"Cleaned and Tested" "Working" "No Refunds" "Rare!!11"

GsoFlyGsoFly
in Collector's Corner
*Sigh.....*



Needless to say, it wasnt cleaned and tested, or working, or rare. It was just Double Dragon II on NES.



Anyone have horrer stories like this too?



Case opened with eBay as I havent received a response in over 4 days. Be careful out there fellas... 



Also, how the hell does this even happen? Humidity? Dipped in water? Yikes... 







«1

Comments

  • zredgemzzredgemz
    Oh my god was that copy somewhere that flooded?
  • BouncekDeLemosBouncekDeLemos
    It's usually neglect due to having been in a damp areas, probably sitting in someone's water-damp garage in a box for a very long time.



    The black line going across the top of the pins could be roach poop as well.



    I deal with this stuff all the time since I clean NES games for a living. It's salvageable, but you'd probably be better off to return it and get a refund.
  • GsoFlyGsoFly
    It was shipped from the Washington DC area so who knows.



    I remember the game had a weird odor of some sort. I did the regular clean the game with a Q-Tip routine and after a few swabs in there the Q-Tip was nearly a brown'ish-black. I was like WTF? Opened it up and welp...



    It looks like its so badly corroded that some of the pins are probably completely separated from the rest of the circuit.



    I am just getting the refund, but I have never seen any game that was THIS BAD. Yikes
  • skinnygrinnyskinnygrinny
    I've seen some carts worse. Like lemos said it probably still works. I think the line is part to do with where the shell comes together and touches the board. That insect (roach shit) is the worst! And I think it's corrosive.
  • AlexElectricAlexElectric
    Just out of curiosity but when they put no refunds sold as/is in the body of their eBay post you can still always get a refund correct?
  • zredgemzzredgemz
    I could clean that with a white eraser, near perfect.
  • Astor ReinhardtAstor Reinhardt
    I sometimes sell on ebay...I don't open games up like that but I do clean the pins and make sure to test it so far as it gets through the title screen and into the game. Is that good enough? I always wonder if I have to do more...haven't had any complaints though?



    I've seen local resellers (the scumbag ones) have really nasty condition stuff...I never buy from them because 1. resellers, 2. higher then ebay prices, 3. if they didn't care enough to clean their games...they don't care enough to test them.



    I've also see local stores pull this stuff as well...not as bad as the one OP has but...yeah. I have to wonder why stores do that though...not enough people to clean the games? Do they test the games even...
  • GutlingGutling

    Originally posted by: AlexElectric



    Just out of curiosity but when they put no refunds sold as/is in the body of their eBay post you can still always get a refund correct?



    You can always get a refund no matter what they put in the description. The disclaimers are worthless


  • Mega TankMega Tank
    Originally posted by: Gutling


    Originally posted by: AlexElectric



    Just out of curiosity but when they put no refunds sold as/is in the body of their eBay post you can still always get a refund correct?



    You can always get a refund no matter what they put in the description. The disclaimers are worthless






    eBay favors buyers so much it is not even funny.
  • CZroeCZroe
    That's what my TMNT looked like but I managed to get it working. I couldn't even read the label (definitely flood damage)! With every trick in the book distilled water and 99.9% electronics grade isopropyl, purpose-made contact cleaner, Nintendo's "magic" swabs, eraser, etc). Eventually I got it to the point where it would only boot in a top loader and only when I pulled it out slightly. Some of the pins had holes corroded straight through and others had lumps of corrosion that simply could not be taken off without extreme measures... and by "extreme measures" I don't mean Brasso or sandpaper (tried those too): I mean by taking screwdrivers and razor blades to it and scratching the contacts to hell and back. Even then it would not work reliably on a front loader. What it ultimately required was some dielectric grease, which I applied and wiped off since I was going to be boiling that NES connector anyway. I was lucky that none of the traces had holes at the point where a pin would rest and that none of the corrosion broke continuity. It now works pretty reliably with no trace repair. Amazing considering how bad it looked.
  • empireempire
    I've found a cart or two with a couple pins that look like that, but never all of them. That's just nasty, i'd imagine it's water damage like others have said.
  • Uncle MeatUncle Meat
    Worst I have seen in awhile.....must have slipped through their system.
  • BouncekDeLemosBouncekDeLemos
    Originally posted by: GsoFly



    It was shipped from the Washington DC area so who knows.



    I remember the game had a weird odor of some sort. I did the regular clean the game with a Q-Tip routine and after a few swabs in there the Q-Tip was nearly a brown'ish-black. I was like WTF? Opened it up and welp...



    It looks like its so badly corroded that some of the pins are probably completely separated from the rest of the circuit.



    I am just getting the refund, but I have never seen any game that was THIS BAD. Yikes

    How about this? (Huge degree of Roach poop as well as corrosion)





    No worries, though. I got it polished and cleaned!





