Untested Items

[markheus]

Man I hate untested items. Common sense tells me just to let it sit, as no matter how good a deal it seems. Chances are that untested=unworking and the seller doesn't want to disclose it. And that no matter how good a deal it may seem to be, most likely it'll just be junk.

 

Then again, there's always that thought in the back of my mind that it *just may work* and that the seller is honest when he says he doesn't have a way to test it.

 

Then again, if you were selling something - wouldn't you make a little bit of effort in order to be able to honestly say that an item has been tested and is guranteed against DOA. I understand we're dealing with vintage electronics - but come on - an RF adaptor is 4 bucks!

 

Anyway... just ranting while I try and make up my mind... Thanks...

[Urchlay]

Then again, if you were selling something - wouldn't you make a little bit of effort in order to be able to honestly say that an item has been tested and is guranteed against DOA. I understand we're dealing with vintage electronics - but come on - an RF adaptor is 4 bucks!

 

I wouldn't buy an untested console unless it was really, really cheap... like, a dollar plus shipping (assuming it's not one of those ripoffs where they charge you $25 for shipping)

 

Untested carts are probably fine (and if the seller hasn't got the console to test them on, what's he supposed to do?). I guess it depends on how rare they are, and/or how bad you want them.

 

What I really hate... I went to a video game store once, saw a 7800 minus its power supply and controllers. Guy had no idea if it worked or not... I offered him $10 cash, he wouldn't take it. He said, "I can sell it on E-bay for $30"... even though I can get a fully functional 7800 on E-bay for that. I came back 6 months later and the same 7800 was still sitting there, taking up space, not making him any money. At that point I wouldn't have given the guy a dollar for it (and I guess other people felt the same way: his store is out of business now).

[markheus]

 

What I really hate... I went to a video game store once, saw a 7800 minus its power supply and controllers. Guy had no idea if it worked or not... I offered him $10 cash, he wouldn't take it. He said, "I can sell it on E-bay for $30"... even though I can get a fully functional 7800 on E-bay for that. I came back 6 months later and the same 7800 was still sitting there, taking up space, not making him any money. At that point I wouldn't have given the guy a dollar for it (and I guess other people felt the same way: his store is out of business now).

 

Yeah - I despise those " But I can get this for it on eBay" type people. Or pawn shops were anything old is "rare and collectible"

 

Those type of people dont' last long. I see a lot of them out where I live though - as there aern't alot of places that sell vintage gear. Unless, of course - I drive into St. Louis.

 

I just wish people would be honest in describing something. If it doesn't work - Say it doesn't work!

Edited August 21, 2006 by markheus

[+wavemotion]

Then again, if you were selling something - wouldn't you make a little bit of effort in order to be able to honestly say that an item has been tested and is guranteed against DOA. I understand we're dealing with vintage electronics - but come on - an RF adaptor is 4 bucks!

 

Anyway... just ranting while I try and make up my mind... Thanks...

I'm with you on this... when I sell something I try to be as accurate as possible and rather than just say "works great" with vintage electronics I usually list exactly what I tried. For an Atari System, I'd say that I tried joysticks in both ports, played with all the color and difficulty switches, etc. Sometimes, however, some things can't be tested. I found a cheap Atari 800 computer at a yard sale once and (at the time) was not collecting them so decided to sell it. I hooked it up and it powered on but the video screen froze blue a few seconds after power-on. It had a disc drive, tape drive, some sort of printer and lots of cables and I sold it on ebay. I carefully listed the item as not working - and made an extra effort to plug in the tape drive and see that at least the spindle motor turned forward and backwards when buttons were pressed. I also plugged in the disc drive and saw the little LED light for a few seconds as it spun up. I couldn't test them in full, but I mentioned clearly what I did observe and listed them honestly and mentioned that I'd be willing to run any other simple test if asked prior to a person bidding.

 

The seller who got the lot was pleased - most of the stuff worked and they felt they got a very fair deal given how cheap the lot was and I was glad to recover my yard sale expenditure for the week!

