What do you think about Q-tipgate? What has your experience been buying retro games and their cleanliness or lack thereof? Let me know in the comments!

I run an ebay side gig selling NES and SNES cartridges, and I consider it to be an embarassment to sell a dirty game from my store. I clean absolutely every cart (front, back, top, and multiple swabs to the pins) then test them before I even consider putting them up for sale. I expect the same from every other seller.

Remember when Pat went to the AVGN's game room for the sole purpose of cleaning his Nes for him.

My logic is clean your games or consoles before you sell on eBay. Everyone wins and less headaches for everyone.

If you're paying the current market value for the game, it should be confirmed clean and in working order. If it's not cleaned and not confirmed as working it should be treated "as-is" and should be sold at a lower price. That's just my opinion. It really grinds my gears paying 100$+ for a game, then having to spend time restoring it back to working order. Had a nasty experience last year with a Transmetals for the N64.

Absolutely should be cleaned. Takes a few mins and it’s a good habit to get into. People who don’t clean before selling is just lazy.

"clean and tested" are the key words that need to be included in the description

I don't expect anything to be reasonably cleaned when I purchase it, but it's disrespectful and lazy to not clean things you're trying to sell.

If you buy an NES game off eBay, pop it into your system and it doesn't play, that will affect the way you view the seller, even if it's just a cleaning that's needed to get it working.

A nonferrus material will always produce black residue when using a polishing material, it's a nickel by product,

even if they are "cleaned" even by retro stores, I still clean them. because even "clean" "working" cartridges sold by highly respected game stores are often filthy.

I made 10 or so orders from a game store from Ebay Japan over the last year and each time the packages are perfectly packed and the games were perfectly cleaned. Maybe it's a culture thing where some North American sellers have no pride or no care in what they ship out. I know when I sell anything at all locally off of Marketplace I always clean it up and try to present it in the best possible way.

To make it simple; if it’s that dirty, then it wasn’t tested. If it’s advertised as untested than all bets are off.

If you have a large game inventory, maybe you don’t have to clean them all ahead of time. But, if you do sell one, maybe give the game a cleaning before shipping it out. At the very least add a description like this, “while in good physical condition, some games may need a cleaning”.

Had a 20ish q tip megadrive cart way back when, was from amazon used so there was no photos but was dirt cheap so went for it anyway. The pin area was gunked up with brown stuff... Gloves came out and I had to open it up to get it even passable. It did work eventually

I'm far more surprised the BOTH of you didn't know that ipa was common short hand for isopropyl alcohol.

Cleaning can be destructive if done in a wrong way. Better have it as his and decide by yourself how much cleaning and what kind of cleaning it needs.

This is a big thing for me. I know not everyone knows how to clean games, but when you go on facebook marketplace and someone has found some game/console at a yard sale to flip, and it looks like it’s covered in dirt and grime. How hard is to just wipe it down a bit to make it look even slightly presentable? They want top dollar or whatever, but can’t clean it. I especially love the ones that say “Just needs TO BE cleaned. (For some reason people stoped say the words “to be”. I don’t know why) It’s terrible. Just clean it a bit before you put it up.

When I worked at a game store, we cleaned all of the games in the trade-in piles before we put them on the floor. People bring in games that were sitting in basements, barns, garage or they take shitty care of their stuff. You ever wipe down a N64 game collection from a person who smokes indoors? It's fucking nasty.

I agree with Pat fully here. I work six overnights, 48 hours a week. I sell games on eBay on the side as I try to whittle down the ridiculous collection I’ve built. I would never sell a game without cleaning it, regardless of value. I don’t expect any extra payment. It’s just common respect in my opinion. I am the “random Joe,” but I still care about my reputation and I try to ship everything in the condition I would want to receive it in. The story you told, Pat- I think it’s really uncool of the seller. Generally people seem to be faulting you for expecting better in the world we live in. Accepting trash behavior does nothing to change it.

I don't collect games, but based on other collectibles, I wouldn't have expected it to be cleaned.

