Ben-DutkaUpdate: Sorry, it didn't happen. The winner of the auction has backed out, saying the final bid was a mistake. As you might expect, the seller isn't happy.
Original Story:
This is just so insane that we had to do the follow-up story.
This past week, a compelling eBay auction caught the attention of many gamers. It involved the super rare NES game cartridge, Nintendo World Championships and at one point, the bids were nearing $6,000 . Sound a little high?
Well, that's child's play.
The winning bid was $99,902 . That's a ridiculously high price, which is why the sale may not be legitimate; we'll have to wait and see. For comparison purposes, a copy in better condition fetched only $11,000 back in 2011. Hence, that bid may be completely fake, even though it's interesting to note that the buyer has a 100% positive feedback score of 775. He or she was also the first and last individual to bid on the item.
Of course, the whole auction could be fake. I can't imagine anyone spending close to $100k for a video game; I don't care what sort of hardcore collector you are. You'd have to have a lot of money to burn. Think it's the real deal, or just bogus?
Well, there's a good chance it could be bogus. Or maybe, someone wants an early investment, because the game could be a whole lot more in he next 10 or so years.
Either way, I'm interested in seeing how this whole situation plays out.
Collectors will spend any kind of money to get something. Don't underestimate them. I've learned that the types of people that buy stuff like this, is all they live for, saving everything they've got to spend it all on one item.
I'm not saying this is legit because I HAVE No idea. However I wouldn't be surprised if someone is super happy about that purchase.
Isn't the rare cartridges gold in color? I know there are three types of these tournament cartridges and one of them are significantly lesser in value. There's a AVGN video on these.
Nahh, the seller did state in his description that it's not one of the even rarer gold cased cart, plus the pic he posted showed a real ratty looking grey cart.
Yeah I just researched (that Angry Videogame Nerd video). There's only 25 of the gold ones. Its the purple ones that are reproduction copies.
I'm curious how anybody knows it's real. Are we just accepting a screen shot isn't photoshopped?
ive said it once, twice, a million times, and ill say it again.
a fool and his money are easily parted!
a hobbies a hobby, a collections a collection, but this is just pure INSANITY!
i dont care how much money you have to burn, i could be donald f*cking trump and i still would not spend 10K on this let alone almost 100!
this or a really nice jag F type, hmmmmmmmmm hardest decision of my life.
NOT!
and i wouldent, couldent, even justify spending that amount of money on a car!
I would never pay that much for a game no matter how old or how collectable the game is. Thats the thing i dont get about collectors why buy games u cant open if all u can do is look at them. Enless u waste money on two copies of the game?
Sounds kind of fake, like somebody put in that huge bid hoping that a legitimate buyer would outbid them.
Since bids only increase that much if there are multiple bidders offering such a high amount (i.e. another bidder had to have bid just under the $99,902 amount), it seems unlikely to have just been a simple mistake. The only way a single bidder can get to that amount would be if a Buy It Now price was set that high or if the auction accepted Best Offers.
Was the seller the highest bidder?