Super Potato has opened an International eBay shop

[Teh_Lurv | 254]

This story caught my eye: Legendary Japanese retro-game store Super Potato has finally opened an International eBay shop to sell their merchandise. From what I understand, Super Potato relies heavily on tourist collector dollars so I guess the pandemic has forced them to branch out into online sale.

 

"Described as " a museum as much as a shop ," the flagship store (which is spread across three entire floors) boasts a vast array of video game, anime, and manga products, with a focus on rare Japanese retro games. Now, these products will be offered up to international buyers, although prices aren't cheap; according to eBay, some of the store's featured items are way above average in the price department."

 

https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2021/04/super_potato_japans_legendary_game_store_opens_its_very_own_international_ebay_shop

 

Super Potato eBay Store Link

Edited April 22, 2021 by Teh_Lurv

[OptOut | 8,895]

Jesus. Those prices. Just no.

[Gloves | 11,890]

11 minutes ago, OptOut said:

Jesus. Those prices. Just no.

My first thought as well lol.

[AdamW | 713]

Well, "relies heavily on tourist collector dollars" is a kind way of saying "overpriced"

[Californication | 1,490]

One thing I don't understand is why the U.S. Book Off's don't have reasonably priced jntsc games. The one near me in SD has higher than ebay prices and the same games have been sitting there for a year. They have a huge supply chain with their connection to the mother land, I will never understand why they are leaving money on the table.

[DarkTone | 989]

Cool. Good for them, if it helps. 

[a3quit4s | 4,142]

Can't believe it took them this long to pivot to online sales. Although if alot of their base is out of country sales I wouldn't want to be dealing with shipping overseas. It's bad enough trying to get usps to deliver a package to the next state over

[A_Feisty_Pickle | 244]

49 minutes ago, a3quit4s said:

Can't believe it took them this long to pivot to online sales. Although if alot of their base is out of country sales I wouldn't want to be dealing with shipping overseas. It's bad enough trying to get usps to deliver a package to the next state over

I bought a PS2 from Japan on a Friday morning and it delivered Tuesday.  Faster than most First Class packages. 

[a3quit4s | 4,142]

3 minutes ago, A_Feisty_Pickle said:

I bought a PS2 from Japan on a Friday morning and it delivered Tuesday.  Faster than most First Class packages. 

Did they parachute it over your house from the plane? Did that actually come from Japan and how much was the shipping? I can't get a package in 4 days from FL to MD so that is really remarkable. 

[A_Feisty_Pickle | 244]

1 minute ago, a3quit4s said:

Did they parachute it over your house from the plane? Did that actually come from Japan and how much was the shipping? I can't get a package in 4 days from FL to MD so that is really remarkable. 

They only charged $3 for shipping so I'm not sure what the actual cost for them was. Although maybe I'm a lucky case. I think Memphis is an international hub and I only live a few hours from there. 

[drxandy | 3,247]

Fedex and dhl shipments from japan have taken me less than a business week to michigan the 3 or so times I elected to pay the 20+$ for shipping.

Whatever the total price for that ps2 it must be rolled into it because $3 is a steal for the fast shipping, maybe too heavy for Japan post air? Idk

 

Edit: Just remembered jpost rates just went up based on weight like a mother starting this month so prob cheaper to send the fast way 

Edited April 22, 2021 by drxandy

[Ferris Bueller | 497]

I don't see anything listed that would've been in the glass cases. Bring on the good stuff!

[fcgamer | 4,792]

11 minutes ago, Ferris Bueller said:

I don't see anything listed that would've been in the glass cases. Bring on the good stuff!

I remember reading an article, maybe on Sean on Famicom World's blog, about how a lot of the glass case stuff is now not even top shelf items. Sadly I actually think this is true, from the two times I've been to the shop in Osaka.

But yeah, I want to see the good stuff too, anyone want to go halfsies with me on some rarez? @OptOut maybe? Start a museum here locally

 

[Ferris Bueller | 497]

15 minutes ago, fcgamer said:

I remember reading an article, maybe on Sean on Famicom World's blog, about how a lot of the glass case stuff is now not even top shelf items. Sadly I actually think this is true, from the two times I've been to the shop in Osaka.

But yeah, I want to see the good stuff too, anyone want to go halfsies with me on some rarez? @OptOut maybe? Start a museum here locally

 

When I visited the Akihabara store, they had some good stuff in the case there. It's where I got my mint condition GameBoy Sonar for $100. Had to carry it back in a bag so it wouldn't get damaged from Japan to Dallas. But this was, what, 2017? Maybe 2018.

