inasuma

2 hours ago, tidaldreams said:

Wow, what is this awful looking website. Maybe there will be some easy pickings with how bad the filtering is (probably not though).

Welcome to internet auctions. Where security is an afterthought!

One of my orders (arrived 4/13) went into post grading this morning. Just about exactly their listed turnaround time. Sounds like it’s a few weeks more to get slabbed and shipped.

12 minutes ago, DefaultGen said:

But in terms of prices, a pop report will probably hurt collectors more than anything.

It really depends on the game/state of the market. I genuinely believe games are being peddled with false information online, in auctions especially. Having pop reports would at least enable collectors to see true a game’s rarity as it relates to their organic demand. 

Sadly eBay is your best bet. I’d probably just buy a CIB game and flip the extra case + cart given the slip likely isn’t sought after like DS pokemon inserts are

17 minutes ago, AdamW said:

Holy jesus, it's not enough that HA and certifiedlink are live with giant auctions simultaneously, now so is ComicConnect:

https://www.comicconnect.com/browse/?filters=1&stock_category_id[0][o]=E&stock_category_id[0][v]=5&tzf=1&page=2

they do not have any useful filtering options so you'll have to look through 20 freaking pages of stuff yourself. But there's at least a Stadium Events cart and a sealed SMB in there.

The SE cart caught my eye too. It’s surprising to see considering it’s a big player. I’d have put it on HA personally.

11 minutes ago, AdamW said:

OK so maybe I got sucked into this sealed thing a bit...this wasn't cheap but I'm super happy to have it:

followers of my Pokemon nerdery will recognize this is the uncommon "PLAYS ON DS*" print from 2007. I've seen 7 copies of that print (3 sealed) and now I own two of them It's in super fantastic shape, too. Just one very tiny bump to the front bottom middle, aside from that it seems perfect.

I've got another cool sealed GBA thing in the mail ATM as well...:D

I sense a high grade if you send it into wata. But otherwise this is such a great pickup. Congrats!

6 hours ago, OptOut said:

Wow, people are dumb, huh!

How did this even get 9.8 with such an ugly-ass corner? Computer ENHANCE:

 

This isn’t the first time I’d notice this type of thing. Wata has been grading some very shoddy games way too high. I saw a sealed blue version with an extremely baggy seal get an A++ seal rating. Meanwhile my near-case-fresh gameboy games get A and A+.

Edit: oh it’s just clouds how neat

7 hours ago, Dumars2001 said:

Wow! This sealed N64 Super Mario 64 is already up to $117,000 with 23 days left! I wonder where these games and some of the other heavyweights will end at.

https://comics.ha.com/itm/video-games/super-mario-64-wata-98-a-sealed-n64-nintendo-1996-usa/a/7261-28137.s?ic4=GalleryView-ShortDescription-071515

This sealed white seal (late print) Nes Super Mario Bros is at $60,000

https://comics.ha.com/itm/video-games/super-mario-bros-wata-96-a-sealed-oval-soq-r-later-production-nes-nintendo-1985-usa/a/7261-28056.s?ic4=GalleryView-ShortDescription-071515

Damn. That’s one of the fastest hikes I’ve seen a game have despite being such a new listing.

Go Mario go

Posted these in the graded games thread but these came in the mail a couple days ago

6 hours ago, VideoGameGradersLLC said:

Been asking for feedback from the beginning and nobody's been shy.  Seems reasonable to ask people hammering away at how shitty it looks for suggestions on what would be less shitty.  But I should have known better, this group not exactly known for the construction part of constructive criticism.  

It's all good, I knew what I was getting into - especially when opening the discussion back up and I do appreciate the feedback was simply hoping rather than just telling me how much it sucks I'd get suggestions about how to improve it.  Have gotten a few.  And if there are professional designers willing to offer their services I'm happy to pay them for those professional services.  

