Andrew

Great idea and great job! I may have to try that at my parents' next yard sale and see if anything turns up.

Yes, it is all a matter of timing. On rare occasions, there will be a small lot of Atari stuff at the thrifts around me -- but most of the time, maybe because people already got rid of it since the system is nearly 20 years of now -- it's harder to find any worthwhile stuff than it was say 5 or 10 years ago. I don't see as much Nintendo stuff as I used to either -- don't know if people are selling instead of donating it. eBay has at least killed a lot of the crazy finds at the flea markets and thrifts -- either through people that frequent them every day or from people afraid to donate anything because it "could be worth something 45 years from now." And on the instances where I have seen "old" and "rare" things at the thrifts -- they mark up the price anyway -- there was this Columbo board game at one for $17.99 and a ton of beaten up scratched-to-hell Beatles records for like $25 - $50 a pop. That being said, it does make your thrift/flea finds that much sweeter when you do find something you want -- but it can get pretty annoying not turning up anything for months. I recently picked up a loose Bubble Bobble 2 for the Nintendo at a thrift for 2 bucks. Keep digging! Andrew

Don't know how I really feel about this. I actually expected this to happen a long time ago -- but I don't have very good feelings about it. I had always suspected that Paypal came along first and foremost to eventually sell itself to eBay for high profit dollar and for the execs to retire at an early age. Not saying that I wouldn't have done that myself, had I been in Paypal's shoes -- but at the same time, I wouldn't have taken the gamble starting up something like Paypal because they've been bleeding money like crazy. It was nice to have something independant of eBay to make credit card purchases, but I might have to start shopping around again for something else. Anyone have any other suggestions on payment sites for auctions? I've done BidPay and it's OK. And Al, I'm actually surprised that eBay hasn't bought up one of the shipping people yet -- but I imagine that it's only a matter of time. With the USPS postal rates going through the roof for Priority Mail, it would not surprise me if they started at least a partnership with FedEx or UPS. But then that just might be me..

Gamestop does take in old consoles, but they've become increasingly anal about what they take in -- no cracks, chips or anything. And it's gotta work too! They used to never test the stuff, but I guess they've been getting too much DOA stuff. They used to take stuff at their online site, but they haven't done that in the longest time. Does anyone know of any reputable online places that takes 8-bit trade-ins (game or system)?

Nice finds there. Don't know about where you all live, but around here the usual places are drying up fast. Don't know if it's the heat or just nothing to sell anymore. Only thing I found this weekend was a NES Bubble Bobble 2 loose cart (not rainbow islands) for 2 bucks. Kind of proud of that haul, seeing how I haven't picked up anything in at least more than a month at a flea market.

Great find there. Did you haggle the price down at all, or was it what it was marked? The flea markets around me have been super dry lately. Don't know if people are scared by the heat, or if the videogame stuff is drying up. The only thing I found of note, besides some strange records was a NES Bubble Bobble 2 cart (not Rainbow Islands) for 2 bucks. First thing I've found in more than a month now...

I agree. Really great find there... I spent fifty on a TCM cart alone. Good job!

"WITH MOVIE ONE NOW MOVIE TWO THIS WOULD BE THE TO HAVE" Damn. I'm really sweatin' over this one. Love how he has three pictures -- the listing fees for the pictures alone costs more than what the cart is going for....

This is the strangest seller's feedback I've ever read on eBay. Check out the feedback left by "boxter997." I don't know whether to be suspicious or laugh. http://cgi2.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?...userid=kyle4190 ://http://cgi2.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISA...d=kyle4190 And you can see the seller's retort in what he left... http://cgi2.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?...le4190&items=25 or http://cgi2.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?...serid=boxter997 ://http://cgi2.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISA...boxter997 Enjoy. Can't figure out how to get these tags working, will probably figure it out sometime. Andrew

Oddly enough, this same seller has an auction with Pitfall II for only $4.44 currently -- even though it might go for a little more. Don't really understand the crazy prices at all either, especially for Surround. Check out the sultry Zebra patterened pillowcase! http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...item=1360434076

As for rare SNES games, I know that Ogre Battle, Earthbound, Ninja Gaiden Trilogy and Harvest Moon are rare and pretty collectable. Throw in the strategy guide alone for the RPGs (especially Earthbound) and you'll have to drop another $50 for the game. I've only played Earthbound and Harvest Moon, but they are well worth the price of admission. Mega Man 7, Mega Man X2, and Mega Man X3 all fetch a pretty penny as well, due to their cult status, but I could never really find the patience to play them -- or any of the Mega Man series.

The Buy It Now is gone. How much was it for curiosity's sake?

Two Atlantis IIs in less than a day. These seem to be crawling out of the woodwork all of a sudden if they are even legit or not. This one doesn't have a sticker on the box either, but it does say "New Atlantis" in the title. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...item=1360482708

Found a 4-switch Atari 2600 with two joysticks, two sets of paddles, AC,RF and 45 games for sixteen bucks. Zimag's I Want My Mommy and Activision's Space Shuttle and Dolphin were the only games of note. Though I did score five copies of Combat in the deal as well. Woo-hoo!

Someone strikes again... this is real disgusting. It's almost not even worth searching for games because you can never bid on them now. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...item=1357256880 Waterworld, Miner 2049er Vol II, and 72 others...

I seriously have to disagree. Uh, if many people on this board feel that eBay is a "rip-off" for charging fees for selling items, why does everybody still use it? And for the record, in a live auction setting, the auction house generally gets a commission of a percentage of the final sale cost for the item paid by the seller. Items that do not get sold are either thrown in the dumpster or charged a "handling" fee for wasting their time -- sorta like a listing fee. When you really look at it, eBay is no different than any other type of live auction. If you don't like it, don't use it. And where did the original thread go on the sister message board. Is someone trying to cover their tracks, Sylentwulf?

I agree. Makes me a bit disgusted -- at least an admirable person would e-mail the seller to offer fair value for what they are auctioning, or at least wait until the auction ends. Buy It Nows are a whole other issue. Those kind of auctions take some luck and skill to find a great deal. However I doubt that this person and many others like them really give them fair value for the cartridges when they scrap the auction. What'd you offer, 40 bucks including shipping? But, then again, I might be wrong. I don't spend all day on eBay waiting around like an overweight bully to scare and con people out of their lunch money. Call me crazy...

I dunno, maybe it's just me, but I sorta find his payment plan options kind of funny. *Only* $1000 down and then monthly payments of only $1000 a month afterwards. I'm pretty interested in how much this will sell for, it's way too pricey for me anyway.