Bratwurst Posted February 10, 2017 Share Posted February 10, 2017 By the time is was all said and done (keeping in mind it was 3 different lots) I think I paid less than $2 per cart! Would you mind throwing out some links to the lots you bought on eBay because I (and some of my peers) would be very interested in importing bulk Famicom lots at $2 a cart. On the shipping label pictured, postage was 5200 yen which converts to about 45-50 USD and that seems to be one of the smaller packages. So was that estimate before or after you paid shipping? Even if you paid $200 in postage as a conservative estimation I'd say that was an unusually good deal. Since demand for Famicom stuff is currently white hot in Japan, it seems to me that buying from exporters on eBay would be very convenient, but also a costly proposition. That's just my observation and I would love to be proven wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TPR Posted February 10, 2017 Author Share Posted February 10, 2017 Would you mind throwing out some links to the lots you bought on eBay because I (and some of my peers) would be very interested in importing bulk Famicom lots at $2 a cart. On the shipping label pictured, postage was 5200 yen which converts to about 45-50 USD and that seems to be one of the smaller packages. So was that estimate before or after you paid shipping? Even if you paid $200 in postage as a conservative estimation I'd say that was an unusually good deal. Since demand for Famicom stuff is currently white hot in Japan, it seems to me that buying from exporters on eBay would be very convenient, but also a costly proposition. That's just my observation and I would love to be proven wrong. Sure! For example here's one of the guys I bought from: http://www.ebay.com/itm/30-Nintendo-Famicom-Games-Lot-FC-NES-Wholesale-lot-E-Dragon-Ball-Z-Baltron-/232226696409 He had a couple of bigger lots as well (I think 60 carts) that I bought and I got enough to quality for his additional 20% off.` Other guys I bought for may not have included free shipping, but still when you averaged it out, it wasn't terrible. To be honest, the cost of everything wasn't my biggest concern so it may have been a little more than around $2 per cart, I wasn't really keeping that close of tabs. But it wasn't a crazy insane price either. But going off of pal52's auctions if I add three of them to my cart on eBay and with the additional 20% off that comes to about $151 for 90 carts or about $1.65 per cart including shipping. So realistically, I'll bet the entire lot that I bought wasn't much more than $2 per cart for everything, but that's really just a ballpark. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bratwurst Posted February 10, 2017 Share Posted February 10, 2017 Ah, I see now that not all of the packages came from Japan, pal52 and terryu27 are in the US. That explains the prices. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TPR Posted February 10, 2017 Author Share Posted February 10, 2017 Ah, I see now that not all of the packages came from Japan, pal52 and terryu27 are in the US. That explains the prices. Exactly. So it allowed me to spend a bit more money on the stuff that came from Japan and it all balanced out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StopDrop&Retro Posted February 10, 2017 Share Posted February 10, 2017 HELL YEAHHH!!!! You have Astro Robo SASA!!! I'M ON MY WAY OVER TO PLAY CO-OP, MAKE SURE YOU HAVE SNACKS!!! One of my favorite Famicom games. I forgive it even for getting ridiculously hard in the underwater levels. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atariboy2600 Posted February 10, 2017 Share Posted February 10, 2017 I know the feeling of playing Japanese imports all to well I lived in NYC and for years I been getting some Famicom games and Im still loooking for more here's some of what I have. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanooki Posted February 10, 2017 Share Posted February 10, 2017 I can vouch for pal52 too, solid seller and he has historically in the last few years had some really nice prices on stand alone and his bundles are quite cheap too but I never popped on a grab bag like this. Also 2 more US based with value in their lists I've bought from: retro_saikou -- http://www.ebay.com/sch/retro_saikou/m.html?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEFSXS%3AMESOI&_trksid=p2053788.m1543.l2654 shisochou -- http://www.ebay.com/sch/shisochou/m.html?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEFSXS%3AMESOI&_trksid=p2053788.m1543.l2654 And from Japan, very cheap shipping, super friendly, they've packed in free bags of green tea in orders I did before, and they price very well (and no bs GSP shipping where it's like $15 for a gameboy game) ryoplanshop -- http://www.ebay.com/sch/ryoplanshop/m.html?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEFSXS%3AMESOI&_trksid=p2053788.m1543.l2654 I've snapped up mostly Famicom off all of them but also Gameboy (from ryoplanshop) too. I'd recommend them all, still the US based ones if greed hasn't set in within the last year or so as I haven't bought in awhile. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StopDrop&Retro Posted February 10, 2017 Share Posted February 10, 2017 oh.. alright! I'll share my ebay connection. I've been buying Famicom stuff from him over the past month or so and I've received nothing but top notch service. He even sells some Famicom games for $2.97 and free shipping, I've never seen another seller match that. It's great for hitting up a single cart impulse buy. http://stores.ebay.com/playjapan/NES-/_i.html?_fsub=12949286012 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TPR Posted February 10, 2017 Author Share Posted February 10, 2017 oh.. alright! I'll share my ebay connection. I've been buying Famicom stuff from him over the past month or so and I've received nothing but top notch service. He even sells some Famicom games for $2.97 and free shipping, I've never seen another seller match that. It's great for hitting up a single cart impulse buy. http://stores.ebay.com/playjapan/NES-/_i.html?_fsub=12949286012 Ahh! Good to hear. I've actually got about 20 carts on order from them now! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
high voltage Posted February 10, 2017 Share Posted February 10, 2017 Wow, awesome haul indeed. Metro Cross is a great game, still playing it on C64 nowadays, I love it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanooki Posted February 10, 2017 Share Posted February 10, 2017 (edited) Very nice seller, smaller supply but the prices can't be beat. I'd still suggest ryoplanshop for some really excellent deals and more variety too. You know maybe another thread around this one should be made, people can suggest less notable Famicom releases for buys since those tend to mostly be very cheap since they're under the radar. Not your usual list of Cocoron, Castlevania, Wai Wai World, Twinbee stuff. Things like that Legend of Valkyrie brought up earlier, maybe Dragon Buster(that namco gold cart), or even some known cheapos like Devil World. It could be fun we as many as there are here could keep an active thread rolling easily enough. Fun fact you can even buy the $300+USD BONK game for $20-25 as PC Genjin Famicom (it's what I did.) I sold my cart, used the money for better stuff and snapped up the Famicom release. Edited February 10, 2017 by Tanooki 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icemanxp300 Posted February 10, 2017 Share Posted February 10, 2017 You know it's threads like this that makes my hoarding worse. I have in the past considered buying famicom just because they are so cheap. I mean you can rock out an instant collection for the price of 1 NTSC game. I really don't have the funds now or else I would contact that Pal guy and request a bulk deal if he could do me a no dupes lot. Not to mention as it is right now I have no room for any more games, the current multi-thousand take up the entire basement walls and bleed across the floor. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bratwurst Posted February 10, 2017 Share Posted February 10, 2017 I have in the past considered buying famicom just because they are so cheap. I mean you can rock out an instant collection for the price of 1 NTSC game. Maybe if you're really into mahjong, baseball and pirate junk games. Famicom hasn't been cheap for at least five or six years now in the land of the rising sun. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icemanxp300 Posted February 10, 2017 Share Posted February 10, 2017 Maybe if you're really into mahjong, baseball and pirate junk games. Famicom hasn't been cheap for at least five or six years now in the land of the rising sun. That depends on what you consider cheap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DesertJets Posted February 10, 2017 Share Posted February 10, 2017 Going down that rabbit hole of eBay links wasn't the most productive thing I did this morning, now I am trying to justify to myself I need a random lot of Japanese GBA games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NE146 Posted February 10, 2017 Share Posted February 10, 2017 (edited) I actually started with Famicom carts since that's what was sold in Guam before the US NES ever made it there. I accumulated a little over a dozen or so before heading out to college in California in 1987.. where since I was in the states I eagerly got the NES and never really looked back too much on the Famicom. Funny thing though is over the years I eventually came to realize the console I had was a chinese bootleg famiclone, and I'm guessing since the carts I bought were almost always loose and wrapped in cellophane, that they were bootleg as well. They still look like regular famicom carts.. but whether they're real, or real bootleg, I have no idea. Edited February 10, 2017 by NE146 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Metal Jesus Posted February 10, 2017 Share Posted February 10, 2017 Um...I'm speechless!! That is so cool! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TPR Posted February 10, 2017 Author Share Posted February 10, 2017 Maybe if you're really into mahjong, baseball and pirate junk games. Famicom hasn't been cheap for at least five or six years now in the land of the rising sun. I was at Super Potato in December and I honestly didn't feel their prices were that bad. I picked up a refurbed/new belt Famicom Disk System for about $75 and quite a few games for it and I'm pretty sure they were all less than $10 each. Unless you're looking for the most super rare or uncommon of games, I've found Famicom to be relatively inexpensive. I mean, I just got nearly 400 DIFFERENT games for around $2 a cart and I can't think of many other pre-1990s machines where you could get that volume of different games for that cheap. