I'm just ranting so feel free to tune me out, but I ran into a situation this weekend that really pissed me off:

The wife wanted to hit up Half Price Books on account of their Labor Day Sale this weekend.  I had already plumbed the depths of the shelves in this little burb, so we planned a trip into the city to hit up the main branch.  I wasn't holding out a lot of hope, mostly becuase the used market here in Texas has been absolutely abysmal.  But I thumbed through the section anyway.

I was actually excited to stumble across a WEG Star Wars boom that I had never owned, and in fact had never heard of before - Pirates and Privateers.  I flipped through and was immediately congratulating myself for dragging the fam on this trip.  Then I flipped it over to check the price.

FOURTY DOLLARS!?  What the WHAT?

"Check ebay" the wife offers, and there I find the reason - $80 auctions all over the place.

I assume this was due to the whole recent 'geek chic' thing.  Now days it seems that people not only know that RPGs are a thing, but that you need to look them up on ebay before you price them.  So much for "half price".

What really burns my ass is the suspicion that they probably offered the guy a whole dollar for the book.

Anyway I just thought I'd share with some folks who can relate.

The problem with casual e-bay checks is that people only check current asking prices. You can ask for the moon. The important thing is how much are these items actually selling for?

How many of those books actually sold for 80.00 ?

It is more of a result of the efficiency of the Internet in commerce. It hard to find "great deals" when a price comparison of dozens of sales is only a few clicks away.

And Half-Price Books are known among collectors circle to aggressively use the Internet to price their books.

If you see $80 auctions all over the place likely that is the going rate for that book. One thing you have to look for is seeing whether it is a listing from a store front like Noble Knights, Troll and Toads, etc or a true auction. The vintage stores prices are higher than the auction prices. The result of their overhead and the fact you and just buy it then and there without going through the bidding process.

As for Half-price, they don't quite offer a $1 but they do get a hefty profit from what they do give. And they do get a lot of folks trying to sell them semi-valuable books the seller has looked up on the internet. So they are not quite the bad guy in this either.

It's also worth noting that proportionally a lot of auction sales for more obscure items may be to other sellers instead of end users.

Yeah, Black and Read in Denver used to be an absolutely fantastic place for used RPG books* but starting about 8-9 years ago prices started shooting up and now the only reason to go is availability rather than price.


*Like 8 or 9 7ft shelves filled with used RPGs and usually around a dozen boxes scattered about with books.

RPG books used to be the castoffs of larger used book stores; now they're hip to it and when they see something that says "D&D" on the cover, the owners put some crazy price on 'em.

Local used bookstore I'm not going to frequent any more usually has some stripe of D&D books go through.  He had a 1e Dungeon Master's Screen (orange) once - $20, for each panel.  It was in about the condition you'd expect a 30 year old piece of cardboard to be, and additionally he'd helpfully written the price in marker in the margins inside it.

I asked him about a 3e book he was asking $65 for and his (somewhat smug) response was "Hey, I base my prices on what's on the internet.  I gotta compete." (apparently not realizing that undercutting your competition is how you compete, not charging as much or more) so I asked him to show me where he'd seen a MM2 for 3.5 for that much, just out of curiosity.  Sure enough he hands me his "price guide" which is a 3-ring binder full of printed out ebay auctions and he'd grabbed one that had an MM2 among the other books in the auction - the whole price being $65.

That and his wife practically demanding I spend some of my store credit or lose it forever (IDGAF, leave me alone you old hag) chased me out, and I won't be going back.

Thing is, they used to be kind of sane with their prices.

On the other hand, the now-closed once favorite used bookstore that used to be around here regularly sold off their RPG stuff for way, way below prices.  It's where I got 3 D&DG (elric & cthulhu) for $5 each, and a true 1st DMG and PHB for $2.50 each (yes I pointed out the relative value but the owner brushed it off - I didn't realize at the time she was in process of deliberately sinking the store, but that's another story.)

It would be one thing if you were a FLGS.  But a volume-driven used merchandise chain really has little sympathy from me for gouging.

It used to be better, when they didn't know what books were what, and just marked them all half-cover.  Even if that only existed in my head...  

