The rarest GameCube game has been put up for auction. How high do ya think it’ll go?

[NintendoTwizer | 123]

10 minutes ago, RegularGuyGamer said:

Trust me, I have a lot of expensive paper around these parts as well. However, I try to fool myself by rationalizing that it's not because of a box for a box of an easily obtainable game.

I just can justify huge price increase for niche items like that. 

Is there a difference in the contents of each game that makes them obviously a part of this double pack?

No difference in the games themselves.  It's just the outer cardboard sleeve.  

[bowser | 598]

Really? The sleeves aren't marked as "Not for resale" or something?

[Craigly1234 | 110]

13 minutes ago, bowser said:

Really? The sleeves aren't marked as "Not for resale" or something?

Nope! Outer box has nothing like that on it

[bowser | 598]

38 minutes ago, Craigly1234 said:

Nope! Outer box has nothing like that on it

No I meant the sleeves of the games inside.

[Craigly1234 | 110]

5 minutes ago, bowser said:

No I meant the sleeves of the games inside.

Oh sorry! I’m assuming no. The 2 packs for just monkey ball 1&2 and sonic adventure 1&2 don’t. There’s no photos of this box set open but we can assume it’s the same as the other box sets 

[Bronty | 187]

What did this end at?  Or still ongoing?

[Bearcat-Doug | 5,104]

19 minutes ago, Bronty said:

What did this end at?  Or still ongoing?

It's at $4800 right now and it ends Sunday night. Here's a link to it: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Duo-Pack-Nintendo-GameCube-2003-Brand-New-Super-Monkey-Ball-Sonic-Heroes/373025850257?epid=8330&hash=item56da12c391:g:PCUAAOSwNKRem8lP

Edited April 30, 2020 by Bearcat-Doug

[DoctorEncore | 3,690]

I was under the impression that buyers of high value items had at least the slightest clue about getting something for a good price. This is repeatedly being bid on in the middle of the auction as if the buyers are a bunch of yahoos who've never used eBay.

[RH | 4,898]

Shill bidding practically confirmed.  Here's the stats for the guy that had a bid up to $4,750.  Notice he's bid on 149 items from this seller, and 97% of all of that jokers bids were for this specific seller.  However, there does seem to be other bidders, so even though someone is pushing up the price, if 2-3 other legit buyers keep dropping bids, then maybe these bidders are willing to pay that much.  I'm not condoning the shill behavior, but what I am saying is if 2-3 people are willing to drop $5,000 for this item, then I guess it is "worth it", even if we all thing this is 100% foolishness.

Seriously, eBay needs to have bots in place that sniff this out and then run/analyze other metrics.  I wish they would also show of all of these bids vs. how many has this guy won?

Edited April 30, 2020 by RH

[RH | 4,898]

Also, I have a theory of why this could be happening and maybe it's happening at-large in the rare game market.  It could make sense to have a super-rare item like this, list an auction, bump it up... bump it up... and then win it at a ludicrous price.  Let's say the seller using multiple shill accounts pushes it up to an insane $10k.  But, since he won his own auction, even without selling it, he has now established history that "this is worth $10,000".  This gets attention.  People remember and pay attention and look for this game.  Assuming it's truly hard to find, the seller has now established a holy grail and has inflated the price.

Now, all he has to do is wait for his listing to clear eBay's history and re-list it under a different account, with different photos.  He doesn't have to shill the bids (or not that much) and he might get $5-6,000 from sheer hype. But, here's the thing.  Had he not created the buzz around his initial auction, people wouldn't have paid as much attention.  Had he let the initial auction ride, he might have only made $1,500-2,500.

This process is quite dirty, to say the least, but with legit rare items, it is a way to create a false since of value and double or triple what you make in the end.  All by creating stupid shill bids that were never real to begin with.

