Dumars2001

I love reading these kind of stories. I am very happy for you and your family.

You make a lot of good points and I respect your opinions and thoughts on if video game collecting has evolved into an investment hobby or not these days with the influx of "new" (big & speculative) money rapidly coming into the hobby with each passing day. I guess, I actually fall somewhere in the middle with video game collecting still being a little niche hobby or becoming more of an investing hobby, like cards, comics, coins, etc. I am seeing more video game videos and articles talking about collecting video games as an investment more than ever and I truly believe a lot of people are buying with an investment approach these days, when buying their games. Just my 2 cents. Below are 2 videos (many of these type of videos are popping up now on YouTube, talking about the investment aspect of collecting video games) of a well known card collector (he also has another very popular YouTube channel with almost 12,000 subscribers https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmDo-abIkL9ZtgqyqF68mBA and he just made this new channel to focus on video game collecting) and I have to say that I agree with most of his points in the video.

I know the influx of new collectors started coming into the hobby around 2018, maybe a little earlier (and forever changed the landscape of this once little niche hobby) and prices started to go up on games across the board, but things have gotten to a stratospheric level in prices just this past year (with no end in sight) and the scary thing is, it isn't stopping anytime soon and we could all be talking about a $5,000,000 dollar video game sale in the near future. I can't even believe we now have a $2,000,000 dollar game! If you scour Ebay to buy something these days (sealed, nice CIB games, etc), you almost can't unless you are rich, because the prices for this stuff is through the roof now but no matter what the price is, someone is buying it up for an astronomical price. The older collectors will always remember the "old" prices for the games being sold today at today's prices, but we are NEVER going back to those days and just have to accept the hobby for what it is now. Collecting is now an investment! Some people (older collectors) have made out like a bandit in today's market and some have not. Like any investment/hobby, you win some and you lose some. Congrats to anyone that bought sealed games in the past or have a premium collection you built up back in the day for any platform, because everything has skyrocketed in price and seems to go up in value with each passing day and with the influx of new collectors coming into the hobby on a daily basis. Every day, I see different games (usually sealed, nice CIB or rare from all systems, especially NES, SNES, Gameboy, N64, Genesis) selling for thousands of dollars and it is scary to me, because I feel it is "normal" now. I still can't believe where we are in this hobby and how fast it has exploded. The video game hobby seems like an out of control freight train steaming ahead with no end in sight.

Congrats! That is still a very nice pick up, no matter the condition it is in. Sealed Nes Super Mario Bros are always in demand these days.

Wow! Some serious love for a (sports game) WATA graded 9.2 Sega Genesis FIFA International Soccer game. Sold for $15,100. https://www.ebay.com/itm/144120640253?hash=item218e4272fd%3Ag%3AdlEAAOSw3-lg9xmN&nma=true&si=mdOX%2BnMVPOWLIXF1d8vkNA2fV34%3D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

That was a great read and it provided more insight to the current situation in the hobby. Thanks so much for posting it. Bronty is literally the Michael Jordan (The Godfather/Legend) of sealed collecting and his thoughts carry a lot of weight/merit as to what is currently going on in the video game market today.

I was just thinking about this again. How about a high grade Nes Konami first print hang tab (Non Rev A) Track & Field? I remember this being an extremely popular and fun game to play with my friends, when I was a kid. Also, let's not sleep on Ring King and black box Pro Wrestling either. You almost never see any of these 3 titles pop up sealed.

Thanks fcgamer for sharing your experiences. Hopefully it does still come through, just perplexed as why it isn't moving out of US Customs for so long, but like you said, patience is the key. Much appreciation to my Taiwan Brother!

According to the reviews, I don't think so. I guess, it is a very unique movie and some of the reviewers are saying one of, if not the best Nic Cage performances ever and the best movie of 2021 so far. https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/pig_2021

His new movie Pig is getting rave reviews.

Wow! That game lot is literally thousands of dollars these days! Hindsight is always 20/20.

This is must watch TV here. A shout out to GetTheGregGames!

Is this the man, the myth, the legend, GetTheGregGames?! I love your videos bro! I watched when you did the Heritage Auction Signature Live Stream! You had me in stitches with your play by play of the auction, thoughts (words of wisdom) and of course Barry! I even made a new topic about you in the Everything Else section of the forum! Keep them great videos coming out and thanks so much for doing the live streams.