Trust me, we gotta get you off the q-tips Pat, I don't like finding games with the fibers stuck to the edges of pins, it could transfer to the console and does so easily. I use a microfiber or rag without strong dye in it(like don't use a burgundy cloth or the harsh isopropyl alcohol could leave the cloth's dye on the contacts), wrap it around something sturdy like the stem of the qtip or a plastic butter knife, and you can really clean it well with alcohol, and without opening it up. Plus, no fibers. Some ppl I talk to agree with me and say yup, I have to pick out the hairs when I get a used cart. Others say they've nvr seen it and have no issues. I just want to prevent any issues with the console pin connector in the future, though options are available for replacement. To be honest, I 1st noticed this with the Retron 3 way back when that thing came out, and those pin connectors were sharp as fangs and terribly thin. But I checked my NES and there were a few fibers there. Really what I do is open the cart, hold the board in my hand, and take the cloth in my index finger and thumb, and work the pins, you can get as much force as u want that way instead of relying on a flimsy qtip or stick. You think the dirt on that variant you got was a lot, just use the method I described on a game you think is clean and be amazed at how many times you can say "There's still dirt on this thing???" 😁 I'm talking white rags turn black, polishing is good for those obviously.

To first understand why it needs to be cleaned or listed as untested, the seller must understand that if it’s untested, it may not work at all. Now while I have only encountered 1 out of a couple 1000 games that didn’t work, that doesn’t mean it’s impossible. The more humid an area, how it’s been stored, other factors, it can be normal wear to near impossible to clean. If a game has heavy, black levels of oxidation, it should be listed as such, with pictures. If the cart is knowingly untested, they shouldn’t expect premium prices, unless they give full cash refunds, not store credit.

I'm the exact opposite. Having seen some of the horrifying 'cleaning' methods in youtube tutorials, I don't risk buying anything that has been cleaned by the seller. I don't want to buy a cartridge that has had all the gold plating polished off its contacts. Give it another 10 years or so, and we're going to be seeing people trying to come up with methods to reverse the damage caused by amateurs trying to clean vintage hardware. Edit: Just saw another comment from someone who recommended using a nail file to clean cartridge contacts. This is exactly the kind of thing I'm talking about. Buying cartridges isn't worth the risk any more.

I remember a friend saying you use hydrogen peroxide on a q-tip, I tried it before, didn't seem to do anything, but now I know you should NOT put hydrogen peroxide on metal. Rubbing alcohol + Q-Tip works well, but be sure to dry it after you clean it, by using the dry side and another one if needed.

I personally like having old rental logos and other markings. Gives a little history and character. What I don’t like it the thing looking grimy or covered in dust. On that note I don’t expect the seller to clean them as I usually like giving them a once over regardless. I do appreciate it when the seller does take the time to clean it! A deal is a deal though so I’m always assuming it needs to be cleaned

Yes they should be cleaned before they sell them. Make sure they are fully tested to work as well. But, I don't mind cleaning them myself when I bring them home, regardless.

I always clean up anything I am selling. I know from experience from buying online (not just video games) you will get something in horrible condition and they will act like that is good condition.

It's anecdotal but I have cleaned probably a thousand NES games and only ever had two I couldn't get to work.

I think if a game has flaws, be it dirty, or stickers or physical damage, it needs to be disclosed. A picture is good enough for most of this. Anything that can not be seen well or is easily overlooked in a picture needs to be in text. If a physical store doesn't clean the outside of a game, I have the chance to inspect it in person, amd decide if I want to buy it. Online, I can't inspect it like that, so I need the seller to be upfront with detailed pictures and description. If a seller lists an item as very good and like new, I expect it to match ebays definition for very good or like new. If it doesn't, and the pictures didn't show the condition well enough I love to start a case and get a refund. I also sometimes message sellers who list things as like new, and then I see obvious flaws in the manual etc. I love calling them out, and letting them know they're a moron and not fooling anyone. Everyone should join me in this. I don't expect clean games, I expect good descriptions and pictures to let me know how clean, or not clean, a game is before I purchase.

