Heritage Auctions Thread

[AdamW | 713]

I think that's a viable theory, but I'm not sure you can assign the "blame" to HA with confidence. The prices of absolutely anything vaguely considered an 'asset' have been shooting up like crazy for the last year. Games, yes, but also stocks, real estate, cryptocurrency, trading cards, sneakers, just about anything. Heck, the latest thing is virtually imaginary assets not tied to anything of intrinsic value at all, AKA NFTs.

FWIW I'd tend to view WATA and HA as more symptom than a cause. When something becomes a sufficiently hot commodity, those kinds of operations are going to notice the opportunity created for a marketplace that's less of a free-for-all bear-pit than eBay, and fill it. If HA didn't exist, the current market would probably wind up inventing it. I think game prices would've gone up regardless, for the same reason all asset prices are going up - there's a huge amount of ready money swilling around the pockets of quite a large number of people, returns on savings accounts and conservative investments (bonds) are close to zero, and several of the usual paths for disposable income to be disposed of (travel, eating/drinking out, yada yada) are unavailable.

But I'm not sure you could prove either theory absolutely

Edited March 20, 2021 by AdamW

[CIB_Wholesale | 418]

11 hours ago, AdamW said:

If HA didn't exist, the current market would probably wind up inventing it. I think game prices would've gone up regardless, for the same reason all asset prices are going up - there's a huge amount of ready money swilling around the pockets of quite a large number of people

 

what has been happening to my sales for 20 years is an auction will go and then that gives me the ability to charge 0-10% more to match the a recent auction

 

cant find a single buyer to match recent prices. looks like a fake ceiling but i could be wrong  . I am just using the wrong grading service and the wrong auction marketplace!

[GPX | 1,369]

19 hours ago, SealedWholesale said:

what has been happening to my sales for 20 years is an auction will go and then that gives me the ability to charge 0-10% more to match the a recent auction

 

cant find a single buyer to match recent prices. looks like a fake ceiling but i could be wrong  . I am just using the wrong grading service and the wrong auction marketplace!

The other thing that doesn't feel right is that HA and Ebay are technically both online auction sites and could be accessible to any rich millionaires. Makes no sense to me how all the millionaires are swarming all over HA and choosing to ignore Ebay with some comparable items of comparable condition. Xbox Halo games and Atari sealed games being some examples with big question marks on their end auction prices.

[Gloves | 11,776]

8 minutes ago, GPX said:

The other thing that doesn't feel right is that HA and Ebay are technically both online auction sites and could be accessible to any rich millionaires. Makes no sense to me how all the millionaires are swarming all over HA and choosing to ignore Ebay with some comparable items of comparable condition. Xbox Halo games and Atari sealed games being some examples with big question marks on their end auction prices.

Their friends aren't pointing them to eBay, and are likely even touting how HA is THE place to make such transactions securely and without hassle. 

[GPX | 1,369]

16 minutes ago, Gloves said:

Their friends aren't pointing them to eBay, and are likely even touting how HA is THE place to make such transactions securely and without hassle. 

Some “friends” eh?!

[Dr. Morbis | 2,088]

10 hours ago, GPX said:

The other thing that doesn't feel right is that HA and Ebay are technically both online auction sites and could be accessible to any rich millionaires. Makes no sense to me how all the millionaires are swarming all over HA and choosing to ignore Ebay with some comparable items of comparable condition. Xbox Halo games and Atari sealed games being some examples with big question marks on their end auction prices.

The fact that like ~20 people are able to manipulate the videogame market and adjust the prices upward worldwide speaks to the youth and vulnerability of this burgeoning market.  But hey, there's a BIG upswing for us real collectors - the actual rares we've always been after have been cast aside by these HA guys.  It's not mint CIB Cowboy Kids or F2's or Little Samsons or Kid Klowns, etc that are now worth six figures, it's the 40 million selling SMB that's gone wacko for mint CIB first print omg sticker seal!!!  So there's your silver lining...

[fcgamer | 4,723]

5 hours ago, Dr. Morbis said:

The fact that like ~20 people are able to manipulate the videogame market and adjust the prices upward worldwide speaks to the youth and vulnerability of this burgeoning market.  But hey, there's a BIG upswing for us real collectors - the actual rares we've always been after have been cast aside by these HA guys.  It's not mint CIB Cowboy Kids or F2's or Little Samsons or Kid Klowns, etc that are now worth six figures, it's the 40 million selling SMB that's gone wacko for mint CIB first print omg sticker seal!!!  So there's your silver lining...

Oooh that group of twenty. And to think they were respected members of the community, lol. 

