Collectors are a breed apart. Their interest in whatever they collect often begins and ends with obtaining a new item to add to their collection. Removing it from the packaging will affect the worth of the item, and handling it or using it in the way it was originally intended to be used is treachery of the highest order. Collecting isn't for everyone but those who do it can end up making a lot of money from their obsessive tendencies. So it is with the Frenchman who has sold a large part of his video games collection on eBay for US$1.2 million.
Many of us have sold items, including video games, on eBay. It's one of the best ways of ensuring you get the right price for rare or unusual titles that people desire long after they fall out of circulation. But the collection of around 7,000 titles recently listed on eBay is being cited as the most-comprehensive ever sold through the online auction house.
The collection is ridiculously complete, with every single game released on every Sega console, every game for many of Nintendo's consoles, and full sets for lesser-known consoles such as the PC Engine and Pioneer's Laseractive. All of the games are either factory-sealed or in mint condition with the original boxes and instructions. As an extra assurance the seller promised the collection came from a "pet-free/smoke-free home" and were "stored out of direct sunlight." The listing also contains hundreds of photos of the collection.
The asking price for this mind-blowing collection of games was equally gob-smacking, with the seller only willing to part with his collection for 999,999 euro (approx. US$1,230,699.99). Shipping by airmail added an extra 1,000 euro ($1,231). The seller claims to have sold at the full asking price, with a Canadian resident being the lucky (and obviously wealthy) person now expecting delivery of this once-in-a-lifetime collection. That is, if the buyer pays up. The seller claims that if this first buyer pulls out of the deal the collection will be re-listed on eBay in the future.
The collection reportedly took 15 years to put together, and the seller still has thousands of games he isn't willing to part with. Perhaps building a collection in this manner isn't so bizarre after all, as the monetary rewards are there for all to see. I just can't imagine storing this many games in my house but never actually tearing open the packaging to play them. I guess that's the difference between a gamer and a collector.
Sources: eBay via the Los Angeles Times