This is a very interesting topic. I have a longer experience of my own to share, but I'll save it for the end for the folks who won't read it all. If your running a retro game store / shop, I tend to not care what "platform" (be it tiktok, etsy, ebay, or othewise) you sell on. You are (or should be) in the know that these things require cleaning. They just do. Getting away from the degree to which (or standard) we think they should be clean.... I think we can all agree that 10-12 filthy black q tips for an NES game is unacceptable. Unless you really don't know any better, and you know... look at their seller history. Oh this is a ebay sell that has 10,000 listing for fishing gear, and this one random NES game? Sure. No expectations. But if they have been buying and selling video games and their store front is video games and they yeah. They either should or do know better. That's on them. To Ian's point. I understand it's fair to not test everything right when you take it in. The time spent NOT checking every single box of NES games that come in automatically, sure. For the 1 in 100, or 1 in 500, or whatever that will be dirty and maybe even damaged to the point they don't work? The time spent NOT checking is worth more than whatever they eat on that game. High value games aside. But don't tell me you do not have 15-30 seconds to run a qtip or down on the inside of an NES / SNES / whatever game to spot check it before you send it out the door. This game woulda came back with a filthy grimy q-tip. The seller should have realized this one needed more attention. They didn't spend that 20 or 30 seconds. And more to the point, if a game is so dirty it won't load... they couldn't have tested it. Or very likely couldn't have. The difference here, in Ians case, is that these things do get tested before they leave the shop. If they find a problem, the seller doesn't eat it. The store does. Or if the game comes back in, they exchange / refund it. You have to make it right. You don't want to do the upfront leg work, fine. I understand the logistics of it. But don't just shrug your shoulders and shove shit out the door. And too. I think it comes down to frequency. If I bought 100+ NES games off of Luna over the last 10 years and I had trouble with 1 or 2 of them. Fine. If every third game I'm buying is dirty when I go to clean it, like bordering unacceptably dirty. Not fine. I went to a retro game shop in my local area. I bought some SNES games from them. One was fucking rusted. RUSTED. The contacts were stained orange from it. I refused to put that in my SNES. I didn't check it before I left, assuming a dedicated retro game shop with a couple hundred square foot space including a play choice 10 cab and a 4 slot MVS, would have taken the time to at least fucking look at this game and see the shit was rusted. It was a $5 game. That's not the point. They also previously sold me a sega genesis model 2 that had a lose DC power jack, and a reset button that didn't work. Both common problems I know. But test the fuckin thing. Takes 2 minutes. I fixed the soldering on the DC jack, controller ports and soldered in a new reset button. With that said genesis, I grabbed a copy of Sonic 2 lose and MK 2 loose because it's all they had that I was interested in at all on their BO-GO shelf. MK 2 was so dirty that after 20 q-tips, I decided to try to lightly wet sand the pins with 3000 grit sand paper. Then, and only then, did that game work. I realize it's possible at this point that the game may never work again at some point because of my sanding, but between q tips, pencil erasers and some brass polisher compound after the other two didn't work...... it was a last resort on a $3 copy of MK2. Game still works today. Now. But you can't fuckin tell me it's acceptable to not pop that fucking thing into a genesis and test it. A retron 5 even. Something. I understand it. They save a ton of time doing things their way too. And they a lost customer in me permanently. I'm sure it won't bother them or their bottom line.

When I see “good” condition listed I expect it to be bad and gross. “Great” means it’s not broken.

If the seller advertised it as being cleaned and refurbished then it should be free of dust and clean if you open it up.

"Q-tipgate"? C'mon man... "Listen all y'all, this is SWAB-OTAGE!"

If your gonna sell a game to someone off eBay, before you mail it out u should give it a good cleaning...it doesn't have to be perfect. But you give it a good once over

Generally speaking; I agree with Ian's view(s) on this whole thing.

I enjoy cleaning my NES carts before I use them, it's a ritual.

For me the act of cleaning a used game is like a transfer of ownership into my collection. I do this with all my retro games, cartridges, consoles, CDs, etc. regardless of how clean it is. That said, with eBay sellers I don't expect much. Tested, working, and as shown/described. A brick and mortar shop I would expect a cleaned game. If the games are above average pricing. In those cases it has better be pristine. I've seen games in horrible looking condition being sold above average at cons. Frustrating in those instances.

The chemistry is back

With over a decade in customer service 4 years in game retail, I believe if youre selling games, ebay or store front, the games should be cleaned before sale. I am an exception to my own rule because I love cleaning cartridges. Ive been collecting since the mid 90s and have cleaned thousands of cartridges.

