Is the Retro Games Market Turning Into a Buyer's Market?

[@tesmeh1]

Another great video, as for mega man I remembered playing that game with my cousins. I think we always went after the penguin first, and then the eagle. I think, but that's all I can remember. Nice haul this time around. Can't wait to see your next vid.

[@retro-spective9217]

Thank you! I did the eagle first and the penguin second. It's cool to have those memories. I am wanting to do a play through of the earlier Mega Man games too. I need motivation. I went through Mega Man 2 last year until I got to the parts where you have to redo some of the levels. I lost interest at that point.

[@H20zz]

eBay has been putting a push on sellers to make offers to their buyers, thus increasing items sold and revenue made by eBay. Hot Take!

[@penguinjay]

I hate ebay so much. You pay fee on item, shipping, AND TAX. FUCKEM.

[@retro-spective9217]

@@H20zz I can see that. I sell but not that much currently. I can see them wanting those fees!

[@retrogaminglife84]

So true I keep getting offers on everything I watch it’s crazy but yeah getting good deals here and there

[@retro-spective9217]

It's true! I need to get off eBay and stop shopping for a while. My game budget is spent!

[@penguinjay]

wait until people have disposable income again. It became a buyers market bc people needed loot bad and they don't need Retro Game Collectibles. It will be high prices again. But for a while, it would have been SO NICE to have extra loot to spend on this crap, bc it was 60% prices and such or less, and many gems and 1 of a kinds and rare items being sold. People will have money again, and not NEED IT BADLY, this was just a downturn.

[@retro-spective9217]

I'm okay with that. I see what you're saying. Interest in anything goes up and down. It's healthy for the market I think.

[@WhatsOnMyShelf]

1:28 Automatic offers are a feature of ebay. The auto-offer percentage can be set by sellers or ebay can offer a discount (basically ebay eats the cost).

[@retro-spective9217]

@@WhatsOnMyShelf that's a cool feature. I have sold a few things but never got that deep into the weeds with it. I was wondering. That's interesting eBay takes the cost. Good info! Thank you!

[@WhatsOnMyShelf]

@@retro-spective9217 ebay eats the cost only if they send the offer without the seller setting the option. Sellers can set an option to send offers automatically on their behalf up to a certain percentage.

[@TB-TheGoldenAgeGamer]

i collect comics too and that market prices ar plummeting

[@retro-spective9217]

I collected for a short time as a kid. Early 90s. I don't know a lot about the comic book market, but I have heard it has its ups and downs. I was looking into some prices when I visited my brother's job site. He had a box full of Wolverine comics. It looked like the prior resident had a subscription and they were sent directly to him. Many of them were still in the plastic shipper. It didn't look like any were going for much. Even with the Wolverine and Deadpool movie. I know you enjoy the hunt from your videos. Now is a good time to do that.

[@_MECHA_]

This is a great video! How many games do you have exactly?

[@retro-spective9217]

Thank you! You just made me do a rough count LOL. I have my Nintendo games Price Charted but I had to count my Xbox and PlayStation games. Roughly there are about 750 games on my shelf. A lot more than I can probably play the rest of my life. Especially since games can take me so long to beat with other things going on. I recently beat a replay of LoZ Windwaker and Echoes of Wisdom. Those games took me about 2 months total to beat.

[@_MECHA_]

@retro-spective9217 oh wow! Great job !!!!

[@willsei]

I played the SHIT out our Mario Lemieux Hockey on the Genesis as a kid!! That and NHL '94 were the best hockey games ever made. I pretty much stopped playing hockey games after that, so I have no idea what the newer ones are like.

[@retro-spective9217]

That is a good recommendation for the games. I never got into sports games much. Only World Cup on the NES. I found the route on the field no other team must have been programmed to cover. Double digit score every game. Lol.

[@SeanCheeker]

I was actually just thinking about selling off a lot of collection. I feel like the game inflation will never be higher than it is now. Is it a good time to sell or should I hold? Maybe just sell off some of my more common expensive stuff like Pokemon and Silent hill?

[@retro-spective9217]

I thought about this for a while. I definitely can't give you any advice on selling off anything. I personally think of things in a few ways when I sell something. First, is it a game from my childhood, was it given to me, or does it have sentimental value? Those I am likely to keep knowing I would regret selling later. Also, is the franchise, or game, increasing in value because of a new trend or is it a franchise that will always carry value? An example is the Deadpool games going way up in price a couple months ago with the movie release and decreased after the initial hype. Pokemon and Silent Hill games have always carried value. Just a lot more recently. Another question I ask myself is will what I buy with the money from the sale of games make me happier? If I have a game I can sell to buy a game I want more, I will probably be more willing to sell it. Most importantly, does my family need me to sell it? Do I need to pay rent or buy food? At that point, I am selling what I need to make it happen. I know that may sound obvious. I have seen people with thousands of dollars in assets who do not want to sell things (possessions) to make ends meet. You gotta do what you gotta do, right? Those are just my thoughts. Hopefully that helps. Thanks for posting those questions. You had me analyzing my life this morning 😂

[@GenX_in_the_wild]

But why did you collect in the first place just to sell it?

[@retro-spective9217]

@@GenX_in_the_wild not at all. I do sell extras or things I don't want. Selling to me is a hassle, but I do what I have to do to grow the collection. I do like forming relationships with some of the people I have met through Marketplace deals. To be honest, I collect because I like collecting. I collect what I am interested in or things that interest me. I play a good amount too. My list of games to play is long. Collecting/playing video games is also something to give me a mental break. I like researching things. I also like the nostalgia and memories many of the games bring back.

