FF E-Bay Purchase, The Story

[Tom Badguy]

So I made my very first purchase on E-Bay for the first time. But before that, here's some silly back story and a helpful hint.

Recently, I've been feeling very nostalgic. So I thought I should dust off my old PS1 and start recollecting the games I once had for it. I noticed my PS1 was a little dirty, so I cleaned it up. Then I noticed that all I had was the console and one controller. I have no where the power cord and the AV cable went. I took a look at the prongs on the back of the PS1 and had an idea. I took a laptop power cord, the second piece that goes from the AC adapter to the wall, put it in my PS1 and it worked. It also worked with my PSP charger(the same second piece). Also, it worked with the power cord to a $30 stereo I bought years ago. I thought I had no power cords, and now I have 3.

Basically, any power cord that looks like this will work with a PS1.

The more you know.

I then got an AV cable and another controller from my friend. I now need some Memory Cards but first I need some games. And where do we buy old games now? E-Bay. So I started with the Final Fantasy games.

This is a list of one purchase I made and the condition it is claimed to be in:

Final Fantasy Chronicles(includes FFIV and Chrono Trigger) - Greatest Hits
Final Fantasy Anthologies(includes FFV & FFVI) - *Black Label
Final Fantasy VII - *Black Label
Final Fantasy VIII - *Black Label
Final Fantasy IX - *Black Label
Final Fantasy Tactics - Greatest Hits

All were claimed to be in Good condition, they work, they have all the manuals and the cases. Out of about 1200 Reps, only 2 were bad, 7 neutral, and the rest were good. And the bad ones were for car parts. And based on advice from my girlfriend(who is a religious E-Bay customer), I could trust the seller.

Price I paid: $109.99 + $5.99 S&H

Never buying from E-Bay before, I'm nervous. I don't know what someone's idea of "Good" condition is, I thought the price was a steal so I feel it was too good to be true, plus, I'm buying it from a stranger. I get the games at the end of next week. I will make another post explaining the outcome. But in the mean time I need your input on this:

Was it as a good of a price as I think it is? If not, what would you pay?

Do I have nothing to be nervous about buying items from E-Bay? Or do I?

Any input would help.

* - For those who don't know what "Black Labels" are; they are the original copies released. The cover on the left is Black and the discs are in their original colors.

 

[Steve-O]

hmmmmm for black label copies of all three FF and other games for just over 100 dollors.. i think that was really good.. let's just hope the games work

 

[Fusionist]

I concur. I bought all of those games at separate times in my life, and roughly the total comes to about 130.00, if not more. You could have gotten these games a lot cheaper off PSN (or other systems), but for the price of the hard discs, you're getting a decent deal.

I've bought a few games off eBay, and I've received the games as they were stated to be. It is important to read the details carefully though. A game I bought came without a manual, but in the fine print the seller did state the game didn't come with a manual, so a little dick-ish way to point things out, but it was there >_>

There's always some general rules of thumbs to follow for eBay. Feedback is always important to check out. Then there's the seller's location, items they generally sell, and then you can use PayPal as you form of payment. There's (I think) 200.00 worth of coverage with each eBay purchase from what I understand.

Hope it works out well for you. Those are some awesome games ;D

 

[Shaissa]

Well seeing that (unless you buy the games on the PSN) All those games run about $10-$25 used at least, id say yeah got a great deal, expesialy if they have the manuals too...too bad they didnt come with strategy guides lol.

 

[Link2010]

May I borrow a hat so I can tip it to you or whatever rich people do to commemorate people's accomplishments. You got some great deals on those games (especially with all the black labels). Also, brilliant idea with the power cords . My first eBay purchase was also FF VII black label but it was 3 years ago when it was slightly pricier. I believe I paid somewhere around $35 for it in used Good condition. Great choices on games, but might I suggest looking into Legend of the Dragoon for PS1? I got it a while ago on eBay but only recently played it and i loved it. I got it for $12 2 years ago. Happy gaming

 

[blakstang98]

I think you scored big time on those games. Because the black label copies of the older FF's are discontinued, they tend to be hard to find, which in turn makes them worth a lot of money. And you got 4 of them and still spent just over $100, so not bad! And being the FF fan I am, I'd think you really like all of those games. I've never played Tactics, V or VI myself, but I'm sure they're fun.

