Do you have a price scale or price cap for single items in your game collecting?

[goldenpp72 | 1,234]

10 minutes ago, GPX said:

Choosing your battles is the key here. Some fields of collecting you can set limits where other fields you simply can’t if you want to delve deeper. There is no right or wrong, just make sure you pick a battle that you can “keep on fighting” (but still enjoy).

I over extend sometimes which is when I end up going on a 6 month hiatus, though that also allows regaining money so I guess it still works out. I have a bad tendency to go all in and burn out rather than pace it which i'm trying to improve on. Now that my collection is about 500 games shy from being done I guess I have no choice but to pace it though

[sp1nz | 613]

17 minutes ago, goldenpp72 said:

A big part of collecting is choosing your battles. For me box condition is important as I display it, the carts and manuals should be at least pretty good but I can live with small stuff, and I rarely care about the other stuff unless it's like a cool map or something. That's part of the fun though, to establish your priorities and see where you can get to. I always knew I only wanted games I found interesting so going for Boxed/Manuals too added to the challenge, though I was surprised just how much I wanted in the end.. That's why it's good to have restrictions, you'll inevitably go beyond some goals as you learn about stuff and if your goal is just 'everything' it will become nearly impossible.

13 minutes ago, GPX said:

Choosing your battles is the key here. Some fields of collecting you can set limits where other fields you simply can’t if you want to delve deeper. There is no right or wrong, just make sure you pick a battle that you can “keep on fighting” (but still enjoy).

I thought more about what makes collecting hard and I think "choosing your battles" is a big one. When you have a ton of games you want, if you buy the most common and modern games first it'll bite you in the ass. I always had rares in mind first, so they don't become problematic at the end of a set. Obviously you still can't buy every rare for every system right away and you want to keep your eyes open for the good deals on commons and good games too. So it's goals, opportunity costs and order of operations that combine into this choosing your battles idea. Also gaining knowledge could be called hard, especially if others are stingy about sharing or you just don't ask.

[goldenpp72 | 1,234]

1 minute ago, sp1nz said:

I thought more about what makes collecting hard and I think "choosing your battles" is a big one. When you have a ton of games you want, if you buy the most common and modern games first it'll bite you in the ass. I always had rares in mind first, so they don't become problematic at the end of a set. Obviously you still can't buy every rare for every system right away and you want to keep your eyes open for the good deals on commons and good games too. So it's goals, opportunity costs and order of operations that combine into this choosing your battles idea. Also gaining knowledge could be called hard, especially if others are stingy about sharing or you just don't ask.

 

I personally feel gobbling up all the common stuff was the wise move to make for me. In hindsight I still never got a few of the super rares such as Little Samson, but I ended up spending low prices on games that also became very expensive. Stuff like Shantae which I spent 300 on, or Keio for Sega CD about the same, have increased 5-10x over where as the super rares, maybe they doubled, but I ended up with dozens of those games that blew up vs like, 2 games.

[GPX | 1,370]

11 minutes ago, goldenpp72 said:

I over extend sometimes which is when I end up going on a 6 month hiatus, though that also allows regaining money so I guess it still works out. I have a bad tendency to go all in and burn out rather than pace it which i'm trying to improve on. Now that my collection is about 500 games shy from being done I guess I have no choice but to pace it though

It’s inevitable though that you can’t have a smooth pace with this hobby. Particularly where rare items/condition are at stake. I’m sure we’ve mostly been through some quiet troughs and then bang! A whole bunch of rare stuff show themselves in succession! Then it’s decisions and headaches! 

[GPX | 1,370]

26 minutes ago, sp1nz said:

I thought more about what makes collecting hard and I think "choosing your battles" is a big one. When you have a ton of games you want, if you buy the most common and modern games first it'll bite you in the ass. I always had rares in mind first, so they don't become problematic at the end of a set. Obviously you still can't buy every rare for every system right away and you want to keep your eyes open for the good deals on commons and good games too. So it's goals, opportunity costs and order of operations that combine into this choosing your battles idea. Also gaining knowledge could be called hard, especially if others are stingy about sharing or you just don't ask.

