JJ Games shutting down

[OptOut | 8,883]

4 minutes ago, Gloves said:

When a space appears, someone will fill it. 

Shwing! 

[Lincoln | 230]

1 hour ago, 98ViperGTS said:

The fact that he decided to go on a year long camping adventure with his family probably didn't help his business much....

Still.  Sad

Lol what? Like he decided and proceeded with that plan at some point in the past? Or he's coming up shop now to facilitate that?

[Link | 2,709]

I don’t think I ever bought a game from them. Maybe I got a paper thing from them once. I am a budget shopper, like apparently a lot of people here, and I agree JJ’s prices are usually more than I’m willing to go with. That said, I think some of the smack talk ITT is unwarranted. 

First, I have heard the following before, and  I experienced it myself last month: They [used to] buy peoples’ bulk lots on ebay. My auction went for less than I hoped it would. I had a quality listing with all the strategic start and end times, goods pics and description, etc. and still, a pretty low result IMO. But JJ was the buyer who outbid everyone else. So I give thanks for that: if they didn’t buy it, somebody else would have got it for less. 

Second, if they are going out of business, that means they aren’t pulling enough profit out of their pricing structure. That means the profits (going down, as we see right now with old games for many reasons) aren’t covering the expenses (going up like everything else) any more. So the prices being high, I can see a justification for that. Somebody above criticized him for going on a long vacation, and I get that. But I somewhat doubt he was living high on the hog to the point that that is what is forcing a closure. Many ebay sellers are single person operations, so they don’t have the overhead a place like JJ does. 

Third and finally, as mentioned by multiple people above, JJ provided some initiative and innovation that were helpful to this scene over the past however many years by way of PriceCharting; and also by photos of inventory and sharing their method of automating that process. 

Regarding PriceCharting, I just read the following in a newsletter from a major comics dealer: ”I had also sent away for all of the catalogs from the American mail order comics dealers who listed in the classified ad pages of the 1969 Marvel comics. Memorizing their list prices was really the only way to gauge values back then, as the Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide did not yet exist...“ Can you imagine going back to that way of doing things? And looking through multiple paper catalogs, which would list items only singly, is, IMO, easier than searching and parsing shit out on ebay with lots and so on. There’s too many possible inputs to market forces any more, and JJ tried to make it easy. Sure there was a potential conflict of interest, but I think it was a tool developed and then shared out of good will. If JJ wanted to manipulate stuff then their list prices would be lower than what VGPC displayed, not higher.

[Lincoln | 230]

1 hour ago, 98ViperGTS said:

 

Edited January 12, 2020 by Lincoln

[Lincoln | 230]

1 hour ago, 98ViperGTS said:

 

Edited January 12, 2020 by Lincoln

[Link | 2,709]

I don’t think I ever bought a game from them. Maybe I got a paper thing from them once. I am a budget shopper, like apparently a lot of people here, and I agree JJ’s prices are usually more than I’m willing to go with. That said, I think some of the smack talk ITT is unwarranted. 

First, I have heard the following before, and  I experienced it myself last month: They [used to] buy peoples’ bulk lots on ebay. My auction went for less than I hoped it would. I had a quality listing with all the strategic start and end times, goods pics and description, etc. and still, a pretty low result IMO. But JJ was the buyer who outbid everyone else. So I give thanks for that: if they didn’t buy it, somebody else would have got it for less. 

Second, if they are going out of business, that means they aren’t pulling enough profit out of their pricing structure. That means the profits (going down, as we see right now with old games for many reasons) aren’t covering the expenses (going up like everything else) any more. So the prices being high, I can see a justification for that. Somebody above criticized him for going on a long vacation, and I get that. But I somewhat doubt he was living high on the hog to the point that that is what is forcing a closure. Many ebay sellers are single person operations, so they don’t have the overhead a place like JJ does. 

Third and finally, as mentioned by multiple people above, JJ provided some initiative and innovation that were helpful to this scene over the past however many years by way of PriceCharting; and also by photos of inventory and sharing their method of automating that process. 

Regarding PriceCharting, I just read the following in a newsletter from a major comics dealer: ”I had also sent away for all of the catalogs from the American mail order comics dealers who listed in the classified ad pages of the 1969 Marvel comics. Memorizing their list prices was really the only way to gauge values back then, as the Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide did not yet exist...“ Can you imagine going back to that way of doing things? And looking through multiple paper catalogs, which would list items only singly, is, IMO, easier than searching and parsing shit out on ebay with lots and so on. There’s too many possible inputs to market forces any more, and JJ tried to make it easy. Sure there was a potential conflict of interest, but I think it was a tool developed and then shared out of good will. If JJ wanted to manipulate stuff then their list prices would be lower than what VGPC displayed, not higher.

[Estil | 1,264]

Now wait a second are they really going out of business or is it just one of those gimmick promotions where they loudly proclaim they're having a "GOING OUT OF BUSINESS SALE!!" and slash prices...but they're not really going out of business.  Just pretending to  

Edited January 12, 2020 by Estil

[Homer | 17]

A long time ago I bought a bunch of NES commons from them.  I must have done some free shipping deal. I got 16 games for $51(just search through Gmail). Fun stuff, like rad racer, Kung Fu, magmax and even life force and pro wrestling.  I remember they were cheaper than eBay when a sale was happening.   

Sad to see them go.

 

 

[98ViperGTS | 58]

1 hour ago, Lincoln said:

Lol what? Like he decided and proceeded with that plan at some point in the past? Or he's coming up shop now to facilitate that?

They started the trip in May.

