Are Your NIB Colecovision Games Truly 'Factory' Sealed?

[ValkerieSilk]

I recently purchased some CIB and NIB Colecovision games off ebay. The CIB copy game arrived shrink wrapped from the seller who indicated that it was NOT factory sealed but was shrink wrapped by him for display purposes.

The good news was that the seller was honest and the item was sold as CIB (not NIB) and the ebay pictures did show the game opened with the box, cart, manual, and warranty card. The bad news was that the shrink wrap job was outstanding and the game looks NIB. In fact, it looks better than my recent NIB game purchase in terms of shrink wrap quality.

 

While I’m sure this topic has come up many times before:

 

Is there any professional way to determine if the shrink wrap on Colecovision NIB games is authentic?

 

Can the shrink wrap be tested and dated to the 1980’s?

 

Are there any obvious ways to determine if the shrink wrap is from the factory?

Is Elvis really dead?

[freewheel]

Given how indestructible carts are, I personally couldn't give a damn if it's factory wrapped. You can tell all you need to know about condition based on physical appearance for the most part. I think collecting NIB is fast becoming a sucker's game due to how easy it is to fake it (and the insane premiums some people will pay for that extra 0.25% condition grade or whatever).

 

I dunno, maybe it's just me. These aren't Action Comics #1 where there are only a handful of copies left and a miniscule fraction in decent shape. I just don't see the large premium people pay for graded or NIB stuff. Not when there are thousands if not millions of them floating around. I'm especially worried with the ever-increasing trade in repro boxes and such. It wouldn't be all that hard to make a box that looks identical to the original (hopefully people making repro boxes aren't doing this).

[Ikrananka]

With the European CBS releases it is often easy where they were shrinkwrapped at the factory and are still shrinkwrapped now. If you try and remove the shrinkwrap you'll find that it has stuck to the box and any attempt to remove the shrinkwrap will destroy he box in the process.

 

I don't think this is the case with North American releases so likely the above it not of much use to you.

[Troy_Whelan]

Most of the US CV games did not have shrink-wrap on them that I remember. At least not the Coleco branded games. That being said, many US NTSC CV games should not have shrink-wrap and other US NTSC CV games would have a typical style of shrink-wrap based on the manufacturer. So it is doable to determine, but not necessarily easy. Takes some research and/or some knowledge of what to look for and compare to with the answer being unique for each manufacturer (Coleco, CBS, Parker Bros., etc.).

[Ikrananka]

I believe Activision games were shrinkwrapped. I have never seen a NIB North American Coleco branded game shrinkwrapped (just the top flap glued down). I'm sure that Imagic games must have been shrinkwrapped due to the fact that they have no bottom flap and the games would have slipped out of the box otherwise. Based on the NIB ozma_wars haul of Sunrise games - it looks like these were not shrinkwrapped.

[ValkerieSilk]

I believe Activision games were shrinkwrapped. I have never seen a NIB North American Coleco branded game shrinkwrapped (just the top flap glued down). I'm sure that Imagic games must have been shrinkwrapped due to the fact that they have no bottom flap and the games would have slipped out of the box otherwise. Based on the NIB ozma_wars haul of Sunrise games - it looks like these were not shrinkwrapped.

I just received a NIB Parker Brother's game that is shrink wrapped. Were PB CV games shrink wrapped back in the day?

[Troy_Whelan]

Yes, CV Parker Bros. games were sealed with shrink-wrap.

[Hannacek]

I'm sure there are a lot of people who own factory sealed games where there is a paper weight in the box. There may as well be a worthless paper weight in the box, if you can never play the game, can never even look at the game, or read the instructions, or have a good laugh at the questions they asked on the warranty card in 1982.

[freewheel]

I'm sure there are a lot of people who own factory sealed games where there is a paper weight in the box. There may as well be a worthless paper weight in the box, if you can never play the game, can never even look at the game, or read the instructions, or have a good laugh at the questions they asked on the warranty card in 1982.

