I'd go further. The intent of the group is: help oneself, and others, by splitting off copies (or bundles) one doesn't need or want - at cost - no profiting (beyond 6%). Fair. Simple.

Seeing folks sell a HB Monthly copy of a game for over $3 or $4 or even $6 (saw it the other day), goes way beyond the intent of the group and should not be allowed. If folks want to recoup some of the cost of the monthly bundle by inflating the cost of and profiting from a single game or so than they should be ushered elsewere.

Basically: this isn't Steam Trades. And I'd rather it not become one each and every time a new HB Monthly bundle is released.

An exception could be made if you're rebalancing costs between the games you're actually selling. For example, you're selling 4 games that cost $1.50 each (4 * $1.50 = $6), you could sell the 2 more popular games for $2, and the last two at $1 (2 * $2 + 2 * $1 = $6). The total remains the same, so no profit was made.

Basically, as long as the spirit of the group is retained (make no profit), you can rebalance the prices of bundle splits depending on the games' relative popularity.

Humble bundle monthlies are different than normal bundles. You pay 12$ and don't know what are you getting. Why should a random person pay a fair/low price for a "big game" while the buyer is stuck with "small games" which cannot be sold for a "fair" price.

Tell me who would buy Chtullu Realms etc. for 1,72$? Why should the bundle buyer overpay for the games s/he bought blindly while random people get games with a discount and know which games they get?

Don't get me wrong. I also do not like when people are charging over 3/4$ per game while keeping the "best one" for 2$. But I understand them since there is no garantee you will actually sell the rest for a higher price.

Bottom line - if you split by fair prices and keep the high tier games you are bastard. If you don't you get stuck with games nobody wants and you overpay for the high tier games.

Anyhow - if you want to buy bundle monthlies for cheap then buy it yourself. After a month or two you will understand.

Originally posted by kristijanH:

Humble bundle monthlies are different than normal bundles. You pay 12$ and don't know what are you getting. Why should a random person pay a fair/low price for a "big game" while the buyer is stuck with "small games" which cannot be sold for a "fair" price.

Tell me who would buy Chtullu Realms etc. for 1,72$? Why should the bundle buyer overpay for the games s/he bought blindly while random people get games with a discount and know which games they get?

And what about Groupees bundles? Where folks are encouraged to go in blindly? By that logic should we allow folks to inflate the cost of the higher tier games in those particular bundles as well? It is not incumbent on us, the group, to make sure the bundle buyer can recoup the exact cost of every bundle, bought sight unseen.

If one buys into a bundle blindly and doesn't like and/or need of whatever the result then they can do their best to sell at cost, or slightly less than cost, here. That's how it's been done and that's how it ought to stay. If someone would like to do otherwise then they're welcome to try elsewhere.

This group works as a result of tight rules and relatively tight enforcement. If we start loosening those rules and/or making significant exceptions it'll only lead down a slippery slope.

Originally posted by RePlay.be:

An exception could be made if you're rebalancing costs between the games you're actually selling. For example, you're selling 4 games that cost $1.50 each (4 * $1.50 = $6), you could sell the 2 more popular games for $2, and the last two at $1 (2 * $2 + 2 * $1 = $6). The total remains the same, so no profit was made.

Basically, as long as the spirit of the group is retained (make no profit), you can rebalance the prices of bundle splits depending on the games' relative popularity.

I'd be for this method, and in fact, I'm sure some of the folks here have used just this very one. As you mentioned, as long as "the spirit" of the group is retained, then that's all well and fine and should work for and be fair to everyone. Definitely hope this specific method is given further consideration.

I too think that charging different costs for different games in bundles has potential to change this group. This group is great and the active moderation and friendly but rules based bundle spliting makes it a great group. I think that adjustable pricing should not be allowed except in a few rare circumstances. Three exceptions to blind spliting could be 1. Humble monthly bundles 2. Bundles like the E3 bundle that have a few games and a bunch of practically worthless free game DLC 3. Bundles that include non-steam games. It seems to me that the biggest issue is Humble Monthly.. I think in every Monthly bundle the most valuable game has been the pre-purchase game.. In the WTB forum the average price for people who want to buy the value game has been around 4 dollars. I think with Humble monthly you should be forced to weight your bundle as 12-4/total number of other games, or go with a direct blind price split. Just throwing this idea out there.. it seems like the most fair to me.. I know sometimes you might get stuck with a game that doesn't sell (you could always reduce the price).. but in my opinion that is a fair trade off to being able to pick and chose what you consider the best games (for you) in the bundle.

I know people still make so the total cost of the games is $12 and there's no profit, but there is definitely profit when you sell a game for a lot, however, when you're keeping it, it is no longer expensive, no, it's just like every other game, that's what I find unfair, it should be expensive for people to buy OR for people splitting to keep. But that's not how it's working right now, because there aren't any real rules about it.

