Ebay, err...

[Atari Master]

Since I've not been finding stuff, plus there are no game stores around here. I'm thinking about going to ebay. Man, I hate Ebay sooo much, but man, it's getting harder and harder to get games here.

[AtariDude]

That is because some of the thrifts shops are wising up and selling the items that they find on Ebay.

 

Myself I can't really complain. There is no Atari items in South Florida (or at least it seems like it) so without Ebay I would not have my Atari Jaguar, my Atari 7800 or Atari Lynx.

[Fretwobbler]

I dont understand why ebay is hated so much. How much is your time worth??? $10 an hour perhaps. How many hours have you spent trawling through thrifts to leave empty handed?....and your complaining about an alternative that lets you select what you want and buy it from the comfort of your own home in a matter of minutes?

[Albert]

I think eBay is despised by some because it has caused the value of many things to be inflated. This is great if you're a seller, but bad if you're a collector who wants to buy things at the lowest possible price. So fewer items appear out in the wild, because people know they can sell them on eBay for maximum profit. Or those items that are in the wild, such as at garage sales, may be priced quite high as a result.

 

I personally have purchased quite a bit on eBay and don't really mind it. It provides an international forum for people to sell just about anything. At any given time there are thousands of classic gaming related items up for auction, allowing you to purchase items that you'd never find locally. There are many items that appear on eBay you'd never have the opportunity to purchase otherwise. eBay has also probably saved some games and systems from the trash that people would otherwise have thrown out thinking they're worthless.

 

Just don't pay more for something than you think it's worth, and don't get caught up in a bidding frenzy during the last minute of the auction. Also very thoroughly read the auction description, always look at someone's feedback, make sure you know how much shipping is, be aware of the seller's location, know what payment options are available, and always ask the seller to clarify anything that's not clear.

 

..Al

[Cap5750]

Or you could do like I did today. I had my eyes on a huge auction that had over 200 games in it (many of them boxed) along with multiple systems (2600, odyssey 2, coleco, etc). I had in mind how much I wanted to bid, but figured I'd wait awhile.

 

Well I slept right through the end of the auction and the winning amount was less then my max amount would have been!

 

Cap

[eldunko]

i've never tried ebay, but it would probably be of no avail because of the low canadian dollar... i've managed so far to find a couple of common games, but nothing special, at antiqe markets and some flea markets...

[Atari Master]

Here's the reasons I hate ebay...

 

1. You don't really know who your dealing with. If you screw up you get bad feedback.

 

2. When you look around and find a game lot, which is usually what I'm looking for. They have commons that I don't want.

 

3. Shipping is so high it hurts.

 

4. When you look at an auction that you need really badly, you need to pay with pay pal or credit cards most of the time. I don't use those.

 

Thrift stores and such aren't like this. Pick what you want and go home.

[IceCold]

Well the one thing I don't like about thrift stores is, they're always in the worst neighborhood in the state. One of the ones I usually go to had a guy shot and killed in that plaza a couple days ago. I still go to them, but sometimes I feel just a bit uneasy. Maybe I'm a coward, maybe not.

[Cupcakus]

Just think of them as your personal protectors of Atari Collectables

[DeV0]

I spend alot of time going to flea markets and usually come home with heaps of stuff. This weekend has been a bit slim, only a commodore 64 boxed and an atari 800xl. I know have 3 commodores with no sound!

 

My thoughts on ebay? Ive bought a fair ammount of stuff off ebay usually at a decent price. The thing that gets me is sellers who have no idea what they are selling, Like selling c64 carts and claiming they are coleco?? It's all very well to make money on-line but it helps to know what you are selling. Unforunately there are too many people cashing in on a hobby they know nothing about.

[Atari Master]

Atari Master is confused... You see, Ebay can bring a simple game up so much it hurts. This is the thing. I don't like spending my money like it's water. I work really hard for my 20 bucks! I hessitate to spend more than 3.00 on any old game. And on ebay, a game can be 1.00 and have 4.00 shipping. Even if the games a rarety 5 i'm spending 25% of my hard earned money on a game...

[Fretwobbler]

That topic by MacGirl about the garage sale is complete madness. I see what you mean about inflating prices but I feel that is a small price to pay for the advantage of an international army of people hunting down games for you.

 

As Albert says in his post, just be sensible and check all the details first then there wont be any problems.

 

I would guess that there would be a lot less games in circulation if it wasnt for ebay, also if you were a serious collector you would find it impossible to find about 20% of the back-catalog of carts available, because most people will spend there life collecting and never come accross rare stuff in the wild.

[Atari2600Lives]

A very key thing THAT IS NEVER SPOKEN ABOUT (so you heard it here first).

 

Is that Ebay has also PROTECTED our hobby. Now, when Auntie Lucille is cleaning out the attic she won't toss the last remaining Music machine, Eli's Ladder, Quadrun (insert whatever game here), because she knows somewhere someone is going to value it on Ebay.