VGGRADER.COM aka VGA
Well. VGA is nothing but bullshit.
First read here: http://www.nintendoplayer.com/feature/vga/
And i can tell you why. And i won’t even discuss their pricing and services.
1) some people decided they have the knowledge to tell what’s fake and what’s not. Who are they? Some experienced collectors with 20 years of experience in sealed collecting? I believe not. Old hardcore sealed collectors are well known and can even be countered. And they do not work for VGA.
2) OK let’s assume they have the ultimate knowledge about all sealed videgames on the planet….. But it’s not possible. If you collect this stuff you know how hard it is. Millions of fakes. Gazillions of variations, bootleg editions, tear strips, shrinkwraps, ventholes, h-seams, horisontal seams, vertical seams, overlapping seams, red strips, ps strips, nintendo strips, clear strips!! and so on…. Only through collecting you can get all this knowledge.
3) OK so what do they grade? Of cause the obvious stuff! Like SNES games for example. Try and send em some shitty genesis games and they will just reject them cause they have no idea if they are real or not. And what do you do when you have no idea or understanding about things? REJECT. And the problem solved.
4) Preservation. Those acrylic cases. I must say they are extremely good-looking. And they are tough to break. A good coffin indeed. But for me if game is completely welded you loose the feel of the game completely. I mean it’s sensual shit there. You someties want to take the game and look and it and touch the box and look at the pictures and mess with it (but do not masturbate! lol). With VGA cases it’s impossible unless you purchase just the sliding case.
5) The grades. These are just pure random nonsense. A 80 a 90 a 70..80+ what the fuck? Why are there someone to tell you if the game is THAT good or THAT bad? It’s completely subjective shit. For me some minor damage is nothing. For example i hate cracked games but i can bare with some wrap tears. I don’t need anyone to tell me how good are my games and give it a number. lol. And people even PAY for it. lol. You know i understand the reason. People love paying for miracles. It’s that itching anticipation. “What i will get ohhh my fucking gawd!!111”. Like a gamble. You send your green buddies and wait for a mysterious outcome provided by random people with random operating brain based on some mysterious scales. Well if you have some free money to dump! go for it!
6) Prices hijacking. Yes, prices on VGA shit quadruple! Magically. Like VGA games are blessed with some magic godly piss or something. People see some investment potential in it while there’s none. I especially enjoy when n00bies start buying random crap and send it to VGA to grade. And they try to resell that crap for astronomical money, it sits there for months… then they give up and try to sell it for prices of “ungraded” crap and even then it hardly sells at all. PROFIT god damn! lol. Realistically prices on VGA graded games must be a little over the “ungraded” stuff, as grading itself worth money. But noooooooo… vga games worth 10x more sometimes. What is more hilarious that peple buy cases of current gen xbox360, 3ds and ps3 games , grade it and try to sell at 10x prices while same games still available on amazon and retail for pennies. LMAO. This is just retarded.
7) Grading opened “unused” games. Well, words escape me. Just as this…There is NO WAY you can tell if an opened game was used at least once or not. Just be real.
PS: All said above is just my own opinion. You won’t be banned or hated just for buying, selling or talking VGA. But be warned – VGA promotion and fanboism of any kind will be heavily moderated.
Video Game Quality aka VGC aka RPGArcana
This is just a fucking hilarious scam artist. This dude is one of most famous resealers and scambags in the whole videogame world. Originally he was under ebay name vgsloki or something… then he switched to rpgarcana and started sealing his own USED games and selling as BRAND NEW SEALED. He became so good at it that he even sold some used garbage as new and even managed to fake a genesis oval seal. But only by cutting a seal so that it unstitches itself and opens like an oval..What is even MORE funny, he managed to grade his own reseal at VGA!
Here it is! A masterpiece and a proof that even the super-duper pro VGA can be fooled! lol.
But it hasn’t stopped RPGArcana’s evolution. He started his own grading service as a VGA ripoff! Amazing dude isn’t it? Inventive.
So it’s like double-blessed magic piss now! Selling used and what is worse – resealed garbage for prices of VGA graded shit. Retardment at it’s best!
Basically he just buys USED mint consoles and games, “grades” them under his own funnt grading and tries to resell as new.