 

I often wonder about this. There is literally no way to ever "prove" your game is MIB really - I guess unless you own an xray machine or something. How do you tell a fake when you're unwilling to open it?

 

One thing to keep in mind - as people are discussing, a LOT of games were not shrinkwrapped by the manufacturer in the 80s. Some were then later wrapped by the retailer but it's hit and miss on this one. Really, short of shrinkwrapping with a retailer price tag that's clearly from the 80s (could be faked, but not as easy as a shrink job), I don't know that I'd trust any of it. There's just way too much insane markup for MIB games, too much motivation for fraud. I've seen people get shunked on entire cases of 2600 games, MIB and shrinkwrapped, supposedly from an Atari warehouse - when Atari never did this in the first place.

[Hannacek]

I used to work at an electronics store, and then had rolls of shrink wrap of different sizes, and a heat gun in the back room. They would re-wrap stuff people returned, stuff customers opened in the store and never bought, and whatever stuff they had in the backroom that could be resold. Customers would never know the difference. And if a customer had to return something, they would just assume it was a faulty product, and never know someone else bought and returned that same item.

The problem is that even the same game could have been manufactured in different factories in different years, which could have used different shrink wrap machines, and thus the seams and other characteristics of the wrap look different on two different games. These factories are in places like Hong Kong and Taiwan, where they use the cheapest materials they find. They easily could have switched to a different plastic for the wrap from month to month, depending on what different suppliers charged them that month.

[bojay1997]

 

I often wonder about this. There is literally no way to ever "prove" your game is MIB really - I guess unless you own an xray machine or something. How do you tell a fake when you're unwilling to open it?

 

One thing to keep in mind - as people are discussing, a LOT of games were not shrinkwrapped by the manufacturer in the 80s. Some were then later wrapped by the retailer but it's hit and miss on this one. Really, short of shrinkwrapping with a retailer price tag that's clearly from the 80s (could be faked, but not as easy as a shrink job), I don't know that I'd trust any of it. There's just way too much insane markup for MIB games, too much motivation for fraud. I've seen people get shunked on entire cases of 2600 games, MIB and shrinkwrapped, supposedly from an Atari warehouse - when Atari never did this in the first place.

While this is certainly true, Atari actually did start shrink-wrapping their games post-Crash era. Most of the Atari red box games coming out of Venezuela are factory sealed in shrink-wrap. Early Atari first party games were not shrink-wrapped at the factory and the copies that often pop up shrink-wrapped on Ebay and elsewhere were likely shrink-wrapped by the distributor or retailer during the post-crash liquidations or later. It's a tricky problem for sealed collectors, but often there are multiple examples of known sealed copies that can be found and compared to reduce the risk and doubt.

[NIAD]

Most of the US CV games did not have shrink-wrap on them that I remember. At least not the Coleco branded games.

The Coleco clamshell games releases like Telly Turtle, Brain Strainers, Dr. Seuss, etc. were shrinkwrapped as far as I recall. Of course, all the Coleco cardboard box releases were sealed with glue and had no shrinkwrap.

 

 

Yes, CV Parker Bros. games were sealed with shrink-wrap.

Does that include the couple of 1-piece box releases that are similar to Coleco's cardboard box such as Frogger, Frogger II, Popeye, Q*bert and Star Wars. I know all the 2-piece PB boxes were shrinkwrapped, but figured the 1-piece boxes were just glued.

 

Any shrinkwrapped game that I have ever acquired is immediately opened very carefully at the top so as to keep the rest of the shrinkwrap intact. There is no way I will not open a shrinkwrapped game as I need to know that the cart, manual and anything else is really in the box and enjoyed properly.

[Troy_Whelan]

The Coleco clamshell games releases like Telly Turtle, Brain Strainers, Dr. Seuss, etc. were shrinkwrapped as far as I recall. Of course, all the Coleco cardboard box releases were sealed with glue and had no shrinkwrap.

 

 

Does that include the couple of 1-piece box releases that are similar to Coleco's cardboard box such as Frogger, Frogger II, Popeye, Q*bert and Star Wars. I know all the 2-piece PB boxes were shrinkwrapped, but figured the 1-piece boxes were just glued.

