Million Dollar Mario...1.56M...What the..?

[tidaldreams | 654]

8 hours ago, jonebone said:

The population report argument will make my head explode.  You can't compare a mature to an immature market.

Point being, a 1906 tobacco card or 1930 comic or anything from nearly a century ago is pretty mature.  If the population says there's only 20 in existence, then there's pretty much only 20 in existence.  You may find a new one every once in a blue moon but those are known collectibles and everyone has turned over every rock possible trying to bring them to market.

Then take a sealed game from the 90s like Mario.  Granted the market is much more mature than it was, but it's so new that you will keep finding new copies come to market.  It will be much slower than it used to be and competition will be fierce, but the population is going to keep increasing.  Drawing those parallels to a mature market is fool's gold.  

I do entirely agree that many titles will not have enough copies available compared to the waves of new buyers coming in, but comparisons to something nearly 100 years old are a little silly.  It's just the typical car salesman type pitch where you're giving the new money every excuse in the book to overspend.  

Pokemon/Yugioh cards are newer than video games, yet the population report for those has existed since day 1. 

[YOURTURN | 1,256]

15 hours ago, Gulag Joe said:

Get in on the ground floor of sealed VHS while the gettin is still good!

I tried. It was a V Jump exclusive VHS copy that talked about Dragon Quest VI. All I can say s that Mandarake seemed to have re-sealed it with the original wrap (under it) having tears and the like underneath. 

These days I'm skipping VHS just because Beta was the superior format. Plus, I was told that the Sega Saturn is a better system than Sony's PlayStation. So I might look into that while I am toy hunting for some deals. 

[YOURTURN | 1,256]

5 hours ago, tidaldreams said:

Pokemon/Yugioh cards are newer than video games, yet the population report for those has existed since day 1. 

AFA still has theirs. I am not sure if they are caught up on that data, but it is still there.

[inasuma | 1,203]

22 hours ago, kell said:

If the person who bought that game doesn't care, why should we ...?

It's hard to tell if you're playing devil's advocate here but this argument works against your own self-interest, not the other way around.

Saying data can be used to manipulate a transaction applies to literally everything in capitalism. The same is true in the reverse; less data means insider information is harder to identify, leading to dangerously bad investment decisions when the data finally comes to light and the market inevitably corrects (whether it's a little or a lot, but in this case, let's pretend it's a lot).

Having more data helps you make an informed decision as a buyer, especially when you can look back and determine if a sale was sane and reasonable given the state of the market (demand/supply). Without more context, it's just a guessing game controlled by those who have the supply and data - how is that better?

Seems straightforward to me but idk.

Also, as Shawn says on ReservedInvestments, "Grading is always an insidejob."

Edited July 20, 2021 by inasuma

[YOURTURN | 1,256]

I just want to point out that population reports are only great if you ignore the fact they will always, at any given point, not be accurate. 

All it states is that said company graded said product, and a number of those product received said grades. It does not say which of those were neglected to the point the original grade is no longer valid, which products were cross-graded by another company, which products were re-graded without their knowledge, nor inform you which products have been removed from their acrylic cases by those who are anti-grading. Factors that even Google will back up, with the conclusion being that the only information anybody will get is a number saying how many said grading company has graded.

Then again... I prefer price guides and databases like Shmax more than I like stuff like that.

[a3quit4s | 4,096]

8 hours ago, FenrirZero said:

I just want to point out that population reports are only great if you ignore the fact they will always, at any given point, not be accurate. 

All it states is that said company graded said product, and a number of those product received said grades. It does not say which of those were neglected to the point the original grade is no longer valid, which products were cross-graded by another company, which products were re-graded without their knowledge, nor inform you which products have been removed from their acrylic cases by those who are anti-grading. Factors that even Google will back up, with the conclusion being that the only information anybody will get is a number saying how many said grading company has graded.

Then again... I prefer price guides and databases like Shmax more than I like stuff like that.

This is an interesting point and something I have been thinking about lately. There were conversations awhile back about WATA vs VGA grading and which one was better and even though it doesn't really matter to us, the people investors out there seem to have put a premium on the WATA name. I would assume this mostly because of the relationship with HA and the amount of money they are raking in (as long as people are paying for auctions which seems to be up in the air as well).

If that is true, that people are paying a premium for the WATA name, it is the best interest of WATA NOT to release the pop reports, because then people would know the rarity of games and also the rarity of the the games that have been WATA graded. In defense of running a business, you are to do what is in the best interest of the business, not the consumer. While you may want a WATA pop report, it is likely not in their best interest as they would have already done it by now and, logically, to me it means they are protecting their competitive advantage, which is their name.

Thoughts from anyone?

[Gulag Joe | 582]

48 minutes ago, a3quit4s said:

This is an interesting point and something I have been thinking about lately. There were conversations awhile back about WATA vs VGA grading and which one was better and even though it doesn't really matter to us, the people investors out there seem to have put a premium on the WATA name. I would assume this mostly because of the relationship with HA and the amount of money they are raking in (as long as people are paying for auctions which seems to be up in the air as well).

