In this thread we all want to post cool, spectacular, noteworthy, jaw-dropping […] Virtual Boy auctions on ebay, Yahoo or any other site…

At first here are two auctions on Yahoo Japan (Always cooool stuff on there!) for the japanese Nintendo Store Display:

➡<http://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/58915948>

➡<http://page3.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/c39350994>

KR155E

…yeah, and this time he’s selling it with a Virtual Boy. So, it’s very similar to this Hong Kong guy who’s been trying to sell his cart-only auction of Space Invaders with a supposedly “free console” (http://www.ebay.com/itm/JAPAN-NINTENDO-VIRTUAL-BOY-RARE-SPACE-INVADERS-SET-/320703732300?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4aab6e9a4c).

It appears that he’s trying to hedge against it being removed. If questioned, he could easily say “Oh no! The auction is just for the VB and includes a free game.” Then revamp his description and we’d be back at square one.

My question is this:
Is there a way we can create our own auctions for this to prevent this type of speculation? Or is there a way to create an auction with a “How To” for people to find their own copies of Bound High? Perhaps list a ridiculous auction with a $10k “buy it now” option with instructions to contact the seller with questions regarding where to find Bound High?

I know there used to be a lot of those type of auctions back in Ebay’s early years, but I haven’t kept up to date with their policies nor have I seen such an auction in a very long time.

I’d really like to see this type of speculation squashed. Just curious what options we have to fight back instead of just stand idly by while these people take advantage of unsuspecting victims.

UncleTusk could create a listing and refer to his website in the description I suppose?

I personally am not hugely against people selling them on (for the same value, not auction) if they actually need to, but the deliberate flipping to turn a quick buck hurts the buyer and the efforts of people like UncleTusk and Minestorm.

I despise it and reported him for one thing. I’m not sure what legal methods he’s talking about it but it’s a desperate effort to cling on to an imoral decision. Counterfeit or replica items are not allowed to be sold on ebay, so you can report using that option and it is a legitimate report as well in fact.

L___E___T wrote:
UncleTusk could create a listing and refer to his website in the description I suppose?

I personally am not hugely against people selling them on (for the same value, not auction) if they actually need to, but the deliberate flipping to turn a quick buck hurts the buyer and the efforts of people like UncleTusk and Minestorm.

I despise it and reported him for one thing. I’m not sure what legal methods he’s talking about it but it’s a desperate effort to cling on to an imoral decision. Counterfeit or replica items are not allowed to be sold on ebay, so you can report using that option and it is a legitimate report as well in fact.

I have to agree with you. If someone is dumping their collection, it would be hard not to resell it, but inflating the price like that for something that is still available to the community is despicable. As you stated, this is blatant and I have no tolerance for people with that mind set.

As for “legal action” that toaster doesn’t know bread from butter. Ebay will never disclose who reported him, so he will never find out who’s behind it. Even if he could, there’s no action he could take unless someone is sending threating hate mail to his inbox (which I hope is not the case). There is nothing he can do but keep relisting and posting false threats.

Chances are pretty good he’s been on this site before (like I had been prior to joining). So, I hope he enjoys knowing how much disdain we have for him. Cheers!

L___E___T wrote:
UncleTusk could create a listing and refer to his website in the description I suppose?

That would be against eBay policy. Can’t promote his own website, have links to his store, or promote offsite sales.

L___E___T wrote:

Ebay will never disclose who reported him, so he will never find out who’s behind it.

I was a top rated gold level power seller for 2 years. All I had to do was call my eBay rep and I could get any information I wanted about my buyer. I used it on a few occasions to handle problems with items selling in our shop by another employee before the auction had ended. However, in this case, the guy doesn’t have the status to request such information.

He’s a member here:
http://www.planetvb.com/modules/usercenter/?section=profile&uid=2265

He’ll be on the case with Faceball too, which I think would be worse. I haven’t found his name / e-mail yet, but I’ll get it, which will help identify him and stick him on a blacklist, if that’s appropraite (I’m not making the carts or anything)!

I received a strange message from somebody who desires to remain anonymous. I made some edits to the original message, and the rest of it reads as follows:

… I have been reading your posts about the Bound High scammer on ebay…

Allow me to introduce myself. I am (information removed by Benjamin Stevens), and I am going to teach you how to ruin an ebay seller’s day… (more information deleted by Benjamin Stevens)

Step 1 : Wait until the very last day of the month.

