I consider myself a fair, upstanding, and generous person (*cough*) and I like that some people have that opinion of me. Collecting is an exciting hobby in that many of us see ourselves as Indiana Jones-like explorers who scavenge local garage sales, thrift stores, and "antique" stores in an attempt to upturn games and consoles at great prices and add them to our personal museums.  Oftentimes, when we find duplicates or valuable items for games/systems we don't collect, we may turn these over to game stores, sell them on auction sites, or sell/trade them with friends to reinvest in our collections.  Of all of these interactions, dealing with friends and people you are in contact with on a regular basis is the most personal, and can sometimes result in awkward or less than favorable interactions. I was recently involved in one of these "transactions" and this is my story. Ladies and gentlemen: "The story you are about to hear is true. Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent."



Before I get into my story, let me start off by saying that when it comes to buying from and selling to friends, I have a somewhat tight circle of associates that I deal with regularly. The guys from the Collectorcast and I stay on the lookout for each other and will send each other texts and/or pics when we come across things we know the one of us might be interested in. I've also done several deals with my Playcast co-hosts, and of course with various site members over the years.  Locally, not including store owners or employees, I have a total of 1 friend who actually collects and plays video games on a regular basis. Overall, it's not a very wide net, but it has been fruitful in helping me acquire harder to find items at a good price.

As you've probably heard several times from myself and various site members, one great way to find video game swag is to let your friends and co-workers know that you are a collector. There have been a handful of occasions where I've come into work and found a few games and even a boxed, original Gameboy on my desk. Once, I even got buzzed by the receptionist at work and was notified that a gentleman downstairs wanted to see me; the guy turned out to be my realtor from 3 years prior and he remembered me mentioning that I might be interested in a Colecovision and games that he "might have lying somewhere in his closet." Turns out, he was right and I became the benefactor of a free system and games.  Sounds great right?  Free games and consoles, what could be better? Well, things don't always go as planned, especially when friends and money are involved.

A few weeks ago, a friend of my wife reached out to me on social media via a private message. She told me that she still had her "old Nintendo from childhood" still in the box, but was having trouble getting it to work. Assuming that she just wanted to play it, I described a few non-invasive methods to clean the pins on the cartridge, and even sent her a video about boiling the pins of her console just in case her or her husband decided to get a little adventurous.  I've known this friend long enough to know that she isn't a gamer and figured that maybe she came across her old NES in the attic and wanted to relive a few brief moments from her childhood. Who could blame her right?

After sending over a few solutions, she mentioned that the reason she was trying to get it to work was to be able to sell or trade it into a local, used media store.  The NES was actually a boxed Power Set (missing the styrofoam...) and included the console, all the hookups, the SMB/DH/WCTM cartridge, the gray zapper, and yes, the Power Pad in it's own little box.  She admitted that the box was very beat up, ripped, and as I was to discover later, moldy.  After reading her reason for wanting the system fixed, my natural reaction was, "Well, how much do you want for it? I may be interested."   I knew the store she was looking to sell it to and had a very good estimate as to what they would offer her for it.  I mentioned to her what this price would probably be and offered her a cash amount slightly higher based on what she was describing to me. 

STOP!

Before I go any further, let me just state that this was kind of a turning point in the conversation. She was clearly taken aback a bit by my surprising, and dare I say it, somewhat aggressive suggestion, and I could tell that as a non-collector, she had no idea about the value of her item.  There was a delayed response of almost an hour, which now I attribute to *tap tap tappy* eBay/*tap tap tappy* Craigslist. Little did I know, but this wasn't boding well for me. When I finally received a response, all I got was a mere, "I'm going to try and fix it myself."  The message wasn't impolite, but maybe a touch curt. My first thought was, "Oh no, what have I done?" and I immediately called my wife to let her know what had happened. Had my perceived "being a cheapa@#," rubbed her the wrong way, and had I done any irreparable damage to their friendship? I was so distraught that I even reached out to site members and Twitter friends regarding my offer and basically received two types of responses: (1) "That sounds like a fair offer to me," and (2) "H*#%, that's more than I would have offered her!" So in the least, I felt a little better about myself.

