How to Sell Many Old and New Video Games?

The Game Room
1

Spring cleaning! (After ignoring the last several springs.)

I have far too many video games accumulated during my entire life. I like a good number, but another good number I got by accident or by being a foolish little girl. I want to dump the ones I don’t want, but I want to at least get a little money back, there’s so many of them.

I’m talking getting rid of:
-a PS1 with controllers and cords
-a repairable half-working Game Gear (maybe) with accessories
-several Game Boy varieties
-that thing you plugged into the top of your Genesis and didn’t actually work with any games I owned as far as I could tell (32X?)
-and well over 60 games from the Game Gear, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, Sega Genesis, SNES, N64, GameCube, PS1, PS2, PC (Windows 95/98), PC (Windows modern), most with their jewel cases/protective carry boxes (Game Gear)/instruction manuals, all in working order

Local game stores pay a ridiculously tiny amount of money, like 10 cents a game, even for the modern ones, and refuse to take anything from the N64 or lower, or any PC games. So that’s out.

I have heard recommendations of eBay, craigslist, and Amazon Seller. I have used none of these though to know whether they’re good or bad. eBay I guess I would have to make many lots, due to people probably not wanting a generic pile of games; craigslist may be too localized as I could ship anywhere in the US easily; Amazon Seller, I have no idea if people would check Amazon for old Genesis games and the like.

Are there any recommendations or suggestions? Maybe some reputable online dealer that actually buys old games? (I know several of those exist, that actually give more than a dollar for some games.)

2

Well, you could try half-price books. They buy games in addition to all other types of media, but they probably pay around the same as those game stores you mentioned. Other than that, all I know to do is use ebay. If you do decide to do that, I would probably break the games up by type and sell them in a few lots. Like, sell the Genesis with all its applicable accessories and games in one lot, all the Game Boy stuff in one lot, etc. If you have never used ebay before, it can be intimidating, so feel free to ask any questions you may have or email me if you want to.

3

It sounds like you’re someone that hasn’t really kept up with games, so at the least check out the going prices for each title on Amazon’s used shops and ebay and so on. Certain games from those generations are ridiculously valuable these days…so if you have something like Valkyrie Profile or a boxed Earthbound , it would be well worth your time and the Ebay/Amazon fees spent to sell them that way.

4

Sadly I’m keeping my ridiculously valuable games (ie. Chrono Trigger, Earthbound) because I love them a bunch.

I actually AM keeping up with games, I just made sure I bought what I liked on modern consoles, so none of those to give away. I AM unfamiliar with pricing though, true. Just, most are rather unwanted or many were printed, so I know they can barely sell for a buck or two each (which is enough to sate me, anyway).

There is no Half-Price books in my state, so that’s out.

I guess I’m afraid of large lots on eBay, in case people don’t want the full spectrum of games for each console and refuse to bid entirely. That and having to counteract other sales of the same games, and having to pay to keep putting the lot(s) up when they don’t get bid on. I suppose it would be a decent place to determine pricing, though, no matter how I sell them except to an actual buying-games store.

5

What I did was sell all my valuable games individually on ebay. And then any games that weren’t worth anything I stuck in a lot with the console. For example, I sold my NES together with about 10 games. Now these weren’t necessarily crappy games, they just weren’t worth anything cause they were very common (ok, some were crappy). I probably got about $50 for each console+games, but I don’t remember the exact price. I probably could have gotten a little bit more money by selling every game individually, but it just wasn’t worth the time involved.

6

Okay, I feel pretty set up to try out eBay, and if it doesn’t work, well I’ll just eat the fees and cough the games up at an e-shop. Justin Credible, I can’t email you for any tips though on eBaying like you offered. I’ll try out the all-of-one-system-in-a-lot deal, and I think I WILL drop Earthbound now that I’ve seen the current prices, yow.

My only concern is what to start out prices at to get offers in. Or whether selling 5 games and 7 games apart, or 12 together for similar systems (GBC/GBA, ex.) is better…Without systems to entice, anyway, I need to do something appealing. I at least know how to do the layout stuff, pictures, etc.

7

In my experience, when you are dealing with items that have a limited market and aren’t worth much individually, it is best to lump them into bigger groups. If you try to sell too many small lots, you will incur more listing fees, and you will have to get more boxes and shipping supplies, make more trips to the post office, pay more out on shipping, and so on. I usually don’t even waste my time with ebay anymore unless I know I can get at least $10 or so out of an auction. If I were you, I would sell any systems you want to get rid of with all games and everything all together, even if it means lumping 10 or 20 games in with it. Quantity appeals to some people as much as quality does, so a big lot of games like that will attract bidders. If you have any games that can’t go in with a system, I would put all games of a type together, like all NES games in one lot, all PC games in one, and so on. I probably wouldn’t cross-over between systems in one lot either, since many people might not have more than one of the older game systems.

As for starting price, there are two schools of thought on that. I prefer to start my auctions very low, as it attracts more bidders. I have sold lots and lots of comic books on ebay, and I always start at $1 or so, and it always sells at around what I wanted for it. The lower you start your auctions, the more people will get interested in them, and when people are interested, they are more likely to bid and keep bidding.

Some people will advise against doing that, since it is possible that your auction will close much lower than expected. But for me, it has always worked out best to do it that way.

So, to sum up, I would start the price low, and do as few lots as possible. It will pay off in the long run to not have to fool with as much packing and shipping stuff.

8

Okay, I’m good with starting very low; I’d get less money likely anyway by dumping them elsewhere, so a win is a win.

For example, I have all of 2 Cube games I’m giving away, 3 SNES games, 5 GBC (so far, more are to be found and evaluated), 7 GBA, 7 PS2, etc. I’m afraid those lots might be too small. I can put a GBC with the games, and a GBA, but I have nothing to put with my SNES or Cube. Maybe those would be best just setting aside? (Well, Earthbound + 1 horrible + 1 good SNES game might be a good package.) 2 games just seems like a really small lot, even if they were well-received games.

What do people typically do for length of auction? A few days/a week seems reasonable to me, but I dunno. Any quick tip for that? I don’t know if people will get bored and abandon an auction that lasts ‘too long.’

9

Yeah, two games might not bring in a whole lot of dough. You may want to just sell those at the game trade-in place.

As for the auction length, you can do 1, 3, 5, and 7 days. I think you can also do 10-day, but it costs a bit extra. I usually do 5 or 7 days.

10

Hey I PMed you about SNES games. I have a SNES that is, sadly, my primary console and I’m looking to get more. The trade-in places charge way too much for games (like $10-15!!) and I’m too lazy to go on eBay to get them so depending on what you have and what you want for them, I’d be willing to buy some.

Lemme know in PM!

11

Thanks for the help, Justin. Hopefully with your selling tips I’ll be able to earn back a little cash while doing my best not to think how much I spent on the things in the first place!