- PriceCharting Features
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Ideas
Flag CIB sales of poor quality (Greatly affects overall value of game)
For the most part if a game is in at least reasonable condition sales for that game fall into a certain range. However, when someone is just getting rid of something they have that is in bad condition that sale is still factored into the current value of the game. A sale of a game in bad condition (obvious large rips or tears, torn labels, missing flaps/pages, etc.) is not an accurate representation of the product's value in its intended, undamaged condition. Anyone reviewing sales for price charting would be able to notice any obvious and egregious damage. Recently I've seen a game (Final Fantasy 2 SNES) drop $50 in value in a single day simply because someone sold game box and manual in very poor condition for a low price, and it also wouldn't be the first time.
Customer support service by UserEcho
Our pricing algorithm will take into account outliers. One really low priced game will not impact the price. There will always be a range for CIB though because the condition is such a big factor. This particular game has sales prices from $770 down to $145. Our valuation is $247 after factoring in all the sales data and when they happened. The CIB game will be roughly $247 in "normal" condition. Really good condition will be higher and really bad condition will be lower.
We want to display all of those sales so users have an idea of the low end and high end too expect for their exact item. But individual outliers will not change the price much, if at all.
Unfortunately in this case, it did make that much of a difference. The game was valued at $299.99, then a sale was made for $140 and the value dropped to $247. The average range of sale over the last few months being between $200 and $300. Obviously there is a range and $247 falls within that range, but yes, that one sale did impact it by $50. Again, this was just the most recent example.
I totally agree though that all sales regardless of condition DO factor into a game's value. I just don't agree that a sale of a game in poor condition (I'm talking torn labels, missing pages. Not dings, dents, or wear) carries as much weight as a sale in it's preferred condition. As a collector I am certainly interested to see a range for lower quality as well as a preferred quality, but currently there is no distinction. There is a used price, a new price, a sealed price, and a graded price. New means new, sealed means sealed, and a grade is specific to the game's quality, yet they fluctuate in price just like a used game. Used is the only category that accounts for conditions from Mint down to Unacceptable.
To say an individual outlier will not change the price is completely inaccurate if you use all sales of a product to determine its value. A sale like that would be directly related.
Maybe "flag" was the wrong term to use. What I'm saying is that having a separate value for game that fall below a certain quality would be extremely helpful and more precise. Again, anyone reviewing would notice if a manual is missing the cover, or the box had its flaps torn off, or if a game/box label is torn to the point of being unreadable. Checking a "poor quality" box would suffice
The value might have decreased after that sale. I'm not disagreeing with that. The $290 price was probably too high so the price was "corrected" back to $247. If you look at the historic CIB prices. The price has been about $240-260 for about 8 months.
I think your idea to mark sales as "poor" quality could be helpful for people. Probably need to do the same for "great" quality though. I'm not sure how we would automate that determination though. The photo is really the best way to tell and our photo bots aren't smart enough to differentiate condition.