Showing posts with label ebay. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ebay. Show all posts

Friday, June 8, 2018

eBay Redirecting Closed Listing Links

ebay redirecting closed listing links

People have emailed me asking about eBay links to closed listings that have started redirecting to different - active - listings instead of showing the listing you expected.

See example:
EarthBound SNES Original Authentic Tested Working Near Mint *Board Pics*

This is a change on eBay's end. We have tried to find a work around without success.

eBay is doing this on all external links to their closed listings and even some of their own internal links to closed listings. It appears to be a test though because it doesn't always happen.

I think this is a horrible user experience. Users click a link to a particular listing for a reason, but eBay decides you shouldn't actually go to that page, you should go somewhere else instead. There are many reasons users want to see a closed listing but eBay limits that ability.

What you Can Do. How to Contact eBay

If you don't like this behavior, we encourage you to contact eBay and tell them. The more people they hear from the more likely they are to fix this.

Here are ways you can contact eBay.

Call eBay support at: 1 (866) 540-3229
Email: Message or Tweet to: @AskEbay on Twitter
Message eBay Facebook


Example message:
I recently noticed that all external links to closed listings are being redirected to active listings. The same thing is happening with some internal links to closed listings too. Please stop doing this.

Every time I make a purchase on eBay I'll search through completed listings to see what it is worth and compare the condition of sold listings to an item I'm interested in buying. Or I search for a rare item on Google and find an old eBay sale. This is much harder now because those links to the closed listings redirect me to an active listing instead.

If I click a link to a closed listing there is a reason I clicked on it, I don’t want to see a different listing. This change makes it harder for me, and other users, to make buying decisions on eBay. Please stop doing this. Please revert to the old behavior where clicking a link to a closed listing actually showed that listing.

Thank you

JJ Hendricks


Thursday, October 27, 2016

PriceCharting is Tracking 9,000 More eBay Game Listings Every Day

We made a recent change that tracks 9,000 more video game listings on eBay every day. This leads to thousands of additional sales in our database each day.

This additional data improves our price calculations and our sales history....especially for less common games.


How We're Tracking More Listings

eBay has product identifiers on their site. When someone sells a game they can tell eBay "this is the game I'm selling". On some products, like Call of Duty Black Ops III, there are hundreds of listings available and we track 10-20 sales per day.

On other games eBay doesn't offer a product identifier or sellers never it. Contra for NES is a good example. The product identifier for that game has a measly 7 listings, yet Contra sells copies every day.

We used to limit ourselves to only tracking listings with a product identifier attached.

Now we can infer the product from the listing title with very high accuracy. This allows us to link those listings to a game on our site. We can do it even when seller's use different punctuation, nicknames, or aliases.

For example:
"Super Mario 3 [Nintendo NES] Complete in Box"
"Mario 3 (Nintendo) with Box and Instructions"
"Super Mario Brothers 3 for NES **Game + Case + Manual**"

All of these can automatically be associated with Super Mario 3 for NES in CIB condition.

After the change went live, Contra went from a 1-2 sales per month to 1-3 sales per day.

Tuesday, October 18, 2016

Automatically Value Video Game Lots on eBay with Our "eBay Lot Bot"

We just launched a new tool we're calling the eBay Lot Bot. It automatically calculates the value of every video game lot available on eBay.

You can browse every lot available and look at the photos, listing title, and the value. If you see one you like you can click to read the description, see what games are included in the value, and buy it on eBay if you think its a good deal.

Tips for Browsing for Game Lots

Filter by Console:
The results are always filtered by console.

Nintendo NES, Atari 2600, and Xbox 360 are included for everyone for free. Other consoles can be added for as little as $1 for one additional console or $5 for every console.

Sort by Ending Time:
You can see the available lots sorted to show those ending soonest first. Or see newly listed lots first.

Ending soonest will show some good auction deals below their value. Newly listed will show some Buy It Now deals that might be a steal.

Filter by Listing Type:
You can filter results to show only auctions, only Buy It Now listings, or both, whichever you prefer.

