Hornpipe2 Posted November 6, 2009 Share Posted November 6, 2009 I would say the way to sell these would be to see how many fit in a flat rate box and sell them by the set, or in quantity in flat rate boxes. Like $30 for 15 games shipped or something like that, with a large flat rate box being $14 or so to ship. You have to simplify these operations or else the headaches and time will overwhelm you. This seems like a good idea. Take one of each, put them in a big box, and sell lot after lot on eBay? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VectorGamer Posted November 6, 2009 Share Posted November 6, 2009 So what's the latest on this? Were any of those carts mentioned in post 1 picked up by anyone? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dommie Posted November 6, 2009 Author Share Posted November 6, 2009 So what's the latest on this? Were any of those carts mentioned in post 1 picked up by anyone? Some samples were recieved from Oshea (Dig Dug, Ms. Pac Man, and a few others). 2 separate smelters are testing the samples. I should hear back soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HFK Posted November 7, 2009 Share Posted November 7, 2009 This makes me sad........ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brojamfootball Posted November 7, 2009 Share Posted November 7, 2009 If only those O'Shea idiots hadn't been so greedy! I recall, as many others have stated, when their prices were reasonable. Then they jacked up the prices and their shipping charges went even more insane, something like $5-7 bucks shipping per cart IIRC. I hope they get nothing for the carts. Looks like their stupidity and avarice have screwed over the entire Atari community by causing these to be destroyed. Thanks, O'Shea's! Hope you go bankrupt! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaybird3rd Posted November 7, 2009 Share Posted November 7, 2009 (edited) This makes me sad........ Why? The samples were just a handful of cartridge boards which were processed to determine their precious metal content, which would then determine how much the lot as a whole is really worth. Not all of the cartridges were scrapped. Just be patient and wait for the results from the analysis. I'm glad to hear the scrap vendor is getting estimates from two different smelters; one can never be too careful. I personally suspect that the $0.75-per-cartridge figure I've been hearing is somewhat high. I looked at some of those boards yesterday and noticed that the gold flash Atari used on the traces and fingers is very thin; just compare it to the vibrant yellow color of the fingers on, say, an old ISA Sound Blaster sound card or a Pentium II/III CPU cartridge. As for the chips (ROM, RAM, POKEY, etc), I think they're currently only worth about $7 a pound for scrap, and that includes gold as well as other metals such as copper and tin. There are much better (though more labor-intensive) ways of extracting value from that lot, and I have several ideas about how I could do it. There are plans in the works, and you'll hear more about that if the deal ultimately goes through. For the time being, though, everybody keep cool and wait! Edited November 7, 2009 by jaybird3rd 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shadow460 Posted November 7, 2009 Share Posted November 7, 2009 lol, jay, if you get time, build me some different RAM carts from the lot, OK? 32K is a tad small, even though it does have the POKEY on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
homerwannabee Posted November 7, 2009 Share Posted November 7, 2009 Do you guys think that this is possibly the worst moment in Atari 2600 collecting history? Personally I really think so. It makes me very sad just to think about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
horseboy Posted November 7, 2009 Share Posted November 7, 2009 (edited) Do you guys think that this is possibly the worst moment in Atari 2600 collecting history? Personally I really think so. It makes me very sad just to think about. Why? It is really no big deal. Those are all really really dirt common carts for obvious reasons. All these games are good for is homebrew supplies, and that includes those special chips. If Oshea's whole stash burned to the ground right now these games would still be some of the most easily available games to find brand new. He sold 2/3 of his stash through the years. There are TONS of these games out there. People stocked up on these things. You can find just about every game he has available on Ebay any day of the week for cheaper than his prices. It would be a little bit of different story if they were still $.80, but they haven't been that cheap in years. All that being said, I think this will turn out in all of our favor. Those scrap metal people are not going to give him $.75 each for these things. You are dreaming if you think that. He is not going to be happy with the quotes he gets. He obviously needs to move this stuff, so I would not at all be surprised to see a hefty price drop. Edited November 7, 2009 by horseboy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
