How do people know games will be rare?

[Jesse813]

according to Ebay all my games are Uber Rare

[kool kitty89]

You're giving ebay sellers too much credits here. Many scenarios exist:

1- They'll buy more than one copy of a game in order to resale it years later. Worst case scenario, if it doesn't fetch a fortune, he can pretty much get all if not more of his money back just for the fact that it's sealed.

That will quite often lose money on such an investment as even mint CIB/sealed copies don't sell for more than the original new price with inflation taken into account. (of course you could only buy such games when the prices drop but are still new -but if it's not an early edition, it will call for less in general especially vs "platnum hits" or "player's choice" or such)

For example, if you bought a brand-new Atari game back in 1980 for $50, you'd have to sell it for well over $100 just to break even. (and then there's the opportunity cost of such investments)

In general, it's not a smart investment to do such compared to a variety of other investment options.

[the.importer]

That will quite often lose money on such an investment as even mint CIB/sealed copies don't sell for more than the original new price with inflation taken into account. (of course you could only buy such games when the prices drop but are still new -but if it's not an early edition, it will call for less in general especially vs "platnum hits" or "player's choice" or such)

For example, if you bought a brand-new Atari game back in 1980 for $50, you'd have to sell it for well over $100 just to break even. (and then there's the opportunity cost of such investments)

In general, it's not a smart investment to do such compared to a variety of other investment options.

I never said anything about it being an intelligent move

[gamevet]

For example, if you bought a brand-new Atari game back in 1980 for $50, you'd have to sell it for well over $100 just to break even. (and then there's the opportunity cost of such investments)

In general, it's not a smart investment to do such compared to a variety of other investment options.

Most 2600 games were @ $28-$35, depending on the publisher and retailer selling the game.

[QuickSciFi]

I can't tell if a game will be in the $1000-range rarity; but I can always tell if a game will become "rare" in the near future (in the $50-250-range).

The one formula that has always worked for me:

[game is highly undervalued] + [No one wants it because of it's "outdated graphics"] + [Stores are quick to put them on sale; thus diminishing the total output of the game] + [one darn good game] = will be valuable in the future.

[SpaceFlea]

QuickSciFi wins at life... Give that man a cookie!