Oldtimer

Fair play,I hold my hand up. Guilty of jumping in without knowing both sides fully but as a seller I'd be a bit irritated myself I think,it was a lot of money for his auction to be screwed up. In fairness to the seller he was just as annoyed that due to a couple of self proclaimed 'high rollers' who assured him they'd ONLY bid on a private auction he was also stuck with big problems getting a credible 2nd chance offer taken by anyone. Its easy to look in from outside and assume how a seller might feel,if offence was caused I apologise Sorry slabomeat didn't know it was you ! The seller said it wasn't his place to divulge bidder IDs,so Kudos to you for manning up to the bid, Im sure if you've been around eBay a bit you know how it can be with auctions,esp with prices like this,its very hard to have a credible re-list and often costs you 20-30% of the price next time around.The seller wasn't particularly annoyed at that 1 bid in particular but at the general way it'd gone,getting a good price then it falling apart from the top down,he seems a reasonable guy and glad you sorted it out smoothly,the way ebay should be done. 'Plantpot' for the uninitiated is a low level term,I dunno the parallel in US terms-dipstick? Mebbe somebody who does something a bit daft but with no malice. Or something like

Don't think so for a minute. I know the IDs of the top 2 bidders are not UK based but are in the US,seemed legit by his reaction to the plantpot who didn't know $ from £s .It'd be a pretty elaborate scam to have an account in the USA for those purposes. He doesn't look to run many auctions ever either so I think we're running up a conspiracy there heh heh!! If it was me I'd just have used the shop facility to bung it up at £1250 and sit and look at it. Maybe more $$$$s ,it brings lookers into the shop,top dollar stuff is like a magnet to eBayers,I hate having no high end rarities in,picks up no end with a few crazy priced ultra rares at the top of the lists Buyers tend to be ignorant of shop listing prices,hence the many offers of 'if you don't sell this Ill give you £10' (on a £25 item) People always think if you sell used games you're clearing your loft out or desperate for money. Shop listing prices for a £2000 item are 5p a month . Wayhey!!!!! Tats wher eit'd have gone with me anyway,people can always try their hand,I don't think I'd have had the guts to chance a no reserve auction !!!!!

That Spiker DID sell. After a fashion that is,I think it may appear again yet!!!! I was in touch with the seller,I got some other games from him on Tuesday,it was a toss up between hanging onto my pennies for a half chance at the Spiker or getting a few good buys .In the end I went for grabbing a Jetsons,LF1,and a couple of other 'Super Pro's' . So no bidding for me but he did drop me a line after the auction asking if I was interested as he was steaming at a US bidder for mucking him about. The winner apparently emailed him less than 60 seconds after it ended saying 'Oh sorry I thought I was bidding in $ US Dollars,I didn't mean to bid that much,can you cancel it please?' ( He'd also bid 3 other times on the auction so I think he was just an obsessive 'winner' and couldn't afford it.) A LOT of UK sellers I talk to report this,heh heh,some US buyers tend to see an auction,leap in feet 1st and then back out SO often I wonder if it IS the £/$ thing causing confusion. By the sounds of it he'd been asked by several bidders to make it private as they didn't want people picking up on their bidding activities on high priced items but then asked by about 10 more WHY it was private-so you can't win really. I get people wanting to hide their bigger spending but as a seller I'd never be swayed as ,like I think he's about to find out,it knocks confidence in other bidders. Felt a bit for him,he seems a decent bloke and was very friendly and helpful to deal with. Ive had requests to make highest end items private on many occasions with Nintendo stuff,I think people don't like their friends knowing how much they blew on a game.We all like to claim we got a bargain don't we?? I don't have a grand doing nothing this week or I'd have had a look,it's a big big tag but these things become established and games become cash chips,sometimes it's hard to envisage them dropping back in price. I remember getting a mint complete SNES Terranigma for £26.99 a few years back but I don't think I'd hang on for prices to return there,they never will . Will watch with interest,Ive got a handful of rare Gameboy sets to sell,if I can move them this week I might just give Mr Spiker a shout.I'd not be the least surprised to see it go to auction again as he said the last 2 bidders bumped it £400,take the winner out and the runner up is gonna be reluctant to take a 2nd chance at maybe £1050 or whatever,knowing he MIGHT have won it at £800 had the winner not screwed the bidding up. That's my pet hate with eBay,you bid on an item at £30,put £100 on and are high bidder at £32.Then with 1 second left youre sniped and it ends at £102 or whatever. 2 days later you get a 2nd chance offer as the seller failed to fully block overseas bidders and a non-uk bidder nipped in with the snipe. But they WONT ship to them so offer it up. AT £100!!!! You'd have won it for £32 but for the attentions of a non-eligible bidder so this guy's bids should be TOTALLY discounted for 2nd chance purposes. Ive had to pay some extra money over the years due to bidders who should have been blocked getting in as the seller hadn't set their site preferences up correctly. But that's eBay,rant over !!!

