Suggestions on finding/purchasing loose carts in near mint/mint condition?

[orrimarrko]

Unfortunately, I'm retentive about condition (as some of you are undoubtedly), and choose to add carts with near mint/mint labels to my collection.

 

(Same for manuals.)

 

My question is - for those who care a lot about condition, what suggestions do you have as to finding/locating/purchasing loose carts in said condition?

 

Ebay lots are typically filled with crappy carts, and even the individually sold games can be kind of rough.

 

I'm just curious as to routes others have had success with, when looking to add carts in excellent condition to their collection.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Orri~

[ATARIPITBULL]

In case you have not tried them yet, you could always go to www.atari2600.com they rate the condition of there games from a 10 being mint and 1 being shit!

 

[Rik]

Its pretty much up to fate,and how the carts were treated.You can have carts that have been babied since day one,like the carts i bought 20-26 years ago.If i sold the games i bought new back then,it would be a collectors dream,cus they look as new as the day i bought them,that includes the boxes as well.Be careful on ebay obviously,the condition of the games can be misleading.I once bought a Superman pic label,advertised and photoed as mint.When it arrived,the label was faded in some areas,and had a name scribbled across the front in black permanent marker.Its all luck really.The 7800 games are almost all factory sealed,cus alot of those games have been sitting on shelves in storage in vaults,caves, for 20+ years.Just have to be patient and really look for the best ones on ebay anyway.You always run into mint or near mint condition carts every now and then,pretty amazing,considering the age.Be careful about those ratings some sites have,unless theres a photograph of actual carts,cus YOUR idea of a fair condition label will most likely differ from theirs!

Edited February 12, 2008 by Rik

[cosmosiss]

You can always ask for a photo showing both labels

[iwan-iwanowitsch-goratschin]

Try to get sealed games........

[wogihao]

ebay - Prayer.

 

seriously one of the bigest issues i found were shisters putting mint photos of carts on auctions and then in tiny writeing at the bottom of the acution "this is not the actual cart pic..".

 

Trying to find people stash in the wild - much much better odds are these have been stowed away for years usualy in a box in someones footlocker. The bigest advantage is that your average joe will not know the true value of the cart, I got roadrunner for £1 of someone like this (sadly unboxed but what can you do lol).

 

My friend got the bug for atari after playing on the 2600 set up at my house and went back and put a message on his company buliten board and managed to get a few people with systems and games so he was well chuffed. much much cheaper than ebay.