Legit eBay sales?

[slab0meat]

I didn't do much research and don't know the usual suspects (resellers, etc) on eBay...

 

But I saw a few recent homebrew sales at crazy prices (DK, DKJr, Princess Quest, Penguin Adventure, Subroc) to name a few...

 

Are these all legit sales?

 

[+Gemintronic]

Without seeing the links and the sellers..

 

But, in general that is what eBay flippers do. They speculate and buy early then wait until something is out of stock.

 

The NES scene asks for pictures of the boards before sale. But, does that work for repros of new games? All the boards are usually from a very few sources.

[slab0meat]

Maybe later tonight. Busy at work.

 

 

Sorry to put the burden of extra work on anyone who'd dare go to eBay and click recent sales.

[+Gemintronic]

Maybe later tonight. Busy at work.

 

 

Sorry to put the burden of extra work on anyone who'd dare go to eBay and click recent sales.

 

 

Big place and you're not being specific. It's a specific question though. By the time you get out of work someone else in the world may post a Coleco game for sale.

[slab0meat]

 

 

Big place and you're not being specific. It's a specific question though. By the time you get out of work someone else in the world may post a Coleco game for sale.

I never asked about "for sale" games. I asked about homebrew games that were sold.

 

(edit: the links were telling me item no longer available.. I don't know the right way to link the sold items).

 

(and re-edit: The search for recent sales in ColecoVision, link doesn't work correctly.. not sure what I'm doing wrong here.)

 

 

Oh well. If anyone's willing to go to eBay, check recent sales (sorted by highest price).. it's the first several homebrew games listed. Crazy prices, wondering it they're legit.

Edited August 6, 2018 by slab0meat

[Swami]

I never asked about "for sale" games. I asked about homebrew games that were sold.

 

(edit: the links were telling me item no longer available.. I don't know the right way to link the sold items).

 

(and re-edit: The search for recent sales in ColecoVision, link doesn't work correctly.. not sure what I'm doing wrong here.)

 

 

Oh well. If anyone's willing to go to eBay, check recent sales (sorted by highest price).. it's the first several homebrew games listed. Crazy prices, wondering it they're legit.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/ebayadvsearch

 

search including > sold listings

[slab0meat]

https://www.ebay.com/sch/ebayadvsearch

 

search including > sold listings

 

I was trying to link the sold items' pages, then the search result page for ColecoVision's recent sales.

 

Oh well, enough time here. This thread shall die whimpering.

[Jim Pez]

I was looking on eBay a while back for the Pong/computer space game and a guy was selling it for $300. it originally sold for $150

[mr_me]

I could be wrong but I don't think coleco vision stuff sell enough volume to attract counterfeiters. There has been homemade coleco vision cartridges on ebay falsely positioned as prototypes. If there's enough money involved you can be sure there are counterfeits. These high prices are simply supply/demand for collectors.

[mumbai]

I could be wrong but I don't think coleco vision stuff sell enough volume to attract counterfeiters.

 

You are.

[slab0meat]

Here's some of the basic sold info that surprised me:

 

(6/24) SGM DK sold for $499.99

 

(6/24) SGM DKJr sold for $499.99

 

(7/28) Princess Quest sold for $456.00

 

(8/2) Princess Quest sold for $399.00

 

(6/15) WAR sold for $374.99

 

(7/28) SGM Subroc sold for $356.00

 

(7/28) SGM Penguin Adventure sold for $356.00

 

(7/28) Ghost N Zombies sold for $356.00

 

(7/1) Smurf Challenge sold for $349.00

 

(7/28) Mario Bros. sold for $351.00

 

(8/5) SGM Penguin Adventure & Subroc both sold for $349.00

 

(7/28) SGM Buck Rogers sold for $303.83

 

 

I really had no idea these sold for this kind of money. That was all.

[mr_me]

 

You are.

Do you know something about coleco vision counterfeiting to share?

[mumbai]

Do you know something about coleco vision counterfeiting to share?

 

 

Look up the relatively recent kerfuffle over the JuiceBox on these forums, which extended to a number of independently-produced ColecoVision games. At present, there are perhaps two or three individuals on eBay that occasionally act in like manner, mostly confined to higher-value or more obscure titles. Others have dabbled in similar behavior over the years, as well.