In fact I'd say-in common with so many other things sold predominantly in $USD - UK prices tend to mirror US prices,number for number. Its uncanny and if we were talking dollars in the UK I'd say that guide was the work of an Oracle!!!! Its just to translate to the UK market rates we'd just have to substitute $ for £'s,effectively meaning our market's about 50% over inflated-maybe that's where my ingrained depression over high prices stems from heh heh.

Most games across all formats have risen dramatically price wise on balance. To be honest I just dragged names out of the air with the Diner & Tut but several Diners have made £150+ in the last year,I think one made about £160-odd & about £15 postage to the UK so it was £180 ish all in. Im sure it's possible to pick out odd games that are not quite as sought after as they were a few years ago,perceptions change as to the rarity of individual titles. The thing is as collectors we're often guilty of harking back to prices of yesteryear,look at things like LF1 and we're kidding ourselves if we think we're getting a CIB one for £80 unless from a naïve seller who has no idea what theyre selling,the big bundle on eBay at present has an open offer to the seller for a ratty boxed one-missing the booklet-of 140 Euros! You have to look at whatever somebody is prepared to pay for a game as the potential new benchmark on price.If it is a blip itll iron out & settle back over time and be proven to be just a spike in price. I deal with loads of Nintendo lads who still quote 2008 prices on everything they want,theyre in cloud cuckoo land as its impossible to buy in at those prices now . A prime example was about 8 years ago I had a copy of The Mask on SNES. I looked to list it on eBay but couldn't find any history in the last couple of weeks and nobody had any PAL ones listed. So I thought what the hey and listed it at £29.99-people can walk away if they don't like it. Sure enough I received a couple of 'collector' emails giving it 'you are selling this WAAAAAAAAY too expensive,Ill buy it for £12' etc etc. They got up my nose so I ignored them heh heh. The following day a loft clearer listed one.Seeing only mine and figuring his was cleaner he put £39.99 on it. Mine sold an hour later. It took about 4 years before the Mask settled back to its place in the mid teens price wise,inadvertently and due to a shortage over a short period on ebay I 'created' a rarity and near 100% price increase. Stupid really and I subsequently got in loads of loose and boxed Masks and sold them gradually cheaper til the price settled. So rarities crop up for all sorts of daft reasons and come and go if theyre not truly rare,they get 'found out' eventually when the market fills with them again,but my point was we'd have to have some VERY rosy coloured specs on to kid ourselves overall prices have fallen in recent years . On the whole as a collector and seller of Nintendo gear I'd say markets vary a lot worldwide but the US market usually expects better (cheaper) buying prices than others. Its no doubt similar with Intellivision.The US market is usually better supplied,though lacks good CIB stuff in some areas, I only perceive this due to many US buyers coming to me for UKV and EUR code titles that WERE released in the US but just come up in their 1000s as loose carts now. The UK market is always looking for a bargain but many European buyers are very happy to pay higher prices,particularly in France and Scandinavia and Germany where there are many heavyweight collectors paying prices that set UK market prices There are still great bargains to be had,mainly because the Intellivision market is a little sheltered from trader attention at the moment-but thatll change,Ive seen it creep across a dozen formats over the past few years and in not too many years from now there'll be more dealers champing at the bit for their profits on Intellivision bundles,hopefully everyone will have their 125s by then!!!! If anyone knows a few Intellivision games that have dropped dramatically in price Im all ears-anything I can add to my collection at the right money's got to be good. The list of 'top end' priced games seems pretty long and I need most of 'em!!!!!