 

Any shrinkwrapped game that I have ever acquired is immediately opened very carefully at the top so as to keep the rest of the shrinkwrap intact. There is no way I will not open a shrinkwrapped game as I need to know that the cart, manual and anything else is really in the box and enjoyed properly.

True, the clamshell games were shrink-wrapped while most were just glued cardboard boxes. All of mine were the cardboard boxes.

 

All of my Parker Bros. games are 2-piece with shrink-wrap, I don't recall seeing any 1-piece Parker Bros. so I don't know if the 1-piece were glued or tucked in and shrink-wrapped.

[ValkerieSilk]

 

I often wonder about this. There is literally no way to ever "prove" your game is MIB really - I guess unless you own an xray machine or something. How do you tell a fake when you're unwilling to open it?

 

One thing to keep in mind - as people are discussing, a LOT of games were not shrinkwrapped by the manufacturer in the 80s. Some were then later wrapped by the retailer but it's hit and miss on this one. Really, short of shrinkwrapping with a retailer price tag that's clearly from the 80s (could be faked, but not as easy as a shrink job), I don't know that I'd trust any of it. There's just way too much insane markup for MIB games, too much motivation for fraud. I've seen people get shunked on entire cases of 2600 games, MIB and shrinkwrapped, supposedly from an Atari warehouse - when Atari never did this in the first place

All good points and advice...

[ValkerieSilk]

 

I often wonder about this. There is literally no way to ever "prove" your game is MIB really - I guess unless you own an xray machine or something. How do you tell a fake when you're unwilling to open it?

 

One thing to keep in mind - as people are discussing, a LOT of games were not shrinkwrapped by the manufacturer in the 80s. Some were then later wrapped by the retailer but it's hit and miss on this one. Really, short of shrinkwrapping with a retailer price tag that's clearly from the 80s (could be faked, but not as easy as a shrink job), I don't know that I'd trust any of it. There's just way too much insane markup for MIB games, too much motivation for fraud. I've seen people get shunked on entire cases of 2600 games, MIB and shrinkwrapped, supposedly from an Atari warehouse - when Atari never did this in the first place.

Maybe if we had an AtariAge buddy that was a TSA agent, we could run the boxes through the airport scanner...

[carlsson]

Perhaps this would be a service for those video game graders, who will put your game in a hard plastic box and slap on a tag how much they estimate it to be worth? If the game you sent them is wrapped, they could only judge by the exterior or have an X-ray machine to run the goods through.

 

Anyway, shrink wrap tends to retract over the years, pulling the box in. If the box is perfectly straight, I'd be more worried it was recently re-wrapped than a box with minor damages. Then you have the price tag as mentioned, but I keep seeing threads about how to carefully remove price tags, so even if those are placed on the outside of the shrink wrap, I'm not sure if the die hard collectors would pay more or less for a game with those on, even if they sometimes can be good markers about the provenience.

[SoulBlazer]

I'm sure there are a lot of people who own factory sealed games where there is a paper weight in the box. There may as well be a worthless paper weight in the box, if you can never play the game, can never even look at the game, or read the instructions, or have a good laugh at the questions they asked on the warranty card in 1982.

What DID they ask on those warranty cards?

[Murph74]

While I'm a fan of Sealed games for my collection, I've run across some unknowing or possibly unscrupulous sellers in my time. Here's a pic I put together for an Ebay dispute several years back that was sold as "new/sealed". Also here's a video I came across a few months back discussing the re-wraps:

 

That said, you're right ValkerieSilk, this has been discussed before to some extent, and maybe I'm naive, but I don't see the point in intentionally re-wrapping or re-gluing a game to pass as new. Sure, it fetches a premium, but it doesn't seem to be THAT much of a premium IMO compared to how easy it would be to detect or actually de-value the item if you goofed. Right now I've got a ColecoVision system, Exp #1, Exp #2, Super Action Controllers, Roller Controller and several games that I firmly believe to still be factory sealed, but no real evidence other than personal inspection.