Enjoy!

 

[Tom Badguy]

I concur. I bought all of those games at separate times in my life, and roughly the total comes to about 130.00, if not more.

With the price I got it, it averages to about $18.33 per game. I thought it was nicely priced taking into consideration demand, rarity, used condition, etc.

...too bad they didnt come with strategy guides lol.

Meh, I beat them so many times in the past, I don't need them.

It seems I made a wise purchase. Won't know until I get the product though.

More input would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Gabe]

Wow, that's a great deal! I wish I could have got all that for the times when I have $110 to spend. Final Fantasy VIII Black Label alone was like $45 for me, and anthologies was $25. (These are separate purchases) I am quite jealous.

 

[Tom Badguy]

So I received the games today. First reaction, damn, that was fast. Ordered them on Friday, got them on Tuesday. Here is the verdict:

Final Fantasy VII: NOT THE BLACK LABEL. Half the case was the black label and the other half was built from the Greatest Hits case. A clever trick. The discs were Greatest Hits as well. At first, I was pissed. But then I realized that I'm not trying to get these to collect them, I want to play them again. So the rage passed. Disc 1 & 2 worked fine. I had to clean Disc 3 some, but my PS1 read it afterwards.

Final Fantasy VIII: Black Label, as advertised. I looked at the discs. Scratched to all hell. But, keeping the faith that the PS1 has the most selective eye of any console, I put in disc 1. It loads. I start the game just to see if the first cinema would finish. Almost at the end the game freezes. So I clean it. Same thing. Clean it AGAIN. Same thing. Out of all the discs, my PS1 reads 1,2 & 4. It refused to read disc 3.

By now I'm super pissed. But I press on.

Final Fantasy IX: Black label. Everything is perfect. No skips on the opening cinema and all discs are easily readable.

Final Fantasy Anthologies: Black Label. No manual though. This didn't bother me though. What was weird was how the back of the discs had some blue fog effect on them. I thought maybe that's just the way the discs were made. I put FFV in. The cinema loads but the sound is kinda weird. I go to the select screen and when I move the cursor a loud deafening sound screams out of my TV. Then the game doesn't load. Fuck. So I clean the back of it and when I'm done, the back of the disc is black now. WTF? I put the game in and it works perfectly fine. I cleaned VI and the everything is cool. They just needed a thorough cleaning.

Final Fantasy Chronicles: Greatest Hits. Here's a twist. So I get the greatest hits discs with FFVII, then I get the Black Label discs with FFC instead of the greatest hits. Weird, but cool. Both discs read perfectly and work.

Final Fantasy Tactics: Greatest Hits. Disc need a light cleaning then worked fine.

Overall, I'm a little bummed about VII not being Black Lable, but it's not really a big deal. At least I have the game and I can play it whenever I want. Having half of the VIII discs not working pissed me off, but at least the game that doesn't work is my least favorite on the Playstation. Everything just needed some cleaning and were good to go. For the most part, I feel I got what I paid for. I'm going to leave this guy some mixed reviews and advise not to be so shifty with the FFVII case crap. I think I will stick with E-Bay and see how it goes with future purchases. I'm going to go to my local game store and resurface the VIII discs and see if that helps. If not, I'm going to get a PS2 in the future as well and see if that can read them.

So, fast delivery and kinda a mixed bag of results. Surprise, anger, sneakiness, and joy all at the same time. I do know I am never buying from this dude again.

What do you guys think about the results? Should I give this guy a Good, Neutral or Bad review? What would you do in this situation? Send them back, do my plan, something else?

 

[Stoic Hero]

What did the seller say about refunds?

Regardless, he sold you a defective product that he claimed was in "Good" condition. He has to offer you a refund for Final Fantasy VIII, according to Ebay's standards. It takes time, effort, and patience, but you can work out a deal and get what VIII is worth from him.

As for the other games, I'd say you got a good deal. Black label or not, Final Fantasy VII goes for a hefty price. And with all the other games working, you definitely got what you paid for. But I would petition the guy for at least $20 for the defunct Final Fantasy VIII disk.