Very helpful & informative,great effort ! Now put your tin helmet on and await the flak :grin: :grin: I think prices are generally under-estimated by active collectors,after all we don't want it becoming the accepted norm that Tutankham is £500 or Diner £200,NOT when we still have to buy it!!! And as Jason wisely said the Intellivision market is not afflicted by the same re-seller volumes of say Sega and worse Nintendo. In the Nintendo market,here at least,bundle prices now often make MORE than what a collector would deem their collective individual value! As traders moved into the SNES/NES/N64 game here we found prices both rose and settled with it too. Wild jumps and 'sudden rarities' didn't happen as much but the need for profits has pushed prices higher,much SNES gear has risen 100% in the past 2 years.It's JUST starting to affect the Gameboy now. Itll come here too,traders will look to what's left in the retro market with a bigger profit in it and bargains will dry up,large 50 game lots selling for 85%+ of their re-sale value. Good for sellers but not so clever for those actively seeking to add to their collection. So Im sure you'll hear PLENTY about prices being too HIGH,Id disagree on the whole,prices look good to me,one or 2 maybe on the low side.But Im looking at it from a pretty much Euro noob POV,maybe that's objective for a value guide in a current market ,I think one thing we have to accept is prices ARE rising across the retro games markets

] Hmmmm I emailed that guy as he is near to me in the UK,it was to be honest about interest in a Gameboy Star Wars set he had but I asked for a few other bits too. He's got a really minty Learning Fun 1,not just nice ,REALLY excellent. Wouldn't part with it though. He did throw up something about that title though and that was he'd searched for years for a sealed one as many say it was available sealed when new but could never find a legit one,so didn't believe it was ever factory sealed for retail.Might be wrong ! I wonder on that Baseball (didn't realise there were so many different Baseball games to get !!) as it looks right to me on the seals. Dunno if US sealing varied in any way at all from over here but Ive got several games,2 of which were bought as clearance items back in the early 80's,that have 'aged' exactly the same as that one, looking at my own fledgling collection and that bit a friend has,the bending over at the ends is quite common and looks to be in keeping with that Baseball. One or 2 have been on eBay over the years looking around too. Mebbe shop seals, the simpler sealing machinery of the time does tend to be more similar to retail sealing than nowadays or at least in more recent times when say SNES or Jaguar games are very obviously 'right' or 'wrong' in the sealing standards so I suppose a shop could have done it back in the day. If it was UK sold though is there chance it was genuinely produced & sold as such in this market as opposed to in the US ? One of my '80's UK bought new sealed games Im realising now that the market in the US was Sooooooooooo much bigger than over here and so standards are generally taken from this market. I am however finding that we have a bit of an untapped resource here for certain things.I'd just assumed because the likes of Draughts and the colour variant Space series boxes are very common knocking about here that they were common everywhere. Im developing a healthy interest in the UK market now,it seems to have a fairly weak following here for some reason,looks like Germany & France have far more hardcore collectors. I do wonder where that UK seller demona01 gets all his gear from,he has cracking Intellivision and Atari gear on eBay all the time. Rambling again,time to go earn some money to 'waste on stupid games' (wife's assessment of my habit this morning) Ha ha