So I personally test all the games that cross the $30 threshold on my eBay store. Beyond that, I usually put ‘tested’ in the title so people understand that I made sure they worked. Sometimes that requires cleaning, other times it doesn’t. Cartridges are tricky, because usually they just work and therefore I don’t clean connectors (unless I can see that it’s especially bad) but there’s no excuse not to wipe down the outside. Nothing makes a bigger difference on the quality of pictures you can take than some quick cleaning with iso. It gets any smells out and helps games sell better. That said, I’m sure someone could take q-tips to games I’ve sold as good and get some grime off the connectors. I can understand Pat’s frustration. I wish he would have tested the game as is before he cleaned it, bc that would really make his point (especially if it didn’t work)

This is why I find eBay kind of a double-edged sword. Today for example, I grabbed Turtles In Time for SNES from a mom and pop and avoided eBay. Missed it for some reason and never owned it in the 90s, so wanted to add it. I got an absolutely minty copy and the owner was talking about how clean it was and so forth. I paid an extra $10.00 for it, but I don’t even mind. Another time, I had one eBay seller send me a Turbo game that looked it it was stored in a toilet for 30 years. So, I go Mom and Pop whenever possible.

I think if you personally don't find the condition acceptable, you should definitively leave a review with photos or video as proof for the seller. That helps other collectors with better info and its the best you can do in that situation.

I sometimes get more pleasure out of cleaning and restoring the game than I do playing the actual game. No better feeling in the retro hobby than polishing up a forgotten relic lost to time and circumstance. That being said, any online purchase is a toss up. That would be a huge red flag at a store though. I would have been licking my chops to clean that cart. 😂

I collect ps1 games and my in store experience, the cases are always nasty and relatively broken. I’m usually able to negotiate a lower price because of this and just buy a 50 pack of replacement jewel cases , which just adds the cost of $1 to each purchase which I prefer over the time it takes to clean those. I try to clean the multi disc cases because those are harder to come by and replacements are expensive. Overall I guess I prefer my games to be dirtier since it makes collecting for that console much cheaper, and I don’t have to worry any type of funk left over in the cases

I would be embarrassed to sell something dirty on eBay, and worried about getting negative feedback.

Here I am thinking I was missing all of Ian's tweets

I appreciate this topic because this has been happening to me with eBay sellers a lot lately and the retro games I’ve been adding. I get that a regular Joe may not know better about cleaning contacts, or if a place has crazy inventory, but to me it seems like common sense not to just throw a dirty product in a bag or box and ship it off. That always seemed very unprofessional to me especially since I’m the exact opposite when I sell things on eBay. I don’t think it’s asking much for them to take a q-tip and give the contacts a 30 second cleaning, take a Clorox wipe or something and clean off the case of the game and dry it off. But as Ian said unfortunately that’s what you come to expect at this point. Most sellers don’t care enough. They’ll put up one picture of the product and not clean it even if it’s obviously dirty. I’ve received pretty grimy games and accessories and always thought that was odd to ship it like that. It doesn’t take long

I clean everything when I get it and when I part company with it. I don't feel like buyers should have to do any additional work beyond paying for the item.

I got an N64 game recently that used up about that many swabs. I disassembled it for easier cleaning and there was gunk in places that I've never seen gunk. As if it was pulled from a bog.

I just bought a similar dirty game as you (listed as Very Good), from a seller on ebay that sells alot of retro games. And I had the same thought that there was no way they had tested this game before wrapping it nicely in plastic to protect the world from its grime I guess. I think I expect people to clean them enough so that they look fine and work. I don't really like buying games if they say not tested.

Tongue clean for a tasty nostalgic treat!

I think all products should be cleaned but if you’re a high volume seller, there should be a threshold as to what gets cleaned and what doesn’t. Maybe like all items (in this case video games) $50 or over get cleaned. If I was to buy a video game for $50 I would expect it to be cleaned.

I make my local retro shop clean it while I stand there. :)

IPA is more of a working term for the chemical. You’ll hear Isopropyl Alcohol referred to as IPA in a laboratory or manufacturing (professional) setting

When ordering loose carts on ebay I assume the cart will not be clean. Ian gives a good example of games from overseas, especially when the seller includes a personal note. I assume those were cleaned.

I switched to bamboo stick cotton swabs. Way better. They don’t bend As bad as paper core. But they do snap.