 

I guess I'm saying that even without proper hookups or some other problems, some simple tests can still be done and documented to give some confidence that the item may be salvageable.

 

This year I bought a Colecovision and an Intellivision on ebay. Both were listed as-is, not tested. Both were $5 plus reasonable shipping. Neither worked... at first. The CV I was able to fix by opening up the unit and seeing that the power switch was totally gumed up and would not make proper contact. It was a total mess inside - but after cleaning the contacts and the inside, it now works. The Intellivision I never got working - but cosmetically the unit was in great shape and the controllers were perfect - and they can be swapped out to another system in the future if I need them (they are attached inside the case, but removing the case is fairly easy). In the end, it was probably worth it, but as far as I'm concerned as-is, not-tested means non-functional and you should be pleasantly surprised if it arrives in any other condition. If it's cheap enough (or the spare parts alone may be useful - controllers, cords, etc), it may be worth the risk.

Edited August 21, 2006 by llabnip

[Student Driver]

Then again, if you were selling something - wouldn't you make a little bit of effort in order to be able to honestly say that an item has been tested and is guranteed against DOA. I understand we're dealing with vintage electronics - but come on - an RF adaptor is 4 bucks!

 

This assumes, of course, that a seller even knows how to use/hook-up vintage electronics, what an RF adaptor is, where to get one, etc. Someone clearing out the attic who's hoping to sell an old system for $5 or so usually isn't going to know any of that. Chances are they'll plug the bare RCA RF cable into a video input jack, turn the system on, know they're "not connecting it right" somehow, then hedge their bets by saying the system's untested. (Hell, most people I know don't know how to easily change to auxiliary video inputs on modern TVs, let alone know the differences between RF and composite RCA cables.)

 

At least they're admitting that they don't know if the system works-- I've been burned often by sellers who claim something works simply because they recall it working before they packed it away a decade ago.

 

Holding non-enthusiasts to the same standards as ourselves, and getting ticked that they don't know how to test the systems the way we would, seems a little strange.

[shadow460]

The Intellivision I never got working - but cosmetically the unit was in great shape and the controllers were perfect - and they can be swapped out to another system in the future if I need them (they are attached inside the case, but removing the case is fairly easy).

I'd swap the guts from a working console that's been bashed up some. If yours looks really good, swap the guts from any working console into it.

[Urchlay]

Holding non-enthusiasts to the same standards as ourselves, and getting ticked that they don't know how to test the systems the way we would, seems a little strange.

 

Nobody said anything about holding them to our standards... I wouldn't expect an average E-Bay seller to do anything more than hook a console up to a TV, put a cartridge in, power it on, and see whether the game comes up. If he's really diligent, he'll maybe play the game a couple of times to test the controllers.

 

I wouldn't expect Joe Average Seller to be able to tell me e.g. whether his 7800 has the expansion port, or whether his 2600 gets a lot of RF interference, or even whether his 5200 is 2-port or 4-port. I just wish they'd do basic "does it work at all" testing, the kind anybody can do (or find out how to do by 10 minutes of googling, or ask a friend...)

 

Worst case scenario, the seller might have to buy an RCA to F connector adaptor for $5... which he could then include as part of the sale, to make his $5 back.

 

Well, OK, having a console but no carts would be a worse case than that... but I've never been to a video game store that wouldn't have let me hook up my console to their TV and test it with one of their carts (even the "I can sell it on E-Bay" guy would have let me do that, I bet).

[Student Driver]

Nobody said anything about holding them to our standards... I wouldn't expect an average E-Bay seller to do anything more than hook a console up to a TV, put a cartridge in, power it on, and see whether the game comes up. If he's really diligent, he'll maybe play the game a couple of times to test the controllers.