I agree on the rarity thing if an item is genuinely not that hard to find. Ive seen this across other formats,games you can lay your hands on most weeks still bring prices that are really beyond their rarity. Supply and demand I guess, if there are 10 Spikers in a year but 200 chasing them they still all make BIG money. Mud Buggies conversely may only show 3 times but if the % ratio to buyers isn't as high then the price remains steady rather than going crazy. Perception of this rarity and rumour helps fuel silly prices too.Diifficulty in obtaining the game then outweighs the actual rarity,this is often created by a game's own reputation,deserved or not. Markets in previously game starved areas are pushing UK prices up now,UK buyers are like ' what the hell! Im not paying £30 for x,y, or z,Ill give you £18' Yet a French buyer will rip the seller's hand off at £30.Scandinavian buyers as well as Eastern European ones are driving prices too,often to the disgust of many of us but that's life. Ive noticed the US markets are generally more consistent,better priced for buyers and better supplied but as foreign buyers influence real rarity buying more we're starting to get stuck with higher buying prices and difficulty sourcing many titles. I do agree $1500-2000 IS crazy crazy money for a game. At this point it becomes a trading commodity-a cash chip in effect really,like VB Virtual Bowling or Gundam/NES Stadium Events and others.Nothing in the game or rarity justifies this kind of money to most people but while there's a profit for some in these huge tags there will always exist games with disproportionate prices. I paid £500 for a Virtual Boy title ,we've all done it but Id have to have a lottery win to fork out $2k for a Spiker. I bow to the experienced heads here,Im just basing observations on what I see in the recent market,Ive been around the retro games scene for many years but the Intv area is a new challenge to me

Are you sure ? Major league WSB has 4 CIB completeds on there, 110,113,167 and 173. Must admit at a glance it IS misleading but there's plenty of info buried in the links as Boxpressed said,on face value it is a bit misleading but there are plenty of completed listings for most to get a feel. Again though,as I mentioned,WILD fluctuations.One game in the CIB (forget as I have overloaded on info!!!) varied from about $38 through heaps in the 60's and 70's -through to one-apparently no better than some of the others - at about $212. Crazy stuff and most confusing. But it proves we can't 'know' the prices. The market (I speak from a UK POV) has gotten much stronger in the past 2 years- recession/depression or whatever aside- as new 'highs' have been laid down on the stuff Ive traditionally followed (and still do) these highs become benchmarks and the standard for items of similar quality. Intellivision collecting isn't as touched by trader greed as yet so prices fly about varying by hundreds of percent. If as I supect traders come to this format in numbers soon,driven out by buying prices in the Sega/Nintendo markets then prices will become more consistent - and sadly will rise steadily accordingly too.

Ok,1 last one as all you guys on the other side of the pond get up and we get ready to turn in Were the Intv titles ever sealed? I notice looking at the great guide linked above there's no NEW info for any-I see a good few minty ones but never wrapped/sealed. Is it the case these are only CIB then and never sealed? Also a few others like LF1 don't seem to have any data for NEW sealed,again Ive seen a couple of minters (passed up a bargain I now realise) but always just CIB nr mint, never wrapped. Apologies for being the eager noob!!!!!!!!!!!

Blinding link,muchas gracias Which now leaves me even more at sea !!!! This info is pretty comprehensive-which begs the Q- why is the sentiment on here leaned toward Spiker being more easy to find than people say and - a $100 game to $500 game. History says this is most defo not the case,there's nothing in the history whatsoever to suggest a CIB Spiker would be anything less than $1200- pretty terrifying as it may be! Methinks a few red Herrings being thrown out heh heh - Im not wealthy enough for a Spiker at that $$ at the moment so Im no threat in the bidding!!! WAS stunned though to spot LF1 at $400+ = heading £300 for a CIB one - explains the eagerness of the eBayer to cut a deal at £120 to get it out of that big lot. I think that's as good as Im gonna get as a guide goes. Of course that's little help he heh , Intellivision prices are the most bonkers Ive come across and Ive followed quite a few formats on eBay over the years. Intellivision $s fluctuate wildly aside from the rarest ones which are more consistent so its hard to say ANYTHING is too expensive or even a bargain,You never know whats round the next corner-and that's great!! Ive watched more mainstream (no offence guys but the beloved Intv isn't as hard followed as many formats .......YET!) retro games become commodities for traders,the N64,then the SNES,more recently NES and now the Gameboy is right now becoming expensive to buy for.......so I think before long the collectors priced out of Nintendo/Sega etc formats will start sniffing about older gear even more. This of course brings traders in numbers,driving even job lots sky high and consequently 'split' prices will filter down to individual games. In a way its positive as more solid values get apportioned to individual items but on the other hand these are never lower values. I think the Intellivision is a cracking system to collect for,bless the day I saw a Sea Battle overlay on the loft floor and set out to buy back my youth But above that its one of the few areas you can still snag a brilliant buy without 50 experienced price driving traders bombing every auction in the last 1 second,knowing to the penny what a lot will be back on eBay for in a weeks time. Itll come but hopefully not too soon,most traders here in the UK are quite ignorant of the system with the exception of 1 or 2 who are thankfully good ones! Im going to go bury my head in those stats now,I won't know much more by the time Im done but its a start and chance to look out for some bargains to add to the collection! Cheers once again guys

