VGA Gamers and Collectors have gone mad look at ebay !

[badinsults]

For $50,000, you could not only fly to Japan and buy it there yourself, ooh, no. For $50,000 you can fly to Japan, buy 100 sealed copies of the game and afterwards throw 7 consecutive pool parties on a rooftop hotel suite in Shinjuku with Japanese topmodels while drinking two $1000 champagne bottles every night for one fucking week.

Well, this guy rather spent the same amount on only 1 copy of the game which in trade came in a nice shiny plastic box. Each to their own.

From what I hear over at NA, the guy who is buying these hits the BIN, then negotiates a lower (but still insanely high) price. All in all, the people selling these games are willing to eat the fees at the higher price, because this is clearly driving up the prices on all VGA games (i.e. that Mario is Missing auction).

Really, there are only two ways to stop VGA:

1) start several new grading service to compete. From what I hear, VGA's profit margins are extremely low because they hand-make all the cases. If they had even a little bit of legitimate competition, I don't think they would be able to survive.

2) Prove that their service is a fraud. The best way to do this is to reseal a game (taking pictures of you doing it), sending it into VGA and successfully getting it graded, then post a video of you opening up the graded game. I don't think they would be able to survive that.

[Zoinkity]

Better yet, remove the cart from the box, then reseal it. The illusion that the product inside the box is genuine so long as the box looks okay is a bit silly. For that matter, print up a box cover, weight it, seal it, and send it for evaluation.

I've never understood the sealed collection principle honestly, though I do keep the boxes and manuals all in pristine shape. Yes, even the little blocks of styrofoam at the bottom of NES boxes that apparently are worth more than the cart itself according to EBay sellers. It hasn't been easy either, concidering how often we move around.
Still, the whole point of gaming is to, well, game.

[APE]

If I open a VGA graded game and it has a brick inside am I eligible for a refund?

[Flash]

Even for the rich it's retarded.

You don't get it, it's for retarded rich. Rich people who got brains in their heads can do various stuff from building spaceships to funding scientific researches etc. Rich idiots buy common sealed video games that costs $200 max new for $40k or buy vodka in $90k bottles, or gold-plated mobile phones with shitty hardware.

Yes i have about 100-200 games that were never opened. I use other copies, and if those will be broken i'll use spare one. If it's extremely rare game i'll just dump/copy it and play a copy to keep original intact. But having a lot of quite common games that can't be opened without tools is just stupid, not to mention to pay thousands for these.

And yeah i have a copy of SMB3 in perfect condition, Two in fact, one for NES, one for Famicom. But if someone will ask me nicely and i'll be in the mood to sell, i'll sell it for a normal price.

[brendand]

If I open a VGA graded game and it has a brick inside am I eligible for a refund?

I dont think so lol

[brendand]

You don't get it, it's for retarded rich. Rich people who got brains in their heads can do various stuff from building spaceships to funding scientific researches etc. Rich idiots buy common sealed video games that costs $200 max new for $40k or buy vodka in $90k bottles, or gold-plated mobile phones with shitty hardware.

.

HAHAHAHAHA

[ave]

Off topic, but:

@brendand
Could you please stop these annoying double postings and pointless comments? You don't need to quote someone right after your last pointless post just to write "hahaha"...

[brendand]

ok then

[geluda]

Don't blame the grading service, blame the people exploiting it for ridiculous profits. VGA grading doesn't make much sense now, but come back in one hundred years and it will start to make a little bit more sense. The boxes them selves are like pieces of art, they're part of pop culture and represent important pieces of video game history. If everyone else has bashed up and torn apart boxes with manuals soaked in cat urine, while you have a genuine mint condition box that's unopened and has been protected from erosion, it's not hard to guess which one is more valuable. Of course there are variables to consider, like the authenticity of the item or the ACTUAL rarity of the item (as opposed to public rarity), but that is the nature of collecting. There are many areas of coin collecting one of which is error coin collecting, error coins are worth insane amounts of money however that's only to members of the public, who knows if a mint somewhere has a whole load of error coins just lying around waiting to cripple the value of those in collectors hands. That's the risk involved. However these kinds of services help ensure the survival of items and what's more important is to question the technology used in preserving them for future, as opposed to their motives or ability to value an item.

[Lum]

That has a point. People aren't thinking about their game boxes years from now. In the end cardboard is a paper fiber. Eventually moisture, sun fade, and all, adds up.

Maybe some preservation oriented service without the grading?

[HEX1GON]

That has a point. People aren't thinking about their game boxes years from now.

I actually did think about this when I got my Nintendo 64 in 1996, I even have the original cable ties and bags in that box. My Dad always told me to keep boxes to everything I buy, and he was right I still have all my Nintendo 64 boxes (first one not the best shape) but I have them and as I got older while owning the Nintendo 64 the boxes can clearly be sold "New".
I doubt many people do today...

