DKOldies is a scam (and here's why)
If you have been watching TikToks and YouTube Shorts recently then you certainly have stumbled upon DKOldies, they host an online store that exclusively sells used video games. The short videos they post are more or less advertisements for their business and on the surface there's nothing wrong about them, if anything the videos themselves can be entertaining. However as the popularity of DKOldies as grown, it's become more apparent that they are ripping buyers off and also contributing to the video game bubble we are in.
What do I mean by video game bubble? Well since 2019, prices for used video games have skyrocketed in value mainly due to demand from existing collectors but also investors swooping in and buying up games for the purpose of making a profit. As of me writing this post, the bubble has yet to pop but it'll certainly happen soon.
What does this have to do with DKOldies?
Simply put, they overprice the HELL out of their items. It's to the point where its even over the value you get on PriceCharting, but you might think that they're cutting you a deal since its half off right?
So those deals were never really deals to begin with, these items are released with these discounts in place and the Wayback Machine clearly shows that they've been doing this for years. This most certainly is false advertising which is illegal in many countries including where DKOldies operates.
But lets say you disregard the fake discounts and buy an NES bundle for... $250?!?
Well its advertised as being refurbished and you'd expect a pretty clean system especially since DKOldies regularly posts videos of them cleaning games and consoles. Unfortunately, you're not going to get a properly refurbished console as ReviewTechUSA recently put out a video of them unboxing this exact bundle.
Not only was the console still dirty but its partially cracked on the right side. The pins on both the cartridges and console were also not cleaned, which really begs the question if they're really taking the time to actually clean these games and consoles up, again this is clear false advertising.
They also tend to recommend pretty awful things for games, such as using those cheap AV to HDMI converter boxes to play your older consoles on a modern display. These boxes are not designed for video games at all and you'll certainly get a bad muddy picture on top of input lag. I would instead buy a proper upscaler that is designed for video games such as the various RetroTink upscalers. These add no lag and look amazing in comparison.
Now why do they recommend something this awful? Because they not only sell these individually on their site but is an option to be included in most bundles for an absurd markup.
It's even more baffling here since even if you were interested in picking this up, you can just go on Amazon and get one for cheaper.
To wrap things up, I want to mention that DKOldies does do online trade ins. Typically when you trade an item into a store, you'll typically get less than the current average value of the item which is how most local game stores deal with trade ins. DKOldies has a page listing their offers for trade ins and they are laughably low.
Several folks have even made videos talking about how ridiculous these offers are. DKOldies responded by hiding these prices and requiring that you email them to inquire about the price.
At the end of the day, DKOldies is a business and their focus is making as much money as possible. They've even made a video directly responding to the backlash they've been getting.
This video doesn't address any of the points many have made, if anything its propaganda. It's just a small business, a business that overprices the items they sell and is not transparent about their refurbishments. Unless DKOldies gets slapped with a lawsuit (which at this point is inevitable) then my only plea to those getting into used video games is to avoid DKOldies. If you can, buy from local game stores, go thrifting, and if all else fails eBay will absolutely cut you a better deal because everyone else beats DKOldies prices.
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