Does he understand what "complete" means?

[Kid Ice]

Wow! A complete Vectrex Polar Rescue! At $40 with 6 hours to go, I'd gladly bid 50 or 60 on this one. 'Cept:

"Sorry all cardboard lovers the box is not included!"

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=4315&item=8110807686&rd=1

[Cmosfm]

I had to read that phrase 5 times before I understood what he meant. I kept thinking "what the hell is a "cardboard lover"?"

[Predatorxs]

"Sorry all cardboard lovers the box is not included!"

That is one thing about silly ebay sellers, they say complete, when they talkin about just the cart and manual?? but no box.. O_O

Many ebayers use the word COMPLETE when the items are no-where near complete? dammmmmmmmmmme you!!

Maybe one day they'll get it right (When hell freezes over probably)

PS.. i'm a cardboard lover too! box art is da best! ;)

..XS

[charitycasegreg]

[quote=Kid Ice]

PS.. i'm a cardboard lover too! box art is da best! ;)


hell yeah

[stonic]

-----

[captain nintendo]

:grumble: Now this would be a ggod one for the Ebay gremlin :)

[Kid Ice]

I don't understand what "chicken scratches" means :o

I think he is referring to the practice of writing in manuals. I've never found that to be a problem...it's rarely done, and when it is done it doesn't make any difference to me. What I do care about is having the box in good shape.

[ebay gremlin]

I put the question to him. It seems we are guinea pigs in his experiment.

<thebestofbothworlds> Websters speaks that to be complete you need all necessary parts, elements, or steps. Without the overlay it wouldn't be as enjoyable, without the instructions you wouldn't know how to play, without the cartridge you couldn't play. And without the box for a completes, or a collector, it wouldn't be as worthy or valuable, but yes then again would be completely operative and quite satisfying for most. Cardboard is king, as you can see especially when most of the time Polar Rescue sells for $161.00 and Star Castle for $98.50. I highly doubt though if I would list the box separately for each of these games, which yes I do have both of them for. They would sell for $100.00 a piece, which is very interesting considering only $41.00 was the winning bid on the two! Know you may ask, why didn't you sell them complete? because I have several and am just experimenting and selling some old stock. Stay tuned for future auction listings.

[SoulBlazer]

That reply did not make one BIT of sence to me. :hmm:

Anyone care to translate that into normal English? LOL

[garethamiga]

That reply did not make one BIT of sence to me. :hmm:

Anyone care to translate that into normal English? LOL

Does it translate as "I am smoking crack"?

[dmhawkmoon]

The dictionary isn't even helpful here. When it comes to eBay and video games, "complete" means that it comes with the original box and everything in the box when it was new. The only time there is ambiguity is over things like the styrofoam on an NES game or ad booklets. You can't be missing the manual or box, though.

I really despise it when people blatantly LIE in auction titles to get people into their auctions. It's one step short of being a scammer...

[monantony]

You will find Mike in most hot auctions for vectrex stuff. like a system with 15 COMPLETE games etc, then he breaks em up and sells individually. No big sin, I had to sell the one system I had that way to recoup some of the money. I was after those very same games and asked the same question about 'complete' no response. It is interesting to note a system with 19 games (with polar and star castle) went to $406, and mike was 2nd place with $401 apparently. I guess he figures to buy all those two rare titles and sell them for the hypothetical $160 and $98 ....Thing is the market for those is finite and god willing he will pay $401 next time and when he lists em they wont bring in the dough...
T
About two months ago, i ran a search on polar rescue into the past and one had sold BIN for $50, it pays to search every day

[Kid Ice]

You will find Mike in most hot auctions for vectrex stuff. like a system with 15 COMPLETE games etc, then he breaks em up and sells individually. No big sin, I had to sell the one system I had that way to recoup some of the money. I was after those very same games and asked the same question about 'complete' no response. It is interesting to note a system with 19 games (with polar and star castle) went to $406, and mike was 2nd place with $401 apparently. I guess he figures to buy all those two rare titles and sell them for the hypothetical $160 and $98 ....Thing is the market for those is finite and god willing he will pay $401 next time and when he lists em they wont bring in the dough...
T
About two months ago, i ran a search on polar rescue into the past and one had sold BIN for $50, it pays to search every day

I don't mean to be disrespectful and I am asking this in complete seriousness; are you a native speaker of the English language?

