bojay1997

Most hangtabs on 80s games were not factory original unless they were actually part of the box itself. If the pawn shop reshrinked the game to begin with, it's very easy to just attach a hang tag and depending on how the game was stored, it could yellow in a couple of years, especially if it was around heat and dust. I just have never seen factory shrinkwrap with seams that thick or uneven on any classic game and it leads me to believe that the shrinkwrap job was done at the shop level by someone who wasn't too precise. I could be wrong, but paying a premium for a game like this that has obvious wear and questionable shrinkwrap seems like a bad decision.

Out of curiosity, what makes you believe this is factory sealed? I'm skeptical because the seller said it came from a pawn shop and every pawn shop I have ever visited locally has a shrinkwrap machine and liberally reshrinks stuff. Also, there is clearly wear under the wrap which could be just shelf wear that penetrated through the wrap or it could be a sign of a rewrap. The seams are also awfully thick and uneven and don't look similar to early 80s game shrinkwrap I have seen or the Xonox Commodore 64 games I have seen with the wrap mostly intact but the top opened. Frankly, I would bet that this is a reseal. I wouldn't have paid $500 for this when it's impossible to know if the wrap is legit without multiple examples to compare it to or at least some period price stickers or other indications that the wrap is vintage.

Double Dragon is hard to find sealed (the only dealer that still sells it is Video 61 for $100 and they seem to have the crappy later Telegames re-release) and given the Babbage's price tag, it's likely the first release version which is really hard to find sealed. Casino is a $30 to $40 game new. The rest are common, but even common Lynx games are still $10 each nowadays.

Just because you don't agree with the reason doesn't mean it isn't true. There are many, many sellers including people who sell on this forum regularly that may have multiples of an item and when that inventory starts to deplete, the price per unit goes up. In fact, that's the very definition of supply and demand driven market pricing. If you look at historic price lists for Best, B&C and many other vendors, they all follow the same pattern and as their impossible to replace supply goes down, they increase their prices. That's just how the collectors computer and video game market operates. Like I said, this isn't Amazon and it's not Target. Best can't replenish 99% of the items in their stock as they just don't exist in that condition anymore, at least not from a steady source or in a way that will allow them to generate a profit. You've beaten this issue to death at this point and frankly, you've insulted a lot of people here and completely ignored many rational arguments that a number of us have put forward. It's pretty clear to me that while Best didn't act in the most consumer friendly manner in your interaction, you are your own worst enemy and a big reason that this deal fell apart. Frankly, I will continue to buy from Best and I will be sure that you're not someone I will ever deal with as I have a feeling that you regularly get into disputes with sellers over imagined slights against you. It must be really hard to go through life that way, always blaming everyone else and not realizing that you're a big part of the problem.

I strongly doubt that's what happened. Brad posts almost daily Ebay auction results on his website to prove that his prices for often better quality items are much lower than Ebay. He provided you with an explanation for why the prices were higher and he never charged you for anything. Since you posted earlier that you can get the same items cheaper elsewhere, why are you expending so much energy and time arguing when many of us have pointed out that you are at least partially at fault for this entire dispute? Buy them from this alleged cheaper other source and let this thread just die. I suspect like most blowhards, you have no such secondary source and you secretly enjoy all the drama you regularly cause or escalate.

The thing is, you weren't lied to or overcharged. He quoted you a price you didn't like and you got super aggressive and accused him of trying to rip you off. He doesn't have an automated shopping cart system, so you don't even have a firm offer to buy anything until he sends you the quote and directs you to make payment. Frankly, that's the way most older computer dealers servicing the collectors market work. B&C works that way as does Best and a bunch of other companies I have dealt with on TI-99 and PC Jr stuff. A lot of them haven't updated their price lists in years and it would be absurd to take the position that the price list is the absolute for anything. If you don't like the way he treated you, move on because he sure has.

I've generally had good interactions with Brad over the years, but I know some people have had issues with him recently. Having said that, I think the OP's tone was overly aggressive and inappropriate. "Hi, the mistake is on your end, so you should own up to the original price. I'm not paying the difference. Do you want to risk losing a big order like this because you made a mistake?" This is frankly the kind of statement an a-hole makes. If I felt strongly about the pricing issue, I would have said "Thank you, is there any way you'd be willing to honor the listed price as that's what I had budgeted around and I would really love to move forward with this entire purchase". If he said no, I would have had sympathy for you. Telling a seller that they made a mistake, that they should own up to it, that you're not paying the difference and that you will pull your order is just really over the line and not necessary in this context. Frankly, I have a lot of respect for Brad for walking away from a big order like this when the buyer is being a jerk.

The craziest part is that this is already bid up to twice as much as the last mint/sealed copy I'm aware of that sold for just under $3k.