[mr_me]

 

 

Look up the relatively recent kerfuffle over the JuiceBox on these forums, which extended to a number of independently-produced ColecoVision games. At present, there are perhaps two or three individuals on eBay that occasionally act in like manner, mostly confined to higher-value or more obscure titles. Others have dabbled in similar behavior over the years, as well.

The juicebox was not counterfeit. It copied the function of opcode's module but clearly was not made to fool anyone into thinking it's from opcode.

[mumbai]

The juicebox was not counterfeit. It copied the function of opcode's module but clearly was not made to fool anyone into thinking it's from opcode.

 

 

Please read what I wrote. I wasn't talking about the JuiceBox, per se. Look at the end of that sentence.

[mr_me]

 

 

Please read what I wrote. I wasn't talking about the JuiceBox, per se. Look at the end of that sentence.

I read it, I just couldn't comment on cartridges. Are these guys replicating the box and labels or just selling reproduction cartridges? Edited August 7, 2018 by mr_me

[mumbai]

Are these guys replicating the box and labels or just selling reproduction cartridges?

 

 

On the one hand, does it matter which in terms of the broad activity of "counterfeiting"? On the other, it depends on who "these guys" are.

 

An answer to the latter question is yes, it can go beyond "just ... cartridges".

 

Whether this answer satisfies the seemingly restrictive sense of counterfeiting hinted at, it's not my place to say beyond my own judgment and interpretation, which one can freely ignore.

Edited August 7, 2018 by mumbai

[mr_me]

As long as people know what they are buying. Some people are okay having a ripoff cartridge to play. But if people are fooled into thinking they are buying something that it's not than that's a different problem. I'm not saying either is right, just thay they are different. The key thing is that people know what they are buying.

[mr_me]

The other question is why is the supply so low. Even if you run out of boxes, you should be able to make cartridges on demand, can you not?

[Hannacek]

The other question is why is the supply so low. Even if you run out of boxes, you should be able to make cartridges on demand, can you not?

 

Homebrew games are made by people as a hobby, or small companies that can't afford large production runs. They can't afford to make 500 copies of a game, and have 400 copies sit around not selling. So they only produce a limited number, maybe 60-100 copies of the game. People know the production numbers of homebrew games are low, so they need to preorder immediately or it will sell out. This low production number makes the games sell out every time, so they don't have to worry about spending money on cartridges and boards for games that won't sell.

 

Big companies ship hundreds of copies of the latest DVD and Blu Ray new releases to stores. The stores then send back the unsold copies in a few weeks, and they are destroyed. It costs pennies for the companies to make DVDs, so they don't care about unsold copies. They are afraid a store will sell out, and the customer won't have anything to spend $20- $30 on. The mathematics of homebrew games are the opposite, and they need every copy to sell, so they make very few copies to guarantee they all sell. And people know it will sell out because so few copies are made, thus generating the sales that make it sell out.

 

And because so few copies of the homebrew game were made to begin with, that is why the resale market on ebay is so high for homebrew games.

Edited August 9, 2018 by Hannacek

[Swami]

The other question is why is the supply so low. Even if you run out of boxes, you should be able to make cartridges on demand, can you not?

 

 

 

Homebrew games are made by people as a hobby, or small companies that can't afford large production runs. They can't afford to make 500 copies of a game, and have 400 copies sit around not selling. So they only produce a limited number, maybe 60-100 copies of the game. People know the production numbers of homebrew games are low, so they need to preorder immediately or it will sell out. This low production number makes the games sell out every time, so they don't have to worry about spending money on cartridges and boards for games that won't sell.

 

Big companies ship hundreds of copies of the latest DVD and Blu Ray new releases to stores. The stores then send back the unsold copies in a few weeks, and they are destroyed. It costs pennies for the companies to make DVDs, so they don't care about unsold copies. They are afraid a store will sell out, and the customer won't have anything to spend $20- $30 on. The mathematics of homebrew games are the opposite, and they need every copy to sell, so they make very few copies to guarantee they all sell. And people know it will sell out because so few copies are made, thus generating the sales that make it sell out.