Step 2 : Create ebay “guest” account and do a BUY-IT-NOW on the item.

Step 3 : Tell him you have to wait about 4-5 days to get your bank statement so you can verify your Paypal account.

Step 4 : After day 5 he is screwed. His Ebay fees for the previous month will come due on the 7th or 8th of the month, and he will be out roughly $60.00.

He will only be able to get that money back via the NON-PAYING BIDDER process, and depending on how long you string him along, it could be quite a while before he gets his money back.

Please post this in the Auction thread, but do not attribute it to me. (information deleted by Benjamin Stevens)

With Love – (identity removed by Benjamin Stevens)

…. omfg. Wow. That is epic.

As a side note, though – it’s now a moot point.

Ebay has officially ended the listing with prejudice.

If he relists it again he will be suspended.

Extreme prejudice.

is Bound High sold on this site for money? i know some people do a ‘donate 2 carts & you get the game free’ deal. but if im not mistaken it’s also being sold at quite a tasty price, for example in the complete package etc, then its a bit hypocritical to jump on someone for selling their copy.

If i buy something i own it and its mine to sell.

there are some pretty outlandish prices being asked for games that a couple of people have a monopoly on the code for. is bound high code available open source? cos if not, i think it’s even worse to be hounding people for selling their copy, which they probably bought from here.

i wont ever sell my copy, but i think its a bit pathetic to be doing witch hunts on someone selling theirs.

shenmueso wrote:
is Bound High sold on this site for money? i know some people do a ‘donate 2 carts & you get the game free’ deal. but if im not mistaken it’s also being sold at quite a tasty price, for example in the complete package etc, then its a bit hypocritical to jump on someone for selling their copy.

If i buy something i own it and its mine to sell.

there are some pretty outlandish prices being asked for games that a couple of people have a monopoly on the code for. is bound high code available open source? cos if not, i think it’s even worse to be hounding people for selling their copy, which they probably bought from here.

i wont ever sell my copy, but i think its a bit pathetic to be doing witch hunts on someone selling theirs.

Hrms. Yes the rom is here for people to get for free. When you see bound high being sold for such a ‘tasty price’..do you know know how much it actually costs to make the cart/box ? I’ll be totally clear..i make under 2.50 per cart sold (now that’s ‘profit’ in terms of after cost of donate cart/shipping). And, that’s after putting over 1k in ahead of time to get donate carts. Do you have any idea how many homebrews/repros we have to sell for me just to get EVEN ??

Yes, if he bought the cart..he can do what he wants with it. But, at the same time..people are making sacrifices to get these carts out there so people can enjoy them. It’s hard to see your hard work and time go to make someone else a great deal of money 😛

Now I see the ‘zeal’ of going after people selling this stuff. If people resell it ..it happens. Poor the person that buys it at that price. He could have done some searching and found it cheaper. We’ve put the information out there..if they don’t take the time to find it..oh well. Maybe they learned a lesson. It’s a lesson I’ve learned more then once 🙂

At this point..i’m not that mad at people selling it on ebay. We can only do so much to inform people. But..that being said..i’m not speaking for mindstorm or anyone else. That’s just one man’s opinion. Heh and it will prob change by tomorrow 🙂

-Eric

i totally appreciate the skllls needed to make the cart up, im not knocking anyones efforts here, and i do tend to try and see the best in people, so i apologise if i gave this guy too much credit. i didnt know the history, and if he was just tryin to take the piss then i can see why people would be annoyed.

i know some people do a ‘donate 2 carts & you get the game free’ deal.

That’s when I was naive. Look how that turned out 🙁

There’s a differnce between selling it to get your money back or because you don’t want it anymore, but buying with the explicit intention to flip and exploit the lower awareness of the VB impacts the efforts of people here very negatively.

For example, if the first run is a limited quantity of 20 carts and 12 of those are taken by astute registrants wanting to make some quick cash, that means genuine fans that don’t have time to press F5 all day miss out. That’s life, but it’s also very unfair I think.

Last time this happened there was also a stop to all carts being made, so it ruins it for the community in other ways too.

People like the idiot trying to make 1000% profit on his BH cart don’t contribute anything, but want to reap a huge reward from others’ hard work. It’s an insult and I have no issue woth treating tards like that harshly.

