You know Retrogaming is going wrong when...

[virtuali]

- You tried to sell your beautiful 2009 Dual-Xeon Mac Pro, fully working and expanded with the latest OS installed for about 100$, and people emailed you it was "too expensive" and they wanted to pay like 50$ for it at most. I mean, a single chip of ECC RAM ( and I have 8 of them ) is worth more...

- You search on Ebay for a nice used C-128, or an Amiga 1200 or similar, and you see ridiculous prices of 500$ and up.

Thanks again for the MiSTer...

[Spunkworks]

A Dual Xeon Mac Pro just isn't cool enough compared to an Amiga 1200

[Blitzwing]

- You tried to sell your beautiful 2009 Dual-Xeon Mac Pro, fully working and expanded with the latest OS installed for about 100$, and people emailed you it was "too expensive" and they wanted to pay like 50$ for it at most. I mean, a single chip of ECC RAM ( and I have 8 of them ) is worth more...

- You search on Ebay for a nice used C-128, or an Amiga 1200 or similar, and you see ridiculous prices of 500$ and up.

Thanks again for the MiSTer...

I think the problem is it's an Intel Mac, it's no different than a PC without the gaming cojones of Windows, unless you use boot camp. At that point though why go Mac for retro gaming? Instead spec out a beast late generation XP machine.

Now if it was a Power Mac G5 then we'd be talking a retro computer language worthy of the name

[virtuali]

Now if it was a Power Mac G5 then we'd be talking a retro computer language worthy of the name

I DO have a Power Mac G5 too! Maybe my strategy was wrong all the way, I should ask 1000$ and offer the Intel Mac together with it...

[Slipard]

Well, I had two CRTs for sale. Bang & Olufsen, not the best, but not the worst either. With original remote, I offered €150 for the lot which was quite a fair price given the hardware, it's state and what I saw on the market.

People were like "This has no value anymore, you should give it for free, I'll come pick it up today if you do so." As a result, I threw both CRTs in the stairs and, well, the value of the tube leaking has no value indeed. Something to live once in his life.

And that's the point: most buyers are awful.

They do not buy, they invest. And when they really buy, they still want both a bargain (Have I a Costco label on my shirt? Hell no!) and to resell with a benefit.
Their argument is that prices are always too high, even the idea of a price is ludicrous, that's obsolete hardware anyway, that has no more value.
Well, when something hasn't got any value, you don't want it. If you want it, it is because it has value.

Which is why I gave up original hardware, both because FPGA emulation is really practical and because it has became a speculation place with awful spoiled people.

Also, less time buying, more time playing; that is the true value here.

BTW, the Mac Pro 2009 is a very fine machine. At that price of $100, I think I would have bought it.

[akeley]

Multiple chancers sending ridiculous offers/opinions are unfortunately to be expected when using classifieds, and not just in retro gaming. It was like that with virtually everything I've ever tried to sell this way, despite putting in assorted NO SWAPS/OFFERS/TIMEWASTERS disclaimers. Some of these people are simply crazy, and some are scalpers who hope that somebody will bite and they can then flip the item for asking price+extra. You even get them on ebay, though it's not as bad.

Retro gaming prices hardware & software have always been rising, which is natural, but in the last 2 years they did skyrocket quite wildly. I'm sure it's partially thanks to Covid's effects, what with people being bored at home, looking for alternative investments and so on, but also largerly thanks to the actions of big sham operators such as WATA and friends. Must watch if you haven't seen it already: https://yewtu.be/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A

They concentrate on sealed games market, but I believe the giddy headlines their auctions generate in major news outlets ("Super Mario in sells for 1.5 mil!!11!") have a knock off effect on all other prices. Suddenly, everyone wants to make big bucks, even on stuff that's common as muck .

[virtuali]

I think another reasons for the crazy prices in Retrogaming is that, right now, the '80s are considered to be incredibly cool.

Movies like "Ready Player One" or "Stranger Things" have raised the hype and, most importantly, the '80s is when those that today have the most money to spend were teenagers, so they are prepared to spend extra cache for their nostalgia fix. So, anything from that era demands absurd prices.

I guess in 20 years or so, the 2000s might become cool again, because by then, millennials will be in their middle age, at the top of their spending abilities.

[Bas]

I was a kid in the 80's. Computing back then was hugely more interesting than it was a decade later. Sure stuff got more powerful but also so much less diverse from a technological standpoint. Plus the era of budding hardware accelerated 3D brought with it a time of extremely bad graphics for the sake of the 3D effect while 2D pixel art at the time was so much more detailed and convincing. Only very recently did 3D finally close that gap.

My retro nostalgia goes back all the way to a time before I was even born but stops quite abruptly at the release of 3dfx Voodoo 1 and similar console gear.

[darksakul]

I hate the problem the Retro scene has now, where a common game with millions of copies made sells for $200, no box, no manual and the cart label is torn or damaged.

[MiSTer_Kirk]

The retro scene, on eBay, has got so bad that now empty boxes go for prices that you once paid for the full thing. A Gameboy DMG box can go for £50+, which is just nuts. Then we have the most overrated system on earth, the ZX Spectrum 128K+ Toastrack, where empty boxes go for whatever people want to pay for one. Here is one, currently sitting at £67 with 12 bids.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/203602974691 ... Sw6iRhPmM1

I only paid £50 for my toastrack which came boxed, and yes - it's the last of the Sinclair Spectrums, but that doesn't mean it's the best of the entire range, and not worth anywhere near the prices it goes for - £300 - £500.
Then we have 8-bit disk games, such as C64, Atari 800, Amstrad CPC6128, etc... with titles often going for a few hundred quid, more than the actual system you use them on.
And don't get me started on the Vectrex "Scene", quite probably THE most zealot, mental scene I have ever witnessed. When homebrew games get artificially limited releases, say 50, which then only go to collectors. Then, when one of them decides to sell a copy, they go for insane prices. A game called Debris is currently going for £355, and while there is a Sega SG-1000 game also in the sale, you can be sure those bidding want Debris. Why ? Why limit modern homebrew ? And you can't buy a digital copy, for those of us with a flashcart, because they all fear it will lower the value of their precious "Limited" copy. Also, some think a digital copy will spread. Well, it's not going to sell if there isn't a way to buy it, is it ? So it's not like you are losing sales.
I would love to sell everything I own, and stick to the Mister. But eBay is quite possibly the worst place to sell retro hardware. A buyer, only has to find the tiniest, most insignificant problem, and they can ask for a full refund - just like that, on 30-40-year-old hardware, treating it as if it should be new.
The whole scene is now for rabid, zealot collectors, and those who have turned collecting into a profit-led business. Thank god for Mister.