Sometimes one of the games is probably worth half the cost of the bundle, and some of the games aren't worth more than 50 cents. I really don't see a big problem.

Originally posted by Senator Heffy:

Sometimes one of the games is probably worth half the cost of the bundle, and some of the games aren't worth more than 50 cents. I really don't see a big problem.

The problem is not that there are games worth more, but, people use that to their own advantage, for example

I sell KRZ and Satellite Reign for 3.5 USD each, and I keep the rest of the bundle.

However, other person is doing the opposite, he kept KRZ and Satellite Reign, and sold the rest of the bundle for $1.75 each, that means, KRZ and Satellite Reign are -worth- 2.5 USD in this case

See the problem, they should be worth 3.5 USD regardless of selling or keeping, right?

Originally posted by Hyo:

I know people still make so the total cost of the games is $12 and there's no profit, but there is definitely profit when you sell a game for a lot, however, when you're keeping it, it is no longer expensive, no, it's just like every other game, that's what I find unfair, it should be expensive for people to buy OR for people splitting to keep.

You simply can't do this in any fair fashion. Who decides the value of each game at this point? The only objective way I see price adjustments working is that kept games are excluded at the even split price. Then the remaining games would be sold for a total no more than the bundle minus the excluded games. The poster could shift around the values as they see fit provided they do not increase overall.

bundle cost / games in bundle = avg cost

avg cost * games kept = excluded cost

bundle cost - excluded cost = listed bundle cost

anything listed must not exceed the fair listed cost

Doing anything other than that as far as I know requires some means of arbitrarily defining and enforcing a value to each game and would likely just discourage posting here. Or we could simply dissallow value adjustments leaving people with a bunch of less desired games and dicouraging them from using this as a means to offload the games they don't want.

This won't change, until there is a general rule that limits the max per game in a HB Monthly or a general formula. I do agree that some games have more value than others.

Without mentioning I don't doubt some people buy with the 10% offf discount ($10.80) but split prices like they paid $12 for the bundle.

I believe it's crucial not to turn this place into a trading environment.

This said, there are clearly differences in perceived values between games. Pricing the "star game" fairly means no one will take the "filler" games from you. I don't see a perfect solution here; the best I can think of is (apart from using common sense) to consider a rule setting a maximum percentage. Maybe twice the actual percentage?

Here is the general composition of a HB Monthly:
http://www.epicbundle.com/bundle/humble-bundle-monthly

And here is an older discussion topic on splitting HB Monthly:
http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/groups/groupbuys/discussions/9/385429254941667266/

From my experience, it can be very difficult to price items correctly in the first hours of a new Monthly. I don't know every game out there and even if I look at the store pages of the game, I am not much wiser. I always price the "star" game higher than the rest, whether I keep it or sell it.

Finding the right price for the other games can be tricky: Some games cannot be sold over a dollar, some are worth $ 5+ to others (in the WTB section).

Originally posted by thenevernow:

I believe it's crucial not to turn this place into a trading environment.

This said, there are clearly differences in perceived values between games. Pricing the "star game" fairly means no one will take the "filler" games from you.

IF that is the case, well: so what? ANY bundle that can bought before every game included is revealed, is and should be considered a GAMBLE. If you or I get stuck with throw away titles and filler as a result, well, that sucks. Good luck to you and me both in hopefully trading them to a good home. That's how it's generally worked and how it should continue.

Don't like the Groupees preorder? Trade or sell it for what you paid. Or split it. Or don't. Whatever. We're not here to mainly and only minimize the risk of a blind buy. Sorry.

So we're all aware: no one is obligated to trade or split here. Anyone is free to trade whatever they have wherever they like. If anyone doesn't like the rules here they can and of course should head elsewhere.

I don't see folks here arguing for a different formula with respect to every Groupees preorder. And yet, here we are arguing about one because "Humble." But what happens when there's a Bundle Stars "Bi-Monthly"? Should we do similar? Change things up if/when that comes 'round?

There's a specific way in which folks are supposed to offer games and a specific way in which to pick them up. That's what makes this group what it is and what makes it work. Going beyond that framework to start offering exceptions for certain bundles just opens up a can of worms I don't think anyone would really prefer were opened.

I don't really understand your point. Are you saying that games from a bundle should all have the same price? Because right now differential pricing is happening, so something should be done to avoid it. Stating that the rules are fine and then seeing them routinely disregarded is not really a solution.

This said, yes, I believe rules should change in time to adapt to the evolution of reality. And if one day there's a Bundle Stars Bi-Monthly, yes, we should have another discussion and rethink the rules.

There's more talk about Humble because it's the top bundle site, many games in the Monthly bundles are high profile and the prices are significantly higher than in any other bundle (split).

In the end, I agree that there's no "right" to be able to sell all games when hosting, but mechanisms which discourage potential hosts are also undesirable. There has to be a balance.