The BH price could be hiked up to try and prevent this kind iof thing, but that also harms genuine nice people that don’t have as much cash to spend on VB games. I have immense respect fro the people on here that have sacrifced a lot personally out of love for games – so when idiots deliberately stick a finger up to that they can deal with the heat that’s bound to follow.

At the end of the day the people that put in the work and take on the risk aren’t making money from these, so when people take the piss by trying to take that gesture and exploit it for personal gain, it’s taken seriously here and I can imagine it’s very disheartening to say the least.

Lastly, it’s widely illegal to sell something when you’ve argreed prior not to sell it on, in good faith or otherwise. repro makers can pick their customers and this is one reason why they do. These items are also prohibited to be sold on eBay anyway, that’s their rules, not just ours.

Lastly, it’s widely illegal to sell something when you’ve argreed prior not to sell it on, in good faith or otherwise. repro makers can pick their customers and this is one reason why they do. These items are also prohibited to be sold on eBay anyway, that’s their rules, not just ours.

The First Sale Doctrine gives you the authority to resell any item that you legally purchased, regardless of what anyone says. If we switched to a licensing agreement, instead of selling the carts, then you could legally bind someone, but as it is there is no way to stop them.

In my mind, though, the problem is not so much someone selling the cart on eBay for a profit… It’s someone intentionally misleading a buyer by claiming that it is a rare prototype, or a development copy. That’s where I draw the line.

colesonwilson wrote:

In my mind, though, the problem is not so much someone selling the cart on eBay for a profit… It’s someone intentionally misleading a buyer by claiming that it is a rare prototype, or a development copy. That’s where I draw the line.

You hit the nail on the head there, its the intentionally misleading someone that really hacks people off. I would hate to be done over like this and wouldn’t want anyone else too either. But that’s why it is important to do your homework I must add.

i dont see how repros are prohibited on ebay, i see them for mega drive all the time.

when you say ‘they want to make money off of someone elses work” isnt that what anyone selling BH is doing? they didnt create the game, in fact if i remember rightly the code was given to the community for free. so it kinda sounds like you want guys selling it on here to have the monopoly for something they have as much intellectual property rights over as the guy who tried to sell it on ebay. the only difference being that the ebay guy didnt swap the code on the cart himself. (and apparently misleading people, which is bullshit.)

i really dont think a ‘promise’ not to sell something is legally binding either. not unless you wrote up a contract or something.

imo there is no way to make a legal distinction between what is being sold here and anyone else trying to sell their copies.

Im in total agreement that if people just try to jump on the list then sell it for stupid money, thats some bullshit, and i can see how that hurts the community as you guys are less likely to want to do more runs.

i didnt know the full story, i just took it at face value. i totally agree that if someone is misleading people its bullshit, but again, its really only the buyer who will be duped. shit happens. i dont think its this community’s place to go round policing the internet to the point where they concoct ways to harrass people they deem to be guilty of whatever crime.

Let’s face it, once Uncle Tusk stops selling BH carts, the value will increase, happens with other homebrews and repos all the time, just supply and demand.
If someone lists it on Ebay with a correct description, as an auction starting at a dollar, and it sells for $200, is there any reason to get offended?
Course lying about what it actually is, is total bs…

http://www.nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=6&threadid=93480&StartRow=1#bottom

Kiosk..small platform display

GEZ wrote:
Let’s face it, once Uncle Tusk stops selling BH carts, the value will increase, happens with other homebrews and repos all the time, just supply and demand.
If someone lists it on Ebay with a correct description, as an auction starting at a dollar, and it sells for $200, is there any reason to get offended?
Course lying about what it actually is, is total bs…

If the price they start it at is what they feel its worth, I can’t see a problem with it. Saying it is something it is not in the hopes of making it worth more is one thing, but listing it at $100 because that is what they want to part with it for is not wrong at all.

We all know you can currently get some of these reproduction carts much cheaper, but not everyone knows that. I’ve already talked to a lot of people that would love a Bound High! cart and they are willing to pay up to $250 for the set. I think we are losing site of the buyers perspective in some instances. Some gamers are more than happy to pay what it costs to get what they want. Flagging every auction that offends 1-5 users of this site (or those involved with the reproduction process) takes away the chance for others, who have no knowledge of the reproduction carts, to get something they truly want.

Flagging reproduction carts because the description is misleading or dishonest is one thing, but doing so because you feel like you are the Virtual Boy reproduction cart moral police is wrong.