+LS650 Posted February 15, 2015 Share Posted February 15, 2015 Speculators are not new to this hobby. Look what sweetstuff4u did to the prices of Jaguar items. It sucks, but it's not illegal. There's very little good to come out of complaining about it - just move on and find a different system to collect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uppy Posted February 15, 2015 Share Posted February 15, 2015 (edited) Speculators are not new to this hobby. Look what sweetstuff4u did to the prices of Jaguar items. It sucks, but it's not illegal. There's very little good to come out of complaining about it - just move on and find a different system to collect. Agreed. I collect for the odyssey but the point for my comment was not about the high ebay prices. The person that originally posted this comment screwed a bunch of of members on atariage on a odyssey homebrew. So I guess I just find it funny Rev Rob took the time to talk S++t about Dick and then screw people out of their money. Also he then starts up a youtube channel on retro video gaming?! Also fellow atariage members I am going to let this go and this will be my last comment about it as ive already made a post about his youtube site. Ive posted comments on his youtube site and they basically get deleted. Sometimes it is just best to let things go. Which I am going to do. Edited February 15, 2015 by Uppy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari_Bill Posted February 16, 2015 Share Posted February 16, 2015 Speculators are not new to this hobby. Look what sweetstuff4u did to the prices of Jaguar items. It sucks, but it's not illegal. There's very little good to come out of complaining about it - just move on and find a different system to collect. Problem is speculators are in the process of killing all system collecting with some like happiestsellerever buying wide swaths of items over pretty much every retro system and relisting at 5x cost. Not illegal in any way and no way to prevent, but I still argue that it is not good for the hobby as a whole and in the end they will end up killing the hobby and moving on to whatever else they can rape for maximum profit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uppy Posted February 16, 2015 Share Posted February 16, 2015 (edited) Problem is speculators are in the process of killing all system collecting with some like happiestsellerever buying wide swaths of items over pretty much every retro system and relisting at 5x cost. Not illegal in any way and no way to prevent, but I still argue that it is not good for the hobby as a whole and in the end they will end up killing the hobby and moving on to whatever else they can rape for maximum profit. Atari_Bill I agree with you and it sucks that people buy up systems and sell them for crazy prices. But it is not illegal and that's why I trade with fellow members when I can. Hopefully it doesn't kill the hobby(people buying and inflating prices). Ive stopped collecting for the NES as prices have become outrageous. But the mentioned person that this post is about actually restores the systems. I don't agree with all of Dick's practices on ebay but you are guaranteed a working system. Ive bought about 6 U.S. odysseys and the two that work are ones that have been refurbished by Dick. Ive only bought one other odyssey that works okay that was not refurbished. My non working systems ive traded to Dick so he can restore other odysseys. He uses non working systems for parts. Im not sticking up for him but ill pay the extra cash to have a working system. He has a repair man and that cost money. Or if you want you can roll the dice on a odyssey and buy one and hope it works when you get it. Ive done both. Edited February 16, 2015 by Uppy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari_Bill Posted February 16, 2015 Share Posted February 16, 2015 Atari_Bill I agree with you and it sucks that people buy up systems and sell them for crazy prices. But it is not illegal and that's why I trade with fellow members when I can. Hopefully it doesn't kill the hobby(people buying and inflating prices). Ive stopped collecting for the NES as prices have become outrageous. But the mentioned person that this post is about actually restores the systems. I don't agree with all of Dick's practices on ebay but you are guaranteed a working system. Ive bought about 6 U.S. odysseys and the two that work are ones that have been refurbished by Dick. Ive only bought one other odyssey that works okay that was not refurbished. My non working systems ive traded to Dick so he can restore other odysseys. He uses non working systems for parts. Im not sticking up for him but ill pay the extra cash to have a working system. He has a repair man and that cost money. Or if you want you can roll the dice on a odyssey and buy one and hope it works when you get it. Ive done both. I made the point as well that it's not illegal no matter how much I disagree with it so that we agree on! I can't say I agree with the practices of the person mentioned here either however. The odyssey system is something I never was able to add to my collection. I tried so many times over a period of time to win one only to be outbid time and again by "Dick". When I see these systems then re listed at his prices it's more than frustrating. I finally gave up trying to acquire one. He's not doing anything wrong of course, but for me he has killed my interest in this portion of the hobby. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uppy Posted February 16, 2015 Share Posted February 16, 2015 I made the point as well that it's not illegal no matter how much I disagree with it so that we agree on! I can't say I agree with the practices of the person mentioned here either however. The odyssey system is something I never was able to add to my collection. I tried so many times over a period of time to win one only to be outbid time and again by "Dick". When I see these systems then re listed at his prices it's more than frustrating. I finally gave up trying to acquire one. He's not doing anything wrong of course, but for me he has killed my interest in this portion of the hobby. Ive been outbid by Dick on a few auctions also. Pissed me off too but ive still traded with him in the past and he has always been honest with me. Hopefully you can find a working odyssey for the right price. