God, I'm jealous of some of you guys. Every retro store around my area is a complete rip off. They all charge ebay or above prices. I just don't get why they do. If I can get it on ebay for the same price, I sure as hell am not going to spend any money at your store anyway. I may as well sit on my couch with my feet up and wait for it to be delivered to me. Even thrift stores and Goodwills around me are guilty of this same practice. It's ridiculous. People don't go to a Goodwill to pay ebay prices. They'd just get it on ebay and not even bother with your store!
while I agree with the Goodwill one, though the Local Store, not so much.
- They (should) clean and test every game they have in the store.
- They have to pay fair prices to get the games from trade-ins to stock the store.
- They have rent and other bills to pay for the retail store, and pay employees.
- eBay prices are, for the most part, what the game is worth. Why sell it for less?
The problem for me is, even when it comes to retro stores, you need to at least attempt to do a little better than Ebay. What's the incentive for me or most people, for that matter, to come to your store when I can just sit at home and order it for the same price on Ebay? Ebay has buyer protection and they almost always side with the buyer if you have a problem with your item, so it's not like there's a higher risk for buying from Ebay. It's kind of like Best Buy having to battle with Amazon now. They've started offering bonus deals for buying from them and in some cases, beating Amazon's prices, because why would anyone spend the time, gas or effort to visit their store when they can click a button and have it delivered for the same price or cheaper?
With that said, I guess I should have been a little more specific. A large portion of retro stores around me, actually charge more than Ebay prices and while I certainly get it, they have bills to pay, it certainly makes little sense to shop at places who price things like that. I'm all for supporting local businesses and the community, but unfortunately, I'm not made of money, so if I can get it cheaper online, that's where I'll likely go. But, yeah, more than anything, my comment was directed at Goodwill. People don't shop at Goodwill or thrift stores to pay Ebay prices. That makes zero sense. It'd be like if they sold their clothing and housewares for the same prices as Amazon and Ebay. Nobody would go there. But, for some reason, video games have become this strange creature that these places treat like jewels that they discovered on some outback excursion. It's really frustrating.
