or outside range.
Video Game Collecting Tips for 2021: emulate whatever you can. if you are a die hard fan, buy the old console you want and an everdrive for it. if you like to play new games, buy an xbox, subscribe to gamepass and have fun if you like to keep the games in your shelf, buy common games for that console, they will be average/cheap (the last of us on ps4, gears on xbox... and the list goes on) you mostly wont have the time to play everything you want anyway, so there's no rush to buy many or to pay a lot
This past year I've been finding more and more PSP games and UMD movies at my local Goodwill. For $2 bucks I get weird puzzle games or some movie with nick cage in it. I now own three National treasure movies on UMD, as well as 4 copies of lords of downtown.
I've found my fair share of really good deals at my local thrift stores over the years. In fact us a couple months ago I got a PlayStation Portable with everything in the Box minus the battery for $14.99 CAD
I think the reason those stores are increasing the price at the register is because game prices have increased faster than the store's ability to re-tag all the items on the shelves. Thanks to the pandemic.
I would walk away if any of my local stores tried that. Usually if a price has went up before the store has gotten to reprice it, the only thing I've heard is "looks like you got it just in time, thats actually went up 15 dollars since we marked it". Very thankful to have good honest retro stores in my area, even if there aren't that many, the people running them are always a pleasure to deal with.
I'm in NY, my local retro store that I actually know the owner of also does this. They go off of price charting I believe and don't update their prices. So they just say yea this went up. I don't bother going anymore. But they don't seem to care.
What area of New York do you live if you don't mind me asking? I also live in New York. Upstate near Albany, Saratoga area and have never had any of the retro stores I visit do this. Most of them actually have below market prices.
Yup, same at my local store in west Texas. They call it dynamic pricing. They have a base price tag on the item but when it’s scanned they use a price charting database and if the item went up they charge the “market” price. Really disappointing.
Best Video & I completely agree with all the points stated. Currently, I have collected a total of 162 physical games across SNES, N64, Wii, 3DS, PS, PS2, PS3, & PS4. What I have noticed is that the older I got I started to lean towards games that I enjoy, and franchises I love; rather than collecting for keeps sake. Also less time with family, work etc. My collection is curated & I'm really happy it is!!! Rock on MJR!
Word of advice for anyone living in a larger city, go to the second hand stores in the richer parts of town if you can. My experience has been that they tend to have better stuff
As always, great video MJ!! I love watching retro collectors on RUclips, you being my favorite. There are so many flippers that are diluting the market so heavily, and jacking up the prices. You know all of this. Just glad there are people like you who do it for the joy! Thank you so much!
If you are entering the game collecting scene right now, I would advise collecting for Xbox 360, ps3, or wii as the prices are super cheap right now. I got the best Forza Motorsport games and pgr 3 for only $10
"super cheap" "$10" Having been collecting since 2006-ish that's not cheap, maybe I'm looking at it with old eyes but I'd say that be "above mundane". Granted base prices in my mind are still 5 euro and I know in the US they used to be around 2 dollars or so. Granted in the current market 10 dollar is quite cheap.
Fair point going the other direction, there are a lot of obscure games that don't seem to get enough attention. I remember buying Gregory's horror show three years ago (PAL version) When it was quite cheap. And now out of the blue the price trend keeps skyrocketing :/
I've been saying this for years to start collecting for the PS3/360. Three years ago my local pawn shop sold off all of their ps3/360 games for $2 each and there were great ones in there. Dragon's Dogma, Demon's Souls, PSStore bundle with Tokyo Jungle, Dragon's Crown, ICO/Shadow of the Colossus HD Remaster, the list goes on...
They really are! They mix traditional art, music, sound effects, voice acting, acting, animation, story and technology. What other media does that?! It's what makes games amazing with universal appeal.
During shutdown last year, I got DEEP into collecting...stuff. I have since sold or donated most of it but I don’t regret it. Kept me occupied when there was nothing else to do.
When I got into collecting i bought what i could get as far it was o.k.-ish priced. In hindsight i can tell these are the games i almost never touched again and kept them in boxes. Now i buy only games i really really like even if they are bit pricey but have a blast unpacking them, read the manual, play the game from time to time and keep them on rotation on my display. But to be fair the playing part is shifting to emulation for me on a small form factor pc connected to my TV. 1 PC, several wireless controllers, all games ever made for some systems. I started emulating in the late 90s but it is so convenient now with all those frontends like Launchbox.
I lived by a goodwill and came by so often that one of the employees would regularly give me discounts on anything he felt like. Ended up finding a bag with an N64, two controllers and about 12 games including Donkey Kong 64, Ocarina of time, Mario 64, etc. and just gave me the whole bag for $29.99 even though he was supposed to price everything out separately. Sadly the whole second hand market for anything has changed so much that even thrift stores are starting to charge what you would see on ebay and just kind of defeats going to a thrift store in general.
My current strategy is to pick up cheap stuff sitting in resale/pawn shops, and current gen games at GameStop when they have sales such as 4 for $20 or 5 for $50. The going right when everyone is going left advice perfectly summarizes how I collect, too. That strategy is a given when the focus of my collection is bad/forgotten games
It's happened to me several times in Japan, the price was higher (not due to tax) when I went to pay. I'm also a serious vinyl collector (Black Metal) and the prices on a lot of releases are insanely high, and even go up in price crazy fast with recently released albums. I never buy anything as an investment, I buy it because I like it and want it, not with the thought in the back of mind, "These will be worth a lot some day!" Cassette tapes are even becoming highly collectable now, but analogue media has always been deeply rooted in extreme metal. I will never understand collecting sealed and graded games.... I have bought a few rare sealed games, but opened them and played them.
You are SO right about collecting what other people aren't! About 5 yrs ago I got a PS3 just to be a server for my PSP & Vita. Then I saw how darned cheap the physical games were! I'd walk out of the store with 6-8 games for 25ish bucks. Figure out what people aren't going for that's worth your time & effort and collect that.
Here in Scotland, its the law that if something is priced wrong, and you attempt to buy it under that price, that needs to be honoured. I've gotten plenty of crates of beer for 10p instead of £10 that way in the past haha
In Brazil its the law that if the price in the shelf is diferent from the price in the cash register, the lower price is the one that is charged, happened to me in the supermaket a few days ago.
A shop in the UK is actually allowed to not honour it if it's clearly a mistake (like a 10p for £10 thing) but yeah, it is totally illegal to mark it at X and then say "no it's X+10" at the till.
So cool that one of my forum posts got into this video! I just got home from a trip and this was the first video I watched :) Such a surprise...absolutely MADE MY DAY! Love this channel, really enjoy the community, and I look forward to enjoying it for a long, long time :)
I've completely stopped collecting for Sega CD and Saturn, even prices for the more mediocre games are skyrocketing. I can't imagine how much a sealed, graded copy of Snatcher is going for these days.
As someone who basically lost 2/3rds of his decades-long game collection (original owner for much of it) and is being forced to sell the remainder after losing his home and car to an EF-4 tornado (can’t take it with me): It’s hard not to be discouraged. I took a direct hit from the strongest part of the strongest tornado of 2021 so far.
