Help please system new or no?

[poseur3970]

ok so here's the deal selling collection yes posted this in another forum yes but this seemed like a better place so added pics and details, so when I was veery young my dad bought a colecovision and Atari 5200 but then he bought a 2nd of each in case the first broke, anyway I bought the two ataris from him a couple of years ago and I looked in the box which has a bunch of wear, however I believe it was opened and a controller taken out, due probably to the fact that controllers broke like crazy, however I fully believe that everything else in the box is brand new never touched original plastic around system other controller and hookups all still in boxes etc. I did my very best to take pics of everything to show here, yes I will be selling this maybe here as I hate ebay and have had one offer on here, but really need to figure out what is what here, but again I do believe everyrhing is legit as I know this was bought new by my father has never left the family and we would have had no means to reseal a bag over a system any help though is greatly greatly appreciated, the only other possibility is did these ever get packaged with 1 controller I doubt it but i'm hoping lol.

 

 

[poseur3970]

I fully admit this is something i'm looking to sell potentially on here maybe on ebay idk but value is so hard to figure out at this point for me, and I just don't want to rip someone off or be ripped off for that matter and I figured this is the best place to get suggestions I got a couple on the other board in here but still feel like maybe I misplaced the post there and added some more pics here

[CPUWIZ]

What turns me off personally, in terms of being new, is how the joystick cord is wrapped around the stick. Can you take it out of the box?

 

Otherwise it looks pretty minty.

[Mats90245]

Wheres the pink film that covered the Silver on the console?

 

When the 5200 was new, that pink film was on it and was to be removed by the owner. It was there to prevent scratching.

 

It doesnt look like your console has it, so you wont be able to sell it as new IMO.

 

The photo here is my basically new 5200. It has the pink on both the console and controllers and looks like it just came from the factory. Box is also nearly perfect as is the internal packaging.

[poseur3970]

it appears to not be there, i'm going to take whole thing out and take pics of it cuz I know it's sealed so that's where I become confused, like I said I know for a fact that this was bout by my father brand new, the only only thing I can think is would it have been possible that it was returned to a store repackaged and then resealed, but i'm going to take a few good pics of the plastic around the system and see if anyone know if that's how it would have been, are we 100 percent positive every Atari came with that pink strip? idk i'm so so confused at this point...I know that system was never ever booted by us though 110 percent cuz our loose one still works perfectly fine

[+-^CrossBow^-]

it appears to not be there, i'm going to take whole thing out and take pics of it cuz I know it's sealed so that's where I become confused, like I said I know for a fact that this was bout by my father brand new, the only only thing I can think is would it have been possible that it was returned to a store repackaged and then resealed, but i'm going to take a few good pics of the plastic around the system and see if anyone know if that's how it would have been, are we 100 percent positive every Atari came with that pink strip? idk i'm so so confused at this point...I know that system was never ever booted by us though 110 percent cuz our loose one still works perfectly fine

 

He might actually be onto something here. I know my 7800 was bought new from the store for my birthday back in '87 I believe it was, and I didn't find out until much later that the silver strip should have had that clear plastic protection on it. Mine didn't. I also found out later when I eventually modded it into a DevOS system, that mine has the expansion port on it and what appears to be factory repair work on the underside of the board. Since mine came new from the store in a later release box etc, but actually has the expansion port, I'm about 90% sure it was a return that was repaired by Atari and then Atari packaged back up as new putting an original '84 made mainboard into a later shell without the cutout for the expansion port and sold as new.

 

So I suppose it is possible that the same or similar could have been done with all of the systems back then. I do remember peeling the clear protective strips off both of my CX-24 controllers but never from the 7800 itself.

 

Wouldn't put it past Atari corp to have boxed up a factory refurbed 5200 and sold it back out as new.

[CRTGAMER]

Gaah, please use caps and paragraphs! Your OP appears as a ramble and hard to read.

