Buying expensive and rare home carts?Better read here first!

Buying rare and expensive US home carts from UNKNOWN sellers can be very risky.
Here is a report from our member and big collector BIG AL:

"Yeah, I bought that Stakes Winner 8(

Turned out a bit of a pisser. The game was real but there were stickers on the back that seem to be unremovable (without taking half the cart with it anyway) and strangely enough he had taken pictures from all angles except those that show the stickers

You can have a look at the cart pictures I took here if your interested - stakes winner pics http://uk.f1.pg.briefcase.yahoo.com/allanmccluskey

Strangely he stopped answering my emails when I asked for money back ...

I would take care if someone unknown on this site suddenly offers a mega rare expensive game for sale!"



Bottom line is to PAY attention and avoid buying rare and very rare games by UNKNOWN sellers.

Feel free to post your inputs.

How bad are the stickers on the cart?

There are ways to remove stickers without scratching or scraping them off.

BigAl,

If you email me your pics I can host them here for you.
In the Turf Masters Auction I noticed the sealing sticker for the case was placed on the front of the NTM cart itself.

Show us your pics...

Edited first post with pics of Big Al's Stakes Winner.

That picture from the Yahoo link too a few mins to show up, so I resized the picture and hosted it on my homepage.

Here it is:



What kind of sticker was on the side of the cart?

Zippo lighter fluid removes stickers and labels pretty good off of some surfaces. I have used low odor mineral spirits for removing stickers off of homecarts with great success.

That is one idea, Im sure there are other ways to do it but its up to the owner to decide what is best for himeself. Its not as bad as I thought it would be.

Apart from the 2 stickers, was there anything else disturbing about the Stakes Winner Purchase?

I have to back up the seller here.

I am the buyer of his US NTM and the cart arrived yesterday in truly pristine condition, everything being original of course.

Manual was untouched, cart without scratches and scuffs nor on front nor on back.

The sealing sticker was on the cart front yes, but I simply took it off - no problem there.

I didn´t take full risk on this of course - I`m very glad Joe jumped in for me and inspected the cart himself prior to my purchase.

Sorry that your game turned out to be stickered Big Al. I hope everything turns out good for you in the end with maybe a refund of some kind.

Maybe the stickers are removeable - but to sell a rare cart like that (obviously a collection piece) and never mention the stickers on it is what I call a scam. I know he described the items as "MINT NEW" or some shit like that, and that obviously wasn't the case. Any moron could tell that foreign stickers on a collectible piece are something that could deface its value.

The payment should have been ESCROW through Joe or a service.
When I saw Chris Ray vouching for the guy,I KNEW something was'nt on the level.
Those void stickers on the side of the cart are unecessary unless there's somethig to hide IMO.The most important parts of the package if authentic are the manual,insert and label...why would anyone want to tamper with the interior of the cart swapping it with JOY JOY KID and leaving the most valuable part behind??
-BB

Goo Gone will remove those in just a couple of minutes with no damage to the cart at all. However it might smell like an orange for a couple of hours.

New guys

I dont think all new guys are scammers. I think that 1 out of 20 will destroy any chance for new guys to be able to sell legit stuff on this forum though. I've been reading some posts from people and this a extremely tough crowd. No one notices any noob that gets recognition for being good, but everyone will jump on the bandwagon for a bad one. New guys for the most part get ignored for selling anything.

Maybe everyone should re-evaluate how you buy things. Did you ask how many scratches are on the game? Did you ask how the game was being packed or shipped? Did you ask the seller to shake or test the validity of the game? More than likely not. I dont think he was going to go tell you everything wrong with the game. Maybe sometimes they dont know to look for what you look for, provided this was something so obvious that even the 3 blind mice could see it. Since this did happen next time you know what to ask before buying. Rimm_rs has a good method of asking questions before any big purchase. If he still buys blindly then he is willing to take the consequences, but thats where his list of questions comes in. Expensive games should come with a extensive list of questions. If the seller doesnt want to answer more than likely there is something to hide. Its your dollar and its your choice. Even buying from a reputable seller you have "BUY AT YOUR OWN RISK". Sometimes games wont come out the way you expect (Unless its rimm_rs, that guy gives detail down to the deepest part of the scratch. I think he is NUTS, but he does put out some high quality stuff.)

There is some food for thought.

I think that maybe we should adopt a rule that is in effect over at the Honda Tech fourms, Which is you are not able to buy or sell Until after a certain amount of time and # of posts.

Whle I think that not being able to buy AND sell might be a little too much though, I'd say allow them to buy right away but have the time limit for selling.

Always ask for pics and a clear precise description. Dont be afraid to call a seller out on something, you have the right to IMO.

