A Piece of Advice for Genesis Collectors

supergamboysupergamboy
in Collector's Corner
I've been collecting Genesis games for quite awhile now, and now that I'm within 30 items of a full CIB set, I have some advice to share that has consistently served me very well.



Use amazon.com



The clamshell cases have survived the test of time, and often you can find CIB titles on amazon.com at near cart-only prices. This is especially true for uncommon games. Sellers will often price an item at the lowest price, regardless of if it is CIB. Some sellers will place their CIB item one or two prices above the cart-only price, but often times it remains a fantastic deal.



You will also ocassionally see sellers list no details but describe it as "Very Good" - if you message the seller (it takes a few clicks to find the option to contact a seller) you can easily ask whether it includes the manual or not.



Sellers go to amazon.com because it is extremely easy to sell. You hardly need any details at all, and don't even need a picture, though they now have the option. Good deals will go unspotted for a few days sometimes because there aren't alerts amazon to see when new listings for a specific item are posted. Sometimes the seller will mention it is complete late in their description, so as a buyer you see only the first half of the description unless you click to get the full text. But the main reason they sit there is because they don't include pictures and people don't take a chance. TAKE THE CHANCE (or if you're really not sure, message the seller and ask what the condition is, if has rental stickers etc).



Lastly, I thought I'd share shipped prices for a few of my recent amazon.com purchases (all CIB of course):



Tyrants: Fight Through Time - $6.85 shipped (included hangtab and even had a receipt from 1995)

Normy's Beach Babe-O-Rama: $7.95 shipped

Mickey's Ultimate Challenge - $7.90 shipped

Traysia - $24.28 shipped

Dragon Fury - $12.96 shipped

Back to the Future - $14 shipped ($7 of that $14 was for shipping, which is steep, but $14 is still excellent)

Pete Sampras Tennis - $6.94 shipped

Cadash - $24.85 shipped

Return of the Joker - $13.23 shipped



The main thing to identify is which games sell pretty cheaply cart-only, but for much more , or a bit more, CIB. Once you identify a few potential titles you need, make a list and just search amazon.com for those titles once or twice a day and they will likely turn up. When you really strike it just right, you'll find one seller with multiple CIB games up for sale a low prices (above I got Cadash and Return of the Joker from the same seller).



This isn't going to work for titles like Musha or Centy that already have high cart-only prices, nor will it work as well for your popular titles like Sunset Riders or ToeJam & Earl (especially as cart-only prices on amazon.com are over priced) - but something like Final Zone, Dino Land, or Galahad would be good targets. Whac-a-critter, Midnight Resistance, Red Zone, and maybe Raiden Trad are a few titles that randomly come to mind.



This is a very simple piece of advice, but its helped my collection so much, hopefully it'll help out some of you guys two, especially once you get past all the titles you want and decide to go for a full set.

Comments

  • EverharmEverharm
    Thanks for the advice.





  • nieds16nieds16
    Been doing this for forever. I get more than half my games there. I'm basicly done getting new games so glad you aren't doing this before that happens. Half used to be ok. I don't see enough volume on there though and they all want ebay prices in my opinion.
  • ZombieGuyGeezusZombieGuyGeezus
    Now the cats out of the bag! I use Amazon bc all the h4ardc0re game collectors use ebay so it leaves a lot of deals going unnoticed. Just like anything else, the good deals dont make it past the first couple ppl who see them. So if you dont see the good deals, it doesnt mean they're not there.
  • Thunderblaze16Thunderblaze16
    This really doesn't seem that big of a secret seeing how this one was the first things I thought off when collecting for older game systems. In other words, it's become common knowledge.
  • final fight cdfinal fight cd
    I always find amazon sellers to GREATLY over exaggerate condition.
  • dcdandcdan
    This is hit or miss imo, I've gotten great deals on CIB's from here but the condition is very ambigious as you can't see the pictured item. One of my purchases was a crushed clamshell and cart to my disbelief. Sometime rental labels and suntaned coverarts are ommitted as well. I've had some luck with it thou, but I've lost my shirt a couple of times. Buying a game to get a certain condition only to have to search for the part from places like ebay and other sites.
  • grey87supratgrey87suprat
    I'm with dan 9 out of 10 purchases have just been complete crap for me. I stopped using amazon
  • bigbaconbigbacon
    my problem with Amazon is you don't get to see the actual product most of the time. they just lump all the sellers into one item in a way.



    I honestly wish more people would use gamegavel. I've gotten more great deals there than any place else. 
  • maelwysmaelwys
    I'll have to check out Gamegavel.



    Regarding Amazon, a good number of the games in my collection were purchased there, often for really good prices. I was usually careful to email the sellers if I had any questions, and out of maybe 100 games I purchased, no more than 5 or 6 had issues (pieces missing when they were called complete, damage or stickers on items listed in VG condition, etc.). In all cases, I was able to get a refund and either ship the item back or the seller just told me to keep it. That is one nice thing about Amazon - they come down pretty hard on sellers who don't deal fairly with customers.
  • Thunderblaze16Thunderblaze16
    I don't know what it is about Amazon that makes it so forgettable to leave feedback. I should really get on that soon.
  • nieds16nieds16
    I agree that amazon is quite chancy. One of the big problems with the site is they didn't have pictures at all. I had to contact every person and request pictures. Many sellers would never respond. Secondly, sellers have the choice to decide whether they want to allow you to contact them at all. I've looked everywhere on a sellers info before and cannot find a contact button. Even the ones you can contact you have to dig for the link.



