What do I do? Need advice on buying a stash of Atari stuff!

[Dolt]

As I predicted, the TV repairman dove into his attic and called me today to tell me what he found. That "100 games in their boxes" turned out to be about 85 games (no duplicates though), about 20-25 of which are in boxes. Other stuff he found included a trak-ball new in the box, an empty 2600 box and some 5200 games. That's a good stash of stuff, and if I was just starting out collecting, I'd be estatic. However, it's a tough call for me.

 

He wants to sell it all as a lot, but I'm basically just interested in the games; I have a trak-ball (admittedly in a crappy box, but good enough that I'm not dying for a better one), don't care about the 5200 games and don't want the empty 2600 box since I'll never find the 2600 unit with matching serial numbers to go with it. I can't reasonably ask him to type up a list or read over the phone the 85 games, so now I'm in a quandry.

 

I already own 370 games so odds are that I have the majority (perhaps even all) of his 85 already, and while I don't have many boxed games (maybe 40-50), the big dollar signs that are surely flashing in his eyes are not worth it for the handful of boxed games that I wouldn't have (unless of course there's a Eli's Ladder in there, but we all know the likelyhood of that). Odds are that 40-50 of the 85 games are common Rarity 1s and 2s which go for 50 cents anyway.

 

So now if I want to see what the story is, I'm going to have to drive an hour and a half to his store, see what he has, I can't cherry-pick the games I want, and invariably I'll have to dicker over the price, which I hate hate hate to do. While obviously I'd resell what I didn't need, I suspect that I wouldn't be able to sell them for enough to break even.

 

The kicker is that he's pretty insistent that he wants an offer over the phone before he drags it all out of his attic to his car and takes it to his store. I understand his point of view, as that's a pain in the butt to do all that work if you don't know if a sale will come from it, but I'm extremely reluctant to make an offer til I see the stuff, so that may be a deal breaker for either one of us.

 

It's not a trust thing--he's a nice guy and clearly isn't looking to scam me; our deal last week went fine, even though I probably overpaid about $15-20, which is my own fault for not being more steadfast in what I was willing to pay. $20 is not going to kill me anyway. The issue is more than he doesn't know what the going rate is for this stuff and reading between the lines of our conversation, he's suspecting a windfall.

 

The whole thing is so discouraging that a big part of me is saying that I ought to walk away from it. And yet--what if there's a few games that I've been looking for in there?

 

So--any advice on what I should do? Obviously whatever I choose is my own decision, but some input from fellow collectors would be a big help. And if I ought to make an offer for all this stuff, given what I know about it sight unseen, what's a fair and reasonable amount to offer?

 

Clive

[holygrailvideogames.com]

You just never know. It could be all crap or you could end up with a $500 game. If you have the time and you don't mind the drive, I probably would gamble and check out the stuff. If he insist on an offer up front I would insist on knowing what he has first and lowball him because without seeing the stuff first you have no clue as to the condition.

[ANTHONY ATARI]

Id tell him to make the list and read it over the phone. as the buyer, you have that right.

[Saikyo]

Ok heres what id do, phone him up and ask for the list of games.

If he cant do that then arrange to have a look at the box first.

 

And if thats too troublesome then just tell him "Unless I see the games first

then I'm afraid theres no sale".

 

Go slowly though dont say things too quickly or he'll instantly think you know

he's got something very valuable and the deal will be off.

 

And if all else fails you could always take the gamble.

[Rick Weis]

personally i would offer no more then 100$ without seeing a list! sounds like the boxes are not mint since he has many loose carts.

 

might be worth taking a chance! Good Luck,

 

Rick

[Prof Procyon]

I'd say there's a price for everything.

 

When you sell as a lot, you know you will not get the sum of the prices of all individual items.

 

When you pick random stuff blindly, you can't really assume anything more than the minimum.

 

85 common games with some boxed = about 50$

Boxed unworking trackball = 10$

Empty 2600 box (some people seem to not care about serials so you can always sell that with a random system) = 5$

 

My first offer would be 65$, and my max 75$. Over that, it's a risk I would not be ready to take for a lot I can't see before making an offer.

[highinfidelity]

I agree with Procyon: I would sum up a reasonable market price but taking for granted that it's a bunch of crap. Then I would tell him my offer, and see how he reacts. He will probably be pissed off since he was figuring to make big bucks out of it. At this point, you can tell him that it's not your final offer and that you can agree on a higher price, but only AFTER having seen what's in the lot and the condition of the stuff.

 

I understand your curiosity. OMNE IGNOTUM PRO MAGNIFICO EST, the latin said. Please keep us updated!

