Best website to buy retro games (besides Amazon/eBay)?

[astrodomekid]

For a while I was loyal to the old-fashioned way of buying games from brick-and-mortar stores. I still do it on numerous occasions, but I found that it's just easier to look for retro games online. I have used both Amazon and eBay multiple times, but I think it's time to see what else is a good place to look. Part of the reason is that Amazon doesn't always have everything, and eBay has a bunch of fake copies from scammers. But the other half of it has to do with one of my other hobbies.

So, another thing I like to collect and listen to is vinyl records. And that hobby has led me to the discovery of Discogs, the greatest online database and marketplace a music collector has ever known. I bought a few records from that site before, and they're really great. I even bought a CD copy of the forgotten 90's dance track "Fantasia Erotica" by Carmen Electra, and it's way more affordable on that site than the insanely overpriced listings on Amazon. What I'm hoping for is that there's a similar site dedicated to retro games that I can also trust. One site that I heard of is Lukie Games, but after doing some research that site doesn't seem particularly trustworthy. If you know of a better site that sells classic games (up to 6th-gen, if possible), I'd love to hear it.

[matmico399]

On the main page of this site, check out the links button. It has pretty much everything you could want regarding retro games. I've ordered off a few several times and have been very happy. There are a lot of options.

[snakeboy]

eStarland is by far my favorite site to buy used games from. Great selection and mostly reasonable prices. Best of all is free shipping (to the lower 48 states) on orders of $10 or more on used items. You can't beat that.

https://www.estarland.com

[DialSforSam]

eStarland is by far my favorite site to buy used games from. Great selection and mostly reasonable prices. Best of all is free shipping (to the lower 48 states) on orders of $10 or more on used items. You can't beat that.

https://www.estarland.com

I can second this one. They're semi-local to me (over an hour plus drive). Found them years ago when I was doing a search for used SNES games.

[ActRaiser]

Has anyone tried selling their games on eBay? I've been thinking about slowly starting to get rid of my collection once my arcade cabinet comes in to free up space.

I looked at selling them to https://www.estarland.com/. However, it seems like you'd get less money than auctioning them on eBay. On the flipside I'm trying to read through eBay's fees and it almost sounds like they get 10-20% of the final price based on any number of factors.

Does anyone have any advice on which route to go? I can create a separate topic but this almost seemed to fit as it was the exact opposite if that makes sense.

[TheEagleXIII]

Has anyone tried selling their games on eBay?

My sister-in-law buys cheap stuff from car boot fairs and charity shops and makes a decent profit selling it on eBay.

Couple months ago she picked up 3 PS1 games for £3-£4. Two were bargain bin titles and the other was Tombi/Tomba - which is pretty rare and sought after. Of course, she didn't know this and put all 3 up as a bundle with a starting bid of £1 and got confused when it started escalating and she was bombarded with messages asking if she'd sell just that game on it's own. She was being offered around £40-£50. She couldn't end the auction and take offers or even end it early and relist the game on it's own with a higher starting price. The bundle eventually sold for about £90, but I've seen copies of Tombi fetch £150.

Games do sell on eBay, especially if it's rare. It's worth doing your research first for each game/system/peripheral. I find a good tip is to search for the items on eBay first - just make sure to add the 'Sold Items' filter. It'll show you the last 2-3 months of auctions and you can gauge a price from that - take note of how well the seller presents the item and if it looks like they know what they're actually selling. It was obvious to buyers that my sister-in-law didn't. Some collectors will pounce on stuff like that looking for a bargain.

You also gotta decide if you wanna let it go for auction or list it as a Buy It Now price - you can even allow people to give you offers if you choose the latter. Both have risks and pros and cons. eBay does take around 10% of the sale, and if you're using PayPal I believe they take a cut of what gets deposited into your account too.

[Shapur]

Has anyone tried selling their games on eBay? I've been thinking about slowly starting to get rid of my collection once my arcade cabinet comes in to free up space.

I looked at selling them to https://www.estarland.com/. However, it seems like you'd get less money than auctioning them on eBay. On the flipside I'm trying to read through eBay's fees and it almost sounds like they get 10-20% of the final price based on any number of factors.

Does anyone have any advice on which route to go? I can create a separate topic but this almost seemed to fit as it was the exact opposite if that makes sense.

