I love how you make KZfaq videos more often now. I loved your channel 13 years now so glad you’re still making content

Every ebay seller does this. They don't pay attention to sold listings and will only list based on what is listed.

Seemingly all hobbies, especially collecting, have seen absurd price hikes post pandemic. Some people hope a bubble will pop, but I just don’t think that’s the case for physical media. You have finite goods with an ever larger fanbase, with gaming have exploded over the last 10-20 years. Companies should rerelease more of their titles, that’s the only way I see it cooling off, that and easier emulation.

Seriously?! A Japanese copy of Gran Turismo costs that much?!!! I got a copy of the game at my local store for just around $5. The scalper ruined everything!!!

As an added bit of context, my last trip to Japan was in 2018, and CIB Famicom, SFC, and N64 games I got under $20 with a less favorable exchange rate than we have today are pretty much all over $100 even on Yahoo auctions. Anecdotally, this feels like fallout from that $5K purchase of a sealed SMB on Famicom during the height of the WATA pump up. I’m not sure if these sellers think they’re taking advantage of clueless investors, or trying to discourage speculation into Japanese games altogether, but I wouldn’t be surprised by either.

Thanks for talking about this Pete. The outrageous prices has put a damper on collecting.

Yea... The pricing is unrealistic (US conventions as well). I have what I have and will simply enjoy what I have. I am no longer an active collector.

You finally got to the root of the cause at the very end. English speakers buying and flipping. Japan isn't stupid. They simply decided to cut out the middleman.

Yeah importing is rough if you don’t “know a guy”. eBay is filled with crazy prices. Yahoo Japan has some more decent ones (though some of them are getting high too), but getting a proxy shipper usually ads on crazy fees that makes it not worth it. Sometimes you may get lucky and see someone just trying to offload their imports, but that is few and far between. I miss the good ole days.

I've been seeing these price changes basically happening in real time even on Japanese sites like Surugaya. I've had games set up on my wishlist there for a couple years and seeing prices go up has been insane. Now I think the falling value of the yen also has a lot to do with that. Around when the pandemic started 100 yen was about one US dollar. But ever since the pandemic that has dropped immensely. Now 100 yen is only around 69 cents. But that's obviously not the only reason. I think importing has become far more common in the past few years and sellers are ABSOLUTELY trying to buy and flip games. People are also traveling to Japan again in droves since the borders opened and we've been seeing the effects. I don't think Ebay was ever a great place to go for imports but now it's basically impossible to find any good deals unless you're lucky.

Never got into import games or import consoles. Can barely keep up with the US stuff lol

You’ve also listed them from high to low, so it’s unrealistic.

These prices are insane

From what I understand, there's a bunch of people in Japan that go to thrift stores and used stores like HardOff, Don Quijote, Super Potato, etc... And then they resell those games on eBay. I'm pretty sure Japan caught on to a lot of Americans visiting Japan and buying a bunch of Japanese retro games. Some Americans do the same with the intention of reselling back in the US. This is a common occurrence among other hobbies like model kits & figures too. With the way the economy is, a lot of people are resorting to reselling and scalping things that people are into.

The insane prices increases on ps1 pushed me away from importing shmups/beatmups. It had me looking even harder to find more affordable gaming fun. Recently got Light gun game Mechanical violator Hakaider &Segata Sanshiro on Sega saturn and Pop'n Music vol1-6 PS1 and two controllers on eBay for not much money. Japanese Shop owners getting together to all relist at higher prices is a scary thought.:'/

Great video! It's a shame that JP prices have risen so much. It previously was a place to find lots of gems that either didn't make it to the west or had become insanely expensive here. Do you import many modern titles? I've been bringing a fair amount from asian over for my switch. Still a thrill seeing the different language box in my collection. Thanks for the video!

Helpful video. Under recommendation I tried buying import Saturn over local copies. Between postage costs and prices being fairly similar to local prices I gave it up quickly. You explained the likely reasons for this situation at the end, it fits.

I totally remember when Koro Koro Post Nin was like $20-$30 brand new. I bought multiple copies and gave them to friends because it was a cool Cameltry clone.

I had a very similar thing to your Harmful Park experience happen to me on Ebay with Hana Taka Daka. By the time that issue was resolved, and I got my refund, the game was more than double the value on Ebay.

quickly dropping a like and comment for this mad lad. showing my support

Seems like they didn’t realize how valuable their games are and now they do. I’m sure there are groups of people doing that though .

Sweet I coincidentally requested this haha! Giving it a watch, thanks Pete.

