bojay1997

Except that the average consumer is not going to buy a device like this either. If somebody who lacks any technical ability really wants to play games, they will either use their existing smartphone or buy a Wii if they don't already have one. They aren't going to buy something like this that requires an investment of $100 and broadband access to buy content. This really is a prime example of a product without a real demand in the market other than the 50K or so hobbyists and collectors who have pre-ordered and even if 10X that number buy one at launch, it's not enough to sustain even the smallest niche game developer.

I can't tell if this is just a regular member pulling a prank or if this is a serious post. The prices for these items are easily 2-10X market value, even on Ebay. Fallout 3 CE 360 sealed mint goes for $60 if you're lucky. That Pole Position box is beat to hell and there are multiple listings for original Xbox adapters boxed complete for $10-$20 right now on Ebay with no bids.

I don't mean to be critical, but why would someone take the time and expense and risk to do this when all you have to do is spend a little more money and have it shipped directly from Best? You're essentially asking a complete stranger to receive goods for you and then pay and take the time to re-ship goods to you presumably without tracking to Canada which has a notoriously slow postal system and regularly loses or damages packages. How much are you really saving by doing this, especially since you still have to pay the Best shipping within the US and then the shipping from the US to Canada? Are you going to waive any claims against the re-shipper and Best if the package ends up damaged, destroyed or lost? I've happily helped other members here in the past if the vendor literally can't or won't ship to them, but this seems a little ridiculous.

As long as you're happy with it, but that's well above market pricing.

That shrinkwrap is not factory and that's not even the first release box. Also, the box has some shelfwear and what looks like light fading damage. This is just a case of two idiots bidding something up without realizing that they are way overpaying.

But if all you are planning to do is to jailbreak it and play free games (I doubt any developer is going to make a compatible game and then not sell it exclusively through the Ouya store), why not just use a PC or Mac that all of us already own and spend $50 on a nice control pad? This idea that this is somehow offering something new and amazing is absurd. Nobody is going to develop specifically for this system as even with this quick Kickstarter run up, there will only be 50K units out there. For a digital developer to hope to make any money, you need tens of millions of users of a platform and even then, you only make money if you get a good percentage of them to buy your game. Basically, developers will take their existing Android games and make the minor changes necessary for them to work with the closed system being set up by Ouya. There will never be games made specifically for the Ouya or its capabilities as there will never be a large enough user base to justify the expense.

"Still in operation" is a bit of a stretch. It's a one man operation now and basically with the exception of their own Lynx and Jaguar games that they are now reprinting poorly, they don't have any of the thousands of items listed in their inventory in stock. As near as I can tell, the guy that runs it does so out of some type of holiday campground he owns (the address pops up in various UK resort guides) and basically it is just a sideline to his main business. I believe Telegames US is an entirely different entity now and they develop and publish for handheld platforms and have no back stock to sell from the Jaguar/Lynx days.

Agreed. I have no idea why people have any interest in this "console". Nobody is going to do anything beyond what they have already done on Android for it. It's also nowhere close to being an "open" console as first hyped. It's just another Android device with it's own closed marketplace that displays on your TV.

Personally, I take the position of many others in this thread in that I leave feedback only if someone does something really well (excellent packing, item even better than pictured or described, etc...). On the other hand, if someone does something really terrible (mostly shipping soft items in bubble pouches but still charging 3-5X actual postage), I leave negative feedback. I just don't have the time and interest to leave feedback for average transactions where everything goes ok, but nothing extraordinary has happened. Frankly, I find most feedback useless as I have dealt with some absolutely horrible sellers who have had perfect feedback and ratings. People aren't willing to be honest, so I am only willing to provide warnings or praise that I think would actually help others buyers.

