Naked Warrior

Your listing there is most certainly legit...the reason why the price is reasonable/so many sealed copies is because Deal Tavern still has inventory (probably pretty significant inventory...) I know the listings don't have pictures, so you are kind of taking a crapshoot, but I'm satisfied with the condition his games like 90%+ of the time...(but I am definitely NOT super condition sensitive). I would buy one from him if I were you... https://www.ebay.com/itm/Advance-Guardian-Heroes-GBA-New-Game-Boy-Advance/384003310532?epid=30951687&hash=item59686183c4:g:xxkAAOSwQ5tfrKsr

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Yeah, all the Mario Parties on that system have blown up, but market manipulation would be tough...I think it is just your classic case of intense demand outstripping a (relatively) high supply (You know, like every Pokemon game right now). TBH, I still think Gamecube has a lot of room to run...Wouldn't be surprised to see Mario Parties/Super Strikers/Billy Hatcher/Pikmin 2/F-Zero X hit the $100+ mark in the next year.

Your seal looks 100% legit, so that is great! I would also like to know why it is so rare (if there is an explanation other than "sold poorly")...I am down to under 20 games left for a GBA CIB collection, and this is still on my need list...I have to say I've been hunting GBA games on eBay/Amazon almost daily for 5 years now, and I've only had a shot at buying this twice - both times were NIB, and both times were out of my price range...including this one from just a couple weeks ago! https://www.ebay.com/itm/Brand-New-Sealed-Sega-Rally-For-GameBoy-Advance-Original-/133656418437?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&nma=true&si=aIbWKF99McchAr9r%2BTDfZ3SuAyw%3D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557 Congrats on obtaining it! I know you have a great "little" GBA collection!

My parents were very anti-videogame as I was growing up, so I didn't get a console until I was 14 and had a part-time job that generated enough cash for me to fund the purchase myself (Pro Tip: If you are 14, go to Iowa in the summer and detassel corn - it is worst job you will ever have, but so much money for a 14-year-old). Anyway, it was 1994, and like many others on this list, it was the SNES Super Mario World pack-in (which also came with Mario All-Stars as a separate cart). If we aren't counting pack-ins, then 4-5 months later I got Madden 95 and NHL 95 for Christmas...Good 'ol safe sports games - those couldn't possibly corrupt my brain, or so my parents thought...

Spot on with this...I bought a couple copies of Blender Bros for GBA before it blew up and they are mint, but I've bought copies of other games that are an absolute mess...I've bought literally hundreds of games from him, and 90%+ of the time I am happy. He is a little hit and miss with the packaging too...when I find something I want to buy, I try to bundle it with at least 10 other things so that it for sure warrants a box. I bought 5 copies of Tokyo Beat Down for DS (back when they were $18 a pop) when I was going thru my Atlus phase a few years ago and they came in a bubble mailer...which of course got crushed...so badly that it shattered the plastic DS cases on 3 of the 5 and I had to send them back...

Is this really a thing that is? https://www.lukiegames.com/Juka-Monophonic-Menace-GameBoy-Advance.html I am quite certain I bought a NIB copy of this 8 months ago off Amazon for $20 shipped, and the seller (Deal Tavern) had like 70+ in stock...there appear to be none on eBay as well...I smell Wall Street Bets-style market manipulation! Thank the Lord Lukie Games has it on sale!! (Except they are out of stock )

See! I knew someone on here would know about these - Thanks!...Yeah @Tanooki, I figured there were probably some out there . Sorry to hear you had to experience it first hand...I'm out of the Pokemon GBA game for now (Well, I still have all my CIB copies...), but paying $200 for CIBs and $100 for an Emerald cart(???) - That isn't something I want any part of!

Yeah, I was following that one too...I don't disagree that is WAY too much, but I feel like it may be a case of a collector finding exactly what they want (condition wise) and just putting a max bid of something ridiculous in...Back in May/June 2020, there was a CIB of Colin McCrae 2.0 for GBA available in great condition (I didn't really care too much about the condition), but I hadn't seen one for sale on eBay or Amazon in over 2 years (and it was one of the few games I didn't have CIB) so I decided I was going to buy it...I bid $700 with a second remaining in the auction (it was at $105 when I bid) just so I knew I would be the top bid...and somebody overbid me , and they got it for $710. Sticking with GBA, I personally thought this was a little much, but the game is ultra-rare, so to each his own I guess https://www.ebay.com/itm/Brand-New-Sealed-Sega-Rally-For-GameBoy-Advance-Original-/133656418437?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&nma=true&si=aIbWKF99McchAr9r%2BTDfZ3SuAyw%3D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Got this sweet Dreamcast Bundle off eBay - Not super cheap/probably about market value, but it was just amazing to see all these great games in one lot - No filler here! I already had a few of them, but nobody has ever said, "I'll never be able to trade away this pristine copy of Cannon Spike!"