Tips for Looking at Lot Details

The lot details page for each listing will show the listing description the seller used, all the photos included, the games found, and the total value of the lot.

Listing Description: The listing description will appear almost exactly as it does on eBay. Every title found by the Lot Bot is highlighted in red.

Games Found The games found in the listing are shown on the left side of the description with their value.

We aim for about 90% accuracy on the matches but we will miss some titles due to spelling errors or ambiguity (seller said "cooking mama wii", is that "cooking mama cook off" or "cooking mama world kitchen"?).

You can add any titles missed and they will be added to the total value.

You can also remove titles by clicking the 'x' next to it.

 
Please try out the video game Lot Bot. Let us know what you think. Will this be useful for you? How can we improve it?

Monday, March 3, 2014

Dragon Warrior Prototype on eBay

For $50K, this piece of gaming history can be yours. Sadly, this prototype is just an internal review copy originally held in Nintendo's game library where it was rented out by game counselors to sharpen their skills and aid lost players who called in on Nintendo's (insanely profitable) tips hotline. The code contained on it is identical to the commercially released version.

Why the $50K price point? To get media attention, the seller is really just hoping for a good offer and doesn't expect any real buyers to shell out that insane amount of money. So yeah, the only differences between this and the store bought version are some stickers, hand-soldered chips, and some EPROMS.

Gotta love crappy American NES boxart.
Originally released as Dragon Quest in Japan, Dragon Warrior was released on the NES in August 1989. Since the American port came out nearly three years after the Japanese, there were several localization changes and improvements. The sprites were completely overhauled and even a save battery was implemented. The game sold exceptionally well in Japan so Nintendo of America overproduced so many copies, that it got to the point where they were even giving copies away with Nintendo Power subscriptions. This pushed it heavily and it sold well launching a franchise with several, several sequels, spin-offs, merchandise, anime, manga, etc.
Still my favorite piece of Dragon Quest merchandise.
I really wish this prototype was more of  legacy piece, that it really did have an important part in the entire saga but it is just an internal copy with some stickers and a high price. Good luck with the sale.
I take that back, this is my favorite.

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Console Filtering Added to eBay Game Sniper

Our new eBay Game Sniper has been very popular with users, but we always want to make improvements. The most requested feature users asked for was the ability to filter by console. A Nintendo collector doesn't need to know about a great deal on a PC game.

Filtering results by console is now live.

Click the link next to 'Console Filter'. It defaults to 'All' for all consoles.


This will bring up a dialog box asking you to select the consoles you are interested in.

Clicking a heading like 'Nintendo' or 'Sega' will select all consoles underneath it.

When done click 'Ok'.

The Console Filter will now show you which consoles you have selected. Only deals for those consoles will appear on your screen.

These settings are remembered from visit to visit and carry over to the Lot Value Calculator too.

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Call of Duty Ghosts for $44.99

eBay is offering 15,000 units of Call of Duty Ghosts for $44.99.

You can choose the console - Xbox 360, PS3, or Wii U.

The page will not show the price, but when you go to make the purchase it will be $44.99.

Friday, August 31, 2012

Xbox Gold Membership, LCD TV's, SD Card+ For Sale on eBay Today Only

eBay is running a special one-day sales event for a bunch of electronic items, some up to 70% off. A few of them are for Xbox 360 or could be used with other gaming setups.
The sale goes from 12am-12pm PST August 31st 2012 only. Some of the gaming items up for sale are:

12 Month Xbox Gold Membership card: $59.99 $34.95
Xbox 360 Wireless N Network Adaptor: $69.99 $29.99
64GB SD Card: $119.99 $39
Toshiba 55" Ultr-thin LCD HDTV: $1,999.99 $1,185
Toshiba Thrive 10" Tablet: $399.99 $179.99
There are limited quantities on these special deals so act fast before the sale ends.

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

6 Tips to Sell a Rare Video Game

You're lucky enough to run into a rare video game at a garage sale or pawnshop. How do you sell it to get the most money? This is the single biggest question I get from our users. This guide will give you six tips to sell your expensive game and ensure you get the most out of it.


