New Games!

Hello! I have updated my Ecrater store with roughly 20 new games! I'll share some pictures and give you a list as I have before!

List of finds:

ToeJam & Earl (Genesis)

NBA Jam T.E. (SNES)

Super Punch Out

Fifa 96

Super Wrestlemania

Tecmo Super Bowl III

NHL 96

California Games

Super Mario Kart

Super Mario World

Tecmo Super Bowl x2

Pilotwings

Ken Griffey Jr's Winning Run

Street Fighter II Turbo

Madden 94

Donkey Kong Country

The Legend of Zelda Link to the Past

Earthworm Jim

Madden 97

Nintendo 64 Games Arrived!

Hello! My Nintendo 64 games that I won from Ebay arrived and I now have them on my Ecrater website. I'll share with you some of the pictures that I took and list them for you again! Enjoy!

List of finds:

Pokemon Stadium 2 

Banjo-Tooie

Banjo-Kazooie

Bomberman 64

Flying Dragon

Batman Beyond Return of The Joker

Diddy Kong Racing

My Ebay Finds

My Ebay stuff has finally come! Well, three out of the four packages have come but I wanted to get something up. I won't show every picture but I'll give pictures of some notable games and then provide a list for you of each game!

This game has such an odd story!

C-C-C-COMBO BREAKER

So hard, but I love this game

RUN TO THE HILLS!

I could never beat this game :( CIB!

From downtown! Love this

Those were just a few games I got from Ebay. I still have some more to come but I wanted to at least get these up for you to enjoy! All my games are listed on my Ecrater store!

List of finds:

The Lion King (Genesis)

Mortal Kombat (Genesis)

Toejam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron (Genesis)

Ghouls 'N Ghosts (Genesis)

NBA Jam Tournament Edition (Genesis)

Sonic The Hedgehog 2 (Genesis)

Desert Strike Return to the Gulf (Genesis)

Aladdin (Genesis)

Jak II (PS2)

Spiderman (PS2)

The Sims (PS2)

Jak and Daxter The Precursor Legacy (PS2)

God of War II (PS2)

Gran Turismo 3 (PS2)

Brothers in Arms Earned in Blood (PS2)

Super Game Boy (SNES)

Tiny Toon Adventures Buster Busts Loose (SNES)

Illusion of Gaia (SNES)

Pilotwings (SNES)

Killer Instinct (SNES)

Wrestlemania The Arcade Game (SNES)

Family Dog (SNES)

Spiderman Xmen Arcade Revenge (SNES)

Robocop VS. The Terminator (SNES)

Mickey Mania (SNES)

Cool Spot (SNES)

The Lawnmower Man (SNES)

Saturday Flea Market Finds

Well the flea market came and went today. Found a few things but not a lot. Enjoy!

My girlfriend and I arrived at the fairgrounds around 8:45AM. Little early, nice. The admission guard directed us to the side parking lot where there were only handicap parking. We sat and realized this parking lot was too small. More people began to arrive and started to form a line, blocking others. Great, this is going to be a headache I thought. At 9, they opened the main gates and the line of cars began pulling into the fairgrounds. Damn. After the line went, I was able to pull into the main gates.

Some of the vendors were still setting up shop but most were ready. It was about 35 outside, nice and cold. We started going down the line of vendors outside and quickly gazed at the offerings. VHS, baby stuff, old tools, more VHS, hats, books. Outside was a bust in 5 minutes. Not looking that great.

We went inside the first of three buildings. Sweet, sweet heat. I started scanning each booth. Jewelry, hand made stuff and more tools. I stopped at one booth and saw 3 video games sitting there! Sports, damn, sports, damn again and Grand Theft Auto San Andreas for a good price! Score! I checked the case and CD and found nothing but wear and tear. I had to silently put it down, knowing some poor kid would buy a CD that would probably not work.

Moving on to the next building, I began my Speedy Gonzales look around. I walked inside someones booth and spotted:

A small find but a complete in box is always a nice grab. I also bought an NES controller but, sadly, the buttons do not respond.