Easiest way to not get discouraged when looking for games. Get some everdrives, stack of cd-rs, or an emulation solution to satisfy that want of needing something now. This way you won't be as disappointed when it takes you forever to find what you want at a good price.
Couldn't agree more about shopping more at local retro game shops, got two within an hour of me in the UK, always WAY cheaper than eBay (not just by the usual 10% either, sometimes 40% cheaper!) And they tend to give you even better prices if you're trading stuff in at the same time 🙂 great video!
That price discrepancy is actually ILLEGAL here in Canada, it's called "Scanning code of practice" and if the price on the shelf (advertised price) is different than the scanned price that error is on the store and the LAW is to honor the shelf/advertised price. Screw those stores that are price gouging like that, it would never fly north of the border!
gaming is a great investment because as time passes the games you love become more and more priceless. I love having a copy of all my childhood favorites so I can play it anytime I want.
For the first tip, it's because the store will instead decide not to constantly update their pricetags so instead will update the prices as they are checked out. It's typically a result of having too many games and not enough employees. Pricecharting is constantly bouncing around in prices and a lot of game stores can't keep up.
MetalJesus I been following your videos for like a decade bro everytime I see your videos I smile and to see you're STILL making videos, I love you dude. Thanks for being a TRUE GAMER!
Thanks for sharing your FB groups, I honestly never even thought to look for a MJR group to share my passion and pickups and near misses! Keep on keeping on!
I owned a electronics business and when the incorrect price sticker issue happened,I would simply tell the customer they can have it for the marked price but the second they lay it down I am picking it up and changing the price.
In England it is illegal. If a store has a price on any item then the store has to sell it at that price, it doesn’t however have to sell it to you if they have made a mistake. So if something is labelled as £1.20 instead of £12.00 then if they sell it that day it has to be at £1.20 but they don’t have to sell it at all and take it off sale, change the price back to what it should and re-sell it the next day. It’s also illegal to sell something without any price on. Everything must have a price either on the item or on the shelf.
Here's my take after collection for 30 years. Game collections peak about 20 years after they were released (when kids grow up and want some nostalgia). So say you bought or collected PS2 games. You are at about the peak time to sell them now. We saw the same thing with Atari, Master System, NES, Sega Genesis, Super Nintendo. If you think they are good long-term investment - maybe companies like NIS, or Atlus you can make a few bucks, but its hit or miss. My best sale of a PS2 game was Silent Hill: Shattered Memories - it was still sealed (cause I never really bothered to play it). Sold for $700. I doubt I'll ever have a game that sells for that much again. Because everything is going digital now, the writing is on the wall for game collecting though. Future kids aren't going to want to buy boxed games. Game collecting is dying unfortunately.
I think collecting is actually growing. We're now at the point where kids of collectors are getting interested at a young age. Time will tell I suppose
Same. Also learn to know the "cult". Someone who's only in it for the profit usually doesn't know certain details about games. The real fanatics are easy to recognize and most interesting for business. Sometimes even worth to give stuff for free and be rewarded for it years later.
Not ALL of it but ,yeah a lot of it is ,,but don't lose heart ,you can still happen upon great finds for amazing low prices ,estate sales come to mind ,,ooooh and some times a recent divorced wife will have a big sale and then sell all his prized possessions for peanuts ,his comics collection ,his movie collection ,his games collection , and sometimes his arcade machines collection ,,his ex-wife's venom and spite can be your lucky day ,,,😋😋😎
@@shredsnotdead well if people collect game titles because they want to play them ,,that's beautiful ,,,how ever if they are collecting just to be trendy as to rub it in someone's face (I bought this ultra rare game tuff luck to you) that can be negative and reckless ,,or worse if they bought a cartridge with a four digit price because they hope it's like the stock-market ,,,they could be in for a staggering shock Later ,if that collectable game market bubble pops ,they could be out of some serious money ,,so it boils down to game hobby intention basically,,,I tend to buy scratched up carts that play fine ,even slight Lable rips ,,,I have no interest in museum pieces ,,I like the games that remind me of better moments in the past ,,before the covid chaos ,,,😸😿
Hell yeah MetalJesus. In Karl Jobst fashion you're exposing "allegedly" (I like how you approach it non aggressively) bad business practices in the local retro gaming community. Youre doin the lord's work sir.
Ya 100% tell a store what your looking for. I gave my local store a list of things I’m looking for and when ever they find one their willing to hold it for me.
Kelsey doesn't know why a store would change their pricing at the register? Really? And she owns a game store? WTF. It doesn't take a genius to realize the stores are trying to maximize their profits when it is convenient by referencing real-time online pricing rather than going through the trouble of updating price tags regularly. Price tags on retro games that sit on shelves can become outdated due to market fluctuations in availability and demand. It happens in the trading card market daily. Changes in card popularity and availability can cause prices to fluctuate wildly. Many LGSes don't put price tags on their cards sitting in display cases because they use this internet price checking process to ensure they get the most money from customers at the time of sale. That being said, the better stores will update the sticker pricing on items when they drastically change in value rather than nickel-and-diming their customers at the register.
I think the point is she doesn't understand why they don't value their customers and understand that kind of terrible business practice drives people away which hurts you more. Clearly she knows they're doing it for money, you're looking at only the surface here It wouldn't be that hard to regularly update prices though, you should have a digital database of everything you have and the prices and just use some sort of tool to cross reference that with price charting and update the prices whenever the difference passes a certain threshold. If you're that strict about getting every little dime and are too lazy to update pricing every now and then you might as well not bother putting a price tag to begin with
@@Davidx_117 That's also not a hard thing to understand. Some businesses don't care about customer retention and focus on short term gains. It's clear they value income per item over total gains. Not to mention many businesses are facing closure due to decreased sales through Covid, so maybe they are forced to make every sale count and can't bank on the long term customer retention with lower sales. Digital POS system or not, It is very difficult (time consuming) to update sticker prices regularly for every item in your inventory. For a business looking to increase price by 5 or 10 dollars per game at the register, they would need a dedicated individual on-staff focused on price checking and updating price stickers on their inventory daily.
@@Tamarocker88 I think you're taking this too literally, I'm sure she was expressing disappointment more than genuinely not understanding. There could be a lot of different reasons to explain why, but maintaining good customer relations is important to her and many businesses so it's disappointing when one doesn't care or doesn't see a problem there I think you're exaggerating the issue here, game prices aren't changing like crypto does, you aren't throwing a new sticker on literally every item regularly, many will stay within $5 for months or more and it's obviously not worth changing price under that. I'm guessing many places don't use robust inventory and price checking software that automatically alerts of price changes past a set threshold so understandably it'd a lot more tedious, but it's not right to waste peoples time trying to charge more
@@Davidx_117 If she meant "I'm disappointed in the shops for treating their customers this way" then she shouldn't have said "I don't know why they would do this". They're two completely different statements. Words have meaning.
@@Tamarocker88 No need to be pedantic, it's pretty common to use those words in that way and sometimes people misspeak. Whatever it is it's not a big deal, not replying any further.
I like collecting for portable systems because they take up alot less space and it's easier to pick up and play without messing with cables or anything like that.