[@GenX_in_the_wild]

@@retro-spective9217 That sounds pretty smart and healthy..

[@cubicleinvestor2553]

Man that Jaws game takes me back 😮‍💨. I feel like vintage games are almost part of the luxury market, and if people start to get pinched, you may find more deals 🤷‍♂️. What do you think?

[@retro-spective9217]

I wanted to talk about inelastic and elastic goods but no one including myself is interested in economics😂 I think deals will come. They are even on Marketplace and staying on Marketplace for a while now. I just feel bad for people having to sell collections out of necessity.

[@cd8815]

I collect for myself so not too worried about the market however one question I do ask myself is, does nostalgia peak at a certain age and then decline? If it peaks at 30-40yo and then declines into 50s and beyond, then you would expect the market for things that we grew up with in the 90s to be peaking around now to 5 years from now, the exception being if that piece of pop culture remained poplar beyond that period - perhaps this applies to Pokemon and Zelda for example, but perhaps it won't apply to.. let's say.. the GameCube generally. Alternatively maybe nostalgia continues into old age and these things will keep increasing.. Not sure, I don't recall my grandparents having any real emotional attachement to any pop culture from their childhood and even my parents in their 70s don't either, but then pop culture in all it's many forms was nowhere near as prevelant back then.

[@retro-spective9217]

My family owned an antique mall in the town I am from. I was used to them and everyone in my family collecting something. You bring up a great point about behaviors changing over time. Pop culture does have a strong pull currently. On that topic, how long will Elvis impersonating be a thing? I see your point about the GameCube being specific to a certain age of collectors vs the franchises. It's hard for me to see what direction things are going. Social media has changed a lot. Keeping people engaged in a hobby (for lack of a better word) is easier now. That is because communities are virtual now. Anyone can take part. Modern video game culture is alive and well, so retro gaming is something families can do together. Great insights though. I appreciate the comment.

[@cd8815]

@@retro-spective9217 I think the behaviour of millenials/late gen x and after will probably be different to the generations before in terms of nostalgia and collecting, I mean my dad's generation had "dinky cars" that are still somewhat collected but I don't see it having the same pull as the big franchises that came after, so collecting for these might continue over time. They can also be run into the ground like Star Wars which I think will probably see a major loss in value as the original movies fade out of collective memory - I don't see today 14 year olds hoovering up Star Wars Acolyte merch in 20 years for example.

[@retro-spective9217]

@@cd8815 I can see that. I was talking to a coworker today and she was talking about her 10 year old liking Pokemon cards. I'm not sure what that will look like in the future. You have some good insights though.

[@tbranch227]

lol sesame street was in one of my recent lots too!

[@retro-spective9217]

I'm not sure if you love it as much as my toddler does LOL. His attention span is pretty short for it though. I do love the idea of educational games.

[@tbranch227]

@@retro-spective9217 lol no - I love that you found it too ha ha

[@ArcadeCabNBud]

Thankfully i havent spent a penny on old games

[@retro-spective9217]

That's great! There are lots of things I'm not really interested in I don't spend money on. I seriously appreciate people's differences in how they choose hobbies. Do you like arcades? (Getting that from your username)

[@alexblue6991]

My wife and I still use Nintendo ds

[@retro-spective9217]

I think a DS is one of the best values in retro gaming and a lot of game options. You can even emulate on them if you want to. I am a huge fan of handhelds.

[@alexblue6991]

@retro-spective9217 I still have a few old game boys

[@Broadydudester]

Probably because Im perfectly happy just emulating them for free rather than wasting money on nostalgia

[@retro-spective9217]

@@Broadydudester I get that. I did some emulation in the past way before I started collecting. My life was a little different then. Now it's just as much fun for me to collect as it is to play.

[@allmight1799]

A lot of it is to do with the growing repro community, there’s multiple fb groups with hundreds of thousands of members trading and buy repro games. A friend of mine has completed his N64, SNES and NES collection with the majority being repros lol. I gotta say though they do look really nice and play immaculately. A lot of the guys on Etsy take their repros seriously I mean they are getting close to 1 to 1 copies now in mint condition. Even the console boxes these guys are doing are literally 1 to 1 perfect copies now.

[@retro-spective9217]

I think repros get a bad reputation because of dishonest sellers pushing them as originals. They definitely have a place in the market. It's great your friend has the collections built out. I can only imagine their game shelf looks amazing. I like repros more if they can lower prices of an authentic Pokemon Emerald for me😂 Emulation is also looked down on by some people. I emulated Link to the Past back in 2011 on a laptop and Pokemon Emerald a couple years later on a smart phone. I am happy to hear people enjoying themselves with gaming. No matter how someone plays a Pokemon game, I can share the love of Pokemon with them. I can speculate on the value of games and my collection, but it is more my goal to encourage people to enjoy gaming. Thanks for the comment and the support!

[@penguinjay]

the printers are getting better, but by virtue of the game, they will never be 1:1, they only have to get close enough to fool fools. They ARE getting quite good, but nobody should be getting duped in the age of information.

[@excaliburnorth446]

Maybe for the average person. But us devoted collectors can always tell the difference 😂

[@LanceHayabusa]

the market for physical games will collapse when the kid brains realize that a single sd cart or ode is more viable.

[@retro-spective9217]

I see your point about the SD cards holding lots of games. That is way more cost effective. I think of it like people who collect records. The experience is just a little different. I have heard Millennials are more about experience than previous generations. Not sure if it's true for everyone but my kid brain likes collecting too much now😂. I really appreciate the comment Lance!

[@excaliburnorth446]

Very very unlikely. I see you're trying to stir the pot, but please do some educated research before stating opinions as if they were facts