On the big lot on eBay -just wanted to pick brains- IS a LF1 worth 140 Euros?? In a ratty state with no booklet? WOW ! Being still fairly green Im just enjoying picking up what falls into my lap at the right money,serious stuff is a long way off but being keen to collect in as good a condition as possible what is a LF1 likely to bring in mint condition? And by its general absence anywhere Im guessing LF2 is going to be far harder to get than 1 as well? Damn I need a price guide!!!!!

Its only going to get worse for that too In the past 10 years Ive seen Nintendo stuff go from the odd occasional very obvious pirate to millions of (OK not great copies) games and, worse, replica packaging on the market. Personally as an old school collector I really DONT like replica stuff. It is poison to the collector market and as evidenced there it puts buyers off,thus damaging prices. I applaud the odd producer who actually has the integrity to print something to the effect of 'replica' on the box they make but many don't. I get that many will never afford say a Spiker or Stadium Events or similar but sadly while these boxes are produced ' for display only' in reality the great majority sold on the likes of eBay are bought by cart owners looking to make a quick buck. A few have been spotted here going to dispute over legitimacy of packaging. Fortunately the Nintendo stuff,to me at least,stands out instantly. Ive verified a few for others as fake or genuine ( I say FAKE as opposed to replica as once offered for sale as an official item they become fake) and theyre usually spottable but I'd not like to take a punt at Intellivision boxes -yet. Im sure theyre an easy spot if you see enough but not having the visual experience as yet Id be looking at a seller's feedback integrity . Anyone selling replicas as genuine will usually have a few feedback issues for other stuff!!!!

I think a lot of UK sellers are a bit squiffy about shipping to Canada. I personally have had a lot of problems with customs rejecting stuff or holding it an inordinate amount of time. Given eBay's propensity for throwing money back at buyers the moment they raise an eye brow about delivery time I think many are cautious.A lot of other countries have a worse rep. regarding delivery & customs-Brazil notably.I have a friend there and he expects a month on most stuff,even if its EMS. Italy can be a bit iffy in popular opinion but Ive never had a problem,swift and efficient for me . Ive got countries myself that I'd not post to through eBay for just this reason,Canada's not amongst them but I can see why people shy off as the restrictions list,if you ever get time to read it,is pretty draconian. I learnt after 2 returns NOT to use the word GAME on the customs sheet ! Meantime that seller's not a million miles ffrom us up here in the UK,a trip round with some good old ££££ notes in hand ? Hmmmmm, itll be a bit too rich for me I think. Can't one of you guys flood the market with Spikers so we can all afford one PS - loving the chicanery on the other big lot on eBay. Must be 20 members with fingers poised to bid but nobody's gonna give it away. I'm NOT playing poker with you guys!!!!

The wind cries Mary - Jimi Hendrix

Sukiyaki by A Taste Of Honey

Not a 'special' really but Ive got a Pac man game cart mis-labelled as Defender

£60 shipping to the UK makes it hard work That and the inevitable £60+ in taxes. The LF1s looking dog rough though-Ill keep telling myself that so I don't feel quite so bad watching it end impotently at 2.17 am our time

Ok I know,its a loooooooooooooooooooong shot! I need a Tutankham booklet.Basically I picked up a slightly ratty boxed Tut at the right money ,sans instructions.So I thought I'd just ask Managed to complete a few games today like Commando ,Defender + Diner but this one could prove a sticky one Anyone got them falling out of their pockets ? PS anyone gonna hit on that $750 Tut on eBay?