That’s crazy about harmful park because the same exact thing happened to me about 8 years ago. I purchased the game twice and the seller from Japan ended up cancelling both times. The prices just continued to rapidly climb

For imports, I went somewhat hard on loose gameboy number of years back. For the shipping prices alone, i stopped.

I got back from Japan a month and a half ago, and the game prices are all over the place. I'm finally getting into PC Engine games, and the prices are 3x from what it was, say, 8-10 years ago, but still more than half the price of what it was on eBay. Even some heavy hitter Sega Saturn games were 50-80% cheaper than the market rate on eBay. I feel like eBay prices for imports are mostly trash. Prices aren't insanely cheap as it was in my past few trips, but it's still drastically cheaper in Japan than here. Though to be fair, I tended to shop far away from Tokyo, or in areas that isn't swarmed with tourists. You can still find deals in Tokyo, but it's not common, and often more expensive than eBay prices.

crazy one for me was rally de europe, I paid $15 for mine and at the time thats about what it was everywhere

just emulate

Retro game collecting to me has become quite an unenjoyable experience. I collected as a Hobby, spending $5-50 here and there to add to my collection. Most of the the most sought after titles I'd like to get have reached $100, $200 or even $300 terriotory now. With a family I can't justifiy the price.

I’d be interested in a ps1 imports video. I know very little but hear all about these amazing shooters and action games. I have a ps3 and mister so always interested in imports worth looking at whether it’s something I can try out on Japanese PSN or go the emulation route.

At least old cartridges are still (mostly) affordable, still lots of mega cheap Famicom, Game Boy, Super Famicom games. Reseller manipulation is crazy

Hey Pete whats your thouts on ps4 imports? I have ben collecting Shooters and platformers

Yup, Japanese game prices back then were supercheap.

Great Video! Thanks Pete. These types of videos are awesome. Can you make a video of Japanese PS1 games that are affortable but amazing? Thanks,

I remember watching Lucifer Ring at 80 cents on a bulk back in 2015. Then the seller cancelled the purchase and I saw the game was 150usd. Great game tho! The first game I got for my PS1 when I was a kid in the Jack Sparrow days over here.

I agree, something most certainly is amiss. There is a disturbance in the force.

So many videos man this is great

Pete! Is Serial Experiments Lain actually hard to find? Every Japanese game store I went to seemed to have at least one of them and they're asking crazy prices!

This happened with Little Magic on Super Famicom. Was a $20 Sokoban game until suddenly it became a $70 ask. There goes my chance of owning it

Interestingly, I actually got a video AD today of a Japanese game seller on eBay. If they have the money to make ads, you know they are making bank. The whole retro game collecting has basically gone down the drain as far as I’m concerned. I think if you truly want these games to PLAY, you should emulate. Physical collecting has become an investment ‘hobby’

I would say its also foreigners living in Japan selling from there

my last import purchase was Pepsi Man 4 years ago. It got way too crazy for me even back then. I also always had an inkling about price fixing in Japan. Everyone on ebay was selling at almost exactly the same price. It's super fishy.

Would you like to go back to Japan? Even with the crazy prices etc I find your Japan vlogs some of your most relaxing videos! Great video Pete!

Generally, I don't really like eBay for Japanese imports. It's getting harder to find those deals. I lived in Japan from 2017-19 and my household goods weight coming back was literally 5,000 lbs of video games. =D I had got my boxed Pokemon N64 for $30, boxed Panasonic Q for $300, tons of great games for extremly cheap - Ginga Fukei Densetsu Sapphire (PCE) for $5 because my local Book Off had no idea what to price PCE games at. The list goes on. I actaully regret assing on Kyuiin for $60 back then too. Point is, yes, in the non-tourist areas of Japan at the time the prices were still quite good. I visited that same area about 6 months ago and, more than likely due to Americans and resellers, a lot of that stuff dried up. The video gaes sections were 25-50% of the size of what they were when I lived there and the selection & prices were not nearly as good. That's over a 5 year period and post-pandemic. I can only imagine the 'gasm busting experience it would have been in the early 2000s.

I know that NeoGeo Pocket Color games gone up significantly. Look at Big Bang Pro Wrestling for example. Yikes! But yea, I don't know what the deal is.

This seems to just be a problem with import games being jacked up on eBay. For example, Winds of Thunder on PCE is currently selling for 120$+ on eBay, while I bought that game on yahoo auction for around 50$ just a couple of months ago where I was the only person who bid for it.

This is nuts. Thankful I was able to get a few of the PS1 imports I wanted for good prices 10ish years ago.