After much thought over the past few weeks, I came to several conclusions that I hadn't considered when messaging with her back-and-forth that morning.  In an effort to keep some of you from possibly making the same mistakes, I thought it might be nice to share my possible missteps (if you will) here:

(1) Your non-collecting friends are not you collecting friends - It goes without saying that people who collect certain things are much more knowledgeable about prices than those who don't collect those things. However, if you collect these "things," the individual who doesn't collect them knows that you know the value of them, even though they don't.  As a result, an inkling of distrust may enter their mind depending on how excited you seem about said item(s). It's not that your friend doesn't trust you, it's just that they automatically perceive that you want to get a deal and that maybe you expect one because they are your friend.  It becomes this weird, over-thinking game of mental Pong and raises suspicion for both parties. (Psst... their next stop is eBay to "fact" check you). The best way to quell distrust is to act matter-of-factly about the item(s); don't be overeager to offer or even inquire about whether they might want to sell it to you.  Sometimes it might be best for you to wait for them to ask you if you're interested, especially if it's not something you really "need."


(2) eBay IS the "final word" in pricing - Oh h@ll, now you've done it! They are now on eBay looking at prices.  As we know, when a seller has looked up their item on eBay, this is often the point where local deals go to die.  For collectors, eBay is a double-edged sword; it's great for finding whatever you need, but sometimes sellers can be greedy and set extremely high prices on rarer items hoping that someone will eventually be overeager and bite.  While BIN prices may not always be the best, items sold with bidding can often be a good indicator about the value of a game, especially when taking the average price of sold listings into consideration. However, for many non-collectors who are considering selling an item or "checking prices," they only see what the items are listed for and do not bother checking sold listings.  Furthermore, with my deal, I had the double whammy, since the original price was on the box.... To some, what was originally paid for an item is what they expect out of it, and for others, if it's retro, surely it has to be worth more over time. You really have to know your seller and oftentimes, it's best to just let them make the first offer if it comes down to it.

(3) Condition is not king, everything is apples to apples - In the buyer/seller relationship, the typical rule of thumb is "condition is king." However, you also have to realize that for many, condition is not even a consideration. I think that in my situation, the seller had a very good idea of what they had and did a good job of communicating the condition to me. Though the system came in the box, the seller knew that the box was in very poor shape and that there was no styrofoam; therefore, she associated no value with these things.  In my case, this was fortunate, but it's important to realize that this may not always pertain to your situation. Sometimes no matter the condition the highest value attributed to an item will be the sellers perceived value. Honestly, how many times have you heard or read the phrase on Craigslist (or Kijiji for my friends in the Great White North), "We'll there's on on eBay for 'X' amount." Ughhhhhhhhh.....

(4) Let them negotiate price - As I mentioned above, sometimes you have to sit back and let them throw out a price no matter how anxious you are. Even if they ask you to make an offer, it's probably best to keep putting it on them and let them tell you what they want for their item. By using this method, you can ensure that you won't insult them, and also get a better feel for what their perceived valuation is. If their price is over the moon, then you will quickly know that it's just best to slowly walk away. Allowing them to make the first offer makes them show their hand, avoids the possibility that they may be skeptical of your offer, and therefore, makes it much easier for you to know where you stand in the deal.

(5) Don't rib the "other guy" -  Though I didn't criticize the other potential buyer in my situation (the reseller store), expressing that I had insider information about what they might offer probably damaged my credibility a bit.  While I was truthful in my assessment, I might have created an uncomfortable vibe for the seller. By saying basically, "This is what they will offer, I will give you a little more," I caused the seller to question whether I might be trying to take advantage of her. And once the doubt sinks in, it's difficult, if not impossible to quell it. A better approach would have been to not mention the other potential offer, or better yet, say something to the affect of, "Let me know what they offer you and let's talk."  This would have let her know that I was interested and honest about offering her a little more in counter.

(6) Don't mention your intentions - As a known collector of video games, consoles, and other gaming paraphernalia, it was obvious from the start that she knew I had an NES already. Obviously, it's an extremely common system and anyone who grew up in our era knows that a majority of households had one.  Knowing this, I told her my intentions of either keeping the system, or passing it off at a good price to a local friend or site member. Again, I think expressing my intentions was unwarranted and probably even called into question the truthfulness of them.  From this experience, I learned that sometimes it's just best to say as little as possible and only offer information if asked.

CONCLUSION:

So what ended up happening?  Well, after about a month or so of radio silence, my wife went over to her friends's house to pick up some items that her friend was giving to her for our upcoming bundle of joy. I was relieved to know that my wife was going over there and that I had worried needlessly about damaging their relationship. After visiting her friend on a Sunday, my wife unloaded some of the baby gear out of her car into the garage.  It wasn't until the next day on my way out to work that I noticed the boxed NES sitting next to the bay doors!  Oh well....I guess I didn't completely screw it up.

Permalink | Comments [13] | Digg This Article | Tweet