OKC Vintage Stock--STAY AWAY

[shadow460]

Read a few posts down to see what's happening. I'm 2 for 2 right now in getting faulty games from, and they charged me a hack of a lot more than I'd pay at Game X Change.

 

I just went in there this evening. They've got a good selection of Atari games, a light sixer, a 5200, and one very chatty manager. The 4 port 5200 is not for sale as of yet because she cannot get online to get a price on it. It has eight games, not all of them are Atari, four controllers, and the funky switchbox that it needs to run.

A word of advice...visit them now. They do not have access to their internet based price guide, so that means that the games are priced at whatever the store she got them from had on the stickers. Let me translate, that means that many of the store's prices are less than what the games are worth. Here's what I got:

 

2600 (remember I'm not actively collecting for the VCS):

Bugs $1

Warplock $1

Mega Force $2

Flash Gordon $8

 

5200:

Centipede $1

Football $1

Star Raiders $1

 

Game Gear:

Sonic Chaos $3

 

That lot should have cost over $30, and it didn't. I'd have gotten Star Trek, Vanguard, and River Raid for the 5200 if they'd been for sale, but they weren't.

 

Their internet connection may or may not be up tomorrow. If it's not, it will be very likely that the lowball prices will still be in effect. The downside is that there are some items that are not for sale, and she will not take in trades yet. I offered to trade in one game that's worth $85 according to her price guide. There's no way I'd have ever spent the store credit I'd have gotten, even though it wouldn't have been anywhere close to that.

 

Sure it's dirty to catch 'em off guard like that and then send people in, but so be it. They've already made up for it in previous stores. She bought a lot of Saturn games for $40, and it had Sonic Jam and Panzer Dragoon Saga, which sold for $150.

I'm almost certain I'll get the "let me do a quick check on ebay" line in there at some point, and if that happens, I'm not buying whatever item it is.

 

Anyway, it is a nice store, and the people are friendly like most of the Game X Change folks. Vintage Stock blows GXC away for selection, but GXC kills them on price. I suppose a scalper could use that to his advantage...

 

Vintage Stock did not open in Moore yet, AFAIK, but they may be planning to open there later. I'm sure that pmpddytim knows if and when they will open down south. The one I went to is near SE 29th and Air Depot. Find Lowe's, then enter that shopping center and go east (toward Starbuck's). They said they were by Target, but I never saw Target while I was driving up to the place. (Oh wait--I'm supposed to remove the cardboard visor from my window before I drive, right?)

You can't miss Vintage Stock.

 

Pardon me, I've got games to test!

Edited November 29, 2006 by shadow460

[pmpddytim]

Yeah the one in Moore won't be open for quite a while. They have yet to start building the huge shopping center its going into.

 

Thanks for the heads up on the OKC one, when I get back in town I'll check it out.

 

-Tim

[Bill Brasky]

Flash Gordon $8

 

Wowie zowie!! I'll shoot right over!!

[shadow460]

Flash Gordon $8

 

Wowie zowie!! I'll shoot right over!!

 

What, too much, not enough? Hm?

DP says it's worth more than that. I figure that I probably did pay too much, but it all evens out. I've gotten several R5 and R6 Sears picture labels for a buck each, and I got a couple more R6 titles for about ten cents each.

 

'coordin' to the manager there, R6 titles are worth $25.

Still, though, now's the time to clean the place out before she marks up the "bulk video games" from $1 to whatever jacked up price the online resources (read: "ebay") say they are worth.

 

If you want a Flash Gordon, I've got one for trade...but I'd rather trade across R4 for R4. I got a second Flash cart in the mail this morning...go figure.

 

There's more...I asked about returning the first Flash gordon cart since I've hardly used it. I proposed trading it out for a title of equal value, they said no to that.

I also got a dead Centipede cart from them, and they told me that I have a seven day warranty and that's it. It'll cost me more for the fuel to drive out there than what I paid for the cart, and they have eight 5200 games but they won't trade any of those off.

I'd even be willing to take a few more VCS carts out there, but they won't take them in yet since they can't look them up online.

 

I dunno if I'll be shopping out there much now. When I posted all this, I didn't know I'd be getting a dupe Flash Gordon, and I didn't know Centipede was dead. The first FLash gordon didn't work at first, either--it was corroded pretty badly.

By comparison, Game X Change has a 24 hour no qestions asked return policy and a 90 day warranty on all the games they sell.

 

I'm excited to have another retro gaming store in town, but my first impression of vintage Stock here in Oklahoma City is not a good one.

