Holy F#@%! (Super-Massive Lot, Need Advice)

[atari_envy]

This whole thread is an interesting chapter (epilogue?) in Atari's history....

 

Anyway, thanks for trying to save them.

[fiddlepaddle]

Another idea for O'Shea's: they could donate a few dozen to every Goodwill store in the country every couple of weeks for the $4.95/each tax deduction. This would also perhaps teach GW about the true value of these things as they began piling up.

[Buyatari]

I remember paying 0.80$ back in late 90'

 

so did I beck in the rec.games.video.classic days.

 

and then they went to $1.50 and $3.00 but now last time I heard they were $5 each

[BDW]

Another idea for O'Shea's: they could donate a few dozen to every Goodwill store in the country every couple of weeks for the $4.95/each tax deduction. This would also perhaps teach GW about the true value of these things as they began piling up.

Absolutely genius, let's do it!

[DrLove0378]

I'm just now reading about the sudden liquidation, and I think it's a crying damn shame. If he didn't want to fool with shipping out tons of individual carts, he could have lowered the unit prices and sold them by the master box and/or carton load -- and he could have even offered wholesale prices. It would have been as simple as slapping a label on the box and arranging for UPS pickups -- no need for him to even leave the cave.

 

I understand they started out at less than a buck each -- but jacking them up to $5? That's what kept him from selling the last million carts.

 

I guarantee you they would have flown out the door, and many people would have bought far more carts than they would ever need, just to get a good deal -- and he still would have been coming out ahead. He would have made far more money than he did sending off the carts to be reduced into plastic and silicon gunch, in order to reclaim what amounts to a negligible amount of Gold per piece. (Aside: was it really necessary for Best Electronics to format the word "gold" like that, EVERY time it appears? We get it, the new 5200 controller parts have gold contacts. Hey, wait, that would have been a good use for all that reclaimed gold!) And as of now, O'Shea hasn't even changed the web site to reflect that the carts are gone. And the old "atariclassic.com" URL still redirects there.

 

As my hero, Bob Barker, once said...

Edited December 6, 2009 by DrLove0378

[S1500]

I just realized: There isn't a market for those games now, just as there wasn't a market demand for them at a much higher price just after the crash. It's the no-sale gift that keeps on giving!

[Merrick Bill]

I just realized: There isn't a market for those games now, just as there wasn't a market demand for them at a much higher price just after the crash. It's the no-sale gift that keeps on giving!

 

 

I suspect that he raised the price from under a dollar to five dollars when he felt that everyone who was going to buy them cheap or in bulk had done so. At that point, he's rather sell one or two at five bucks than ten or twenty at fifty cents each. Fewer headaches.

 

Then he found a way to unload the lot for a quarter of a million dollars and thought that was a good idea.

 

Bill

[Dino]

I just realized: There isn't a market for those games now, just as there wasn't a market demand for them at a much higher price just after the crash. It's the no-sale gift that keeps on giving!

 

 

I suspect that he raised the price from under a dollar to five dollars when he felt that everyone who was going to buy them cheap or in bulk had done so. At that point, he's rather sell one or two at five bucks than ten or twenty at fifty cents each. Fewer headaches.

 

Then he found a way to unload the lot for a quarter of a million dollars and thought that was a good idea.

 

Bill

Yep, I'm sure O'Sheas has done very well out of this whole exercise

[yuppicide]

That is a good idea, which I second.

 

Another idea for O'Shea's: they could donate a few dozen to every Goodwill store in the country every couple of weeks for the $4.95/each tax deduction. This would also perhaps teach GW about the true value of these things as they began piling up.

Absolutely genius, let's do it!

[tz101]

This is an interesting thread, but one that is very sad also. Here is my assessment of the O'Shea's affair: All the people who actually knew these games existed bought the ones that interested them years ago for less than a dollar a piece. Think for a minute of the total number of installed VCS/2600 consoles still in working order in the general population. The numbers decrease every year due to failed electrical components in the existing consoles and non-collectors who find their old unit(s) in the attic and toss it(them) in the trash to simply clear out storage space in their homes. Yes, there are multiple thousands of households that have 2600 systems that don't really care for them now that they have a Wii or Xbox360 system. As for hardcore collectors who would actually want to purchase CIB 2600 game carts, there were probably a good number, like myself, who never even knew that these were available for sale to the general public in the first place. Even in the Atari 2600's heyday, these games were surplus stock. Now, 30-some years later, the base of people who actually consider these games to still be of some value has dwindled substantially. Had O'Shea's actually advertised these in mainstream periodicals or magazines, the general public would have been made somewhat more aware that these were available, and hence, many more units would have been cleared from the salt caves. As it stood, with only hardcore Atari fans knowing of these from AA and other insider sources, the inventory was bound for the scrap heap sooner or later. Sad, but true...

[+Pat Brady]

I suspect that he raised the price from under a dollar to five dollars when he felt that everyone who was going to buy them cheap or in bulk had done so. At that point, he's rather sell one or two at five bucks than ten or twenty at fifty cents each. Fewer headaches.

 

Most businesspeople start with a high price, sell what they can at that price, then lower it as necessary. And AFAIK he never offered a bulk discount, which would have been a good idea considering the amount of inventory he eventually liquidated.

 

Now he's trying to sell Ballblazer for $15. He apparently didn't know about the POKEY chip until now. They weren't selling at $5! I am glad that he's not destroying those, but IMO he should be selling them at something like $50 per case.

[Wickeycolumbus]

Now he's trying to sell Ballblazer for $15. He apparently didn't know about the POKEY chip until now. They weren't selling at $5! I am glad that he's not destroying those, but IMO he should be selling them at something like $50 per case.

 

Actually, looks like they are all still listed at $5 each

 

https://www.oshealtd.com/atariorderform.htm

[+Mitch]

I wonder if he ever finished selling the Jag games he had.

 

Mitch

[JPjuice23]

Should I start buying some of these games now before they all go away?