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Why no price guide?
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yugffuts:
@SavannahLion

I had this idea 2 years or so ago and posted it on KLOV, but the interest wasn't there.  I had proposed a DB where users could enter the data on local sales, ebay auctions, regular auctions, etc.  I think the options I had included were:

Dedicated/Converted
Overall Condition (0-10)
Complete/Parts
Location
Price
Where it was purchased (ebay, auction, local sale) -> If ebay, was shipping available?
Images uploaded for each sale so the user can make their own decision.

The major problems I found were:

Condition is subjective
People thought that either:

A) Some ass would put in 50 instances of Bad Dudes at $500 before selling his Bad Dudes (in order to inflate the value for himself). This could be handled a number of ways, but I never got around to implementing them
B) It would require input from a bunch of users to build the DB up to a respectable level, and rare games would almost certainly never be represented.

I had the page layout made, and coded in PHP with a MySQL DB if anyone is interested in picking up where I left off...
Zeno:
I agree that you can only price boards in working/nonworking condition.  You can price cabinets.

My Dynamo cabinet converted by someone to a MK3 is worth a lot less then an original MK3 cabinet, even if they were both in the same condition. 

Plus, I like finding good deals on Craigslist.  You know, someone who wants to part with a working machine for $50.  If there was an easy price guide everyone and their brother could use, I think prices would go up.

On the flip side, I don't need a guide to warn me not to buy a working Capcom Bowling for $1100.

Just my take. 
RayB:
The other variable in pricing is that there are vendors with high prices, but offering service warranties.


The problem with VAPS is they started off in the mid to late 90's and all these collectors joined up and entered their collections. THEN, the site crapped out and stopped functioning correctly. Some people's entries got erased. Some accounts got erased, and the long long down time caused more people to just forget about it.

I went back to it just last week and found that my ancient account was still there, but all entries are deleted. To re-enter them, they want us to look up ID numbers in KLOV. I can't be bothered. I have my collection listed here instead:  www.ggdb.com

yugffuts:

--- Quote ---Plus, I like finding good deals on Craigslist.  You know, someone who wants to part with a working machine for $50.  If there was an easy price guide everyone and their brother could use, I think prices would go up.

On the flip side, I don't need a guide to warn me not to buy a working Capcom Bowling for $1100.
--- End quote ---

Oh yea, that was the other problem.  People that would be needed to make the community effort work typically already know value, and don't want to share it.  A price guide/reference would help newbies more than veterans, and I suppose some 'deals' would disappear.
ChadTower:

Generally what happens when price guides come out is it makes it a lot easier for newbie flippers to get into the hobby.  People who know nothing about the items start to buy them just because they now know exactly what they "should be able" to sell them for...
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