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A place where I can ramble about my projects. To get a permalink to any blog entry, click on the date of publish at the top of the post.

Wanted: Competent Video Game Sellers

November 12th 2011, 10:37:00 am

So you want to sell some video games on craigslist? Maybe you have a few games you don't play anymore. Maybe you are a reseller. Maybe you are cleaning out your parents garage and find something you think is rare. Do all of us a favor when posting and follow these simple instructions so that you don't waste everyone's fucking time with the written equivalent of a crayon drawing of your dick.

First things first. Tell us what you are actually fucking selling! You'd think this is business 101 but there's probably a reason you are selling this on craigslist instead of opening your own game store. If you want to attract anybody at all except for the lowest of low-ballers you will need to specify exactly what you have and what condition it is in! I am not even going to bother replying to you when you leave a vague, poorly worded one sentence post about your Atari and a few games. "Sweetening" the deal by mentioning that you have rarities and not mentioning what they are only makes us suspect that you have no fucking clue what you are doing. It helps to list what accessories come with a system as well as what condition it and the games are in. Also nice to know is whether manuals, cases, boxes or anything else interesting comes with your sale. By the way, brand new means just that: BRAND NEW. If something is opened but not played, it is LIKE NEW. If something is played, it is USED. Don't bullshit me with brand new when it is not factory sealed.

Please actually do some fucking research before claiming rarity on games or systems! I understand that not everyone is a collector but do realize that when you scream on about your super rare Atari 2600 with 40 games, what you probably have is nothing more than $10-$20 worth of garbage that nobody will want to take off your hands. I've noticed a direct correlation between people who think they have amazing sales and notices in the sale about ignoring low-ballers. There's a fucking reason people are low-balling the price you set, buddy! It's because its TOO FUCKING HIGH. Nobody is going to spend $20 to buy your worn copy of Tetris for game boy. It doesn't matter if the system is 20 years old; it isn't fucking rare unless people are looking for it and can't find it!

Also, pictures! Craigslist lets you post pictures for a goddamned reason. Its hard enough to trust a random anonymous stranger on the internet as it is. Provide photographic backup to your description! Don't want to post a picture? You probably have no fucking idea what you are selling anyway. Don't tell me to email you for pictures. If you were too fucking lazy to snap one goddamn grainy cellphone picture, that doesn't lend much to the belief that you will respond at all let alone with pictures that will help me make a decision on your sale! By the way, STOCK PICTURES DO NOT FUCKING COUNT. I know what an Atari Jaguar is supposed to look like. I want to know what YOUR Atari Jaguar looks like.

The condition of your games and systems ACTUALLY DOES MATTER! Believe it or not, there are some people that buy games who want their games to look good. I know for a fact that your copy of Chrono Trigger plays like new. Cartridges don't go bad! But if its covered in permanent marker and barbecue stains complete with a torn label I am not going to pay full price for it, no matter how rare you read that it is. Look at it this way: any of these old games that you are selling can be emulated near perfectly on a computer FOR FREE, so what do your games have that makes them better? I am buying something to own, to show off and to cherish. You wouldn't expect me to pay Kelley Blue Book on a car that has dents and peeling paint, even if it runs just fine! So don't fucking pull that horse shit with video games. This also goes for manuals, cases, boxes and the like. If you expect to fetch a decent price on a video game that isn't rare, have all the pieces that it comes with! If you don't, realize that it is WORTH LESS.

Also, you'd think this would be a no-brainer with something that needs to function, but test your fucking games! If you can't test them for some reason, tell us that you couldn't test them! Expect to get a lower offer unless you are willing to help us test them on the spot during the sale! Do understand that if you do not mention testing the games, it is assumed that THEY WORK. Take the car analogy again: if a car is listed and the seller makes no mention of problems it is a valid assumption to believe that everything works fine!

Now, lets touch on pricing. As with ANYTHING on the market, video games are only worth what somebody is willing to pay for them! This is another business 101 concept that I wish more people would figure out. Just because you saw it go for $300 once on eBay does NOT mean that your used copy of Final Fantasy VII is worth that much. You probably made a mistake in reading the condition of the sale! Was it a sealed copy? Was it a rare misprint? Was it signed by the developer? Chances are your copy is not worth what the most expensive games go for on eBay. Also, nothing infuriates me more than seeing somebody justify ridiculous prices by pointing out that eBay sells it for that much. If you want to sell it for eBay prices, then go sell it on eBay. I know you are a cheap-ass who doesn't want to pay fees, but I am also a cheap-ass who doesn't want to pay eBay prices! The point of exploiting a local market is that things tend to be cheaper! I am not going to go out of my way to drive to your house all the way across town to pick up something that I could have shipped to me for the same price!

With all that in mind, I look forward to purchasing from you! After all, I love video games and I love getting excited about the games you are selling if only you'd allow me to. A well written advertisement for stuff that I want will get me to jump on the sale immediately. That way you can take my money and I can take your games and we can both go home happy. After all, the whole point of doing business is so that both parties walk away happy. Otherwise, what's the fucking point?

Beta Site Raffle!

March 9th 2011, 10:52:00 pm

I'm holding a raffle to help kick-start interest in the arcade and game store search features on my beta site. Any time a site member adds a new game store or arcade to the database, they will be entered once into a drawing currently slated for the end of the month. If not enough people have entered the raffle to perform a drawing at the end of the month, the drawing will be delayed until the end of the next month. To keep this from happening, tell people you know to add stores or arcades they know about as well. After a drawing, the raffle will reset and another drawing will happen at the end of the next month. You can enter as many times as you would like by adding as many arcades and game stores you know about. The winner of the drawing at the end of each month will receive their choice in up to $50 worth of Steam gifts. Make sure you have a valid email set in your profile so I can contact you if you win!

DragonMedia Player 0.25

February 20th 2011, 12:44:00 pm

I have released another minor update to DragonMedia Player, this time with AAC/MP4/M4A support! Also included is the separation of your playlist and your file list. The interface remains the same, but files will continue to play while you browse other directories, and the next and previous track buttons will continue to work. Other minor changes included for stability and polish.

View the Wiki for More Information and a full changelist.

DragonMedia Player 0.21 Alpha

January 6th 2011, 9:20:00 pm

I have released a minor update to DragonMedia Player that addresses a few of the stability issues present in 0.20. I don't think I got everything, but it seems to be a heck of a lot more stable now. There have been more changes under the hood than are visible to somebody upgrading from 0.20 to 0.21 but these will hopefully enable me to quickly integrate streaming mp3/ogg soon! When I get that finished, I'm going to look into getting aac/m4a integrated and working and then allow aac streaming as well.

View the Wiki for More Information and a full changelist.

Marketplace!

December 29th 2010, 10:32:00 pm

I have updated my beta site again to allow for a user-driven marketplace. I am going to get the ball rolling in the next few days with some semi-decent sales. If you have something that you want to sell and are willing to try out the new feature, have at it! For those of you who signed up or are on the fence, we need you to list your local game stores in the game store list as well! The more people that contribute, the better chance you have of finding a neat hole-in-the-wall video game store in your area.

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