Determining the right pricing when selling graded video games is a delicate balance between fair value and competitive allure. Many use sales data from other sellers like Heritage Auctions, eBay, and Goldin to price their games. GamerStonks now consolidates much of this sales data, but too many sellers still don't know how to use it to properly price their graded video games. This guide breaks it down.
1. Use Data from Actual Sales of Graded Games (Not Listings)
Too many sellers justify their ridiculous prices by pointing to even more ridiculous open eBay listings for the same or similar item. However, LISTINGS ARE NOT SALES!! They are open listings precisely because no buyer has accepted their price.
If you are going to use comps to price your games for sale, then use real sales data by looking up "Completed" or "Sold" listings on eBay, viewing Past Sale Prices on Heritage Auctions, or use sales data consolidating platforms like GamerStonks to see prices that people have actually paid for games. Otherwise, you'll wind up thinking that your 9.8 A++ 1st print copy of Zelda's Breath of the Wild is worth $50,000 in 2023 (spoiler: it isn't).
2. Use Recent Sales Data
Once you've begun looking at actual sales data, it's important to look at RECENT sales. It's no secret that 2021 and 2022 were banger years for graded game valuations. That season has ended.
A great example of this is the 9.6 A++ Standard Release variant of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for the Nintendo 64. A quick search on Heritage Auctions shows this game sold for over $40,000 in December 2021, only to sell for less than half of that less than a year later:
Source: Heritage Auctions
Many sellers love to use all-time highs to justify vaulted prices. However, sellers, unless you have a time machine you're not telling me about, you're selling your games today - not a few years ago.
Price your games accordingly.
3. Use Net Sales Data
Recent data from actual sales is great for indicating market value. However, it's also important to consider that you're looking at gross prices - not net.
Heritage Auctions take a 20% commission from the seller (as well as a 20% buyer's premium), and Ebay takes a 14% commission on sales of graded video games (and that's before the seller incurs shipping costs).
This means that even if sales data shows that a game sold for $1,000, the owner actually sold it for $800-$860. Sure, the buyer was willing to pay $1,000 for the game, but these auction houses charge their commissions because they reach a larger pool of buyers and generate more buying competition than private sellers.
Accordingly, sellers can use comp data to show that there are buyers out there willing to pay the full comparative sale price, and buyers can use comp data to show there are sellers out there willing to accept 14-20% less than the data shows.
The Bottom Line: Many sellers and buyers are willing to sell/pay based on their own valuations for games - particularly ones that mean a lot to them. However, using data from actual, recent sales is perhaps the most objective way to determine the point-in-time value of items in the dynamic and exhilarating market that is graded video games.
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