Guess I was also missing the point a bit, having the longer production cycle in mind. Apologies for the derail.
I remember when I first came across one of these on ebay years ago- Super Mario RPG PAL and the asking price was $250, I was so confused as I thought it never got released here... Didn't know they were reproductions.. Years later I kept seeing them more and more. I was even tempted to purchase the Secret of Mana 2 and a few others. Then I thought why not try it myself. I don't see anything wrong in selling these, some people don't have the time or even the 'skill' to pull it off. You would pay someone to install a modchip for you, this is no different. as long as you are not charging arm and a leg for it. I find the boxes and manuals a little bit too much.
The only issue is people might get misled thinking that they are the real deal. They should be clearly labeled as reproduction copies. Not labeling them is dishonest at best and scamming at worst.
Damn, I placed an order (and paid) with RetroGAMEReproductions and now I see the website is offline, as well as the (presumably) facebook page: http://www.retrogamereproductions.co.uk/ https://www.facebook.com/JoeMarley84/ Does anyone know what's going on?
Repros, at least for SNES, have been selling pretty poorly recently so maybe they threw in the towel. I used to sell a lot in 2015/early 2016 (4-5 games per week) and I hardly advertised on a local craigslist-like website. But sales were good, however I think aliexpress gets the biggest share nowadays. An American buddy of mine who ran quite a serious business told me he saw the same massive decline. Same for me, but I don't really advertise anymore, only help return customers out. If I may ask, what did you buy?
It's such a bizarre situation of bad luck, since I had this on my to do list for a few years. And finally I get over to order this last December, and a few weeks later everything is offline, website and facebook disappeared, no announcement, no communication, no reply to e-mail and my money is gone... (working on that with the credit card insurance). I ordered: Secret of Mana 2 x2, Final Fantasy 6, Zelda Parallel Worlds Complete in Box, Chrono Trigger, all complete in box. (some of them were meant to be bday gifts to friends...) EDIT: Does Aliexpress sell complete in box (including map) repro games??
Seems like www.retro-game-reproduction.co.uk has now transferred to www.the8bitkidstore.com (e-mail is even RetroGAMEReproductions@outlook.com). I sent them a mail for clarification of the previous situation. Here's to hoping for a reply!
Any luck with a charge back earlier this year? And have you heard from your most recent contact? What's the deal with these anyways? Are these sellers paying royalties to the developers/publishers? Or is this just straight bootlegging?
I got a charge back yes. Not 100% since there was some 'own risk', but it was something. Didn't get any reply yet. I doubt any of these repro sellers are doing royalties, although do videogames after a certain amount of years not become abandonware or something? Well, not an expert myself on the matter. From a collector's point of view this is nice to have.
Still didn't get any reply. @Bad_Ad84 (or anyone British): perhaps you can report this on some fraud community? I'd rather see this site going down and not have any fellow hobbyists share the same fate as I did (ordering over 300 quid and getting zip).