6. Rare Games Sell Well on Ebay

eBay is the biggest online marketplace in the world with 94 million users. They are also the largest video game marketplace too. A great way to sell a rare game is to put it in front of this huge user base.


How should you sell though? Fixed price vs auction? Reserve vs no reserve? High starting price vs low starting price?


Reserve vs No Reserve: Studies show that auctions with a reserve are less likely to sell, receive fewer bids, and sell for less than auctions without a reserve. I don't recommend selling with a reserve price. More than likely you will get less for your game or it won't sell at all.


Fixed Price vs Auction: If you know the value of your item you can list with a fixed price. You can list the item for 30 days and see if anyone is willing to pay your set price. Many times sellers set this price too high and the item doesn't sell. I've seen people list the same item five or six months in a row with a lower fixed price each time. And I've also seen sellers list with a price that is too low and it is purchased in two hours.


For rare games, I think auctions are the best. There are plenty of bidders interested in a rare game so the price will be bid up to the correct value. You don't have to wait months for the item to sell. And you don't have to worry about setting too low a fixed price.


If you're in no rush at all to sell, start with a high fixed price a couple of times. If it doesn't sell then try an auction.


High vs Low Starting Bid: If you decide to do an auction you have to choose the opening bid. For rare games I always start bidding at $0.99. People are more likely to bid on an auction if it already has one bid. Many people don't want to be the first bidder - "Nobody else has bid. What do they know that I don't know?" I have won many auctions by placing the only bid at the last second even though the opening bid was way below the market value. Nobody wanted to be the first one.


A low starting bid encourages someone to place the first bid and that encourages more bids.


eBay Fees: The biggest drawback to eBay is they charge for selling something. Normally, eBay charges 9% of the sales price as their fee, but luckily for rare game sellers this is capped at a $50 maximum. If your game sells for more than $555.55 you saved some money. eBay also charges listing fees for simply making the listing, which depend on what type of listing you create.


5. Write a Good Description with Item History

A good listing is very important for selling a rare game on eBay, craigslist, forums, or any other marketplace. Potential buyers need to know what they are buying so give them as much information as possible. Your listing doesn't need to be a book, but it should include the following:


Physical Description of the Game: Go beyond the generic "Looks Good". Say exactly where any blemishes are on the game. If it looks perfect let people know that too, but almost all games will have some cosmetic issues.


Background on the Game Title: Why is this game rare? How many copies were made? What makes it interesting? Many bidders will already know the story behind a rare game and why it is expensive, but most visitors to your listing are probably not video game collecting experts.


Background on This Individual Game: Where did you find it? Did you buy it from someone else or are you the original owner? Did you get the item when you were a kid and not realize your game was rare until last week? People like to know as much information as possible about rare games so tell them as much as you know. If you don't know anything put that in the listing instead.


Listing Policies and Rules: Let buyers know how you will ship the game, what types of payment you accept, will you ship internationally, who pays for shipping, or any other policy you want to make. It is helpful to lay these rules out in the listing so people know what terms they are accepting when they buy the item.


4. Ship Overnight with UPS or FedEx

After an auction has sold and you have received payment don't skimp on shipping by sending the item USPS First Class. You run a risk of the item getting lost in the mail. FedEx Overnight or UPS Overnight is worth every penny when you are shipping an item that sold for $500, $1,000, or even more.


With FedEx or UPS overnight you can see exactly when and where the item is scanned and see who signed for the package when it is delivered. Plus with overnight the shipping process is done in less than 24 hours so you (and the buyer) aren't worrying for days about when the item will arrive.


You can require the buyer to pay shipping but I always like to pay shipping myself. If someone is paying me hundreds if not thousands of dollars for a game, the least I can do is pay $20 for overnight mail.


Package the Item With Care: Be careful when packaging the item for shipping. A little extra effort will avoid a lot of hassle. Use a box instead of a bubble mailer to provide more protection. Put bubble wrap around the item and then tape the bubble wrap together. Put lots of tape around the box so it doesn't open during shipping. And write the shipping address and return address very legibly or even typed.