[fcgamer | 4,792]

Just now, Ferris Bueller said:

When I visited the Akihabara store, they had some good stuff in the case there. It's where I got my mint condition GameBoy Sonar for $100. Had to carry it back in a bag so it wouldn't get damaged from Japan to Dallas. But this was, what, 2017? Maybe 2018.

I'm actually planning to start a thread about the "Super Potato" situation, well about situations where a large percentage of the games are going to collectors from a different region. I'm still trying to gather my thoughts on it though.

[phart010 | 1,710]

9 hours ago, Californication said:

One thing I don't understand is why the U.S. Book Off's don't have reasonably priced jntsc games. The one near me in SD has higher than ebay prices and the same games have been sitting there for a year. They have a huge supply chain with their connection to the mother land, I will never understand why they are leaving money on the table.

I think because when they sell games in the Japanese domestic market, they keep circulating in Japan. So they may expect to get it traded back in and then sold again. In Japan it’s high volume low margin sales.

Once the game leaves Japan it’s likely not coming back so that decreases the size of their pool of games that they can source from. So for international sales, they want to get more margin since the game is gone forever 

[Californication | 1,490]

8 minutes ago, phart010 said:

I think because when they sell games in the Japanese domestic market, they keep circulating in Japan. So they may expect to get it traded back in and then sold again. In Japan it’s high volume low margin sales.

Once the game leaves Japan it’s likely not coming back so that decreases the size of their pool of games that they can source from. So for international sales, they want to get more margin since the game is gone forever 

That's a big assumption for a business plan. It would get rekt from exporters.

[LutherDestroysTheGond | 690]

I've been spending too much time with my daughter and my first thought when I read Super Potato was Peppa Pig

[Tanooki | 4,958]

21 hours ago, Californication said:

One thing I don't understand is why the U.S. Book Off's don't have reasonably priced jntsc games. The one near me in SD has higher than ebay prices and the same games have been sitting there for a year. They have a huge supply chain with their connection to the mother land, I will never understand why they are leaving money on the table.

They used to, it's where I'm from.  I'd shop there up until 2002, and then again when I was back there for 3 years about a decade ago.  I could go in and get all sorts of J-handheld and console games, they'd beat ebay easily, good supply and variety, shelves of it.  Also got really cheap rates on domestic manga too at like 1/3 - 1/4 of the publisher price.  That's really depressing if they've gone down the greed rabbit hole since.  I'll have to keep in mind to have low/no expectation of anything but a trip down memory lane if I head back there again.  What a loss.

 

It's nice I guess to see some Super Potato stock on ebay, but if they're just going to do crack smoker pricing, it's clear they want a chump, or to just show off and keep up their retail museum mystique.

[DarkTone | 989]

14 hours ago, Ferris Bueller said:

When I visited the Akihabara store, they had some good stuff in the case there. It's where I got my mint condition GameBoy Sonar for $100. Had to carry it back in a bag so it wouldn't get damaged from Japan to Dallas. But this was, what, 2017? Maybe 2018.

Awesome. Heard because of its popularity, there's less rare items there. 

[DefaultGen | 5,506]

14 hours ago, fcgamer said:

I'm actually planning to start a thread about the "Super Potato" situation, well about situations where a large percentage of the games are going to collectors from a different region. I'm still trying to gather my thoughts on it though.

Hey now, there's an Action 52 on YAJ for some reason... they took our collectible game!! I saw it while I was shipping another couple dozen games to my house for permanent relocation.

[fcgamer | 4,792]

3 minutes ago, DefaultGen said:

Hey now, there's an Action 52 on YAJ for some reason... they took our collectible game!! I saw it while I was shipping another couple dozen games to my house for permanent relocation.

It's funny, Action 52 (Genesis version) actually ended up getting bootlegged back in the day, for the Taiwanense market.

[Teh_Lurv | 254]

On 4/22/2021 at 2:59 AM, Californication said:

One thing I don't understand is why the U.S. Book Off's don't have reasonably priced jntsc games. The one near me in SD has higher than ebay prices and the same games have been sitting there for a year. They have a huge supply chain with their connection to the mother land, I will never understand why they are leaving money on the table.

Maybe they're operating under the assumption that import collectors are willing to pay a premium?

[Californication | 1,490]

4 minutes ago, Teh_Lurv said:

Maybe they're operating under the assumption that import collectors are willing to pay a premium?

Maybe. I shold say I've only been to one location so idk if this is standard. I've seen video's oof the locations in Japan that have wildly different prices between locations so it could even be a manager that hasn't realized/adjusted to how long the jntsc stuff has been sitting there