[GPX | 1,369]

12 hours ago, fcgamer said:

Oooh that group of twenty. And to think they were respected members of the community, lol. 

I’m picturing instead of the select group of 20, there were 300.

And instead of the catchphrase:

”This is...Sparta!!!!”,

I’m hearing: “This is.....WATA!!!!”

[CIB_Wholesale | 418]

1 hour ago, GPX said:

I’m picturing instead of the select group of 20, there were 300.

And instead of the catchphrase:

”This is...Sparta!!!!”,

I’m hearing: “This is.....WATA!!!!”

every auction has a runner up bidder who bid near the winning price but didnt win

by now there are hundreds of runner up bidders who declared to pay multiples of the average  price or historical price

 

 

where are they? bc i have the games they need at the prices they bid

 

[Gloves | 11,776]

42 minutes ago, SealedWholesale said:

every auction has a runner up bidder who bid near the winning price but didnt win

by now there are hundreds of runner up bidders who declared to pay multiples of the average  price or historical price

 

 

where are they? bc i have the games they need at the prices they bid

 

Where are you posting your games for sale? 

[Gulag Joe | 582]

I like HA only because I've heard horror stories from people selling graded games on Ebay and had their games "returned" because the buyer breaks open the case and tries to play the game, and then eBay protects the buyer. HA has more protection for sellers.

[a3quit4s | 4,096]

5 hours ago, Gloves said:

Where are you posting your games for sale? 

The VGS for sale forum! All the millionaires check here when they lose on HA!

 

[AdamW | 713]

continuing the eBay shadow theme, someone just hit BIN on this Pokemon Blue 9.4 for over US$80k(!) (edit: yes, they really did, I use the same trick pricecharting uses to see if a BIN sold for a lower offer, this one didn't):
https://www.ebay.com/itm/284187573879?nordt=true&rt=nc

1. I am not convinced that's gonna complete
2. If it does, and the buyer doesn't know about the "Red text" variant, I predict they will be massively salty when they find out

Edited March 23, 2021 by AdamW
note not an offer price

[GPX | 1,369]

On 3/23/2021 at 7:42 AM, a3quit4s said:

The VGS for sale forum! All the millionaires check here when they lose on HA!

 

All jokes aside, you raise a valid point. When high end bidders become runner up, are they just going to wait patiently for the next run of auctions on HA? Or will they run rampant on other online sites (eBay, VGS etc) to buy up items they had just missed out on?

Basic psychology would predict the latter option in the above. Which isn’t quite happening as far as I can tell, except perhaps a few select items.

 

[DefaultGen | 5,401]

Gotta say the high end people making splashy headlines prices psychologically works. Used to be games essentially topped out in the high $100s except for the the really tip top stuff. Now sealed anything is worth $1000s, let alone the splashy $10,000s headlines. I was never interested in that stuff to begin with, but now when I look at a $600 copy of Tatsujin Oh on FM Towns Marty it's not like "This is one of the most expensive games it is possible to purchase", it's like "This looks like a DEAL compared to $80,000 on Pokemon Blue". Pretty sure the whole sealed market has been manipulated specifically to sell me games for $100s to trick me into thinking I'm getting a better value.

I don't have Tatsujin Oh, but... man it's a better deal than Pokemans Blue.

Edited March 23, 2021 by DefaultGen

[ThePhleo | 2,184]

9 minutes ago, GPX said:

All jokes aside, you raise a valid point. When high end bidders become runner up, are they just going to wait patiently for the next run of auctions on HA? Or will they run rampant on other online sites (eBay, VGS etc) to buy up items they had just missed out on?

Basic psychology would predict the latter option in the above. Which isn’t quite happening as far as I can tell, except perhaps a few select items.

 

 

I lose plenty of eBay auctions almost daily.

Sometimes on rare occasions, I lose sight of the market, my senses, and my wallet and become fixated on the auction itself and actually go over the price of other CIB's currently listed at BIN on eBay. Object fixation.

When I lose the auction in those last seconds and eBay shows me other listings, I do not, and still have NEVER ONCE purchased an item after losing an auction. Even if it's listed lower than my max bid.

Why? I have no real idea...but once I know it's "available" to me I lose interest. I guess to me the fun is in the bid and not in the actual ownership?

 

Anyway, I think the same applies to HA.

[GPX | 1,369]

2 hours ago, AdamW said:

continuing the eBay shadow theme, someone just hit BIN on this Pokemon Blue 9.4 for over US$80k(!) (edit: yes, they really did, I use the same trick pricecharting uses to see if a BIN sold for a lower offer, this one didn't):
https://www.ebay.com/itm/284187573879?nordt=true&rt=nc

1. I am not convinced that's gonna complete
2. If it does, and the buyer doesn't know about the "Red text" variant, I predict they will be massively salty when they find out

I’m seeing it being relisted from your link. High probability of market manipulation with either a shill purchase or some other ass purchasing without ever intending to pay.