Mr. Do's Castle and Q*Bert's Qubes NIB for $30 each. They were one-offs though and this seller seemed to just have Parker games for the Colecovision and 2600. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mr-Do-s-Castle-Colecovision-1984-NIB-Original-Shrinkwrap-RARE-/131171090247?pt=Video_Games_Games&hash=item1e8a67ff47

Simply typing the name of a publisher in a title screen next to the word copyright doesn't mean that the copyright is valid. I have numerous prototype games in my collection that have the names of publishers with a copyright that never ended up obtaining that copyright and the games were then released by another publisher. That's what happens with unreleased games, especially when the publisher backs out like Sony did in this case by not moving forward with the payments to the developer. You still have failed to provide any proof of your claims. Where are your documents from Sony showing they own either game or made the required payments to the developer?

No, but it shows that clearly you know nothing about what you are making claims about. What kind of moronic idiot doesn't understand the difference between a trademark and a copyright? The answer would be you.

The fact that you linked to a trademark database is really just more proof that you have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. Not only that, but both trademarks are dead and have been since 1996. http://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4804:eit7xh.2.8 http://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4804:eit7xh.3.11 More importantly, whether or not Sony has a valid and active trademark on the names has nothing to do with the underlying product which is under copyright. Since Sony never paid the developer for the product and therefore never obtained the rights to distribute the games, Sony would have a very difficult time claiming that the developer licensing those games to a third party (in this case Good Deal Games) violated a copyright which Sony never held. Frankly, you need to stop and stop now as you are literally completely wrong and doing serious damage to a respected company in the collecting and gaming community and potentially creating problems for other companies licensing and selling niche games from defunct publishers and developers.

As someone whose parents bought an early Apple II and who was a gamer from a very young age, I would agree that the Apple II had a large developer community early on. Having said that, by the mid-80s, the Apple II was clearly no longer the leader for computer gaming in the United States and there were tons of games that were exclusive to the Commodore 64 or other platforms including the PC that never hit the Apple II. It would be interesting to see a complete and accurate list of commercial game releases for both platforms, but I suspect that if you include European games, the Commodore 64 would surpass the Apple II in volume of commercial games by a massive margin.

Your lies and unsubstantiated claims have been exposed. I would suggest you cease any further libelous posts along these lines. http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?171386-Counterfeit-Sega-CD-games-being-sold-on-eBay-and-distributed-by-some-shady-website&p=1998782&viewfull=1#post1998782

Sending someone a generic one line response with a public link to pictures you listed in a web forum is not great customer service. I'm sorry, it just isn't. Sending a PM and saying "Thank you for your interest. Unfortunately, most of the items you wanted are not in mint condition, but here is a link to photos so you can check them yourself" would have been a good start. Similarly, taking the time to actually negotiate with people or giving them time to let you know that they would be sending payment or that they were no longer interested would have been a much better approach. I simply find it hard to believe that two people made offers, you accepted and then they dropped off the face of the Earth all within a three day period on a holiday weekend. There is indeed something to be said for courtesy. If you feel that I somehow owed you a PM that acknowledged that you sent me a generic link and didn't provide the specific condition information I asked for, then I apologize and next time I will make sure I PM you to tell youthat I am not interested at all. My guess is that you provided the other 20 or so people who PM'd a similar level of generic response and general apathy which is probably why you were unable to make any sales despite the fact that many of us have found the marketplace to be an outstanding place to buy and sell for many years. If I'm really being honest here, I suspect this was all just a massive attempt to garner publicity for your auctions and that you never had any intention of selling games here.

I can only speak for myself, but that's not the impression I got from your original post. The impression I got was that you were probably going to list some of the really high value or unusual stuff on Ebay if you didn't get a good offer here and sell the rest of the stuff here for reasonable market value (i.e. not Ebay prices). Like I said, you had and have no obligation to do so, but I can understand how many forum members may feel disappointed in this abrupt rush to list things on Ebay. I'm also shocked that out of 20 PMs, not a single person made a reasonable offer on any one of your games. That seems impossible to me, but given that it was a holiday weekend and since I don't know everyone here personally, I guess anything is possible. I guess if I was in your position, I would probably go back and re-evaluate my tactics and possibly revise my sales post, maybe even pricing everything, as that seems like a pretty poor response from a community that is tailor made for what you are selling. As for your responsiveness, I can only speak from my own experience and say that you did respond to me with a single line of "I listed a link to the photos in the first post". In my opinion, this seemed like a pretty canned bulk response and since the games I saw didn't meet with my standards, I didn't follow up. I don't think I owed you anything further as I felt your response showed a pretty distinct lack of interest. Similarly, I don't think you owed me anything more, although your abruptness didn't leave a great impression with me for possible future transactions. You're right that you don't have to explain anything to anyone. Having said that, just the brief interaction I have had with you here indicates to me that you are fairly defensive and not an entirely pleasant person to deal with. As such, you're not someone I would buy from and everyone else can make up their own mind as to whether they will deal with you, although I suppose Ebay's heavy pro-buyer slant would give them added protection that a forum marketplace never will.

