undamned

Neat collecting project!  I used to think I wanted all the Rockman/Megaman games and then I discovered all the goofball Asia variants and quickly changed my goals, lol.

-ud

Nice work!

-ud

On 9/13/2021 at 7:32 PM, kell said:

Unfortunately, there is a piece of packing tape across the sticker, and most of the game. They came back and said they couldn’t get it off without ruining the wrap. Vent holes are the tricky part.

If it were mine, I'd attempt it myself, but yeah, vent holes can be very tricky to avoid when removing something as large as a big piece of packing tape.  If any partially dissolved glue gets through a vent hole, you ain't getting that out.  Then you could end up with a spot where the seal sticks to the box in in a strange way.

-ud

Update on SFC submissions since I previously posted, they confirmed that they would in fact grade SFC.  Then after going back and forth for for a few e-mails regarding game info specifics, they basically said, "wait, did you mean BOXED SFC?  Sorry, we can only do bare cart."  

-ud

I think the most generous explanation for why they haven't released pop reports is that their "matrix" QR code app/system isn't ready and they don't want to publish pops before then.

Alternatively, they are just being scummy and letting Heritage reap the benefits of people dropping wild money for items that may actually have high pops.

-ud

On 4/30/2021 at 7:31 AM, DoctorEncore said:

I had a sealed Arkanoid (NES) shipped to me from South America that customs decided needed to be opened and inspected. They also made sure to tear up the cardboard flaps too. Putting my tax dollars to good use destroying my legally purchased stuff. America!

I don't buy sealed items from international sellers anymore. I've heard similar horror stories from other collectors so it seems to be a relatively common occurrence.

On my last batch of items I sold on ebay, I didn't even enable international bids because I just don't feel like dealing with that sort of headache.  Sure, I'm missing out on potentially making more money, but the risk goes up significantly for something to go wrong.

-ud

Declared value should be 100% up to the person submitting the game.  Your game was declared at $1k, but is worth $100k and gets damaged at Wata or in return shipping?  You only get up to $1k in compensation.  And if Wata says it cost $60 to grade my game, it doesn't matter if it's a $1k game or a $100k game, do the job and don't jerk people around.

If they want to inform the customer that they might want to add more insurance on the return shipment, fine.  But eliminate the appearance of scumminess by involving the shipping company directly, or at least pointing the customer to the shippers web page with an official statement on exactly what the cost of insurance is, based on value.

-ud

The JP collection is even more expansive, but thankfully not nearly as wild in price as USA/EUR.  I recently did an update video of my Rockman stuff:

Got an official response regarding Super Famicom and PC Engine:

My guess is the shop sealed it.  I've not seen them sealed before, either.

-ud

Neat!  Great price, too!  I'd grab them if I wasn't already trying to pair down my odds n ends

-ud

On 3/31/2021 at 9:07 AM, Gloves said:

I prefer the Japanese box to the NA box at least half the time, and it's legit something I might pivot to at some point is grabbing the CIBs for games I like the art for. So I do hope that there's not some sudden jump in price for them.

As long as you are just looking for CIB, your are safe on most games.  If you are going for "unopened," the market is pretty hot already and you will likely get beat up pretty badly (especially if it's a popular seller.  That alone can cost you 2x).

13 hours ago, fcgamer said:

Here's the honest truth of the matter. The staff at Wata just don't know enough about that stuff, so how can they accurately verify and grade it? Even for people such as @OptOut and myself, who are surrounded by the stuff, we are still discovering new information and new things, and either of us would be "experts" compared to anyone at Wata, I'd reckon.

So entering into that market just raises the likelihood for tons of mistakes to occur, since it's the sort of market that they aren't experts at, and similarly, I'd presume that it would be a drastically smaller portion of people sending items in, do you can't even "learn from doing" very well.

Yeah, you may be right.  Plus, from what I know, one of the main reasons to use Wata over VGA is the option to list with Heritage Auctions and I'm guessing that Heritage will not be listing JP games for a long time, if ever.

Can't wait to see the first graded repro of SFC Rendering Ranger or PCE Saphire 

-ud

46 minutes ago, Code Monkey said:

Do people check their website before posting these questions?

Try entering a game, though.  Doesn't work.  "Mario" doesn't even register anything.  Since the time I sent them my inquiry, it appears they have added a bunch of place holders.  Still no forecast on when those will be usable.

-ud

Some amazing stuff in this thread!  I'm slowly organizing some submissions and saving up money to get them graded.  It all seems like such a drawn out process, lol.  From what I see, the end result is worth it, though.

-ud

I saw that Wata recently started doing some Turbografx game boxes.  Has anyone heard what their future plans are for other systems/games?  I'm mostly curious about Famicom and Super Famicom.  I sent them a message a few weeks ago regarding a forecast on such games and got zero response, so I thought maybe someone here may have heard rumblings.

And somewhat related, does anyone know if they have plans to do Japanese games at all?  Megadrive games will fit their Genesis cases fine, but it's possible they won't want to venture there if they lack knowledge of that library and its nuances.

-ud

Nice collection!  I built up a decent Mega Man / Rockman collection over the years, but there's no way I could keep up with today's prices.  It's definitely become inaccessible for casual collectors.  Now days, I'm just looking to find better condition replacements for my Rockman boxes.  I wasn't entirely picky back in the day and, now I'm regretting it, lol.

-ud