3. Only Accept Escrow or Cash at Pickup

The best method of payment for really expensive video games is escrow. There are fees involved but much less stress and no risk of fraud. Cash at pickup is good too, but most buyers won't live near you and don't want to pay for a round trip flight to pickup a game. Paypal can work too but be cautious.


Escrow: The full escrow process can be found here but basically you use a third party to verify the money has been received before you mail the item and you don't get the money until the buyer has verified it arrived. This eliminates worries for buyers because they know they can get their money back if you never ship anything. And the seller doesn't have to worry about credit card chargebacks or bogus checks. Escrow guarantees the funds as part of the process. It can take a little bit longer than other methods, but it is worthwhile on games that sell for thousands of dollars. Companies like Escrow.com provide this service for online purchases.


Cash at pickup: This is a very straight forward method. You meet the buyer somewhere. They give you cash and you give them the video game. It sort of feels like a drug deal from the movies, but there are no fees involved and almost zero risk of fraud.


Paypal: You can use Paypal for the payment but the fees can be pretty expensive and you run a risk of credit card chargebacks if someone was using a stolen card when they made the payment. If you do accept paypal only ship to a confirmed address.

Money Orders, Checks, and Western Union: With a rare video game listing you will be contacted by people asking if they can pay with a check or send the money with western union. THESE ARE ALMOST ALWAYS FRAUD. I never accept these forms of payment because the buyer is probably a scam artist. It is not worth the risk.

2. Rare Games Need Lots of Pictures

Take lots of picture of the game on every side and post these in the listing. One of the front, one of the right side, left side, back side, and bottom. If the case and/or instructions are included take mutiple pictures of them too.


Make sure the pictures are high quality and the buyer can actually see some details from them. Avoid too much light or too dark:


Too Much Light


Too Dark


Scan Game for Best Quality: For the best quality images put the game in a scanner and scan the game or if you don't have a scanner go to a copy store and use a color copier and save the image to a USB or SD card. The image will be more crisp and clear than any photograph.


1. Try Listing on Game Collecting Forums

Video game collecting forums are a great place to sell rare games. The members are probably familiar with your game, they are interested in video game collecting, and many of them are ready to pay big money for rare items. The three best forums focus on certain games and consoles:


Nintendo stuff: Nintendo Age
Atari stuff: Atari Age
Sega stuff: Sega-16

These sites are communities of game collectors and they are leery of new members who try to list an expensive game for sale as their very first contribution to the community. Become a member, talk in some discussions, get to know other members a little bit, and then you can post an item for sale. Only list items for sale in forum threads devoted to buying and selling.


Forums also let you know the reputation of your buyer. You can see how long they have been a member, how many posts they have made, and often times how many successful transactions they have made too. Best of all, there are no fees for selling on forums so you can save quite a bit of money.


Summary of Tips for Selling Rare Games

6. Ebay is a good site for selling rare games
5. Write a good description when listing the item
4. Ship overnight with UPS or FedEx
3. Only accept escrow or cash at pickup
2. Take lots of quality pictures and post them in your listing
1. Try listing on collecting forums

Good luck with your game sale.

Friday, December 3, 2010

Tabs and Better Completed Auctions

Now With Tabs

We've finished reworking our game page design to better highlight some of the features available. The new design also frees up some screen real estate for future enhancements. The top portion of the page is the same as before. The bottom portion has a series of tabs:



The Used Prices tab is the content you see when loading the page. It highlights typical prices from various online retailers. The Current Listings tab shows the comparison of live listings feature that we've mentioned before. Unlike before, the current listings feature doesn't destroy the page; so you can click back to Used Prices instantly.

Completed Auctions Tab

The Completed Auctions tab displays information about recent sales on eBay. When the tab first loads, it looks similar to the pop-up dialog we used before, but inside a tab. It shows the date, amount and auction ID for each auction. A moment later, we ask eBay for some additional details about each auction and expand the table with the auction's title.


