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Retro Game Trading on Goozex.com: An Interview
Mike Rohde, Executive Editor
April 6, 2010
Goozex.com is currently in beta for trading retro games. Do you have a pile of old NES cartridges laying around that you'd like to trade in for a new game? Now you can. And some of those rare titles will trade at a price that makes it worth it.
GoozerNation recently had the opportunity to sit down with Mark Nebesky, co-Founder, CMO and all-around great guy of Goozex.com. Many of you probably know Mark better as Blackcoyote from the Goozex forums. While we put back some cold ones and munched on garlic fries I asked Mark a few questions about trading retro grames, which is currently in Beta on Goozex.com.
Mike: Yeah, recording, all right here we go.
Mark: We have landed.
Mike: We have landed. We'll put this on the Goozcast. OK, now I gotta open my notes. . . Questions for Mark. . . here we go. . .
Mark: I am 7' 4" tall.
Mike: That's one of the last questions, I haven't gotten there yet. . . OK, they want badges, they want Goozcast badges [in the Goozex forums, you get badges under your avatar for doing stuff].
Mark: Who wants badges?
Mike: The guys on the Goozcast: Jason, Eric and Kubik.
Mark: Ok. That guy. One thing to know about badges in general, it's a manual process, but it's quick to do. And I just need to know. It only takes a few minutes.
Waitress: You want another round?
Mark: They just offered us beer, while we're recording, we are good right now.
Mike: First question on retro gaming, Does Goozex actually possess all of these retro machines to test games that might come in for disputes?
Mark: The short answer is: No. While we launch the whole retro game trading in Beta and we have determined there are basically three major unknowns. And that's why we launched in beta. One is pricing. Two is whether we get the battery issue right. And three is if we get the whole backend, processing, shipping, customer service backend done right. And part of that customer service is testing games. So, if we start seeing Sega CD games coming in droves, and we don't have a Sega CD player, then we're gonna have to figure it out. We have alternatives to doing that. We can easily get a partner to do testing for us and so on.
Mike: How are the point values determined for the retro games?
Mark: It's a tweak on our algorithm, and without going into the nitty gritty details, we--again while in beta is the pricing issue--we recognize there are a lot of rare games out there--and the prices for games could be all over the place--so our traditional algorithm wouldn't catch that--we can't really catch rare titles and pricing. So, we developed a work-around to that and now we're gonna see if that works 99.99% of the time.
Mike: OK, yeah, we'll see how that works. . .
Mark: We'll see if you're lucky to be alive (laughing).
Mike: Goozex is all about making sure buyers get a good product. Older products like NES cartridges get a little riskier in that area. Will feedback be handled differently if an NES cartridge doesn't work, for example, if you have to blow in it four or five times? How will that be handled?
Mark: Again, that's one of the unknowns and I think the traditional store, eBay model, is that as long as it's playable, then that's what you get. For example, if there's a dead battery, the game is still playable, but you just can't save. And you lose all the previous content that was on it.
Mike: I think that was the next question, about the internal game batteries. Does Goozex or the seller guarantee that an internal battery is still in working condition while being X amount of years old? Could I leave Negative feedback if the battery is dead? Who's responsible for swapping the batteries?
Mark: We don't recommend that you open the cartridge and solder in a new battery. Really, the answer is, if you get a game and it's playable but the battery doesn't work, it's a Neutral feedback, but we're updating. If you get a game, and it's unplayable, and you report Negative, and you ship it to us. Just like any other game. But if it's the issue of just a dead battery, at the moment, our policy is Neutral feedback. It's the middle ground. We understand there are both sides to the issue.
Mike: So, someone can still play the game even with a dead battery?
Mark: You can still play the game even with a dead battery but you won't be able to do certain things like save, and things like that. So, we understand that's an inferior product, probably, depending on the game.
Mike: So, if you can't finish it in one playthrough. . . then. . . yeah. . .
Mark: Yeah. . .
Mike: That's why demos can be so frustrating sometimes because there are no saves. You know. . .
Mark: Right now, we are going to wait and see, that's the current policy. The nice thing about beta is that you can change certain things.
Mike: Yep, that's why it's beta.
Mark: Yep, that's why it's beta. And it's probably more appropriate to say, Alpha.
Mike: Yeah, OK. . . (laughing). Any plans to include the Saturn, Neo Geo CD games?
Mark: No, not right now. We just want to make sure that we get this off. Then we can see.
Mike: OK, that was it. Anything else?
Mark: yeah, if you hear this, and you're still upset with me, please send all your private messages to NinjaJ.
Mike: NinjaJ at Goozex.com, would that be correct?
Mark: No, no, it's User NinjaJ, so just send him the PMs.
Mike: OK, it's all NinjaJ's fault.
Mark: and he loves vulgarity, so. . .
Mike: There you go, the more vulgar the better (laughing).
Mark: Obscene, rude, he loves it all (laughing).
Mike: Maybe we should put this on the Goozcast, would that work better? I'll ship it to Jason. I can email these recordings.
Mark: I can't wait.
(laughing)
