Sunday, December 30, 2018

Xbox Game Flipping Experiment

I was out at Pawn America a few weeks ago, and I saw this game for a Quarter. I knew it was worth an ok amount in good shape. I had sold a poorly resurfaced (but working) copy a few years back for around $10.00 when I upgraded my personal copy.

OutRun 2, Sega classic and Xbox Exclusive

Few less stickers out of the case

Ouch, rough manual

Ring around the disc

Overall, it needs some work. Can we get the stickers off clean? How much will the rough manual affect someone wanting to buy it. I mean we all complain about games these days not coming with manuals, but who reads them, really? I know I don't. But, hey I figured for a Quarter, why not see what we can do with this and flip it for whatever I can get, just for fun.



The O sticker on the spine came off ok, but the rental store sticker on the back art didn't do as well. 


Given that, I didn't want to wreck the manual any further, so I left it on the front.

Had an extra green Xbox case, that was in ok shape to help it look a little better.

Then, after going through all this I realized I had failed to test the game to make sure it worked. I ALWAYS do this when selling any used games, it's for my own piece of mind, I personally am not the kind of guy who would try to screw anyone, it just isn't in me.




Works great

Time to get it listed on eBay. I took good pictures of everything, including damages and noted the damage in the description. But I also decided to have a little fun and put "The game plays great, and isn't that all that really matters?" in the description as well. I listed it as acceptable condition, started the auction at $2.99 with $4.00 shipping and let the auction run it's course. Seven days later...…

Sold for $4.25 + $4.00 shipping for a total of $8.25.

And $3.05 to ship it to it's new home.

To recap, I paid:
Game, with tax .27
Pay Pal fees .54 
eBay fees .43
Shipping 3.05

So total I pocketed...……………………..$3.96


Not a bad return on a twenty five cent investment, but isn't going to help me retire either, Just kind of did it for fun, and the game went to a new home, instead of into the trash.










Wednesday, December 26, 2018

I Bought a New Guitar!

I bought a new (to me) Guitar!


I bought my first guitar, a Fender Stratocaster back in late 1996, early 1997. I played it a lot for the first couple years, but eventually my practicing and playing began to wane. I pick it up every now and then with the intention of getting back into practicing/playing everyday, but somehow things always seem to come up. I love playing my guitar, I want to be decent and just be able to get together with other people and play casually.

 I always liked the B.C. Rich Warlock guitar, and have wanted to get an all black one, eventually. A couple of years ago, I saw this video of Machine Head's cover of Iron Maiden's Hallowed Be Thy Name, and have lusted after the Guitar Rob Flynn plays in this video ever since:


An Acrylic Red B.C. Rich Warlock



Up until last week, when I was in my local Pawn America I saw this hanging in their Guitars
A B.C. Rich Warbeast, as soon as I saw it, I knew I had to have it!

The entire next day all I could think of was buying it, playing it and enjoying it. This was 4 days before X-Mas, and the $129.99 price tag was very reasonable. However I didn't really have that kind of extra money to just spend on the newest shiny bauble to have captured my attention. I knew that Pawn America offered a layaway program, I figured I could just do that. But, then came the end of the work day and my awesome boss hands me a Very Generous Holiday Bonus check. I couldn't get to Pawn America fast enough!

I got inside, went back to the guitars and asked to look at the B.C.Rich, I played with it a little and looked it over. Then the clerk hands me a guitar cable, goes over to the amplifiers and says I can try it out for a few minutes to make sure it works good and that I was happy with it. I play a few riffs I remember and sounds good to me, so I tell her "Sold!"

As we are checking out, the clerk is scanning the tag and says "Oh, it comes with a case too." I remember I was wondering if it was going to fit in my current gig bag that I had used for my Fender. She went in the back to get it and came out with this

An awesome B.C. Rich hard case

And with my new beauty inside

A few close ups


After seeing the Body Art Collection designation on the head stock, I decided to do a lil poking around online, with the help of my good friend google. Here is what I came across:

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Body Art Collection are a selection of limited edition electric guitars made by the guitar manufacturer B.C. Rich. The series is based on the company's 'platinum series' and was made over two years from January 2003 until December 2004. The classic B.C. Rich shapes were given a new look with various images. Each guitar in the series carries a unique serial number and a 'limited edition' plaque on the reverse of the guitar, incorporated into the bolt-on neck.

And as I did a little more poking around, I came across this:
Pretty cool! Now I know when it was made and why the design

That's it for now, off to play some Sanitarium!

Saturday, December 15, 2018

Sega 32X Collection Update

SO, as I alluded to in a older blog post (HERE) I have decided to collect a complete set of Sega Genesis 32X Cartridge games. I have added a few more to that collection,

First Up, I was able to get a complete in box Virtua Fighter for $15.00 shipped

When it arrived, the cartridge was in better condition than my loose cart, so I was able to upgrade.

I then sold my extra cartridge for $11.00, making the box, manual and inserts $4.00



Next, was a local Craigslist deal I came across for 3 loose 32X cartridges for $15.00,

I needed Primal Rage, the others were to be re-coupers

$15.00 for this game is a steal

I then sold Shadow Squadron for $19.00, Making me $4.00 and still leaving Doom to be sold.

But, then I went out and spent $15.00 on a Manual for Primal Rage, so I still ended up paying $11.00 for the game, but now it has the manual to go with it.



Next, I scored a copy of Star Trek Starfleet Academy Starship Bridge Simulator along with a copy of Star Wars Arcade to use as a recouper for $20.00.

No manual for Star Wars, and no box for Star Trek

New to me, haven't tried it yet.

Next up, I got a couple more NFL Quarterback Club games to use for the cases. Total I spent $15.00, but have 2 cartridges, 2 artwork inserts and a manual to sell to recoup that cost. 



So, I slapped in the Star Trek and Primal Rage games and manuals into these cases

And some painters tape and a marker work for the cases until I can get some artwork printed



Then, I saw a copy of WWF Raw in a rough case for $24.99 but it now with free shipping on eBay. Also had the Make Offer option. Due to the condition of the case I offered $20.00, and it was accepted. Which is about half of what the game usually goes for. As for the case, I didn't mind as I still have one more extra 32X case in my extra case stash I could swap this into.

When I received it however, the case was in ALOT better condition than I remember from the auction pictures?

Ahhh, the seller switched the case... 

Now you would think that would be a good thing, but there were only 4 32X games that came in these cases, and even a rough one is still a 32X specific case. I don't know how to feel about it.

Here are the pictures form the auction

However, this turned out to be a moot point as while I was waiting for this game to show up, I ended up bidding on and won an auction for an empty case for this game for $10.00.

What's that in the case?

Wow, a receipt from Toys "R" Us from September 1996, neat!

At home in a proper 32X case

My current 32X collection as it stands today.



More to come, eventually