Author Topic: Gaming Love/Hate Relationship...  (Read 2887 times)

Re: Gaming Love/Hate Relationship...
« Reply #15 on: March 22, 2014, 11:19:27 am »

Im with you on that Biking.  There is a store locally where I am that he's so arrogant that he truly thinks he has the lowest prices ever!  Even when you confront him about how you can get an item 2 times cheaper on Ebay, he tells you that you are wrong and that it will cost more than he sells them because of shipping.  And don't even attempt to tell him to look on Ebay himself or show him your phone with the sold listings.  He will refuse to look.  It's amazing to me that he thinks he is cheap.  What I don't  understand tho' is how some of these people stay in business? ???  I do not get that at all.

I was talking to a local collector who frequents a pawn shop near his work and the owner told him his prices are not just based on ebay but ebay PLUS SHIPPING. So if the highest bid on game X is $60 and shipping is $10 he'll charge $70 with the idea that you have to pay shipping if you buy it on ebay so why shouldn't I get $70.

Of course what dimwits like him don't get is that if I'm going to pay the $70 I'll just sit at home and not waste my time and gas driving a half hour to his store. Plus, with ebay I have the security as a buyer of getting my money back if the game doesn't arrive or is broken. (All his sales are as is)

This is the second time I've had this reasoning from a local game store.

I have a friend who gets most of his games at Pawn shops and he seriously almost got into a fight with the manager at one after the manager had some SNES games on the shelf marked at $5 each, including titles way more valuable then that like Secret of Mana and Super Metroid. My friend was obviously very excited to find these for such a low price, he asks the manager to get them, the manager looks at them, pauses, and then says "hold on a sec" and takes them into the back with him for a few minutes. When he comes back out he says, "okay, this one is $60 (referring to Mana) and this one is $50 (referring to Metroid). My friend got so pissed and told the guy that they were marked at $5 on the shelf. The manager said that this was a mistake and that he was still getting a "good deal." My friend pulled his phone out and showed nearly every loose copy of those games that had sold on Ebay was going for less. The manager then accused my friend of being dishonest because he left out the completed listings that didn't sell (ie. the ones that were mostly overpriced). My friend tried explaining to him that these didn't sell because they were priced to high, but the manager refused to listen. My friend then went crazy on this guy and started yelling at the manager for being an a$$hole, and the manager got in his face before kicking him out of the store. People like this are blinded by greed and there is no reasoning with them. All they see is dollar signs and nothing else.

Re: Gaming Love/Hate Relationship...
« Reply #16 on: March 22, 2014, 11:23:18 am »
Probably need to start up a "Re-sellers can be jerks with their prices" thread since this is getting pretty off topic XD

Warmsignal

Re: Gaming Love/Hate Relationship...
« Reply #17 on: March 22, 2014, 11:39:26 am »
Strategy RPGs. Most of them bore and/or confuse me, but I still feel enticed to try and play them.

Re: Gaming Love/Hate Relationship...
« Reply #18 on: March 22, 2014, 11:43:23 am »
Strategy RPGs. Most of them bore and/or confuse me, but I still feel enticed to try and play them.

Yeah totally.  I still do have good feelings for Warcraft and the old Command & Conquers and can still find enjoyment, but I came to realize at a point that I don't truly like them anymore.  Still have the urge to sorta play them, but I also know that urge won't be long term especially when I get my ass kicked by something lol

Re: Gaming Love/Hate Relationship...
« Reply #19 on: March 22, 2014, 11:43:47 am »
Probably need to start up a "Re-sellers can be jerks with their prices" thread since this is getting pretty off topic XD

lol I'm finished :p

back on topic now everyone!

Warmsignal

Re: Gaming Love/Hate Relationship...
« Reply #20 on: March 22, 2014, 12:07:17 pm »
I have a love/hate relationship with many of the local indi-game stores in my area. Some there is definitely a lot more love, while others there is almost all hate lol. Usually the biggest factor in me loving a game store are its prices; price gouging has become all to common in this hobby, especially with retro games, and a few of the local game stores love to slap on prices on certain games that are sometimes four times what the highest completed listing is going for on EBay. Probably the worst example of this I have seen to date was a now defunct game store at a small around me had a copy of Super Mario Bros for $40! It was loose and the label wasn't even flawless to make things even more ridiculous. I like when game stores are straight with their customers and offer prices competetive with what they are going for on Ebay. Sadly, I know of one game store that actually does this, and not surprisingly they are my favorite. The rest of them occassionally have a decent deal hear or there, and I am friends with a few of the owners and managers of some of these, but it still pisses me off. Lol yet I still go back to them, but usually just to shoot the shit and look at the games.

