I spent 10 buck on mine, found a steal on ebay. The person had no idea what the heck they had listed, and I just snatched it up.
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I have taken all of the advice that everyone has provided, and I made a bid on EBay a couple days ago. It was listed at $0.99 (+$3.99 S/H) and I placed a bid on it. It is Disc 1, 2, and 3, but it does not include the actual case, cover art, or manual.
There are still just under two days before the auction closes. Hopefully, I can finally win it. I have been trying the auction thing since 2007. I never would win, so that's why I wondered if it was actually worth what they price it for. I was thinking of buying it instead of going through the auction route.
Ooh, I hope I win. I will monitor it, now that my computer is back up and running. I hope I win.
Even the buy it nows on ebay are usually pretty cheap. I replaceed my PS1 copy a couple years ago (loaned it to a friend and his hosue burned down >.< before I got it back) for like, 15 bucks. The expensive one is the Eidos Platinum Edition for PC, which I also got on ebay. That one I actually sniped on auction, since the buy it now was like 150$, which I wouldn't dream of paying. Ended up sniping it for 65$, like 70& with S&H. So I have 3 copies of the game now, one PS1 copy I actually play, one factory sealed (I have a sealed copy of every FF to date. Just because), and the Eidos Platinum Edition that I mainly got to play at work and school when I didn't have access to a playstation... then they pretty much made that purchase a waste by letting me download it on PSN (which I did) and play it on my PSP when I'm not home. If and when they remake it, I'll have at least 4 copies, because I'd definitely buy it.
Thanks to this thread I realised I can hunt copies from pawn shops for $2-$10 and then sell them on eBay for $30+ and shipping.
Makes me glad some people are lazier then me. There's some people out there probably selling it to hock shops for $1 when a little effort can reap a lot more and there's also people that want to quickly grab it on eBay for much more then a little hunting (even on eBay) can provide. I greatly recommend any of you do the same if you have a lot of pawn shops locally - it pops up fairly frequently, likely as it was pretty much the biggest PSX RPG in terms of popularity.
IX I got on eBay for 10$ + S&H lol. Think I paid around 40$ for VIII, was too lazy to wait for a cheaper one to show up. Just keep checking back, they all show up pretty cheap from time to time if you're patient. Or, as already mentioned, check pawn shops. They get all kinds of games in there from people, and usually sell em dirt cheap.
My copies of Final Fantasy VIII and IX were brand new for only $20 US. I found them at gkworld.com. I had just started my job at the paper, and was super excited to be earning money that I went a little crazy. But like I said, they were brand new!
EDIT on August 26, 2011: The auction that I was in, well, let's just say that I received a headshot and was dead on the floor. That's right, some idiot sniped me in the last fifteen seconds. I tried to get it back, but my fingers were shaking, I typed in the wrong number. I hate EBay.
I have a friend that payed $3 at a pawn shop for it and I still think he spent too much on it. That might just be my personal disdain for the game though :P. But seriously, no VII is not worth $50 bucks. No game over a decade old is, at least not to me. Despite my love of VIII, I still wouldn't dish out $50 for a copy of it, no matter how badly I wanted it.