[GPX | 1,369]

2 minutes ago, ThePhleo said:

 

I lose plenty of eBay auctions almost daily.

Sometimes on rare occasions, I lose sight of the market, my senses, and my wallet and become fixated on the auction itself and actually go over the price of other CIB's currently listed at BIN on eBay. Object fixation.

When I lose the auction in those last seconds and eBay shows me other listings, I do not, and still have NEVER ONCE purchased an item after losing an auction. Even if it's listed lower than my max bid.

Why? I have no real idea...but once I know it's "available" to me I lose interest. I guess to me the fun is in the bid and not in the actual ownership?

 

Anyway, I think the same applies to HA.

Sorry I should have expanded further in my previous post. You are absolutely right in most of the auctions, I would imagine a runner up would just stop after an auction and not try to do more browsing. I’m likely a candidate too in a lot of auctions I’ve attempted.

However, we are currently talking about 6-7 digit offers on a slow-paced auction (HA). If someone has a genuine thirst for such an item to be paying that kind of amount, you can conclude that they are likely to fall into these categories:

- fake bidding

- “I really really really want this damn item!”

- don’t know what they’re doing with life in general, and just chucking random bids on random auctions.

———————

So assuming they’re genuinely interested in purchasing with their runner up bid, spending on 6-7 digits is likely to indicate a high thirst for obtaining X item on HA. So by nature of this supposed high thirst, one would naturally seek out the next available spot for a purchase pretty soon. And according to SealedWholesale, this isn’t quite happening.

[ThePhleo | 2,184]

@GPX

I just have one reply then!

 

[AdamW | 713]

@GPXyup, that's an interesting avenue indeed. Right now sales of sealed copies of the Pokemon games I track on eBay (Gen I, Crystal, Emerald, FireRed, LeafGreen) seem to be going at about the same pace they have been all year (one sale a day, give or take). I guess it'll be interesting to see if there's a spike after the HA auction ends. There are high grade copies there to be bought, if someone's willing to spend enough.

Edited March 23, 2021 by AdamW

[Code Monkey | 2,006]

 

On 3/19/2021 at 11:14 AM, Gulag Joe said:

Speaking of ebay, here's a Mario Kart 64 Red Label covered in mold that somehow graded a VGA 85

https://www.ebay.com/itm/WATA-8-5-A-Nintendo-64-N64-Mario-Kart-64-Sealed-/333915650688?_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49292

 

On 3/19/2021 at 11:22 AM, AdamW said:

That's WATA, not VGA. WATA 8.5 is a fairly 'meh' grade, I think a lot of the high rollers consider 9.0 or 9.2 about the lowest WATA grade they'd buy. If you check HA sales there's a huge difference between prices under and over 9.2 or so.

There also isn't any mould on it.

[Code Monkey | 2,006]

On 3/22/2021 at 9:01 AM, SealedWholesale said:

every auction has a runner up bidder who bid near the winning price but didnt win

by now there are hundreds of runner up bidders who declared to pay multiples of the average  price or historical price

 

 

where are they? bc i have the games they need at the prices they bid

 

I'm right here. Where are the games?

[a3quit4s | 4,096]

1 hour ago, GPX said:

All jokes aside, you raise a valid point. When high end bidders become runner up, are they just going to wait patiently for the next run of auctions on HA? Or will they run rampant on other online sites (eBay, VGS etc) to buy up items they had just missed out on?

Basic psychology would predict the latter option in the above. Which isn’t quite happening as far as I can tell, except perhaps a few select items.

 

The money launders likely just go to plan B!

[Tanooki | 4,932]

I wonder what impact the latest high ball paid listings (since it was brought up here) for Pokemon will do to the sealed market.  We got a guy on here asking $24K for a sealed blue, top one I think ebay did was $21K and of course they filch their 10% on that too which reduced it under 19k.  You'd think Red would get most ridiculous of the original three.  The top 3 on that are at 15 12.5 and 8k.  None of those were wata/heritage abused either.

[OptOut | 8,883]

4 hours ago, DefaultGen said:

Gotta say the high end people making splashy headlines prices psychologically works. Used to be games essentially topped out in the high $100s except for the the really tip top stuff. Now sealed anything is worth $1000s, let alone the splashy $10,000s headlines.

Wake me up when sealed Japanese Dreamcast is a thing!