Everything local around me are so bad. Stores here have nothing priced, are either super overpriced even being over eBay, or just plain out has nothing because they hoard it themselves behind the counter.
I have a store near me that I really like that does the price change thing. For one, they tell you as soon as you walk in that the prices on the games may not be correct. They have a full price list online and they explain this as you come in. The reason being is that game prices are so volatile lately that they don't want to have to staff someone just to change price tags every few weeks. The prices on the website are always correct and the price tags on the games are mostly from older games that have been there for ages.
in the uk all retailers have to honour the price it is marked at by law, even if they have made a mistake it does not matter it has to be honored at the price it has been marked as
I completely agree with buying games or systems that no one else is. I bought a good amount of vita games wen they were easier to find and won’t too expensive and I’m glad I did. I’ve also been getting plenty of ps3 and Xbox 360 games since they r very common and cheap as to buy and there’s heaps of great titles and I love playing those consoles as u don’t have to do huge updates all the time with them
The story about surprise price hike at the register is true...and very disappointing. Is that something you have experienced or heard about at retro gaming stores before? It can't be legal, can it?
I've walked out from a store when it happened. $10-$15 might not seem too much of a price increase, but the sudden action at the register put me in a bad mood, ya know???
Hey MJR!
Something is wrong with your channel. RUclips doesn't recommend your videos.
I was wondering why you don't upload. Then I visit your channel and see I've missed a lot of videos. I have turned the bell on today.
I think you should look into it.
It should not be legal. I would avoid such a business that does that crap.
While not recent. I did encounter this a few years ago when I bout a sealed copy of pikmin 2 on wii. It still had the 19.99 sticker on it from when they first got it. I assume it had been there and unsold since it came out. It rang up for what it was worth and the cashier was annoyed when I disputed the price. Luckily the manager overheard and intervened and acknowledged the mistake and gave it to me for the marked price. I will say though if this became a trend I would be offended enough not to shop at the particular retro store that was doing the sudden price markup at the register.
Happened to me a few weeks ago. GameStop had Skyrim on switch for $30 so I went to go checkout and they said it’s now $60 and they wouldn’t honor the price even though they said they forgot to change the sticker. I didn’t buy it. But GameStop sucks anyway.
my brother and I went to a retro shop and had a real big stack going. The store owner came up to us and took our stack - "let me just clean the discs up for you guys" ... When we get to the register he changed all the prices. $7 to $60 ... $10 to $120 ... It was insane he just bumped his prices to a crazy amount. His reasoning was he set his prices a couple years ago. Our response was well that means these game have been sitting for a couple years until we wanted to buy them. We left and have never gone back since. Lost our business forever
That's dirty man lol hope that guy goes out of business for treating customers like that
@@SnunGod Right! It was super shady. He didn't even clean the discs. Felt even more ripped off cause we spent 1HR in there picking out all these games from crusty dust bins that he can now put in glass and charge some other poor customer.
dood that was just messed up!
@@Dchybrid Preach :( He even told us "did you guys know this $10 games goes for $80 now?" Just looked at him and said "oh no way ..." Why should I the customer, be responsible for what you charge
@@alvaro0423 guaranteed he just looked at price charting pricesand added 10$++
Those videos about the logistics of being a game collector are my favorites. The market is super inflated here in Brazil and we don't have the culture of garage sales and thrift stores, so the hunt can get a bit demotivating. But those videos always bring the fire back. Thanks dude.
Hey Dan! I watch your channel and Friday night tights as well! Love the new theme song you did for them! Crazy to see you watch the same vids as me lol
Dude, your channel screams NARCISSIST. Yuck
@@MR.AIRWALK Bro what are you even talking about?
So true, Dan! Here in Brazil is very hard to collect :(
The prices are going up and up!
Dan ,,do you own the silver-tec toy MegaDrive ?? I know it was ONLY sold in Brazil ,,,
Top Recommendation:
Collect what YOU want, not what's popular or "cool". Also, just because you're a certain age does not make you too old or too young to collect videogames!
exactly! I dont care much if its complete or not, as long as the disk is in good condition and I love the series, i'll buy it.
Literally this. I dont have a huge collection but I have all the games that have lived rent free in my head since I was a child. That's all I need. Now I'm just expanding on it
I only collect/buy games I will play...
Agree. That's my idea when collecting games. Have enough to enjoy whenever I want to.
61 here and have gone retro after 20 years of FPS online shooters. Much more relaxing.
This is maybe my favorite video. Everyone should call out retro gaming stores like Grumpy Bobs that doesn’t honor the price sticker.
Fuck Grumpy Bobs, If I'm ever in the area I'll be sure to avoid it. Thanks.
You can see he's pissed off about this issue!
LOVE IT
Well, he should be grumpy 😂
Honestly changing the price when brought up to the counter is the most bull shit thing possible, I’d drop the game and leave without buying anything if I encountered that
That store is a disease to our local community. My last visit ever after dropping thousands over the years there was in February 2020 when they pulled that repricing stunt on me at the register. (Mind you this was Pre-Covid, so they can't blame that as the reason). They lost out on a $300 sale that they tried to shake me down for $450 at the register. I spoke to "the manager" on the phone about it (you know, the one that tells people to change their negative Google reviews about the place), and she said the game had to go back to the "processing center" for repricing. It then was still in their inventory a year later online at the new inflated and over eBay price.
If anyone wants to join the bonfire when that place ever closes, I'll bring the marshmallows.
I used to go to flea markets with $20 back in the mid 90’s and sift through giant boxes from multiple vendors. Games were 2-$5 each. Most I ever paid was a CIB Castlevania 3 for $9. Those were the glory days!!!
90s were good,they sell games to get rid off them cheap like GameStop back in 90s they sell 299 and rare ones.they don't do that anymore.digital is killing.
Yep. I used to hit my local pawn shop in the late '90s and get NES games for 4 or 5 for $20. I can't remember which. Of course I sometimes sit and wonder. Why didn't I pick up that cheap copy of Little Samson. lol
@@ruthiekest3218 sad part, people throw them away when parents clean the room.90s was the best people don't care how much it we'll be
I remember when the dreamcast died a bargain bin at circuit city for $5 sealed games, too bad I was a child
The reason games were cheap was because the stuff was only a few years old. We actually have the same situation now. Go out and look for Xbox 360 and One games. They are cheap as hell. I was at a yard sale that was selling off an entire 30 game collection for $10. But that’s not retro enough for some people.
Recently game collecting can start to feel like a rich person's pursuit. Especially when prices are increasing all the time. When something is on the up, I tend to go after something else. Its also fun to diversify your collection, and play some cheaper games you might not have expected to like!
I find the constant price hikes really frustrating tbh. I’d love to play Silent Hill 2, Panzer Dragoon Saga, SMT Devil Summoner, etc. but I’m just not comfortable paying hundreds of dollars for a game I haven’t even tried yet. What if I don’t end up liking it? Then I’ve just wasted a bunch of money that could’ve gone towards something like travel or a house
@@kumatorahaltmanndreemurr This is why you play the emulated or everdrive version of the game first. It should give a pretty good idea on whether the game is worth it.