Yep, the more pricey an item is, the more you have to think on the way you spend on such items. It’s not as simple as “I have enough, therefore buy”, or “outside my price range, therefore avoid”. 

[Hollywoodcaddy | 72]

1 minute ago, GPX said:

Yep, the more pricey an item is, the more you have to think on the way you spend on such items. It’s not as simple as “I have enough, therefore buy”, or “outside my price range, therefore avoid”. 

Exactly

[Hammerfestus | 3,859]

I once spent $125 on a game.  Once.  
 

0 - 20 - no problems.  No worries.

20 - 35 - is this a nice enough copy to spend $30 on?

35 - 60 - I’m gonna have to think about this one.  

60 - 100 -  How much do I really need this?  Is this a solid price?  How’s that condition?  Let’s make sure not to mention the price I paid for some paper to wife.  When I sell something down the road I’ll make sure to dedicate those funds to this purchase I made 3 months earlier.

100 - 200? - All right I’m going to rummage through my stuff with gvn collection tracker in hand to make this one something I’ll consider.  Wife must never find out. 
 

200+ - Nope.  

[Gloves | 11,794]

4 hours ago, goldenpp72 said:

It might be huge, but it's likely not largely good either, well, not for the CIB and above style, I guess for cart only people it's plausible.

About 3/4 of the PS2 library is currently under $15 CIB, and I promise you there's some absolute fuckin bangers in there.

[goldenpp72 | 1,234]

6 minutes ago, Gloves said:

About 3/4 of the PS2 library is currently under $15 CIB, and I promise you there's some absolute fuckin bangers in there.

Sure, same applies to Wii and such as well, but that will change I'm sure over time. 15 as a hard limit basically means Ps1 is about the furthest back you can go, and you won't get the mid to upper tier stuff there, but you can get Cool Boarders  For fun, I checked my Ps2 library, about 200ish of them are under 15, but the other half is definitely not, and that's the half people will be frothy for I bet.

Edited April 10, 2021 by goldenpp72

[Gloves | 11,794]

6 minutes ago, goldenpp72 said:

Sure, same applies to Wii and such as well, but that will change I'm sure over time. 15 as a hard limit basically means Ps1 is about the furthest back you can go, and you won't get the mid to upper tier stuff there, but you can get Cool Boarders  For fun, I checked my Ps2 library, about 200ish of them are under 15, but the other half is definitely not, and that's the half people will be frothy for I bet.

Yeah but so what?

Dude said you'd have to have a tiny collection if you keep the cap at $15. That is simply not true. And there's TONS of great, even amazing games, which can be had (even CIB) across multiple consoles, for under $15.

OBVIOUSLY you're not going to have the world's most valuable collection given a $15/per game spending cap, but that's beside the point.

[sp1nz | 613]

1 hour ago, goldenpp72 said:

I personally feel gobbling up all the common stuff was the wise move to make for me. In hindsight I still never got a few of the super rares such as Little Samson, but I ended up spending low prices on games that also became very expensive. Stuff like Shantae which I spent 300 on, or Keio for Sega CD about the same, have increased 5-10x over where as the super rares, maybe they doubled, but I ended up with dozens of those games that blew up vs like, 2 games.

Depends on your scale but Shantae and Keio could be called rares, on my scale they fit around R6 (semirare) and R7 (rare) - GVN (not that you can trust it) shows American Little Samson CIB at 8 sales in 2020, Shantae CIB 8 sales in 2020 and Keio CIB 19 sales in 2020. In some circles the term rare means that only handful exists globally, so there's that. I bought mint CIB Shantae for AU$600 and PAL CIB (no spine card) Keio for £69.99, so I had my eyes on those early too even though they weren't as supply rare back then and were expensive enough already. I probably should've said the kind of items that are "undervalued" in terms of their rarity, future potential or how good they are on my mind but "most common and modern" games should still be lower on your list of time sensitive buys than "rarest of a platform", if you are after the rares for any reason. How you can, should or will go about it of course depends on many different things . But still leaving actually rare items 5 or 10 years into future is dangerous on your wallet too. While I have some great games for the NES I didn't go hard enough at it early on and now it has bitten me in the ass. Bottom line is that you should be alert on games that have eyes on them and you want, even when they're not absolutely rare or too rare at all.