[monantony]

Yes I am, but I have a dozen other things going on, and I dont feel compelled to spell correctly all the time. Nor use proper grammar or paragraph indentations. Just too much too do, but since it is 12:30 , things are winding down enough to respond.
Really it wasn't all that bad was it? Never the less..


You will often find Mike bidding on most of the " hot" auctions for vectrex stuff, like a system with 15 COMPLETE games etc. Once he wins these he breaks em up and sells them individually. No big sin, I had to sell the one system I had that way to recoup some of the money. It's especially appealing if the system has a cover, carrying case or rare title .
I was after those games (polar rescue, star castle) and asked the same question about them being 'complete' but got no response.
It is interesting to note that 'thebestofbothworlds' (formerly 1andonlymike) now has a private feedback, the concept of which confuses me. I guess if someone has a few negatives, thats all ebay lets you know.
He went as high as $400 on one system that had those two hot games included, but he didnt win it suprisingly. I guess he figures to buy every example of those two rare titles and sell them for the hypothetical $160 and $98 ....
The thing is the market for those is finite and he can't keep buying them up and turning a profit forever...
T
P.S. About two months ago, i ran a search on polar rescue into the past and one had sold BIN for $50, it pays to search every day

Please feel free to let me know what else I need to do to this message------:)

[Kid Ice]

Yes I am, but I have a dozen other things going on, and I dont feel compelled to spell correctly all the time. Nor use proper grammar or paragraph indentations. Just too much too do, but since it is 12:30 , things are winding down enough to respond.


I just didn't understand the original post. I went a little overboard on the sarcasm there, sorry. :embarrassed:

Anyway, some specifics about what I'm confused about because I don't get it this second time either.



You will often find Mike bidding on most of the " hot" auctions for vectrex stuff, like a system with 15 COMPLETE games etc.

Who is Mike?


Once he wins these he breaks em up and sells them individually. No big sin, I had to sell the one system I had that way to recoup some of the money.

I get the first part (which is a common practice on ebay). The second sentence is where you lose me. Recoup some of the money from what?


He went as high as $400 on one system that had those two hot games included, but he didnt win it suprisingly. I guess he figures to buy every example of those two rare titles and sell them for the hypothetical $160 and $98 ....

I assume by "those two hot games" you are referring to Polar Rescue and Star Castle. Where do $160 and $98 come from, and why are they hypothetical?



P.S. About two months ago, i ran a search on polar rescue into the past and one had sold BIN for $50, it pays to search every day

I didn't get this at first but now I think I do (I thought you were saying it pays to search every day for completed items). Still, $50 isn't a whole lot less than what I'd expect to pay for a Polar Rescue. If the BIN was $5 then you would have something.

[Daria]

You will often find Mike bidding on most of the " hot" auctions for vectrex stuff, like a system with 15 COMPLETE games etc.

Who is Mike?


He said thebestofboth worlds was formly known as 1andonlymike. So I'm guessing the guy selling the vectrex polar rescue is Mike.

[ebay gremlin]

I decided to follow up on this seller and used some of the comments that were posted here. Here is the result. The spelling mistakes on my part are intentional.


<ebay gremlin> Why would you advertise something as complete when it is clearly not? And can you elaborate on these "chicken scratches"?

<thebestofbothworlds> To some complete means, game playable, to others complete means something they will collect, and stash away.

As far as chicken scratches, they are pencil, marker, crayon, or pen marks. From youngsters that like to doodle on things!

Mike

<ebay gremlin> I’ve been around games for a long time, Mike. I’m talking all the way back to the sega genesis. And I’ve never heard of anyone who considered a playable game “complete”. A playable game is just that- playable. It either works or it doesn’t. A complete game is complete with everything that originally came with it, which would be the box, manual, and anything else. Even the dictionary agrees with me:

Main Entry: 1com•plete
Pronunciation: k&m-'plEt
Function: adjective
Inflected Form(s): com•plet•er; -est
Etymology: Middle English complet, from Middle French, from Latin completus, from past participle of complEre
1 a : having all necessary parts, elements, or steps

Now, about this chicken scratchin thing. Is that what graffiti by kids is called these days? Weird. I always thought that term referred to artists with little talent. Or maybe I misunderstood, and you have real chickens that you refer to as your children?