[A_Feisty_Pickle | 244]

1 minute ago, RH said:

Also, I have a theory of why this could be happening and maybe it's happening at-large in the rare game market.  It could make sense to have a super-rare item like this, list an auction, bump it up... bump it up... and then win it at a ludicrous price.  Let's say the seller using multiple shill accounts pushes it up to an insane $10k.  But, since he won his own auction, even without selling it, he has now established history that "this is worth $10,000".  This gets attention.  People remember and pay attention and look for this game.  Assuming it's truly hard to find, the seller has now established a holy grail and has inflated the price.

Now, all he has to do is wait for his listing to clear eBay's history and re-list it under a different account, with different photos.  He doesn't have to shill the bids (or not that much) and he might get $5-6,000 from sheer hype. But, here's the thing.  Had he not created the buzz around his initial auction, people wouldn't have paid as much attention.  Had he let the initial auction ride, he might have only made $1,500-2,500.

This process is quite dirty, to say the least, but with legit rare items, it is a way to create a false since of value and double or triple what you make in the end.  All by creating stupid shill bids that were never real to begin with.

Not saying that's impossible but a pretty big gamble if you're paying 13% fees on a fake sale. Unless items show up under sold if they were never paid for. 

[RH | 4,898]

7 minutes ago, A_Feisty_Pickle said:

Not saying that's impossible but a pretty big gamble if you're paying 13% fees on a fake sale. Unless items show up under sold if they were never paid for. 

Well, it's not 13% if they never pay.  You might have to flag the item as "sold" but you save on the Paypal fees if there was no exchange of cash. Or, I'm not sure if the buyer can mark this as unsold and pay only the insertion fee, which is peanuts. I've not had any buyers bail on me, so I don't know.

And, yes, it is a gamble.  But if someone has been in this industry for a while and if they know which items are truly the rare ones for systems that people actually desirable to collect for (like GameCube), then the risk isn't THAT great.  Again, I could see this being a strategy that might work well for an item that has only been found once or twice every 3-4 years, and could realistically go for $1-2,000.  By building the hype, you get people to pay attention.  And there are people out there with deep pockets who will drop money on expensive items just to say they own it.  So, by faking a ridiculously expensive auction and waiting 6-12 months, you could make yourself a lot of extra money.  It's worth the risk (if you're willing to play dirty like that.)

Edited April 30, 2020 by RH

[DoctorEncore | 3,690]

 

5 minutes ago, A_Feisty_Pickle said:

Not saying that's impossible but a pretty big gamble if you're paying 13% fees on a fake sale. Unless items show up under sold if they were never paid for. 

I think unpaid items do show up as sold as long as the auction was never canceled.

[GPX | 1,369]

2 hours ago, RH said:

Shill bidding practically confirmed.  Here's the stats for the guy that had a bid up to $4,750.  Notice he's bid on 149 items from this seller, and 97% of all of that jokers bids were for this specific seller.  However, there does seem to be other bidders, so even though someone is pushing up the price, if 2-3 other legit buyers keep dropping bids, then maybe these bidders are willing to pay that much.  I'm not condoning the shill behavior, but what I am saying is if 2-3 people are willing to drop $5,000 for this item, then I guess it is "worth it", even if we all thing this is 100% foolishness.

Seriously, eBay needs to have bots in place that sniff this out and then run/analyze other metrics.  I wish they would also show of all of these bids vs. how many has this guy won?

I’m glad to have kickstarted the shillbidding theory on this ludicrous auction. More glad you’ve done more research on it.

Even if there is a legit buyer at the end, the shill bids render it invalid because it creates artificial hype and artificial inflation to the end price. Honestly though, I wouldn’t be surprised if there is a group market manipulation going on. It just seems too fishy with this auction.

[GPX | 1,369]

3 hours ago, DoctorEncore said:

I was under the impression that buyers of high value items had at least the slightest clue about getting something for a good price. This is repeatedly being bid on in the middle of the auction as if the buyers are a bunch of yahoos who've never used eBay.

Or..as if the buyers are a bunch of comic collectors who have never seen a game before. So technically to these people, everything is literally rare!