I used to love collecting Japanese ps1 games. Ever since Covid prices went stupid and then shipping became like $20 per game

I love your content, keep up the fantastic job.

I've experienced the price jump with japanese pokemon cards as well

Pete! Is there any chance we can get some updated collection videos? I’d love to see what you’ve acquired over the years. I still watch your old collection videos to fall asleep too.

Initial D for the PS3 is the only Japanese Import I have ever bought. Never understood the appeal. I get frustrated just navigating Initial D's menus and its a freaking racing game.

This is why I like ODEs / flash carts for expensive games. Nothing better than giving the middle finger to scalpers.

Sellers from Japan on eBay are targeting foreign customers. Most of those sellers are actually foreigners living in Japan, not Japanese sellers. No one in Japan uses eBay. So yeah, sellers on eBay are trying to take advantage of you xD

I started noticing this about a year and a half ago. Some shops in jp will actually make a online shop for english users, while keeping the Jp one separated. They will inflate the price for english buyers. Its getting crazy out there.

How much Gamera 2000 cost

My experience is the 'or best offer' option can result in them accepting WAY below the asking price. I've not yet had one of my low ish best offers refuses. Low ish in comparison to their asking price. I mostly buy PS3 games from japan

A price can only get up if there are idiots buying

I don't think there is a conspiracy by Japanese sellers to push the price of certain games. Most likely it is as you said they are working against resellers. Also it is possible that some games receive a spike in popularity and can shoot up overnight through trends in Japan that we are unaware of. Usually happens with any game that is played on Game Center CX.

Its been awhile but I remember collecting saturn in early 2000s the games were already triple digits but you could get import versions for 20-30 bucks. I stopped collecting a long time ago sadly its just too expensive-so much better from a tech and availability stand point though!

What are your thoughts on grading games?

Since last I knew, older games and consoles in Japan were far cheaper than western retro stuff- though NTSC vs PAL also have deviation. It's gonna just be a dead end hobby due to scalping for the next golden goose of price-gouging.

I would expect that if these marked up import games aren't selling for as much they are asking for, over time the sellers will start undercutting, and prices that are being listed should find a new and lower equilibrium. But clearly this isn't happening, which is a bit strange IMO. Maybe these agreed on prices can stay so high because of the japanese culture? As in, they won't undercut out of respect of the agreed price?

You need to find out what they're actually going for. Not looking at absurd BIN prices or starting bids Ebay.

Did MetalJesus or some other KZfaqr post a video about Harmful Park between it going from $100 to $300? Because I have seen that happen many times. And then people complain its Ebay sellers… Sellers can only sell at a price people are willing to buy at. Buyers need to chill out as well if they want prices to calm down. Is it possible for a seller to lock the market? For some games maybe, and probably on obscure imports it is more likely. But they still need a buyer to pay up. I’m also a collector and this is just my take.

Game prices in japan stores have skyrocketed... So its the knock on effect. Also years of importers abroad and stuff lost thru export of supply is also a possibility. The world has surely sucked a huge chunk of the quality retro games out of japan the last 15 years... its not an infinite supply chain.

This videos chill me out

Did yal hear EL Shaddai is getitng an HD remaster. I just preordered mine.

Soniku. I remember your videos in japan lol

the dude selling harmful park had 0% feedback.... damn

To some extent, most of the games are still cheap in Japan. No crazy prices on sfc, n64, gc like here (but exceptions).

And a heads up to fellow collectors/retro gamers: Einhander, Klonoa, and Trap Gunner are crazy cheap compared to US versions, also highly payable JP versions (Einhander and Trap Gunner largely in English)

Gaming is a rich persons hobby now it’s sad just miss the days of walking in a store and leaving with a handful of games and some money left in the wallet lol

Personally, I think that this is a combination of things (aside from what seems to be some obvious price fixing): USDJPY disparity remains high; currently at 144 Yen to the USD, where traditionally is was closer to 100 Yen for many years. This probably prompted savvy US buyers to buy directly from Japanese sources (like Yahoo Japan) instead of US eBay, and you can be sure that Japanese sellers have been noticing a lot of purchases from those "Middleman" outlets. The above disparity has probably been fueling a lot of US resellers to buy from there, given the buying power the USD affords them right now. The effect of this inflation disparity is just forcing sellers to charge more to make up for this deficit, so yeah, they will maximize their earnings as much as they can get away with - and owing to my early comment, if wouldn't be surprising if a lot of vendors who transact online are colluding to help each other out. And finally, you have to figure to some degree with some of the more popular sought after games that, yes, we are probably looking at diminishing supply, given how long US buyers have been consuming Japanese inventory all these years.

