I guess the main difference in this case between "resellers" and "retailers" is that these items are of a more collectable nature. After all, don't all retailers and dealers pay far less for the items that they sell then they price them for? Or is what bothers many people is that they wish that they could have gotten that item for what the "reseller" paid? How many resellers just sit around and let all the deals come to them? Most are out looking for product, advertising, and sometimes making large scale deals in order to get their stuff. Do they not deserve to be compensated for that? There have been only a small number of times in my collecting where I have bought something that I had no intention of ever playing or using, simply to resell it. But then again, I never resold the item for top dollar.
Then you have the ones that go to good will or wherever and buy games for $2 each to resell for $20 :/
Most collectors are resellers in one way or another - unless they are extremely wealthy. Most of my collection comes from the ability to buy sets up cheap, keep what i need and resell the rest making back most of if not all the initial investment. Practically every YouTube collector i watch is a reseller, some advertise the fact others hide it. Most of the guys i know living in Japan have ebay shops and practically make a living off hitting up the game warehouses every weekend. I myself visit Japan every 12-18 months and bring back enough stuff that i can usually pay for my airfare in the extra stuff i bring back for resale. The only bad resellers in my opinion are those who will buy everything regardless of what it is just for resale, but the end of the day everything's a business.
What takes the piss though, is if you are going to car boot sales, yard sales or flea markets and buying then reselling then you are doing it for profit and as a business. These people come out with that term "its a business" - well then they should register as a business with the appropriate regulatory bodies. More often than not they are not and hence their argument that its just business is invalid I suppose that there is a fine line to tread between selling bits of your collection and doing the above at flea markets. More often than not they will haggle the pants off the merchant just to get it a tad cheaper and then flip it on Facebook/eBay as soon as they get back without doing anything to it.
Agreed, but screwing them on a game they didn't know was rare can be quite satisfying. One in koreatown had Zelda nes for $50 junk sports games for $5-20 each and Fire Emblem Path of Radiance for $10.
Yea, I can imagine that would be the type of work people assume would be easy, but actually ends up working you to the bone.
The big time resellers use bots to buy up all the cheap lots on ebay the second they are posted to flip. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77ohD1ZihNg
I hope this practice gets banned. It's probably driving up the prices for any of the old games. People on craigslist see the prices on ebay and want the same amount. Prices on ebay are being forced up because the cheaper sellers are being bought out and relisted at a higher price...
The problem is ebay has no incentive to take any action, the more lots purchased and the higher the prices, the better it is for their fees. Essentially, ebay is transforming into a storefront for professional ebay stores. I recommend the video game community turn to other venues to buy and sell, like messageboards. Keep transactions off ebay, don't feed the beast.
well imho when it comes to resellers why bother getting mad/upset about it, for some people buying and reselling is a hobby for themselves, for others it could be a thing to make ends meet. Why should they cater to your hobby when they can further thier own, especially since youre just some kid on the internet to them. But they've just so happened to pick video games over other things, your only going to have the same people in other product areas.
That's exactly what happens, that's why the term "resell" gets frowned upon. As soon as you go elsewhere to buy things, the argument is "well it's $800 on ebay". Who cares what idiots list, it doesn't mean it's the value.