 

...and my point was that the average eBay seller isn't even going to know how to do this. You mention the "simple need to buy an RF-to-F-connector adaptor;" it's simple for us, but do average people who are digging out a 20 year old console from their attic know about these things? Rarely. We're in a society where people don't know how to set their clocks, let alone hook up old technology to modern. We're in a society that returns DVD players as "broken" because they hook composite cables to their TV's component jacks and wonder why the picture doesn't work, or simply can't decipher the pictograms in the instruction books. People who leave their brightness and contrast turned all the way up, then wonder why their CRTs are crap after a year. People who put oil in their car when the "check engine" light comes on. Et al. A few people, as I said, would think the 2600's RF cable is a composite video cable; some might even dig out their old switchboxes, wonder what the hell the twin-leads were supposed to do, and give up.

 

So, in my opinion, knowing how to hook a 2600 to a modern tv/monitor is out of the province of anyone who isn't already an enthusiast of older video technology. Grandma Phyllis who just found the kids' Atari under her Hallmark Store Christmas Ornaments box is not going to haul her console TV out from the wall and figure out how to hook up the system, and frankly, probably isn't going to go out and spend $5 on an adaptor if she understood how to use it. She just wants rid of her junk without having to jump through a bunch of hoops.

[markheus]

So, in my opinion, knowing how to hook a 2600 to a modern tv/monitor is out of the province of anyone who isn't already an enthusiast of older video technology. Grandma Phyllis who just found the kids' Atari under her Hallmark Store Christmas Ornaments box is not going to haul her console TV out from the wall and figure out how to hook up the system, and frankly, probably isn't going to go out and spend $5 on an adaptor if she understood how to use it. She just wants rid of her junk without having to jump through a bunch of hoops.

 

I completely understand what you mean about technologically illiterate society, I install DirecTV for a living and deal with it every day.

 

My issue isn't when grandma Phyllis wants to sell a few things out of her attic. Its when a seller who sells video equipment will have two auctions going, one for a Sega Gensis that's guranteed to work, and another for an Atari that that's "untested." Someone who sells a lot of games and systems (based on feedback history) *should* have the knowledge to hook up an adaptor. Heck, he should have a dozen laying around.

 

At least they're admitting that they don't know if the system works-- I've been burned often by sellers who claim something works simply because they recall it working before they packed it away a decade ago.

 

This to me is code for "it doesn't work but I'm going to make it sound like it works" You know - to hedge his/her bets.

 

Man I'm cynical...

[Student Driver]

My issue isn't when grandma Phyllis wants to sell a few things out of her attic. Its when a seller who sells video equipment will have two auctions going, one for a Sega Gensis that's guranteed to work, and another for an Atari that that's "untested." Someone who sells a lot of games and systems (based on feedback history) *should* have the knowledge to hook up an adaptor. Heck, he should have a dozen laying around.

 

Gotcha, and agreed.

[Video]

When I'm on Ebay, It's like that all the time.

 

What I can tell you, if it's a new console, or newish, then there's no excuse in the "untested" statement, as all the newer ones, will, without a game, come on, and useually sit in a waiting screen wanting discs or memory cards or something. In other words, Untested means, Doesn't work. I pitty the people who buy that crap, can't blame the person selling it for trying though.

 

Now with old games, your Ataris, coleco's, etc, then Untested, hell, even if they Have tested it, doesn't neccessarily mean it doesn't work. It may mean it's dirty and didn't work right, or hell, that it's genuinely untested. You got a good chance of getting working stuff, just by cleaning it. I'd just suggest checking the feedback, if it's good, it's probably OK. If not, don't bother. Either way, don't pay high prices for untested stuff.

 

And the "Worked 10 years ago" thing is also a guaranteed Doesn't work. Don't bother, just go on.

[markheus]

Interesting little update.

 

I told the guy I wasn't interested because I didn't want to take a chance on buying untested equipment.

 

Today he sent me an email saying that he tested it and that everything was working fine. He relisted the items saying as much.

 

Guess he was just lazy LOL

[Shawn]

I'll buy an untested AKA not working system auction as long as the games that come with it and\or the accessories make up the price I pay, cause as stated already games are normally fine but consoles are a totally different story. Out of the 5 or 6 packages I have bought "untested" 2 of them had working consoles and the other 4 or 5 where all shot. Not once have I got a dead 2600 game, plenty that where so gross with sludge and grudge on the contacts they needed a good bath but never dead though.