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Hmmmm...I feel you are right to be concerned...The ridge on your H-seam is much more pronounced than mine, and the "folds" on the side look a bit wonky too (see my side pic). Does your copy have the tiny little holes (see my pic - there is one just above Torchick's head, one just below the "B" in "Game Boy", and one just above the shadow of the Medicham's head)? Legit sealed H-seams will always have those little holes somewhere (they might not be in the same place as mine). It looks like your corners may have some wear, even tho they are still under the cellophane (but I may just be looking at it wrong). I would say there is a lot not to like about that "Factory Seal"; however, I'd also say that GBA games are notorious for having a bunch of different/hard to verify seals, so I couldn't say with certainty that it isn't legit... https://imgur.com/a/B47okWa As for your follow up questions: 1) I don't understand the grading of sealed videogames at all (and really have little interest in it). 2) This is the first time I've ever heard of that seller.

I would consider myself a GBA Expert, and I can say with confidence that both carts are legit. I have seen hundreds (thousands?) of fakes and I've never seen them try to re-create the imprinted numbers on the front of the cart label (although it probably has been done by someone somewhere) - Both carts are clearly marked with codes that are recognizable to me. The "Nintendo" font is spot on on the back of the cartridge and on the board, and the boards have no tell-tale signs of counterfeiting (stickers with Chinese hanzi on them, black blobs, batteries) All that being said, although I can tell you for sure they are legit, I couldn't tell you why they are different...(although my guesses would be either one was a "Player's Choice" cart, and the other wasn't, or just they were manufactured in two different places that were using slightly different boards - We know they were manufactured in different places because of the sticker imprints...)There are probably people here that have more knowledge about boards/game manufacturing that might be able to clear it up further.

I get a message at least once every six weeks from a new seller saying, "Why aren't you paying for this???" and I have to show them how to set up their Paypal account to accept all types of payments...Usually I'm nice about it ("This happens to new sellers pretty often..."), but sometimes I just ain't got time for that ("GO TO PAYPAL AND USE THE HELP FUNCTION!!!...")

Exactly that... I have sent questions to sellers on occasion like "Does it have the manual?" or whatever, but 100% of the time I get one of the following 2 reactions: 1) No Response 2) Buy it Now price raised triple the original value, with no response.

Yeah, I didn't list my failures from the last two weeks...I bought a Sega Saturn Rayman CIB that was listed "AS-IS because I don't have a Saturn to test it" for like $45...Completely riddled with disc rot . I know I could probably abuse eBay's policy to return it (because they always side with the buyer, and because the disc rot was not mentioned), but it seems unfair...He put "AS-IS" and I gambled and lost that one... On a completely unrelated note, Anybody out there got a disc-only Rayman on Sega Saturn (that isn't riddled with disc rot) that they want to sell?

So, as someone who doesn't like to leave the house, as well as someone who didn't start collecting until late 2016, a majority of my game collection has come from eBay and Amazon...and as time has gone on, I find myself gambling on poor listings more and more often. I've been expanding my Gamecube collection over the past 4 months, and picked up these three games (from 3 different sellers - all with less than 10 feedback) in the last 2 weeks for $31 (Pikmin), $30 (Killer 7), & $19 (Sonic Gems) shipped/including tax respectively because they were listings with NO PICTURES and had descriptions that read something similar to: "Game in very good condition. Will ship USPS first class." I guess I figured, even if they were disc-only, at that price I would lose maybe $5 each if they weren't "good enough" for my collection and I had to re-sell them. I will say, I don't do this near as often with cartridge/box games because it is almost assumed if they don't specifically say "box" in the listing, it is going to be cart only (even if it says "New" or "Like New"), and I also probably wouldn't do this on a game like Pokemon Box where several hundred dollars would be at risk. I also feel like I may be more willing than most because I'm not very condition sensitive - If the game plays and everything is there, I could care less if there are light scratches on the disc/dog-eared pages in the manual/a tear in the cover art. What do you think? Am I dumb for taking the risk to save $60 total on these 3 games? Do you only buy from eBay sellers that have a long track record? Do you care about condition so much the thought of doing this makes you throw up a little? I'm interested to see if there is a split here between people who identify more as "gamers" and people who identify more as "collectors".

I have lots of doubles/triples/quadruples that I hope to trade away someday...they aren't always rare, and I would say most of the time it was a shipping thing like, You can buy one NIB copy for $12, but you can buy 5 for $30...I lean towards to the 5 for $30 and hope that one day I can trade away the others...Although I will say I very rarely have multiple copies of CIB games (unless they are rare like the other members here mentioned, and I plan on trading them in the future)...I figure NIB games, even if they are not popular/rare will find an audience someday. Plus, having multiple copies of games makes for good conversation starters...I have 24 NIB copies of "Yugioh - The Sacred Cards" for GBA and I display them prominently in my game room...98% of the time someone comes into the game room for the first time they say, "Why do you have 24 copies of Yugioh - The Sacred Cards?" And I say, "That's funny, I was just about to ask you why you don't."

