Since somebody brought up how cgc would treat a similar issue, it's pretty similar to arrival dates in comics (newsstands in the 40s-60s would often write say 3/18 on the cover to show when it arrived (so that they could track when they had to return it by to get a refund if it went unsold). In other words, that type of writing was on the item at point of purchase so there is little to no condition deduction for it. I'm in favour of the same approach with original price stickers on wrap. Small deduction in highest grades and no deduction in lesser grades. But... neither company does it that way

I may be the the exception here, but I always thought the written date or time stamp ruined clean covers. I never liked the nostalgia piece about the stamp. I love the price stickers on games, but I have them removed and sent back to me....then I stick them on the back side of the case. IMO they take away from a clean box front/back or wherever they are located.

Can you give us your rough estimate of the score deduction when there is a sticker on a game? I’m curious to know.

Also, I have an additional thought:
price stickers are prone for some wear themselves or maybe subtle smudges on their surface, so that just increases the probability of a score deduction.
 

The sticker discussion here is interesting to me, as it seems to revolve around how an item looks and grades with/without stickers at a specific point in time. But it is worth noting that over periods of time, stickers left on boxes lead to unequal fading (for boxed and sealed) and stains (for boxed).

I'm personally a big fan of removing any and all stickers except those from factory, but only after taking proper photos of them for historical documentation.

I hear you but personally I don't think of fading as normal or accepted. fading of any sort IMO is a much bigger problem and a separate discussion.

Some games can only be identified with stickers.

PAL Greek NES games for example have -GRE codes manuals, but usually only a retailers sticker on the box somewhere will indicate it's a Greek release...removing that sticker makes it transform into an ordinary -EEC box.

That being said, stickers in the long long term can (probably) cause damage over time, and will definitely cause non-uniform degradation of the artwork over time. Isn't the whole point of grading to be preservation?

Yeah, but some people prefer to preserve the game be preserved in its condition with the sticker on it. The theoretical fading will never be observed. 

To me, it depends on sticker type and location. I like that WATA leaves some on and recommends removal of others. It’s usually pretty obvious which should stay and which should go.
 

Remember, none of these games came with a sticker out of the case. All of those were applied by employees before hanging/sitting on shelf. I guess it's neat to know what store they were from, but aesthetically, they take away from its original state.

I voted I hate sealed games 😜

I bought my games from the store, I didn’t order them direct from the factory. I personally prefer original stickers placed well to original factory state.

 

I'd personally take VGA any day, though to me it's the best of two evils. In my personal opinion, there are too many conflicts of interest with wata, with many folks involved in pumping the prices also involved with the site. Flame me if you will, I won't comment more after this post, do the research and decide for yourself.

Imo hobbies should grow and rarities and values should be determined on their own, not by a company with vested interest trying to promote this or that for personal gain.

Firstly, being on an advisory board does not conflict people out in business. It’s entirely normal for people who are on advisory boards to profit from the company they are advising. If is NOT a conflict of interest. Secondly, “pumping prices” only works if, at the end of the day, there’s a real market that emerges. Otherwise, people pumping will lose money in the end. Like the dude who bought up all those Tokis a few years back and listed them for 5X, then after a few months had to sell for less than what he bought them for as others got posted for sale.

Right now, WATA definitely has captured a first wave of comic and other collector folks interested and buying and selling. The long term question is whether a second follows over the next few years. Either way, though, not much here is artificial, it’s normal market speculation. 

 

The only things i have sealed are some new wii u games i got at clearance prices and a caltron with a less than stellar box from the caltron mexico flood of 2011-2012.

i have no preference here. Id say i like the way vga looks overall but dont like the 85 stuff being gold and silver

“Normal market speculation” is when the usual consumers of x market speculates. 

A few new consumers speculating, without consensus of the experienced consumers, is a tad different than normal market speculation. 
 

How can you honestly say to yourself that stickers shouldn't affect grading? Stickers 110% affect the grading under any and all circumstances, anything else is just your opinion which means nothing because there is strict guidelines for this stuff.

Getting mint grades shouldn't be easy, for example a card can be fresh from the pack, completely untouched and still get a grade that isn't mint because there are factors outside of your control like the way that the boarder was printed on the card....It needs to be an exact measurement all the way around from the outside edge to the boarder.

If something like that is critical to the final grade you bet your ass a sticker is going to be, it's hands down a defect, no question.

I can't even believe it's being disputed.

I like playing my games.

Agreed. People can enjoy stickers, and even think they look nice, but they are a "defect".

So do I, they sit right next to their sealed counterparts.

Ballin like a mofo! 
Well played sir, well played.
 

All I know is if you search for wata on eBay it seems that ANY game with ANY grade is being listed for very high amounts. Wata hype?

Same shit as VGA for the most part. If you go through completed listings, very little of the overall listings actually sell.

You lose a family member in a sticker accident or something? 
 

Oh, speaking of VGA, here's a SMB 2 just posted on Ebay that is a VGA 80+ and has no H seam...

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/...

No grading company is perfect, but this is either a bad bad miss, or the case has been tampered with.

It’s both. There are a number of experienced collectors involved beyond the new people. The comic collectors said everything being said here during that revolution, as did the Magic folks for that. There were people here in January insisting this was a one week fad after the initial auction.

These games generally will never go back to where they were price wise in January. Whether prices can sustain or rise from what they are now is an open question, however.