I feel lucky that the generation of games that I'm nostalgic for are 6th and 7th gen which for the most part are still fairly cheap (except GC lol)
@@overnightdelivery Huh, that's a good idea actually
@@DeathMetalJedi Same, I'm grateful I can still afford Wii/360 games
Really like what you said at the end: collect stuff that you see yourself playing and enjoying. Also, I really like the term "trade fodder". I'll need to keep that in my hat!
I recommend watching retro rick and Mr wrightway RUclips videos they have a lot of advice for what to buy to trade or sell to ad money to collecting fund
I can vouch for Pink Gorilla owning their price mistakes. A while back they had a copy of The Peace Keepers with a price tag way cheaper than normal. At the time, I thought it was cheap due to the label being in rough condition. At the register, they were puzzled when it rung up much higher and told me the price tag was a mistake. They immediately said they honor it though, I didn’t even ask. In fact, when I offered to let them correct the price (as I didn’t want anyone getting in trouble over it), they insisted I take it for the price shown on the tag.
That was really cool of them. Hopefully nobody takes advantage of that policy by swapping cases to make the game look cheaper than intended… that’d be a real shame.
@@worldsboss I think the name of the game is printed on the price tag too - it'd be pretty obvious if it was swapped.
@@alanbarr1497 Aah fair enough then!
NOICE!!!
@@worldsboss I'm pretty sure they have the names of the games on the case, I catch the twitch streams sometimes
The bad part of garage sales is how many people hit them up before they even start and buy up all the games. It's really discouraging for collecting.
Welcome to Capitalism, isn't it great? Early bird gets the worm.
@@CaptSpeirsB744 In communism, the gov't would take the items and hopefully (assuming there's no corruption) distribute the items to those with less.
Not always true. You just have to be lucky. Recently I arrived at a sale at 2pm, and there was a box of 60 PS2 games just sitting there (guessing they just put em out), well I offered them $80 without even looking at the games and they accepted the offer. I got home, and found Rule of Rose and Drakengard 2 in that box as well as a few other gems. You just never know what you will run into. You don't always have to get there at the crack of dawn. :)
@@CaptFwiffo never said it was always true, but it does happen often.
@@McPatches3D thank you for speaking up about this ,it's strange to go to big family garage sale(5kids from 12 to 17) and not see evidence of one videogame from beginning of sale to the wrap up ,what you spoke of solves the mystery ,,,👍
I live in a small city in the UK and there's this independent game store I go to, found a copy of persona 4 on the Vita and the price on the case said £26.99 so immediately I went to the counter with the game in my hand and asked if this was the actual price, unfortunately it wasn't but he was going to let me have it for the stated price but I offered to pay the actual price, but the fact that he was willing to honour the mistake was awesome, that's why I love independent game stores. The actual price was £62.99.
Thats great. In my opinion the sticker price should always be followed, provided its obvious its a sticker/price mistake and not easy to swap them from cheaper games
Man i hate Vita games prices most of them are really expensive
62£ is a fkn ripoff lol
One of my fave things to think about when game collecting is just collect what you enjoy, don’t get caught up in what’s valuable or what others are collecting just collect what appeals to you
Best advice here. I'm a ps2 collector mostly and ONLY buy games I plan on playing and enjoying. I'm not gonna buy "Timmy's tooth world" or something if it's rare or collectible cuz I know I'm not gonna play that
in Europe (at least here in Luxembourg, and in Germany, Belgium...) we have a law that says that if there is a price tag on an item, you have to pay this price. If the seller made a mistake, it's not your problem and he can't change it even if he loses a lot of money.
Canada as well. Only for the first item. (Unless you find multiple in a store) I think there's also some other rules to go along with it.
I think in the u.s. it would be considered a civil matter, you would have to get a lawyer. Easy for business owners to take advantage of people unfortunately.
@@henrydillard6217 exactly ,some come to the US to open a biz here because they can practically get away with murder for maximum profit ,,biz behavior they could NEVER get away with in their home country plus when they immigrate here the financial proper way ,they don't have to pay income tax or property tax for the first 6 years ,in Florida I found this out ,,,
Had a friend who bought like 9 laptops because they were priced at like 100 euro instead of 1000 and flipped them. (EU country)
So peel off the tag from a shitty game and stick it on a expensive game. Easy
Kinda glad I already snagged the main stuff I want to collect before the niche blew up, and beyond that emulation is a miracle.
That's it mate why pay for plastic when ya can emulate? Sold all my Amiga cd 32 games for about £1000+ Inc console.
I never had any XBOX stuff growing up and I just got a 360 and am SUPER excited to dive into the library. Went to some local stores and games are just so cheap. Thank you MJR for the advice and support of the collecting hobby!
I love your videos dude. I’ve been living overseas for a few years and watching you talk about games makes me feel like I’m back home in the States. Also, loving the retro games stores content!
I collect my games to keep. I don’t think about selling them but I think about how crazy the prices have gotten. I get the games I had in my childhood and the games I want to play eventually.
I've been focusing on current gen games and last gen ones personally. Trying to snag the interesting releases as they come out. Fortunately I haven't had any surprise price increases at the register, but my local store is cool as hell and they usually give me a discount and they keep their prices updated.
In india we get 75% Discount games ☺️☺️.
I've actually had trouble justifying getting any physical PS4 Xbox One games unless they're heavily discounted if only because I'm worried that they'll show up on PlayStation Plus or Xbox Live Gold/Game Pass. That being said if I find any 3DS Wii U PS3 or Xbox 360 games I will not hesitate to pick it up for the right price of course
@@GenerationZ313 I just came across a lot I got for $100 at a pawn shop..over 200 games mostly ps3, ps4, and xbox one, with some 360, ps2, and wii games as well. Amazing find!
@@damondelgado4603 awesome ,that ssounds like one lucky haul , any Wii titles of special mention ??
It's almost pointless collecting for the 8th gen consoles, because all those games release incomplete and are patched to completion after the fact.
I'm glad you said a word on making the mistake of turning collecting into investing. It isn't, and never will be. Collecting is fun and should always be a hobby. If you turn it into investing, 1) it's not fun anymore, 2) it's a bad idea. All games, with a handful of exceptions, will depreciate in value at some point, while assets like real estate won't. I see so many videos of people talking about which games you should get because they have monetary value, but that's because things are on fire right now. Sports cards, pokemon stuff, old toys, the rage over graded stuff, etc. And if you're buying expensive games to hold onto, you're already too late.
Only collect for fun, and only collect with disposable income. If you're using video games for investing, buy land instead.
Well said bud ,,and a good step towards the saving of retrogaming ,,,👍
I tell myself I'm investing but in reality I'd never sell anyway haha
"while assets like real estate won't."
Any half decent investor knows that also can and will happen. It's investing, not money printing. And compared to real estate videgames (and a lot of other hobby based investing) have a far lower step-in cost and maintenance cost.
Having said that, investing in general has been a trend for the last 3 or 4 years and it's mostly a bunch of people buying shit up not because something is undervalued or has the potential to increase naturally in value but rather because they, unknowingly, buy into a promise that someone else will buy it for more from them. Bitcoin is the extreme of that. The whole investing trend is a bubble. And videogames are quite a poor investment at this point.
