Captain Beard

They aren't even close to competing price-wise with eBay. I guess I'm just cheap with my money. Well, part of what you're paying for from those stores is quality assurance, both for the actual items and in the customer service department. Both of those can be total crapshoots on eBay and the latter in particular is worth a few extra bucks to me and many others. As many of us know all too well, a great deal on eBay can turn into an enormous, costly hassle pretty darn quick.

I've never quite understood the logic of this argument, since brand-name recognition seems to be a cornerstone of marketing practices as well as consumer habits. So, while I completely understand why Kleenex doesn't want Scott calling their tissues Kleenex (and thereby confusing consumers) I can't understand why they don't want consumers calling Scott tissues Kleenex, as it simply reinforces in the minds of consumers what the superior brand name is. I mean, isn't that the idea of branding - that when you're in the store buying tissues, your eyes (and consequently your pocketbook) will be drawn to the ones that say "Kleenex" because that's the name you're most familiar with? Isn't it in Legos best interest that everyone call toy bricks "Legos"? That way, when kids (who are clearly brand-loyalists) go to the toy store, if Mom tries to buy them some off-brand, they'll throw a tantrum and scream and cry "but I want Leeegggooos!!!" There must be an angle here I'm just not seeing. Is it written into trademark law that once your name falls into popular usage, it's no longer yours exclusively or what?

So... were photographs of Harrison Ford unavailable to the artist responsible for the label art? I mean, that picture looks more like Sam Waterston with a 5 o'clock shadow than Harrison Ford.

Well, both my office and my record store are currently awash in boxes of eBay lot wins and I have more on the way. I just gotta make some room! I'll probably be offering some cheap controllers and decks soon too - so keep your eyes peeled!

Hey -- Anyone want some or (preferably) all of these game boxes? I've been picking them up in big eBay lots but I don't collect'em, so I'd like to find them homes as I just don't have room to store'em and I'd hate to just chuck'em out. Some of them have instructions, warranty cards, etc., some don't. Don't hesitate to ask if you care about such things. As you can see, many of them aren't in the greatest shape, but hey, you can't beat the price! Just cover the shipping costs and they're yours.

Forgive me for being dense (economics has never been one of my strong suits) but how do "blank" listings, inflated prices that nobody would ever buy and whatever else Buy.com is being accused of help them "cook the books" as it were? And isn't it more likely that whatever system is being used to upload a gazillion auctions from Buy.com to eBay just has some glitches? I mean, It's not like all their listings are bullshit. Haven't you ever had an item ring up the wrong price at a grocery store? Seems like the same thing to me. If Buy.com has a database as large as I would imagine and it's completely error-free, that'd be pretty damn impressive. Hmmm... maybe you think that's a cellphone or something, but that seems to be the going rate for that particular brand of cable analyzer, as a quick Google search demonstrates. And that article you linked to featuring the $8 battery already has comments from folks pointing out that it's for a pack of batteries, which makes the price not ridiculous at all (even if the s&h is.) Anyway... lots of complaints about eBay on my end, but I'm not sure I'm following this one.

I just picked up a copy of the lovely book Classic 80s Home Video Games and was struck by this comment in the Plaque Attack listing: "This Activision title more than any other suffers from 'plaque attack' on the label (thus the name coined by collectors for this condition)." I've only been at the collecting game for about three years, but I've always heard the term "acti-plaque", not "plaque attack." Since doing a search for "Plaque Attack" would surely return far more threads than I want to slog through, I'm just curious if these terms really are interchangeable, if one evolved into the other or if the book simply made a mistake.

This site has the best pics of their carts-for-sale of anyone on the web, IMHO (although Atariguide comes in a VERY close second.) If it weren't for the acti-plaque issue, which as has already been pointed out, is almost impossible to avoid, I would say just go ahead and order from Atari2600.com. He sells quality goods in nice condition and accurately describes any problems if they do exist -- he even separates out the label-less and worst damaged ones in the "Naked Ladies and Wounded Warriors" section so you aren't slogging through pages of stuff you don't want (or alternately, so you can only search the cheapies.) Another issue with acti-plaque I've recently discovered through posting my own auction pics is that it sometimes doesn't photograph very well. That is, I took pictures of a few badly-plaqued carts which look MUCH better in the photo then they do in real life. Not sure what that phenomenon is (probably has to do with my ineptness with the camera) but it's worth considering when studying eBay pics.