It’s a fine line between offering advice and consulting. If someone is building a business, I’m personally uncomfortable providing design critique beyond a few key points, especially if it’s someone I don’t know.

That said, I’m personally eager to have more competitors who can give a great service in a beautiful slab.

I think you’re on the right track, and if could find a professional designer who can capture an aesthetic you’re seeking for the label, that’d be a much faster / more efficient approach than people on a forum

As a tip, an industrial product designer could help you with the case shape given some key requirements on shape, security, and aesthetics.

Hope this helps.

1 hour ago, drxandy said:

Also when you hire the designer I don't want you to give them any input, just the information that needs to be displayed. They will do the rest. Do not fucking meddle. And don't cheap out on them. They are the artist, not you. Admit you are bad at design and move on with your real business and stop wasting time on things. 

Not really critical to the discussion but a designer should be able to receive criticism, even from a client who doesn’t know any better. It’s fine to have opinions. Graphic design isn’t strictly “art” as its goal is corporate appeal, rather than aesthetic beauty. There are lots of ugly logos that are memorable and that’s part of the designers job to sell as such. Just my $0.02

That said, a clients ignorance is no excuse to not pay fairly. But that’s been beaten into the ground at this point haha 

19 minutes ago, VideoGameGradersLLC said:

Working on it. Anyone have any sketches and or ideas they’d like to suggest we’d love to see it. 

I appreciate your interest to add competition (please do) but please don’t look for spec work, here or anywhere. There are enough issues with graded video games as a market without the need for labor exploitation. Designers have bills too.

Wanted to chime in on this thread because the OP and some of the initial responses intrigued me. Keep in mind I’m not an investor or market speculator or any of that. I just like games and think grading is a great way to encapsulate my favorite childhood items.

Please. For the love of god. This market is so broken, and the competitors are lacking in really crucial (yet different) categories. The two options are:

- wata: amazing submission experience, no pop reports, market manipulation on the secondary market, kinda ugly cases, again no pop reports

- vga: horrible submission process, limited or non-functioning pop report system, broken website

This market is not mature at all. It needs more competition. More importantly, the two main figureheads need to fix some insanely glaring problems for anyone going into this hobby for anything other than personal collecting.

For wata: as someone who builds software for a living, it can’t take this long to build a functioning, iterated pop report product that fits into watas brand. It’s just data entry + queries. I could make a basic version in a few months tops. I’m not saying this because I hate Wata or think they’re evil villains. I just feel bad for the unassuming collectors who are paying the obscene prices on the secondary market, of which wata is directly responsible for that market manipulation. It might be good business for them but it’s so cringe to witness.

For vga: where to even start. Online sub process still relies on flash (can’t use it with modern browsers). Paper form version feels like I’m filing taxes. Website barely works half the time. Pages 404 and sometimes don’t even load. UV cases aren’t the default. They were the guinea pig in this market and it shows.

Heres my problem at the end of the day: neither business seems keen to own up to their products in ways that benefit consumers. Watas lack of a pop report hurts collectors. Vgas lack of modernity hurts their customers (in addition to their shadow of a pop report). These are not good signs for a blooming market, yall.

3 hours ago, Frost271 said:

I agree with a previous comment. Its about the $$.

Not releasing reports in fact help the older collectors, now, in general, as most long-timers know what is and isnt rare and a great time to cash in.  Especially since grading takes a year right now unless you pay $500 which is still worth it to sell a high value market title.  

These new collectors are paying $50k plus for games that have a huge sealed population in mint condition (i.e Marios bros 3, Ninja Gaidens, etc…).

You release the reports, those values will drop hard.  So the WATA collectors’ games go down in value, less buyers and seller premiums for HA. 

Other side of the coin, set collectors will catch on to the rare titles outside of black boxes and popular titles so those values would go up.  