More talk here:
http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?t=141731
http://www.sega-16.com/forum/showthread.php?10352-RPGArcana-must-be-reported-constantly.
http://www.racketboy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=21020
I’ve made this dude famous worldwide! DO NOT BUY ANYTHING AT ALL! ALL IS SCAM!
Video Game Seal aka VGS
Through this post i discovered yet ANOTHER VGA ripoff! Like Einstein once said: “Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe.” So true. Some dudes went even further and decided to grade completely used games. “Look, this one has some dog shit on it! This is VGS 70+ not a 80!”. Cannot really comment on this one since it’s just beyond idiotic.
Well, you got some really good points. I too am a gamer collector like yourself and only in the last few years did I without even thinking about it fell under the V.G.A. spell. I have new sealed games, open new games that I use, open new games that I hope to use, and of course the V.G.A.. In any case I love them all. I think why everyone falls head over heels for V.G.A. is that one, shopping on EBAY is like 50/50. I don’t know how many times those fucking thiefs sold me the “FACTORY SEALED BULLSHIT” only to receive yet another RESEALED COPY! Wich is not as bad, if you compare it to buying LIKE NEW BULLSHIT, AND PRISTINE BULLSHIT, and receive repaired, cracked, not working copy of Mortal Kombat trilogy for the P.S. for the third fucking time. I don’t know about this example of yours, but for most part V.G.A. I think is original copy. I think security is a good reason. The other of course VANITY that my sealed copy in a display case with serial no. and gold grade versus just a regular copy. Honestly my personal highest of goods is my brand new resident evil for saturn and even took the plastic off, because it many tears, my number two is brand new ultimate mortal kombat 3 sealed but the case is cracked in the front, and of course the new saturn wraped in a pillow case in flawless condition. I like what you said being shut inside the display case like prisoner. I agree. The reason I bought V.G.A. one to display my favourites on my game case at home, and two hoping that one day it will go up in value and I can use that to increase my confidence. Is V.G.A. nothing but bullshit only time will tell.
What is more hilarious that peple buy cases of current gen xbox360, 3ds and ps3 games , grade it and try to sell at 10x prices while same games still available on amazon and retail for pennies. LMAO. This is just retarded.
Funny as if you actually track some of these auctions, they do in fact sell for these overinflated prices… so what if we make money doing this? If someone wants to buy it… let them!
Ps. you spelled people wrong 😛
I track everything cause i am fucking nerd. lol
But that does not change the fact the selling current gen for inflated prices is retarded. However, there will always be a n00b to buy it 🙂
I can agree with you to a degree on your criticisms of the VGA but I personally like VGA gradeing and here are my reasons.
I got the sealed collectign bug back in 2010 and consequently went out and and filled my sealed game collection with my favorite series, Halo. After spending good money I got a copy of Halo:CE black label pre GOTY. The seller shipped it to me and the game looked as if I just got it from a game store. My collection grew and I loved looking at my collection like art. Then I moved and in the process ofmoving things my prized copy of CE got a tear in it. After that I bought cases for my games but they were slidingbottom. The sliding bottom is an issue since I have younger siblings. I had a collection of my favorite book series that even as a 12 yo took great care of. he barges into my room and reads my booksandmakes them look as though they came from a public library. The fully sealed case just add a layer of protection and security
I agree with you the VGA cases are pretty large and the prisoner effect is felt . But while that is true, the game is safe from all but the very worst of circumstances. What this allows me to do is actually enjoy my collection and not have to handle each one with delicate care. I can just grab it as if it were any other game box. So in a way the VGA cases IMO give back what they take away plus a little more since now you can interact with your collection essentially worry free.
Cost. Yeh i agree VGA is a rip off but at teh same time you ge the cases which IMO are the best you can get and 2 collecting rare games is an expensive past time if you cant afford 22$ to get your game protected and its quality verified one must wonder why they collect sealed games.
sealing modern 360 games. I agree it does come off as silly BUT i understand. Every generation of parent has seen their kids play with toys and they get abused. then 20,30,40 years later those kids have jobs, excess money and a yearning for a little bit of their youthful pleasures. So they collect. thats the basis behind card collecting, comics, action figures you name it. hell its why i collect the game series I do, its just a visually appealing way to go back to those youthful days.
gradeing. As someone whos series collection is still very very young 11 years is not that long ago ill tell you finding good condition sealed games is a fun but annoyign process. people say sealed, NEW, etc etc and then you get it in the mail and its a POS that looks liek it was a 7 year olds toy or used to prop up a wobbly table. VGA games atleast to the buyer gives 2 things 1) knowledge that its already cased 2) waaaayyy better odds of surviving shipping, 3) knowledge that the game is of certain shape.
