bojay1997

It didn't really sell for almost $100K. In fact, it didn't sell at all because the buyers all backed out. One did sell for $17,500 in the wake of that auction though and this new one may go for close to that....maybe.

Not sure what you even mean by this. Are you saying you don't want to pay for SHMUPS if they aren't on a physical disc? Xbox 360 has had more SHMUPS released on disc in the US than any other console this generation as far as I know. There are many third party joysticks and controllers available for Xbox 360, including some specifically made for SHMUPS. Companies such as Cave and others are still releasing brand new SHMUPS not only on XBLA, but also on disc, often region free in Japan that can easily be imported. Indeed, the Xbox 360 is probably the best platform for SHMUPS since the Sega Genesis or PC Engine. Most of the SHMUPS on XBLA are not simply re-releases, they are brand new original SHMUPS designed from the ground up for the modern Japanese arcade and Xbox 360. So, I doubt releasing more SHMUPS on the WiiU would help matters given that it sure didn't cause the 360 to take off in Japan, although it did enjoy niche support from SHMUP gamers there.

Every time one of these Nintendo is in trouble threads pop up, it seems like everyone ignores the massive collection of arcade and classic style games including SHMUPS available on XBLA and PSN. Last I checked, I had over 50 great XBLA games and several dozen PSN games and almost all of them were SHMUPS, platform games or some other really creative take on old school gaming all newly created for the Xbox 360 and PSN generation. I get that maybe Xbox 360 doesn't have the massive collection of SHMUPS available on older systems like the Sega Genesis or TG-16, but there are certainly more SHMUPS and classic style games available on PSN and XBLA when compared to Nintendo's fairly paltry offerings. Frankly, anyone who thinks Nintendo is the only provider of creative or unique or amazing gaming experiences in the modern era is missing out on a massive library of just as creative titles on Playstation 3 and Xbox 360, especially when one includes the massive library of indie and smaller scope or budget titles on XBLA and PSN.

Your co-host is wrong. If you purchased the games before delisting, you still have them on your hard drive and can re-download them if your hardware fails. Also, both games were released on disc and are dirt common. Nothing to worry about, at least with these two particular titles.

Please, you don't get to play the victim here. Do you regularly rush into new situations and environments without making some effort to learn about where or what you are getting into? The Internet and forums are no different than any other public place. If you are unfamiliar with them, you take some time to learn what is and isn't acceptable. You don't all of a sudden do whatever you think works best for you. You didn't come here for help, you came here to maximize your profit. Nothing necessarily wrong with that, but most of us are collectors and aren't interested in paying top dollar for something. If you are serious about selling your item, set a price, drop the attitude and keep the posting within the thread you already started unless you have something beyond the sale of your item to share with the community.

Are you totally new to the Internet and web forums? You don't need to spam up this forum and resurrect a number of dead threads to promote your sale. You have a sale post. If people are interested they will get in contact. You are new here and are not entitled to post the same thing all over the place just to make a sale. Your post wasn't even relevant to Ebay or auctions in any way. Frankly, if it was up to me, you would be banned for abusing the forums but that will be for a moderator to decide.

Stop spamming up every thread with your item. If you really want to sell it, set a price and update your original post. People can then decide if they are interested or not.

Agree with everyone that you'll have to open a case. Unfortunately, Ebay will likely make you pay to send it back to him with tracking even though it was 100% his mistake.

There are actually quite a few collectors with larger collections than this one. In fact, I personally know at least two collectors with over 20K unique games each. Having said that, I suspect many collectors with larger collections don't care about the record and would not welcome the attention.

It appears you are here to stir things up. You basically just said that the people that gave you their opinions about the price of your own item didn't know what they are talking about. You apparently don't understand the difference between an average value and one random Ebay auction. You also don't know if that seller on Ebay actually ended up getting paid. Just because something "sells" on Ebay doesn't mean the buyer actually paid the price bid or that the sale was final or that no fraud or bid manipulation was involved. He has some good games in relatively mediocre to poor condition that he has no real interest in selling. As such, this whole thread has been a waste of time.

The issue from my perspective is that this guy came here purportedly asking for advice. He was given that advice and then he totally disregarded it. He also stated that he really isn't serious about selling it. He could have simply gone directly to Ebay and posted the ridiculous prices he is asking without wasting any of our time. So IMHO, it's unbecoming of both the OP and you to waste everyone's time.

I always laugh when I see you post about people paying a little too much for Atari stuff. You're like the king of paying more than fair market value. It's nice that you were able to find a few things on that list for less, but if you're buying multiple copies of games like Video Cube, you're no better than the resellers you constantly bitch about. A lucky BIN is not a good way to determine fair market value and frankly, other than the ugly Track & Field none of those were crazy prices especially in the pre-holiday season when Ebay prices hit their peak.

Disagree. Many buyers including myself will ignore auctions with ridiculous BINs for not so rare items like these. If you're serious about selling something, you just start it at a buck and let the auction run its course.