The thing is, while I don't necessarily think of some of my stupid rare games (sealed and cib) as investments. I know they won't depreciate. There are less and less rare games out in the market, and even less of them being in good condition. I do personally think the grading side of gaming is a bubble that will burst and is a terrible thing to invest in. CIB in the other hand will always be in demand. Rare, fun games for systems like the SNES and mega drive have survived almost 30 years and are still tons of fun, will be fun still in another 30 years and even harder to get. It's really weird to think about it this way, but game collecting is, and has turned into a collection of art. I don't think it's smart to invest into it and bank on it. However, investing into your hobby by getting the high end stuff will probably turn a profit in the future.
I’ll give you a tip! Buy want you are going to play, not what’s going to live on your shelf. There are too many (Switch) collectors who buy absolute trash games just for collecting sake. Games are made to be played.
Revenge of the bird king 🤢 🤮
I used to tell my ex that collecting games was an investment into our future.. I was lying to her and to myself to justify spending money on games lol.
I estimated that I had spent between $20k-$30k on games and systems over a ten year period while her and I were together. I sold over 90% of my collection when we split up and I made back maaaaaaybe $3k-$5k off of it. And that was lots of Nintendo stuff. So yeah, not a good financial investment.
But it WAS an extremely enjoyable thing to do! I loved collecting stuff from childhood that I had and stuff that I had dreamed about having as a kid. So in that way it was worth it and I don't regret it. But don't lie to yourself and think you're investing in the future with buying games.
Agreed. Never consider something you collect for fun as an investment. Because it means to actually get a return on that investment means you need to part ways with it. Especially if you’re only buying one of everything. You can only sell it once. The return on investment is very limited. If you want to invest in something, buy more than one.
True but if you know what’s worth you can actually sell it 3 times more lol. Done that myself
Because of your content, because of your videos and especially one like this I can say it help. I managed to find a copy of Gacha force for 87 bucks. No case but a third of the price and the disc was near mint. It is truly a game i love and I will always remember my 5 year search. Your hidden gems videos are how I found your channel. You are a valued member of the game space
Been collecting games for around 22 years here in the UK. Because i am 46 i have sometimes felt maybe i need to grow up,get rid because gaming was something only young people do. Love your channel. Only just discovered you this year. But you have showed me i am the perfect age for gaming. Which is ANY age. Thank you!!
On point one it was the game bound store that did that to me. Went in after you highlighted them and they said "due to covid" they havent had the time to update pricing. It was a $20 increase and i will not be back. When there are prices on the carts thats the price i expect to pay.
I tried, on 3 separate occasions since that video, to order from them online. Every single time it got cancelled because they couldn't find all or some of my games. That store was lucky to get some nice advertising from this channel, just to drop the ball lol.
When covid I pretty sure they have time if they closed down and do the price
Always sage advice from MJR. ✊ Definitely don't get discouraged, ESPECIALLY when older guys wearing gold chains driving new Teslas or BMWs pull up to the garage sale you're at, hop out of their car and ask the person running it, "Hi, do you have any old records or video games?" Happens all the time by me in NYC... just let it roll off your shoulder.
Don't start collecting if you think it's going to make you Rich it's not. do it for the love of video games.
I’m most interested in Wii/DS/3DS/Switch at the moment since that’s what I play the most. Thankfully, most of those systems’ libraries are still pretty affordable (with some exceptions like the 3DS MegaTen games).
There are a lot of Xbox 360/PS3/PS4 games I’d love to play, I just don’t sit down in front of the tv as often as I used to.
I was a latecomer to the DS/3DS as well as the GBA and I love them all. Tons of great games and very affordable
I collect games but mostly comic books and this has been happening at comic conventions recently. Because of the volatility in these markets and overall higher prices online, sellers will often re-price items when a buyer brings them to the counter, to match Ebay.
It’s happing in the sci-fi book collecting as well and I’ve had 4-5 places on biblio not accept my order then re-price up 20-30 dollars. Only happening on the signed first editions or limited editions from my experience.
Had that happen to me a couple years ago at the Columbus Ohio comic con, I wanted a signed copy of danger girl #1was willing to pay the 125. Asking price . When I went to pay he said it was $210. I left it there, hope he still has it 😆
It's a good point to "go left when they go right" when it comes prices. I missed the lull on Saturn and got priced out of almost everything, but I bought during the lull on Dreamcast and managed to get a very nice collection while spending less than $5 per game on average. Now the only time I buy classic games is when I get lucky with a flea market find or garage sale.
I dont know why but I always feel this sense of urgency when there is games I want. I have to just remind myself to relax and hope retro gaming becomes less popular
I just get the rom lol.
@@EricK-tb2dn Same, I don't understand paying hundreds to get these consoles to output in HD when my PC already does that.
Emulation is king these days. The market bubble will burst. Nobody cares enough about physical games. It would be nice to have them but it's not worth the price.
I really don't see retro gaming ever becoming less popular, the ratio of retro gamers to total gamers will probably fluctuate but total population of retro gamers will only go up. That doesn't mean prices will only go up though, the demand can fluctuate a ton due to things like collectors no longer looking for a certain game as they have it, a recent trend in playing a certain older game, a sequel releasing bringing back attention to the previous older titles, etc.
I agree though, I also feel a sense of urgency sometimes when I start thinking about price increases but always remind myself unless it's an absolute must-have that it can wait because I might find it cheap locally either through Craigslist/FB marketplace or a thrift store or the price might simply come down (especially right now, I think many of the titles that recently saw big price increases will start coming down in the next year or so)
@@Davidx_117 I love retro gaming. I have every game ever made. It's on my hard drive.
I was on vacation in Florida and went to a flea market, wanted to collect some old sega games. Some had no price tag, some did, but regardless, when I went to ring them up, the guy paused, took out his smart phone, looked up online what the value of each specific game was, then said that was the price (marked up from what the price tag on the game itself was). Needless to say I didn't buy anything from them, but I'm glad you talked about this, because it is very discouraging. I don't understand why it's happening now :/
Lemme guess ,was it the Daytona Flea Market ?? I live in central Florida and have encountered this at multiple retro-game stores around my area ,,,the motivation is Control and Greed ,,,
@@wyldelf2685 Wow, it was, that's actually kind of incredible how you knew from my vague description. And yeah it wasn't just the flea market; it was a lot of the retro stores in that area :/
@@907toni something about the tone of your description felt like it was the "Game Dungeon",, had a few good finds there also had deals so bad it hurt to sit down the next day ,know what I mean ,,
@@907toni when you went game searching while on vacation in FLA ,,did you bring out of state games to trade in ?? Sometimes their pricing gets nicer if you have a trade in game the really want ,,,👍
@@wyldelf2685 No unfortunately, a lot of my old collection is gone due to circumstance haha, trying to build it up again
2021 is the very meaning of discouraged
I wish I could times travel to early 2000s and start game collecting then. I mean that was the golden days. 50cent Earthbound games etc..
I'm a collector (mainly vinyl records). Just agreeing with what you say about waiting for things to come about in time. Patience is key when trying to get the most out of a budgeted approach to things, good advice and key to making it fun :)
MJR thank you for being so responsible with your platform. You help perpetuate and preserve retrogaming.