I sell games on eBay and I make sure everything that I list is clean and working before I even put it up for sale. It’s literally the first step in my process every time. Cleaning and seeing what condition the item is in so I know what to price it for. It’s not even necessarily just for the buyer, it’s also for me so I can maximize what I can get out of the game or item. Ive bought several things on eBay that weren’t the cleanest, but weren’t bad either. My biggest issue on eBay is usually how much effort sellers put into packaging. Many just throw it in the cheapest package possible and send it out which drives me crazy cause I go overboard when I ship games to make sure they don’t get damaged.

If a transaction requires a business license to transact, then a higher expectation is expected.

What about disc based games? How do you clean those?

My question would be on the other side for Ian. Would a place like Luna pay less for trade ins if the condition was sub par or worse when it came to cleanliness?

I’m more concerned with the condition itself. If I receive the game dirty but after cleaning it up the label is good and looks to be l very good condition and works well… than I’m happy. Especially if it’s a hard to find variant. I think you pay in the top end of market value… then I would expect it squeaky clean. I guess it depends on the situation itself… it doesn’t come down to whether the game is clean or not but if I am plugging a much wanted hole in my personal collection

The last time I got a big lot of NES stuff and sold the stuff I didnt want I cleaned every cart by taking it apart, using IPA/cotton swab and a pencil eraser to remove dirt and corrosion, photoraphed the pins for the buyer, and tested it in the system that it came with. Did it take longer? yes. But I hope that buyers see a difference in a listing that actually shows you the condition of the pins. It doesnt make sense for every copy of Silent Service, but when you're selling $50+ games, yeah taking 5 minutes to do that is worth it to me. I also charged slightly more ($3-5 maybe) than the market price for them because i took the extra effort to present the items to the buyer.

In our local online auction site we have issues with people ordering big lots of unsorted games of unknown condition from Japan. Then basically without testing or cleaning the games immediately putting them up for sale at market price. The amount of Pokémon carts I've seen in laughably bad condition listed for 100€ or more is crazy. Once a game I bought had the PCB of another game inside it. That seller sent me a replacement no questions asked. Another time a seller sold a pack of four somewhat rare GBA games slightly below market price that looked to be in decent condition. When we received the games we noticed the seller very deliberately had taken pictures that did not show the significant rust damage on all the cartridges. It had obviously come from a lot that had been stored outside. After some back and forth and reporting the seller to the platform I did get refunded. But buying games online. Receiving them dirty seems to be the norm unless you buy it from a reputable store (but then you are rarely getting a deal on the price)

I literally cleaned all my carts about two weeks ago. Used q-tips and 91% isopropyl alcohol. It did the job. That's all I care about.

I've had worse looking q-tips from cleaning games. Some I had bought locally from Craigslist. They turned the q-tips a thick green color. The seller said they'd been rotting in his closet for years. This was about 10 years ago when NES collecting was just gaining ground.

I always clean NES games that I buy from ebay, video game stores...etc.

Given how ornery people get about "proper restoration technique," I would not be surprised that shops are moving towards how antique shops treat these items. Which is, as-is ("patina" and all), unless specified that the item was restored.

few years ago i did start buying nes games again and i live in the UK and i would buy, games that never came out over here, i would say about 90% of all the game i got from the USA were never cleaned, i would always try a game as soon as i got it and that was like 60% that it would work right away. when i think back most were listed as very good too, which am like really, i find it funny when they put as 'like new' and the disc looks like it has had a fight with the x-man

While times have changed over the years, at the heart of it eBay is still just a giant Flea Market/Yard Sale, so generally I only expect games and similar items to be sold as is with little to no cleaning before hand. Even for sellers running a "store", sometimes like Ian said you have to consider whether it's a large retailer moving hundreds or thousands of games a month or just some guy selling stacks of games out of a closet, because there's a time factor involved and generally the larger the seller the more likely it is that stuff comes in and out so fast that beyond claims of working/not working they might not really have the man power to thoroughly clean every cartridge. That all being said, this is one of the reasons why I rarely buy a game online because, while I'm not all that picky of a collector, I really like to see the condition in hand before buying anything.