Im with you on that Biking.  There is a store locally where I am that he's so arrogant that he truly thinks he has the lowest prices ever!  Even when you confront him about how you can get an item 2 times cheaper on Ebay, he tells you that you are wrong and that it will cost more than he sells them because of shipping.  And don't even attempt to tell him to look on Ebay himself or show him your phone with the sold listings.  He will refuse to look.  It's amazing to me that he thinks he is cheap.  What I don't  understand tho' is how some of these people stay in business? ???  I do not get that at all.

I HATE when overpriced stores throw the "well, when you pay shipping you are ACTUALLY paying more on Ebay!" line at me. Even with shipping, which is sometimes free anyways, I have never paid close to what these overpriced games are going for, even when they like $5 more then what a game typically goes for. It just shows how ignorant and stupid they are as sellers to think that is a legitimate reason to charge more.

I know one local game store which is among the worst offenders of overpriced games I have ever seen that gets a fair amount of their retro stock off places like Ebay. Since they are paying pretty much what everyone else is they use it as an excuse to charge double or triple what a game is worth. They had a copy of Flintstones Surprise at Dinosaur Peak about a year ago and were seriously charging a grand for it! At the time I think it was a $400 to $500 game online. Then there stores that take the games in super cheap and sell them at super inflated prices. One local store buys most of their retro games at $1 each regardless of title, then goes around and looks think up on Ebay, and then decides to mark them up 50% higher then current Ebay prices. I know of several Pawns that do this to, and not surprising these games sit FOREVER on the shelf. Eventually, at least at one store I know of, they just sell the stuff on Ebay in order to move it.

I'm going to take you back off topic for a sec. Let me play devil's advocate. Say you ran a legit taxed business, had to pay rent, at least some staff, etc. Basically your whole deal was like a small game store that you ran. Then say, someone comes in with Flintstones, no idea what it is, they're just trying to get some quick cash or trade credit from you. How much would you offer them for that game? Then, assuming you didn't keep it, how much would you put it on your store shelf for? It would be silly not to take advantage of the potential profit, as a business. First, you must decide if you'd be honest with the seller, if you were it would certainly drive the resell cost way up.

My point being, if you're running a legit business and you seriously depend on games as part of that, you can't afford to sell yourself short just so your customers will think better of you instead of shopping eBay. As a buyer, I think the only advantage to a game store really, is that I can buy it and have it in hand. Sometimes price is a secondary convenience, usually only when interest dwindles towards certain age games and overstock needs sold off. I agree games should not be eBay + haha look what I have fee, but I can hardly blame a small business for wanting to maximize profit on a valuable item.

I only slightly know what it's like to be on the selling end in the games market. The buying end are not big spenders, they want stuff for nothing and who could blame them? I don't blame either, because I am both. Bottom line gaming is expensive because it's rare (compared to most things in general) and it's only not when you get lucky and find someone selling gold like it's costume jewelry, but the cost of living is also high and people gotta eat and they gotta get paid.
« Last Edit: March 22, 2014, 12:12:50 pm by Warmsignal »

argyle

Re: Gaming Love/Hate Relationship...
« Reply #21 on: March 23, 2014, 12:40:13 am »
I think it's reasonable to expect stores to at least undercut ebay a little while still maintaining some semblance of the game's value.  Let's face it - if they are asking the ebay going rate then they are trying to have their cake & eat it too.  They want the full ebay value with no fees deducted, no shipping to fool with and most importantly no risk of a buyer scamming them.  Meanwhile, I think someone else here basically said this but as a buyer if I'm going to pay ebay prices, I'm going to do it sitting in my underwear in front of my pc at home. 

With a store you can at least argue that they have overhead, employees, rent, etc.  (again, I think they should still undercut ebay to give me a reason to shop with them & not at home).  The absolute worst tho are those thrift store rent-a-booths (dunno if everyone has these or not, but around here thrift stores will rent out booths that people will stock with their crap, the individuals selling are not there 99% of the time) or yard sale-ers who try to charge ebay prices.  That's just plain lazy and to me, insulting.  If you want to get that value out of your stuff, figure out how to use ebay & do it there. 
"When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed
if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I
became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the
desire to be very grown up.” ― C.S. Lewis