Atari Computers Rarity Guide

[russg]

snip

 

>As this issue was highlighted by Atari User readers, we've posted some advice for people ordering from Venezuela through >ebay/Paypal. You can read it here

 

The link is 'not authorized'. It is to a forum that requires registration. Maybe copy and paste it here.

Edited January 6, 2011 by russg

[edintv]

snip

 

>As this issue was highlighted by Atari User readers, we've posted some advice for people ordering from Venezuela through >ebay/Paypal. You can read it here

 

The link is 'not authorized'. It is to a forum that requires registration. Maybe copy and paste it here.

 

I think, you have some misconceptions, You can check the tracking numbers in several countries, for example the following start letters of the tracking number:

 

EE Shipments (Ems) can be chaecked for most countries who provide tracking of Incoming packets, Usa, Canada Post and many others.

 

CP Large packet Certified Airmail (more than 2 Kilos), can be checked in severla countries, Including Usa and Canada

 

RR Small certified airmall packet (less than 2 kilos): This one can only be checked locally and in very few countries, Like Canada, and Usps only when is in their hands, from Us customs departure to delivery.

 

Those are international Post service codes, many countries follow that rules.

 

The problem with refunds is that most of the buyers never return the money after reception, (according with other sellers experience) even one is using a debt collection service for recovery, with extra cost and trouble. I may had to use that service in the future.

[bojay1997]

snip

 

>As this issue was highlighted by Atari User readers, we've posted some advice for people ordering from Venezuela through >ebay/Paypal. You can read it here

 

The link is 'not authorized'. It is to a forum that requires registration. Maybe copy and paste it here.

 

I think, you have some misconceptions, You can check the tracking numbers in several countries, for example the following start letters of the tracking number:

 

EE Shipments (Ems) can be chaecked for most countries who provide tracking of Incoming packets, Usa, Canada Post and many others.

 

CP Large packet Certified Airmail (more than 2 Kilos), can be checked in severla countries, Including Usa and Canada

 

RR Small certified airmall packet (less than 2 kilos): This one can only be checked locally and in very few countries, Like Canada, and Usps only when is in their hands, from Us customs departure to delivery.

 

Those are international Post service codes, many countries follow that rules.

 

The problem with refunds is that most of the buyers never return the money after reception, (according with other sellers experience) even one is using a debt collection service for recovery, with extra cost and trouble. I may had to use that service in the future.

 

Obviously, as everyone has pointed out, there are problems with how you are handling your sales which is impacting both how much you are getting for items at auction and causing financial losses to you even after a purchase has been made. That's why many of us have been suggesting that you partner with a well known vendor here in the US to bulk ship a bunch of the stuff at once and then have them handle sales and tracking. From the buyer's perspective, having no recourse through Ebay or Paypal is a huge issue. While you may be trustworthy, not every Venezuelan seller has been. I'm sorry, but while some people are risk takers, the vast majority of buyers are not and you really are missing out on a lot of potential revenue.

[svenski]

I think, you have some misconceptions, You can check the tracking numbers in several countries, for example the following start letters of the tracking number:

 

EE Shipments (Ems) can be chaecked for most countries who provide tracking of Incoming packets, Usa, Canada Post and many others.

 

CP Large packet Certified Airmail (more than 2 Kilos), can be checked in severla countries, Including Usa and Canada

 

RR Small certified airmall packet (less than 2 kilos): This one can only be checked locally and in very few countries, Like Canada, and Usps only when is in their hands, from Us customs departure to delivery.

 

Those are international Post service codes, many countries follow that rules.

 

No misconceptions, Ipostel does not offer any online tracking options - in fact tracking is only for domestic shipments - see here . Yes, certain countries may be able to track certain types of inbound shipments but they will be relying on info from Ipostel until the package hits their network.

 

The problem with refunds is that most of the buyers never return the money after reception, (according with other sellers experience) even one is using a debt collection service for recovery, with extra cost and trouble. I may had to use that service in the future.

 

Waiting five months for a shipment is over the top. People have paid for delivery options as quoted on the listings which used to be around 20 to 40 days I believe depending on the option. Admittedly shipping times quoted have changed now and are a lot more pessimistic but still don't warn a shipment may take up to five months. I would say most of the people here on AtariAge are honest and would pay a seller if their items eventually turned up, but - playing devil's advocate here - why should they pay the full cost of delivery for a shipping service that clearly wasn't provided? Again, I'm not saying it is your fault, just a major problem beyond your control that is going to impact on your business and your customers.