Off to the next building and my girlfriend quickly spotted a vendor with consoles sitting out. NES, SNES, N64 and a PS1 all sitting there for the taking. Well, when they are quite overpriced, you'll always pass. Saddened, I asked if they had any games, to which he said they did! They had a very small collection of mainly PS2 games and PS1 but I did manage to grab:

I was happy with that one. Looking through the rest of the building I was able to find more games offered but all were sports games, or very high priced sports games. Sorry, I'll pass.

We visited another thrift store after and I made a mad dash towards the CD/game section. Struck out again! I walked down towards the electronic section, hoping to find something misplaced.

Oh, hello! A complete in box Sega CD game (also came with a newspaper for the game) and a boxed Sega game. Gotta love misplaced stuff!

I have added many, if not all, on my Ecrater store. Hopefully my Ebay wins will arrive next week and I can share more with you!

List of finds:

1x CIB RBI Baseball 3 (NES)

1x Tiny Toon Adventures (NES)

1x Pokemon Stadium (N64)

1x Sherlock Holmes Vol II CIB (Sega CD)

1x Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends (Sega Genesis)

Ebay and Fleas!

I wanted to give a quick update that I won some Ebay auctions! I should receive the games early November. I'll have pictures for you to look at and have them on my Ecrater store after they are tested.

I have a larger flea market to attend tomorrow morning along with other places. Hopefully I'll grab some gems and have a good story.

Wishing everyone a great weekend!

Selling Retro Video Games, Is It Viable?

One thing I have heard from others I know, and online, is the question of, can retro video games be sold online for a profit? This is certainly an honest question. To even begin, if I did not feel it was viable I would not be doing this. I am going to try and point out why I feel this market has potential.

With the Internet, a person can download a ROM and play many of their favorite classics on their computer now. It's even possible to play many on an Android phone too. Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft all offer many older games for sale on their own online market. Why would someone want to buy these physical copies then? First, online distribution, while popular, has not overtaken the physical realm yet. Ask a person who wants a video game and I would place a bet that they would prefer a physical copy over a digital copy of a retro game.  What are some reasons why someone would want a physical copy?

The average age of a gamer is getting older. Some recent surveys, which I can't find right now, shows that the average age of a gamer is in their 30's. What do people have when they are in their 30's? Kids. Many parents love to share with their kids. For your kids birthday, would you rather give them a digital copy of Chrono Trigger, or the physical copy that you were able to find to buy? Everyone loves opening a present or even a box to find their treasure inside. Sure, many people will just download a digital copy of a game but many love the feeling of opening something or giving gifts.

Nostalgia can sometimes be described as rose colored glasses. Many people look back on their earlier years and remember the great times they had with their old games. Being able to have a real copy of a game is a great way to relive those moments.

Many people are collectors. To be a collector is to find original copies of games in as great as condition as possible. Would a collector take a digital copy and say they are expanding their collection? I very highly doubt. Many of these people look for bargains. It can be tough selling to these people, but not all the time.

Probably the biggest issue to overcome is exposure. Go to Ebay, Ecrater or type in Google for video game stores and see all the lists. How does one overcome this mass amount of people? My answer, persistence and quality. Be persistent and not give up and you will start to rise above others. Have quality products and this will bring referrals to you. Use twitter and other social tools to help bring in people and provide a way for people to interact with you. Have a blog, like this one! It will be slow at first but it will help. Find forums for people with relevant interests and, if possible, relay your store or blog or twitter. Do not spam people on forums as that is considered very rude.

These are all reasons that selling online can work. There are many hurdles, and I only touched on one. If you really wish to be successful, you must be willing to accept it will be very difficult at first.

Ecrater: My Online Store!

So I mentioned in my first post that Ecrater would be the home of my store. Why did I choose this over the traditional Ebay route? Like most things in life, it comes down to price!

Ecrater advertises themselves as free! Free you say? Surely there must be some kind of catch or limiting factor to this. There really is no, what I consider, major drawback. The only thing Ecrater requires is that you bring people to your store. With Ebay, they are focused on the buyers. With Ecrater, they are focused on the seller. I find that perfect because Ebay has, as I'm sure you're aware if you sell on there, been increasing their fees over the last few years. Finding a site that allowed me to set-up a store that is free with decent traffic is what I wanted.

This means that I need to promote my store and bring people in though. Can I do that? I hope so. I guess as the months go by and either fatigue or my impatience catches up I will discover if I really can do it.