The Australian retro hunting rant thread

I was looking at selling some stuff on Gumtree the other day and came across this ad - http://www.gumtree.com/p/for-sale/n...4-gameboy-and-gamecube-games-wiids/1015954182

I wonder if the two boxes of N64 games I have under my bed will pay for my retirement...

 

GameTraders is long gone in WA which sucks, usually got decent deals from the owner there - once you build a rapport with an owner you can start bartering too - at least the ones here did.

There are muppets on GumTree/eBay/Quokka/other classifieds and even garage sales where people think the stuff is a gold mine and start coming up with ridiculous prices. I don't even bother with Cashies since they started asking $30 per loose cartridge on SNES and $10 per loose cartridge on SMS. It's a joke.

My haven is eBay UK. Prices are fair, larger quantities, there is a guy on eBay AU right now asking $2200 for some Pokemon N64 consoles that you could pick up probably for $300-$400 locally with some luck.

Add in that collectors are popping up left right and centre and prices are going up, not necessarily a bad thing, but just makes some items too costly with buy it now options...

 

Only until recently have generic prices for new console games kind of dropped. Games used to be $120 a pop on the PS3 years back, finally new games are selling for $60-$80AUD. Saying that though, you'll spend another $50 on online content for some games, that is how bad they screw you.

Then look at games like Skylanders - you will spend $400 to get all the necessary gear. The shit is worth $50 second hand?

 

Trying to find a TV that takes RGB SCART sucks. We just had a hard rubbish collection in our area and I drove around trying to find one. Nothing.

 

Not wrong there.


Cashies are horrible for Nintendo items. I do very well with their XBOX stuff, majority of my collection is from their stores and webstores hell of a lot cheaper than eBay. Like I got Blinx 2 for $2 when on eBay it goes for $20, same with DOAXBV.

Gumtree is horrible 99% of the time. I've met one very nice seller invited me in his house, and started talking to me about other things he's sold and his experiences with some idiots. Even though I bought two dead XBOX systems from him. It was a good day and deal since he wasn't idiot like majority of people I've dealt with on there.

Ebay hasn't been a good place for deals for a long time, sadly. During the 90s early 2000s was when my friend's parents would get a shit load of games for them for like $40 now you'd expect to pay $300 for bundle of 40 games -_- no matter what platform you're collecting for.

Nintendo 64 is a system I wanted to collect for, I started to but fuck me were the prices stupid online, and locally. Anything first party is expensive, OH it has the box here's a friendly $90 price tag! Honestly what's with that market?

I'm trying to even out the market for XBOX stuff I sell on eBay. Apparently controllers without break-aways and worn out thumbstick caps are worth $50 to these other sellers. Sorry but I wouldn't sell those for any more than $6.
I've had returning customers before since I don't over price something and I try to beat everyone's prices on eBay.

 

Philips TVs.

@HEX1GON, that's why I've stopped looking for SNES/N64 stuff - it is just ridiculous. $100 for a loose console on Gumtree sometimes. Add 3-4 games and people start "chasing $300" - I'd rather buy a Wii and emulate everything for $100. My tablet emulates SNES games now, and I get more fun out of that because collecting the Nintendo stuff is just beyond my pockets. I'm glad I grew up on the SEGA!

I do find it funny though, PS2 consoles with 40 odd games will sell for $40 on eBay at times, yet people are on there expecting $1000 for 50 games and a console sometimes - the second you walk out of a shop with a bought game, it's value decreases to whatever the trade-in value is for it, and if you buy a PS2 game, reality is the game is worth $1. There is millions of copies of everything for the PS2 - the shit just isn't that valuable.

 

I saw a few Philips TVs (and have owned a couple) and none had SCART. Maybe I'm just really unlucky, heh.

 

There are scart rgb tv's on ebay for fairly cheap. I forget the brand name, very euro sounding though. Have you considered the rgb scart/component converter trick?

edit brand is Grundig

 

My Philips LCD has the SCART. Are you looking for a CRT? Best way is to get a little SCART to RGB converter dongle...

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Componen...bles&hash=item35aa8d313c&_uhb=1#ht_1003wt_952

Something like that, comes in box with Philips TVs (though they pulled out of the AUS market years ago... ) so could be an option?

 

That looks like it just knocks it down to composite/svideo. Have a few of those already actually. CRT is preferable since older games look a lot better on them (IMO).

Found some Grundig TVs on gumtree but they had already gone. Also looking for Blaupunkt & Loewe. Any other strange European brands?

 

Not sure on ebay the grundigs seem to be in victoria lol!

 

Really? Hmmm

 

Yup Barwon and Sandhurst both with SCART.

 

I should grab one when ever I see one nearby

 

Years ago (before I was into the retro stuff) I was at DFO near the Brisbane Airport in the Sony outlet shop. They had a 72cm (or thereabouts) Trinitron with SCART input sockets. I bypassed it at the time due to this (not having component) ah well...

 

I find that ad quite suspicious. Not just for the whole "company paied him enough money to live on for another 50+ years for a few video games he had laying around the house" thing, but the phrase "he was 29". Was. Clearly they had him killed after the transaction was concluded. That would explain how the proceeds from the sale were enough to last him the remainder of his life.

 

Haha, asked a couple of friends if they'd mind going to get one for me (since I'll be moving back to Vic soon) and they couldn't understand why I wanted a CRT of all things.

Oh well, day off today. Going to go check out some places to try some games!

 

That's what I do, invite them in, make them feel at home then we talk about random old electronics. I had one fellow pickup an old National portable TV from me, turned out he ran a TV repair shop in the 70s and 80s in Singapore and moved down to Australia later on. He was very friendly and loved old National branded electronics. If I had the space I would have kept it, but alas, it was destined for a better collector!

I only tend to use Gumtree when the item is of little value (to me) and it's not at my house...
I don't want to be hit with millions of fees and have some random break in and steal my junk!
Why don't I trust society? Because it is filled with idiots and morons. :livid:

 

I don't blame you, I'd be the same. I even hate having my address on eBay.

 

regarding the TV with RGB Scart it is indeed very hard to come by nowadays.
after trying quite some time to score good working order one I ended up getting SONY LCD TV with SONY multi-media port as well as D-type Component input to hook up most of my retro consoles. Now I just need to come up with an idea how to kit-bash IKEA items to meet my need.