Grade A: Cartridge is about Perfect, No big obvious damage ( scratches)  no big discoloration or stains are found at the first glance.

below you see some examples with Super Mario Land.

Only the first of these 5 (Top Left) is Grade A for the Cartridge and  Grade A for it's Label.

The 2nd one ( Top Middle) get's a B (or A after cleaning)  for the cartridge and B Grade for the Label . 

The 3th (Top Right) gets a C for the cartridge because of the discoloration and dents and gets A Grade for the Label  

The 4th (Bottom Left ) B for the cartridge and has a D Grade for the Label (because it's repared with tape) 

The 5th (Bottom right) E for the cartridge because of damage (bottom left) and has a B Grade for the Label 

The backs* are not really taken in to account when grading the cartridges ( or labels!)

Q: why not only go with photo's of actual items? 

A: Photo's do not tell everything about stickyness/texture/smell/feel etc. Using the Quality ratings also gives the option to filter.

 

Cartridges and their labels are rated seperately. A clean good looking cartridge without a label (sticker/Etiket) or with one that's not regognizable or ugly will get a Good Quality like B for "Cartridge" and a Quality like X, D or E for "Label" . Games that are listed on this webshop with the text "Actual Item" are rated too like this so there are a lot of examples to get the feeling for how this works.  Also when you don't want to be guided with this rating you can always buy "Actual Items" because then: 

What you see is what you Get . The rating systems helps you to filter with a dropdown menu on Aesthetic Quality and Price.

Aesthetic Quality = The Looks

 

Please bare in mind the back* of most cartridges are interchangeable ( can be replaced) , so the front part of the cartridge is way more important than the back. The other things to bare in mind is that really new is not available anymore, I test and check these games without a microscope and just check the look and feels. It's the inside (PCB) that makes the game what it is. If this PCB (with al the chips) is Original and Working than it's still ok to play, this is the minimum and has Quality E 

Every Game you can buy on this website including Quality E is Original but with the other Quality's you also get this:

 

Buying Quality A Guarantees:

Original Label

Looks and feels (as good as) New

Not Sticky

No Initials on the front

No added Stickers

No obvious discoloration

Scratches are minimal (only small AND superficial)

with Grade A your first thought must be: it could be new.

 

Buying Quality B Guarantees:

Original Label

Looks and feels good

Not Sticky

No Initials on the front, At least not obvious at the Label 

No added Stickers, At least not at the Label 

Very few or small marks/spots/discoloration

Scratches/creases are allowed (small non-superficial and/or medium superficial)

Quality B = Very good condition

 

Buying Grade C Guarantees:

Working Original Game

Original Label

Looks OK to Good 

 no big writing/carving on the Label 

no added stickers on the Label 

marks/spots/discoloration are common

medium Cornering/Frumbling/Creasing is common

Quality C =  Good 

 

Buying Quality D Guarantees:

Working Original Game

Original Label

Writing,Carving (intitals), Stickers or Repairs can be part of the deal

Big marks/spots/discoloration are very common

Big Cornering/Frumbling/Creasing is common

Quality D are Not the best looking

 

Buying Quality E Guarantees:

Working Original Game

Missing Parts/Pieces (completely functional but a label or piece of the cartridge can be missing)

Initials,Stickers,Repairs, big marks/spots/discoloration are very common

Quality E are really damaged/repaired and surely not the best looking but are still ok to play

 

When a something is marked with an X there is more information for example it has a replacement label (Sticker/Etiket)

So Cartridge Quality = B and Label X can be a good looking cartridge with a replaced label (always "Actual Items") And it's always stated clearly as "Replaced Label" and/or "New Label" 

 

 

Below are other examples of Asterix and Tetris.

 

The Left & Middle Asterix  (2 picture's above this text) get an A for Cartridge and Label. The right one a B for Cartridge and Label

The Left Tetris (picture's above this text) gets an A for Cartridge and Label. Middle get's B for the Cartridge and A for the label and the right one a C for it's Cartridge and a B for the Label. 

If you want to buy an actual item from a photo that really belongs to the item you want: Please search for the text "Actual Item" and you will be sure you receive the game from that picture ( unique photo is from the unique item).

If you do not see "Actual Item"in the description , You can assume it's one of Original Game's stockphoto's that are shot once and gave the items a description of how they look and feel with Quality A,B,C,D or E