[Bronty | 187]

Nice work RH

[Bronty | 187]

6 hours ago, Bearcat-Doug said:

It's at $4800 right now and it ends Sunday night. Here's a link to it: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Duo-Pack-Nintendo-GameCube-2003-Brand-New-Super-Monkey-Ball-Sonic-Heroes/373025850257?epid=8330&hash=item56da12c391:g:PCUAAOSwNKRem8lP

Thank you Doug

[RalliArtEvo | 44]

This is absolutely nuts. I can't imagine spending that kind of money on a players choice bundle. Why is this so rare anyway? Store exclusive?

[RH | 4,898]

Yeah, we're sitting at $5,100 now and the top bid seems legit.  It's like Darwin Awards, game collector edition but the "death" is someone's bank statement.

[Craigly1234 | 110]

55 minutes ago, RalliArtEvo said:

This is absolutely nuts. I can't imagine spending that kind of money on a players choice bundle. Why is this so rare anyway? Store exclusive?

So little is known about this pack that no one knows if it was store exclusive. This thing barely even has a record of existing lmao 

[NintendoCollector64 | 22]

I’ll be trying to win this auction because I have a near complete variant set, but I too am confused why so many bidders hike the price up with multiple days left. Seems pointless. 

[LeatherRebel5150 | 1,056]

18 minutes ago, N64Life1001 said:

I’ll be trying to win this auction because I have a near complete variant set, but I too am confused why so many bidders hike the price up with multiple days left. Seems pointless. 

I mean you can do as you wish but you did see the post above by RH laying out how the seller would be scamming you out more money right?

[NintendoCollector64 | 22]

2 minutes ago, LeatherRebel5150 said:

I mean you can do as you wish but you did see the post above by RH laying out how the seller would be scamming you out more money right?

I’ve spoken privately with the seller. On two occasions, something I bid on skyrocketed in the final moments. I won a Hot Wheels game with an unused scratch ticket that went from $27 to $350 in the final seconds. I still won the game. Even so, the seller refunded me $300 and sold it to me for only $50. He said he didn’t feel right asking for that much. The dude is completely legit and very fair. He was within his rights to ask for $350 and sold it for only $50. I think a lot of the rumors about him in this thread are unfounded. 
 

That being said, I do believe there is at least one bidder who is purposely bidding obscenely high on some items. I tried to win the Mega Man game with bobble head pin the other day and watched it go from around $40 to $400 in the final ten seconds. I don’t believe this is the seller. I think there’s a GameCube collector out there trying to corner the market by inflating prices. That’s just a theory though, based on watching many sales over the past few months. 

[LeatherRebel5150 | 1,056]

1 minute ago, N64Life1001 said:

I’ve spoken privately with the seller. On two occasions, something I bid on skyrocketed in the final moments. I won a Hot Wheels game with an unused scratch ticket that went from $27 to $350 in the final seconds. I still won the game. Even so, the seller refunded me $300 and sold it to me for only $50. He said he didn’t feel right asking for that much. The dude is completely legit and very fair. He was within his rights to ask for $350 and sold it for only $50. I think a lot of the rumors about him in this thread are unfounded. 
 

That being said, I do believe there is at least one bidder who is purposely bidding obscenely high on some items. I tried to win the Mega Man game with bobble head pin the other day and watched it go from around $40 to $400 in the final ten seconds. I don’t believe this is the seller. I think there’s a GameCube collector out there trying to corner the market by inflating prices. That’s just a theory though, based on watching many sales over the past few months. 

As long as you feel confident/comfortable with it, then I'm rooting for you. Just don't want to see someone get scammed. Good Luck!

[NintendoCollector64 | 22]

1 minute ago, LeatherRebel5150 said:

As long as you feel confident/comfortable with it, then I'm rooting for you. Just don't want to see someone get scammed. Good Luck!

Thank you! I do believe there is some truth to the theories about the inflation of these prices, but I’m not sure the seller is responsible. He’s been very fair about the items I’ve won.