Sudden price jump in atari items

[Cobra Kai]

I definitely think it's a combination of BiN and free relisting fees that are artificially inflating the market on ebay, and I see it mostly with the Jaguar, but it certainly affects all the consoles I'm sure. I've always liked BiN as a tool, but now it's like eBay is another amazon, only with more hassle and higher prices. Something should be done to get ebay back to it's 'auction' roots, and the only way to do that is to get rid of the free re-listing fees. ebay is pretty successful though, so unless they start bleeding money, I don't expect any good changes anytime soon.

[Keatah]

I think it has to do with the economy, and folks stubbornly hanging onto stuff for whatever reason. Like I say, I'm seeing common Apple II expansion cards go for $500 and up sometimes. These are generally worth $40.

 

IDK, but the price remains high, and the stuff just doesn't move. I've been watching some of these cards for years., YEARS, FOLKS, THAT'S YEARS!!

[atari181]

I would have to say it is the exact opposite and had been for awhile now. Priced on the 2600 have been slowly declining for the last few years. Good in my case as I have now been able to afford a bunch rare games. Will it ever come back? No one knows, only time will tell.

[potatohead]

If the re listing is free, it is deffo having an impact on prices, raising them for everybody. Margins are higher for e-bay, and they don't see a large cost for re-listing. Basically a freebie, sunk costs for everybody.

 

Once the work has been done, just keeping it listed makes sense, and keeping a higher cost makes sense, so long as there aren't significant inventory costs, and for a lot of this stuff, those are sunk costs too.

 

Given that, it makes a lot of sense to just set a high price, do fewer overall transactions and let it pay out as it pays out.

 

It isn't really auction with that change. Spot on.

[Keatah]

yeh, but won't they (sellers) get tired of the shit not moving? Eventually, the stuff will come down in price, or it will sit there for ages more. And when the sellers kick the bucket, the stuff will fall of the site eventually.

[potatohead]

Oh sure, and there will be better deals because of that. Make offer helps with that too. But this is a lot like the guy with some expensive thing in the yard that isn't a bother. If it sells great, if not, great. Once the work is done and likely automated, it would take very little to just leave stuff up there.

[lokidchser]

The only problem with the ebay policy offree relisting, is it only works for the first time an item is relisted. if it doesnt sell after the first relisting, the listing fees are charged to the seller

[potatohead]

Hmmm, and people are paying to re-list over and over then?

 

What's to say it's the same item? Seriously. Just curious.

Edited February 23, 2012 by potatohead

[Keatah]

I had an mp3 player listed for $800 bucks all summer long, never did sell. But I kept relisting it and relisting it for no additional cost. I got tired of doing it and dropped it to 9.95. Still didn't sell. So I put it back in the basement.

[ianoid]

The 'tards of Craiglist are hardly a measure for prices.

 

People have no jobs and need money more than space, so they do a 'tard price lookup and determine they are sitting on a goldmine. Therefore thus, so on and so forth.

 

Apologies to the 'tarded.

[HatefulGravey]

I have tons of extra 2600 stuff, if I ever get around to selling it all these stupid high prices will only help my cause. When I list kine at decent rates they will sell well and I'll get what they are worth.

 

The higher prices are only stopping me from buying from all but a few people. If not for Ax and a few others here my collection would have stopped growing months ago. Come to think of it I haven't added a 2600 cart to my collection in something like 6 months now.

 

Oh, and some of us are still buying. Not many anymore, and I shouldn't buy as much as I do, but I can't help it.

[Keatah]

Why shouldn't you be buying classic gaming stuff? Or not? Just wondering.

 

It must have been 5 years since I bought anything gaming related myself. This applies to PC's as well as consoles. I don't like the market. I don't like the material. And I don't like the industry that makes the stuff to begin with. I've found old electronics stuff to be little more than a means of devaluing money, except for a few rare pieces of "history". And even then..

 

In recent weeks I've trashed literally two garages worth of older hardware for lack of buying interest. 3 more loads to go, unless I come across more stuff.

[Miss 2600]

 

Atari Dude #1: "We're trying to increase the number of Atari 2600 users, not limit the number to a few rich guys. OK, I'm convinced. I'm going to make an Atari 2600 clone that will use cartridges and I'll sell it for around 50 dollars. And unlike a certain toy that people like to hack, this new console will be able to handle illegal opcodes and will be able play any game a classic Atari 2600 will, from Pitfall II: Lost Caverns to any DPC+ homebrew or batari Basic game."

 

 

 

Since buying a Harmony, I have no desire to buy anymore cartridges save for the occasional homebrew. I will always keep the ones I have because it's part of my childhood and I like to have some of the real mccoys, but I no longer need to add to my collection just to be able to play a game I'm curious about. I can play practically all of them and look up the manual on AA or Atarimania if I need instructions. It's an awesome feeling of contentment

[Brad2600]

I'm glad I held on to the majority of my 2600 games and consoles. I was just going through the box I had and realize that I still have about 75-85 games left and I kept a lot of the uncommon ones.

 

Can't say that I'd get back into collecting at this point but what I really need is to create the ultimate man cave with hookups for all my systems, storage, etc.

[kyle]

I good way to deal with stores that over price atari games is to take em your common doubles and see what they wanna pay you for them. If they are asking $8.00 each for theres they might give ya four each for yours. Or if they have something you want trade em two for one lol.

[ninjarabbit]

It's a combination of greed and stupidity. People just aren't researching the market, are blindly using ePay as a guide, and thinking they can get a lot for it just because it's old. People who know the market (like us on AA) are usually smart enough to wait for a good deal and pass on the bad ones.

[AtariLeaf]

back in my day gas was 79 cents a gallon. now it costs assrape.

 

Well its gone up again to giant razor blade dildo assrape

[Keatah]

Atari Dude #1: "We're trying to increase the number of Atari 2600 users, not limit the number to a few rich guys. OK, I'm convinced. I'm going to make an Atari 2600 clone that will use cartridges and I'll sell it for around 50 dollars. And unlike a certain toy that people like to hack, this new console will be able to handle illegal opcodes and will be able play any game a classic Atari 2600 will, from Pitfall II: Lost Caverns to any DPC+ homebrew or batari Basic game."

 

 

 

Since buying a Harmony, I have no desire to buy anymore cartridges save for the occasional homebrew. I will always keep the ones I have because it's part of my childhood and I like to have some of the real mccoys, but I no longer need to add to my collection just to be able to play a game I'm curious about. I can play practically all of them and look up the manual on AA or Atarimania if I need instructions. It's an awesome feeling of contentment

 

Same thing for me with Emulation. I kept my original Apple 2 series stuff. But I hardly use it anymore. Instead I go to the PC & emulation to play things. If I want the real deal, I can pull it out!