GoldenEye 007 Nintendo 64 Community, GoldenEye X, Nintendo 64 Games Discussion

[bmw]

Ebay must not be cracking down too hard on pirates and fakes because the site is just FILLED with them these days.

For instance, just search "NES in 1" and you'll find HUNDREDS of carts that are multi-games all on one cart (usually like 100 or 150 in 1). And don't get me started on the Pokemon fakes....hundreds of those too.

I don't ever remember it being this bad, but it is getting a bit ridiculous. I'm sure a few lawsuits from Nintendo against a few of these sellers would help.

[SubDrag]

I think ebay hadn't been doing that spectacularly as of late, so they probably are not as eager to chase any potential profit away.

[Wreck]

I imagine eBay makes a decent amount of money off of bootlegged / pirated goods. Without the companies owning the copyrights breathing down their neck, they've really got no reason to end all these auctions. They'd probably need to open a whole new division to keep track of these fake goods, and that means losing money twice. Might be good as far as ethics go, but business is business. Collectors generally know how to spot fakes, though the technology keeps getting better every year. It's usually up to individuals to report said items as illegally reproduced versions, in an effort to end auctions before some unsuspecting buyer grabs it.

[bmw]

When a single search phrase turns up results that are 80 percent bootlegs, it seems like it would be easy for ebay to shut down at least some of the more obvious fakes. But yeah, ebay's problem from a business standpoint would be if they follow through with enforcing consequences, they would have to end more than just individual listings - they would have to shut down entire seller accounts, and they're not in business to do that.

Buyers HAVE to know they're buying fakes, especially with things like 150-in-1 carts that have all licensed NES games for $30. You'd have to be pretty naive to believe that is legit. Same goes for the Pokemon fakes - when Gameboy pokemon games are selling individually fro $25 to $40 per authentic cart, people can't be stupid enough to believe that somebody selling 6 GBA carts for a total of $43.99 from China is a legitimate lot.

What bugs me as a collector (as I have a decent sized collection of retro games - mostly NES, Genesis, GBA, and PS1) is that this recent uptick in bootleg multi-carts has to be negatively impacting prices of the real goods. So it is hurting collectors who own legit games more than it is the companies who made them since they're no longer in production or on sale. I know this argument has been around for years and years about ROMS, but it is different when you can buy a cart and play it on your real hardware. And most casual buyers aren't spending $100+ on flash carts, I fell like that is a much smaller niche market. But $30-$40 is a price point that might appeal to casual buyers who just want to play a bunch of games on their real hardware.

[bmw]

Wreck wrote:

I imagine eBay makes a decent amount of money off of bootlegged / pirated goods...Might be good as far as ethics go, but business is business.

Just my opinion - if you as a company are KNOWINGLY making substantial money off of bootlegs and are actively deciding not to do much about it, then you are just as guilty as the bootlegger. It is unfortunate that it takes big companies to put pressure on them.

[Wreck]

I can't disagree with you there. But eBay can always play the stupid card, and claim they were unaware of the goods being reproductions. They likely don't have an enforcement team to look into and take action upon auctions involving potentially pirated items, so that's another excuse.

As for impacting the prices of the real games, I don't know about that. Maybe for non-collectors who just want games to play, but they aren't the ones shelling out hundreds for a single NES game, anyway. The diehards, who strive for perfection in their quest, are after rares and minty clean copies. I think the only real time a game price can be affected negatively, is when a large number of copies are discovered in a warehouse and start flooding into the market. Even the NES Classic shouldn't have an effect on game value.

[mistamontiel]

Despicable
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[bmw]

Wreck wrote:

...Even the NES Classic shouldn't have an effect on game value.

Actually, the NES Classic seems to be (though probably temporarily) driving prices UP, and I think that is because it is so scarce and is still selling for $200+. There has been a substantial price spike in original NES consoles + mario games being sold in lots, and when you look at completed listings, the spike has happened just in the last month. A Console w/new 72-pin connector plus Mario 1-3 is now selling for about $189, compared to closer to $140 last month. My guess is people are buying these as Christmas gifts as opposed to the Classic.

In other words, if you have an old spare console, now is the time to sell

Wreck wrote:

As for impacting the prices of the real games, I don't know about that. Maybe for non-collectors who just want games to play, but they aren't the ones shelling out hundreds for a single NES game, anyway. The diehards, who strive for perfection in their quest, are after rares and minty clean copies.

It is so hard to know for sure, because there is no control group to compare to. In other words, there is no way of knowing if prices would be even higher than they are if it weren't for roms/multi-carts/flash carts/repros on the market. Take Little Samson *** for example. It sells for like $1200. If this was the ONLY way you could play the game, would it be worth even more? Maybe one could argue that the roms/fakes give more people the ability to test the game, and leads to more exposure like youtube videos, and so that actually drives the price up.

***Side-note on this game - I actually owned a MINT cart back in about 2003 (as well as mint carts of Bonk's Adventure and Snow Brothers - both worth hundreds, sold for like $30) but sold it then for what it was worth - $50. Had no idea I shoulda held on to it