Whats eBay done to gaming?

[Concrete donkey]

I work in an indie game shop myself. The internet in general put a stop to high prices on import games, which our store adjusted accordingly, as did our suppliers (some of them slower than others.)

Trade in's are worse than what you can get for it on ebay, but most arn't willing to put up with all the hassle of listing and shipping stuff so that part of the buisness remains relativly unchanged.

The retro market however has been close to destroyed by ebay and we rarely get stock of the good stuff anymore. However, the if you can't beat them effect comes into play, as we get far more cash for 'the good stuff' on ebay than we would by selling it through our retail outlet, and posting our sale items on ebay has been very successful, selling more of our specail offers there than we do the store.

Ebay is a force to be reckoned with, but if properly harnessed can actually benefit an indie as well as hurt them.

[Tychom]

Personally speaking i think its had a detramental effect, artificialy inflating prices being my biggest complaint

Hrm, well I look in indie shops every now and then and it's the prices there that amaze me, much as the price of importers did before the internet took off. I personally think ebay is "just fine", you can occasionally get deals but you can be sure anything you do buy will cost less than it can be bought from a store.

Forums though, that's one place you can still be sure to find some good bargains (no bidding wars).

[eretsua]

The mentioned (artificial) inflation of game prices is a is a severe problem that is created by eBay.

Sellers are insulted when a trade-in yields them 5 instead of 20 GBP which they started to expect for their 2nd hand game due to eBay. There are huge expenses in operating a store so they can not really offer more than 5GBP per game because otherwise the price of 2nd hand games would be even higher than that of a new game!

eBay caused misconceptions with the general public about the worth & rarity of games (and other products). A big problem is that (relative) rarities or maybe even most 2nd hand goods disappear from the shops and show up on eBay instead. There is no reason for the consumer to go the shop cause what they are looking for is not there anyway. It's available from the comfort of their own home. Since they don't go to the shop for (relative) games goods anymore they aren't looking at the less rare & common titles in the 2nd section which they may buy if they saw them. So the shop notices a decrease second hand sales and decides to stop buying them and only focuses on new titles. And since you can buy new videogames at the most inappropriate places there is no reason to go to the videogame shop. And then the once so cool shop disappears.

I've seen this happen with quite a bunch of 2nd hand music shops. They would buy rare vinyl which instead of putting in the shop they put on eBay. Now they have even gone so far that everything they buy is put up on eBay and if it doesn't sell it goes into the shop. Business is down and the shop is gone ore will be soon. And that's okay because there stock is useless anyway.


A very good thing about eBay is the fact that the consumer has a lot more access to (rare) goods. I've bought so many things through eBay that would never have appeared in a local shop. Saved a whole lot of money buying some Cave shooters through eBay compared to the Play-Asia prices recently. So there is good sides to it as well but I do believe eBay truly ushered in the era of online shopping with all the consequences for (small) shops.

[vertigo]

Hmm, I think some of the views moaning about inflated prices are a bit short-sighted, as for every game that's overpriced there are two more copies that are reasonable. Why bother participating in an auction for something common if the price is more than you're willing to pay? And the prices for stuff SNES RPGs were already getting inflated due to fanboys well before eBay turned up in any noticable form. Truly rare stuff will always be expensive, stuff that's rare with 10 copies on eBay at any one time will always provide an opportunity to grab one for relatively cheap if you're patient and can wait a few days, so... If you're only searcing on one site within one country, you get what you're given, but if you're using the resource properly and can actually exercise some self-control (think before you bid ?100 on Super Mario World!) then it's good. eBay's allowed me to get some good cart-only SFC stuff that I'd have absolutely no chance of getting by walking around the shops, so it's fine by me.
Import shops were living on borrowed time anyway with their 50-100% price inflations, especially considering the US$ has become so weak now and the internet means we can order direct (although you could have ordered direct by phone anyway in the past if you got hold of a US magazine like EGM and contacted the sellers by phone) and hey, business is business. Rely too much on a fad and don't change with the market and you're going under sooner rather than later. It's a big shame that CEX used to be fantastic in the mid-to-late-90s and is now crap, but there are so many other factors in that (including accidents such as the flood at Rathbone Place that wiped out most of their retro collection) over and above blaming eBay.

[LamerEater]

Ive only been hurt once on eBay, and it was only for 10 quid and i got it back too.

As a Gamer, i love eBay. For example i could only get my hands on a xbox360 core, as HD's are all sold out in UK, ebay has allowed me to aquire one

[smallvillex]

Ebay does particularly help us gamers more than anyone else! I've just been ripped off for the first time for ?35. So i have filed a claim with paypal, just waiting for them to get back to me.

