Piece of Cardboard only $109!

“For those with too much money who are sticklers for a complete collection! Waste your savings now!”

Is it even really a ‘complete’ collection if you’re just turning your copy into a frankenstein?

I don’t even. No proof that an EarthBound cartridge ever was inside that piece of cardboard. Could’ve been a crappy game, too, who knows. But still, this is too weird and too much. It has to be a joke…

What happened to the rest of this guy’s EarthBound?

Satsy – Yeah, you can Frankenstein yourself a complete copy of anything, it just won’t be “mint” if you do that. To call something “mint” means it includes all of the original pieces that came with it.

Okay, that’s it. After seventeen years of increasing absurdity, the state of EarthBound secondhand sales has finally gone full retard.

You NEVER go full retard.

Really?… I know earthbound is rare but its not that rare…

Funny how I got a like-new cart for less than that.(69 GBP).
Is the seller insane? We have no proof that what he is selling is the original and I don’t think anybody would pay that much for a piece of cardboard.

http://imgur.com/a/AecwN

I need that!… i guess…

Such a high price for such an obscure item… it almost feels like something you could actually buy in EarthBound.

Right now, you can get a worthless piece of cardboard for only 109!!!

oh, man. That person must be desperate for some money.

This would have made a good april fools joke.

“But wait, there’s more! Order now and you’ll also receive… the plastic the game was wrapped in!!”

…For an additional $50.

Whoever buys this doesn’t deserve to have money.

How much to get this VGA graded?

Believe it or not guys, this insert is actually pretty valuable. The large-size insert is sought after by completionist collectors since they were only made for the three or four big-box SNES games. Granted, I don’t think it’s with that much but I wouldn’t be surprised if a desperate completionist buys this without realizing you can buy a CIB copy of Mario Paint for a ton cheaper and use the insert out of that.

Good point. How can we be sure this didn’t come from a Mario Paint box?

This has gone beyond absurdity. This is happening because of EB fans. This was not a rare game. Stop the insanity.

Whew at least it’s But It Now!
Come home to papa sweet, plain, useless cardboard!

What an amazing deal!

Actually pigmask private, quite A few big box video games were made back in the day, not just A few. This box could cost about $4-$6 at most.

Not to mention there isn’t even any proof this box is for an earthbound game, making the price drop even more.

okay it’s offical. we earthbound fans are so crazy, will buy that useless piece of cardboard that no one cares about for 109 dollars, but only if it held earthbound.

I cried when $100 cardboard sold on eBay.

(also, it’s no longer available for sale)

seems legit.

And then an entire fanbase facepalmed and felt much better about their spending habits.

I paid around $120 for my copy of EarthBound, but at LEAST it’s a working video game, not a piece of cardboard!

It’s official! The number of Earthbounders out numbers the game itself so much that even the damn insert cardboard is super-inflated! What’s next? Buy now! A starman drawn on a business card with a glitter pen! Only 240 dollars!

Oh man…If a CARDBOARD BOX is going for this high, and the normal game for 4k… How much would one of those beta cartridges cost?

the sad thing is that this probably costs about five cents to make

hahaha watch out guys, the big bad counterfeiters are gonna catch on soon

C’MON GUYS HUURRY IT’S RARE!!!

Tomato, this is your fault.I blame you and your stupid site that links to all the EB auctions and causes inflation.

BARF

Wow, I’ve always wanted a PIECE OF CARDBOARD SLIGHTLY RELATED TO EARTHBOUND!

[quote]LucasPSI said on Feb. 18, 2012
Really?… I know earthbound is rare but[/quote]

Let me stop ya right there. Unfortunately even among fans there’s a bit of a myth there. This game was heavily pushed by Nintendo (even if they managed to avoid the most important place to put the ads, television) when it came out and they went all-in and made a TON of copies. This game could be found EVERYWHERE for a good amount of time after it came out. There’s a huge number of copies out there. Heck there’s probably a few hidden warehouse stashes sitting around too. Lufia 2 is a rare game (good game, and a GLITCHY one, I have it actually). Panzer Dragoon Saga is a rare game. The NES Earthbound Prototype cart is rare. Earthbound is not rare.

As evidence I submit that there has never been a time on eBay where there are less than a dozen copies being sold. Just check this site’s scrounger. You’ll see a huge number of them. If it was that rare, you could go months between even one copy showing up. We’ve yet to even reach “Peak Earthbound”.

In other words, it’s that high only because people are willing to pay that much. If we want to lower it, we (meaning both Earthbound fans and video game collectors in general) need to all collectively decide to not pay these prices (except for a truly mint condition version). Mind you, even that may not work. I get the impression a lot of these sales are to OTHER sellers who think they can make a profit by selling it for just a bit more.

As a collector I often avoid recreation carts (never sure on the quality of those) but an acurate recreation of the box? That’d be perfectly fine with me and, I assume, a lot of people. Of course, if such a thing were done we’d want to go straight to the source because we all know if someone bought one to sell it on eBay, they’d claim it was an original.

This is officially my newest favorite article on Earthbound Central. I got such a good laugh out of it. :p

@DJMan theres a problem with that idea though. Look how many people want a physical Earthbound cart. Now look at how many carts are floating around for sale. It’s simple supply and demand. True, the prices are inflated, but thats only because no new copies are being printed. The fact that Earthbound has never had a re-release jacks these prices up. LoZ Link to the Past never had prices in the hundreds because everyone who likes he game most likely owns it in one form or another.

I find this funny as it is still not the most ridiculous thing that I have seen somebody try to sell on ebay.

what

It’s a piece of cardboard…that’s $109….
what.

Don’t worry – nobody bought it. 2 offers were declined and then the seller ended the auction.

http://img37.imageshack.us/img37/151/ragehk.jpg

Ha, good one ↑

Oh, and good thing nobody bought that.

What

Im gonna buy it.

I just realized I have the box for EB sitting down in my basement, only problem is its like flattened out, saw another one with part of the picture ripped off going for over 100 on ebay… i feel stupid since i sold my cartridge for 65 on craigslist last year needed the cash badly

I just wanted to warn you guys that there are some boxes going on ebay that are obvious reproductions… it even states “this brand new display box replaces your lost or destroyed…” and so on, and some poor guy has a bid for 50 bucks on it, i feel bad theres no way for me to contact them to let me know they are getting ripped off

That looks new… I doubt its a real Earthbound box.

dsi or box?

I need this right now. Need to buy the box though.

The fact that somebody would pay (or even offer to pay) $110 just for a piece of cardboard that could’ve held any random game just because someone said that it held EarthBound is EXACTLY why EarthBound is so God damn expensive.
Some EarthBound fans would buy Shigasato Itoi’s used tissues for $50 if they ever ended up on Ebay (and likely resell them for double that price).

i..

This makes me sad that i threw my oversized Earthbound box away. I had no storage space back in those days and it being extra big just annoyed me.