100, 90,80,70, 60 etc etc only have meaning if you give it meaning, if a small tear doesn’t bother you then thats great. All the grades do is compare what you have to something that came out fresh from the factory whenever your game was made. Sure the system isnt perfect no grading system EVER is, but seeing as the VGA has been around for a lil while now they must have some credability to atleast show what level of mintiness a game is.
anyway thats my .02, love your blog keep it up!
Thanx a lot fo such a lengthy post! It’s always interesting to hear more opinions! I agree with you on most parts. The cases themselves are really good. If they were cheaper i’d buy em myself. But they are also heavy and bulky. Shipping would be a killer.. Also. 22$ grading is just for a simpliest tier and slowest. And that does not include shipping. I know people from UK, Germany and Norway who paid for grading+shipping way more then the games themselves. Like 500$-1000$ for grading alone and more.
well i just got most of my collection sealed/graded by them after 3 of my most prized games HCE black label (a message to all herp derp ebay sellers GOTY version is not black label…), the sexiest minitiest halo triple pack, (the last escapes me) and a couple less rare games got messed up randomly. I originally just bought from them the acryllic cases IMO the best I have seen, but after getting sucked into collecting especially a pretty new and widely available series, really condition is EVERYTHING since its really the only thing that makes things rare. I mean hell 8 years later I can still buy a halo 2 limited first print in immaculate condition for 70$. not that I collect for financial reasons, Id have to be in dire circumstances to sell lol, but just to show off my collection grades are important since you need like a HD image to spot flaws. So when I see other halo collections Im like “meh” since you have no idea what shape the games are.
the vga does blow for these reasons
>really dont know much atleast about halo since I had to prove my detail descriptions which to a collector I thought would be common knowledge
>cost, good lord caseing cost more than some games…
>the boxs are bulky n the clear view label IMO takes away form what I love about the games the most the cover artwork.
—-also the people who display their VGA games with the plastic bag on it irk me…
saving grace is the UV coating, so I can relax and interact with my games and not have ot keep them locked in the closet or in the dark.
They are not a legally registered company, nor are they in the BBB. When asked, why do I have to mail the game to a different location, you are told “we are based at a secret location” AKA, his garage.
ahaha that’s awesome. LOL.
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yea I was thinking about getting my three fallout 3 survival editions “graded” but it dose seem like bs espacially if this company is bs. in the last six years or so I’ve been really spending alot of money like litterly tens of thousands of dollars and i brows ebay and amazon and i love my collection i even.buy two or three even somtimes more cuz my wife is a collector too so i buy her one or more and i tell her if we get divorced we each have our own so we dont have to fight about who gets what in court. this is how much i love my vidio game/vidio game memorbilia i can’t loose it to anyone. other than boaring story i am 6interested in minting my investment (vidio game memorbilia) but i am trying to find an autentic grader if they excist. dose anyone know any real graders
…so I am looking to sell my collection of vintage consoles. Some Atari 2600s, Vectrex, Neo Geo CD, handhelds, Nintendo 64, etc. etc.
At first I wanted to give them to some arcade museum here because I thought I can may get a couple hundred for it, but then I saw this ended listing on eBay: a nintendo 64 sold for a whoppin 5K!!! I thought Hole Smolke, I can make some bucks here!
but…is that normal?! I thought, luckily I came upon this page. What a scam. They are really destroying the market for vintage video console lovers…. sad really.
never sold for 5k indeed. More like a fluke
I absolutely agree. I got my games for $700, the lot. I mean I just paid $110 today for a Metroid NES game, and the box and manual look brand new, the game yes even more so. Lol $110. I went on eBay typed in Metroid NES, VGA. Some prick is asking $11510 for it. $11K for a fucking video game. Two words, dickhead. RIP OFF!
At last someone speaks sense about the complete con of VGA grading.
LOL!!! I’ve just read that, epic!!
