Clone Console "Flipping"/Sales

[Dr. BaconStein]

I know it sounds kind of dumb, but is it possible to make any (decent) money off of selling clone/plug and play consoles? I figure since they come relatively cheap and most people love classic games and novelty retro stuff, they might be good for some entrepreneurial-type business. I'm talking about licensed clones (AtGames, Hyperkin, Retro-Bit, Yobo etc.) mainly. I've gotten a lot of interesting reactions when I was playing my GenMobile and my FC-16 around campus and a few people even asked me where I got them.

I figure since I'm interested in them anyway, it wouldn't be a huge loss if it doesn't work out... Any advice? Should I try it out? I know there's a buying/selling board so I apologize if this is the wrong board.

[wiggyx]

Of course there is, but you'll need to buy in rather large quantities to do so. I'd imagine you'd have to purchase in the 50-100 piece range in order to get proper wholesale prices.

[buzz_n64]

There used to be a ton of NES clone stand shops at malls, but they all got shut down eventually because of the illegal ROMS loaded on them. The consoles sold for about $40, and a lot of profit was made. For the consoles you mentioned, you should be good on legality end. Market yourself right and you can make an easy profit.

[kedawa]

Just bulk buy a decent emulation box from dealextreme and fill it with da romz.

[Ace]

You know what I say? The hell with anything that's not a proper hardware clone, i.e. anything made by AtGames that are software-emulated filth. Now, granted, NES hardware clones would not be as accurate as emulators because Famiclone manufacturers are too f-ing lazy to develop better NOACs, but compared to anything AtGames has put out, they're at least SOMEWHAT acceptable.

Honestly, I say if you're really serious about selling clone systems, sell modified clones. Pretty much every clone I've come across has its share of issues, many of which are attributed to crappy external circuits, so I say if you really want to try and make decent money off clone systems (and differentiate yourself from other sellers), get a variety of clones and fix as much as possible of what was screwed up by the manufacturer.

Or, if you have the technical know-how and the means to buy the parts or reverse-engineer a console, make your own clone. I'll actually be working on such a thing using the SM801-A1 chip, a GOAC which appears to have more features than any other GOAC I've seen.

In the meantime, though, modify whatever clones are out there now and sell those modified consoles. Clones aren't really as bad as people think they are; some are more than capable of being 100% accurate, but crappy circuitry kills it for pretty much every clone.

[StoneAgeGamer]

I know it sounds kind of dumb, but is it possible to make any (decent) money off of selling clone/plug and play consoles? I figure since they come relatively cheap and most people love classic games and novelty retro stuff, they might be good for some entrepreneurial-type business. I'm talking about licensed clones (AtGames, Hyperkin, Retro-Bit, Yobo etc.) mainly. I've gotten a lot of interesting reactions when I was playing my GenMobile and my FC-16 around campus and a few people even asked me where I got them.

I figure since I'm interested in them anyway, it wouldn't be a huge loss if it doesn't work out... Any advice? Should I try it out? I know there's a buying/selling board so I apologize if this is the wrong board.

Personally I think its a bad idea, there really isn't a lot of profit to be had on clones and since they are mass produced items the pricing competition between retailers is very high. I see companies price clones for basically no profit at all on eBay.

[wiggyx]

^^^ there you have it, from someone in the know.

[jb143]

That's true for ebay. I can't speak for clone systems specifically, but for a while I was selling wholesale items on ebay and like was said, the competition was so great that I was barely making any profit. But I would see the same exact stuff selling in malls for much closer to MSRP. It is possible that you could make decent profits by renting a kiosk in a mall and focus on that as well as other similar items, but then you'd have to worry about business licenses, taxes, and so forth.

[Compute]

Damn near every shop that sells games here sells clones. Unless you have the market cornered, not worth it.