Video Game Inflation - Prices then and now - Minor Rant

[sheep2001]

eBay taking a portion of the shipping cost is probably because so many tossers were charging small amounts for the item, and then whacking up the shipping cost to pay less fees. Rather than eBay  going and investigating it, and dealing with the individual's, they've just chosen to take a cut of everything.  Therefore they win, the tossers win less, and the regular honest joe's lose out.

[wiggy]

That is insane.  There's a NIB copy for 150 at a local game store that I frequent.

If anyone is interested, let me know.  I'll gladly grab it for ya as long as you promise not to have it placed in a coffin (JK, I don't really care )

[Forte]

There are a few other factors for inflation as well, at least when it comes to online shopping on ebay. Assuming your selling a video game for a buy it now price, ebay takes 13% off to total sale price and shipping price, not to mention any listing fees. Thats flat out ridiculous in my opinion. That said, many people compensate for that by jacking up the price. Also too shipping costs have been getting higher and many people don't know cheaper ways of shipping. Then paypal takes their %.

I prefer selling on Amazon.  WAAAY less headache.  Plus, eBay buyers are a complete pain in the ass. If it's not there in like 5 days, then they get all bent out of shape.  I just had one person exclaiming that they were going to file a claim if the item didn't arrive the following day.

It would have been 7 days on that following day, which was a Saturday.  I have a handling time of 3 days included in my listing, plus I can't ship it after 2 pm on Saturday (and he bought it well after 2), plus I obviously can't ship on Sunday.  I shipped Tuesday.  Still within my 3 business day handling window and I still have to deal with his pissed of PMs and threats.  He can't even file a claim until it's been 2 weeks.

Also, eBay now dictates what you can charge for shipping if you use their pre-filled info crap.  I sold 8 PS3 Sharp Shooters and 10 PS3 Active 2 games.  On every one of them I lost money in shipping costs.  

As an example, the Sharp Shooters were listed for 22.99 with $6.00 flat rate shipping, no matter what service I offered.  

Here's the breakdown for each of these transactions:

Sale price: 22.99
Shipping Cost: 6.00

Total: 28.99

eBay insertion fee: .50
eBay final value fee: 2.99
eBay shipping fee (this is bullshit by the way and wasn't how it worked years ago): .73
PayPal fee: 1.43
Shipping: 6.00
+ Shipping difference (avg): 3.00 (shipping via USPS parcel post varied, obviously.  The difference ranged from about 7.50-12.00)

Total fees (including postage due): 14.65

My net: 14.34

That's 62% of my listing price.  Complete horseshit if you ask me.  The shipping BS is what really fucked me.

I paid 10.76 for each (which includes sales tax).  That means that I made a measly 3.58 for each of the 8 that I sold.  Here's the kicker.  There's one that's on its way to Arizona and has been stuck at a Pennsylvania sort facility for over a week now.  I may just refund the transaction just so that I don't have to deal with all the BS that will likely come from it essentially being lost in transit.  If I do, that means that I will have made 35 motherfucking cents on the whole deal.  Now I remember why I stopped using eBay to sell about 7 years ago.  Fucking bullshit.

So, as far as sellers hiking up their prices, you can probably see why now.

OK, I'm done ranting.

Amazon fees suck too though, I wind up paying 25% or so compared to around 12% on eBay, so I have to jack up my prices on Amazon compared to eBay (which are jacked up compared to the prices I offer here and NA) to make up for it. So yeah, those friggin fees are making games more expensive too.

[wiggy]

I only end up paying 20% on amazon.  Ebay is charging ~13% final value, .50 and up insertion, 13% of the shipping cost (amazon doesn't "tax" these funds), and 3% from paypal (which is your only option unless you are able to offer your own credit card payment method).

That can easily add up to 17-18% or more.  And in my case, it ended up being about 38%  

[AO007]

After fees, you're better off just trading in to Amazon. :/

I don't even bother selling shit on ebay.

[autobot]

Now I remember why I stopped using eBay to sell about 7 years ago.  Fucking bullshit.

So, as far as sellers hiking up their prices, you can probably see why now.

OK, I'm done ranting.

I haven't sold on ebay before, because of this reason.

More the reason that we need a For Sale/Trade section, along with a Member Feedback section as well. I've done this on a Transformers fan site, and it has worked remarkably well, and the only real fees you pay are PayPal, period. I've been able to buy hard to find stuff for just cost + shipping from awesome Transformers fans. I've been able to sell my unwanted transformers for a great deal. I've also been able to make mutually beneficial trades with board members. You build up a reputation with every feedback post you get, and it gets easier to sell over time as you build up trust with the forum. It's really awesome.

Plus, since everyone here is a video game enthusiast and retro gaming market savvy, all the scalpers with bloated prices would be weeded out by lack of business. Honest sellers with fair prices get to sell their stuff directly. Traders that are just trying to complete their collection get to make trades. Done.

Hell, wiggy can open up shop here selling phat UGC cases, and other services!  

[wiggy]

^^^ Just wait, stuff is coming down the pipeline very quickly.  Expect a new topic from me about it VERY soon...

[autobot]

^^^ Just wait, stuff is coming down the pipeline very quickly.  Expect a new topic from me about it VERY soon...

Noice!

[mojoeskateco]

A trading / selling section would be sweet.

I have a few items I've been trying to sell locally with no interest.

Mainly rare and expensive sega cd games that people on here may want. 

Trading would be even better

[scarmullet]

I too would appreciate a trade section. I am looking to get some NES games and don't want to pay the high as hell prices for them.

[mojoeskateco]

Same here!

And since most here know a good deal when they see it so there would be lots of good stuff for trade.  If everyone here traded fairly we could reduce costs for eachother.