In the UK we're screwed to the floor with charges on incoming purchases. We're officially hit with 20% VAT charges on anything over about (it has changed slightly in recent months) £16 . But that's NOT 20% VAT on anything OVER £16. Nay........it's 20% VAT on the whole £16.01. PLUS then the SHIPPING cost is added into the value for tax purposes,so if you bought a game from say the USA and paid the aforementioned £16.01 plus say $14 shipping then it'd be £16.01 + (appx) £9 = £25.01 + VAT @ 20% =£5 . THEN comes the courier handling/clearing/processing (they can call it what they want it's daylight robbery by another name) That's often another £10 on top so if your £16.01 acquisition doesn't manage to slip through customs you could end up paying the £16.01 + £5 VAT + £10 courier clearing fees so it whacks you for as much as £31 & that's with the shipping out of the equation,add that back in and your £16 game is now £40. Its a wonder anyone trades with the UK I use the qualifier 'officially' as often items slip through unnoticed (that's how we get most of our population here too ) I bought a fishing reel from the US,paid £100 as it sells for £200 in the UK. I was prepared for the hit but it came through without customs attention so that was nice. On the flip side I bought a N64 Animal Forest (crossing) from Japan,from memory (it was sold in $USD) it was $24-odd at the time.The exchange rate made it £17.56 (it USED to be £18 allowance back then) on the day of purchase. However,on arriving here 10 days later it had apparently fluctuated and I was hit with the sort of charges mentioned above-it was charged on a value of £18.02!!! Two bloomin' pence cost me £15 extra To cap it all,on anything over about £120 we then attract 'EU Duty' too, which is another 12% (ish) on top. I found that out the hard way years back To get things into the UK there are one or 2 ways to lessen the blow,we can have about double the value on anything marked as a 'gift' so that helps on smaller purchases.Then there's the ruse mentioned on the OP about marking customs at low values. That's all very well on a private purchase paid for in some non-claimable way when the buyer really DOES have to accept responsibility. From experience though Ive found people change their tune about accepting full responsibility for no insurance if an item does get bulldozed by a courier. Ive put down over 20,000 eBay transactions over the years and the majority as a seller and know that eBay here won't blink,if an item arrives damaged and the buyer enters an 'item not as described' claim then you've seen the last of the money. That they asked you specifically to falsify customs and SAID they accepted responsibility doesn't play here (EVEN with email proof they requested it), basically it'd be a miracle for eBay to side with the seller and not just give the buyer their money back. Most buyers experience sudden buyers remorse when a valuable purchase takes on damage.eBay seem to disregard shipping damage,as far as theyre concerned it's the seller's job to get the item to the buyer as seen in the listing and any incidentals are not part of their consideration. I agree with this to some extent and have never had a damaged item.Sure some couriers kicked seven colours of @!?&! out of an outer box but the packaging was better than their effort and the prized item was more than safe inside. So from my point of view I pretty much don't consider that an issue but Ive known many sellers talked into shipping with $5 on the box as a 'gift' only to have it pick up a bend or ding and suddenly theyre facing an eBay claim that they can't recoup through the mail insurance as they've under-valued the item. Which is -in eBay's case -ENTIRELY the seller's risk- which can be really annoying when you get pleading buyers begging you to ship 'at $10 declared-don't worry its MY risk and Im happy with that.' Believe me through eBay as a seller YOU shoulder the risk,if that buyer turns on you-and on a $300 purchase they MIGHT! then eBay will have the money off you in a flash and will advise you to take it up with your mail insurance. That's the take on it from here. Big values are always a risk and yes you CAN chance it and declare a low value but if youre the seller you're taking a biggie. If you sold a Spiker for $1500 I wonder how many folks would risk sending it knowing theyre relying on the word of the buyer that if the mail lose the item they'll accept that risk.And I wonder how many buyers would hold their hand up and say 'Yeah it's my bad,Ill just have to accept it's lost' It would take a big man to accept that,the vast majority immediately start looking at whether the seller REALLY DID send it. And with Paypal making up such a large amount of the transactions worldwide as a seller you're the one looking down the barrel. So I try to stick to just declaring it as it is truly valued.Certain countries have superb mail services (at least Ive found them to be ) and you'd no doubt get no hassle at all taking a risk on the value but some are awful too and 'lose' or open far too many. I know what I can do and to where but on really big value items I still watch eagle eyed til it's tracked to destination. If the buyer's keen enough to get an item they'll accept the risk of charges,I'd ONLY ship at a low value on say the Spiker mentioned if you know there's NO way you could later face a claim if sticky fingers got to the item before delivery. Certain eastern European countries have a lot of problems with this and most UK sellers won't entertain shipping there. Pack well and take the damage risk out of the equation!