 

And because so few copies of the homebrew game were made to begin with, that is why the resale market on ebay is so high for homebrew games.

These arguments make sense in a closed system sort of way, but there seems to be contradictions in factual observance. For instance, runs of 50-200 of a game are made, but some 1200 SGMs have been sold, the last 50 in ten minutes, and many more people want them, paying $300-$400 to get them. Pixelboy re-released some games a while ago and the high interest ones, like Battle of Hoth and Joust, sold out within the day. I find it hard to believe less than 50 people would buy some of these high demand games going for $300 - $400 if they were re-released or a run of 50 would sit around for over a couple months. Just my devil's advocate viewpoint.

 

I know from actual posts regarding a few circumstances, the programmer didn't want the publisher to publish another run of the game, which is their right. It probably happens more frequently that we don't hear about and maybe the publisher doesn't want to publish the programmer's game even though the programmer is interested. I can say that this did happen between Konami and developers a few times after a dispute. Other times, the programmer releases the rom even though it could have sold more carts. Hard to know the personal reasons behind these decisions. Kind of like when a publisher doesn't want to sell a game, but they don't want anyone else selling repros of it either; And they don't want to release the rom because someone else might sell repros of it. It's not really financial, unless the publishers are stock-piling copies to be sold for $400 a piece in a few years, which is what I would probably do.

[mr_me]

They sell cartridges all the time. The shells are the same, the PCB is the same. The ROM is different but that's field programmable. So cartridges can be made on demand.

Edited August 9, 2018 by mr_me

[NIAD]

They sell cartridges all the time. The shells are the same, the PCB is the same. The ROM is different but that's field programmable. So cartridges can be made on demand.

The Homebrewers would most likely be very happy to have someone step up as their financier... you know, take on all the financial risk so that they could just concentrate on making the games.

[Hannacek]

 

 

These arguments make sense in a closed system sort of way, but there seems to be contradictions in factual observance. For instance, runs of 50-200 of a game are made, but some 1200 SGMs have been sold, the last 50 in ten minutes, and many more people want them, paying $300-$400 to get them. Pixelboy re-released some games a while ago and the high interest ones, like Battle of Hoth and Joust, sold out within the day. I find it hard to believe less than 50 people would buy some of these high demand games going for $300 - $400 if they were re-released or a run of 50 would sit around for over a couple months. Just my devil's advocate viewpoint.

 

I know from actual posts regarding a few circumstances, the programmer didn't want the publisher to publish another run of the game, which is their right. It probably happens more frequently that we don't hear about and maybe the publisher doesn't want to publish the programmer's game even though the programmer is interested. I can say that this did happen between Konami and developers a few times after a dispute. Other times, the programmer releases the rom even though it could have sold more carts. Hard to know the personal reasons behind these decisions. Kind of like when a publisher doesn't want to sell a game, but they don't want anyone else selling repros of it either; And they don't want to release the rom because someone else might sell repros of it. It's not really financial, unless the publishers are stock-piling copies to be sold for $400 a piece in a few years, which is what I would probably do.

 

Why does Nintendo not make enough NES classic consoles, and have them sell out instantly and people fight over them for ridiculous prices on ebay? They did the same thing with Amiibos, and they do it all the time, like with the Wii when it first came out.

 

Nintendo decided that they want to treat their hot new products like Beanie Babies and reduce the supply to increase the demand. The strategy works for Nintendo, and homebrew publishers basically do the same thing. But at least their are some legitimate reasons for very small companies to manufacture less, reducing the supply, where as there is no reason for a giant company like Nintendo to do it.

Edited August 9, 2018 by Hannacek

[mr_me]

The Homebrewers would most likely be very happy to have someone step up as their financier... you know, take on all the financial risk so that they could just concentrate on making the games.

When they place their orders for cartridge parts for their next new game, they can order the number of extras to fulfill existing requests for previously soldout cartridges. If they want to take a small risk (seperate from that of the new game) they can order a few more to fulfill future orders. Edited August 10, 2018 by mr_me