Finally got a Heavy Sixer for my Atari 2600 collection!

[Nutsy Doodleheimer]

A couple weeks ago, my biggest wish was a dream come true. I love the Atari 2600. I have a Light Sixer, 4 switch woody, and a Darth Vader Model. But no Heavy Sixer. I was shopping around at a retro store which sells games, movies, and CD's called Movie Trading Company. And low and behold before my eyes in the glass container out In the wild there was an original Atari VCS Heavy Sixer in the case for $50. I lost it and my mouth dropped to the floor. I immediately purchased it, brought it home, gave it a great cleaning inside and out and is now in my game room. It is in immaculate condition, all the switches work and feel great, and plays flawlessly. I am so happy to finally get this awesome piece of Atari History. I felt like a little boy getting the gift he always wanted for X-Mas. :-)

[Cobra Commander]

What store did you get it at? My wife will be in Ft worth this month on business and she tries to find me games in the different cities she visits.

[Ransom]

That cleaned up really nice! Great find.

[Nutsy Doodleheimer]

What store did you get it at? My wife will be in Ft worth this month on business and she tries to find me games in the different cities she visits.

I got it at Movie Trading Company in North Dallas. People bring old consoles sometimes. There is a huge one on Greenville Ave in Dallas. And a great store FX Games Exchange on Custer and Parker Road in Plano. Avoid CGX total ripoffs!! I got kicked out of there telling them you are morons for selling a dirty 4 switch wood grain VCS with a power adapter and one joystick controller for $90. Roughly 3 times more than what it's worth.

[AlecRob]

You should put speakers in it an call it an "extra heavy sixer"

[Cobra Commander]

I got it at Movie Trading Company in North Dallas. People bring old consoles sometimes. There is a huge one on Greenville Ave in Dallas. And a great store FX Games Exchange on Custer and Parker Road in Plano. Avoid CGX total ripoffs!! I got kicked out of there telling them you are morons for selling a dirty 4 switch wood grain VCS with a power adapter and one joystick controller for $90. Roughly 3 times more than what it's worth.

Movie Trading is the same as Vintage Stock I believe. They have five or so locations in OKC that my wife scored me several(40+) games from in her visits there. When asked about there other stores they were able to tell her that the Joplin MO store has over 3000! vcs games under that SKU in their inventory

[onemoretime]

Went to Traders Village one time, and there was a feller that brought in a Heavy 6er, some games, and controllers. I didn't want to cut into his business, so I just watched as the vendor bought the whole box for 20 bucks. After the transaction was completed, I inquired about the 6er, and he told me probably 120 bucks. I understand having to make a profit to keep the doors open on a business, but don't understand why folks feel they need to retire on one item's profit.

[freewheel]

I understand having to make a profit to keep the doors open on a business, but don't understand why folks feel they need to retire on one item's profit.

 

I've been dealing in used goods and collectibles for several decades. It's amazing how many people who deal with this stuff, especially in a retail environment, think they need 200, 300, often 1000% profit margins just to survive. What ends up happening is that 95% of their stock sits collecting dust for literally YEARS, so their sales rate is pretty low. So they figure they need to buy at ridiculously low levels and sell at insanely high prices. What these idiots don't realize is that their pricing is precisely WHY shit sits around for years. And this becomes a vicious cycle, where sales are so rare that they need to keep bumping up the profit margin just to stay afloat, which leads to even fewer sales. Eventually they go out of business and I pick stuff up for a fraction of their sale prices, when it reaches more like reality. And they absolutely hate it when I point out to them that this is why stuff is finally selling.

 

I saw it especially with comics and trading cards, before price guides became standard and accepted. Everyone who was alive and dealing 20 years ago remembers how Beanies went. Right now I'm watching the same trend with the retro game scene. It's unbelievable how many times I walk into a store, see them selling a (random example) Sega Genesis console for $100. So I figure holy crap, I can make some money here, maybe they'll pay me $30-40 for one (I can still find consoles in the wild for $5-10). They'll offer $10, maybe $15 for something they're trying to sell for $100. And have the nerve to tell me that a) they can't find many to buy, and b) they sell so few that they need to make a good profit on them. When I suggest paying $20 and selling for say $50, which would help on both ends and move a hell of a lot more stock, they look at me like I'm nuts.

 

This is the biggest reason I find so much of the "value" of retro games to be sorely inflated. A huge chunk of the existing product is sitting collecting dust in these over-priced stores, which basically makes everything artificially rarer. It's unbelievable how many thousands of NES/SNES carts the average store has, that have been there for 5+ years. Any other business would long since have tried to clear them out. The used game scene has been like this basically since the late 80s in my experience. It just cycles through whatever generation system is currently "hot". I can't wait until stores think that PS2/Xbox games are "worth" $5-10 for common games, which drives up the perceived "value" for everything and everyone else, because I'll probably buy a car out of my profit at that point.

[Rik]

I found my mint condition Sunnyvale Heavy Six about 4-5 years ago at Value Village for $30.00. Now however, stuff like this is put in the display case. Last time I checked there was a 6 switch in the Silver label box which was beat up and rotted from water damage, 10 dirt common games in ripped up boxes, all for $120.00. I can imagine what they now want for a Heavy Six.