Still wtb family basic

[supermetriodbros]

Digging through my old posts, as I have jus returned to famicom world, I found a want to buy topic I started where I communicated with ericj, who advised me to rather purchase the family basic keyboard which can come with the cart attached. Sadly, in this day In my situation, I can live but limit myself when it comes to famicom and other games. so the max price for a family basic cart and keyboard  for me is 20 to 25 usd. If any of you know any way a person like me could get my hands on a working copy of that, let me know.
Thanks

[Frank_fjs]

That price is definitely doable if you're patient and know where to look, but you have to factor in shipping costs also. It's not the smallest/lightest thing in the world to ship.

[supermetriodbros]

Whoa. Honestly, when I posted this I was thinking 'its not gonna happen but it's worth a try' but cool its possible! Where should I look? In the past fb and eBay haven't done too spectacular, and I will try and look more. Do you think with shipping I could keep the price under thirty five dollars? Where to look? I'm awful at shopping and worse at famicom shopping, and a little push in the correct direction can be helpful

[Frank_fjs]

You need to have a contact in Japan, they sell over there for $10-$15 boxed and complete.

[80sFREAK]

Whoa. Honestly, when I posted this I was thinking 'its not gonna happen but it's worth a try' but cool its possible! Where should I look? In the past fb and eBay haven't done too spectacular, and I will try and look more. Do you think with shipping I could keep the price under thirty five dollars? Where to look? I'm awful at shopping and worse at famicom shopping, and a little push in the correct direction can be helpful

I don't think so, especially if you want boxed one.

2 Frank_fjs i want to believe...

[supermetriodbros]

Oh okay. Either way I'm having a game splurge this week ( Jp super Mario world, smb2 nes, smb3 nes, and possibly a pal copy of snes metal marine) So maybe I won't end up with family basic anytime soon... I can hope, I guess :\

[Frank_fjs]

I grabbed mine from a Japanese seller boxed and complete for $25. Same seller also had a loose one for $11 and another boxed one for $30 in slightly better condition. He bought them from a local retro store and these prices were after his markup. He tells me he spots them all the time for 1500 to 2000 yen.

I don't have a record of my purchase as it was too long ago, but here's the $11 loose keyboard. I removed the buyer's name for privacy reasons.

[Frank_fjs]

It wasn't that long ago that I purchased mine, only a few months. I agree though, the prices I came across were exceptionally good and not the norm, which is a shame.

Re the $11 loose keyboard, I was going to buy it and the seller was going to include a Basic cart for $5 extra, but then he offered me a boxed unit for $25 so I took that instead.

I think if you're patient you can still find good deals, you just have to wait for them to appear.

[80sFREAK]

Totally agree. While ago i've got "keyboard only" for 100yen. Now it's slowly turning into something special

For me most value in the boxed units - books. The rest is the same.

[manuel]

The range of prices is really wide on retro items.
While somebody might be able to get an item for 100 Yen, the same item might be 1000 Yen in other stores.

Saying the price has to be this and that is  quite far from reality.
(Oh, and not everybody lives in Tokyo, where there are tons of stores with plenty stock...)

As Frank_fjs  already said: If you don't have much money to spend, you have to invest patience. There are always good deals to be found, but sometimes it takes a lot of time. Just check eBay frequently and you should be able to get most standard stuff for a reasonable price.

[supermetriodbros]

Okay. I'll keep my eye on the ol eBay, and maybe something good will pop up. In the meantime, I will continue my search for other games.