I’ve given up selling on eBay. They undervalue the shipping on the listings, then you get charged a percentage on the shipping even as part of your transaction percentage and the buyers are a huge pita.

[ActRaiser]

Has anyone tried selling their games on eBay? I've been thinking about slowly starting to get rid of my collection once my arcade cabinet comes in to free up space.

I looked at selling them to https://www.estarland.com/. However, it seems like you'd get less money than auctioning them on eBay. On the flipside I'm trying to read through eBay's fees and it almost sounds like they get 10-20% of the final price based on any number of factors.

Does anyone have any advice on which route to go? I can create a separate topic but this almost seemed to fit as it was the exact opposite if that makes sense.

I’ve given up selling on eBay. They undervalue the shipping on the listings, then you get charged a percentage on the shipping even as part of your transaction percentage and the buyers are a huge pita.

Yeah, in the red tape it looks like they bundle the "shipping" into their cut of it as a percentage which seems bogus and then there are PayPal fees on top of that as well. I guess that's the cost of doing business. I might try to sell a few smaller items before trying to sell the more expensive stuff to figure out if it's worth it or not.

[ActRaiser]

Games do sell on eBay, especially if it's rare. It's worth doing your research first for each game/system/peripheral. I find a good tip is to search for the items on eBay first - just make sure to add the 'Sold Items' filter. It'll show you the last 2-3 months of auctions and you can gauge a price from that - take note of how well the seller presents the item and if it looks like they know what they're actually selling. It was obvious to buyers that my sister-in-law didn't. Some collectors will pounce on stuff like that looking for a bargain.

You also gotta decide if you wanna let it go for auction or list it as a Buy It Now price - you can even allow people to give you offers if you choose the latter. Both have risks and pros and cons. eBay does take around 10% of the sale, and if you're using PayPal I believe they take a cut of what gets deposited into your account too.

Thank you very much for the tips, especially, the one for looking at sold prices. It took me awhile to find it but that's gold.

[Retro STrife]

Has anyone tried selling their games on eBay? I've been thinking about slowly starting to get rid of my collection once my arcade cabinet comes in to free up space.

Good tips from EagleXIII above. I do recommend using Ebay for reselling games, and Amazon too. They're not perfect, but there aren't really any other good options out there, especially for selling really expensive games. Games tend to resell a little higher on Amazon, Amazon is slightly quicker for listing, but Amazon takes a slightly higher cut. Try both and see what you like. Start out with some cheaper games first to get your feet wet, learn the ins-and-out, and earn positive feedback as a reputable seller.

Like Eagle said, checking the price of sold listings is how you gauge the value of your items on ebay. (On Amazon, you just price it competitively with the other used copies.) Another handy site to use is PriceCharting.com. PriceCharting aggregates all recent ebay sales to give a good approximation of the value of a game in either loose or complete condition. For most items I recommend selling with Buy It Now, rather than auction style. First, it's more predictable. But more importantly, your game will usually sell for more. People want instant gratification these days and they will pay more for it, rather than waiting out your 7-day auction listing.

The fees may seem a bit high (both ebay and Amazon will take about 10-20%), but again, what other option is there? Trade-in your game, and you'll be lucky to get 50% of value, usually less. Even something like Craigslist, no one takes a cut, but the hassles of haggling, meeting up with people, and a much smaller field of potential buyers all adds up to making you wish you just paid the 15% to ebay.

Lastly, to sell quicker and maximize the selling price of your games, I think it's worth the extra effort to make your listings better than the average guy. Most people just slap their games on ebay as quick as they can. But put yourself in the shoes of a buyer. You want to see good pictures from multiple angles, you want a full description of what is included and the condition, etc. In a crowded field, your auction will stand out to a discerning collector, and with a thorough listing you'll run into less complaints after the sale. They might even be willing to pay you a few extra dollars over other listings, just because they feel comfortable buying from you by your presentation.

Yeah, in the red tape it looks like they bundle the "shipping" into their cut of it as a percentage which seems bogus and then there are PayPal fees on top of that as well. I guess that's the cost of doing business.

Unfortunately, sellers abused the old system and basically forced ebay to do this. Sellers would sell a $20 game for like $5 with $15 shipping, and ebay would only get a cut from the $5. Ebay eventually caught on and changed the system. On Amazon, they force you to use a set price for shipping (i.e., $3.99), so it isn't a factor.