Just wanna make sure no one at STC misses this.

http://vgmdb.net/forums/showthread.php?t=15100

Spirit_Chaser noted that this sale was going. I was personally skeptical, and that thread will show that I asked a bunch of questions before even throwing down the $25 as I was worried this was some weird new bootleg operation.

I got my copy in the mail today and I'm 100% convinced it's original. There's no reason this large a seller would have made the bootleg themselves anyway... they would've had to buy / acquire it from a bootlegger first, and AFAIK no one has ever run a bootleg print of this one at any size or scale worth noting.

My notes on why are also in that thread.

We don't know how many copies the seller has. He keeps it at "more than 10" even after selling 25 copies. I just want to make sure you guys knew it was up. Considering it usually sells for a lot more than $25. And this is new/sealed.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Brand-New-The-C … 2c97946803

Wow... so where did this come from? Did he/she just find a box from from Nintendo from 1995?

Reminds me of when Game Music Online mysteriously found that batch of Dracula X a number of years back.  Anyway, thanks for the heads-up! 

That's my speculation. It was either leftovers from the original stockhouse from the direct mail-order program Squaresoft had in the mid'90s that just got unearthed, or it was a stock that a retailer such as EB or Babbage's had left unsold and it got put in a warehouse somewhere until some wholesalers with BestSKU dug it up.

But yeah. This is actually a really similar situation to the gamemusic.com Dracula X restock. Just with even more passage of time.

I like that one of your test parameters was:

Felt like the 90s: CHECK

Buy one, unwrap the plastic in your hands, and tell me it doesn't leave a distinct impression.

The red laser test was the most important thing, to determine it was pressed and not burnt. The odds of a PRESSED bootleg, of THIS album, is so close to zero ... yeah. It's legit.

Ramza, have you sent the seller an email asking where he/she got these albums from? I'm really curious! Wish I could find a stash of rare CDs

If they are legit then the guy selling them is a complete and total muppet.
Hey "here's my car for £100" it's worth way more but have it for that.
I already have a copy, paid alot more a few years back. I always said I wouldn't buy VGM with intentions of profit, so I won't be purchasing a copy on this basis. Also, forcing  the "pay your import duties at checkout" is absolutely disgusting and wrong of the seller to do so. Import duties aren't a certainty, so I'd rather take my chances than paying the seller these in advance.
Just another mistake from a muppet.

The "pay your import duties at checkout" thing is from eBay's Global Shipping Program.
It's basically a scam, plain & simple, and I would NEVER purchase anything from a US seller who's using this eBay "feature" if he doesn't propose alternatives (good ol' USPS).
Of course USA sellers can chose whether they want to enroll in this "program' or not (actually at this point I believe they're enrolled automatically and need to OPT OUT manually if they wish to, evil eBay..) .

I don't want to be an ass over this... but are you complaining that these discs aren't costing an arm and a leg and that people are getting an album they've been looking for for a long time without breaking the bank?

To put it another way I'm selling my Saturn copy of Mega Man 8 to my friend for $40. Yes, I'm aware that I could get over $100 if I sold it on eBay... but I actually only paid $20 for it myself. Yes, for being a savvy shopper you could say I'm entitled to reap the bigger difference because I made an investment that paid off. However, having played the game on the Saturn... Mega Man 8 really isn't worth that much in my opinion, much in the same way that I roll my eyes at the going price for Mega Man 7 which I also want to freaking ditch.

Look, I'm not trying to boost myself up buy saying "hey, nice guy here!" but I don't get why the seller shorting himself makes him a muppet. If he's a muppet (outside the stupid import thing) I'm one as well... and I don't really care if you call me one.

However, I'll admit this isn't the greatest comparison. He's probably more concerned in making money than I am. Yet I can't help but think he would have raised the price after selling so many if he was super concerned with milking as much money as he could out of buyers.

I have to agree with Ashley here. I'm not sure what you're trying to say? As far as anyone can tell the guy found a stash of these or somehow got a ton of these (probably a few hundred) and decided to sell them for a reasonable price. What's wrong with that? It arguably lowers the value for collector's but unless you're just trying to sell your copy what's the harm? Rather, it's a great "find" for those looking for a copy of this rare CD! Also, I'm curious what this "pay your import duties" is? I've never heard of that before.

I have not. Mostly because the seller is probably a small team of people (look at their diverse array of media, and their number of transactions based on feedback), and even they might not remember how it ended up in their stock o' goodies.

I had asked them if the albums were dead stock and they responded back "This items have been in our inventory."  So, along with a tenuous grasp on English, I'm not sure someone will get any better answer.

Selling to a friend is completely different, I would also be happy to give a much better price to my friend and I do this regularly. Infact sometimes I just give things to my friends without the need to take their money as long as they get enjoyment from it. As for the real world, no. He is selling something which "could" potentially fetch up to 8x what he is selling them for, especially as this item is sealed. They fetch around $100-$150 used, sometimes more if the buyer really wants it. We may have different morals when it comes to the real world, in my opinion he is a muppet for selling them that cheap, I wouldn't and that is my opinion.
Avatar: Basically, I added one to my basket and you have to pay $15 for shipping to the UK which is fine, but there's also an extra $12 tab that you must pay if you want to complete the checkout which says "Import duties."
This to me is disgusting and it is not down to ebay or any seller to decide wether I pay import duties or not. If that soundtrack reaches my house without being checked for import duties then ebay or whoever have made $12 for absolutely nothing. I whole heartedly disagree with this, especially as they take 10% of every single auction as it is.