Ebayingly yours,
Ed

<thebestofbothworlds> Ok I see your point, however you were the only one I seemed to have upset with my improper listing.

And before the Sega Genesis there was PONG and that's the era were most people searching in this category are from.
This I hope is not a contest of wits, but actually I find quite humorous, and hope you do as well!
Websters speaks that to be complete you need all necessary parts, elements, or steps. Without the overlay it wouldn't be as enjoyable, without the instructions you wouldn't know how to play, without the cartridge you couldn't play.
And without the box for a completes, or a collector, it wouldn't be as worthy or valuable, but yes then again would be completely operative and quite satisfying for most.
Cardboard is king, as you can see especially when most of the time Polar Rescue sells for $161.00 and Star Castle for $98.50.
I highly doubt though if I would list the box separately for each of these games, which yes I do have both of them for. They would sell for $100.00 a piece, which is very interesting considering only $41.00 was the winning bid on the two!
Know you may ask, why didn't you sell them complete?
because I have several and am just experimenting and selling some old stock.
Stay tuned for future auction listings.

<ebay gremlin> Pong??! You’re awful funny aren’t ya? You can’t be for real. You are comparing that chromo to the Sega Genises? How can you call a bunch of squares powered by tiny light bulbs a video game? And how in the Lenny Herman hill can you tell what “era” people are from that are looking at your auction?! For sure I know you’re talking about the backside of your controller port now. The only way you would know that is if someone told you, like I told you I’m from the beginning of the real video games era, Sega Genesisis. I go way back, and I know. That vintage category covers all the pre-Sega Geneses junk that is barely passable for video games. And now you say that you had the box the whole time but you are just “experimenting” with people? Are you trying to see who will fall for your “complete, but not really” auction? I don’t get it. There’s nothing funny about that. That’s why those games will only sell for over a $100, if they are COMPLETE! Maybe that is why yours only went for $40 bucks. Please don’t confuse “complete” with “playable” or “enjoyment”. I gather you seem to understand what complete means, and I assume you can now see why complete games sell for more. But I assure you when buyers look at an auction that says “complete”, they’re not thinking about it being more fun to play. Boxes are serious business, maybe not to you, but they are to the vast wide rolling army of collectors.

<thebestofbothworlds> At age 34 I have owned every system out there and yes that includes PONG, and yes it was a pile of junk, but many systems were sold and money was made. In a sense PONG was the dinosaur of the gaming industry, and inspiration for others to design something better like Colecovision that shortly followed suit.

And how can I know what era my watchers on my listings are from? That one's easy (e-mail). I enjoy getting to know people like yourself, even if it's just bickering over nonsense! And have met some interesting characters in my journeys!

And yes I do experiment with my listings and consumers, and find it quite profitable, most of the time. For example just sell the overlay, or just the box, or just the controller. And so on and so forth! I have proven to myself and many others this is more profitable and gains more opportunity for others that are simply trying to complete there collection! But you know as well as myself, complete is a word and will always mean just that!

I look forward to any item listings that you may have for sale. Oops, I forgot your ebay user name to look for them!

Best regards,
MIKE

<ebay gremlin> Colecovision?! Those things were carved out of rocks, they are so old. You call that better? It’s not much better than a colored pong! The controllers had these little nubs that are like sawed-off joysticks. How in the don rogers can people even play with that? And that wasn’t even the worst kind!! It’s like no one knew how to design a gamepad back then. And the games- forget it. What a mess, man. Nothing looked or sounded like it was supposed to. Why are you trying to compare that wacked out old garbagio to something amazing like the sege genesis? Time to drop that stuff like a prom dress at midnight and get up to date on the new bizzam hardware. Let it go man.

I can see why you meet all these characters from the Paleozoic era of videogame blunders, they are the only ones who still play with that stuff, but I don’t see why you have to experiment on ebay buyers, like were a bunch of animals or something, in a cage or some thing, well I AM NO ANIMAL you know, I mean if you have stuff to sell, just throw it all up there, because the way you do it, it is like you are selling a car, except you pull out the radio or air conditioner because you don’t really need those things to drive it, but I say why not just sell it, yknow, complete!

Completely yours,
Edgar Gremlivich

<thebestofbothworlds> Please provide your ebay user name, so I can check out your listings!