Edited April 10, 2021 by sp1nz

[goldenpp72 | 1,234]

3 minutes ago, Gloves said:

Yeah but so what?

Dude said you'd have to have a tiny collection if you keep the cap at $15. That is simply not true. And there's TONS of great, even amazing games, which can be had (even CIB) across multiple consoles, for under $15.

OBVIOUSLY you're not going to have the world's most valuable collection given a $15/per game spending cap, but that's beside the point.

Size is subjective of course, obviously if you only focus on newer currently common stuff you can amass a good chunk, but if you ever want to delve into older stuff, that's a pretty harsh cap. Even stuff like common Genesis titles will be hard to obtain at that price CIB. I'm super proud to ever find a game under 10 dollars as example, it's definitely not the average price overall. According to GVN across 8000 games my average price is about 50 bucks, so yeah of course a lot of them were cheaper too.

Many would consider 1000 games a large collection, so I guess it really depends on your definitions. I would have bowed out and surrendered with that price cap probably 10 years ago considering the amount of quality games (basically anything by Nintendo) that you would need to bypass, but everyone's different.

[goldenpp72 | 1,234]

1 minute ago, sp1nz said:

Depends on your scale but Shantae and Keio could be called rares, on my scale they fit around R6 (semirare) and R7 (rare) - GVN (not that you can trust it) shows American Little Samson CIB at 8 sales in 2020, Shantae CIB 8 sales in 2020 and Keio CIB 14 sales in 2020. In some circles the term rare means that only handful exists globally, so there's that. I bought mint CIB Shantae for AU$600 and PAL CIB (no spine card) Keio for £69.99, so I had my eyes on those early too even though they weren't as supply rare back then and were expensive enough already. I probably should've said the kind of items that are "undervalued" in terms of their rarity, future potential or how good they are on my mind but "most common and modern" games should still be lower on your list of time sensitive buys than "rarest of a platform", if you are after the rares for any reason. How you can, should or will go about it of course depends on many different things . But still leaving actually rare items 5 or 10 years into future is dangerous on your wallet too. While I have some great games for the NES I didn't go hard enough at it early on and now it has bitten me in the ass. Bottom line is that you should be alert on games that have eyes on them and you want, even when they're not absolutely rare or too rare at all.

I define rare kind of based on who I'm talking to, like I don't consider Shantae rare, but it's rare in contrast to the demand and thus valuable. An odd one for example is Dragon Fighter on the NES, I bought that for like 30 bucks, according to GVN it's worth much more now, similarly stuff on the Saturn or N64, I think I spent on average of 20-50 bucks on most of that stuff and sprung big time for like.. Bomberman Second Attack which is worth far more now.

I suppose my logic is, if I end up with 50 games vs 1, and any number of them shoots up in price, I made the right move overall. A lot of what I own now was 'junk' to the common collector back then, now apparently my collection is 'prestigious' despite still missing those super rares, just because some peeps decided they want those games now.

Being ahead of the curve is really the best way to be, but if you can afford to nab those supers on the way too that's the best way.

 

[sp1nz | 613]

12 minutes ago, goldenpp72 said:

I define rare kind of based on who I'm talking to, like I don't consider Shantae rare, but it's rare in contrast to the demand and thus valuable. An odd one for example is Dragon Fighter on the NES, I bought that for like 30 bucks, according to GVN it's worth much more now, similarly stuff on the Saturn or N64, I think I spent on average of 20-50 bucks on most of that stuff and sprung big time for like.. Bomberman Second Attack which is worth far more now.