     
  • CZroeCZroe
    Originally posted by: BouncekDeLemos



    It's usually neglect due to having been in a damp areas, probably sitting in someone's water-damp garage in a box for a very long time.



    The black line going across the top of the pins could be roach poop as well.



    I deal with this stuff all the time since I clean NES games for a living. It's salvageable, but you'd probably be better off to return it and get a refund.

    Yeah. A place with intermittent temperature swings that promotes condensation is pretty likely. A shed or a garage that's opened wide to the humid outdoor air as the morning ends after being cool and dark all night will often cause everything inside to get a thin coating of condensation before temperature equalizes (and much longer if things are at 100% humidity already).
  • zredgemzzredgemz
    I take it you own a local store? If so i will say that if you clean your games before sale that is mighty nice of you, a store that i have been going to since 2006 only cleans the outside.
  • CZroeCZroe
    I forgot about the copy of Kirby Block Ball I recent got at a flea market. It has one corroded pin with one tiny spot corroded right through. It's at exactly the right spot to keep a certain Super Game Boy pin from making contact. Pulling it out slightly like the TMNT cart mentioned above gets it to work, but some Gameboy devices physically prevent this! I hope the pins line up differently in a classic Game Boy.
  • BouncekDeLemosBouncekDeLemos
    Originally posted by: zredgemz



    I take it you own a local store? If so i will say that if you clean your games before sale that is mighty nice of you, a store that i have been going to since 2006 only cleans the outside.

    I do, been working at a game store for over 15 years.



    I've always figured that it's best to spend the time and clean and test everything to make the customer happy rather than spend the time losing a customer's trust, frustrating them, and potentially loosing out on money because you have to refund. 
  • GsoFlyGsoFly
    I am trying to get this thing cleaned just in case I can get it to work. Just for shits and giggles as this point. Just by scraping around it seems a lot of these spots are very deep, especially on the back side. White colored corrosion. When I put it in the toaster, top loader, or the retron5 all I get is a flashing red light, white screen (top loader) and retron5 doesn't recognize the game. Just by lightly snading it it seems as if a lot of these contacts are highly pitted. Ill let you guys know how it turns out.



    Here are links to might larger pics. (warning, LARGE pics)

    https://dl2.pushbulletusercontent.com/ewxUzLlrB3NqlwNOkVtFfvYK3H6avRMy/IMG_20160317_171401.jpg

    https://dl2.pushbulletusercontent.com/V8rF6qhM4BYFaBdZ6b1NKKaMp6sVyHwQ/IMG_20160317_171411.jpg
  • GsoFlyGsoFly
    Welp, took a damn belt sander to the thing to get it down as far as i can without sanding it to oblivion... Didnt work. Something else might be bad with the board considering how bad the contacts were. Who knows, just a blank white screen or flashing red (depending on which system I test it on)







  • kaiserkaiser
    Originally posted by: BouncekDeLemos

     
    Originally posted by: zredgemz



    I take it you own a local store? If so i will say that if you clean your games before sale that is mighty nice of you, a store that i have been going to since 2006 only cleans the outside.

    I do, been working at a game store for over 15 years.



    I've always figured that it's best to spend the time and clean and test everything to make the customer happy rather than spend the time losing a customer's trust, frustrating them, and potentially loosing out on money because you have to refund. 



    theres a local store I go to that upon sale opens every cartridge and shows the pins, and will give a quick cleaning or polishing if needed. they also offer a 90 day warranty on all cartridge based games. pretty sweet.
  • BouncekDeLemosBouncekDeLemos
    How much is the grit on your belt sander? I usually clean stuff around 1200+, but at least 800. Any lower than that, and you could possibly damage the pins.



    If you want, send me a PM and I'll give you my address and I'll see if I can get it fixed up for you. Hopefully it won't be more than a week or two because I'm about out of my cleaning solution, but I get paid this weekend, and I can try and see if I can get it to work.



    The only problem is that if it's sanded down too far to where the metal is all pink, you might have to get it transplanted to a new PCB. If it gets to that, I'll see if I can ask a few people on here if they have any repro boards in case you don't want to cannibalize another cart.



    How ever you want to go about it, the best of luck to ya, man!
  • LincolnLincoln
    Originally posted by: GsoFly



    Welp, took a damn belt sander to the thing to get it down as far as i can without sanding it to oblivion... Didnt work. Something else might be bad with the board considering how bad the contacts were. Who knows, just a blank white screen or flashing red (depending on which system I test it on)



     



    first of all that thing is a goner, but you should not be using sandpaper. 



    second of all, hope the seller doesn't catch this because that would be grounds for ebay to deny your claim.

     
  • BouncekDeLemosBouncekDeLemos
    Originally posted by: Lincoln

     
    Originally posted by: GsoFly



    Welp, took a damn belt sander to the thing to get it down as far as i can without sanding it to oblivion... Didnt work. Something else might be bad with the board considering how bad the contacts were. Who knows, just a blank white screen or flashing red (depending on which system I test it on)



     



    first of all that thing is a goner, but you should not be using sandpaper. 



    second of all, hope the seller doesn't catch this because that would be grounds for ebay to deny your claim.

