Rarity / Expected Price of a Console

[marc.teeters]

Ok, so I hit a lot of flea markets, thrift stores and retro game shops and have noticed I have yet to see a Colecovision. I had one as a kid and nobody thought it was weird and unheard of at the time and a lot of people still remember them. A few of the shops I've been in said they only see one every 5-10 years at best. I'm in a small city in the tri state area of Ohio, Ky, WV so I'm not horribly surprised they aren't here but I spent a day hitting shops in Columbus last month and nobody had seen one in a long time. I've noticed there aren't a lot on eBay either and the complete ones are going north of 100 after shipping usually. So I guess the real question is how often are you guys seeing these and what are you paying for them? I'm honestly not sure I want to spend ps4 money on a 35 year old system that will almost immediately need new or refurbished controllers and a hard to find power supply.

 

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[marc.teeters]

Ok, so I hit a lot of flea markets, thrift stores and retro game shops and have noticed I have yet to see a Colecovision. I had one as a kid and nobody thought it was weird and unheard of at the time and a lot of people still remember them. A few of the shops I've been in said they only see one every 5-10 years at best. I'm in a small city in the tri state area of Ohio, Ky, WV so I'm not horribly surprised they aren't here but I spent a day hitting shops in Columbus last month and nobody had seen one in a long time. I've noticed there aren't a lot on eBay either and the complete ones are going north of 100 after shipping usually. So I guess the real question is how often are you guys seeing these and what are you paying for them? I'm honestly not sure I want to spend ps4 money on a 35 year old system that will almost immediately need new or refurbished controllers and a hard to find power supply.

 

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[fiddlepaddle]

It's been a couple years for me. I probably see them about as often as I see 5200s. Often the seller doesn't know what it is (and it's not been taken care of). People who resell know they are somewhat collectable, but most people won't fix a broken one...and these units tend to have problems as they get older. I bet if you keep looking, you'll eventually find one at a reasonable price, though.

[spacecadet]

That's pretty much the going rate. It's a little more expensive than some systems but I don't think that's outrageous by modern standards; all older systems have been going up for some time.

 

There are quite a few on Ebay; I just checked. Locally there might not be as many because the system was only on the market for a couple years.

[jblenkle]

Honestly, from my perspective, this is the current trend. We use to have tons of video game equipment in local thrift shops where I live. I mean to the point where some shops had a separate room for all the video game stuff!!! In the last 10 years or so, it's really dried up. Now when I go to a thrift shop I'm lucky to see any kind of video game system, controller, or anything else video game related. I don't know whether the supply has just dried up or if people are hanging onto them now. But they just aren't there anymore.

Ok, so I hit a lot of flea markets, thrift stores and retro game shops and have noticed I have yet to see a Colecovision. I had one as a kid and nobody thought it was weird and unheard of at the time and a lot of people still remember them. A few of the shops I've been in said they only see one every 5-10 years at best. I'm in a small city in the tri state area of Ohio, Ky, WV so I'm not horribly surprised they aren't here but I spent a day hitting shops in Columbus last month and nobody had seen one in a long time. I've noticed there aren't a lot on eBay either and the complete ones are going north of 100 after shipping usually. So I guess the real question is how often are you guys seeing these and what are you paying for them? I'm honestly not sure I want to spend ps4 money on a 35 year old system that will almost immediately need new or refurbished controllers and a hard to find power supply.

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[ChuckH]

An option you might consider is a Colecovision Flashback system. It comes with 60 built in games. There are some on e-bay for a reasonable price. It's not the real thing but might be worth considering for your situation.

[CPUWIZ]

I say it one more time, please stop using Tapatalk to start topics on AtariAge. Thanks.

[Osgeld]

I had a colecovision and it and the adam were quite popular here, which is why we had one

 

BUT unlike some other systems, where you could drop it in a sewer during a nuke attack and the only thing wrong with it is a dirty switch, the dual voltage ram, flakey power switch, and even when new, easily broken controllers, maybe means a lot of these hit the bin back in the day ... added onto the "OMFG what is that" in regions where it scarcely sold add's up to a tidy price tag

[NIAD]

Thrift Stores have pretty much dried up as a source for retro videogaming gear especially since the owners and employees of such stores have become more knowledgeable of the value of a lot of this stuff and use eBay for a quick sale instead of sitting on their store shelves for weeks or months before someone like us frequents their store.

[JEFF31]

Last time I saw a retro system (2600 / coleco / etc) in a thirft store... hmmm well never going back to 1998 (mid michigan area). Have seen a few dozen 2600 games a few intellivision carts... way over priced).

 

I stop by goodwill and such stores - but very much less than I did 10 years ago - nothing there worth buying.

 

 

Around 1997 a kid in the neighborhood sold me his Coleco for $5 (it worked - and yes a good deal)

[marc.teeters]

I say it one more time, please stop using Tapatalk to start topics on AtariAge. Thanks.

Yeah I saw it doubled but I didn't see a way to edit or delete it. Is this a compatibility issue with Atari age and tapatalk?

 

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[marc.teeters]

I thought I saw a sticky on here a while back of a guy that was selling modded consoles and controllers as well as doing mods and repairs. I can't seem to find it now, is he still around?

 

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[Pixelboy]

I thought I saw a sticky on here a while back of a guy that was selling modded consoles and controllers as well as doing mods and repairs. I can't seem to find it now, is he still around?

 

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The "sticky" is still there... Maybe the lock icon next to it is causing your brain to skip it?

[Bmack36]

I have a couple of systems for sale at my store if you are looking for an HDMI system with F18a.