Are you sure his stuff is original? He seems to have an awful lot of aftermarket stuff as if he kept collecting and buying from vendors like Video 61 long after he left Atari. In fact, he specifically references Video 61 in several auctions. Well, one thing you can keep in mind is that what you have is an ORIGINAL Diagnostic cart, directly from Atari Corp, like the one that eventually got copied and sold by many. It's, in essense, a prototype of the one floating around, and that could make it valuable. It's why I considered buying his Road Riot or one of the others... even though it's the same as what we all have already, it's still "the first" and not a copy. Incidentally, I emailed the seller about the Raiden carts he was selling, and good news for whomever bought those two copies ... they are the real release version (like what Telegames sells), and not the "CES Version 3" copy pirated all over. If I had realized it just a bit sooner, I would've bought one. I only have the crappy CES version that crashes after one play. But alas, not like I have the money to buy stuff like that anyway. As far as Im concerned, you got a cool thing there, Blandy! Cheers, Smeg

I always hear sellers on other sites who list stuff like this claim they set the price so high because it attracts buyers to their other more reasonably priced items. To me, it has completely the opposite effect. I assume they are completely unreasonable and won't even bother to make an offer on anything or bid on their other stuff.

I think most "serious" collectors could care less about this. I'd much rather have a mint in box copy of the game than this variant. What you would rather have is no more or less relevant then anyone else, a collector with different goals or the goals I mentioned may consider himself just as "serious" a collector as yourself, there is no set rules to collecting, it's personal choice. That's my point. You implied with your statement that to be a "serious" collector, whatever that is, you have to seek out rare games rather than quality titles. I know plenty of serious collectors who only collect quality and could care less about variants or rarity. Personally, this variant has no value to me because I don't collect variants. To some it obviously has value and if it's worth $500 or more to them, more power to them.

I think most "serious" collectors could care less about this. I'd much rather have a mint in box copy of the game than this variant.

I think that's way low. There are roughly 7000 complete games in the collection. The average value is probably $20 each and there is probably a premium for the fact that there is some rare stuff that doesn't come up often and at least a portion of stuff in the $100+ range per game. I think it's probably worth closer to $150K as a lot and probably $250K - $300K if sold separately or at least in individual collections and assuming everything really is mint complete or sealed mint. I mean even dirt common Famicom games in mint complete condition don't sell for a buck or two each. They are a minimum of $5-$10 depending on the title and many Famicom games aren't dirt common. He also has a complete set of NEC games on all of their platforms sealed. There are still many of those that go in the hundreds of dollars and up as there is still a very active collectors market in Japan for them. It's probably worth closer to $15,000-$20,000. At that price, you could open up a gaming store and sell the rarer games online. It probably even includes Stadium Events (NES). The PAL European version is still kind of rare but not as rare as the NTSC version.

You're correct that you can purchase insurance from the USPS for most international destinations that will cover both loss and damage, as long as you are honest about declaring values and are willing to spend the money. It also likely opens you up to tariffs and fees on the destination side. The bigger problem is that these packages were shipped internationally and handled by at least three carriers (USPS, DHL and German Postal) they were put into fairly large boxes with what appears to not be a ton of padding. Even the label looks pretty flimsy and handwritten. The fact that they have that tape on one of the boxes indicates that it was damaged most likely while still in the United States, but there's no telling where the theft and box change took place, nor which postal service did all the damage to the contents inside. Moving high value or rarity items by USPS internationally is insane as is trying to ship large or heavy boxes. The postal service treats it differently than a small parcel and often moves it with forklifts, pallets and other automated equipment that results in damage. If you're sending high value or high rarity stuff internationally, the only safe way to do it is FedEx and even then it needs to be extremely well padded and insured. The USPS insurance is only for LOST packages, not damaged. In order to cover damage claims, they'd have to open the can of worms of what constitutes "proper packing" and there's no way in hell they're going to adjudicate all of those cases, as the numb-nuts there can barely tie their shoes. I beg to differ. USPS insurance is for LOST or DAMAGED items. Right from the USPS page: Insure your item for up to $5,000 against loss or damage. The price is based on the declared value. Don't believe me? Read it from their web site: https://www.usps.com...ra-services.htm I also have filed claims for damaged items in the past.