Since this topic's back Ill throw in my tuppen'orth Ive always packed at least that securely,its the only way.I actually go another step by putting an extra layer of card below & on top of the item to avoid the careless buyers who open with a knife and score the box front by accident. I guess being a collector conditions you but the old bubble mailer thing's just as much of a problem in the UK. The worst I ever had was whan I paid £500GBP for a Japanese Nintendo Virtual Boy Virtual Bowling from a seller in Spain,the grail among VB titles. It was probably £100 on the cheap side at the time but as I'd been stung for £12GBP shipping I figured on a solid box.Nontheless I asked specifically to pack securely - given the value of the lot it should be a given but this clown just wrapped the box in 1 turn of brown paper.He SELLOTAPED the start of the brown paper to the box front with some sort of Araldite based sellotape too By some small miracle the box mustve been light enough to stay atop the big stuff in the airmail and it arrived in perfect condition. Took a sweaty afternoon of patient fiddling to relieve it of the tape & residue though. Some sellers are complete numpties and commonsense simply doesn't prevail.They list something they expect £5 for,sell it for £200 and STILL skimp on the packaging. Oddly enough many UK based 'top rated sellers' on ebay used bubble mailers for all shipping,its testament to the indifference of buyers that they remain top rated sellers as nobody ever chirps up about it,so it just goes on and on. Mind you-from a seller's viewpoint- many buyers are extremely ignorant about mailings and expect everything for nothing. Ive had buyers make some weird demands over the years like i) The SPECIFIC BRAND of bubble wrap used ii) The number of TURNS of bubble wrap used iii) The diameter and radius of bubbles in the bubble wrap used! iv)LOW NOISE tape on the bubble wrapped item but regular tape on the box v) Dimensions of box (to a tolerance of 5mm each way) vi) 2 ply card box ONLY vii) double box item and mark boxes 1 and 2 so buyer knows when to expect to encounter item!!! viiii) METAL shipping case to protect £15 game ix) WOODEN shipping crate for delivery to Sweden xi) 'Please do not write 'fragile' on box as I punched the mailman for sleeping with my daughter,now he stamps on my mail if he thinks its valuable' ( I LOVED that one-talk about oversharing) Some gems there and that's just what springs to mind so I guess sellers have a bit to put up with too. But the bad ones outweigh the good ones on eBay by some way.

Couple of eBay acquisitions today, might be the right price for US buyers but cheap for us here Id say,don't get too many Diners coming up without having to import + risk customs etc http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?ff3=4&pub=5574883395&toolid=10001&campid=5336500554&customid=&mpre=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fitm%2F111137878233%3FssPageName%3DSTRK%3AMEWNX%3AIT%26_trksid%3Dp3984.m1439.l2649 http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?ff3=4&pub=5574883395&toolid=10001&campid=5336500554&customid=&mpre=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fitm%2F111137874338%3FssPageName%3DSTRK%3AMEWNX%3AIT%26_trksid%3Dp3984.m1439.l2649 This seller has quite a lot of Intv,Atari & Coleco gear regularly,quite a few rarities too.