[Salsa Party Animal]

Ebay are useful for selling and buying games on bargain and things quickly. Oversea shops take longer to ship things and not alway good value.

Ebay do have some bad sides. It probably be responsible for increasing my game collection to too many games

[vertigo]

Ebay does particularly help us gamers more than anyone else! I've just been ripped off for the first time for ?35. So i have filed a claim with paypal, just waiting for them to get back to me.

The few times I've been ripped off (pirated games each time) I've been able to get my money back and have the seller shut down, so yes, the system does work. The only complaint I really have is that it's so bloody hard to even find the right place to make a complaint about an auction or seller. Each auction and seller page should have a "Report this auction" button in each territory.

[muse hunter]

ebay is an evil faceless company

If i was given the choice i would prefer to have my indies back and pay over the odds instead of using ebay. Its not just that actually buying games in person is a far greater experiance (which it is by far, a list of ebay items pales in comparision to browsing through the old cex retro), but ebay is also a fraudsters wet dream, you can get ripped off without knowing, people can rip you off without even trying. Ebay themselves don't give a toss about their customers and only care about the money they make from the auctions, it doesn't matter to them how and where that money came to be. In the end i've seen dodgy cash converters with better customer service than Ebay, and ebay even sells more stolen gear.

If ebay closed down tommorrow i'd be happy, i'd happily pay ?60 for GC games safe in the knowledge that i haven't been ripped off, and i'll happily sit down and watch tv safe in the knowledge that i won't be forced to watch that goddamn awful advert again.

[Dirty Sanchez]

Like the internet generally ebay has made import and niche gaming accessible to the masses with minimal effort.

The old methods of getting games are still there, incidently the only indies I every visited stank of piss and held over priced stock. Bonus, ebay doesn't stink of piss.

[Kron]

Ebay used to be a good site 4-5 years ago when they did have some appreciation for their customers but things have changed dramatically over the last few years and the site has become bloated and difficult to navigate and seems to be ran by staff who have no discerning ability to recognise what is actually being listed.

Its an incredibly faceless site and one I do my best to avoid as its not being ran with the customers interests being the first priority, The site now has a majority rule thanks to peoples inability to give anything else a chance and liberties will continue to be taken and fees will continually rise.

The site has become so large its almost next to impossible to pick up anthing for what I would class as a decent or reasonable price or something comparitive to the prices that I can find on the likes of YJA, Its especially humourus to see items like DVD's go for prices higher than the retail prices as places like play or cd-wow etc. It just goes to show how ignorant people have become thanks to ebay.

For people who know how to use the internet to find the true bargains ebay is no longer an option. What has ebay done to gaming? Its made people lazy and created a totally nonsensical second hand market.

[vertigo]

Ebay used to be a good site 4-5 years ago when they did have some appreciation for their customers but things have changed dramatically over the last few years and the site has become bloated and difficult to navigate and seems to be ran by staff who have no discerning ability to recognise what is actually being listed.

Considering they get millions of things listed every day, I'm not sure how you expect them to be able to fully research and decide on each item.
I don't find it difficult to navigate either, the only bit I do have a problem with is the hiding of the complaints and reporting procedure in relative obscurity. JUST LIKE AMAZON.

[Kron]

the only bit I do have a problem with is the hiding of the complaints and reporting procedure in relative obscurity.

Exactly, The site isn't setup to help the end user. They have very little concept of customer care anymore.

[Rsdio]

eBay caused misconceptions with the general public about the worth & rarity of games (and other products).

I don't see how, really. Something is worth what someone is willing to pay for it, if people are willing to bid silly money for Radiant Silvergun or whatever then that's what it's worth to people, same as any item. It's not solely responsible for making people think what's rare and what isn't, it's more likely websites and magazines based on what I've seen.

Ebay's certainly got more than it's fair share of problems but I think it's a positive thing overall. I really don't consider it 'consumerism at it's worst', because at the end of the day your average punter is paying less and selling for more than they would if it was through another middle-man such as a second-hand shop. There's no reason why you should own something, want to get rid of it and sell it to a shop for a knockdown price, just so they can make a profit on it.. It's completely backwards.

[MJ]

I've sold a couple of things on eBay and bought a few bargains, but I've been caught out twice with bootleg DVDs. Some sellers are really crafty and ruin it for the genuine ones.

I use it in small doses though and it suits by buying habits.