Sell 270+ Games in Less Than 3 Months on PriceCharting: Tips from the Seller

JonsGames joined PriceCharting 3 months ago to sell some of his game collection. In less than 90 days he's sold more than 270 games on PriceCharting with almost perfect feedback.

What's his selling secret?

Place User Name in Every Photo in Every Listing

Every single listing JonsGames posts includes a photo of the actual item AND his user name written on a piece of paper. Most listings have multiple photos. The photo helps buyers know two things.

* Buyers can see exactly what they will be getting.
* Buyers know the seller actually has that game in his possession (photo wasn't taken off the internet).

Both of these reduce buyer's fear/risk of being scammed so they are more likely to buy.

Sell with Low Prices

Almost every item JonsGames sells is priced around 90% of the market price.

PriceCharting doesn't charge any marketplace fees so JonsGames saves money compared to other marketplaces. He passes almost all of those savings onto the buyers. In exchanage JonsGames sells more stuff.

Buyers are always looking to find a deal. PriceCharting has tons of collectors with games/cards in their wishlists. We notify those users when a seller posts an item for sale with a good price. Using discounted prices puts a listing in front of more eyeballs and often leads to sales minutes after posting the item.

Give Great Customer Service After the Sale

JonsGames says his philosphy as a seller is the golden rule. "Treat others the way you want to be treated".

He's bought games online before. He knows what he likes as a buyer. So he does that for his customers.

He:

* Ships quickly (usually the same or next day)
* Communicates frequently by uploading tracking, emailing if there is a delay, etc
* Fixes any problems when they happen. Mistakes inevitably happen. When they have he's fixed the problems quickly so the customer was happy.

JonsGames says he's received emails from buyers "thanking me for giving them the chance to relive there childhoods and play with there kids and to me that’s worth more then the cash."
Great customer service leads to repeat buyers and great feedback ratings. Great feedback gives new buyers even more confidence to buy.


I personally want to say "thank you" to JonsGames for making PriceCharting marketplace a better place to buy/sell with fellow collectors and mom-n-pop stores.

You can see JonsGames current listings and give his games a great new home.

eBay Game Sniper: Tips and Success Stories

Last week we publicly launched our eBay Game Sniper tool but I have been using it during testing for the last four months. Here are some tips and success stories I have had during that time.

About the Tool: The eBay Game Sniper shows you newly listed games on eBay with fixed prices below their market values. It lets you know about these deals less than 2 minutes after being posted. So you can buy it before others see the deal.

Success Stories with Sniper

Using the tool during the last four months I've purchased 157 auctions at a cost of $4,190 but a value of $6,962. That saved me $2,772 or 40%. Below are some of my favorite deals.

All three Panzer Dragoon games for Sega Saturn. Complete in box and mint condition for $260.

Complete in box Popful Mail for Sega CD. The scratches were very easy to remove and now it is mint.

Earthbound for $110

Tips for Getting Deals with Sniper

Log into eBay First: The best deals are bought very quickly. To increase your odds of winning make sure you are logged into eBay before sniping. Logging into eBay takes me 17 seconds. During this time someone else will have already won.

Streamline Payment: Some listings let you "commit to buy", which lets you win the listing before paying. But many listings will require payment first. Make sure your default shipping address is correct and you select "Yes, streamline my future purchases". This saves steps and valuable time during payment.

Don't Get Sloppy: You need to be fast to win the best deals, but don't try to be so fast that you fail to read the auction title or look at the photo. These are examples of common types of mislisted items:

• "Earthbound for Super Nintendo SNES (1995) Manual" - not selling the game just the manual
• "Suikoden II Playstation (1999)" - photo shows the case & manual only, but game not included
• "Tetris for NES" - listed it with Little Samson details so our value is for a different game

Don't Get Frustrated: Even following these tips you will not snipe every deal. I won 157 auctions, but I failed to win at least three times that. Forget about it and be ready for the next one.

Your Success Stories

Use the eBay Game Sniper and follow these tips. Then share your success stories below. I would love to hear about the deals you found.

E3 Tips for Noobs

E3 2012 as come and gone, it's been a month but I remember it like it was yesterday. We saw a lot of cool stuff and now have a full year of exciting gaming ahead of us. Being my first E3, I also learned a lot of things about the expo itself. I'll share a couple of tips with you so that the E3 noob can have the best experience possible whenever the chance appears.

1 - Notes

It seems obvious but it's also pretty important. There is so many games and stuff to see at E3 that you'd be hard pressed to remember everything you've played. Just a basic notepad and a few pens will do the trick. Just try a game or two and write down some general impressions. You'll be happy you did it when you try to remember a day later, especially if you're blogging your experience.

2 - Camera

This one is self-explanatory. You need a camera to bring back pictures of cool games to show off to your friends. Since the lighting isn't always good in the different booths, a good camera will help you get the best pictures possible. These days, most cameras can also film with pretty good quality which is a nice bonus. Be sure to have enough batteries and space on your sd card! Don't take pictures when you're not allowed ;)

3 - Cellphone

E3 is big. There's two main hall and they are full of games, accessories and babes. I actually got lost once, not sure in which hall I was and how to get to the Nintendo booth. I ended up in the huge crowd of hockey fans waiting for the Kings' game that night. If you're alone it's not that bad but if you're in a group, there's a good chance that you'll get separated. That's where the cellphone comes in. Just a couple text messages and you can easily meet at any booth. As an added bonus, some of the free goodies was only available if you liked a certain page on facebook so you're in luck if you have a smartphone.

4 - Plan

Again, E3 is a big place and there is a lot to see. Before the event start, there's always a way to find a map of the showfloor and you also get a magazine every morning with a couple articles, a map and a list of every company with show space inside. You can just walk around a try to see everything you want but you might lose some precious time. Having at least a little preparation will help you see what you really want. You can also use the first day to see where are the longest lines and choose when do you want to tackle those lines.

5 - Chair!

That's an idea I wish I had before going to L.A.! Thoses three days of walking and standing around will make your leg and back pretty tired. Having a small chair in your backpack and taking it out while you're waiting to play might save your back and help you make it through the event a bit easier. I guarantee a lot of people will comment "A chair. That is brilliant."

Honorable mention - Tablet

If you happen to own an Android tablet, an Ipad or any other kind, you can knock off a couple of my tips in one go. These days, tablets have pretty good cameras for photos and videos, can go online and with a little practice on the keyboard, you can write down notes pretty efficiently. So if you have one, you only need to plan your trip, take a chair and you'll be all set!