<ebay gremlin> you wouldn’t try to mess with any of my auctions would you? Because if you would I’m way on to that type and have them blocked already, well it’s zathras_eleven if you must know, and my auctions are on the up and up,oh and why is your feedback private? It looks like you are hiding something, like you are a government spy or something.You would get more bids if it wasn’t, and it lets people know you stand behind what you say, which I do very much so, and why are you selling nothing but old vecterex stuff?? I though you were this old game relic afficianado collector who had everything from pongo up, or did you sell all that forgettable equipment already, all I see is auction after auction of LOOK VECTREX AND LOOK ANOTHER VECTREXX AND LOOK OLD CHROMO GAME LIKE THINGS AND VECTREX. What is up with that??

<thebestofbothworlds> I won't mess with your reputation, sales, or magnificent auctions! I have just one thing to say though. Why would you spend so much time listing and selling something that everybody already has. Something you can buy at Game Crazy, Fun co Land or Toys R Us?
No profit for you to make, because of mass production and popularity.
Yes I have many game systems, and ended up renting a spare garage to hold them all, waiting for some day when they are worth something!
Take a close look at how many viewers and watchers are searching in your categorys. Then take a deep breath, and for example look up my last sale with 380 + hits and 39 watchers. Item # (8111609350)
Why do I sell in this category? It is pretty much self explanatory! DEMAND! I always have at least 300 hits on all my listings!

<ebay gremlin> Don’t work about me, bub. I make plenty of profit from my auctions, because I get my stuff very cheap, pretty much free shall we say. And having lotsa hits doesn’t always translate into a high price at the end. Remember your Star Castle auction? You say you have many game systems but all I see you selling is vectorx stuff, I hope some of those systems are newer than dirt... You mean to say you have many of the same system? If not, why not mix it up??

<thebestofbothworlds> F_ncoL_nd sells this item (used) for $14..99! Another EXACT copy recently sold on eBay
for $15.02! You can use Buy-It-Now (BIN) to purchase this copy for $14.99 (no bidding), or enter the minimum bid of $9.99 to guarantee that this copy sells! I see you are selling copies, are they working or fake? And where is the box and instruction manual? Did you remove, or loose them, and are you trying to trick us here?

Wow this is fun! How much more junk do you have for sale? And are you getting tired of hearing this at the end of your auctions? YOUR AUCTION ITEM HAS ENDED AND HAS NOT SOLD! LEARN HOW TO RELIST YOUR ITEM FOR GREATER SELLING RESULTS!

GOOD LUCK!

<ebay gremlin> This is Ebay. You want to “save” money and drive up the mall to get games, then go do that. It is fact that you pay more on Ebay for stuff for the convenience of sitting at home and doing nothing, as you are finding out. Ebay is founded on the principle of being a lazy American, and so what is so terribly teribly terriblee wrong with that?

I see you are involved in most auctions buying vectrex stuff, like a system with 15 COMPLETE games etc, then you break em up and sells individually. I guess you figure to buy all those two rare titles and sell them for the hypothetical top value ....thing is the market for those is finite and as you have noticed they won’t always bring in the dough. You can't keep buying them up and turning a profit forever  Time to move up to newer better systems, and learn to make consistent results, like starting with the sega Generis!

I also see you were formerly 1andonlymike and that your feedback wasn’t always private. I am sure there is an interesting story behind that, which I can’t wait to hear. You are right, this is fun!

Consistently yours,
EG

[No reply]

[monantony]

I assume by "those two hot games" you are referring to Polar Rescue and Star Castle. Where do $160 and $98 come from, and why are they hypothetical?

They came up a few months ago and I think it was bestofbothworlds that snapped em up at that price. If its a rare vectrex item, or a system with such an item, he will be bidding hard. He bought a system with a cover and then was selling the cover alone right after, for the starting price of the whole shebang. I find it a bit annoying to bid against someone who's sole intent is to part out a group for profit, than I do bidding against someone who just wants to finish off a collection.

T

[Daria]

I find it a bit annoying to bid against someone who's sole intent is to part out a group for profit, than I do bidding against someone who just wants to finish off a collection.

T

That's when I start flinging the profanity, although only towards my moniter and any unlucky kitties that may be in the room at the time. I know it's selfish but I hate losing to some ass that's only going to turn around and resell the item when I'd actually enjoy it. :P