Recent high value auctions leads to increase in "Reproductions".

[DeusExMachina]

With several recent high value items appearing on eBay, it seems that the publicity surrounding them has brought many opportunists out of the woodwork. These opportunists seem to be benefiting from many uneducated and easily duped individuals who are paying high prices for reproductions.

 

You can see an example here:

 

Hozer Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

 

The seller also sold a reproduction of Halloween with reproduction of the box. Although the auctions do state that these are reproductions, to the casual observer, the boxes and instructions may appear authentic. The cartridges have the Hozer Head on them, so that is an obvious flaw.

 

The prices that these items sold for seems tremendously high for reproductions.

 

Anyone have any thoughts on this? I think that it is only a matter of time before 2 things happen.

 

1. Those capable of reproducing rare cartridges will do so without identifying them as reproductions.

 

2. Those incapable of reproducing rare cartridges will purchase reproductions and switch the labels.

 

As a result, many will be duped into buying cartridges worth a fraction of their purchase price. We will all need to become experts in detecting counterfeit cartridges.

 

Anyone care to discuss this?

[roberto]

Unfortunately this is an issue with all antiques, whether furniture, paintings, collectibles, musical instruments (how many cheap violins have a Strad label inside? ) and I'm afraid there's not much we can do about that.

As long as items are clearly stated as "reproduction", I have no problem with that but obviously we need to stay alert for actual scams and fake items sold as original, which may not be so easy to identify...

[SpendTooMuchOnAtari]

Wow, that's a lot for a repro TCM.

[SpendTooMuchOnAtari]

Here we go again:

 

eBay Auction -- Item Number: 270576904988

[Underball]

I come here and read about this stuff because I like Atari Games. I've liked them since I was a kid. I like playing them.

 

But let's face it - these games are dated, goofy, and really shouldn't be worth much more than the cost of the plastic and silicon used to manufacture them these days.

 

What I find absolutely disturbing many days when perusing this particular part of the forum is the insanely overvalued prices of some of these "harder to find" games. It's like a shark tank full of OCD nutjobs who have absolutely no self control, sometimes foregoing paying their rent or mortgage to be able to buy some waaaaaay overvalued piece of plastic, to own a game that most of the time sucks complete ass, just to fill some psychological/nostalgia void.

 

I mean, I like these games too, but not enough to put my family in debt, or get all bent out of shape over the relative market for them being slightly dinged by some repro maker.

 

Ooof.

 

EDIT: just to be clear, I'm not directing this post at any particular user on here, at all. It's just kind of my overall observation of the classic gaming rarity/oddities trade in general. So if I've ruffled anyone's feathers with my thoughts - I'm sorry. I'm just kind of throwing this out there to maybe spark up a lively conversation about the real value of these things versus the perceived value.

Edited May 11, 2010 by Underball

[+bfstats]

Unfortunately this is an issue with all antiques, whether furniture, paintings, collectibles, musical instruments (how many cheap violins have a Strad label inside? ) and I'm afraid there's not much we can do about that.

As long as items are clearly stated as "reproduction", I have no problem with that but obviously we need to stay alert for actual scams and fake items sold as original, which may not be so easy to identify...

 

Well said! A good example is the baseball card market. Topps "reproduces" some of their cards from the '50's, '60's, and '70's, but just look at the back and you'll see "Copyright 2008". They have the license and that's their way of protecting themselves.

 

Unscrupulous individuals (or companies) may indeed make something look authentic and sell it as legit when even an expert may not be able to tell the difference. Caveat emptor. It's a problem that has existed for as long as "merchandise" has changed hands.

 

I think it's important for every collector to know as much as possible about what is being purchased AND FROM WHOM! In my experience with members of THIS community, I find that like-mindedness creates an atmosphere of trust, so there are few (if any) who could get away with a repro scam because we're all on the lookout for it, plus those members who DO reproduce games do so openly, KNOWING that their buying public (fellow members) know exactly what they're paying for. eBay, on the other hand, not so much.

 

I'm glad DeusExMachina brought this up, but the answer to the problem is the same as it has always been: BUYER BEWARE!

[SoulBlazer]

A couple notes:

 

The auction linked to by the OP was ended and relisted. The relisting has no bids yet. And it DOES state in the auction text that it's a reproduction.

 

Is the seller being a little shady? Sure, they probaly should state in the auction title that it's a reproduction.

 

But I see this more as a fault of the buyer if they buy it for $150 without reading all the text.

 

This seems to be a big issue with EBay (and the outside world in general) -- people buy or obtain something without reading all the text and fine print, then find it's not what they expect and bitch about it.

 

READ THE FINE PRINT!

[atari_envy]

The problem I see with reproductions is not with the original sale. In almost every case I have seen, the first sale clearly states it is a reproduction. It is the subsequent sales that often don't specify that the cart is a reproduction. Sometimes this is because the seller doesn't know it's a reproduction. Most of the time they will re-list or edit the description after a message from an AA member. Again, still ok, but it does muddy the collecting waters for those of us trying to collect originals, and all we have to go off of is a fuzzy picture and vague description. Thank goodness Hozer puts his crazy little face on all his carts.

 

Then there are the outright frauds like Bathwater Billy, who creates a bunch of rare repros and claims the labels fell off in the "famous bathtub incident". Several of those carts were sold and are now in the supply chain. Who knows when they will surface again. They will likely not be listed as repros.

[jahfish]

the seller is a complete moron .... he knows wxactly that the box is 25$ and the repro cart costs about 15$ ... that wouldn't be more than 50$ for both items shipped ... he expects making a profit over 100$ and clearly deserves to get his ass kicked ...

[Dusk2600]

the tcm auction says nothing about being a re-production game,only the box. notice the halloween auction says it is a re-production

Edited May 12, 2010 by Dusk2600

[atari_envy]

the tcm auction says nothing about being a re-production game,only the box. notice the halloween auction says it is a re-production

 

It does but it doesn't:

 

This auction is for the Texas Chainsaw Massacre on the Atari 2600. This game is BEYOND rare. It was made by Hozer Video and works like new.

 

An educated buyer will understand that Hozer is reproduction cart. Even if the buyer isn't familiar with Hozer, this should be a red flag since he mentions the game was originally made by Wizard Video. Saying explicitly that it is a reproduction would be preferred, but I feel he met at least the minimum amount of disclosure. But I won't put much of an argument up if you disagree.

[Havok69]

These carts just aren't worth what some of these crazy people with too much money spend on them. It almost seems like a mental disorder for someone to pay that much for a game. I feel bad in a small way that these buyers may get swindled, however not too much as anything over $50 is ridiculous to pay for a 2600 game.

[Chris Leach]

the seller is a complete moron .... he knows wxactly that the box is 25$ and the repro cart costs about 15$ ... that wouldn't be more than 50$ for both items shipped ... he expects making a profit over 100$ and clearly deserves to get his ass kicked ...

 

 

[Stan]

Not a surprise really. The NES scene got rocked by this shite and still does from time to time. Some people just know how to rip people off, it always happens. It's your job to educate yourself before making a purchase. If you miss something good because you want to be safe, trust me, there's always another one.