If that is true, that people are paying a premium for the WATA name, it is the best interest of WATA NOT to release the pop reports, because then people would know the rarity of games and also the rarity of the the games that have been WATA graded. In defense of running a business, you are to do what is in the best interest of the business, not the consumer. While you may want a WATA pop report, it is likely not in their best interest as they would have already done it by now and, logically, to me it means they are protecting their competitive advantage, which is their name.

Thoughts from anyone?

People pay a considerable premium for PSA graded cards over BGS and SGC. All have pop reports. I personally think BGS has stricter grading standards and have seen many questionable PSA 10 cards. I've also personally taken BGS cards out of the slab and resent to PSA for higher grades (successfully). So the crossover issue exists there as well. But does it happen frequently enough for it to impact the prices people will pay knowing that possibility exists? I don't think so.

[OptOut | 8,883]

4 minutes ago, Gulag Joe said:

People pay a considerable premium for PSA graded cards over BGS and SGC. All have pop reports. I personally think BGS has stricter grading standards and have seen many questionable PSA 10 cards. I've also personally taken BGS cards out of the slab and resent to PSA for higher grades (successfully). So the crossover issue exists there as well. But does it happen frequently enough for it to impact the prices people will pay knowing that possibility exists? I don't think so.

Bigger number equals gooder! 

[Frost271 | 22]

Back to the main topic…

We confirm that the Mario got paid for?

[Californication | 1,477]

55 minutes ago, Frost271 said:

Back to the main topic…

We confirm that the Mario got paid for?

That's kind of irrelevant. 

[Frost271 | 22]

43 minutes ago, Californication said:

That's kind of irrelevant. 

How is this irrelevant to the original topic which was is this real or not?  Did you not see the original post here?  

Other evidence or better worded.. claims.. posted here talk about general shilling and bs sales from people within HA. Curious if our community member got his or if there was a “non payment” or “backed out of the buy” kind of crap that was see on other auction sites.  This type of sale is huge not only to validate that HA isn’t full of shit but we have an actually member here, who is legit, their item sold. He let us know which validates the actual bidding.  Would like to know if this is indeed a valid sale that went through.  Especially considering there are like 12 or so 90 and up VGA copies. 

Edited July 21, 2021 by Frost271

[Californication | 1,477]

15 minutes ago, Frost271 said:

How is this irrelevant to the original topic which was is this real or not?  Did you not see the original post here?  

Other evidence or better worded.. claims.. posted here talk about general shilling and bs sales from people within HA. Curious if our community member got his or if there was a “non payment” or “backed out of the buy” kind of crap that was see on other auction sites.  This type of sale is huge not only to validate that HA isn’t full of shit but we have an actually member here, who is legit, their item sold. He let us know which validates the actual bidding.  Would like to know if this is indeed a valid sale that went through. 

It's irrelevant because whether the buyer was paid or not doesn't mean there wasn't collusion between the buyer and seller or that the seller was unaware of anything and buyer's worked together to bring the price up.

The sale is done, most of the public that heard the story will be unaware or not care if anything else came out except a smoking gun. 

Since you cannot prove or disprove that all parties behaved independently, it makes more sense just to move on and make whatever assumptions you want to make about prices going forward.

Edited July 21, 2021 by Californication

[Frost271 | 22]

6 minutes ago, Californication said:

It's irrelevant because whether the buyer was paid or not doesn't mean there wasn't collusion between the buyer and seller or that the buyer was unaware of anything and seller's worked together to bring the price up.

The sale is done, most of the public that heard the story will be unaware or not care if anything else came out except a smoking gun. 

Since you cannot prove or disprove that all parties behaved independently, it makes more sense just to move on and make whatever assumptions you want to make about prices going forward.

I apparently rubbed you off the wrong way or something.  You must be one of “those” guys from NintendoAge that came over that just wants to start something over nothing. 

A legit member came out and acknowledged it was his sale. I wouldn’t think twice if he said it went through or not but thats me and why I asked in this thread. 

I am personally excited about this sale since I have a large sealed collection and ready to cash in soon as well .  Life changing stuff happening in our community!

Edited July 21, 2021 by Frost271

[Californication | 1,477]

2 minutes ago, Frost271 said:

I apparently rubbed you off the wrong way or something.  You must be one of “those” guys from NintendoAge that came over that just wants to start something over nothing. 

A legit member came out and acknowledged it was his sale. I wouldn’t think twice if he said it went through or not but thats me and why I asked in this thread. 

I am personally excited about this sale since I have a large sealed collection and ready to cash in soon as well    

Rub off? Conversation is more like a circle jerk at this point.

Edited July 21, 2021 by Californication

[WalterWhiteJr. | 1,162]

9 minutes ago, Californication said:

It's irrelevant because whether the buyer was paid or not doesn't mean there wasn't collusion between the buyer and seller or that the seller was unaware of anything and buyer's worked together to bring the price up.