Having the title immediately available makes it easier to compare the several auctions without having to click through to eBay. If you notice a mistake, like that "Disc 2 only" copy of FF VII above, click the thumbs down button so we can remove it from our database.

Seeing the title also makes it easier to compare prices based on condition. If you're looking for a copy with the original box and instructions, just scan through the list to find a similar auction.

We're interested in adding more details about each completed auction. For instance, we might be able to show:
  • number of bids
  • shipping cost
  • seller's feedback score
  • item's condition (Good, Like New, etc)
  • an auction thumbnail image
Let us know in the comments what extra details you'd like to see.

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

How Big Is the Game Category on Ebay? Infographic

Have you ever wondered how many video games sell on eBay during the course of a day? Or what the most expensive game ever sold was? Or maybe how many copies of Super Mario 3 have sold since eBay was founded? (The answers are: 19,012 games per day; Stadium Events for $41,000; and 12,091 Mario 3's since founding)

We asked eBay to answer some of our readers' questions about the video game category on eBay. All the answers are compiled below in a handy infographic.

Ebay Video Game Infographic

Ebay Video Game Infographic
See Bigger Version Here

We want to give a huge "THANK YOU" to all the video game category managers on eBay who worked with us to gather all this information. All the data in the infographic comes directly from them.

What do you think the most interesting statistic is from the infographic? Let us know in the comments below.

Thursday, September 2, 2010

What Would You Ask Ebay?


Ebay is working with us to make an ebay video game inforgraphic. It will show all sorts of data about the video game category on ebay, but we need to know what info you're interested in. If you could ask ebay anything about their video game category what would you ask?

Here are some examples: What is the most expensive game ever sold on ebay? How many Super Mario 3's have sold on ebay since it started? What is the most popular game on ebay? How many games sell every minute?

They can't guarantee they have the answers to every question, but they will try to answer whatever you ask.

Leave your question below and we will ask ebay for you. Hopefully we will have the answer for you in picture form in a few weeks.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Faster eBay Completed Auctions


Over the last couple weeks, the eBay completed auctions feature had become painfully slow. Often the data wouldn't load at all and many times it was taking 30 seconds or longer. Our goal is to make the site fast enough that you never have to wait for the data you're looking for.

I adjusted some database settings today which appear to have sped up the closed auction feature substantially. In testing, we routinely got back the data we wanted in under a second. If you notice sluggish performance anywhere on the site, please let us know and we'll try to fix it.

Friday, July 23, 2010

Reporting bad eBay auctions


Back in February, we added a feature to the site letting you see completed eBay auctions for games listed on our site. That feature has become quite popular. Some visitors have reported that auctions occasionally appear in the list which are for the wrong game. For instance, some eBay sellers list EarthBound keychains as if they were EarthBound games. Our pricing bots don't know the seller is being deceptive, so those sales sometimes push the price of EarthBound downward.

We've just enhanced the completed auctions feature to improve this situation. When you view completed eBay auctions, you'll see a thumb down icon in each row:

If you notice that one of these auctions is incorrect (maybe for just the box or manual and not the game), click on the thumbs down icon in that row. You'll see a confirmation dialog making sure that you really want to report the auction as incorrect:




If you click OK, it notifies us of the problem and deletes that row from the list of completed auctions on your screen. Now you don't have to look at that incorrect auction. We'll investigate the auction and if we agree that it's incorrect, we'll permanently delete it from our database (or assign it to the correct product in our system).

Hopefully this makes it easy for you to help us improve the quality of VGPC's prices. If you have any suggestions about this feature, or any other feature, please let us know.

Monday, December 21, 2009

Ebay Sales Highest on Sunday, Lowest on Wednesday

As long as eBay has been around people have claimed that certain days are the best day of the week to sell because the prices are the highest. Common thoughts are, "Monday is the best day because people come back to work and use their fast internet to bid on stuff", or "Friday is the worst because people are going out for the weekend instead of bidding".

Is there a best day of the week to buy or sell a video games on eBay?