You have a seller whose inventory consists of old/broken stuff that, I can only assume from their perspective, most people wouldn't want. More than likely as has been already mentioned it's someone who got all this on the cheap and is simply flipping it for what they find reasonable. The fact that someone knowledgeable in a niche market found it and informed their community about a good deal doesn't transform instantly this seller into a chump.

If it's bothering you that much why not message the seller on eBay? Educate, rather than mock them. The real issue here is that now you're pissed having spent more than someone else for the same thing. But, of course, it's ALL about the music...

I bought one of these, thanks for the heads up.  Never played the game, but the few tracks I sampled sound good.

You are incorrect, so be careful before slating me when telling me not to slate someone else, this is called contradiction. Again as for the "be kind to others," again it is you people who spout on about not ripping people off and giving good deals to your friends so why don't YOU message this guy and tell him that he's making a mistake. More contradiction and double standards I'm afraid. The guy is a muppet for selling them that cheap in my opinion, I am entitled to my opinion, I have been a member of these forums for years, I have not said anything against you or any other members yet you seem to think it's ok to be negative towards me. If the mods here are unhappy with my conduct, then they can warn me / remove my posts / ban me whatever. Get off my back, if you disagree with my opinion you have every right to say so, but putting words into my mouth, making assumptions and trying to make me feel bad is out of line.

http://i.imgur.com/3sytCKm.jpg

You have a delusional fantasy about how the world actually works. Who cares what he's selling them for? It's his prerogative. He probably has no idea what the value is. Better for us, sucks for him. There's also the fact that if they really have this many, there isn't a very large market for people paying $100+ for this album. There will be more people that will buy it at $25 than $100. If you don't want to buy it or take advantage of a good opportunity, don't.

No one is putting word in your mouth. You're getting unduly upset over nothing. Your status on the forums past and present doesn't preclude you from being called out for saying something stupid or having a wildly unpopular opinion.

Tldr: get over yourself.

"Better for us, sucks for him" You totally agree with me, you won't say negative towards him but you will me and that's cool cos you're on the bandwagon now.
Most people can't afford $100+ for a CD and that is the reason there isn't a large market for it. That my friend is reality, I can't afford an Aston Martin but it doesn't mean some guy is stupid enough to sell me one for a grand does it? Slightly exaggerated example there but you get the idea. You people pride yourself on doing and saying the right thing, I get that I really do. The REALITY is, I'm only saying what alot of people were probably thinking because I have the balls to do so, you do it in a different way, you will attack me because you know you have the backing of the other fence sitters, climb aboard the goodship contradict and attack the guy with balls. It's easy to hide behind others because you're less vulnerable that way. I don't actually care now, I've just had a nice evening at the cinema with my girlfriend and my original point still stands, the guy selling those albums is a fool and a muppet, I am not lying, I am speaking the truth. I am sure you all had a good laugh at him when you purchased that album for $25, but when it comes to internet forums and threads you hide behind your so called morals and pride yourself on saying the right thing, yet none of you have the "morals" to message the guy and make him aware. Why would you? You are the same as me.

I doubt he'd re-list it anyway. I mean, he could, but they wouldn't sell as fast.

Your Aston Martin is really interesting to me. But what *you* need to remember is that, in all likelihood, this massive stock of SoE CDs fell into this guy's lap for pennies. We're talking abandoned-storage-garage kind of stuff. That's the only way he could have this kind of stock.

I would urge you to look up a standard supply/demand "X" graph and specifically the notion of consumer surplus vs producer surplus, as regions shaded within the graph. Then, acknowledge the difference between the Aston Martin scenario and this one ... namely, no one in the history of forever opened a garage and went "ooh! I found 100 of these 20 y/o classic cars!"

When something as obscure as the SoE soundtrack is suddenly found in large quantities, that will affect the price, because you're going to supply more than is presently demanded. I went well out of my way to get the word out, and the guy has probably sold over 50 copies now, at least half of them thanks to people like Spirit Chaser and me doing word-of-mouth. Were he selling them at double the price, he'd not have sold them as fast, and that matters. Especially because, since none of us know how many more the guy is sitting on, it might be the case that $25 is the price he NEEDS to set to reach market equilibrium (that is, he can't get rid of all the stock within his company's fiscal year unless the price is set to (x)).

What I'm trying to say is ... yeah, he probably doesn't realize how rare the album is. But on the flipside, if he adjusted the price up, he might quickly find out that it ain't sellin' at a rate where he can clear, and then he'd just drop it back down. The fact that these CDs were found AT ALL (as opposed to ending up destroyed in a landfill) is a boon to the supplier (as he is a re-seller of old/obscure goods) AND to the consumer.

I call it a win-win.

Holy hell... did this explode...

I appreciate your constructive post that wasn't rude to anyone, for the most part you're probably right as everything can be ifs and maybes. Let's hope they aren't bootlegs ;D
Anybody received one yet?
I have a copy I purchased around 10 years ago if anybody dares open theirs and wants to make comparisons.

I'm very curious myself.

About 6 years ago I purchased a bootleg from a seller on ebay who "assured" me that it was legit. Frankly when I saw it when it arrived, I thought it was paste over in house job. The seller never responded to my emails of course, and Ebay did nothing to stop him either. Worse off, he was also selling Streets of Rage ost bootleg copies.

Ah well....