Just found this article when googling ukg grading because i saw a final fantasy game sealed up like that on ebay and did’nt know what it meant – now i still can’t get my head round it. So you take a cheap ass video game and put it in a bag and this i supposed to be a valuable item! This just blows my mind. The final fantasy game was numbe 9 – i just checked vgchartz.com and that game sold 5.3 million copies – how is putting it in a bag supposed to make it a rare and valuable item? A fool and his money are easily parted.
Works like that. A service of fools for fools.
I was looking through a games list for what games I’d like to play on the PS1.
Thought I’d browse youtube and if I liked the game I’d see what the prices are and I found something called VGA rated and I thought what a con straight away. But then I thought to see who shares my opinion so I typed in “lmao @ vga rated” and found this article confirming the con it is.
Games don’t need to be graded anyone can tell the condition of a game ebay has its own , good , very good and so on.
hahaha I like how you said shitty genesis games, compared to snes, but genesis won the 16bit wars…hands down. And for every one crappy genesis game I guarantee you I can find one or two suck ass for snes .
The point of VGA is like it or not, there is money to be made….period. But like all collecting, it requires lots of time and research to know what sells and basic math skills…
If you invest in a 401k and you get 12% return on your investments, then you are doing pretty damn good. So if I get a game and after all costs: shipping, grading, packaging..etc I can make a minimum of 40-50% return on every dollar I spent, hell yeah I’m gonna do it
that means I spent a $1.00 and get back $1.50…who on earth wouldn’t do that?? So if I can make 70%, 100% or more return on the dollar, you bet your ass Im doing it. As long as there is a demand for that particular game, and people to pay it, then I’m gonna do it… that simple
I have never heard of VGA until today when I was looking for stuff on EBAY and I was stunned to see how much some guy was charging for a game that’s still out for a mere $20, Dragon’s Crown on Vita. So what, it’s in a VGA case graded 95+ and now he want’s like $400 for it, that’s what brought me to your site, i just had to see what people that of this. For the most part, exactly how I do.
I totally agree most people’s opinions on VGA. It is so stupid but I also agree that if I knew for absolutely sure that if I spent a shit ton of money to grade a game and then for sure could sell it for what people pay for these VGA games, then hell yeah I would do it. To be honest, I’m just not that confident I could do it but that’s no reason for me to be jealous. Yes they are ripping people off but it’s EBAY, an auction, you DON’T have to buy the stuff. SO the people who do, yeah they are retarded but I’m sure as hell jealous that some retard gave someone else that kind of cash and I didn’t think of it first. I understand that people hate rip offs of any kind but admit it, most of you talking shit are just a bit jealous that people are actually getting that kind of cash for a stupid current gen game or some game from 10 years ago. Still not worth a couple $k in my opinion for any damn game or system, expect maybe Tengen Tetris in a sealed box. Doesn’t even need a grade but imagine what that would do to it?
Anyhow, that’s just me, I’m not saying for sure everyone else is like that or even a bit jealous, I’m just saying probably are. I mean I am when I see someone getting hundreds for a $20 game.
Thanks guys
Thanks for the background on VGA. As a non gamer (yeah, that’s me), to be engaged in collecting games may seem weird, but I only collect only the 90+ games I did the cover art for, and this all goes way back to ’82 when I began doing art for the guys at Broderbund. I own a number of games that were handed to me as samples after the games were released, so I can verify that they’ve never been opened. Strider, SNK’s Guerrilla War and P.O.W., Capcom’s MegaMan2, Atari’s 7800 Galaga. The one game that kills me is Tengen Tetris, which I did the cover for, but NEVER ASKED FOR SAMPLES. I was very busy and never got around to it. It was only recently that I found out what happened to the release!
I have some of the original art for a dozen of the games (not the heavy hitters), and 8 of the covers I did for Game Pro, including their premiere issue, as well, but how do I validate those?
So what do you recommend for someone like me to authenticate my collection? I imagine I would pursue the VGA sanctions for my best pieces because there aren’t any viable options. Master Z makes some good points from strictly a financial standpoint. I’m not looking to sell anything, but someday when my granddaughter needs a little money in her college fund, perhaps those VGA ratings might be useful.
Maybe consider buying some cases to protect the items !
Nice reading your post.