Re: eBay madness

[heuser.marcus@freenet.de]

On May 23, 11:21 pm, Mitchell Spector <mitch...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> I what makes this so unique it's worth over $500, the box?

This really is a premium price that not many titles can reach.
At least in 2008, who knows what 2018 holds in store for us...

> Wonder what Infocom's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
> new in box would fetch considering all the unusual items they
> included inside.

It should draw a bit of attention as Infocom titles are sought after.
Especially as well known as HHGTTG is...
Same goes for the Ultima titles - I've seen people demanding more
than $400 for early ones and getting that.

For games there seem to be some factors for high prices - apart
from the usual "swing of demand". Some subjective observations
(discuss!):

- It should be "rare" enough not to get auctioned every other week.

- Physical condition is the most important but I have seen "garbage"
  like a single disk of Ultima 1 with pen marks fetching more than
$20.
  Unopened things are exponentially more successful, of course.

- Completeness: An Infocom title would get a reasonable price but
  more so if all the gimmicks are included.

- Maybe the most important for a really high price: Limited editions.
  Either willful (special editions from Japanese publishers like
  Metal Gear Solid in a metal case) or simply because the
  publisher was very small at the time and did only produce a
  run of 1000 units.

- The target system must be well known enough to attract a lot
  of collectors but yet old or rare enough to limit availability.
  Old Apple or Atari games are often doing better than C64-games
  while Mac games do better than PC games.

- The game should be an (early) part of a well known series like
  Ultima, Zelda, Metal Gear etc. - often spanning different system
  generations. This is kinda like the first Spider-Man comic.

- If often help when the game if from a "legendary" publisher like
  Origin or SSI. Mindscape is less cool, for example.

- It does help if the game has something special going for it that
  enhances its exposure on Ebay like a well known brand name
  which in the best case has something of a cult followship.
  HHGTTH should bring more than James Clavell's Shogun for
  example...

The more factors one game can fulfill the higher the chance it gets
bid high on. But there aren't that many games than can do that.
The world is full of either very obscure or -at their time-
unsuccessful
titles that get sold nowadays as "great adventure from Sierra" or
"terrific role-playing game from hit-producer SSI" - often fetching
more than $30. A high starting price (like $25) does seem to get
better results - probably by suggesting "importance".

> Hmm, I have shrink wrapped Apple II Beagle Bros software (the
> Timeout series for Appleworks) sitting in storage, might be fun to
> post it to eBay and see what it goes for... :)

As crazy as Apple II bidders seem to be at the moment why not...

> Could kick myself, about 8 years ago there was a computer
> Dollar Store (i.e. everything for just $1.00) just down the street from
> where I now live. They had shrink wrapped Apple II, Commodore,
> Atari, Amiga, etc software from the 80's. I when I went back to pick
> some stuff up, they had already gone under and threw out all the
> software!

I guess most people here have such experiences.

> There wasn't _that_ much Apple II software, but it still bothers
> me. From memory, the only thing I did buy on that first visit was
> Springboard Publisher new in the box (still have it, still unopened).

You should at least get your money back... ;-)

bye
Marcus