Finding local treasures...

[+johnnywc]

Here's an FYI for all of you yard sale/thrift store people looking for Atari stuff...

 

As a test, a couple of weeks ago I ran an ad in my local want-ad/buyer's magazine asking people to call me if they had Atari stuff they wanted to sell. The ad ran for 7 days. I received 5 calls and closed 4 sales.

 

Here's what I was able to pick up:

 

7 systems:

- 2 4-switch woodgrain

- 1 4-switch Darth-vader

- 1 6-switch Sears Telegame

- 3 2600 Juniors

- all had cables and working power supplies

250 carts (224 unique):

- Rarest find was Track&Field and Skeet Shoot

- 5 games were mint in box (including Kung-Fu Master) and 1 NIB Pac-man

- most games were in mint condition

- mint instructions for over 100 games

Controllers:

- 11 working joysticks, including 3 slick-sticks, 1 gem stick, 1 gemini controller and 2 quick shot joysticks (1 MIB)

- 4 sets of paddles

- 1 Video Touch Pad

Miscellaneous stuff:

- 1 Atari Binder to hold 8 games

- 1 Atari briefcase to hold a system, controllers, and 10 carts

- 1 wood roll-cart to hold a system

- 1 cartridge storage case to hold 36 carts

 

Total price for everything: $145

 

Needless to say - I won't be going out to yard sales anytime soon!

[Mot]

I was thinking about doing just that but in my two horse town, I don't know what I would get. Plus my wife would divorce me if a got 7 more systems. (and I still don't have a 5200 )

 

Did people haggle over the price for the systems? Or did they say take it away for $10 bucks or something like that? Did anyone ask $100 or more for their system? Come on tell me more!!!!

[+johnnywc]

Mot -

 

FYI - I live in a 2 1/2 horse town and was able to get some pretty good feedback. All of the people I spoke with expected me to give them a price - they all said things like "I have no idea what it's worth...". My rule of thumb was a buck a game (with a complete system) and people jumped on it. By the last call I had put my estimate down to 50 cents a game and - guess what - they STILL jumped at it! Most people just want to get rid of the stuff and put the money towards a PS2 or Xbox or Gamecube. Lucky for me!

 

PS - I'm a player turned collector (mostly because of this web site!) but playing is still my top priority! (and my wife is very supportive when it comes to my new *hobby*, as long as it doesn't clutter the living room!!)

[King Asmo]

I usually pay 50 cents (Canadian) and $5.00 for the system in the ads I put out.. most people jump at that.. I think a lot of people don't even want the money that badly.. they just want to get rid of the clutter.

 

I'm surprised you picked up so many different titles.. I tend to get a TON of doubles.. I swear, in every batch of 30 games I get, there's always the following: Combat, Pac Man, Ms. Pac Man, Defender, Asteroids, Space Invaders.

 

I always get a ton of Star Raiders, but never any controllers.. where the heck do they go?

 

Anybody want to buy/trade for some commons?

 

Mike

[StanJr]

I ran an ad in my parent's small town newpaper for 2 weeks thinking that a little farming community like that would turn up an atari gold mine. Alas, there were NO calls at all! Unbelievable.

 

I'm pondering running a similar ad in the city paper here, but it costs an arm and a leg to do that, and I'm nervous about not getting any calls or getting people who think they have the lost treasure of Atlantis and want $5 for Combat....

 

Your story has inspired me, though.....

 

Pain in the ad, Stan

[+johnnywc]

I did get 4 copies of Combat, 4 Asteroids, 3 Pac-Man carts, etc. but I didn't get many dupes because I only bought from 4 people. Most non-collectors who have an Atari in their attic or basement have 1 copy of each game because they only needed (or wanted one) back in the day...

 

BTW - I only got one copy of Star Raiders too! (thankfully because I already have 9 copies...)

[Sylentwulf]

I've been thinking of doing that as well, maybe I'll give it a try soon

 

That star raiders questions has REALLY bugged me before, I would say for every 5 or 6 star raiders games I get a controller. And for every 2 or 3 controllers it has an overlay. Weirder STILL is that I can still sell the star raiders games without the controllers and people don't mind...

[+-^CrossBow^-]

quote

Weirder STILL is that I can still sell the star raiders games without the controllers and people don't mind...

 

So your the one!!!

 

hehe...J/K I actually think it is wrong to offer Star Raiders online through Ebay and not provide the controller. Still if people buy it..what can you do? The shops around here have multiples of Star Raiders and only one controller. I tell them that they shouldn't sell it unless the individual buying it has a controller already. Well, that was a mistake..because now those places have like only 1 or 2 keypad controllers and they sell them seperate for like $9 bucks!! Needless to say...the StarRaiders carts keep getting sold. But not the controllers to go with.

 

Some people...

[Atarinvader]

I was complaining in another thread that I cant get enough Atari stuff at car boots, but I have some wicked finds through free ads papers!

 

About the Star Raiders thing, Ive found that some people that respond to the ads have more 2600 consoles than games! Now that I find weird....

[Ze_ro]

I was thinking of doing this myself, but ended up getting side-tracked, and completely forgot about it... One of these days, I'll have to see what I can find

 

As for Star Raiders, I actually find a lot of keypads around here. In fact, out of three copies I have of the game, I have three keypads, and two overlays (One of the games is CIB). On the other side of things, I've only seen one copy of Indy 500, and absolutely no driving controllers at all (I'm told these are normally pretty common).. and I also find lots of ColecoVision power supplies, which it seems are decently rare as well.

 

--Zero

[ubersaurus]

Hey, I should try that!

[videotwit]

Sheesh... I must have at least a dozen keypad controllers in my giant storage unit from hell.

 

I'd gladly trade any (or all) of them.