I suppose my logic is, if I end up with 50 games vs 1, and any number of them shoots up in price, I made the right move overall. A lot of what I own now was 'junk' to the common collector back then, now apparently my collection is 'prestigious' despite still missing those super rares, just because some peeps decided they want those games now.

Being ahead of the curve is really the best way to be, but if you can afford to nab those supers on the way too that's the best way.

 

My mistake, 19 American Keio CIBs in 2020 on GVN.

Yeah being ahead of the curve is the best way to put it, you can't be ahead of the curve if you buy what EVERYONE buys and don't buy the future spikers instead - I get a feeling you're very similar to me in what kind of games you collect and how widely you collect, so many games that we have bought are the kinds that tend to spike, mix of rare-, highly rated-, in demand-, hidden gem- and revered series- games and lot of that is just from having a wide taste and wanting the games that are weird and interesting instead of just some flavor of the month hype games. Also absolute rarity and supply rarity are of course different beasts but both mean price increases, if the demand exists.

Edited April 10, 2021 by sp1nz

[Gloves | 11,794]

22 minutes ago, goldenpp72 said:

Size is subjective of course, obviously if you only focus on newer currently common stuff you can amass a good chunk, but if you ever want to delve into older stuff, that's a pretty harsh cap. Even stuff like common Genesis titles will be hard to obtain at that price CIB. I'm super proud to ever find a game under 10 dollars as example, it's definitely not the average price overall. According to GVN across 8000 games my average price is about 50 bucks, so yeah of course a lot of them were cheaper too.

Many would consider 1000 games a large collection, so I guess it really depends on your definitions. I would have bowed out and surrendered with that price cap probably 10 years ago considering the amount of quality games (basically anything by Nintendo) that you would need to bypass, but everyone's different.

Conversely, my collection is significantly smaller (~400 games), but the average price accordingto GVN is $100.

So obviously my personal tastes tend toward the CURRENTLY more expensive. But I've not spent $40k on my collection, I amassed it over time.

Who's to say dude didn't pick up his CIB NES collection at around $15 a game? It's completely reasonable to assume he may have, like many in the community. Maybe he bought a full set like 20 years ago and is laughing on his pile of exponential gains.

[goldenpp72 | 1,234]

1 minute ago, Gloves said:

Conversely, my collection is significantly smaller (~400 games), but the average price accordingto GVN is $100.

So obviously my personal tastes tend toward the CURRENTLY more expensive. But I've not spent $40k on my collection, I amassed it over time.

Who's to say dude didn't pick up his CIB NES collection at around $15 a game? It's completely reasonable to assume he may have, like many in the community. Maybe he bought a full set like 20 years ago and is laughing on his pile of exponential gains.

True, though I'd typically bet against it, obviously people got in before me and are likely laughing if they are keeping up lol.

[goldenpp72 | 1,234]

15 minutes ago, sp1nz said:

My mistake, 19 American Keio CIBs in 2020 on GVN.

Yeah being ahead of the curve is the best way to put it, you can't be ahead of the curve if you buy what EVERYONE buys and don't buy the future spikers instead - I get a feeling you're very similar to me in what kind of games you collect and how widely you collect, so many games that we have bought are the kinds that tend to spike, mix of rare-, highly rated-, in demand-, hidden gem- and revered series- games and lot of that is just from having a wide taste and wanting the games that are weird and interesting instead of just some flavor of the month hype games. Also absolute rarity and supply rarity are of course different beasts but both mean price increases, if the demand exists.

Yeah, my taste are very broad and quirky which is why I loved Sega right to the death, Nintendo is my heart but Sega and older Capcom was like my soul, so to speak. Since my fiancee also collects our stuff converges to make it look broader though. My style of collecting as it were, is to basically capture all the A/B/C grade stuff I find interesting per system and represent it accordingly. You can time stamp about when I came in due to the fact my NES/SNES/GB libraries are weaker, these systems were already kinda pricey when I got in and have only gotten far worse, so I just chip away at them very slowly. My GBA, N64, etc and beyond is fantastic though, and far more valuable today than when I started.