 

Happy Collecting!

 

 

[freewheel]

maybe I'm naive, but I don't see the point in intentionally re-wrapping or re-gluing a game to pass as new. Sure, it fetches a premium, but it doesn't seem to be THAT much of a premium IMO compared to how easy it would be to detect or actually de-value the item if you goofed.

 

 

 

Shinkwrapping a game costs a few pennies and a minute of your time, if you have access to the right equipment. And a LOT of people do (I did at a minimum wage job in university). Even if the premium is only a few bucks - and it's usually a fair bit more - it's still worth it. Given that you can replace the contents of a sealed box with... well anything, because most people buying sealed wouldn't DARE take it out of the factory plastic... imagine a $500 loose cart situation (doesn't happen with Colecovision but does with other systems). Replace with a common $1 cart and you've made a $500 profit, plus whatever extra you get for the plastic.

 

Also, people who do this think that everyone is a sucker speculator just like them. It never occurs to them that people can actually find them out. Or they just feign ignorance "hey it was sold to ME as factory sealed, I didn't know!". It's pretty low risk for a sometimes very decent gain. Incredibly common in most collector markets these days, ever since people became obsessed with lucite-encased boat anchors. And yes, it happens in the "sealed and graded" comic market, even though many refuse to believe it's even possible.

[Andromeda Stardust]

Shrinkwrap is worthless unless it's a Nintendo H-Seam:

[Hannacek]

What DID they ask on those warranty cards?

This Warranty Card (linked below) has some funny stuff. It asks how many cartridges the user owns; 11 & over is the maximum. They really thought so few people would own more then 11, that they didn't have any choices for 20 or 30 or 40 or 100. And when does anyone use the ampersand anymore? The ampersand is classic 80's. The Family income choice maxes out at $30,000 a year. The male female dichotomy in the warrant card is so thick you could cut it with a knife. I could keep going on, because there is a lot of funny and interesting stuff in old warranty cards, including the fact that warranty cards where a thing that existed and people mailed in. The warranty was still valid even if you never mailed in the card.

 

http://www.colecovision.dk/images/cv-2010-11/warranty-card-2-big-back.jpg

Edited September 19, 2014 by Hannacek

[ColecoDan]

I like the favorite theme game you would want in the future. If they got a lot of people choosing one theme then they could make some future games for that theme. Pretty smart.

[SoulBlazer]

I like the favorite theme game you would want in the future. If they got a lot of people choosing one theme then they could make some future games for that theme. Pretty smart.

Plus also the questions asking about their favorite arcade game and favorite TV show -- give them ideas about properties to try to go after for future games.

 

That's interesting, I recall warranty cards from the early 90's when I did them for NES and SNES games and they asked some similar questions and also some different ones....like what other systems from other companies you had and which ones you planned to buy, and room for comments.

[WispFollower]

I don't usually seek out sealed games, but I have picked some up over the years when the prices have been right. I feel confident in judging the authenticity if I can see it in person, or if there are very high quality pics of edges and corners. I enjoy collecting unusually great condition games, so I can't help myself when there is a sealed game for a decent price. I need to find better protection cases for some.. I'm nervous every time I need to move or look at things like my sealed Super Sketch. It's just a larger box, so I can't use standard box protector. I just have it in bubble wrap for now. For anyone wondering, I bought it due to the price being too low to pass up, and after thinking how few sealed copies must exist. I'm not sure what a sealed Super Sketch is worth, but I know I got a great deal, and that is part of the fun.

[youki]

I think most of collectors would be very surprised if they open their "pretended" factory sealed.

 

I bet you would even didn't find a cartridge in the box but a piece of wood or something else.

 

And most of boxes are not original ones.

 

I think one only relative reliable mean to find if it is a fake or not. It is to smell the box. Boxes sealed in 1982-83 does not smell as boxes recently sealed.

 

But of course , it is hard to smell on Ebay...

Edited October 1, 2014 by youki