joshdose

That seal appears to be legit.

Yes... the bidding is over $500 on this. I hope the buyer’s intention isn’t to send it in for grading. They will be highly disappointed when it gets rejected for new sealed grading. 

I came across this Final Fantasy X on eBay. I am 90% certain that it is re-sealed, but wanted to see what other opinions are out there:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Final-Fantasy-X-Factory-Sealed-New-PS2-Playstation-2-SNES-NES-Y-FOLD-/274672662159?_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49292
 

I have purchased and re-sold a LOT of these back in the day, and I don’t ever recall one not having the official Sony sticker on top. It looks like someone successfully resealed this using security sticker from another game.

On 12/23/2020 at 5:54 PM, MikeFromRetroboxed said:

Guys, thank you so much! 
Any box size can be done, i just need measures (preferred in milimeters) and you pretty boxes will be well protected, and will look super nice!

As for VGA/CGA acrylic boxes - well they have a different purpose that what i'm offering. They seal the game, and you can't get it out. Besides, CGA makes their boxes with extruded acrylic, which leave pretty bad cracks and marks on gluing surface. Its much cheaper, but i made many tests on them, and finally decided to go with the best acrylic i can get.

I'm preparing a sale after Christmas, so be sure to check my social channels for updates.

Once again, thanks for your kind words - means a world to me...

Dude... I appreciate the service you are offering, but please don’t belittle CGA cases in the process. They most certainly do offer ultra high quality acrylic cases of any custom size with a sliding bottom so that you can remove the game. I have purchased many custom made acrylic cases from DIYers and the quality was just never quite as good as CGA. I may also purchase some from you in the future, because your pricing seems fair. That’s a huge advantage you have in the acrylic market since CGA custom cases are very expensive.

I can tell that you were very stressed out for the packaging and shipping process. I remember my fist time as well. (It was VGA and many years ago). I started with one game just to test the waters. I ended up being lucky and getting a 90 on my Final Fantasy X. That experience hooked me. My second submission was 10 games. I think I was more nervous for that shipment because the value was much greater. Many of those came back not so lucky. It was that experience that taught me what flaws to start looking for. So for my third shipment, I requested a grade report for some of the games, just to see what flaws the graders actually indicate. It became clear to me then that if you see anything at all that’s not perfect, it will hurt the grade. By the time I got to my fifth shipment, I was up to over 30 games per shipment. I had become a pro at packaging. I remember thinking that my packages could be thrown dragged down the highway and run over by a car and the games inside would still be ok. I ended up loving the packaging and shipping experience as much as any other part of the hobby. There is a true sense of accomplishment to be had after dispersing a large shipment of games like that and knowing that there is nothing to worry about. Anyway, good luck with the grades. I’m excited to hear the continuation of your experience once they arrive.

Legend of Dragoon.

I wonder if they will ever release Panzer Dragoon Saga? Seems likely to me that it will happen eventually. I’m tired of hooking up the Saturn every time I want to play it.

19 minutes ago, Coops_Collection said:

I'm just about to send in my first two games to get graded, both for Game Boy Advance. Golden Sun: The Lost Age and Mario & Luigi Super Star Saga. I personally do not like the look of WATA cases at all and feel the VGA case, especially with the gold seal for 85+ and above, is just a much better looking product. Coming from graded trading cards, once the consistency, and accuracy becomes equal it all comes down to aesthetics. I plan to send both games to VGA to get my feet wet and hope they both come back at least 85+

VGA is the way to go. Good luck with the grades!

I was able to order one from Best Buy just now. It said unavailable at first, but I kept refreshing the page and checking back and eventually saw the “add to cart” option. Thanks!

Bucky has experienced the same amount of grade variations we all have. Sending games in to get graded is a gamble any time you do it no matter who you are or what company you choose to provide the service. Simple as that. 

I’d like to start this thread by wishing everyone here a safe and happy holiday season. Let’s have some fun and share our favorite holiday themed merch. I’ll go first with my coffee mugs. Not much to look at, but they get the job done, and I usually feel like a proper geek when using them:

I got a great deal on this one:

4 minutes ago, GPX said:

There are other reasons why sealed collectors are who they are, other than  the preservational aspect:

- display: a mint game with an undamaged seal, any gamer wouldn’t mind a look at?

