You find a box of games in the attic, or you hesitate to sell a title from your collection. First question: How much is it, really? An active advertisement gives a price requested; it does not prove that a buyer will accept this price.
Here is a reproducible method of building a defensible fork, without turning an average into official truth.
Quick response
- Starts with sales actually concluded; uses active ads only to measure the current offer.
- The price depends on four factors: title, state (free/complete/sealed), region (PAL FR, PAL, JAP, US) and edition (black label, Platinum, collector).
- Do not leave any universal multiplier between loose, complete, sealed, region or edition.
- PriceCharting officially covers the PAL, but a PAL plug does not always distinguish a precise French variant.
- SideQuest helps you keep the exact version of each game (region, state, edition) in the same place, to properly compare ads and avoid wet-finger estimates.
Why displayed prices lie
Open any marketplace and look for a game: you will see differences of 1 to 4 for the same title. The reason is simple: An ad is not a sale. Sellers display the price they expect, not the price the market pays. Overvalued ads remain online for months: And so they're the ones you see first.
The sale concluded is the best starting point, but it still needs to be qualified: lot or copy alone, price accepted after offer, shipping costs, actual condition and exact variant.
The 4 factors that make the price
- Impact factor
|---|---|---|
• Factor
|---|---|---|
Does the sale concern the same game and the same platform? Only game vs console bundle
State and content What does the copy really include? — Disc alone vs box, package leaflet and inserts
Do packaging and support match? FR vs UK, common or different disc
Is it the same commercial manufacture? Standard, Platinum, collector
State: the most underestimated factor
- Loose : the game alone, without box or notice. That's the floor price.
- Complete (CIB): minimum box + notice + game in many guides; Check the required inserts.
- Sealed (sealed): presumed never open. It forms a separate market which requires checking the original seal.
The "cosmetic" state also plays: a split box, an annotated notice or a loose jacket reduce the number of interested buyers. The impact must be measured on comparable sales, not a fixed percentage.
The region: check the granularity of the sheet
PriceCharting officially covers the NTSC, PAL and Japan regions. The risk arises when a PAL record contains sales that do not match your country of jacket, language or edition. Opens used sales and controls photos when variant deviation counts.
Editing: Check before estimating
The same title often exists in several editions: standard ("black label" in jargon), budget reissue, collector or bundle. Black label does not guarantee a first draw. The reflex: identify the exact edition before any estimate.
The 5-step method
- Identifies your version: title, platform, region (code on band, e.g. SLES-xxx), edition.
- Evaluates the state honestly: loose, complete or sealed: then the cosmetic state of each element.
- Search for sales of this exact version. The product search tool goes back up to three years and displays the price actually accepted for direct offers.
- Cleans the sample: removes lots, repros, incomplete objects not comparable, misclassified ads and sales whose photos contradict the title.
- Produced a range: if the sample is sufficient, use the median as the centre and keep comparable low/high sales as a limit. Indicates the date and number of sales.
A serious estimate looks like "45–55 €, median 49 €, out of 8 comparable sales observed between April and July", not "official rating: 49 €".
What about a whole collection?
For an entire collection, calculate at least two scenarios: unit value and batch value. Adding the best unit sales overestimates what you would receive at a fast sale of 200 games. For insurance, keep instead invoices, photos, identifiers and terms of the contract.
This is exactly the role of SideQuest on the collection side: each game can be arranged with its region, state and edition. You know what you have, you better compare ads, and you avoid mixing a complete PAL FR version with a loose or import version.
Verified sources
- eBay — Search for products and prices actually accepted
- PriceCharting — methodology, concluded sales, statements and shipping costs
- PriceCharting — areas covered
FAQ
How do I know if my game is rare?
Rarity measures supply, while price also depends on demand. Few ads are not enough: document the output, observe the frequency of sales and distinguish "rare" from "search".
Is a game without notice "complete"?
No. Without notice, a game is negotiated between the loose price and the full price, closer to loose for games whose notice is sought. See our CIB Glossary.
Is PriceCharting reliable for a French game?
It covers the PAL and provides a good benchmark when the card and sales match your copy. For a precise PAL FR variant, check source sales, photos and fees not included.
Is the value of retro games still rising?
No. Prices may rise, stagnate or fall depending on supply and demand. A past trend does not guarantee anything: see how to read a rating.
Do you want to stop estimating your collection at random? [Discover SideQuest →][/] *