homerwannabee Posted November 7, 2009 Share Posted November 7, 2009 All that being said, I think this will turn out in all of our favor. Those scrap metal people are not going to give him $.75 each for these things. You are dreaming if you think that. He is not going to be happy with the quotes he gets. He obviously needs to move this stuff, so I would not at all be surprised to see a hefty price drop. I really hope this is what occurs. Than it would turn out to be one of the best days in Atari 2600 collecting history! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaybird3rd Posted November 7, 2009 Share Posted November 7, 2009 lol, jay, if you get time, build me some different RAM carts from the lot, OK? 32K is a tad small, even though it does have the POKEY on it. Heh ... a bankswitched RAM cart would be nice, wouldn't it? It would be more difficult to build than the one you have, and I don't know if the DevOS is set up to write bankswitched games to the cartridge, but I'll see what I can do. I will say this: my primary interest is in the 7800 portion of this lot. There's not much to do with the 2600 games except selling them as-is, or harvesting shells (and maybe SuperChips / SARA chips) and scrapping the rest. There are much more interesting possibilities on the 7800 side. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shadow460 Posted November 7, 2009 Share Posted November 7, 2009 (edited) If his prices do drop sharply, I will be picking up whatever I can get. If they drop far enough, I'll pick up extras and try at least once to flip everything but the shells, boards, and warranty cards (some of my CIB games lack them). At $2 a pop, I'd probably just get the ones I needed boxes or books for. At 80 cents, I'd probably get more than that. Looks like the ones I'd be interested in are: 7800: Barnyard Blaster Ballblazer Pole Position II (only if I can confirm it has a picture label) I still need one Ballblazer box and the box for Barnyard Blaster. Although I've got a picture label PPII, it's not the best quality. I would also order one each of the 2600 games at 80 cents to $1 a pop. Now that's assuming a fair price for shipping. If he's going the charge me $5 per cart to ship, then he can forget it. Edited November 7, 2009 by shadow460 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mirage Posted November 8, 2009 Share Posted November 8, 2009 The PPII's I got had the text label, but that's not to say some of the other ones aren't picture label... or even the one I left sealed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dommie Posted November 10, 2009 Author Share Posted November 10, 2009 **Update** Got word back from 1 of 2 smelters (there's actually a 3rd involved as a control north of the boarder). The initial price is low. Waaaay lower than Oshea's asking price. The second price should come in tomorrow by mid-day. The second one isn't so much a price as it it an absolute test of gold quantity, where-as the first one from the smelter was a prelim test and offer figure thrown at us (if any of that makes any sense, the metal business is kind-of weird - like dealing with pawn brokers but on massive numbers scales). So the end result is I know a little now, and I'll know way more tomorrow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mirage Posted November 10, 2009 Share Posted November 10, 2009 Hmmmm, I really hope someone decides it would be worthwhile to hold back at least some to sell to collectors cheaply rather than melt all of them. Their prices just went up way too high the past couple/few years, considering how many are out there already and how many they had in stock. And to add insult to injury with the high shipping charges came shoddy packing that often damaged the boxes anyway. Hope this turns into a great opportunity for the community! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtariLeaf Posted November 10, 2009 Share Posted November 10, 2009 (edited) So they may not be sold and smelted if Oshay's isn't happy with the price? Edited November 10, 2009 by AtariLeaf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dommie Posted November 10, 2009 Author Share Posted November 10, 2009 So they may not be sold and smelted if Oshay's isn't happy with the price? Well, yeah. That's always a possibility. We'll see. My ballpark guess is that the initial smelter was attempting to shoot way low, which could be for several reasons: extraction cost, labor/storage, unable to broker 3rd party sale, volatility of commodity, the need to make a buck, etc. Tomorrow I should know how far off the mark his price quote was before we begin negotiating with him or another smelter. Then, my guy goes to Oshea with a cash-in-hand quote for the lot and it's up to Oshea to accept or decline. Whether Oshea takes it depends on how good the quote we give him is and how bad he needs to get rid of the games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HFK Posted November 10, 2009 Share Posted November 10, 2009 I hope they get put up for $1 or $.80 again, hell, go $.50. Like stated as long as the shipping isn't silly I would buy quite a few copies, not at $5 though, or even $3 for that matter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shadow460 Posted November 10, 2009 Share Posted November 10, 2009 They were still listed at $5 at oshealtd.com the other day. If the smelting offers are too low for his taste, it sure isn't showing up on the website. Anyone tried making a bulk offer on a lot of, say, 100? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaybird3rd Posted November 10, 2009 Share Posted November 10, 2009 (edited) They were still listed at $5 at oshealtd.com the other day. If the smelting offers are too low for his taste, it sure isn't showing up on the website. Anyone tried making a bulk offer on a lot of, say, 100? I don't think they've updated their Atari order form in years: it was running on an expired SSL certificate for the longest time, and 7800 Asteroids is still listed even though they had run out of it when I last ordered from them about two years ago. They also haven't received a formal offer for their Atari inventory yet, so they haven't had a reason to change anything. Edited November 10, 2009 by jaybird3rd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shadow460 Posted November 10, 2009 Share Posted November 10, 2009 I always thought the best way to order from them was to call first. You might still need to fax something to them, though. Still, what if he's sitting on a stash of Mean 18 or something, and just hasn't updated his order form to include it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tetrode kink Posted November 11, 2009 Share Posted November 11, 2009 ...All these games are good for is homebrew supplies, and that includes those special chips... Not so fast, Rosie the Terrorist. OK, I realize you're talking about the raw materials here, but I see the worth in buying a few of those games because I don't have them yet. Especially if they're sealed-in-box. I'm not a collector, but heck, if they became cheap enough again, I might buy two of each that I don't have, and only open one of each to play. ...All that being said, I think this will turn out in all of our favor. Those scrap metal people are not going to give him $.75 each for these things. You are dreaming if you think that. He is not going to be happy with the quotes he gets. He obviously needs to move this stuff, so I would not at all be surprised to see a hefty price drop. I hope so. I hope at least some of these can be saved for the chips for the homebrewers and for the players and for the collectors. -tet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dommie Posted November 11, 2009 Author Share Posted November 11, 2009 **UPDATE** Ok wow, it was a rough day yesterday. Sorry about the delayed post. So we heard back from all 3 testing sources. 2 of them wouldn't even touch the lot after they tested the games! The amount of gold was so negligible and the process to extract the boards and remove chips and junk so involved for the tiny PCBs (about 1/8 oz raw weight) that 2 of the gold refiners flat out refused to take them in. We're going with the 1st guy, who was the only one of the refiners to give us an offer. That offer is literally pennies per unit. There's no effing way that Oshea is going to get anywhere near his asking amount from the scrap world. We're giving Oshea our offer today, but I'm not very hopeful. Once Oshea gives us his answer (and I'm not holding my breath) I'll fill everybody in on the exact details and amounts of money per unit for this lot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
homerwannabee Posted November 11, 2009 Share Posted November 11, 2009 **UPDATE** Ok wow, it was a rough day yesterday. Sorry about the delayed post. So we heard back from all 3 testing sources. 2 of them wouldn't even touch the lot after they tested the games! The amount of gold was so negligible and the process to extract the boards and remove chips and junk so involved for the tiny PCBs (about 1/8 oz raw weight) that 2 of the gold refiners flat out refused to take them in. We're going with the 1st guy, who was the only one of the refiners to give us an offer. That offer is literally pennies per unit. There's no effing way that Oshea is going to get anywhere near his asking amount from the scrap world. We're giving Oshea our offer today, but I'm not very hopeful. Once Oshea gives us his answer (and I'm not holding my breath) I'll fill everybody in on the exact details and amounts of money per unit for this lot. OK, good to know. From your posts I feel that it is implied that the real value of these carts is about 5 and half cents a cart. They are basically ignoring the gold contacts of the carts and treating it as a regular PCB board. Good stuff! 1/8th of an ounce is 1/128th of a pound. So if someone is paying $7.00 a pound for these boards it goes to about 5 and half cents, but because of O'Shea having all of his games still sealed you probably will be offering 3 to 4 cents a game. Gold is $1,100 an ounce right now. So basically these carts are worth a cent for every $200 an ounce in gold. This is good news. What this means is that gold will have to get to about $10,000 an ounce before these little gems become victim to the smelter. Our Atari 2600 carts are safe! I really doubt O'Shea is going to sell all 1.2 million games for $40,000. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TwinChargers Posted November 11, 2009 Share Posted November 11, 2009 C'mon OShea, drop the prices to $.80 a cart again! Sell groups of 10 for $7.50, or offer other deals for large lots. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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