You’re not kidding, as someone who goes to Japan every year and has been for a long time, the prices have gotten wild. I have a bunch of friends there now and they can still get things for a better price but not much these days. These days you don’t go to Japan to look for games because it’s not worth it. Go for the sights and the food. Hope no one from Japan is watching but you scrolled by Panzer Bandit for like $120 and it’s one of the best import PS1 games out there, hasn’t gone up in like 7 years and absolutely worth the asking price.

The prices will go down again when people simply stop paying these crazy prices.

Looks like some very good Japan ps1 exclusives are still cheap. Devilman, Gear fighter dendoh.. these are actually very good games and not expensive

Stuff was cheap-ish even 4-5 years ago. Things went through the roof in the past couple years and I'm glad I'm not looking anymore Also wow yamatoku never came back after 2020

I just emulate now. I can't hang with these prices.

These prices arent even games that are sold, wre they? Anyone can ask for any price they want, doesnt mean anything I got a import copy of pokemon platinum (japanese CIB copy) from a us seller for 49.99$ while the NTSC copy was going for hundreds of dollars I also got a Japanese import ds lite refurbished for 55.99 when the American consoles are going for 100$ plus All within the last month or so I think it also depends on how rare the game is to start with. Love you pete

TELLEM PETE!

too much greed nowadays.

The insane prices of retro games are what made me stop collecting. I just can't bring myself to pay 4x or more what a game cost on its release when its freely available to emulate. Is it the same experience? no. Is the original experience worth $200-$1000. Not a chance.

EBay inflation … Standard

You HAVE to stay away from eBay regarding imports. It's a total joke. Its very evident that a group in Japan is trying to corner the market to completely rig gaijin buyers. I've been buying my imports elsewhere where the prices are fairer than this crap. I will say, just in the past year to two years, even at the fair priced places stuff has gone up tremendously. I took a trip back to Japan last year (went before COVID too), there were some things I was just amazed even what places like Hard Offs were charging. They know what they got now, and stupid people are ponying up.

There trying to Capitalize on the Americans . Especially bc alot of times our versions are so much .

Import is that bad (2nd hand matket).. that its preferable to do best offers on people selling imports.. domestically and be patient..

Who would pay these ridiculous amounts anymore?

Chase after the right price and all the youtubers are doing the same shit to these America games

Lmao it's a god damn cartel

✨⭐✨💕💞💕💞💕💞💕💞💕✨⭐✨

Your suggestion that these sellers communicate (or at least watch each other closely) is probably correct. A tip if you're seriously eying something is to place it in your watch list, some sellers will then offer a discount, and you can also counter-offer.

Every single listing on eBay right now is being dropshipped by a reseller in Japan. They take any given "buy it now" yahoo Japan or mercari listing and relist it on eBay at 2.5-3x the price. They don't actually own anything they are selling. They wait until their eBay listing sells, then they pay for the domestic Japanese listing. Zero risk involved. That's what happened with the Harmful park you bought. The original Japanese listing was gone by the time you bought it on eBay, so the reseller had to refund you. There is no evil scheme at play, or collusion happening in the Japanese collecting community. Demand has increased for these exponentially over the past decade and that's being compounded by the fact that you've been looking at the absolute worst possible way to buy these games.

Jokes on them. Nobody is going to pay these prices.

Could be worse it could be UK ebay. The cheapest copy of Harmful Park is £437 which is around $550, but most copies are £500+ ($633) its a joke

Japanese sellers are the worst on ebay they will use someone else's product pic of a nice condition item then send you nothing near as good condition.Then you you have to go thru the hassle of returning it ,leave negative feedback then ebay will remove your negative feedback ??? and some poor sucker after you get's to go thru it.I know I will never own harmful park,adventures of little ralph that is why I encourage people to contact limited run like I do to make it.

AMERICAN GREED IS RUINING INTEGRITY WTF. this absolutely sucks! :(

It's definitely interesting but I honestly stick to my belief that the VG market is currently totally fake and the vast majority of these games *are not selling*. People are not buying these games. Do an experiment - pick some high price games and keep an eye on them and see if they ever sell - I really don't think most of them do. Flippers have basically gone ham buying up all the stock in the deluded hope they will make loads of money.

This ain't even the best shmups what bout touhou ?

1st

To the question "Hey Pete is this game really worth $200" the answer is always HELL NO. Not a single game on Earth is worth paying that much money for.