I was on ebay the other night looking for copies of Mega Man 64. While I saw that sealed copies usually went for about 100-170 or so, the VGA rated copies all pushed 350-450.
Here is an example
None VGA rated FACTORY SEALED Mega Man 64
Versus
VGA rated SEALED Mega Man 64
So I got a bit curious about what the VGA charges to get games rated and what services they offer.
On their very website you see this criteria for grading costs.
http://www.vggrader.com/submission_packagedpricing.aspx
You can do different levels of stuff to your game when you get it graded and cased, the price varies on the value of the product. Now what's funny as hell here is if the guy who hadn't VGA rated his game wanted to get his sealed copy of Mega Man 64 rated, all the services would probably be priced in the under $400 or under $1000 category.
Why? Well because the other VGA rated games are going for 350-450 dollars. Which makes sense but here is where the issue comes into play.
Those values are already heavily inflated thanks to the VGA
Say the game was actually worth 170 sealed and in great condition like the non VGA seller says. If you went to rate that game, it would be rated as an under 200 dollar game. Say you got 60 dollars worth of services done, and then you decide to sell it. Now if you wanna make your money back your game has to be sold for 230.
Now some one else who has sealed copy wonders how much their game is worth and the see it's worth 230! So they list their for 200 or so, then eventually the price is inflated to 200-230 just because that's how much people believe it's worth. Eventually some of those people want to get their sealed Mega Man 64's VGA rated...well now the game is valued as an under 400 game which jacks up the costs of their rating so they might have to sell the game for 300 to make their money back.
See the issue? The VGA distorts prices and value in an ever increasing way over time. However this is only one issue, there is a second issue that is a little bit more jarring. On their website they say that they leave a small slit in their sealed non-reopenable acrylic cases for minor airflow. Yet while the goal of the case is to protect the game, all this does is potentially cause damage over time. With that airflow perspiration can seep in which over time can damage the shrink wrap and eventually damage cardboard boxes or jewel case art.
I understand the point behind wanting to protect and rate your games, if they're rare or have a lot of value to you personally it's nice to want to protect them. Or if you want to sell to people I can see the VGA as a nice little vote of confidence to buyers. However, in the long run it might just totally crash the retro gaming market, and I'm pretty sure they're part of the reason as to why people think it's okay to sell Conkers Bad Fury Day (a game that even during the PS2 era would routinely sell for 5 dollars a cart) for over 100 dollars.
Yeah but this is all just like my opinion, man. I could be totally off base and if you think I am just tell me.