One thing I like about this place vs what you see in other groups, there is more wisdom in the process vs those 'this Youtube guy said this now I must have it' sorts. I remember going through the Metal Jesus hidden gems stuff someone recommended me and I was like, bro I dug way deeper than this guy lol. I kind of look at it to how people deal with stocks, some people research up and comings and put some bets in and win big, others throw money at stuff that already exploded, to mixed results. With games, since the basis of my hobby is a love of the games itself, I don't really put a lot of value in the value part, that's just a hurdle for me, but due to finite money and time I try to get all my wants before the spikes.

It's tough now though, the hobby is different and more broadly exposed than ever so the reality is, you'll pay if you want it at this point.

Edited April 10, 2021 by goldenpp72

[T-Pac | 7,560]

This is a tough question...

I'm pretty frugal with everything but my retro game collecting. Even still, I don't like to spend more than $60 on any single game, and I have to really contemplate whenever I break $100. But I've gone up to $200 before (PAL Little Samson several years ago).

I typically buy a lot of game stuff all-at-once, every once in a while. My financial comfort-level on those bulk purchases is usually based on how much extra spending-money I've amassed recently. These past few months, I dropped probably a grand on Famicom games and an Aracde 1Up pre-order, but it was all covered by some freelance animation stuff I did outside of my regular 9-to-5, so no regrets there.

Basically, my game-spending doesn't have hard limits - as long as my purchases don't feel irresponsible.

-CasualCart

[Nes Freak | 584]

4 to 5000 is my max.  but generally speaking  i try to keep it at lease 500 and below.  just those certain item i will pay top dollar for

[Nes Freak | 584]

tbh i miss the days when this stuff didnt cost an arm a legs and sometime a dong to buy.

[Hollywoodcaddy | 72]

7 hours ago, Nes Freak said:

tbh i miss the days when this stuff didnt cost an arm a legs and sometime a dong to buy.

RIGHT...its becoming insane...luckily theres a few people in here I've delt with that had good fair prices for some harder to find stuff...

[the_wizard_666 | 1,325]

My price cap is whatever I have in my bank account minus the cost of maintaining my day to day life.  So yes, there's a limit, because I won't go into debt for my hobby, but no, there's no official cap other than "what can I spare today?"

[OptOut | 8,889]

1 hour ago, the_wizard_666 said:

My price cap is whatever I have in my bank account minus the cost of maintaining my day to day life.  So yes, there's a limit, because I won't go into debt for my hobby, but no, there's no official cap other than "what can I spare today?"

Wait, so you mean like you're pumping all your spare capital into video games? You should probably be saving a bit too, or investing or something, dude! Or am I reading this wrong?

[DefaultGen | 5,413]

29 minutes ago, OptOut said:

Wait, so you mean like you're pumping all your spare capital into video games? You should probably be saving a bit too, or investing or something, dude! Or am I reading this wrong?

My near mint CIB copy of Garry Kitchen Presents Super Battletank: War in the Gulf is an investment 

[OptOut | 8,889]

2 minutes ago, DefaultGen said:

My near mint CIB copy of Garry Kitchen Presents Super Battletank: War in the Gulf is an investment 

Garry fuggin Kitchen, lol! There's a name that inspires market confidence if I ever heard one! You'll do fine investing in Kitchen dude, that's bluechip right there. 

 

Anyway, I will say, generally the downside risk of buying videogames is traditionally super low... Not SO sure about that in this market, and certainly not in the WATA/HA zone, but generally I do feel zero qualms in spending money on games because I'm either already finding great deals under market value, the games I've already bought have already gone up in price, and/or I know that if I need the money I spent back again, generally you can just resell for what you paid for at the very least...

Either way, my game collection represents a minimal percentage of my overall wealth, and a mere fraction of my spending per year compared to ACTUAL investments, savings and cost of living. This is 100% hobby for me, the "investment" angle is really just a logical crutch to stop me from telling myself how stupid it is to spend so much money on useless tat!