 

Concur with others, should be pink film on the aluminum of the console and two controllers. I bought my 5200 console new back in the day and if I remember right, the cords were not wrapped around the sticks from the factory. All that stated, looks like a good re-boxing; sweet that the 5200 Pacman intact with that blue sticker on the sealed game box.

[zylon]

I've never seen a new 5200 or 5200 stick without the pink plastic. Even 30yrs later, you still find it on stuff. When best Electronics still sold new 5200 faceplates, they still came with it on them.

[Rick Dangerous]

Damn. That is one fresh looking 5200. Would love to find one NOS like that and keep it looking that way...

[Swami]

 

He might actually be onto something here. I know my 7800 was bought new from the store for my birthday back in '87 I believe it was, and I didn't find out until much later that the silver strip should have had that clear plastic protection on it. Mine didn't. I also found out later when I eventually modded it into a DevOS system, that mine has the expansion port on it and what appears to be factory repair work on the underside of the board. Since mine came new from the store in a later release box etc, but actually has the expansion port, I'm about 90% sure it was a return that was repaired by Atari and then Atari packaged back up as new putting an original '84 made mainboard into a later shell without the cutout for the expansion port and sold as new.

 

So I suppose it is possible that the same or similar could have been done with all of the systems back then. I do remember peeling the clear protective strips off both of my CX-24 controllers but never from the 7800 itself.

 

Wouldn't put it past Atari corp to have boxed up a factory refurbed 5200 and sold it back out as new.

... or the retailer selling return/refurb as new. Ebay sellers will list lightly used things as New (other) and then mince words in the description.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

... or the retailer selling return/refurb as new. Ebay sellers will list lightly used things as New (other) and then mince words in the description.

True and I would have thought that, but it still doesn't explain why the 7800 my folks purchased from Kay Bee back in the day was in the newer '87 style box and doesn't have the opening for the expansion port on the shell, yet the port is there on the main board and all the chips are socketed on that 7800. Like I said, there are bodge resistors and such along the bottom of the PCB indicating some factory work was done on the system or at least last min corrections to the original design. It is an oddball 7800 no doubt but it works really well and was my childhood 7800. So that means it stays in its box now and only brought out on rare occasions when a second 7800 is needed for comparison..etc.

[Swami]

True and I would have thought that, but it still doesn't explain why the 7800 my folks purchased from Kay Bee back in the day was in the newer '87 style box and doesn't have the opening for the expansion port on the shell, yet the port is there on the main board and all the chips are socketed on that 7800. Like I said, there are bodge resistors and such along the bottom of the PCB indicating some factory work was done on the system or at least last min corrections to the original design. It is an oddball 7800 no doubt but it works really well and was my childhood 7800. So that means it stays in its box now and only brought out on rare occasions when a second 7800 is needed for comparison..etc.

Something like that was mentioned in the Concerto discussion thread, while trying to sort out compatibility issues, that there were 7800 versions with expansion port module and hole, models with expansion port module and no hole, but an indent, and then no expansion port module or hole. Altogether there were something like 28 revisions to the 7800 with changes that were not cataloged anywhere, so they probably did a lot of mixing and matching at the factory. Some owners could see where traces were cut and such. I suppose ithe 7800 could also be a factory refurb, since I don't think any of the factories marked console boxes as factory refurbs after the 2600. The OP's 5200 could go to either factory refurb or retailer repackaged return. Although, I don't know if the oddly wrapped controller cord on the 5200 is something that would be done with either a brand new unit or factory refurb. That is the question for me.

[cybercylon]

It does look like it is in good shape, but I can't see how it can be sold as new. Since you can't get around the missing pink film part, I would be honest about it and just say it is in near mint condition (wish mine looked like that).

[poseur3970]

I guess I should add if I remember correct that controller that has the wire wrapped weird does still have the pink strip on it, so wondering if my dad took them both out but then put one back lol but it's def. unused tight as should be and not a mark on it anyway this 5200 is for sale