Yeah -- I've been on a label variant buying frenzy for several weeks now, so I've been scouring the lots on eBay and find this comes up a lot (no pun intended.) But then, it's all a matter of perspective, isn't it? As the owner of somewhere around 800 carts, I don't find a pile of 50 to be particularly huge, but if I'd never seen that many in one place before... It doesn't really bother me when non-Atari dealers do this -- how would they know? -- but the regular sellers who routinely pepper their auction titles with unnecessary adjectives (be it "huge", "RARE!", "Vintage" or what-have-you) do start to grate after a while. After all, calling an Atari cart "vintage" is like listing an 8-track as "out-of-print", y'know? "Space Invaders" is not "rare", carts with writing on them are not "Mint!" and the surest way to lose my interest is to insist that I "[email protected]@K!" Question for sellers who do this stuff: Why? You do know that nobody searches eBay for "rare" or "vintage" or (especially) "[email protected]@K!", right? It's just clutter. And it's annoying. Whoops -- sorry about the rant. Back to the chuckles...

I know what he means -- my initial reaction was just one of amusement and I felt like sharing.

Now I'm really confused... The same seller just posted another auction for "all 15" Atari and Activision games... BUT THEY'RE DIFFERENT GAMES! My head hurts (and not just from the seller's use of a giant font.)

The title of this auction made me chuckle... Wow! All 18 Atari & Activision carts in a single lot.

Bumped for Monday. Lots of good, cheap BINs still left!

You can see them all on eBay - literally; there are pics of every cart - or you can browse them alphabetically using the links below. Most start at 99 cents and have BINs for under $2. I'm happy to answer questions here or via eBay. Thanks for looking! 3-D Tic-Tac-Toe Airlock Alpha Beam With Ernie Armor Ambush Astroblast Atlantis - text Atlantis - night sky Barnstorming Baseball - Intellivision, Inc. Baseball - Sears text Battlezone Bermuda Triangle Big Bird's Egg Catch Blackjack - Sears text Bowling - text Bowling - Sears text Brain Games - picture Burgertime California Games Carnival The Challenge of Nexar Circus Atari - text Circus Atari - picture Cookie Monster Munch Cosmic Ark Crystal Castles Dark Cavern Demon Attack - picture Demon Attack - text Dolphin Donkey Kong Dragonfire - picture Enduro Fire Fighter - picture Flag Capture - green text Flag Capture - orange text Football - Intellivision, Inc. Galaxian G.I. Joe Golf Gorf Grand Prix Hangman - text Ice Hockey Indy 500 - numbered text Kangaroo Keystone Kapers Lock 'N' Chase - white label Mario Bros. Maze Craze - text Mega Force Miniature Golf - text Moon Patrol Oink! Outlaw - text Phoenix Planet Patrol Pole Position Pooyan Porky's Q*Bert Reactor Realsports Soccer Riddle Of The Sphinx - picture River Raid Robot Tank Seaquest Skiing Sky Jinks Solar Fox Solaris Space Cavern - red label Space Invaders Space Jockey Space War Spider Fighter Spider-Man Sprintmaster Stampede Star Ship - text Star Voyager - text Strawberry Shortcake Super Challenge Baseball Super Cobra Tac-Scan Tennis Towering Inferno Turmoil Tutankham Vanguard Venture - Coleco Winter Games

Best I can do so far... 109440

I suspect this is what I have -- not sure how to tell exactly -- because there's no expansion port visible, but it will play pretty much anything and my understanding is that it's the later models that have trouble with certain carts (e.g. Robot Tank) and the Supercharger. Am I correct in this assumption?

I don't mind making an offer -- although I certainly prefer set prices -- but yeah, it sure is a turn-off when someone who says they are willing to accept offers gets snotty when you make them one they think is "insulting." What's insulting about ANY offer, really? It's not a reflection on what YOU are worth as a person, it's a simple expression of what some physical good is worth to someone else. If you want more money, just say that -- is there really any need to get upset and/or start name-calling? If you ask for offers and then call me a name when I make one, I can guarantee I won't do business with you at any price, no matter how reasonable.

I also purchased a nice hack and was very pleased with the entire transaction.

Firstly, lemme say I think the new Feedback Forum is a great idea. My question is, should we include eBay dealers -- specifically those with a regular presence, as opposed to just anyone who picks up a system & games at an estate sale and turns them over -- or should there perhaps be a separate Feedback Forum in Auction Central?

That pretty much says it all, folks. Oh, except maybe to say that his meticulous craftsmanship simply cannot be beat. The Tops.

I keep coming back for a reason. Quality and courtesy, thy name is Albert.

Both buying and selling was a pleasure and would welcome a chance to make a good deal with him again.

I've bought many carts from Shawn Sr. -- on eBay, on chasethechuckwagon.com and here on AtariAge -- and he's always been great to deal with. He makes quality goods and treats you right. Not only will I buy from him again, I can hardly wait!

Somehow, I only recently discovered his store, but so far, I've been nothing but impressed with the service and the goods. And as a collector of label variants, the great pics on the website are invaluable.

Nothing but nice things to say here -- except that maybe there's always too much in stock I want to buy. I've probably averaged a purchase from'em once a month over the last few years and can't remember ever being dissatisfied. I pride myself on the customer service I provide at my website, but this guy could give me lessons.