SFH
Integral Poster
About a year ago my uncle moved to town and gave me a garbage bag with 60 NES games, two NES systems, an N64, a Genesis, and an untold number wires that were not for any system I could match up.
Took apart one of the NES systems due to dried syrup on the top to discover it was probably totally shot, and I couldn't get any of the goop out, but I at least cleared out the roach eggs. I gave the 64, extra NES, and Genesis to a friend since I have all those systems already covered through Retron consoles or having an existing system.
The games, were another story. None of them were hidden gem collector carts worth any significant value. But they were all good games worth revisiting. The problem? Remember the roach eggs in the NES? Those same critters had access to the carts. I did some googling and discovered those system cleaners were nothing more than rubbing alcohol. So I got some Q-tips and alcohol and started about cleaning but in many cases, while the dirt wiped, the rust did not.
I purchased some bits to remove the screws of NES, SNES, and Genesis games and purchased a few other researched products, and before long I had (in my mind) perfected total cleaning including rust and dirt removal, of cartridge based video games. I had all 60 games working as good as new, play tested them on my retron.
Knowing my area has a decent retro following, I set up a little Facebook page for a game cleaning service and got most of my friend's list to like it and a few shared it. I was able to get a few hits from strangers.
To date, I've not had a single paying customer. Oh sure I've had a few friends get cleaning service for free while I perfected it with the 60 games. And I get the occasional message, "Hey man, want to buy some games?" I started out asking $5/game to cover supplies, cleaning time, and the time to play test it. I'd occasionally run "specials" and drop it to $3. A few friends suggested that was too high. So I dropped to $3/game. My specials were now "$1.50/game." I'd even do themes, "With the start of football season all sports games only $1!" Instead I'd get, "Hey man do you know where I can get a power cord for a game cube?"
I've decided to up my game and teach myself how to replace batteries in the old games. I don't want to fuck up my own shit so I put up a post that I was buying damaged, nonworking NES and SNES games that had battery packs. Surely someone wants to MAKE money off of me, right? This idiot right here is buying broken shit.
*crickets*
You know, it felt like a good idea at the time, and all of my gaming friends pumped me up that it was a fantastic idea. Fail.
Hell I even made an excel spreadsheet for large scale orders. Waste of time.
Took apart one of the NES systems due to dried syrup on the top to discover it was probably totally shot, and I couldn't get any of the goop out, but I at least cleared out the roach eggs. I gave the 64, extra NES, and Genesis to a friend since I have all those systems already covered through Retron consoles or having an existing system.
The games, were another story. None of them were hidden gem collector carts worth any significant value. But they were all good games worth revisiting. The problem? Remember the roach eggs in the NES? Those same critters had access to the carts. I did some googling and discovered those system cleaners were nothing more than rubbing alcohol. So I got some Q-tips and alcohol and started about cleaning but in many cases, while the dirt wiped, the rust did not.
I purchased some bits to remove the screws of NES, SNES, and Genesis games and purchased a few other researched products, and before long I had (in my mind) perfected total cleaning including rust and dirt removal, of cartridge based video games. I had all 60 games working as good as new, play tested them on my retron.
Knowing my area has a decent retro following, I set up a little Facebook page for a game cleaning service and got most of my friend's list to like it and a few shared it. I was able to get a few hits from strangers.
To date, I've not had a single paying customer. Oh sure I've had a few friends get cleaning service for free while I perfected it with the 60 games. And I get the occasional message, "Hey man, want to buy some games?" I started out asking $5/game to cover supplies, cleaning time, and the time to play test it. I'd occasionally run "specials" and drop it to $3. A few friends suggested that was too high. So I dropped to $3/game. My specials were now "$1.50/game." I'd even do themes, "With the start of football season all sports games only $1!" Instead I'd get, "Hey man do you know where I can get a power cord for a game cube?"
I've decided to up my game and teach myself how to replace batteries in the old games. I don't want to fuck up my own shit so I put up a post that I was buying damaged, nonworking NES and SNES games that had battery packs. Surely someone wants to MAKE money off of me, right? This idiot right here is buying broken shit.
*crickets*
You know, it felt like a good idea at the time, and all of my gaming friends pumped me up that it was a fantastic idea. Fail.
Hell I even made an excel spreadsheet for large scale orders. Waste of time.
