Metal Gear Solid
PS1 · NTSC-U
Market value
- Loose
- $25
- New
- $400
Checks
5/6
Maya K.
Workflow software for used and retro game stores
One workflow from trade-in to ready to sell.
RetroBase supports every stage of the intake-to-shelf workflow, from the moment a trade-in comes in to the moment it’s ready to sell. Your POS rings up the sale. RetroBase runs the work before it.
Example Needs Pricing CIB Disc test passed $64 CIB
Example workflow. A Metal Gear Solid trade-in for PS1, complete in box, is at the Needs Pricing stage with five of six checks complete and a market value of sixty-four dollars complete in box. The RetroBase workflow runs Intake, Testing, Cleaning, Repair, Needs Pricing, Photos, Final Check, then Ready to Sell. Also in progress: Silent Hill on PS1 at Photos, still missing its shots, Pokémon Crystal on Game Boy Color at Needs Pricing, a GameCube console at Final Check with all checks passed, and an SNES controller blocked while waiting for a replacement shell. Thirty-seven items are ready to sell.
Intake 2 Testing 3 Needs Pricing 2 Final Check 1 Ready to Sell 37
Also in progress
Silent Hill · PS1
Missing photos
Pokémon Crystal · Game Boy Color
Save battery replaced
GameCube Console · GameCube
All checks passed
SNES Controller · SNES
Blocked · Waiting for replacement shell
The model RetroBase supports
One workflow, from intake to ready to sell
Every game a store buys travels the same path to the shelf. RetroBase gives that path a home, so nothing gets stuck or forgotten between the buy and the sale.
Intake
The game enters the workflow the moment you buy or take it in.
Testing
Does it boot, save and read? Batteries and discs get checked.
Cleaning
Carts, discs and cases are cleaned up to a sellable standard.
Repair
Anything fixable (a new save battery, a fresh shell) gets fixed.
Needs Pricing
Priced by condition, with market value as context.
Photos
Real photos taken, ready for the shelf or a listing.
Final Check
One last look, so nothing half-done reaches the shelf.
Ready to Sell
Done. The game is ready to sell, and hands off to your POS.
New to the intake-to-shelf model? The back-of-house guide explains the operational model in full, no product required.
Every stage
How RetroBase supports each stage
This isn’t a feature list. It’s the work your store already does, and how RetroBase keeps each stage visible and moving.
Intake
What stores do
You buy or take in a game and set it aside to deal with later.
What goes wrong
It’s never logged, so it exists only in memory, and memory drops things.
How RetroBase helps
Every trade-in enters the workflow the moment it’s taken in, with its condition and a place it lives.
Testing
What stores do
Someone boots the game, checks the save battery and tries the disc.
What goes wrong
Untested items pile up waiting for “when someone has time.”
How RetroBase helps
Testing is a visible stage with its own queue, so nothing sells before it’s proven to work.
Cleaning
What stores do
Carts, contacts, discs and cases are cleaned to a sellable standard.
What goes wrong
Easy to defer (a dusty cart still boots), so cleaning becomes a hidden queue.
How RetroBase helps
Cleaning is its own stage, so the items waiting on it are impossible to lose.
Repair
What stores do
A dead battery or cracked shell gets fixed, or the item is set aside for parts.
What goes wrong
Repairs wait on parts and a skilled hand, and quietly stall.
How RetroBase helps
Items needing repair are flagged and tracked, not buried in a bin of “maybe later.”
Needs Pricing
What stores do
You price by condition, checking market value and applying your store’s logic.
What goes wrong
Pricing waits on testing and on someone checking value, so it becomes the biggest queue.
How RetroBase helps
Needs Pricing is a stage with market-value context in front of your team, consistent whoever’s working.
Photos
What stores do
Real photos are taken for the shelf tag or an online listing.
What goes wrong
Photos feel optional until an item is about to sell: the last-minute scramble.
How RetroBase helps
Photos are a tracked stage, so an item isn’t marked “ready” until it actually is.
Final Check
What stores do
A last look catches the missing tag, the untested save, the case that never got cleaned.
What goes wrong
Without a defined check, half-finished items reach the shelf and come back as problems.
How RetroBase helps
Final Check stands between the last task and the shelf, so nothing half-done slips through.
Ready to Sell
What stores do
The item goes on the shelf, and your POS rings it up when it sells.
What goes wrong
Without a clear finish line, items called “ready” have quietly skipped a step.
How RetroBase helps
Ready to Sell is its own status: the clean handoff to your POS, and nothing before it.
Two stages have a page of their own: trade-in intake and pricing by condition.
The team
So any staff member knows what’s next
The owner shouldn’t be the only person who knows where things are. RetroBase turns back-of-house work into something a whole team can run together.
Tasks
Assign the next step on an item to a person, so “someone should test these” becomes a name.
Responsibility
Every item has an owner at its current stage, with no orphaned games sitting in a bin.
Visibility
Anyone can see where every item is, and what it’s waiting on, without asking the owner.
Progress
Each item shows its stage and what’s left, so a handoff between staff never loses the thread.
Queues
Each stage has a queue (the testing queue, the pricing queue), so the next thing to work on is obvious.
Activity
A running record of what moved and when, so nothing quietly stalls in the back.
Some items cannot move at all. An item is Blocked when the next workflow step cannot continue until a specific problem is resolved, such as a missing part, a dead save battery or a pricing decision no one has made yet. Blocked is a status an item carries at whatever stage it is in, not a stage of its own, so a blocked item stays visible instead of quietly waiting in a bin.
The store
What the whole store gets
Nothing bought and forgotten
Every item is on a path to the shelf, so cash you paid out doesn’t vanish into a pile.
Cash back on the shelf faster
The bottleneck (the stage holding the most value) is visible, so you can clear it.
The owner isn’t the bottleneck
The store keeps moving on a shift the owner isn’t working, because the workflow is shared.
One picture, intake to ready to sell
See what’s in stock and what’s still moving through the workflow in one place: the game store inventory system view of the workflow.
Works alongside your POS
RetroBase isn’t a POS and doesn’t replace one. Your register keeps doing what it’s good at (checkout, payments and receipts), and RetroBase runs the work before the sale. The handoff is clean: a game becomes ready to sell in RetroBase, and your POS rings it up.
Want the full picture of where each system fits? See RetroBase vs a POS.
Frequently asked questions
What stages does RetroBase support?
The whole intake-to-shelf workflow: intake, testing, cleaning, repair, pricing, photos, a final check and ready to sell. Grading is available as an optional stage for higher-value copies.
Is RetroBase a POS?
No. RetroBase runs the work before the sale: everything from intake to ready to sell. Your POS handles checkout, payments and receipts. They work side by side.
Can my team see what is ready to sell?
Yes. Ready to Sell is its own status, separate from items still moving through the workflow, so anyone can see what’s done and what’s still in progress.
How does RetroBase help the team, not just the owner?
Every item has an owner at its current stage, each stage has a queue, and progress is visible to everyone, so any staff member knows what to work on next without asking the owner.
Do I have to change how my store already works?
No. RetroBase follows the stages a game already moves through in your store. It makes that work visible and keeps it moving. It doesn’t ask you to work a different way.
See how RetroBase supports the way your store already works.
We’re building RetroBase with a small group of retro game stores. Founding stores get early access and a direct line to the team building it.
Free while we onboard founding stores. No credit card.