    The reason why amazon if great deals is you can't do a mass, catch-all search. It's not like typing in "sega genesis" into ebay and looking at the most recently posted items. You have to know what you want and check each individual place. This allows you to get the great deals on the items you actually want and discourages resellers from bidding you up. BIN pricing is obviously the biggest advantage too.
  • dcdandcdan
    One good thing about Amazon, the prices are like the prices before the retro collecting boom back in 2008 and 2009. I've learned a lot since then and its amazing to see some of the values some of these games have made it to. I was lucky to get a CIB musha back in 2010 for $65.00 and I thought that was bending my arm a bit at the time. This might have been an amazon purchase but I can't remember.
  • bigbaconbigbacon
    yea, I've ALWAYS hated Amazon's search and site organization. I always find it to be a HUGE mess unless I know exactly what I'm looking fot.
  • Blaster Master KidBlaster Master Kid
    I have a hard time buying any game without a picture. I don't wanna buy a game to have to buy it again. But hey, that's just me.
  • supergamboysupergamboy

    Originally posted by: Blaster Master Kid



    I have a hard time buying any game without a picture. I don't wanna buy a game to have to buy it again. But hey, that's just me.

    That is exactly one of the reasons that amazon is a great, but under-utilized resource. If the cheapest item had a picture of exactly what it was and it was CIB, I doubt it would stay there very long.



    I'll often find that even if I were dissatisfied with the condition that I'm not out anything because I can resell it for more than I paid because I paid cart-only prices for a CIB game. Or as others in the thread have commented, amazon.com sellers have been very reasonable in refunding an item, or just letting someone keep something.




  • razeakrazeak
    I have good luck there, but I also contact sellers.
  • enysseenysse
    I got a brand new Y's III from Amazon, shrink wrap on around the cartridge for $27, but I agree Amazon, can be hit and miss because there are no pictures for the most part. And what some people call good or very good, I would call acceptable at best.
  • supergamboysupergamboy
    Another piece of advice (unrelated to Amazon.com): buy hard to find games sealed.



    For most Sega Genesis games the price of sealed games is only marginally above the price of a CIB game. I've even seen CIB games in near mint condition seller for more than the same game sealed.



    I don't collect sealed games, but a good 15-20 games in my collection are sealed, some of which I don't have CIB because I wasn't able to find a reasonable CIB copy.



    Example: I bought Theme Park for the Sega Genesis for somewhere around $42 (checking VGPC I think mine is the one that is listed for $42.56). This game is a real bitch to find CIB. It routinely sells CIB for $40 and if you were to go and try to buy it right now the only CIB copy is listed at $59.99. Buying it new cost me just a couple more dollars and saved me a lot of searching.



    I recently got Gargoyles new for $26 shipped. CIB with poster it can sell for $35-$40. Directly before my $26 shipped purchase a CIB copy sold for $60 and another for $75 (very odd).



    I grabbed Red Zone new and sealed for $25 shipped. I recently sold a CIB copy for $15 shipped, but previously CIB copies were selling for $25-$40.



    There are other examples. Sports games and other commons are easy to find sealed at about CIB prices, but if you're looking to complete a CIB collection, especially one in good condition, sometimes going sealed makes sense.
  • wrkwrk
    Just make sure the games you're getting "sealed" are genuine factory seals. Factory Sealed Theme Park is a nice grab!
  • dcdandcdan
    I've gotten some sealed game or at least I hope they were sealed cheaper than opened CIB's. World series 98 comes to mind as for some reason that softbox never can be found in good condition. I have maybe one or two more sealed games but this is the second best option when opened mint games can't be found just like you said. Pony-up a little extra cash to get a really mint game.
  • flatuswalrusflatuswalrus
    Amazon is very restrictive to people outside the U.S. so I never really got into the site myself. that being said I had tried to use it in the past and found it incredibly complicated, not set out well and thus not overly user-friendly. Though, I am sure like everything it's not bad once you learn how it all work and get use to it. I think your idea is a good one indeed. I suppose it comes down to how important it is to the individual to save money compared to the little extra time it might take asking Amazon sellers questions. I guess eBay is just convenient the way it is set out and nearly all items have picture etc, but the prices are obviously the huge downfall most of the time. I know if I was in the U.S. and has the little extra time to spend looking through Amazon this seems well worth it.



    My advice for collectors would be to pick something you want to collect for and stick to it, don't deviate at all from your original goal(s) as you may become slightly disillusioned and spend more money than you have/need to.
  • EverharmEverharm

    Originally posted by: molotovwars



    I recently got Gargoyles new for $26 shipped. CIB with poster it can sell for $35-$40. Directly before my $26 shipped purchase a CIB copy sold for $60 and another for $75 (very odd).



    I just got outbid around $70 for the Gargoyles that ended on 2-3-14.






  • supergamboysupergamboy

    Originally posted by: Everharm




    Originally posted by: molotovwars



    I recently got Gargoyles new for $26 shipped. CIB with poster it can sell for $35-$40. Directly before my $26 shipped purchase a CIB copy sold for $60 and another for $75 (very odd).



    I just got outbid around $70 for the Gargoyles that ended on 2-3-14.





     

    Wow, I assumed it had the poster? If not, there are some CIB copies on Amazon.com in the $35 range. Or new for $75. I mean if you were willing to pay $70 for CIB, may as well drop the extra $5 for new. Then again since I got my new copy (albeit not perfect) for $26, it seems exorbitant, doesn't it?


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