There are two factors in deciding what day of the week to sell an item: how likely is it to sell and what price will I get?

More Games Sell on Sunday Than Any Other Day


Average Number of Video Games Sold on Ebay by Day of Week
Click for Larger Image

The chart above shows the average number of games sold every day of the week. Sunday has the most video games sold with 11,438. Followed in a distant second by Monday, which had 8,818 sales on average.

The lowest day of the week was Wednesday with 7,639 transactions on average. This is nearly a 50% difference from Wednesday to Sunday.

This would cause us to believe that Sunday is the busiest day of the week in eBay's video game section. The more buyers there are online the more sales there will be. This is backed up by the fact that there are more fixed price listings that close on Sunday too. These listings aren't dependent on the ending time, but with all else being equal will end more often when more people are shopping.

Is This Difference Statistically Significant?


This difference in sales could be random variation and not a real difference based on the day of the week. A chi-square test can tell us how confident we can be that the difference is significant.

The test tells us we are 99.99% sure that Sunday has the most sales.


Prices Don't Change During The Week


Average Video Game Price on Ebay by Day of the Week
Click for Larger Image

The chart above shows the average video game price on eBay by day of the week. Our data shows that Wednesday has the highest average price and Sunday has the lowest. But the difference is very small, only 7% difference between the two ($18.52 on Wednesday and $17.26 on Sunday).

Sales Price Variation is NOT Statistically Significant


Running the same chi-square test shows us that the difference in the prices is not statistically significant.
This means if we ran this test again in a few months with new data we could get completely different results.

What Does this Mean for Buyers and Sellers?


eBay Sellers
Auctions Should End on Sunday - more users will see the listing which means there is a better chance it will sell
Don't Worry Much About Ending Day - Sunday might have more shoppers but the ending price of the video game auction will probably be the same no matter what day it ends. So don't worry about the day of the week too much.

eBay Buyers
No Special Deals on Friday or Saturday - your not not going to get better deals on certain days of the week because prices are generally the same.
Shop Fixed Price Items on Wednesday - If someone starts a fixed price listing with a really good price, you have a better chance of spotting it first on Wednesday because there are fewer shoppers to spot it before you.

This article is based on ebay sales data from May 1st 2009 to August 31st 2009 gathered by VideoGamePriceCharts.com. It contains 1,071,279 individual transactions and net sales of $19,089,853.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Ebay Game Sales Increase 30% in December

Like most retailers, eBay sees a big increase in traffic and sales during the holiday season, which traditionally starts after Thanksgiving. How many more items does eBay sell though? We used our price data for video games on eBay to find out for sure.

Number of Sales on eBay per Day Before and After Thanksgiving
Game Sales on Ebay After Thanksgiving

Click for Larger Image

The chart above shows the number of completed video games transactions on eBay from November 8th to December 14th 2009. The red line in the middle is Thanksgiving Day.

Before Thanksgiving, the number of transactions follows a weekday trend with busy Sundays and slow Fridays but the average is fairly steady.

Sales quickly jump after November 26th and consistently stay above the pre-holiday average.

eBay Sales Chart With Average Lines
Sales on Ebay After Thanksgiving with Averages
Click for Larger Image

This chart is the same as the top chart but adds two lines showing the average number of games sold on eBay before and after Thanksgiving.

Before Thanksgiving, an average of 11,400 games sold every day. Afterwards, there were an average of 14,900 games sold per day. 30% more games sell every day on eBay after Thanksgiving than before.

Note: Due to a server outage on December 3rd we didn't collect price data on every transaction that day so the actual number of sales that day is higher than the 9,000 we show in the charts.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Where's the Best Place to Sell Video Games?

Over the last several months Amazon, Best Buy, and Toys R Us have joined GameStop and Game Crazy in the used game buying market. Gamers now have five national retailers to choose from when deciding who to sell their games too, plus eBay and Amazon Marketplace. Which of these seven options gives the best prices for old games?