Quote from: Piestrio;688140Yeah, Black and Read in Denver used to be an absolutely fantastic place for used RPG books* but starting about 8-9 years ago prices started shooting up and now the only reason to go is availability rather than price.

*Like 8 or 9 7ft shelves filled with used RPGs and usually around a dozen boxes scattered about with books.

The old B&R shelves are still decent enough, though - I often find stuff for half price there, and that's cheap enough for me, usually.  That's where I got my copy of HERO Fred, and was quite happy with the price.  And, y'know, something like %15-%20 off on the books or boxes is pretty good too.

There's not really anywhere else that's good for used RPG stuff in Denver.  I used to do nicely at the convention auctions, but now they mix the RPG stuff with everything else, the auction takes too damn long, and it's not worth waiting around for the good stuff.

Why don't the larger cities have better stores?

Quote from: jcfiala;688196The old B&R shelves are still decent enough, though - I often find stuff for half price there, and that's cheap enough for me, usually.  That's where I got my copy of HERO Fred, and was quite happy with the price.  And, y'know, something like %15-%20 off on the books or boxes is pretty good too.

It's still the best place to buy games in Denver but it's not what it used to be. I remember being able to grab old D&D modules for $2 a pop just a few years ago. Last time I was in they had I6 for $25 while less desired ones hover around $10.

Still good but no longer great.

QuoteThere's not really anywhere else that's good for used RPG stuff in Denver.  I used to do nicely at the convention auctions, but now they mix the RPG stuff with everything else, the auction takes too damn long, and it's not worth waiting around for the good stuff.

Also true. Bonnie Brae had good used stuff from time to time.

The Auction is awesome but yeah, it's gotten out of hand. Last time I went I was there until 3AM.

They need to split it up or have some sort of "yard sale" type event where folks can hawk their own shit (which could possibly piss off the retailers but the used stuff there has been dwindling).

Quote from: Piestrio;688201Also true. Bonnie Brae had good used stuff from time to time.

I was never much into Bonnie Brae... the old location felt like it was encrusted with dust. The new location is much better, but I don't have much need to go there these days... the prices aren't that good and it can be a pain to find stuff.

Quote from: Piestrio;688201The Auction is awesome but yeah, it's gotten out of hand. Last time I went I was there until 3AM.

They need to split it up or have some sort of "yard sale" type event where folks can hawk their own shit (which could possibly piss off the retailers but the used stuff there has been dwindling).

Oh, yeah.  I think part of the problem is just that they don't have too many folks willing to auction books off, which means that the folks running the auction get to make most of these calls... and another problem is just space.  They can fit some six tables in the room they use for the auction, and on Saturday night they really need that space.  (Especially this year, with all the construction.)

Quote from: mcbobbo;688198Why don't the larger cities have better stores?

My guess, from my own experience, is that in smaller towns the stores serve as a hub for the community. They're very important to local gamers.

In larger cities the stores are just stores.

It's much easier to keep a community center running than a hobby shop.

It should also be noted that the WEG d6 Star Wars books are getting a third life right now. They are no longer in print, the system is easy to learn and use, and with the lackluster performance of the WotC d20 Star Wars systems and the exclusive nature of FFG's Star Wars RPG offering - going back to the system that works is what is driving sales.

Luckily, I can go to my local McKay's Used Books and pick up a copy for about $25 when it shows up.

Used book stores have to be smart or die. They use the net to determine price and then discount over time. My suggestion is to negotiate with the owner (not the worker monkeys). That's a rare Star Wars book so its worth original cover price in good condition.

You can set automatic searches on eBay and then if it shows up, put it on your Watch list. If the auction ends without a bid, contact the seller and offer what you want. Lots of sellers will negotiate.

As for Big Cities and FLGS, I know that SF/Oakland has Endgame which is a huge store/game space and in LA, we have the very cool Game Empire in Pasadena which hosts a great gaming community and I hear their San Diego store does as well.

In the SF Bay Area, there's also Gator Games in San Mateo whose owner has always been great to me and whose workers really know their stuff and they have a huge event calendar too.

Quote from: mcbobbo;688108FOURTY DOLLARS!?  What the WHAT?

That doesn't seem unreasonable to me. The cheapest one on Amazon is $38.55.