[edintv]

I think, you have some misconceptions, You can check the tracking numbers in several countries, for example the following start letters of the tracking number:

 

EE Shipments (Ems) can be chaecked for most countries who provide tracking of Incoming packets, Usa, Canada Post and many others.

 

CP Large packet Certified Airmail (more than 2 Kilos), can be checked in severla countries, Including Usa and Canada

 

RR Small certified airmall packet (less than 2 kilos): This one can only be checked locally and in very few countries, Like Canada, and Usps only when is in their hands, from Us customs departure to delivery.

 

Those are international Post service codes, many countries follow that rules.

 

No misconceptions, Ipostel does not offer any online tracking options - in fact tracking is only for domestic shipments - see here . Yes, certain countries may be able to track certain types of inbound shipments but they will be relying on info from Ipostel until the package hits their network.

 

The problem with refunds is that most of the buyers never return the money after reception, (according with other sellers experience) even one is using a debt collection service for recovery, with extra cost and trouble. I may had to use that service in the future.

 

Waiting five months for a shipment is over the top. People have paid for delivery options as quoted on the listings which used to be around 20 to 40 days I believe depending on the option. Admittedly shipping times quoted have changed now and are a lot more pessimistic but still don't warn a shipment may take up to five months. I would say most of the people here on AtariAge are honest and would pay a seller if their items eventually turned up, but - playing devil's advocate here - why should they pay the full cost of delivery for a shipping service that clearly wasn't provided? Again, I'm not saying it is your fault, just a major problem beyond your control that is going to impact on your business and your customers.

 

I just hear once about the five months delivery, that´s really a rare thing, the packet must fell below a desk or something.

 

The main problems is that we don´t know for sure if a delay will impact the deliveries or not, we only know when is too late, when the packet is due to arrive and haven´t.

 

As from today, I will only work with EMS ship, not anymore with standard airmail, to avoid the problems, is still delayed, but had better tracking and can arrive in time for leaving feedback and avoid the opening of cases.

 

I have contacted Well known US sellers, and they work on very high margins of profits, even one told me that he pay 1$ for game (way below my cost) and sell it for 20 to 50$. There´s the kind of seller who list over inflated Bin and have 100k games in storage. do you guys really think that is a best option? I don´t

 

I think i still can make sells even with the problems we have here, I will continue to do so.

[SpaceDice2010]

How did all the Musicland items end up there if I may ask?

 

I don´t know for sure, bust most of the computer games had several tags from musicland, Is funny to see prices go from 49.99 to 9.99, at a 10$ less each tag.

 

I think that a game dealer who distributed to musicland (and get all the games returned) go bankrupt or a liquidation, and the Warehouse owner in Venezuela bougth the lot dirt cheap. most of the games didn´t came in their original crates, as opposite that The Avalon hill games, Atari and Intellivision, who were bougth directly at their companies..

 

That´s way many computer games from diverse manufacturers had surfaced recently

 

I would really be interested in talking to you about a business opportunity.

[+Philsan]

edintv, what is your ebay ID?

[russg]

edintv, what is your ebay ID?

'classics_in' I believe.

[edintv]

edintv, what is your ebay ID?

'classics_in' I believe.

 

Yes, that´s it, is on my profile..

[edintv]

How did all the Musicland items end up there if I may ask?

 

I don´t know for sure, bust most of the computer games had several tags from musicland, Is funny to see prices go from 49.99 to 9.99, at a 10$ less each tag.

 

I think that a game dealer who distributed to musicland (and get all the games returned) go bankrupt or a liquidation, and the Warehouse owner in Venezuela bougth the lot dirt cheap. most of the games didn´t came in their original crates, as opposite that The Avalon hill games, Atari and Intellivision, who were bougth directly at their companies..

 

That´s way many computer games from diverse manufacturers had surfaced recently

 

i just get some clues that indicate me that the distributor was Softsel, I think it was no bankrupcy, only they close the Home comnputer games division to a more serious and corporate stuff, or at least they do a sell of all the Musicland returns (I found one game with Sam Goode´s tag on it). I google the company and found they where active in 1990.

[edintv]

How did all the Musicland items end up there if I may ask?

 

I don´t know for sure, bust most of the computer games had several tags from musicland, Is funny to see prices go from 49.99 to 9.99, at a 10$ less each tag.

 

I think that a game dealer who distributed to musicland (and get all the games returned) go bankrupt or a liquidation, and the Warehouse owner in Venezuela bougth the lot dirt cheap. most of the games didn´t came in their original crates, as opposite that The Avalon hill games, Atari and Intellivision, who were bougth directly at their companies..