I'm in charge of the books and media department at a thrift store, and definitely with records I know you're likely to get a bargain. If I get a donation, it's never just 1 or 2, it's sometimes hundreds. It would take hours for me to sift through all that and appraise each record, so they go straight to the floor at a fixed price.
What some people do is go buy them out of the store just to sell online. Its very common around seattle tri city area... i have never found anything cool in a thrift store. Yard sales are best bets.
Definitely feels tough to get into some consoles these days, but I just keep looking and keeping my eyes open!
That's half the fun friend! Makes it so much more rewarding when you find something you want.
In Australia that price increase at the till thing would be illegal. You have to legally sell it at the ticketed price even if it is a mistake.
I’ve unknowingly been collecting for about 35 years, but seriously collecting for the past 20..... Since the big “C” hit and people were forced to stay home, the collecting scene had changed a lot with so many newbies coming into it. It’s cool to see games getting more recognition these days, but it’s tough to see the prices going the way they have been..... I’m just happy that I have all the games I want for my favorite system (PS3) already since I’ve seen the prices of many of these games go through the roof.
In some states, prices advertised have to be sold at the advertised price by law. If anyone tried to say that, I'd turn around and leave and never come back
Exactly. Utter BS whatever those other states/stores are doing.
California (my state) is among them. They even post signs by the register to remind you.
So I looked it up in Washington state, it's not a crime, just immoral. In many states it is illegal.
In NY, where I'm from, but no longer live, the rule was if you were charged more than the advertised price, they would have to give you the item for free, plus reimburse you ten times the difference between what you paid and the advertised price. It was called a super refund, and it made grocery shopping much more entertaining
If I could start over after years of collecting, my advice would be quality over quantity, and pick up what games YOU like best on your shelf.
Exactly how i am with both my game and movie collection. What i would play again and watch often i buy
My absolute best find in a charity shop was the PS1 versions of Dino Crisis and Silent Hill for 50p each. Almost had a heart attack when the cashier rang them through. 😂
The new game room is looking nice. Keep rocking, Jason!
I collect games because my sons and I love it. We enjoy playing the games and going game hunting. I love having something they will have memories of for many years! They know this collection we are building together will be passed down to them when I am gone and maybe they'll share it with their kids and make even more memories.
I recently picked up GTA: Vice City Stories from a local game store. It had an 89.99 sticker on the front and when I asked to look at it and make sure it was complete I noticed a 24.99 sticker on the spine (they had all the expensive games with the cover showing and all the cheaper games lined up with the spines showing) and I joked like well is it $90 or $25 and he's like let me double check. So he looked it up in the system and said it was supposed to be 89.99 but it's actually gone down $10 so he charged me less than the sticker. He also gave me his staff discount for the mistake with the price tags lol
You still got ripped off
Just found one on eBay for $49 look online before you purchase you might save some cash
~$89.99 in Zimbabwe dollars I hope!
I bought vice city for $3 GameStop last year
Wow. 89.99 bucks for that? What console? I don't see that price for either the psp or ps2 on price charting. I always look on there and ebay for comparison and try to find a reasonable range that I will be willing the pay if the store or ebay listing is a bit within or outside range.
Video Game Collecting Tips for 2021: emulate whatever you can. if you are a die hard fan, buy the old console you want and an everdrive for it.
if you like to play new games, buy an xbox, subscribe to gamepass and have fun
if you like to keep the games in your shelf, buy common games for that console, they will be average/cheap (the last of us on ps4, gears on xbox... and the list goes on)
you mostly wont have the time to play everything you want anyway, so there's no rush to buy many or to pay a lot
This past year I've been finding more and more PSP games and UMD movies at my local Goodwill. For $2 bucks I get weird puzzle games or some movie with nick cage in it. I now own three National treasure movies on UMD, as well as 4 copies of lords of downtown.
I've found my fair share of really good deals at my local thrift stores over the years. In fact us a couple months ago I got a PlayStation Portable with everything in the Box minus the battery for $14.99 CAD
@@GenerationZ313 sweet deal!
You nailed it at the end; collect what you love. That is why I collect games. Great video, thank you.
I think the reason those stores are increasing the price at the register is because game prices have increased faster than the store's ability to re-tag all the items on the shelves. Thanks to the pandemic.
3:00 lmao he’s such a nice guy he doesn’t even know how to be mad
When I see video games as an investment for retirement, it's for my own personal entertainment and not for reselling in order to gain profit.
Yup I’m planning for retirement at 23
I would walk away if any of my local stores tried that. Usually if a price has went up before the store has gotten to reprice it, the only thing I've heard is "looks like you got it just in time, thats actually went up 15 dollars since we marked it". Very thankful to have good honest retro stores in my area, even if there aren't that many, the people running them are always a pleasure to deal with.
I'm in NY, my local retro store that I actually know the owner of also does this. They go off of price charting I believe and don't update their prices. So they just say yea this went up. I don't bother going anymore. But they don't seem to care.
What area of New York do you live if you don't mind me asking? I also live in New York. Upstate near Albany, Saratoga area and have never had any of the retro stores I visit do this. Most of them actually have below market prices.
Yup, same at my local store in west Texas. They call it dynamic pricing. They have a base price tag on the item but when it’s scanned they use a price charting database and if the item went up they charge the “market” price. Really disappointing.
@@chuckd.68 yep happened to me the other day at game x change lol it's bullshit but what can you do? There isn't many game stores around.
@@thomasjames6714 Rochester
Best Video & I completely agree with all the points stated.
Currently, I have collected a total of 162 physical games across SNES, N64, Wii, 3DS, PS, PS2, PS3, & PS4.
What I have noticed is that the older I got I started to lean towards games that I enjoy, and franchises I love; rather than collecting for keeps sake. Also less time with family, work etc.
My collection is curated & I'm really happy it is!!!
Rock on MJR!
Word of advice for anyone living in a larger city, go to the second hand stores in the richer parts of town if you can. My experience has been that they tend to have better stuff
As always, great video MJ!!
I love watching retro collectors on RUclips, you being my favorite.
There are so many flippers that are diluting the market so heavily, and jacking up the prices. You know all of this.
Just glad there are people like you who do it for the joy! Thank you so much!
If you are entering the game collecting scene right now, I would advise collecting for Xbox 360, ps3, or wii as the prices are super cheap right now. I got the best Forza Motorsport games and pgr 3 for only $10
"super cheap" "$10"
Having been collecting since 2006-ish that's not cheap, maybe I'm looking at it with old eyes but I'd say that be "above mundane". Granted base prices in my mind are still 5 euro and I know in the US they used to be around 2 dollars or so. Granted in the current market 10 dollar is quite cheap.
Fair point going the other direction, there are a lot of obscure games that don't seem to get enough attention.
I remember buying Gregory's horror show three years ago (PAL version) When it was quite cheap. And now out of the blue the price trend keeps skyrocketing :/
this man died on a cross for us and tells us tips for collecting games.dominus metallum est lux mea. can i get an amen metal jesus!!
😂
Amen!
