What are all your retro video game boxes and manuals worth these days? Let’s face it. Gamers are likely to stay gamers. Even if we grow up, have less time in our busy lives, and might not be that active anymore, we never truly cease to love gaming and cherish the memories we made in the past. This is also why many never threw away any boxes or manuals of old games, even though they might not even be playing anymore. But what are all those boxes and manuals from your physical purchases worth now? Anything? Nothing? Well, as it shows, some special titles are worth far more than many might think.
What’s my gaming collection worth?
Brooke Keaton and the team at Casino.org, yes, they are also interested in video games, have analyzed eBay listings for gaming collector’s items, and came up with an interesting report, which we’d also like to share with you today. Okay, some might not make you rich and collectors might not even be willing to sell any of those at all, but at least it’s good to know the worth of your collection, am I right?
Prices for empty game boxes ranking
Prices for old game manuals ranking
Prices for gaming console boxes ranking
Prices for gaming console manuals ranking
So, did you store any of these in the basement? Or maybe you don’t care about gaming at all and just want to get a good idea of the general market prices for digital entertainment relics? Whatever might have motivated you to read this article, I hope you found this interesting.
How can that be? Doubts?
While this is interesting, I was wondering how the prices came to be. How could it be that a PS5 costs 500 bucks but buying only the empty box costs $392 and the manual costs $245? Basically, that would mean that the bundle is only to tie in the box and the manual at a nice price, and the actual console is just included as a freebie. Seems unreal. The only way such prices could be established on eBay in my opinion is through semi-fraud in which someone sells the “Sony PlayStation 5 Original Box” and the buyer reads “Sony PlayStation 5 in Original Box” and buys that by mistake.
Also interesting: Internet Archive Lets You Play MS-DOS Games In Your Browser
This stuff happens. At least for all the manuals and boxes of very recent consoles, I believe this is how the pricing came to be. As always when buying things make sure you read the description, read the fine print, check images carefully, and in doubt talk to the seller to make sure you’re not buying something you didn’t mean to buy. This also works in real life and not only for eBay. To add some more info about fake retro video game boxes and manuals, but also fake games, I added a good video on the subject below, with more explanations from Retro Dave.
YouTube: Fake Retro Games, Boxes, Manuals & Labels on eBay – The Video Game Collecting Minefield
Photo credit: The feature image is symbolic and has been done by Nick Hamze. The ranking graphics/infographics have been prepared by Casino.org.
Source: Brooke Keaton (Casino.org) / Ina Steiner (Ecommerce Bytes)
