Loose 2600 Console Value

[Intrepid]

I've noticed after browsing eBay for Atari products over the last year, that prices have been steadily rising. I just recently stopped wishing I would start collecting vintage gaming items and decided to do something about it.

 

My first trip to the Thrift store netted me 3 2600 decks, and half a set of paddle controllers in good shape for $9. I'm definately going to keep at least one of them, but am unsure about what to do with the remaing consoles. I collect for fun, and to me it would probably be most fun to complete the systems and then either sell them online or mothball them till I decide what to do with them. On the one hand I'd have more cash to (guilt freely) invest in the hobby, on the other it never hurts to have too much hardware lying around.

 

I pretty much know what I want to do with these decks, but am curious to hear your thoughts on the matter. Are they worth selling loose, or should I complete and then sell? What should I expect to get for them in either condition? Should I just complete them and save them?

 

Thanks for any advice in advance.

[Pitfall Harry]

I would imagine that most 2600 console sales go to people who are looking to get into classic gaming for the first time or to people who want to get back into it after a long absence. (I'm excluding eBay buyer/re-sellers for the purpose of this argument, as the consoles they snipe ultimately go to gamers anyway). Hard core collectors are not likely to buy Atari consoles online and pay the shipping costs, because most of them have a stack of 20 "spares" in their garages, which they bought at a flea market for $1 each.

 

You would be selling to newbies then. And most of them will be needing the accessories and a few games to get started. The common cartridges that you find and accumulate over and over again will eventually become completely worthless to you. But to a newbie, those are just the games they are looking for and are the reason they wanted to find an Atari console in the first place.

 

Sell the complete package. It will cost you very little more than selling a naked console, but it will dramatically increase the number of interested buyers, and therefore the amount of money you can expect to get for it in return.

 

Ben

[KAZ]

I got into collecting because I wanted to have an Atari 5200 like I used to have when I was young.

 

Getting the Atari 2600 was just a natural progression after this. And I first picked up the titles that I actually played for real when I was a kid (at other people's houses, etc.)

 

Following this line, I will soon move on to Atari 7800 and the Jaguar, but that's a ways off.

 

It might be neat to have all the activision titles, or maybe all the M Network titles (those that aren't ultra rare of course).

 

For display purposes (not just to play them) it would be neat.

[fmctm1sw]

quote:

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Originally posted by Intrepid:

I've noticed after browsing eBay for Atari products over the last year, that prices have been steadily rising. I just recently stopped wishing I would start collecting vintage gaming items and decided to do something about it.

 

My first trip to the Thrift store netted me 3 2600 decks, and half a set of paddle controllers in good shape for $9. I'm definately going to keep at least one of them, but am unsure about what to do with the remaing consoles. I collect for fun, and to me it would probably be most fun to complete the systems and then either sell them online or mothball them till I decide what to do with them. On the one hand I'd have more cash to (guilt freely) invest in the hobby, on the other it never hurts to have too much hardware lying around.

 

I pretty much know what I want to do with these decks, but am curious to hear your thoughts on the matter. Are they worth selling loose, or should I complete and then sell? What should I expect to get for them in either condition? Should I just complete them and save them?

 

Thanks for any advice in advance.

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Ah, Latrobe.. home of Rolling Rock beer and Pittsburgh Steeler training camp...

[Intrepid]

Don't forget Arnold Palmer, Mister Rogers, and the first Banana split...