Very well said! I am still very grateful of the games that I held on to, but I do know that I sold the games I listed above to buy vintage Starwars & Gijoe, so I didn't inject the money back into video games. You sure have stayed consistent about your sqoon regret. I know that has been your biggest regret for years. I really admire your thinking and not changing your views about collecting, even though, we all know that you have an unreal sealed collection. That tells me about what a high character guy you are. Kudos to you for that! I really love reading your posts and analysis of just about every topic on here and back on NA.

The title says it all for sealed collectors out there. Now, with the way the sealed market has exploded, I am sure that many of you are kicking yourself for selling something or not buying something when you had the chance. I have quite a few regrets but my number one regret now, is selling my raw sealed copy of a minty Sega Genesis Sonic the Hedgehog (original launch copy). I remember selling it for $450 and being ecstatic over that sale. Some honorable mentions: (I sold all of these way back before the boom) A VGA 85+ Nes Mighty Final Fight A VGA 85 black seal Nes Ghostbusters A Vga 85 Ubi Soft Nes Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade Very nice raw copies of Nes Wolverine, Turtles 2, Turtles 3, Skate or Die, Double Dragon 2 VGA 90's of Nes Batman, Bad Dudes, Total Recall, Yo Noid Anyways, I don't fret too much about this, but I sure wish that I had these ones back and a few more, but nobody new what was going to happen. The games that I wish I would have bought: I remember having many chances to buy a VGA 85 or a nice raw copy of Nes Contra, Zelda 2 and Metroid for around a $1,000 for a long time, but for some reason, I always put it off.

Oh yeah, I forgot all about Jordan vs Bird. That is also a great choice.

Thanks again Blarky for sharing this with the community and the effort that went into it, to obtain the treasure trove of information on these coveted graded sealed blackbox games. Like we both said, their could be more or less now, because of the WATA crossovers and more raw copies getting graded by VGA. But I decided to use your database and count how many sealed (Sorry, no Q grades) VGA blackbox games there were as of 2016 to 2019. Of course, I just counted the exact amount of sealed games for each game and not get into all the other variables. In my opinion, the total amount of sealed blackbox games across the board is shockingly low at 490 total VGA graded blackbox games. With all the new people/companies jumping into the video game market, if you own any of these, you got pure gold. The supply of this amount will not be able to satisfy the influx of new money/collectors coming into the hobby. Just my humble thinking. 1. Soccer- 3 total sealed copies 2. Donkey Kong Jr. Math- 4 total sealed copies 2. Slalom- 4 total sealed copies 3. Donkey Kong- 5 total sealed copies 4. Clu Clu Land- 6 total sealed copies 4. Volleyball- 6 total sealed copies 4. Donkey Kong Jr.- 6 total sealed copies 5. Gyromite- 7 total sealed copies 5. Urban Champion- 7 total sealed copies 5. Pro Wrestling- 7 total sealed copies 6. Gumshoe- 8 total sealed copies 6. Mach Rider- 8 total sealed copies 7. Popeye- 8 total sealed copies 8. Mario Bros.- 9 total sealed copies 9. Ice Climber- 10 total sealed copies 10. Wrecking Crew- 11 total sealed copies 11. Tennis- 11 total sealed copies 12. Donkey Kong 3- 11 total sealed copies 13. Balloon Fight-11 total sealed copies 14. Wild Gunman- 12 total sealed copies 15. Duck Hunt- 12 total sealed copies 16. Baseball-14 total sealed copies 17. Stack-Up- 15 total sealed copies 18. 10-Yard Fight-16 total sealed copies 19. Kung Fu- 36 total sealed copies 20. Excitebike- 38 total sealed copies 21. Golf- 38 total sealed copies 22. Hogan's Alley- 45 total sealed copies 23. Pinball-58 total sealed copies 24. Super Mario Bros.- 85 total sealed copies

Wow! Awesome that you have a sealed one. Now get it graded and send it over to Heritage Auctions!

Thank you for sharing your insight and experiences. Ok, I think that I will go ahead and open an investigation or contact the seller to open one. It is strange, that I am much more worried than the seller (I have contacted the seller already and he is also looking into it, but he doesn't seem stressed about this at all, just judging from our back and fourth email communication), but we all deal with things differently and have different levels of anxiety. Thanks again for taking your time to try to help and offer your suggestions. I really do appreciate it.

I think high grade Tecmo Bowls will continue to go up in price. My sleeper pick for a potential big time sports game sale is a high grade Sega Genesis Team USA (from 1992, "The Dream Team"), especially now that WATA and PSA are run by the same company. You have a rare game that is hard to find sealed representing the greatest team ever assembled in sports history and the fact, the game comes with some Team USA cards, so it appeals to game and card collectors.