@@literallyunderrated FALSE PROPHET!!! We trust in metal jesus and double D's...but not triple D's
Ave satan
I've been saying this for years to start collecting for the PS3/360. Three years ago my local pawn shop sold off all of their ps3/360 games for $2 each and there were great ones in there. Dragon's Dogma, Demon's Souls, PSStore bundle with Tokyo Jungle, Dragon's Crown, ICO/Shadow of the Colossus HD Remaster, the list goes on...
Games really are the pinnacle of Art, well said.
They really are! They mix traditional art, music, sound effects, voice acting, acting, animation, story and technology. What other media does that?! It's what makes games amazing with universal appeal.
@@MetalJesusRocks Thank God I'm not the only one who thinks that.
Been saying this for years. Finally, people who can see the beauty in them.
@@MetalJesusRocks Actually, film and television accomplish the same thing. I think the special ingredient you left out is interactivity.
During shutdown last year, I got DEEP into collecting...stuff. I have since sold or donated most of it but I don’t regret it. Kept me occupied when there was nothing else to do.
When I got into collecting i bought what i could get as far it was o.k.-ish priced. In hindsight i can tell these are the games i almost never touched again
and kept them in boxes.
Now i buy only games i really really like even if they are bit pricey but have a blast unpacking them, read the manual, play the game from time to time and keep them on rotation on my display.
But to be fair the playing part is shifting to emulation for me on a small form factor pc connected to my TV. 1 PC, several wireless controllers, all games ever made for some systems.
I started emulating in the late 90s but it is so convenient now with all those frontends like Launchbox.
I lived by a goodwill and came by so often that one of the employees would regularly give me discounts on anything he felt like. Ended up finding a bag with an N64, two controllers and about 12 games including Donkey Kong 64, Ocarina of time, Mario 64, etc. and just gave me the whole bag for $29.99 even though he was supposed to price everything out separately. Sadly the whole second hand market for anything has changed so much that even thrift stores are starting to charge what you would see on ebay and just kind of defeats going to a thrift store in general.
"Kelsey's Pink Gorilla" would be a good name for a rock band! ✊💀✊
Sounds like code or street slang for an STD ,,,lol
Nah, sounds more like part of her anatomy 😏 I wouldn’t say that in public…
Reminds me of Ariel Pinks Haunted Graffiti
My current strategy is to pick up cheap stuff sitting in resale/pawn shops, and current gen games at GameStop when they have sales such as 4 for $20 or 5 for $50.
The going right when everyone is going left advice perfectly summarizes how I collect, too. That strategy is a given when the focus of my collection is bad/forgotten games
First point is false advertising at least it would be classed this way in the UK
In Brazil whenever there is any mismatch between advertised prices anywhere, they have to charge you the lowest one.
It's happened to me several times in Japan, the price was higher (not due to tax) when I went to pay.
I'm also a serious vinyl collector (Black Metal) and the prices on a lot of releases are insanely high, and even go up in price crazy fast with recently released albums.
I never buy anything as an investment, I buy it because I like it and want it, not with the thought in the back of mind, "These will be worth a lot some day!"
Cassette tapes are even becoming highly collectable now, but analogue media has always been deeply rooted in extreme metal.
I will never understand collecting sealed and graded games.... I have bought a few rare sealed games, but opened them and played them.
I would love to have a dreamcast and game library again. N64 as well.
Ditto
You are SO right about collecting what other people aren't! About 5 yrs ago I got a PS3 just to be a server for my PSP & Vita. Then I saw how darned cheap the physical games were! I'd walk out of the store with 6-8 games for 25ish bucks. Figure out what people aren't going for that's worth your time & effort and collect that.
Here in Scotland, its the law that if something is priced wrong, and you attempt to buy it under that price, that needs to be honoured. I've gotten plenty of crates of beer for 10p instead of £10 that way in the past haha
In Brazil its the law that if the price in the shelf is diferent from the price in the cash register, the lower price is the one that is charged, happened to me in the supermaket a few days ago.
A shop in the UK is actually allowed to not honour it if it's clearly a mistake (like a 10p for £10 thing) but yeah, it is totally illegal to mark it at X and then say "no it's X+10" at the till.
I’ve cut back due to costs and lack of space...
So cool that one of my forum posts got into this video! I just got home from a trip and this was the first video I watched :) Such a surprise...absolutely MADE MY DAY! Love this channel, really enjoy the community, and I look forward to enjoying it for a long, long time :)
I've completely stopped collecting for Sega CD and Saturn, even prices for the more mediocre games are skyrocketing. I can't imagine how much a sealed, graded copy of Snatcher is going for these days.
As someone who basically lost 2/3rds of his decades-long game collection (original owner for much of it) and is being forced to sell the remainder after losing his home and car to an EF-4 tornado (can’t take it with me): It’s hard not to be discouraged. I took a direct hit from the strongest part of the strongest tornado of 2021 so far.
Easiest way to not get discouraged when looking for games. Get some everdrives, stack of cd-rs, or an emulation solution to satisfy that want of needing something now. This way you won't be as disappointed when it takes you forever to find what you want at a good price.
Couldn't agree more about shopping more at local retro game shops, got two within an hour of me in the UK, always WAY cheaper than eBay (not just by the usual 10% either, sometimes 40% cheaper!) And they tend to give you even better prices if you're trading stuff in at the same time 🙂 great video!
That price discrepancy is actually ILLEGAL here in Canada, it's called "Scanning code of practice" and if the price on the shelf (advertised price) is different than the scanned price that error is on the store and the LAW is to honor the shelf/advertised price.
Screw those stores that are price gouging like that, it would never fly north of the border!
yeah it sounds really freaking scummy if a store around here did that I would not shop there anymore.
@@delirium4327 I'm willing to bet Retro Game Store some Lee hiking their prices is probably got something to do with Heritage auction and WATA games
The price increases above and beyond the sticker prices happens in my city up here in Canada at the local retro game store!
gaming is a great investment because as time passes the games you love become more and more priceless. I love having a copy of all my childhood favorites so I can play it anytime I want.
Looks over at my early 90's comics with foil covers and lots of#1s: Sure, the video game bubble will never burst or get weakened by investors!
For the first tip, it's because the store will instead decide not to constantly update their pricetags so instead will update the prices as they are checked out. It's typically a result of having too many games and not enough employees. Pricecharting is constantly bouncing around in prices and a lot of game stores can't keep up.
Why not just put a pink tag on it or something? And a sign "pink tag games are priced at register."
@@breannathompson9094 I'm merely reciting their logic, not mine. Your guess is as good as mine as to why they do not have some solution to it.
Retro game collecting is one of the most toxic “communities” I’ve ever stumbled across.
I've started to sell some of mine the hobby its just not what it use to be and some of the prices for these retro games is just over kill.
MetalJesus I been following your videos for like a decade bro everytime I see your videos I smile and to see you're STILL making videos, I love you dude. Thanks for being a TRUE GAMER!
It has gotten waaaaay too expensive to collect retro games and hardware anymore. I give up! 🤦🏻♂️
Thanks for sharing your FB groups, I honestly never even thought to look for a MJR group to share my passion and pickups and near misses!
Keep on keeping on!
