One question, asked of every single thing that passes through here.
Does it come with what it came with?
That is the whole standard. Everything below is just us being specific about it.
Why one question and not a grade out of ten
Complete in box is the most argued-over phrase in this hobby and almost nobody will tell you what they mean by it. A seller says complete. You open the case. The disagreement starts.
Letter grades have the same problem. Near Mint compared to what? Very Good according to whom? A grade is somebody’s opinion wearing a uniform.
So we do not grade against a feeling. We ask what the thing shipped with in the first place, then check whether it is all still there. You can verify the answer yourself when the parcel arrives, which is rather the point.
The eight things we check
Every copy is checked against eight components. Each is recorded as present, absent, or never existed for that release, because a game that never had a steelbook cannot be missing one.
- The disc. The game itself, and whether it actually plays.
- The manual. The printed booklet.
- The cover art. The inlay, front and back.
- The case. The original retail case, not a replacement. If it is a replacement, we say so.
- Special Edition contents, where that is what the release was.
- Collector’s Edition contents. Statues, art books, maps, whatever it shipped with.
- Game of the Year extras, where the release was a GOTY edition.
- The steelbook, where one existed.
Eight things. One question asked of each.
The one exception, and why it exists
There is exactly one thing that came in the box which we do not hold against a copy, and it is worth explaining rather than burying.
A download code that is used, expired or missing does not stop a copy being complete in box. A missing disc does.
Codes expire. Storefronts close. Servers get switched off. An unused code from a 2011 release is worth nothing today because there is nothing left to redeem it against. That value evaporated for every copy in existence at the same moment, whether or not anyone scratched the silver panel off.
Marking a copy down for a dead code charges you for a loss that already happened to everybody.
A disc is a different matter entirely. A disc is the thing. Without it you have packaging.
So a copy whose only gap is a code is graded, and priced, as complete. We will always tell you which of the three it is: present and unused, present but expired, or gone. You get the fact, and the grade reflects what that fact is actually worth.
What we will always tell you
- Which of the eight are missing, by name, not as a score.
- Whether the case is original or a replacement.
- Whether this is a first copy or a second. Second copies leave. First copies stay in the archive.
- What is wrong with it, photographed. If there is a scratch you get to see the scratch rather than read an adjective about it.
What we will not do
- Call something complete when it is not, and hope you do not check.
- Photograph the good side only.
- Use a stock image of a game we are selling you a used copy of.
- Invent a grade out of ten to make an opinion look like a measurement.
If we get it wrong
We will, eventually. Somebody will open a case and find the manual missing that we said was there.
When that happens, tell us and we will make it right, and then we will go and check every other copy of that title on the shelf, because if we made the mistake once we probably made it twice.