Not really. TBH, even if I would have "backdoored" him and he knew for 100% sure that I did, his problem is still with the seller. I had an eBay seller do the exact same thing to me last week...Accepted my offer, cancelled it 10 minutes later. I messaged him what was up, he said someone messaged him with a higher price. I said, "How much? Will you sell it to me for that much since you promised it to me first?" He said, No, it was too much trouble for him to do the reversal. I left negative feedback. I have no ill will toward that buyer - He wanted something, he offered more money, the scumbag seller took it. My relationship with the other buyer is/should be nothing. I was always confused as to why people get so upset with the person their wife/significant other cheats on them with (if that person is a stranger)...Your wife/husband is committed to you and has vowed not to cheat on you. The person s/he has an affair with doesn't know anything about you, and as far as s/he knows, s/he is doing nothing wrong. It is the same situation here - The seller is the cheating wife, the other buyer is the husband, and I'm the other man. He doesn't know me, why should he be upset with me? And I still don't see why I owe him an explanation, that's the cheating wife's job to explain. I mean it isn't really that big of deal - The other buyer got to blow off some steam, and I'll never transact with that person again. I doubt it will affect either of us in a meaningful way. I just shared the story because it seemed really odd to me, but apparently it is standard practice . Hahaha. True that is.

I hear you, and no doubt he had the right to be upset. I mean, he did the right thing by leaving negative feedback...But I just find it super-sketch that someone would take advantage of the fact that the seller put my username in the title to confront me...I didn't explain the situation to him because he should have never even known that I bought it - my username would have been confidential if the seller wouldn't have put it in the title...and I was shocked that someone would abuse a seller's mistake like that to go after another buyer. I didn't feel like I owed him an explanation. I don't bully anybody for any reason, but I understand not everybody is as laid back as I am, plus maybe buying/selling games is how he feeds his family and the stakes are higher for him...but if I was going to bully somebody, you better believe I would have an air-tight version of the full picture before I shot my mouth off.

So this actually happened to me a couple years back, but I've never heard or experienced anything like it, so I feel I should share... I buy A LOT of stuff on eBay, and get stuff cancelled/rude comments/blatant chicanery pretty often from sellers, which I figure comes with the territory given the amount of games I buy. Sometimes I look for CIB lots and will direct message the seller asking if they will pull specific games out. I found a listing that had 2 GBA games, one which was rare (NBA Jam 2002) along with a bunch of garbage Star Wars and Backyard Sports titles, and in the listing, the guy says "If you want only certain games, I'd be happy to pull them out and put them in a bundle for you." So I message him and I say, how about $30 for NBA Jam and this other game, which was probably a low ball offer, but at the time wasn't egregious, and the Seller agrees. So I message him, "Do you know how to do a private sale? Please don't put pics of the items, or put a really high BIN OBO and I'll make you an offer for $30" and he's like, "Yeah, I got it." So, of course, he takes pics of the two games and posts a listing for $30 BIN, sends me the listing #, and in the 30 seconds between the time he lists it and I get to it, it has already been bought by another eBayer...If you think you know where this is going, I bet you are wrong! So I'm real nice to the guy, and I tell him I would appreciate it if he cancels the transaction and re-posts for me - I reminded him he had promised it to me first and we had worked out the deal. I also tell him he has no obligation to me other than doing what he thinks is right, and I warn him that the other buyer will almost certainly leave negative feedback - It is up to him. He says he needs to call eBay and see what they recommend - Of course eBay recommends just mailing it to the actual buyer...and I have no recourse to even give negative feedback since I haven't technically bought anything. But the seller, bless his dumb-but-morally faithful heart, decides to side with me and re-list the games...this time he doesn't add any pics and does the high BIN OBO strategy I recommended up front...Of course the other buyer gives him totally warranted negative feedback that says something like "Cancelled Transaction/and sold to another buyer for higher price." But here is where it gets weird...the Seller listed the item as "GBA games for NakedWarrior" with my username right in the listing, SO THE OTHER BUYER SENDS ME A MESSAGE ALONG THE LINES OF "YOU BACKDOORED ME ON THAT NBA JAM DEAL! COMPLETELY UNFAIR!" Blah blah blah about how I'm the bad guy. I was like, "Look man, I don't know what you are talking about, but it wasn't me that caused your problem." Seriously? WTF? Who goes after another buyer in a situation like that? C'mon man! I get you are upset, but how am I to blame? Still doesn't sit right with me like 3 years later. Final fact: That other buyer is a quasi-active member on this site, and has even posted in this thread. I used to send offers for his listings on eBay, but I have chosen not to buy anything from him since that incident.

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Just a few more...

Can I get a post-Christmas miracle with someone swooping in with matching Red & Green controllers???