Selling on ebay and on these boards is just like Best Buy. When we are spending our money, we have the right to ask whatever retarded questions, see merchandise, have opinions from other people, and so on.

Before you commit yourself to buying something, ask them to hold it for a day or 2, ask some questions, and make sure you trust the person you are buying from. Nobody (except maybe a few assholes) will be angry with you for being cautious.

Thats my $0.02

-Kris

FYI: Stickers shall be easily removable using alcohol, if this does not work then you shall use lighter fuel as someone already said. I suggest you to wet soft toilet paper with these products, since it is a soft material.

Using this method I have been able to remove not only stickers but also duct tape rests, which are even harder to remove.

Even is the stickers come off you can see where the sticker was and NOTHI?NG will change that. I have seen plenty of stickered carts and when part of the cart is exposed to the air and the other part is not you get an area that cannot be removed.

Still, escrow or inspection by top members (Big Bear, Shawn, etc.) are the ONLY smart moves when you have an expensive game and a new seller.

Robert Wallace said:

That picture from the Yahoo link too a few mins to show up, so I resized the picture and hosted it on my homepage.

Here it is:

What kind of sticker was on the side of the cart?

Zippo lighter fluid removes stickers and labels pretty good off of some surfaces. I have used low odor mineral spirits for removing stickers off of homecarts with great success.

That is one idea, Im sure there are other ways to do it but its up to the owner to decide what is best for himeself. Its not as bad as I thought it would be.

Apart from the 2 stickers, was there anything else disturbing about the Stakes Winner Purchase?

Click to expand...

Just noticed this thread guys, sorry it took so long to reply!

Thanks for the tips on removing the stickers. I've got a little knee operation tomorrow morning but I'll give the methods mentioned a go asap.

As Ryan said though, you will always see the space where the stickers have been but it can't really look much worse than it does right now.

As for anything else being disturbing, only the fact that as soon as I mentioned I had a problem with the deal (and I was polite and not aggressive in any way) my emails suddenly started getting ignored.

I'm really glad the Neo Turf Masters turned out ok by the way. That probably cost even more than the Stakes Winner.

In case anyone is wondering I am not some noob buyer either. I have a complete set of NGH carts in either Jpn or USA, but I had been trying to track down a US Stakes Winner for ages. I can count the number of them I'd seen on my dick to be honest so I thought it was worth a risk. The seller had a ton of photos on ebay which miraculously covered all angles except the one which showed the stickers of course.

He said that was not intentional but there is no way that is true. He was a deceptive and ignorant seller and IMO should be avoided even though he came through with the NTM.

I actually thought about trying a paypal chargeback but I only wanted a partial refund for the less than mint cart.

Anyway, be very careful if an unknown sells a game like this again.

Of course, 2 or 3 days later a well known seller was selling a US Stakes Winner

Big Al said:

Just noticed this thread guys, sorry it took so long to reply!

Thanks for the tips on removing the stickers. I've got a little knee operation tomorrow morning but I'll give the methods mentioned a go asap.

As Ryan said though, you will always see the space where the stickers have been but it can't really look much worse than it does right now.

As for anything else being disturbing, only the fact that as soon as I mentioned I had a problem with the deal (and I was polite and not aggressive in any way) my emails suddenly started getting ignored.

I'm really glad the Neo Turf Masters turned out ok by the way. That probably cost even more than the Stakes Winner.

In case anyone is wondering I am not some noob buyer either. I have a complete set of NGH carts in either Jpn or USA, but I had been trying to track down a US Stakes Winner for ages. I can count the number of them I'd seen on my dick to be honest so I thought it was worth a risk. The seller had a ton of photos on ebay which miraculously covered all angles except the one which showed the stickers of course.

He said that was not intentional but there is no way that is true. He was a deceptive and ignorant seller and IMO should be avoided even though he came through with the NTM.

I actually thought about trying a paypal chargeback but I only wanted a partial refund for the less than mint cart.

Anyway, be very careful if an unknown sells a game like this again.

Of course, 2 or 3 days later a well known seller was selling a US Stakes Winner

Click to expand...

Since you live in glasgow... can i come and play your games?

I'm only joking!

Good luck in getting the cart clean!

my suggestion

use hairspray or carb and choke cleaner on those stickers, it will take it off no problem, just be smart about it...also you can buy goo gone

Re: my suggestion

dbarrett0928 said:

use hairspray or carb and choke cleaner on those stickers, it will take it off no problem, just be smart about it...also you can buy goo gone

Click to expand...

goo gone works great. just be careful what you use to wipe with..sometimes it'll completely ruin it. I had that happen to a game before when a guy I knew tried to do it for me. It sucked.

I hope I am not an unknown seller, as I am trying to peddle my Stakes Winner US home cart!