We randomly chose 100 games for PS2, Xbox 360, PS3, PSP, Nintendo DS, or Wii and calculated the average price each store would give you for every game. The results are below:

StoreAverage PriceStore Won't Buy
Ebay*$10.540
Amazon Marketplace*10.110
Toys R Us8.7810
Best Buy8.4654
Amazon5.6732
Game Crazy5.0216
Game Stop4.093

* eBay and Amazon Marketplace prices are after subtracting selling fees

Column Definitions:
Average Price - The average price for 26 games that all seven stores offered prices on.
Can't Sell - The number of games that the store won't buy from customers.

Click to Compare Prices on All Games


Other Factors to Consider When Selling Games


eBay
  • Best price on average even after subtracting ebay and paypal fees
  • Every game ever made can be sold
  • You have to deal with shipping, payment issues, and customer service


Amazon Marketplace
  • Second best price (after subtracting Amazon selling fees)
  • Almost every game can be sold. Niche systems like Neo Geo, Vectrex, and even Atari 2600 don't have listings
  • You have to deal with shipping, payment issues, and customer service


Toys R Us
  • Best prices of all the stores
  • They don't pay for 10% of the games we tried
  • Will take trades on all systems from PS2 era & next-gen consoles
  • Every vintage game is the same price, $0.50 for Earthbound
  • They pay you via Toys R Us gift card
  • Offers instant online quotes


Best Buy
  • Wouldn't buy back 54% of the games
  • Good prices for the games they do purchase
  • Will take trades on all systems from PS2 era & next-gen consoles
  • You can trade-in electronics too
  • They pay you via Best Buy gift card
  • Offers instant online quotes


Amazon
  • Worst prices of the online stores
  • Doesn't buy 32% of games we searched
  • Will take trades on vintage games too
  • They pay you via Amazon gift card
  • Offers instant online quotes


Game Crazy
  • Better prices than GameStop
  • No online quotes
  • Will take trades on all systems from PS2 era & next-gen consoles
  • They can pay in cash or store credit
  • Not in every market nationwide


GameStop
  • Worst prices of all the stores
  • No online quotes
  • Will take trades on all systems from PS2 era & next-gen consoles
  • They can pay in cash or store credit
  • More than 4,300 stores in the United States


This is part of our video game collecting 101 series.

Methodology


We randomly chose 100 video games for PS2, Xbox 360, PS3, PSP, Nintendo DS, or Wii and found the prices for them on September 14th 2009. The list included 42 PS2 Games, 9 PS3, 20 Nintendo DS, 7 PSP, 13 Wii, and 9 Xbox 360. The list includes a wide range of games like Fallout 3, Animal Crossing Wild World, Marvel vs Capcom 2, Pokemon Platinum, and My Chinese Coach, Mini-Ninja's, and Cars.

When calculating the "Average Price" we only used the 26 games that every retailer offered a price for.

Friday, November 14, 2008

VGPC Price Tool: Firefox Add-on For Ebay & Amazon Shopping

We just created an add-on for Firefox that helps you find the lowest prices when buying video games on eBay, Amazon, and Half.

The add-on shows the VGPC Price directly on eBay, Amazon, and Half pages and shows you which site has the lowest price on average. The info appears automatically whenever you browse a video game page on any of these sites. Here's what the pages look like when using the feature:

Amazon Sample With VGPC Price Tool

Ebay Sample With VGPC Price Tool

Half Sample With VGPC Price Tool


The VGPC Price is the seven day average price online so you will know how much to spend or bid. The lowest price is the site with the lowest average price over the same time period (with a handy link if you want to buy there instead).

Please read some reviews from our beta testers and then Install the add-on. Be sure to let us know what you think.

Install VGPC Price Tool


More Questions? Visit the VGPC Price Tool FAQ Page

Saturday, March 1, 2008

Prices from All eBay Auctions

Our daily price updates now reflect the price of every successful eBay video game auction (for auctions that included a UPC). That's around 10,000 sales per day for more than 6,400 games. This new price source means more accurate prices and lower volatility. So go ahead and visit the page for your favorite game and see how the market is treating it.

 

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