There's a few pics,I tried about half a dozen times to upload Spiker pics but they kept failing.Well under max. size but after 5 mins getting them on they then repeatedly failed to upload so I gave up in disgust. Our Internet's coal powered out here so hiccups are far from uncommon !!! Anyway,I think one pic shows the box texture well,the box is in good order with a few creases + dings to the sides and rear but overall it balances on the good side I reckon. Does this all look legit? Having one of you guys say the boxes do look like that reassured me greatly and pushes me more toward thinking theyre just in good order and a find Price wise he wanted £500 for the pair,guess that's about $750 ish,but following negotiations we got to £400 and there's a Thunder castle and Super Pro Decathlon in the pot too. Decathlon is missing the booklet though. Seems a good deal as Ive come across history of dealers asking £500 for a Spiker apparently I the UK. We're held to ransom a bit on rarities usually so this is a good deal by UK standards,albeit with much chicanery over the trade side of it where Ive supplied him with some sealed UK Gameboy titles. Im not sure what you guys can pick up over in the States,the Nintendo market is much freer and cheaper than ours,Im sure there's more Intv stuff there too . Is there a reliable rarity price guide anywhere? I get heaps of people offer me lots of stuff with 'this is worth £2500.00 ~ look on rarityguide.com - it SAYS it there' But it's hopelessly out of touch on current prices so I use my own experience but as ever on Intv Im still at the fledgling stage of being a mark for somebody with anything I haven't come across before :mad: Once again guys cheers for the help,what a great site. Had a mooch round a few other format forums but soon ended back here The chap who has these had a few overlays from uncommons too-he had a bit of an inflated idea on price but I saw a White Water I needed.He had Dreadnought x2,Jetsons x1,Scooby Maze x 2,Blockade Runner x2 among the usual shrapnel-whats the going rate for one or a pair?

Hi guys,roaming village idiot in need of advice I managed to find - if that's the right word - some rare games. I say find,theyre a find if you guys can help me verify the authenticity. I might just be being paranoid but is there such a thing as a pirate copy of things like Spiker? I'm just beginning to dip into this level of rarity,throw anything Nintendo at me and Ill spot the tiniest flaw at 100 yards blindfold on a galloping horse at midnight~but the Intellivision is a new world to me. Anyway,much excitement boiling in me I went to take a peek at a few games a collector is offering. Now among his collection were games like Pole position,body slam,slap shot,super pro skiing,super pro decathlon and the REAL rarities,a Spiker & Mud Buggies. To me they all looked much of a muchness but up close the boxes looked a different texture on the card. Is this just a normal variation? The Spiker & Super Pro decathlon were almost like a canvas finish if you get my drift,kinda like a fine cross hatching on the surface. I noticed other boxes were smoother . The SPDecathlon was pretty rough but the Spiker near mint. The Mud Buggies was also a bit rough too and had the same sort of finish. All looked to 'have age' .The instructions inside were a bit coloured on the outside folds ,the internal folded sections being much whiter as you'd often find. The carts - here Im struggling! On the rear of 'standard' Intellivision games I see on some ~ Mattel 1979 and copyright Mattel etc yet on others just a plain white label on the cart and nothing on the rear. Is this again standard ? These carts were all plain on the rears . Among my other collecting obsessions Im stumbling on Intellivision stuff,happily from some Nintendo collectors Ive dealt with for years,but where I can talk with authority on Nintendo stuff Im flamin' struggling on Intv gear. Im probably missing bargains & paying too much for other bits but in a grim kinda way its a perverse part of the appeal. Not that I'd be excited to have missed a Congo Bongo at £50 of course but Im enjoying the learning curve-steep as it's proving to be. I didn't expect to find such rarity here in the UK given worldwide mythology surrounding such games nowadays but Im also concerned and don't want to be a complete plum and rush in and buy a flippin' pirate game. Any tips? These games aren't going anywhere as the chap owes me a few £hundred for some gear I sourced him so he's 'in my pocket' (I wish!) Anyway I just had to ask,I was a bit loathe to start asking to take pics as I had forgotten my camera and even phone so it'd have been taking the Michael to ask to borrow his camera but I can try to get some tomorrow or the day after. Its burning my butt knowing there are titles like that round the corner,OK he's not giving them away but if theyre genuine hopefully theyre a good buy at UK (daylight robbery) prices! Its hard to find anything definitive as to what I should be paying for a Mud Buggies or Spiker (or pro decathlon) so again any help would be very much appreciated!!! Its half past stupid o'clock here in the UK now so Ill check in tomorrow and see if I can pop some pics up if I can get time to go chase the guy down for a few minutes among the stupid work stuff that blights my life