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+GoldLeader Posted February 10, 2017 Share Posted February 10, 2017 It's definitely all relative. Some of the really good games will cost a lot, some common gems aren't too bad...But in random lots, expect a lot of tile games and baseball haha...(You may luck out)... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TPR Posted February 10, 2017 Author Share Posted February 10, 2017 It's definitely all relative. Some of the really good games will cost a lot, some common gems aren't too bad...But in random lots, expect a lot of tile games and baseball haha...(You may luck out)... I should put together an actual list of everything I have so far to see what I ended up with, but out of roughly 375 unique carts I'm going to guess that I maybe ended up with 40 baseball and tile games? I really don't think I ended up with a bunch of crap games either. Checking eBay, if you do a search for between $2.50 - $7.00 there is a LOT of good games you can get cheap: http://ebay.to/2kvlaVVand what I found is that by emailing some of the sellers you can do bulk deals and get those game prices (especially the ones closer to $7) down even cheaper. It would seem like NES games are actually more expensive, no? But you're right, I guess it's all relative... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eltigro Posted February 10, 2017 Share Posted February 10, 2017 I know Metrocross only from watching Game Center CX. Kacho on! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cybercylon Posted February 11, 2017 Share Posted February 11, 2017 That depends on what you consider cheap. It is also all relative. Sometimes the import is cheaper if it was made in larger quantities but had a low run elsewhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StopDrop&Retro Posted February 11, 2017 Share Posted February 11, 2017 It would seem like NES games are actually more expensive, no? Absolutely. NES games usually cost about 3x what a Famicom copy will cost. I blame this on westerners being being hit with a very contagious nostalgia bug and it seems like collectors in Japan are a lot more few and far between. From what I hear, people in Japan want to unload their old stuff. But of course the reason why NES prices keep going up while Famicom prices are low is because it's just harder to collect for if you don't know the basics or don't want to. It is a hard system to collect for even for those of us who try to familiarize ourselves with its western-friendly games. Super Famicom prices are on the rise, probably because people want first party Nintendo games without having to shell out SNES inflated prices and it's far easier to play those games since you just have to take out those plastic pins whereas the NES won't play Famicom without an adapter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanooki Posted February 11, 2017 Share Posted February 11, 2017 Pays to have a working Honeybee like I do, or a retrofreak/retron 5 with a working famicom slot on board. And that is true, the SFC is very easy to crack into because you just snap off 2 cheap pieces of plastic on the US system and you're done. Why pay $100 for a US release when you can get it for $20 or so with a Japanese label that works all the same? As long as you're not into some RPG/ARPG with lots of babbling going on you're good to go. SFC stuff has gone up, some more than others, oddly some that are accessible really have not too bad (only from my looking loose now = CIB of the late 90s when I bought the stuff originally.) Like you can get a loose Parodius for $20, back then you got it for CIB that. But others seem to have fallen fairly flat as SDF Macross was like a $70 complete game and it's not too much worse so it kind of varies. Famicom though mostly cheap, if you consider a bulk lot of a $2-3/avg cheap or much of it individually can be had for $5-20 as a single. There's not too much that pops over to the higher numbers, but there are some and it's a shame but they usually are the best titles so they're more sought after, at least the best people know are 'best.' If you go reading on the outskirts or take advice from others and find something few knew what the hell it was you can get some really good stuff for peanuts. I never heard of that Legend of Valkyrie game in this thread before but I watched a video on it and that's a decent little challenge and kind of cool. Or if you want to go my route, buy BONK Famicom for $20 instead of $300 US. No harm there! I can't figure that one because Lickle(Samson) is up and BUbble BObble 2 is almost as bad as buying the US release as it's just weird. It's like people pick and choose what to screw up almost. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icemanxp300 Posted February 11, 2017 Share Posted February 11, 2017 It is also all relative. Ok this is the 2nd time someone has used this exact phrase. What's all relative? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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