Edited November 29, 2006 by shadow460

[EricDeLee]

 

--------------------

 

I like to endlessly penalize OU and fanatically promote Texas without watching any of the plays and especially without any knowledge of football whatsoev--uh, wait a minute.

Look who's going to the Big 12 south championship! How about my Sooners!

 

 

 

 

I think the Sooners will be shocked by The REAL Big Red.... Go Huskers!

[PressureCooker2600]

too bad i cant have a list of every atari game they had and i could send u money for them

[SteveW]

I'm still waiting for Movie Trading Company locations here in Dallas to change over to Vintage Stock stores. They've finally put flyers up in their store windows advertising that they now buy old videogames and consoles, including TurboGrafx-16 and SMS. I'd be so happy to be able to pop into a local store and buy Turbo games any time I want. Too bad they still don't have anything yet. A couple Genesis consoles, a SNES, a Dreamcast, three or four N64s (those are like a plague around here, even more common than Genesis consoles), and a PS1. Not too many titles in stock yet. I hope their selection improves soon.

[shadow460]

Well, it appears vintage Stock is not all its cracked up to be. Two of my games that I bought yesterday were bad. Flash Gordon re corroded itself in less than 24 hours.

I went and traded it in for Alien, which is now in pieces while I attempt to repair it. I basically just paid $8 for a cartridge shell with an Alien label on it, and that is unsatisfactory.

It costs me my time and gas to drive over there each time they sell me a non working game. I'm pretty good with Atari repairs, and I could not do anything with Centipede. Alien is looking like it, too has a dead ROM.

 

I will not be shopping at that Vintage Stock again.

 

I just fired off an email to the corporate address...here's what I had to say:

I hate to bring bad news, but I have to.

Recently the Vintage Stock in Oklahoma City opened, and I visited the store, which is over 15 miles away. I purchased four Atari 2600 games, three Atari 5200 games, and a single Game Gear title.

I cleaned each of the game I purchased like all the others I buy. None of the Atari 2600 ones worked after the first cleaning. I went through two or three cotton swabs on each of the 5200 games, and only two of those games worked.

Out of the seven games I got, Centipede for the 5200 had a dead ROM chip, and Flash Gordon has severe corrosion on the contacts.

The store has a 5200 console that they plan to sell once they get a price online. I know that two of the four controllers with the console are broken, and I suspect the other two won't work, either. The employees and I talked about this the first time I went to the store.

 

So I called and asked today if I could trade the Centipede and Flash Gordon carts off. I wanted to trade Flash Gordon for an Alien cart they had in stock. They were both the same price.

I also asked if I could trade Centipede for one of the other 5200 titles, and they said "No, those are not for sale by themselves." I expected that they wouldn't just sell them outright, but I also expected to trade a 5200 game for the faulty one I had.

 

I wound up trading the bad games for the Alien cart and two M Network titles. When I got home, I found out the hard way that Alien also has a bad ROM. I've cleaned it, resurfaced the contacts, and reflowed the entire circuit board. It still does not work.

 

As a customer, I don't anticipate having to drive thirty miles more than once to replace non working games that I paid street prices for. I would like to have the non working Alien game replaced with a working copy in similar condition, and I'd like to get some compensation for my time and effort. I asked about several different 5200 titles in return for the bad Centipede, but the store refuses to sell any of them.

 

I've also placed a warning about this on a collector's website that I frequent. I hope this will work out, as I have no trouble at all posting appropriate feedback for online trades, and local trades are no different.

 

Anyway, I will look for a contact number that I can call to get this worked out. In the mean time, is someone available to verify the Midwest City, OK store's games are working?

 

BTW, bad AMD/Fox roms do funny things to DevOS. I hope I don't find any more of them...

Edited November 29, 2006 by shadow460

[PressureCooker2600]

man.....sorry dude. i feel for ya.......i can only imagine how the sound of a snapping cart connector rang in your ears. especially Alien....that game is awesome.....my condolences....

[+remowilliams]

Holy crap, you set a new record for 0-100 there.

 

Maybe they'll fire off a letter to corporate about you advising everyone to run in and low ball them before they become operational.

[PressureCooker2600]

shit i wont by any of their games...seeing how shadow had all that hubbub

[shadow460]

I'm going to keep the Alien cart for now, though. I don't have one at all, working or not. It's still not worth what I paid for it plus what it cost me to pay for gas to get there.

Perhaps I can get a new board made for it, or I'll find an Alien with a trashed label that I can swap into this one. More likely I'll find a mint one that works (just by karma) and I'll buy that--then my $8 that I paid to Vintage Stock is wasted.