I wouldn't sell or trade one away dirty but receiving it doesn't really shock me. You know how you have to clean them even after just shelving them for a year for the marathon? I'm pretty sure some of these ebay guys do clean it once, but then stockroom it, work through some inventory, get around to listing it in 6 or 8 months, list it, wait a while to sell it. Even full on stores, depends where you live but I've seen the exact same cart sit on a shelf in plastic wrap for 8 or 10 months, I'm sure they cleaned it and wrapped it but I'm just as sure if I buy it I'll be cleaning it again. I think it's just the nature of the beast and if you're in this hobby you know or should know what you're signing up for. I'm keeping what I buy longer than a year or two for the most part so I know anything I buy I'm going to have to clean multiple times even if it's clean on day one. Having said that though this one looks like an extreme outlier and I'd be irritated by it too.

20 minute tirade including photos of Q-tips and them lying in the front of the frame, love it.

I don't expect pristine condition if it's not advertised, but if the thing is grimy to touch on the *outside* then it's definitely not fit for sale.

I don't know if this is an admission of guilt or just a statement, but as an ebay reseller myself, the amount of cleaning I do is based on a few things. If it's a high value game, I do everything i can to get the stickers and dirt off the cart. I do have an upper limit to my sticker removing abilities and if its a tuff sticker on the label of a high value game, sometimes I choose to leave it alone! I obviously take pictures of it and point it out in the ad description. I hope that who ever buys the game is better at removing stickers than I am. If it's a cheap game, it gets the basic service: Wipe and sticker removal if its quick and easy. All games get tested to see if they actually turn on and play.If it plays, that's that. If it doesn't play, I give it the Q-tips. If its a cheap game, I call it quits pretty quick and list it as "acceptable" and untested. If its high value, I rip it apart and try my very best to clean everything thoroughly. That's me.

They should work, but I prefer to clean them myself.

My big thing is, I'd rather get a discount for a dirty game, than have a dummy soak the label in some sort of strange chemical, destroying it, or wearing the contacts down to nothing. I'd rather gently clean the cart properly myself, than have it destroyed and them think it's worth more with labels lifting all around the perimeter. Even when a cart looks perfect when I get it, I still go through the cleaning motions before it gets anywhere near my console, or the rest of my games.

I expect games to be reasonably clean, but usually clean them myself when I get them. These days most of the retro games I buy are portable games that I play on Analogue Pocket (I have the Game Gear, Lynx and NGPC adaptors as well) I've found that the system can be kinda finicky so the games have to be super clean for it to read them sometimes. I actually got a copy of Klax that was listed as brand new, but missing the box (Cart. manual only) that I still had to fidget with a bit to get it to work.

When you buy offline, you get to inspect your wares. Dirt or generally poor condition will put you in a disadvantaged position when bargain for price or even making the sale at all. Online, you just need to give your word regarding the condition and the buyer has to accept it. Or rather he does not because eBay ratings matter. If you are a seller who regards cleaning as your duty to the buyer, clean your games. Change batteries if you can. Clean them well and advertise the fact. Mention obvious defects. Describe the game in a few words. Show the buyer that you know what you are selling. Do it consistently and good eBay ratings from buyers will get you more sales and at even a little premium regarding the price. If you sell thousands of games, just liquidating stock and overstock, don't bother. Just have the lowest price and appear the least scamy and you will make your sale and - for the price - a happy customer. If you only sell expensive games at collector's prices you will get your ass kicked by a buyer eventually when your games deviate even a little from the buyers standards. I moved away from eBay as a seller for exactly that fact and I do not miss it. Good games get bought for good prices even outside of eBay.

Use a non abrasive item like an eraser cut to the width of the cartridge contacts to the inside of the cartridge and clean side to side. Been using that method for years and I don't have to open carts or use chemicals.

I've sold a handful of games on ebay. Some cleaned if they really needed it (mostly the cases/stickers) and some I didn't touch if they were in decent enough condition. Even sold a PS2 game that skipped at the beginning but was still playable. I always took an excessive amount of photos and was very honest about any flaws. Never had any issues with buyers, even with the game that skipped. Honesty and transparency is key. If a listing has very few photos and a basic description I usually pass. It tells me the buyer either doesn't care or they're purposely hiding something.

The worst is seeing a cart that’s in decent shape next to the same game in horrible shape and they store has them at the same price. Or when they put a sticker over the permanent marker or crack in the cart.

I always open, clean, test, and photograph the carts I sell just because I can get more money for doing the extra work. But I can definitely see a big volume seller just doing a smoke test and shipping the thing.