Just an update, Adol (the owner of the collection) just posted on Nintendoage that the bidder has not paid and he doesn't think he will. As such, this is just a giant non-story that the media is reporting without doing any real research.

What benefit does this provide to the buyer? It not only removes the option to use something other than cash from a bank account, but it offers zero protection if something goes wrong. Like the Gamegavel business model in general, there seems to be no incentive for the buyer to use the service at all.

I see this happening more and more. It used to be that Ebay was really tough on buyers that tried to cancel a purchase. Now it seems like bidders can back out without any penalty. I believe there are a lot of flippers and resellers who hit the BIN immediately to prevent others from either bidding or grabbing the items. Then, if they can't find enough worth flipping, they cancel the sale. Personally, I believe if you make a bid or buy something, you have an obligation to follow through unless you later discover there was some fraud or significant nonconformity of the item.

Why would you even want to deal with a seller like this? What if there is an issue with the item or it gets damaged or lose when the shell buyer forwards it to you? Unless this is a one of a kind item, I can't believe you or anyone else would go through all of this and take all this risk.

Good to know. Any idea what it went for? I was thinking the lot was worth maybe a couple grand based on the Ebay auction from maybe 4-5 years ago where a lot of the same stuff came up. Somebody also has basically the same games and boxes that always displays at CGE, so it's not a totally unique set of items.

The listing has now expired, so did anyone end up purchasing this lot?

Again, you have zero proof that this happened. What if the seller sent him a cart with no label or a completely different game? As a buyer I won't buy from stock photo auctions or I will request an actual photo before I purchase, but I also think the seller has a responsibility if they are too lazy to use a real picture to make sure the stock photo they are using is identical to what they are selling. I'm sorry, sellers here are free to do what they want with the information, but this kind of cyberstalking is frankly disgusting and grossly inappropriate in my book.

Again, I have no issue with people contributing to a bad buyer block list, but the way this whole thing is being handled is ridiculous. Most of the negative or neutral feedback the guy left is for auto parts, is for stuff he never received and from sellers no longer registered and is over a year old. With the exception of the negative for the 7800 (which appears to have been accurate since the buyer didn't respond to the negative) and a couple of neutrals for other minor problems, his feedback is all positive for sellers. Is this guy picky? Maybe, but there are a lot of bad sellers out there who misrepresent the condition of items and the buyer is stuck either with an item worth less than they paid or having to pay out of pocket to send it back. Ebay is a two way street and singling out someone nobody here has even dealt with simply because the OP is being a baby about being outbid is absurd. Perhaps so AtariAge members who are also Ebay sellers can add that asshole to their "blocked" list. Wouldn't that be reason enough? Did you read the post (above) by edintv, where you can see all the negative feedback? Maybe we should start a thread with this type of buyers. The reason for leaving a negative should be a valid one, not because you are in a bad mood that day.

Exactly. Why is this Toolhaus external link not matching up to the buyer's feedback left for others results? I think this is just a case of a jealous person who got outbid and is looking to smear the person who outbid them. I'm sorry, but mining data on buyers who you haven't had any experience with is ridiculous. If you are a seller who had an issue, that'a a different story, but this is pure speculation.

So a high volume buyer couldn't possibly have a problem with multiple sellers misrepresenting the condition of something? A buyer/reseller also can't possibly buy anything outside of Ebay? How do you know he didn't have other controllers that he resold? While this buyer might be a jerk and possibly even dishonest, you haven't posted any real proof and it seems as though you are fixated on this guy for some reason. If you had a personal interaction with him or had some way to verify what you are claiming is true, it might be helpful, but sadly Ebay has lots of bad buyers and sellers in the video game category, so I don't see the point of opening a new thread for each one. I also looked at his feedback left for others unfiltered by your tool and of the last 100 feedbacks he has left, it looks like 95 of them are positive and only five are either neutral or negative. That's not a bad ratio and I wish more buyers would leave honest feedback and stop screwing other buyers by just either not leaving any feedback or giving a positive for something that really was a problem.