It boggles my mind how stubborn some game retailers are!!

[mobiusclimber]

Of course they sit, they're overpriced. No one is going to pay the ridiculous prices that most used game stores slap on their product. In some cases, prices are higher than Gamestop ($80 for a used PS2? Really???), so no they'll never sell that crap. The fact that they got it for $8 in store credit never crosses their mind that maybe they should just drop the price a bit.

I'm sorry but I have zero sympathy. If you don't have a working model of how you're going to turn a profit at your business, then you should go broke and close, it's as simple as that. And yes, thinking that you can charge double what fair market value is, is not at all a working model. I've seen em try, it doesn't work.

So if they store knows they can't sell the game at the stupid price they're trying to get, wouldn't it make sense to not keep trying to get that stupid price? I can slap a $10 price tag on a loaf of bread and watch it sit and grow mold, but that won't sell the loaf of bread.

[jb143]

I have no idea what type of store your talking about, but if it's like most of the ones I've seen that mainly sell modern games but have a classic game section, then it's not the classic games that keep them afloat. They therefore have no worries about letting a game sit there for years. Now the stores that specialize in classic games ...they will likely know their stuff and price everything accordingly. That's been my experience anyways.

This past weekend I went to a store that mainly sells newer stuff but has a few older games as well. There were maybe 50 or so Atari 2600 games. I asked how much they were and they said I was the first person to ever ask about them.

[UnpluggedClone]

Google 4 gaga

[duffmanth]

I have no idea what type of store your talking about, but if it's like most of the ones I've seen that mainly sell modern games but have a classic game section, then it's not the classic games that keep them afloat. They therefore have no worries about letting a game sit there for years. Now the stores that specialize in classic games ...they will likely know their stuff and price everything accordingly. That's been my experience anyways.

This past weekend I went to a store that mainly sells newer stuff but has a few older games as well. There were maybe 50 or so Atari 2600 games. I asked how much they were and they said I was the first person to ever ask about them.

This is kind of like the store I use to work at. When I first started there, the original owners were more concerned about making a huge profit on used games and marked the rarer games up a lot while leaving the more common games at relatively low prices. As a result the higher priced used games just sat there and never sold. Then we eventually had new owners who took over and were more concerned about moving a large volume of product out the door at less profit. This was a store that relied on new, used, and rentals pretty equally to stay afloat. We did far more business with the 2nd owners, and that's how I would run my own business.

[Gameguy]

I've talked with some store owners, some said they like having a huge variety of vintage games available so they priced them higher and weren't concerned about selling them any time soon. If they priced the more desirable games well they'd sell within a few weeks and wouldn't have great stuff available while the common stuff would be left. They made most of their money on newer games and rentals anyway, I guess it sort of worked for them....until they went under a few years later. Most of the used game stores around me have gone under. There's a few left, and they price most things decently.

Before most people used the internet, there wouldn't be much choice where to sell your games besides yard sales or bringing them to thrift stores. In this age where anyone can buy or sell their games online using craigslist, ebay, or various specialty forums there's little reason to go to specialty stores unless they price things well and offer decent trade in values.

[mobiusclimber]

Yeah there's a store I've gone to a few times that actually has some things marked as "Not For Sale" just to show them off. And I can understand having something rare and desirable and marking it up in the hopes that someone will come in and just lose their mind that you have it there for sale.

But...

There's really two kinds of business models for this type of store. Either you buy/trade cheap and then sell at a reasonable price, or you buy/trade cheap and you mark it up til it's way overpriced. The second model used to work back when Amazon and Ebay weren't such powerhouses and not everybody had the internet anyway. Nowadays most people are well aware of these sites, and all it takes is a simple search to find out that you can buy most NES games for $5 shipped. So while I don't expect a store to sell Ghosts & Goblins (for instance) for $5, there's a big difference between marking it at $10, $20 or $50. The first one is going to sell, no problem. If you make your money in volume (which, if you have the supply, is really the ideal way to turn a profit), then you want to price the game at $10. At $20, it'll sit for a little while but someone's gonna buy. No one is going to buy it at $50, and if they do, better look over your shoulder every night when you walk to your car. Some people don't take kindly to being ripped off, and a cartridge does NOT fit too well in your backside.

The fact is, it's not a sound business model to price games at outrageous prices and have them sit on the shelf forever. Doesn't matter if they eventually sell or not. You're wasting money by having them take up valuable real estate in your store. It's always going to be more profitable to sell quickly and restock than it is to sit around and wait. Those light bills, pay checks and hookers&blow aren't going to pay themselves.

[duffmanth]

Yeah there's a store I've gone to a few times that actually has some things marked as "Not For Sale" just to show them off. And I can understand having something rare and desirable and marking it up in the hopes that someone will come in and just lose their mind that you have it there for sale.

But...

There's really two kinds of business models for this type of store. Either you buy/trade cheap and then sell at a reasonable price, or you buy/trade cheap and you mark it up til it's way overpriced. The second model used to work back when Amazon and Ebay weren't such powerhouses and not everybody had the internet anyway. Nowadays most people are well aware of these sites, and all it takes is a simple search to find out that you can buy most NES games for $5 shipped. So while I don't expect a store to sell Ghosts & Goblins (for instance) for $5, there's a big difference between marking it at $10, $20 or $50. The first one is going to sell, no problem. If you make your money in volume (which, if you have the supply, is really the ideal way to turn a profit), then you want to price the game at $10. At $20, it'll sit for a little while but someone's gonna buy. No one is going to buy it at $50, and if they do, better look over your shoulder every night when you walk to your car. Some people don't take kindly to being ripped off, and a cartridge does NOT fit too well in your backside.

The fact is, it's not a sound business model to price games at outrageous prices and have them sit on the shelf forever. Doesn't matter if they eventually sell or not. You're wasting money by having them take up valuable real estate in your store. It's always going to be more profitable to sell quickly and restock than it is to sit around and wait. Those light bills, pay checks and hookers&blow aren't going to pay themselves.

I couldn't have said it better myself, but...ebay and amazon aren't always the best sources to find cheap games, as I found out the other night when I searched for Ducktales for the NES and found copies going for $30-$1000+.

[jb143]

I couldn't have said it better myself, but...ebay and amazon aren't always the best sources to find cheap games, as I found out the other night when I searched for Ducktales for the NES and found copies going for $30-$1000+.

Going for? or Hoping for? There's a big difference and one reason why eBay can't just automatically be assumed to give the current "what's it worth" value. Completed auctions tell a better story of course.