I owned a electronics business and when the incorrect price sticker issue happened,I would simply tell the customer they can have it for the marked price but the second they lay it down I am picking it up and changing the price.
In England it is illegal. If a store has a price on any item then the store has to sell it at that price, it doesn’t however have to sell it to you if they have made a mistake.
So if something is labelled as £1.20 instead of £12.00 then if they sell it that day it has to be at £1.20 but they don’t have to sell it at all and take it off sale, change the price back to what it should and re-sell it the next day.
It’s also illegal to sell something without any price on. Everything must have a price either on the item or on the shelf.
Here's my take after collection for 30 years. Game collections peak about 20 years after they were released (when kids grow up and want some nostalgia). So say you bought or collected PS2 games. You are at about the peak time to sell them now. We saw the same thing with Atari, Master System, NES, Sega Genesis, Super Nintendo. If you think they are good long-term investment - maybe companies like NIS, or Atlus you can make a few bucks, but its hit or miss. My best sale of a PS2 game was Silent Hill: Shattered Memories - it was still sealed (cause I never really bothered to play it). Sold for $700. I doubt I'll ever have a game that sells for that much again. Because everything is going digital now, the writing is on the wall for game collecting though. Future kids aren't going to want to buy boxed games. Game collecting is dying unfortunately.
I think collecting is actually growing. We're now at the point where kids of collectors are getting interested at a young age. Time will tell I suppose
Buy lots, sell what you don't want. Keep stuff for free or trade it for games you want!
I've been doing that for years!
Same. Also learn to know the "cult". Someone who's only in it for the profit usually doesn't know certain details about games. The real fanatics are easy to recognize and most interesting for business. Sometimes even worth to give stuff for free and be rewarded for it years later.
The whole retro gaming world is scummy
Meh. Everyone wants to act like the old games are so special, but if they were than everyone wouldn't have gotten rid of them
Not ALL of it but ,yeah a lot of it is ,,but don't lose heart ,you can still happen upon great finds for amazing low prices ,estate sales come to mind ,,ooooh and some times a recent divorced wife will have a big sale and then sell all his prized possessions for peanuts ,his comics collection ,his movie collection ,his games collection , and sometimes his arcade machines collection ,,his ex-wife's venom and spite can be your lucky day ,,,😋😋😎
I agree. Most of the hobby is toxic these days on many levels.
@@shredsnotdead well if people collect game titles because they want to play them ,,that's beautiful ,,,how ever if they are collecting just to be trendy as to rub it in someone's face (I bought this ultra rare game tuff luck to you) that can be negative and reckless ,,or worse if they bought a cartridge with a four digit price because they hope it's like the stock-market ,,,they could be in for a staggering shock Later ,if that collectable game market bubble pops ,they could be out of some serious money ,,so it boils down to game hobby intention basically,,,I tend to buy scratched up carts that play fine ,even slight Lable rips ,,,I have no interest in museum pieces ,,I like the games that remind me of better moments in the past ,,before the covid chaos ,,,😸😿
@@shredsnotdead it's toxic because it's become a business
Hell yeah MetalJesus. In Karl Jobst fashion you're exposing "allegedly" (I like how you approach it non aggressively) bad business practices in the local retro gaming community. Youre doin the lord's work sir.
Instead of saying "some stores" you should call them out by name. This is shameful and some public shame could do the owners some good.
Ya 100% tell a store what your looking for. I gave my local store a list of things I’m looking for and when ever they find one their willing to hold it for me.
Kelsey doesn't know why a store would change their pricing at the register? Really? And she owns a game store? WTF. It doesn't take a genius to realize the stores are trying to maximize their profits when it is convenient by referencing real-time online pricing rather than going through the trouble of updating price tags regularly. Price tags on retro games that sit on shelves can become outdated due to market fluctuations in availability and demand. It happens in the trading card market daily. Changes in card popularity and availability can cause prices to fluctuate wildly. Many LGSes don't put price tags on their cards sitting in display cases because they use this internet price checking process to ensure they get the most money from customers at the time of sale. That being said, the better stores will update the sticker pricing on items when they drastically change in value rather than nickel-and-diming their customers at the register.
I think the point is she doesn't understand why they don't value their customers and understand that kind of terrible business practice drives people away which hurts you more. Clearly she knows they're doing it for money, you're looking at only the surface here
It wouldn't be that hard to regularly update prices though, you should have a digital database of everything you have and the prices and just use some sort of tool to cross reference that with price charting and update the prices whenever the difference passes a certain threshold. If you're that strict about getting every little dime and are too lazy to update pricing every now and then you might as well not bother putting a price tag to begin with
@@Davidx_117 That's also not a hard thing to understand. Some businesses don't care about customer retention and focus on short term gains. It's clear they value income per item over total gains. Not to mention many businesses are facing closure due to decreased sales through Covid, so maybe they are forced to make every sale count and can't bank on the long term customer retention with lower sales.
Digital POS system or not, It is very difficult (time consuming) to update sticker prices regularly for every item in your inventory. For a business looking to increase price by 5 or 10 dollars per game at the register, they would need a dedicated individual on-staff focused on price checking and updating price stickers on their inventory daily.
@@Tamarocker88 I think you're taking this too literally, I'm sure she was expressing disappointment more than genuinely not understanding. There could be a lot of different reasons to explain why, but maintaining good customer relations is important to her and many businesses so it's disappointing when one doesn't care or doesn't see a problem there
I think you're exaggerating the issue here, game prices aren't changing like crypto does, you aren't throwing a new sticker on literally every item regularly, many will stay within $5 for months or more and it's obviously not worth changing price under that. I'm guessing many places don't use robust inventory and price checking software that automatically alerts of price changes past a set threshold so understandably it'd a lot more tedious, but it's not right to waste peoples time trying to charge more
@@Davidx_117 If she meant "I'm disappointed in the shops for treating their customers this way" then she shouldn't have said "I don't know why they would do this". They're two completely different statements. Words have meaning.
@@Tamarocker88 No need to be pedantic, it's pretty common to use those words in that way and sometimes people misspeak. Whatever it is it's not a big deal, not replying any further.
I like collecting for portable systems because they take up alot less space and it's easier to pick up and play without messing with cables or anything like that.
youre about 5 years out of date man.
Story of my life. 😂
Everything local around me are so bad. Stores here have nothing priced, are either super overpriced even being over eBay, or just plain out has nothing because they hoard it themselves behind the counter.
I have a store near me that I really like that does the price change thing. For one, they tell you as soon as you walk in that the prices on the games may not be correct. They have a full price list online and they explain this as you come in. The reason being is that game prices are so volatile lately that they don't want to have to staff someone just to change price tags every few weeks. The prices on the website are always correct and the price tags on the games are mostly from older games that have been there for ages.
in the uk all retailers have to honour the price it is marked at by law, even if they have made a mistake it does not matter it has to be honored at the price it has been marked as
I completely agree with buying games or systems that no one else is. I bought a good amount of vita games wen they were easier to find and won’t too expensive and I’m glad I did. I’ve also been getting plenty of ps3 and Xbox 360 games since they r very common and cheap as to buy and there’s heaps of great titles and I love playing those consoles as u don’t have to do huge updates all the time with them