The sale is done, most of the public that heard the story will be unaware or not care if anything else came out except a smoking gun. 

Since you cannot prove or disprove that all parties behaved independently, it makes more sense just to move on and make whatever assumptions you want to make about prices going forward.

Agree 1000%

[OptOut | 8,883]

You guys are NUTS! Of COURSE it is relevant if the money was actually paid, because it will show whether this price is legitimate or not, and whether we should expect it to be repeated for this and/or other games!

Now, of course mainstream media aren't going to be rushing to correct themselves if the sale falls through, so it won't stop the rush of people into the hobby, but frankly that doesn't really matter. As long as people in the hobby know what happened that will undoubtedly have an effect on future sales... We will still be looking for the first Million Dollar video game.

 

Anyway, we still don't know yet...

@ExplodedHamster can you confirm what you said before, that you will inform the community here if the sale falls through?

[YOURTURN | 1,256]

12 hours ago, a3quit4s said:

Thoughts from anyone?

Three parts.

The first part is that the subject if the money went through is relevant because it is currently Schrödinger's cat. If the sale went through the topic should continue on the basis it was a live bid. But if it did not go through, it stops being a sale because the buyer was not legitimately willing to pay that amount. And that itself should become a follow-up topic.

The second part is "Thanks." I got into the whole grading craze over a decade ago, starting with Transformers. And the bigger factor why I aimed to have a Japanese collection started when I saw "2010" Predaking for the same price I paid for a red PSP (I ended up getting a nicer version of the same Predaking at the end of 2011). Which was weeks prior to the major event that hit Fukushima, despite being in Koriyama (still in the Fukushima prefecture). Since then I found that many sellers put a more common monetary value on select figures by using market sales over any census numbers.

And the last part is the fact that a sale is not a sale if the buyer does not pay. This topic is about a sale, and not about who gets to say what it is. So we should respect a topic as much as we should respect each other (contradictory views and all). Because this is VGS, not the other guys (including the ones that post a poorly written topic on why VGA is a scam). 

Plus... This (because I heard you guys like stickers on graded items). 

[DarkTone | 984]

Emulators have been quiet. Wonder why...

[GPX | 1,369]

On 7/20/2021 at 5:13 AM, JamesRobot said:

What in holy hell is going on?!  I'm gone for a couple weeks and you people let something like this happen?  Jeezuss!  This is no longer funny.

You probably now have to add extra lines in "I'd go as low as...one million dollars...you are practically robbing me!"

[GPX | 1,369]

On 7/20/2021 at 4:04 AM, kell said:

I am a huge numbers/data driven person, but I don't get why so many are pushing to get pop reports. 

Maybe I'm missing something, but I just don't believe one can extrapolate that much useful data from a process that really only took off what, a couple years ago, and has very limited visibility to the entire population.

I usually find those that push numbers will do so in pursuit of their own interest. Statistics can, and often do, lie.

 

There are 2 angles regarding population reports:

1. The more data there is that's available, it gives more informed decisions for potential buyers and potential WATA customers to know how much to spend or what to grade next. There is a clear benefit that nobody can argue against. The only counter-argument I'm seeing is "is it really necessary?" Well no, nothing is really necessary except oxygen, sugar and electrolytes. But pop data would help more than harm, is the general consensus.

2. The fact no WATA pop data currently exists in public, and somebody is willing to jump at a sealed game that everyone knows does not exist in singular state, and then willing to blow 1 and a half million bucks on such a sealed game.....how would any sane people react to this? This is literally 100 times more than what it was probably going for in the last 12 months! Price hikes can be good for the hobby. Then there's super ridiculous price hikes, which can make people who are genuine buyers be more skeptical and more put off.

[OptOut | 8,883]

Hmmm... I wonder whether the Mario purchase has gone through yet, money in the bank...

Let me check the thread here to see if there have been any updates???

Anyone starting to wonder if the sale fell through? 

[Brickman | 3,983]

46 minutes ago, OptOut said:

Hmmm... I wonder whether the Mario purchase has gone through yet, money in the bank...

Let me check the thread here to see if there have been any updates???

Anyone starting to wonder if the sale fell through? 

HA said the buyer was a serious bidder so I’m sure any day now. HA wouldn’t lie to us!

[Gulag Joe | 582]

2 hours ago, OptOut said:

Hmmm... I wonder whether the Mario purchase has gone through yet, money in the bank...

Let me check the thread here to see if there have been any updates???

Anyone starting to wonder if the sale fell through? 

It's takes about 6 weeks for HA to finalize the auction and get you your money after a sale.

[OptOut | 8,883]

6 minutes ago, Gulag Joe said:

It's takes about 6 weeks for HA to finalize the auction and get you your money after a sale.

Gotcha... But I want my Million dollars NOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWW!!!!!! 

[GPX | 1,369]

58 minutes ago, OptOut said:

Gotcha... But I want my Million dollars NOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWW!!!!!! 

I'm starting to think you were actually the seller of that sealed 9.8 Mario 64. That would be some wicked plot twist!