 

It didn't help much that some games I wasn't expecting (thought a potential trade had fallen through) showed up this morning. Well, maybe it did, because one of those games was indeed Flash Gordon. It replaced the bad one I got last night.

[orangest]

It didn't help much that some games I wasn't expecting (thought a potential trade had fallen through) showed up this morning. Well, maybe it did, because one of those games was indeed Flash Gordon. It replaced the bad one I got last night.

 

sorry again for the confusion, at least it made a nice surprise.

 

and after reading all this, i'm glad i was able to pass the flash along to you.

[shadow460]

It was hard to decide which Flash I wanted to keep and which one I wanted to sell--until theirs re corroded itself.

They looked about the same--their label had more end wear but it didn't have the screw hole punched out.

 

I've got a working one that looks halfway decent, though, so I'm happy.

[Crazy Climber]

Here's one for 8 bucks (Flash)

https://www.atari2600.com/item--Flash-Gordon--PROD425.html

[ubersaurus]

Yeah you kind of have to expect that old stuff like that isn't always going to be in mint condition. Do they even have the equipment to test it? If not, then it's hardly their fault if the connectors are corroded and it was out for sale.

[Avid Fan]

I'm pretty lucky I've never encountered these "lets check Ebay prices" stores. I'm lucky to live just a mile and 1/2 away from 4Jays, which is a classic gamers wet dream come true.

Their prices are steep on some things, but their more on EBAY. Not to mention, in their store, not their website, I cant think of a single system they dont have. They even have old Speak and Spells, SIMON, and those badass Coleco Mini arcade games. As a Kid I always wondered why more companies didnt make those, instead of those shitty LCD games (tiger)

[EricDeLee]

I've had a lot of good deals at Vintage Stock. So this is actually surprising. They do check things according to ebay prices... I've seen that before. Heck I think they offered me $100 even for my Space Invaders cocktaill back when I was selling it. Needless to say... they didn't get it.

 

For the most part though... they are fair. They knowwhich Atari games are really worth money... but the ones that they don't even think about checking prices are just thrown on the shelf for a buck or two. I got a River Raid 2 with instructions once before for a buck. On top of that... I also got Sears Picture Basketball and I even got the Pole Position with the bad spelling all for a cool $1 bill each.

 

Occasionally you get a great deal before thay pick up on the trend (I got two Silent Hill games for PS1 for $7 each...right when they hit sky rocket prices).

 

I think that you just had a bad run of luck... try again later.

 

(Does this shop sell books too? I got quite a few rarity 1st editions of Stephen King and Thomas Harris that way).

[PressureCooker2600]

I'm pretty lucky I've never encountered these "lets check Ebay prices" stores. I'm lucky to live just a mile and 1/2 away from 4Jays, which is a classic gamers wet dream come true.

Their prices are steep on some things, but their more on EBAY. Not to mention, in their store, not their website, I cant think of a single system they dont have. They even have old Speak and Spells, SIMON, and those badass Coleco Mini arcade games. As a Kid I always wondered why more companies didnt make those, instead of those shitty LCD games (tiger)

 

i like those shitty tigers

wish more tabletop colecos would have been made too

but i looooove those shitty lil tigers

[murfj]

 

--------------------

 

I like to endlessly penalize OU and fanatically promote Texas without watching any of the plays and especially without any knowledge of football whatsoev--uh, wait a minute.

Look who's going to the Big 12 south championship! How about my Sooners!

 

 

 

 

I think the Sooners will be shocked by The REAL Big Red.... Go Huskers!

 

GO BIG RED! My wife and I are heading down to Kansas City for the game, all reports are pointing to 60,000 of Arrowhead's 79,000 seats being filled with Husker fans!!

 

OK, sorry for taking this thread farther off track.

[EricDeLee]

Screw that... Go Huskers! I just drove from Michigan to Nebraska to take in the Colorado game. I brought my girlfriend and we had a BLAST!!!!

 

I'll sit at home and light up the B-B-Q for this game! It'll be great.

 

 

 

 

As for the lil Tiger handhelds... I liked them too. The best I've played: Simon's Quest

[Flack]

Is this the Vintage Stock over in Midwest City? I went there this past weekend and they were barely open (one section of the store has concrete where carpet will be installed soon). They may be a little higher than GameXChange on some items, but it beats driving to Tulsa whenever I want to browse.

 

I'm pretty sure the ones in Tulsa have systems set up where you can test carts before you leave with them. I'm not sure if the OKC store(s?) have that or not but I'm sure they will.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

Some of the Tulsa stores do...that is they have systems available. Most have an NES, SNES, Genesis, XBOX, DC, PS2, and Cube setup. But it is rare to find them with any Atari system that isn't for sale on the shelf rather than setup to be used to test carts.