[O.G. CIB | 415]

2 hours ago, 98ViperGTS said:

They started the trip in May.

This is why you don’t live your life on the internet. You wouldn’t catch me dead posting this or what restaurant I’m eating at or a picture of my dinner plate... smh.... but that’s another topic. 

[Hammerfestus | 3,833]

I don’t know.  I always thought he was ok for random filler.  I definitely never bought anything from him that was worth very much but a couple of times I took advantage of the $5 off 5 games with a bunch of $5 or less commons.  Especially when eBay was running one of those X% off a purchase deals.  

[LeatherRebel5150 | 1,056]

Some people already mentioned it but I too an wondering the fate of Pricecharting. 

What if Go Collect bought them out too!!!!!!!

 

[NierAutomata | 23]

Jjgames was a valid option for europeans, especially as they had 3-4$ shipment to Europe and prices for some psp, ds, ps2 stuff was very decent, especially for rpgs. 

I can see why everyone in the US and Canada gets pissed about the prices, though. 

Guess it's time for some people to start selling their used game before prices start going down even more? Even though jjgames won't buy their lots on ebay 

[Lincoln | 230]

I expect vgpc to continue on in some fashion. It's not anchored to the real world the way game selling is. 

[Andy_Bogomil | 815]

Jj games was great for the casual collector or the impatient person looking for a reasonable price. Both them and lukie had a good thing going when they could get away with charging a premium for convenience. They were also great charging low shipping to international countries. Shipping was $3 to $5 CAD for the longest time which was unheard of buying from the States after the mid 2000s. With shipping going up and casual collecting being replaced with the mini systems and the fad generally dying out I am not surprised. No way they're getting away with 2014 prices anymore. 

[NierAutomata | 23]

They had one problem though...

They never eeeeever cleaned their games (except the game cd/dvd which would be professionally buffered), it would still be the OG case with stickers from all the former stores, boxes full of scratches, broken case or umd, but most problems would show up in the pictures, so you knew what you were getting in the end. 

[Strange | 1,700]

I misinterpreted a social media post by JJGames and posted some wrong information, so I edited it out.

I wish him luck in whatever endeavor comes next.

Edited January 13, 2020 by The Strangest

[Reed Rothchild | 9,516]

I bough lots of low end games from them.  The B2G1 made it super cheap.

[Tanooki | 4,932]

2 hours ago, The Strangest said:

If I’m reading his post on social media right, apparently they take the pricecharting price, start there and add up the price depending on how good of shape they think it is.

So if you’ve got a SMB3 with half a label or a chunk out of the plastic, you start at the current going rate according to PC and if it’s in any better condition than that, it keeps adding onto the price as they see fit.

I hate to kick a guy when he’s down but I can’t get on board with that model, but everyone is free to run their business as they see fit. I perused their site often for games but I never really found anything priced at what I thought was agreeable. I wish him luck in whatever endeavor comes next.

Kick  away really if that's the truth as that's pretty deceitful considering they ran that price site so it was basically helping pad their own pocket.  I'd skim the place a lot, on rare chance I saw something that was at/under ebay and this was years ago (2015 back easily) I never could click through as I'd find something same or slightly less on ebay with a pretty picture in better shape.  I see no reason to feed a business that does sketchy stuff.

[Strange | 1,700]

After re-reading the initial post I think I misinterpreted it for sure. Rather, they start at the PC price and increase it or decrease depending on condition. That’s not as unreasonable as I initially interpreted it and I’m sorry for posting what I did. Below is the post in question that I read.

 

[WhyNotZoidberg | 585]

On 1/12/2020 at 12:54 AM, Mr. CIB said:

Wonder what’s going to happen to price charting..... GVN has gone to the dump so nothing really out there if they go. There will be no true tool for the average non collector. eBay sales history is the best option but that is a lot of leg work for someone not in the hobby

They said they were actually going to focus more on pricecharting so that's good news.

I think the prices at JJ sort of reflect the costs of getting big. At some point, the scale tips and your operating costs demand higher prices to remain profitable. There probably is such as thing as "too big to succeed" in this specific market. That and no one needs a loose Mario 3 anymore.

[Gloves | 11,771]

If they're saying they're going to focus on PC, that may mean an update to the interface is imminent. They could be planning to stay relevant knowing that GC is working on tools in the space.

[arnpoly | 198]

I'm surprised by this, though maybe I shouldn't be.  I bought from JJGames once or twice and sold him several NES lots I've put up for auction, nothing but good things from him as far as I'm concerned.  I'm most disappointed personally that he won't be buying game lots from me anymore.

[jonebone | 1,307]

I think the problem was that him, LukieGames, DKOldies, etc. were used to pricing above market and getting tons of sales in the retro craze.  As prices were increasing it made sense.  Plus everyone wanted the original hardware and NES consoles were moving.

Then the NES Minis replaced it and hardware demand dropped.  Slowly but surely prices drifted down too.  Pricing above market when prices are down and demand decreases is not a way to survive.

But surely people have to see stuff like this coming at some point.  There was a massive game store consolidation over the last 5 years and I would expect it to continue.

[Splain | 2,561]

I've bought my share of stuff from JJ, even pretty recently. I helped him gather some PAL-region Game Boy release data when he would "show up on NA when he needed info and then disappear." Sad to see any VG store close down. It kiiiiinda makes sense to start at VGPC and then mark up for condition, because the low end of ebay sales (the "market value" for any buyer) is definitely going to be the worst-condition stuff. Obviously 2x the price is way off though, and it doesn't look like VGPC latches too hard onto the rock-bottomest sale price.