     

    I agree with Lincoln here. Once you use sandpaper, it's pretty much gone.



    Now, not to sound hypocritical (and Lincoln, you'll probably disagree with hearing this, lol) -- I'll admit, I do use sandpaper myself, but that's if it's really really really super-fine grit and only if I really really have to. (DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME!) I mean the stuff I use has to be to the point where it's basically a cloth. When you use heavier gritted stuff, you grind past the connective gold and metal parts down to the pink part which isn't quite conductive. Basically, don't try and sand it down, especially without the proper tools. Again, I've been doing it for 15 years, but I won't recommend anyone useing sandpaper if it's something that they're not familiar using when it comes to NES carts.



    What I can recommend is a pretty cool guide by someone named 'CRTGAMER' on the racketboy forums. http://www.racketboy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=501002



    It shows the various methods and cleaning supplies to use when cleaning your carts. I usually recommend cleaning something like a SMB/DH cart since there are plenty of those laying around before you get the confidence to work on other carts.



    I will also agree with Lincoln about the Ebay claim. Sometimes it's hard to fight the claim you placed with just opening a cart, much less trying to sand it down. Any faults have to be on the seller, and with any further tampering will cause Ebay to deny your claim.



     
  • GsoFlyGsoFly
    Seller refunded the cost and canceled the order today no questions asked once I opened the claim last night. it was only a $12 double dragon game so they probably didnt want to waste their time or anything. There was no possible way to get the corrosion without having to go that deep into the pins. It was that bad. Belt sander grit was at 800 level and for short, light bursts. Game was toast, I seriously doubt there was any way to get it fixed without transplanting the EPOMS into another board.



    If you want it, ill ship it to you free of charge, maybe you can get that thing working again just for fun. Haha
  • BouncekDeLemosBouncekDeLemos
    Originally posted by: GsoFly



    Seller refunded the cost and canceled the order today no questions asked once I opened the claim last night. it was only a $12 double dragon game so they probably didnt want to waste their time or anything. There was no possible way to get the corrosion without having to go that deep into the pins. It was that bad. Belt sander grit was at 800 level and for short, light bursts. Game was toast, I seriously doubt there was any way to get it fixed without transplanting the EPOMS into another board.



    If you want it, ill ship it to you free of charge, maybe you can get that thing working again just for fun. Haha

    If I can get it to work, I'll ship it back. PM on the way. 



     
  • IchinisanIchinisan
    CZroe picked up at least a couple non-working games at a local game shop that claims to clean/test everything. Even some of the games on the shelf are obviously full of cobwebs and other debris right in the cartridge connector.



    Pinbot did not work at all.



    A copy of NES Play Action Football had Batman inside, but it wouldn't show any graphics because a previous owner removed most of the pins to the CHR chip. I bet someone tried to use pliars to pull the board out because they couldn't figure out why Batman was inside an "NES Play Action Football" cartridge. Without the right screwdriver to open it, someone might assume the board can be yanked-out like a tooth and then swapped.

     
  • epicfamilydecalsepicfamilydecals
    I confused...you said ("Cleaned and Tested" "Working" "No Refunds" "Rare!!11") and then you sounded surprised it was Double Dragon II. Was the auction for a random/label-less cart? If so, how could you trust the word "rare"?
  • GsoFlyGsoFly
    Originally posted by: epicfamilydecals



    I confused...you said ("Cleaned and Tested" "Working" "No Refunds" "Rare!!11") and then you sounded surprised it was Double Dragon II. Was the auction for a random/label-less cart? If so, how could you trust the word "rare"?



    I am making fun of the eBay auction that I ended up buying the game from. I knew it was Double Dragon II, but the ad had all those common terms plastered on it. I know the game isnt rare, at all. Sellers seem to put RARE on almost anything retro, even Super Mario and Duck Hunt games.









     
  • BadBoxArtBadBoxArt
    I've seen horror stories like these but never actually dealt with one. My mother and father on the other hand have handled stories such as these but they were things such as Fitbits and Chemistry textbooks
  • terzdesignterzdesign
    I bought Carmageddon 64 about a month ago on Amazon. Price was a little on the high side but the seller told me that the condition was 'great'. They couldn't send me photos though since it was in a warehouse or something. They told me if I wasn't satisfied I could return it no questions asked. It arrived and had large gouges in the front label and the whole cart was dirty. Back label had a giant sticker over it.



    Anywho... I wrote the dude and said that I was going to return it and didn't consider this great condition... I also gave him the choice to refund me a portion of the order instead ($15 back on a $35 purchase is what I figured was fair for a 'fair' condition game). He chose to refund me the portion. Game worked though and I was able to clean it up to perhaps 90% condition.
Sign In or Register to comment.