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toptenmaterial Posted February 16, 2015 Share Posted February 16, 2015 I read the first page of this inane, yet entertaining thread, and there is one minor point I'd like to add: markups do not last forever. Sooner or later, the bottom drops out of them and they cost the same as every other bit of irrelevant tech. Case and point: GBA games. In the hayday of the DS, Mario and Zelda GBA games went for as high as $40, but look at the average action now, it's back in the appropriate $10 range. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+LS650 Posted February 16, 2015 Share Posted February 16, 2015 When do you think that drop might happen? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toptenmaterial Posted February 17, 2015 Share Posted February 17, 2015 (edited) When do you think that drop might happen?I couldn't say. The GBA stuff dropped because it reached obsolescence, but the Odyssey has forever been a dinosaur. Edit: Is659, your question made me confront a fallacy in my argument. Edited February 17, 2015 by toptenmaterial Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+LS650 Posted February 17, 2015 Share Posted February 17, 2015 I guess that's my point: in most markets when prices spike, the bubble eventually bursts. That doesn't seem to be happening in videogames, though. Take my example of the Jaguar. Up to 2008, you could buy a working system on eBay for $35 or so. Most games were $10 to $30, with just BattleSphere ever getting more than a hundred bucks. Then sweetstuff4u started buying up everything cheap and flipping it right away on eBay for marked up prices. In a matter of six months or so, the price of everything Jaguar doubled, tripled or more. He doesn't seem to be in the Jaguar market anymore, but the damage is done. Now a working system easily fetches a hundred bucks, and even common loose carts are asking $30. It's been five or six years, and that Jaguar bubble only seems to keep growing - no burst in sight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhomaios Posted February 17, 2015 Share Posted February 17, 2015 That bubble bursting doesn't ever happen in quite a few things. You remember the housing burst we had in 2008? Left NYC and San Fran unscathed. That there are a finite amount of material and a fast growing number of hobbyist means that we'll never have a true burst. Two other minor points: A) Just because it's legal, doesn't mean we should support it. If it's bad for us all, then you're implicit in the crimes by supporting those who are committing them. And yes, though it's legal, it's still criminal. B) Just because person A is a douche doesn't mean that what they are saying is wrong. I don't know, nor do I care, what Rev. Rob did, but his actions are irrelevant if what he says has merit to it, and that should be judged on its own. To do otherwise, as Uppy did parading about, is a simple tu quoque fallacy. From a neutral standpoint, it really seems as if that was mudslinging in order to exculpate Dick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubersaurus Posted February 17, 2015 Share Posted February 17, 2015 The bubble has burst for Atari-era games. Compared to where prices were in the late 00s? They're all way cheaper, as nostalgia fiends either get what they want or decide to sell their gear. Fewer customers = price drop. Rarities have stayed up, and that's about it (even then, not always at the same levels). Given a few years, I expect the same to happen for the late 80s generation of games, and so forth. The reason GBA was so cheap was because the market had just died for it and the collectors' one hadn't kicked back in, though one could argue that handheld games in general stay pretty cheap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Classic Pac Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 This has been going on for at least the last 2 years that I noticed. The answer is simple don't buy them at the inflated prices and they will come down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cobra Kai Posted February 22, 2015 Share Posted February 22, 2015 No one person is cornering the market on anything. Keep in mind, if one guy is trying to buy up every Odyssee console for instance, each subsequent listing becomes higher and higher for that same person to buy doesn't it? If one person hoards all of one thing, he faces the same reality that you do, in that he only increases the price for himself as well. It doesn't make any sense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catsmasher Posted February 22, 2015 Share Posted February 22, 2015 (edited) I really wanted an Odyssey for my collection bud didnt want to pay the ridiculous prices on most ebay auctions (which were usually the same seller). A few years ago, I bid on and won a non-working system for about $150. When the system arrived, I took it apart and the battery tray was disconnected from the main board - it did not look like it had ever been connected. i connected it and "viollla" the system worked like new. I think it may have never been played. Well, I then contacted Ralph Baer (rest in peace) through his website and he agreed to autograph the console if I shipped it to him with return postage. Now I have an Odyssey that works like new and has Ralph Baer's autograph. Don't give up - keep trying. Edited February 22, 2015 by Catsmasher 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tarkus02 Posted June 6, 2020 Share Posted June 6, 2020 (edited) He passed earlier this year Edited June 6, 2020 by Tarkus02 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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