 

However, I can tell you that I've been shopping at Vintage Stock since '98 steadily. And I have only gotten 2 items ever that were bad from there. Once was a Chester Cheetah cart for the Genesis (Not that much of a loss really..). And the other was an Atari Jaguar they had for cheap. Now I know why it was cheap. But in both cases they took the items back and were willing to give me cash back or credit towards something else in the store. In the case of the Jag, I used the credit option and used it towards the price of my Saturn D&D collection I bought from them. So instead of the $99 they wanted for it...I got it for about $60. Jag was $20 plus they had a 25% off sale coming up that weekend and decided to honor it for me early. hehe....

 

I still hit them up once a week when I can. Not so much for games these days and they are now very much aware of the value of the games. They weren't 4 - 5 years ago and I was able to score some really nice deals then. But they are the only place in town to buy used LaserDiscs for good prices.

[shadow460]

I find that it's usually just one store here and there that turns out to be bad news for a chain.

Yep, it's the Midwest City store. Yes, they have consoles that could be used to test games, but they are not set up. Problem is that by the time they're set up, seven days will have passed and I will either have to trade the non working games in for something I don't want, or lose my money waiting for something I do want.

 

Maybe the stores she got her stock from passed off all the problem carts to her.

 

I've also seen the price guides they use. Sell them Tank Command CIB for $25? Come on. According to their guide, my sears pic Night Driver is worth 30 cents in trade. But if I took in Gremlins, another R6 like Night Driver, I might get $8 for that and she would sell it for over $25.

I just took all my dupes to Game X Change this evening and to my surprise, I got more there than what the lady at VS proposed. On top of that, Game X Change was ready to trade, VS wasn't.

 

I'll wait six months and try again. This is because I do realize she's just starting up, and she might have had some problems.

 

I dunno if I mentioned it, but it seems like she was more interested in scalping my collection for items like Tengen Tetris, Shining the Holy Ark, and Tank Command than she was in offering store credit for things she didn't have and I didn't need.

Oh well. I'm certain in the next six months I'll find an Alien cart, or maybe just the board. If the cart's trashed, I'll drop its board into my own cart and play until ET er, the cows come home.

 

For now, though, I cannot recommend the store as a place to pick up 2600 items. That might change if they ever set up a kiosk to test games or I wind up with a VCS portable.

[homerwannabee]

I find that it's usually just one store here and there that turns out to be bad news for a chain.

Yep, it's the Midwest City store. Yes, they have consoles that could be used to test games, but they are not set up. Problem is that by the time they're set up, seven days will have passed and I will either have to trade the non working games in for something I don't want, or lose my money waiting for something I do want.

 

Maybe the stores she got her stock from passed off all the problem carts to her.

 

I've also seen the price guides they use. Sell them Tank Command CIB for $25? Come on. According to their guide, my sears pic Night Driver is worth 30 cents in trade. But if I took in Gremlins, another R6 like Night Driver, I might get $8 for that and she would sell it for over $25.

I just took all my dupes to Game X Change this evening and to my surprise, I got more there than what the lady at VS proposed. On top of that, Game X Change was ready to trade, VS wasn't.

 

I'll wait six months and try again. This is because I do realize she's just starting up, and she might have had some problems.

 

I dunno if I mentioned it, but it seems like she was more interested in scalping my collection for items like Tengen Tetris, Shining the Holy Ark, and Tank Command than she was in offering store credit for things she didn't have and I didn't need.

Oh well. I'm certain in the next six months I'll find an Alien cart, or maybe just the board. If the cart's trashed, I'll drop its board into my own cart and play until ET er, the cows come home.

 

For now, though, I cannot recommend the store as a place to pick up 2600 items. That might change if they ever set up a kiosk to test games or I wind up with a VCS portable.

 

You know the fact that their is somebody actually buying these games is music to my ears. I one time took a silver surfer #8,9 vol 1 and the comic book shop would not even offer me anything for it. I also one time took some baseball cards to this other guy. I had an ozzie smith rookie card and a

1979 Nolan Ryan, He told me the cards were not old enough and too poor of condition to even offer me a dollar for them. So that is the kind of treatment you get from other hobby shops. So the fact that you are able to get anything for even the more common games is pretty cool. The fact that hobby shops are starting to pop up means that more and more people will become aware if this unknown industry. If you want to see what effect awareness does. Just look at how many people on these boards are from Oklahoma. There are probably more oklahomans than there are californians at the present moment.