Market would correct itself essentially.  If WATA were to do it right like CGS. They will solidify itself as the only grading company in the market. VGA screwed it up and had a decade head start. Whether you like them or not, WATA is doing it right.  Big big money is being made. 

lol wata’s founder is perfectly comfortable consulting on the prices of his own products on pawn stars.

they are fully taking advantage of the situation by not releasing pop reports and it’s obv. cash money.

Sorry to double post, but another great return. Only took 3 months (2x their current turnaround). 

Well, she was working there at the time. I don't see any reason for her to lie right before leaving. lol

That said, Wata is clearly taking their sweet, sweet time.

I messaged Wata about this specifically a few months ago. Their communications person, Megan, indicated a pop report should be coming this year. Is it true? Who knows. One can hope.

basically all the n64/snes games from my childhood. i ended up only grabbing a few CIB N64 games. also managed to get sealed copies of f-zero and gauntlet legends because there's so many sealed cases all over the place lol

otherwise, i generally haven't dipped in to buy games... just too expensive. my price memory comes from mid-2015 where everything was way cheaper. $30 for a cib golden sun lmao

On 6/8/2021 at 8:03 AM, kell said:

I'm seeing it as well. My Turbo from Nov is in post grading as is a speedrun from early April, so good to see movement. Unfortunately, can't see grades. 

Anyone have an idea how long post grading usually takes/till I can see grades? (Already been a week for one order)

I have a speedrun from mid-april, so good to hear yours is moving along. mine should be soon too then.

as for post-grading turnaround, i think sadly this depends on the QA and encasement teams. i've had an order from march in post-grading for nearly a month now. hopefully that is speeding up now but who knows.

EDIT: spoke too soon - my speedrun order just shipped. Was in post-grading for 23 days.

For just residue, I've found Un-Du to work great. WD-40 is also fine. 

11 hours ago, phart010 said:

Looking at this gives me chills. There was a time between N64 and GameCube when I began hating video gaming due to the elimination of my favorite 2D genres. Metroid Fusion gave me some temporary relief.

I preordered it and picked it up on day 1. Unfortunately my box has seen better days, but I still have it with the original preorder receipt 

That's amazing! I wish I had my original copy. I played that game into the ground. hah

My sealed Metroid Fusion. By far one of the longest of goal games. Finally saw a mint copy show up for a mildly bank breaking price but considering said grail status I had to get it. Will probably never sell it.

17 hours ago, broncofantd793 said:

I think a year minimum is a good expectation for turnaround time for grading anything at this point. 

their turnaround times have been increasing by about 1 month, each month.

ive made four speedrun subs this year so far: right around the 20th each month of 2-3 games each.

January: order back by mid-feb

february: order back by mid-april

march: order went into post grading three weeks ago. Should be arriving this month  

april: expecting to receive around august or sept.

as an added metric, I’ve noticed my orders always being listed with an id about 700 higher from the last. which could mean wata is receiving a linear number of orders and is still losing momentum. I’m assuming the order id correlates to the order number in their system, so this could be wrong. lol

i've got a few completed mainline sets plus spinoffs and console bundles here and there. right now the big focuses are mega man battle network, mega man zero/zx, and pokemon. it might sound obvious but i haven't and may never finish a pokemon video game set (with the exception of its mainline entries). i dont think i have the patience or motivation to do all spinoffs anyway. hah

the photos are kind of old so i've since added a few items to each set, such as the keychain bundle of pokemon ultra moon/ultra sun and pokemon stadium 2. i also added mega man battle network 6: cybeast gregar to finish the sealed my BN sealed collection (except for chip challenge which i dont care for, and network transmission just isn't in these photos, but i do have a couple copies of it). zero/zx has been done for a long while already.

EDIT: oh this probably goes without saying but i dont collect label variants or really variants in general. i just go with what i can find within the umbrella of CIB or sealed, but sometimes will align subsets (e.g., gen 2 pokemon) to the same production runs (e.g. all y-fold or all double-ended boxes).

(sorry images were deleted on imgur)

hi dad