- challenge: if you have the money, CIB collecting becomes all too easy, but the same can’t be said in finding a meaty sealed collection. Also, if you’ve completed a CIB collection, is it wrong to upgrade further into the realms of sealed collecting?

- nostalgia(shop): if you want to dream about a shop filled with brand spanking games, that made you near-climaxed as a kid, then a sealed collection can help you best to relive that dream.

—————————

Guys that throw crazy money on HA (referring to prices over 6 digits) are more likely a different breed of sealed collectors - quick dump of money and likely will not care one iota for that game other than how much money it’s likely to make them once they resell.

 

I’m a sealed / graded game collector and I’ve never fully understood what it is I love so much about it. Ever since I first “discovered” the hobby, I immediately understood that it was something unique and not for everyone. It requires a lot of responsibility and a meticulous respect for care. It’s sort of like stamp collecting, but stamps are boring! I bet there are other hobbyists out in the world (collector types) that collect a lot of the same type of thing, and aren’t even consciously aware that they are a collector until they one day acknowledge it, like it’s a surprise even to them. It could be something as simple as “TV Guides”. One day some old guy realizes he has been collecting every issue of TV Guide and it becomes precious to him that he has “a personal collection” of something. He has gone out of his way for years not to throw them away, unaware that he was fulfilling a selfish desire to collect something that brought him some peace and entertainment consistently every month. I bet that same old man might be digging through his pile of TV Guide Magazines and will realize he had a couple in the stack that he never opened. If he appreciates the collection as a whole, then he will appreciate the fact that those two never got opened. He may even have a newfound appreciation for the sealed ones and hold them to a higher standard, as if it’s something to be proud of. “All these years later and I still never opened issue # 398 or 413”. What was going on in my life during those years? Should I get these magazines framed? Should I sell them? Maybe my friends have collected some of these as well. They might even have a few that I am missing!” I need to start keeping these in a safer place!” 
 

I have no idea where I’m going with this so I’m going to stop here. My point is, not everyone will understand it. They just know it gives them some pleasure and makes them feel special or unique and gives them something to do.

25 minutes ago, Khromak said:

In my opinion though, having a sealed copy of a game you really treasure is something though. I don't own any sealed NES games,

Spoiler

but I would do unspeakable things for a sealed copy of DW3 because I adore that game.

That’s where the magic happens.

I found my original Mario plush from the 80’s. How much you think I could fetch for this at Heritage Auctions? 

On 11/22/2020 at 6:47 AM, GPX said:

I’d love for an article to delve deep into who’s actually buying these heavy hitters, and how legit these sales really are. Instead, all articles thus far are stating the sales as a matter-of-fact on an assumption people are actually paying up these end bids. 

Some of these prices are outrageous beyond belief, understatement!

Seems like a high percentage of these outrageous sales would end with the buyer not paying. I can think of many ways they could be scheming the market up by illegitimizing (is that a word?) these auctions. No way in hell this was a legitimate sale. I would have to see some sort of proof to believe it. Even then, I may be skeptical. LOL

1 hour ago, Tanooki said:

I got hit with this last week.  I had to ship stuff out and the usual rate I start at for the lightest (3.50) even for like just a state or two away that would have covered it I lost like a quarter.  I'm going to have to raise my flat rate shipping by .25-.50 cents I believe.

And I don't get this stuff about managed payments and it happening.  When?  I still just take in paypal, I get a notice from them and ebay someone paid, and I make a label as always for years now through ebay-paypal and ship the stuff out.  I'm not giving them access to give and take direct from my bank, screw that.  I also let my credit card with them on fire expire probably 3-4years ago now, all that's active is paypal.  They do know the last account I've used with a charge card, but no access to it.  If they force me to use a checking account and not paypal I'm going to be pissed, I like that wall between the ebay scammers, or ebay themselves who get scammy too reading all those seller complaints.


To be clear though, the whole money or total thing, it is an AND not an or with the IRS reporting.  $20000 AND over 200 items sold.  If you sell 200 items and make a $1000, they don't report squat.

Unfortunately, you won’t have a choice, starting next year. I recommend getting a separate bank account just for eBay. If you wait too long to set it up, you may end up having your seller account suspended until it is set back up.