It all depends on the mind set you have when owning games, and majority of gamers in this current generation don't look after the cases and what not, cause they only play the game once or finish it and then not care where it ends up also not everyone has the space to store them... :(

[ave]

also not everyone has the space to store them... :(

Oh that's just bullshit! Even the smallest shittiest room has enough space to store a couple of games! It's just a matter of giving a shit. :P

[HEX1GON]

Oh that's just bullshit! Even the smallest shittiest room has enough space to store a couple of games! It's just a matter of giving a shit. :P

You must of seen on eBay "No box or instructions, due to them taking up space" I see it way too often, and yes THAT'S BULLSHIT... Hoping you know AVGN's Bullshit videos lol

[Lum]

That varies by console. Be thankful you don't have the hideous US 32X boxes. Flimsy crap, specially made in Hulk Hogan yellow.

[HEX1GON]

That varies by console. Be thankful you don't have the hideous US 32X boxes. Flimsy crap, specially made in Hulk Hogan yellow.

That line alone just made me lol.

[pool7]

The boxes them selves are like pieces of art, they're part of pop culture and represent important pieces of video game history. If everyone else has bashed up and torn apart boxes with manuals soaked in cat urine, while you have a genuine mint condition box that's unopened and has been protected from erosion, it's not hard to guess which one is more valuable.

I agree with your point; I'm just not sure how much that applies to VGA'd items...
I admit I don't have the knowledge to really backup what I'm about to say, but I heard many times that keeping that kind of box (cardboard?) in mint condition (no erosion, fading, etc) would require vacuum sealing (not sure if that's the term... I just translated from Spanish, my native language).
According to VGA FAQs, they leave a small (how small?) hole in the back of their plastic pack to avoid " the Terrarium effect" (sic)... wonders if that's true.
http://www.vggrader.com/faq.aspx#uvresistant
They also mention in that same section of the FAQ that their plastic box provides little to no UV protection...

[HEX1GON]

They also mention in that same section of the FAQ that their plastic box provides little to no UV protection...

I've come across a few eBay auctions that say those plastic boxes do have UV protection. Hmm very fishy.

[Jamtex]

If the case was complete closed and you took the item from a cold place to a warm place then the moisture in the acrylic box would start to condensate and probably ruin the cardboard box, the hole stops it from happening too quickly. It would be better if they could replace the air with a heavy inert gas like Argon but that would be expensive to do and the box would still require some moisture in the argon else the contents would dry up and degrade. But these are games we are talking about not the Magna Carta...

Acrylic is very good at letting light through, so would need to have an UV filter applied to it to stop UV rays, this is more expensive but a sheet of 3mm 2 foot sqaure UV acrylic is only $24 compared to $13 for a non UV acrylic so you do have to wonder why they think that this would be $40 more expensive to box up two games with UV acrylic...

[Hedgeyourbets]

I think I read somewhere that you can pay extra for UV protection

[Reptile072]

I think I read somewhere that you can pay extra for UV protection

Yes, there is an additional fee for UV protection. Like many of you, I have been collecting for many years and buy/sell/trade all the time. Any profit I make goes to growing my collection. I only own one VGA graded item (a sealed first print Halo: Combat Evolved; NTSC) which is difficult to find. I purchased it in its graded form, and wish to hold onto it as an investment. I am confident it will go up in value since it is a beloved franchise (and even more so) due to the protection and grade provided by VGA. Like someone else mentioned here already, I believe VGA grading will make more sense in the long run (at least a decade from now), when the "older/beloved" games are much, much, harder to find in mint/near mint condition.

In my opinion, since VGA is the first grading service (correct me if I am wrong) for video games, they will enjoy good standing with many collectors worldwide. There is always a big advantage in being the "first" in providing a particular service. Think Netflix, etc. You will always have the "anti-VGA" crowd, but I think they are getting a bad rap due to some greedy sellers out there who (try to) re-sell graded games at ridiculous prices. VGA has no control over this, of course, and so I think the criticism on this point is invalid. Also, they do have specific grading standards/rules outlined on their site when I last checked, so they are making an effort to gain some "authority" (no pun intended) in this space and are not just handing out grades without carefully holding up each item to their standards. They are simply providing a service, and more importantly, in my opinion, a foundation for video game grading - something that has, up until now, only been enjoyed by coin, comic book collectors, etc. I, for one, appreciate the fact that there is a company out there that at least provides this service. I agree that the grading cost can be high (depending on the size of the item), but I feel that it is a worthy investment if you are careful/knowledgeable about which games to get graded. No one in their right mind should pay $50 to get a copy of Devil May Cry 2 graded (since it is an awful game and an HD remake exists), but it does make sense to grade the Ultra Limited Edition of Dead Space or the Survival Edition of Fallout 3, for example, for $100 or so. It also helps if you do not scare away potential buyers/trade offers by posting ridiculous prices.

In addition, as the industry is leaning more towards the digital-only format, these physical rarities can only go up in value in the eyes of collectors who want something tangible. Personally, I am willing to fork out $ for getting only some of my rarest items graded, as I am thinking about preserving them and eventually trading/selling them years down the road to get my $ back and then some. As much as I would like to, I cannot hold onto them forever (and closet space is only one of several reasons, haha).