While I can't entirely blame the seller for taking things to Ebay, there is something off-putting about the way things were handled. Giving people less than 3 days to make offers and then doing nothing but linking to a bunch of photos isn't exactly a stellar example of a seller making a reasonable effort. It appears that he didn't sell a single game here at all. The OP has been edited, but I recall the seller essentially saying to PM him and that he was aware of the value of everything. As such, I'm not sure why he wouldn't have just negotiated if people said they wanted to buy various games. Personally, I had PM'd the seller early on and asked for photos and ended up not making an offer as the handful of games I asked about were not in a condition that meets my standards. Maybe I'm just old fashioned, but I think there is something to be said for contributing to the community by showing a little bit of patience and courtesy and actually negotiating with people instead of just ignoring them or accusing them of being "lowballers". Frankly, I've sold extra items on these forums a few times in the past few years and I've always found the community to be reasonable. If I did receive an offer below what I asked or had hoped for, I simply took ten seconds to PM back and say "hey, I appreciate the offer, but I think this is worth "X". If you can do "X", we have a deal." As for TomBrazil, I would agree that his PM came off as abrasive, perhaps because of language differences, but $300 is clearly not a lowball, even for those games. Indeed, contrary to the seller's initial post, many of his rarer games are not in fact mint, but are sealed with various amounts of dents, crushing, discoloration, etc...Commando is in relatively poor shape IMHO. Tank Command looks like it has not only box damage, but also some early mold growth either on the wrap or on the box. All of the six games TomBrazil made an offer on with the exception of Title Match have been sold on Ebay in the past year for between $50 and $80 in mint sealed shape. Most of the six being offered are not in that condition. The truth is that many sellers want Ebay prices from forum sales without doing the work involved or providing the same amount of protection that buyers get on Ebay and without the risks and costs of selling on Ebay. I get that, but that's just not what a forum marketplace is about. I wish the seller luck with his sales and I'm sure some of these will go for premiums, but I don't think anyone really missed out by not being able to deal directly with this particular seller given everything that went down.

I actually know several Star Wars collectors that have all of the Parker Bros. Star Wars games sealed mint in the box. It just seems like a pretty typical part of an average Star Wars collection.

I agree with this to some extent, however, this is one of those unusual pieces of art that found its way into ads in a lot of magazines and comic books in the months before and after the release of the game in various formats, so it definitely had more cross-over appeal than say an original piece of art only used in packaging for a mass retail item that was never advertised.

I think it's safe to declare Dobidy as the original art expert for the community. His advice was spot on as was his estimate.

It sounds like he produced and sold 10 originally in 1986 or 1987 through a catalog/newsletter and then did the second release which had 50 numbered copies in 1993 through 2600 Connection Fanzine. It's odd though that he said he had 100 roms and sold all but five in the second run. In any event, the total count is somewhere between 60 and 110. I would agree that the first release is more valuable, simply because it had its own packaging and only ended up being 10 total copies sold. I don't think I have ever seen an original release one for sale either on a forum or Ebay and the last few second run ones with the letter have gone for $1500-$1700 on Ebay, but that was over five years ago. Here's the best info source I have found. http://www.2600connection.com/faq/cubicolor/cubicolor.html

Like I said, I believe this is from the original release that didn't include a letter. Instead, the game was sold in an Amaray case with the instructions on the back of the case. Rob Fulop apparently made a mistake in numbering and I believe he previously admitted that there were two copies of #7 out there. He probably made the same error here. This is definitely a different copy than Troy Saling's as there are pictures of his around the Internet and it's a second release version.

Looks like a #10/60 Cubicolor has been put up for sale. It appears that this is the original release as the photos I have seen of the other #10 Cubicolor appear to be the second release version. It will be interesting to see how high this goes. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Cubicolor-SIGNED-BY-Rob-Fulop-Atari-2600-cartridge-10-60-/261448847515?pt=Video_Games_Games&hash=item3cdf90d09b

I've had similar bad recent experiences with him. I used to order from him every few months and never had a problem. The last order was for a bunch of classic cartridge games and a lot of what he sent was in extremely poor shape. Ordinarily I would let it go but in this particular case I had asked specific questions about condition and he badly misrepresented what he ended up sending. I guess I should have never ordered from him because I had some bad vibes a few months prior to that based on some e-mails we had exchanged regarding some games he was selling on Ebay. I had asked condition questions about those as well since he was using stock shots and he was very short with me saying essentially "I'm tired of you collectors wanting perfect items", etc...Frankly, his business is called "Collectors Cards and Games" and his prices aren't exactly cheap on rarer items, so I didn't think I was out of line to ask about what he was actually trying to sell. In any event, I wouldn't recommend dealing with him at this point.

I was excited when I first heard about this project, but I became pretty disappointed when I looked into it more. It's basically just a book full of screen captures of various games. Very little in the way of any actual written content and frankly, it doesn't even look like he ismaking much effort to seek permission or information from any of the programmers or publishers. As such, this is a pass for me.