I clean every game I get…whether I keep the game or I am using it in a trade. I don’t use q-tips though. A lot of times, I’ll take the cartridge games apart just to make sure the pins are clean. Disc based games, I use a micro fiber cloth to clean the outer case and any grime inside.

if they're using abrasive cleaners to clean it i would want to clean it myself. i've bought some games that had the pins sandpapered and that is not the way to do it. that's a last resort way to clean a game if it doesn't work at all

Many collector markets prefer items to not be cleaned so the buyer can make that decision. It avoids the problem of damaging it which is worse than the buyer having to take the time to clean it the way they want to. As long as the seller is honest about it and the expectation is set initially that it is dirty

Imagine pulling up to one of the High School car washes with a vintage car. No thanks!

My local store cleans carts and resurfaces discs for any game that needs em, from $5 to $500 it doenst matter they make sure what you're buying works

I expect an attempt at cleaning. I use the 2 Qtip rule. One per side of the contacts. If its clean after that or im not picking up dirt, I deem it acceptable. I expect 30 year old game not to be perfect when I get it. I rarely get games off ebay that need more than that. Actually, the dirtiest games come from a local chain used game store. The worst offense is when they use Brasso, scratch the crap out of the contacts and its still dirty(At least thats rare in my experience).

Interesting topic. I buy the vast majority of my games from Ebay and the first thing I do when a game arrives is give it a good cleaning with q-tips and rubbing alcohol. I assume the seller didn’t clean it. More often than not, I end up getting a good amount of grime off the contacts. But I wonder why the sellers don’t clean it. Dirty contacts can make the game not function and I bet the majority of the population doesn’t know how to clean them. They’d probably try the cart, see it doesn’t work, and ask for a refund. If I were a seller, I’d want to avoid that as often as possible. It doesn’t take long to clean most games. The money saved on reduced returns would seem to make it worthwhile.

I've run a Retro game store on eBay for years and every game/console/controller that came in was completely taken apart, cleaned, and reassembled and tested. Personally, I do it because I want costumers to be happy and buy more. If you sell someone a nasty piece of crap, they probably ain't coming back to buy more. I never mark my prices up because I spent more time cleaning, I just felt if the seller has a choice, they're going to purchase clean as opposed to dirty.

They should be cleaned at least, tested if possible. Both should be listed in the description too.

I have a higher expectation of condition buying a 5-year-old BMW from a BMW dealership than the same car from CarMax or Carvana (and I’d pay more for the reputation getting it from the original manufacturer dealer)… but if it was dirty enough to not work and still listed as being in “Good” condition, then the condition was incorrectly stated. I wouldn’t have expected the game to have been cleaned, but I WOULD expect the condition to be listed in a way that reflects it being dirty.

You have resellers grinding down the backs of disks before they even test them just to make a more attractive appearance to the buyer. I don't think that's right altering the original disk like that I less its not working ofc

How do you guys not know the abbreviation IPA? 😂 As a seller, I personally go out of my way to clean up EVERYTHING I sell that's gaming related. As a buyer I don't expect it at all, since eBay is a mix of sellers. Many are just people getting rid of their games, or flipping what they find for profit. If it's their main hustle and they sell primarily video games, I expect a higher standard as in my own business. Thankfully on eBay/Amazon you can return stuff for any reason. If it's filthy and unlike the pictures, I always return it or request a partial refund.

The condition should explicitly be part of the product description, but it doesn't have to be immaculate. However, a cartridge that is too dirty to work properly, can't have been tested and thus shouldn't be listed as "working".

None of the mom and pop retro gaming stores near mom clean their games....

Should be cleaned as if it was going into their own collection. I used to sell NES/SNES controllers on eBay and I would always disassemble them and clean them to get them as nice and responsive as possible. I’m sure that may come off as a little much, but I wouldn’t sell anything I wouldn’t be happy with in my own collection.

I follow you on the Twitters, you’ve responded to me a few times. I bought Earthworm Jim loose from a store called Computer Exchange for about £20 and it was dirty, really filthy. I went over it with isopropyl alcohol. I wonder if you can use mineral spirits/white spirit?

As someone in the hospitality business, the best strat is under promise and over deliver. They should have at least did some cleaning before selling

I clean them using 99% alcohol on the cart itself. Then I use .0000 steel wool on the connector. Wipe it all up and put alcohol on the entire inner and finish it with deoxit electrical spray to fully remove any residue.