Putting on a Video Game Sale Online

As I mentioned in my previous post last week, I decided to put on a little sale of some of my extra Famicom stuff.  Its gone quite well so far and I'd really like to thank everyone who purchased some stuff and the friendly folks at Famicom World for hosting my little sales thread!

The sale has led to some changes in my collection.  I've said goodbye to a few pieces that were the subjects of posts on here, including my very first square button Famicom and my turbo Twin Famicom (I gave up on the idea of owning one of every Twin Famicom ever made - I just don't have the space to keep all of them)!

I've also moved over 100 carts on to new homes, which is good as they were all doubles that I wasn't getting any use out of except perhaps as back-ups.  Now they are on their way to people who will, I hope, have some fun with them. 


Anyway, its been fun and a learning experience.  There is actually a surprisingly large amount of work that goes into something like this.  Sorting the games, testing them, photographing them, keeping track of who bought what, figuring out how to calculate postage correctly, buying bubble wrap, etc etc.  It is a labor of love. 

A few tips I would offer to anyone thinking of doing something similar based on rookie mistakes I've made:

1. Keep accurate records of everything and keep them updated.  At one point I accidentally promised the same cart to two people, both of whom went through with their purchase.  I resolved the situation by selling my original copy of the game to one of them, meaning I accidentally shrank my collection by 1 cart!

2. Be careful not to mislabel games.  I was a bit lazy in listing mine and made a couple of mistakes that confused everyone, including me.

3. Make friends at the post office.  They have a ton of options for shipping stuff.  The folks at mine have been great since I started showing up almost everyday with packages to send.  They informed me of a few things (ie packages sent via surface mail come with tracking and free insurance - who knew?)  I now know pretty much all the options they have and can almost quote the exact amount it will cost to ship a Famicom cart almost anywhere in the world!

4. Be friendly.  Since I've been getting paid via paypal I've been using some of the funds raised from this sale to make a few (non-Famicom) purchases on Ebay, which I've never done before.  I've been surprised by how much difference there is between sellers.  Some have been really great - answering questions quickly and being quite friendly.  Others have been much less so - ignoring questions and barely communicating at all.  I much prefer the former and have added those ones to my favorites.  The latter I am much less inclined to deal with again.


Anyway, just a few thoughts there.  Thanks again, everyone!