14 minutes ago, Quest4Nes said:

Its not a temporary price hike. Thats a lie. Its a transition price hike so they dont have to deal with customer sticker price shock when the real increas comes early next year.

 

new rate hikes for 2021 coming . Huge increases for all types. Its getting really expensive. Meanwhile china still can ship for pennies halfway across the world with sweetheart post office deals where the usps actually loses money. We get to pay for it.

 

https://www.ecommercebytes.com/C/abblog/blog.pl?/pl/2020/11/1605561099.html

F*** China... And F*** USPS.

42 minutes ago, Aguy said:

Did USPS shipping increase too or the shipping discount decrease? Normally a first class 4oz would have been $3.14 but after updating all my info, it charged me $3.43.

Shipping is always going to go up, but that is a whole separate discussion. Nothing will have changed from the new managed payments system regarding shipping. The shipping costs will vary based on where your 4 oz. package is going.

It won’t really be less fees. eBay is incorporating the difference in fees. Sellers will now pay 12.35% of the final sale price including whatever the buyer pays for shipping and tax! (Really sucks that we pay fees on a buyer’s tax) Plus there will be a $.030 fee for every transaction. It will come out to about the same, as far as fees go. The reason it may take a little longer to get your money is that eBay will allow the buyer to use any form of payment. Some forms of payment will take a little while to process. Either way, shouldn’t take too long. Main difference with this new process will be efficiency with handling disputes. Sounds like better seller protection. In the past, when eBay denied buyer cases, buyers would simply open a case with PayPal. They won’t have that option any longer. And in case anybody is wondering why these changes are happening, EBay was recently bought out buy a foreign company... There will be more changes coming down the pipe soon. Just remember this: for you guys that sell a lot on eBay, make sure you don’t exceed 200 transactions a year, and don’t sell more than $20,000.00 worth per year. Or else EBay will have to report this to the IRS and you WILL be required to pay taxes on all of your eBay sales.

3 minutes ago, RH said:

I'm looking to sell these, not keep them.  But, again, I'd rather bump them up in value a bit if they haven't been opened.  But, thanks for the details.  I didn't know VGA did that.  I thought they only graded non-shrink wrapped items only if they were never shrink wrapped to begin with .  I knew WATA did that, but not VGA.

Yep. I lot a people don’t realize this about VGA. Look up “VGA Qualified” on eBay and you will see examples of VGA graded games where the shrink wrap has been removed and the boxes have been opened. It will increase value, but usually only feasible for games that are worth more than a couple hundred bucks, to offset the cost of grading fees. After shipping, grading fees, etc... it will cost about $100 to get those graded, even under the slowest tier. You won’t be able to sell it for more then $200, so not worth it at this time.

My NTSC GBA Final Fantasy collection:

I typically wouldn’t recommend grading something like this unless you want it for your own collection. If looking for a profit, VGA would be the better option to get that graded. They will grade it under the Qualified grading scale. They authenticate wether or not it was ever opened, then carefully remove all of the contents to make sure everything that’s supposed to be there is there. It would increase the value some, but wouldn’t be worth the cost of grading fees at this time. It will go up in value slightly with time. All that being said, there is a legit, gold graded (in archival casing), shrink wrapped copy on eBay right now for a steal at $200. 

Those XSEED Premium editions were all shrink wrapped. I had picked up a couple from GameStop, including the Legend of Heroes one you have there. It was definitely wrapped.

As of this moment, I would choose "Super Mario World". My mom had an SNES on layaway for me at Wall-Mart when I was about 7 or 8 years old. It was the Super Mario World bundle. I had heard about the Super Nintendo from fellow classmates and had seen commercials, but had never experienced it for myself. I had an NES at the time, and it was pretty much my whole world. Every time we would go to Wall-Mart, my mom would put a little bit more money toward the console until finally we were able to take it home. It felt like a lifetime worth of waiting back then. It's all coming back to me now! I can even smell the innards of the box, as I opened it on that fateful night. It was like a dream. I can even still see the layaway sticker stuck to the outside of the box, even though I haven't seen it in 25 years. I hooked the system up to my parents main TV in the living room. I can't even explain in words how wonderful the euphoric release was for me as a child. Yes there are better games than that, but If I had to relieve an experience, it would be that one.