The main problem with your argument is that you're comparing New (still in production) products, with older products, such as collectables, or products that are no longer in production.
The "actual value" of something is whatever the market is willing to pay for it. That's it. A product either sells at a certain price or it doesn't. It's the basic laws of Economics. Companies may suggest a price based on statistical data and production costs, but if consumers (as a majority) think that the product is too pricey for the value it offers, they won't buy it. Which effectively drives the cost down. OR, it inevitably kills off the product because the company can't afford the hit of dropping it down to where it "should" be. The whole thing eventually leads the market balancing itself out.
This whole "perceived value" vs. "actual value" (in the case of collectables, or out of print products) is a bogus argument. Only because it's the kind of argument that will go on FOREVER since perception IS unique to every individual. Especially when talking about second-hand goods. A thirty dollar, decade old, game may seem like a steal to Joe Gamebuyer, while the person standing next to him thinks it's too expensive. In this case, the ONLY variable that dictates market value, is the game's previous history of successful transactions. Meaning, it's not the seller's inflated prices that dictate market value, it's the "actual" price that the game is regularly being purchased at.
Most of these problems arise simply because we're talking about ebay. Ebay doesn't act like a typical brick and mortar store front. Ebay offers it's sellers the luxury of having a store front that can be easily accessed by an entire world's worth of consumers. This means that sellers don't suffer from the same limited pool of consumers that, let's say, a flea market seller would be limited to. This effectively drives up the cost of games on ebay because the seller knows that the chances of landing a buyer are better. Even if ebay sellers "wanted" to charge a cheaper price for their item. Someone would just swoop in, buy it from them at their cheaper listed price, then flip it. (turn around and resell it at an inflated cost)
Lastly, you can't compare games being sold on a digital store front with physical copies of "out of print" games. Digital games don't suffer from supply shortages. You can't even compare physical copies of "out of print" games with physical copies of games that are still in production. -- Also, in the case of Virtual Console games, one could make the argument that Nintendo is inflating the prices of these digital games. I mean, sure $7.99 might sound like a bargain. But we should consider that most of these games were made 2 or 3 decades ago, and have already seen their returns. And often times these games remain completely unchanged from their original source rom. It's almost as if Nintendo were printing money.
But it's okay, right? Because Nintendo is only charging us $7.99 for our nostalgia. And we feel better when we spend less than 20 bucks.