Wow! That is an awesome list that you compiled. Interesting to roughly see the population of these sealed blackbox games as of 2019. I would imagine there are even fewer of these Sealed black box games slabbed in VGA cases now, because they have been crossed over to WATA. This shows that there really aren't too many of these games sealed for almost all titles, but of course some are way more rarer than other titles, but in the grand scheme of things, I think there is much more demand than supply for every single blackbox title out there. Thanks so much for the awesome list and taking the time to compile it.

Does anyone know a worst case scenario here? I paid by credit card and not through PayPal or Ebay, so if I never receive it, and the vendor wouldn't refund, could I do a credit card chargeback for something like this?

thanks. yeah, maybe I could try to figure out the actual number to the post office that it is being held at in New York (assuming it is out of Customs). just so frustrating and then not knowing if it is or isn't in Customs!

hi, great to know that we have a USPS lawyer on this forum. The difference here, is that the package in question is leaving the Untied States, so why would customs hold it for so long? from your experiences, have you heard of a case similar to mine? like I said, it was valued at $3000 USD, could this be the problem? but like I said, I have bought a ton of things from the states for an amount more than $3000 and never had an issue, especially when using USPS. I have had to pay big customs taxes for expensive items I purchased when using Fedex, DHL, etc, but never had one single problem with USPS and I have literally had hundreds of packages sent to me from the states over the years. Thanks again for your suggestions and taking your time to chime in here. I greatly appreciate it.

ok guys, first of all, thank you all so much for taking your time to post here and let me know about your past experiences and suggestions. Here is the latest information that I was able to gather by calling the USPS hot line (from here in Taiwan). in the past 2 days, I have made a total of 4 calls to the hotline. Call #1: The lady checks the tracking number and tells me that it is being held in customs and she is seeing something that says Taiwan is the reason it is being held up, because it is valued at over $1,000 USD and I need to obtain some kind of license for them to release it. Mind you, I am in Taiwan and this package is being held in a New York Customs facility!! So, I am like what?! How can this be? but she says that is the information she has, so I politely thank her and tell my Taiwanese wife about what was said, so she calls Taiwan Customs and they tell her that is impossible, that they have never heard of something like that happening and I would only possibly run into an issue of this nature, when/if it arrived into Taiwan and its customs. (so I decide to call USPS again) Every time you have to go through a long process/time to finally reach a live person to talk with. Call #2: I call and this time the agent tells me that the package has cleared customs and that sometimes workers forget to scan it, or it could still be waiting to be moved to its next destination, or it could possibly just show up in Taiwan in a few days. Now, I am thinking Ok, that is great news to hear that it is at least out of customs. Just to be sure, I asked her about it clearing customs a few times, and she told me 100% that it is out of customs. (After reading stuff about this issue online/forums, I decided that I neeed to call again for my own peace of mind) Call #3: I call again and don't tell the lady/agent that I had previously called and go through the whole process again with her. Now I kid you not, she once again says that it is being held in customs. I ask are you sure and she says, 100% yes, it is showing that it is being held in customs still! (I always ask each agent questions, like why is it being held? when might it be released? How long? etc, but every time they tell me that they are a different agency (USPS) than US Customs and that I would need to call them to ask, so I get the International Customs phone number for the International Mail department at JFK airport and call them. They promptly tell me that they don't have any information and that I need to contact USPS! Just getting misinformation and the run-arounds!) So, I wake up early this morning and think, what the heck, I m going t call USPS again, because all the misinformation is really bugging me. Call #4 (Just a few minutes ago) I call, wait forever and once again a lady picks up. This time I tell the lady, that that I have already called them (I only said 2 times though) and informed her that I have been told that my package was in customs and have been told that it is out of customs. Well, she takes a look, even puts me on hold for awhile and finally comes back and tells me that she doesn't know if the package is in or out of Customs! Sigh...... I will say that every agent was extremely polite and patient, but I am more confused/dumbfounded than ever now and don't know what to do. It is so frustrating not knowing. I did contact the vendor and he is looking into it also. The item that I bought was a vintage Starwars toy priced at $3,000 USD. I don't know if the value makes any difference, but I do know that the full value was declared and that I have bought things for more then $3,000 in the past without an issue. any more suggestions on this matter would be greatly appreciated. I am very sorry for the word salad and once again thank you guys for your help/suggestions.