Pitstop certainly isn't mint condition and it's hard to tell on Jumpman, although it looks like the plastic is dirty or that there is some mold growth perhaps under the plastic causing that cloudy look. I just don't think there are that many sealed Colecovision collectors and the few that are out there likely want pristine copies if they are going to buy sealed. As such, I do think his pricing is well outside of reasonable and although things can sell for outrageous prices, I've never seen something in bad shape go for a premium.

He also totally disregarded all of the advice he received here. In that condition there is no way he hits any of those BINs and I doubt anyone will bid.

Very well done. Thank you very much for posting this.

I find this puzzling as well. The last sealed copy that came up a few months ago also went for hundreds of dollars. I've had it since release and my recollection is that it was a very mediocre game and that it's not particularly rare CIB.

Customs damage is still a very real issue and the major reason I won't order any of this stuff anymore.

To begin with, you initially claimed that Musicland was out of the video game business when the red box games were released. You were 100% incorrect about that. As for the rest, I can only tell you what one of the original Venezuela sellers e-mailed me several years ago and his claim was that this was all procured by the Venezuelan warehouse from Musicland and it was obtained well after the video game crash and his belief was that this stuff wasn't imported into Venezuela until the 1990s. A chain with 1300+ stores at that time would have had massive warehouses of stock. It's perfectly logical that if they closed or cleaned one of the warehouses, they may have simply taken all of the video game related stock that was very old and sold it in one bulk lot to this Venezuelan buyer. I know I personally visited distributor warehouses in Los Angeles in the 90s in my early collecting days and found stuff going back to the late 70s that I realize now were super rare treasures but at the time I thought were just more common games. I would imagine that stuff was either scrapped or liquidated and if it was liquidated, there would have been games spanning from 1978 to the mid-90s in that stock for sure. Frankly, your version makes even less sense that this Venezuelan buyer continued to receive stock from multiple companies over time and never sold it. Moreover, why would Avalon Hill or Atari bother selling these games directly to Venezuela when that country never even had a large home computer or console market and there were plenty of US liquidators for console and home computer software in the US? I think the likeliest version of this is the Musicland story and whoever bought this assumed they could resell or scrap what they received for a profit. When that didn't happen, they just let everything fester in their warehouse until these sellers found it in the mid-2000s. The other arguments you are making are just pure speculation. Atari did obviously distribute copies of MotoRodeo among other games in the US as many collectors here and elsewhere obtained them long before the Venezuelan sellers showed up eight or so years ago. While I would agree they weren't widely distributed, that doesn't prove that Musicland didn't order and receive cases of them that sat in a warehouse never to be distributed to its stores.

That's just not accurate. Musicland and its associated companies were around until 2005. In 2001, they were bought by Best Buy and they had 1300 individual stores including Sam Goody, Sun Coast and MediaPlay among others. I personally bought video games from Sam Goody and Media Play throughout the 90s and I know for a fact that Sam Goody sold 2600 red box and 7800 games in some stores. The factory cartons were likely just unopened stock that Musicland had purchased and never distributed to its stores.

Actually, I think the details are pretty well known. This was stock originally owned by the Musicland chain that was sold to a liquidator and exported to Venezuela. Someone owns the warehouse and the contents and these sellers found it a while back and essentially buy small chunks of inventory and sell it on Ebay. The only missing details are the address of the warehouse and how much stock is really in there.

Something is definitely not right here. He just registered yesterday and this bundle is well below what retailers paid for it.

I don't know the seller personally, but I know he used to be a pretty prominent video game guide and book author. Over the past two years he has spent tens of thousands of dollars on computer games as I used to see him bid crazy amounts on a regular basis. Many of the items he has purchased in the past few years are now being listed by him on Ebay. From what I have gathered, he bought the games originally to do some kind of pictoral collector's guide. Given how much he spent and the fact that the computer game market is pretty unstable from auction to auction, I wouldn't be shocked if there was something shady going on. With the amounts he spent, I can imagine the possibility of him running into some very serious financial problems if he doesn't get close to what he paid, especially since he paid well above top of market to begin with.

As someone who has been collecting computer games for a very long time, I have to agree that Peter Olafson's auctions are a puzzle to me. Much of what he is selling is not particularly rare, nor is it in very nice shape. I have generally avoided his stuff as a result and while I don't think fraud is involved, there is a lot of odd bidding activity and one buyer in particular that seems to be spending thousands of dollars a week on his stuff, including stuff that is available from other sellers on Ebay in better condition for far less money.

You're incorrect. There are many common sealed computer and video games that sell for far less than original MSRP. That's true on the Amiga as well. Also, while the Amiga, ST and IIGS may have "underperformed", there are still on-line stores that stock titles in NOS condition for them. Similarly, there are tons of sealed Amiga and ST games that pop up for sale on Ebay. I suppose if your point is that you don't regularly find ST and Amiga stuff at thrift shops, I will agree, but that doesn't mean there isn't plenty of it out there. It really is just the odd in-demand titles like Castlevania that go for huge amounts in sealed condition. I regularly buy sealed Amiga and ST games for $10-$20 from various sources.