[Mindfield]

My absolute maximum would be $85 sight unseen, since I'd assume nothing but commons and largely fair labels. (Dirty, possible a little peeling, a screw hole here or there, etc.) That's the average of what I get on a weekly basis anyway. (Fair commons, not 85 games. :-) I often get boxed commons for the same price as new, anyway, sometimes cheaper in lots (heck, I just won about 25 of 'em for a total of $20) A sealed trackball is not necessarily an indicator of functionality -- I've seen sealed stuff that had some nasty water damage and was probably rusted to hell inside. Besides, you can get NOS CX80s for $15. The 5200 game and 2600 box I wouldn't offer anything for with the bundle.

 

That would be my take-it-or-leave-it point unless you've got a comprehensive list of contents and conditions (with your interpretation of label conditions so there's to mistaking your "fair" for his "mint"). You're the one shelling out. If he wants the money, the least he can do is give you more information than the quantity.

[StanJr]

If he cannot be bothered to drag the stuff out to the store for you to see, I'd make him an extremely low ball offer over the phone ($50 max) telling him that is what you would pay sight unseen. Then see if you can work it out from there.

If he is willing to drag it out, I say its worth a look. An hour and half is a bit of a haul, but we ARE talking 85 games plus other stuff, not just some dude who found "some games" in his closet.

 

Regardless of what is in there, I wouldn't buy the lot for more than $70, tops. At best its 85 games, 2 of which are truly rare, a dozen are moderately rare and the rest are common as dirt. The Trak-ball is a good find in the box, but there rest is just some common 5200 stuff (you KNOW it is) and an empty Atari box (whoopee!)

 

Basically you are looking at buying a bunch of commons, a Trak-ball in box, and an empty cardboard box that says Atari. $70 is more than fair.

[ATARIPITBULL]

What Stan has said is right, but I would still ask if he would please take them to his store, since you are willing to drive the hour and a half to see them, its not that much work for him.

 

[Dolt]

Basically I went with what y'all said, except I did offer more than $65. Here in the suburbs of New York City, everything costs an arm and a leg. People won't spit on you for less than 5 bucks, so $65 would be a slap in the face; and let's face it, it's also way below ebay value, which is likely what he'd try to compare it to. Here's what I ended up emailing to him:

 

"Thanks for the phone call; I appreciate it that you went searching for those Atari games. I know you wanted me to give you a price before coming up there, but that’s a hard thing to do without knowing what games you have or the condition of the boxes. If it has to be a sight-unseen offer, then I offer $100, breaking it down as $1 for each of the 85 2600 games, $10 for the trak-ball and $5 for the box. I feel $100 is a lot of money to throw around without knowing exactly what I’m buying, so I hope you feel it's a fair amount. Let me know what you think; thanks again."

 

I worded it so that it will make him think twice about not telling me the games. If he calls me up, lists the games and says the magic word "Quadrun," then yeah, I'll pay a bit more. If it saves me a trip for games I already have, then that's good too. If I don't buy the lot, I'll send his contact info on to all you folks who've already(!) PM'd me for it and you vultures can rip him to shreds.

 

Now to wait and see what he says...

[Saikyo]

Hey what if all the games are ones that you dont own that would be sooo cool!

 

(Sorry to get your hopes up.) |

[Dolt]

Well, my email worked. He wound up going back up to the attic, doing a proper inventory and here's the total of what he has:

 

121 games, 5 of which are duplicates, and 25 are CIB.

7 empty game boxes with no corresponding games.

"Manuals for just about all the games that aren't in boxes"

A CIB Indy 500 set

A 5200 VCS adaptor unit

1 set of paddles, 2 joysticks, 2 switch boxes

1 Atari VCS box-empty.

1 Trak-Ball mint in box

A few loose 5200 games

 

I'm going to see the stash on Saturday morning. He wants $125 for it all, and I had offered $100 previously when he estimated it was 85 games, and hadn't found the VCS adaptor, extra controllers and empty boxes. Depending on what I find when I see it all, I suspect we'll land somewhere in between. Now I'm just hoping

A-that there's some good rare stuff I don't have in there, and

B-that those duplicates are all Quadruns, Crazy Climbers, Chuckwagons, Eli's Ladders, Glibs, and/or Waterworlds. (Well, I can dream, can't I?)

 

Wish me luck!

[Mindfield]

That sounds a lot more promising. Odds are that out of that 100+ game lot, there's going to be at at least a handful of scarce titles and a few rares, with the possibility of a VR or ER, and the outside chance of a UR.

[dykesr]

good luck man and let us know what happens.

 

RD