 

That´s way many computer games from diverse manufacturers had surfaced recently

 

I would really be interested in talking to you about a business opportunity.

 

You can pm me..

[edintv]

How did all the Musicland items end up there if I may ask?

 

I don´t know for sure, bust most of the computer games had several tags from musicland, Is funny to see prices go from 49.99 to 9.99, at a 10$ less each tag.

 

I think that a game dealer who distributed to musicland (and get all the games returned) go bankrupt or a liquidation, and the Warehouse owner in Venezuela bougth the lot dirt cheap. most of the games didn´t came in their original crates, as opposite that The Avalon hill games, Atari and Intellivision, who were bougth directly at their companies..

 

That´s way many computer games from diverse manufacturers had surfaced recently

 

i just get some clues that indicate me that the distributor was Softsel, I think it was no bankrupcy, only they close the Home comnputer games division to a more serious and corporate stuff, or at least they do a sell of all the Musicland returns (I found one game with Sam Goode´s tag on it). I google the company and found they where active in 1990.

 

The company still exists with other name:

 

http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/Merisel-Inc-Company-History.html

[russg]

I don't know rarity.

 

SpartaDOS X cart

 

Omnimon XL 800XL

 

R-Time 8 cart

 

1 meg MIO with 20 meg hard drive

 

BASIC XE cart

Edited April 20, 2017 by russg

[Kyle22]

The 1M MIO is the most desirable item in your collection.

Is this an original with ZIP RAMs, or a new one with a SIMM?

[russg]

The 1M MIO is the most desirable item in your collection.

Is this an original with ZIP RAMs, or a new one with a SIMM?

It is an early one, so I guess ZIP RAMs. Here's a pic.

 

I value the omnimon a great deal. You can crack any cart with it.

 

Well, you can dump any cart. Then you have to crack it.

Edited April 22, 2017 by russg

[Kyle22]

Just make sure to keep those RAMs cool. I have seen many with bad RAMs that got so hot they charred the PCB black.

 

Is the firmware up to date?

[russg]

Just make sure to keep those RAMs cool. I have seen many with bad RAMs that got so hot they charred the PCB black.

 

Is the firmware up to date?

When I ran a BBS off the MIO, and really whenever I had it running for several hours, I always had

a desk fan blowing across the setup.

Right now, I don't run it at all, I'd have to find the power supply and hook it up.

I remember being aware of heating.

I don't remember ever updating the firmware. It has been so long. I expect it would

have involved some special software to update it from ICD. (which became Fte).

 

edit: I remember now about overheating. I had a floppy drive die on me. I

think it was because of overheating. I ran a BBS before the MIO.

 

Another name. Mike Hohman. I think he is the person who bought ICD and named it FTe.

Edited April 23, 2017 by russg

[Kyle22]

All you do is replace the ROM.

 

You are correct about FTe. It was while I was at FTe that I encountered those heat damaged MIOs.

 

There should be a thread about the firmware on here somewhere.

[+mytek]

Kyle I would be curious to hear about your experiences when you worked at FTE, as I'm sure many others would as well. Do you feel like telling the story?

 

- Michael

[Kyle22]

Not much I can say, really. Maybe I'll write a book sometime.

[+mytek]

Not much I can say, really. Maybe I'll write a book sometime.

 

Kyle no problem. I was just curious as to what things were like back in those times for you. Reason being is that I too was struggling to launch a business around the A8, after the birth of the original TransKey in 1990, roughly two to three years before FTe came on the horizon. Things were tough for most developers around that time, with many of them going under due to shifting priorities at Atari central, and the demise of the A8 line soon to follow. Aside from that, it was a great time to be alive and actively developing for that platform, and I'm thankful to say that I had the pleasure of meeting several key people from that time period, including Mike at FTe. I had visited the FTe offices in Scotts Valley one time, but I don't recall ever meeting you, so when you mentioned it I got curious.

 

BTW, it would make for a great book to tell the story of those times from 1990-1994. An in depth behind the scenes of the last remnants of Atari developers living through it at at the time.

 

Anyway forget I ever mentioned it, probably just a bit of nostalgic on my part

 

- Michael

[Kyle22]

I lived a couple blocks down Scotts Valley Drive from Mike's office. If you were to walk out of Mike's, and turn left, I was a couple blocks away. I lived in my office, as Mike did in his.

 

One fun thing I can remember is staying up all night working on the logic in the GAL on the Sweet-16. I had discovered that my key (if wiggled just right) would open Mike's door. I went in and woke him up and programmed a GAL. Just as he was getting his eyes open, I announced "IT WORKS!"