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Millennium 2000 Controller - An honest seller fends off backdoor buyers


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Last Tuesday, a scheduling snafu gave me the day off from work. While in the eBay app, I saw a new listing for a saved search. The search was for a ps2 game. Once I tapped that beloved blue dot and saw the price was $20 more than I wanted, I casually flicked down to see similar items. 
 

My heart dropped because this N64 controller lot was the first one. For the price, I immediately bought it. I anticipated it being a scam, or I was only going to get the two standard controllers.  I need them anyway, so I went back to my day. 
 

The seller messaged me about half an hour later saying he had some offers to cancel the sale, but he was going to honor it. I was thrilled. The controller was legit! 

Through our correspondence, he had multiple offers between $750 and $1500. For a controller in this condition (bad with a rattle!) those prices seem insane! But the take away is...

I am over the moon about the seller sending the Millennium controller, but I’m equally sour on the eBay community. I was never going to pay the going rate for this controller, if I ever found one at the going rate. Why can’t we let someone get a “win” every once in awhile? Why does it have to be “If I can’t get the deal, then no one can?”

What a roller coaster of emotion.  Should I open this thing up and clean it? I definitely don’t want to sell, fwiw. And thank you so much, Dean!

 

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Edited by broncofantd793
Fixed a word.
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Backdooring is absolutely out of control these days.  I got backdoored on two big items in the last 2 months, an SNES Fiber Optic and a NES Sealed Mike Tyson Punch Out.  I do believe in karma and ethics (as I'd like to think most people do), but the price levels in the hobby have brought out the worst in people.  Money is the root of all evil.

Having said that, I'm amazed that's the going rate on a controller in that condition.  This is definitely my favorite N64 controller though and I made sure to seek out a Mint one many years ago.  Congrats.

 

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Events Team · Posted

Damn, you definitely lucked out there, both in terms of the deal, and of the seller being cool about it. Always makes me happy seeing people being fair about these things.

I have a somewhat similar story, actually. One time, when I was trying to save up quite a bit of money for the last fairly big-ticket item I got before I went on a collecting hiatus, I asked someone who had listed the item I was going after if they'd be willing to pull the listing off the site while I gather up the required funds, since I was looking to buy it. Surprisingly, the guy actually did it, and waited patiently for payment, even though if I remember correctly I was a bit behind schedule with it. Just as I had gathered up the money needed, so the seller could re-list it and I could finally buy it, someone else posted the exact same item, but in much better condition for a few hundred dollars cheaper. I absolutely could've bought that one instead, all the seller of the one I was getting did was de-list the item to ensure nobody else would buy the item before I did, so I could've just gotten the cheaper, better one, and all that would've come of it would've been an unhappy seller. At least as far as I know, that wouldn't have broken any of eBay's rules. However, as much as it kind of pained me, I went ahead and just paid for the one I had initially arranged to buy, since I had already made the guy wait a month or two for payment, it would've been a real dick move on my part to get a completely different one after making him wait so long.

So, I suppose you got lucky with having a cool seller, and the guy I talked about got lucky with having a cool buyer 😛

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Events Team · Posted
2 minutes ago, jonebone said:

Backdooring is absolutely out of control these days.  I got backdoored on two big items in the last 2 months, an SNES Fiber Optic and a NES Sealed Mike Tyson Punch Out.

Damn, I'm really sorry to hear that, particularly about the fiber optic sign. I hope to own a couple of those one day, they're really awesome. Hopefully karma will do it's thing and screw over the people that backdoored you, and give you a much better deal on that sign sometime in the future 🙂

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3 minutes ago, jonebone said:

 Money is the root of all evil.

Having said that, I'm amazed that's the going rate on a controller in that condition.  This is definitely my favorite N64 controller though and I made sure to seek out a Mint one many years ago.  Congrats.

 

I'm late to the party in terms of knowledge and collecting, but I'm into this controller and the DK64 controller for less than $30, post 2017.  Even that controller has tripled in price.  There were a couple $600 Millenium sales in early March, then a $1000 sale, at least to my knowledge.

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6 minutes ago, ZeldaFreak said:

So, I suppose you got lucky with having a cool seller, and the guy I talked about got lucky with having a cool buyer 😛

I was even luckier than just having an awesome seller! What are the odds I get an unexpected day off, and the "eBay algorithm" put this under a sealed ps2 game???

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Events Team · Posted
Just now, broncofantd793 said:

I was even luckier than just having an awesome seller! What are the odds I get an unexpected day off, and the "eBay algorithm" put this under a sealed ps2 game???

Yeah, the stars definitely aligned for you. Would be nice if some of that luck came my way 😒😛

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I don't agree with back dooring.  However, the last time a case happened where I could have tried, I actually emailed the seller and asked him to forward a message along to the buyer.  I was honest and told him his lot had a rare variant and I'd give him a fair price.  The seller accepted to forward the message and the buyer did, in fact, take my offer.  He posted the game at a "mark up", sent me the link and I bought it.

I'm not saying it will happen every time, but there are legit ways to try and get a nice item you missed in a lot.  In my case, I worked it out with the buyer.  In his case, he managed to get 9 games for a great price.  I bought one and it cut his original purchase in half.  As Michael Scott would say, it was a win, win, win.

Edited by RH
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Glad you had an honest seller, great find!  I have been backdoored almost every time on Ebay that I got a really great deal and damn near every Craigslist deal ever (several were from another local NA member that would post in a Finders Keepers thread.  Sellers would always back out after we agreed on a price/time/place.  Screw that guy).  

I would personally send him $ or giftcard for a sandwich haha

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Events Helper · Posted
28 minutes ago, LutherDestroysTheGond said:

Glad you had an honest seller, great find!  I have been backdoored almost every time on Ebay that I got a really great deal and damn near every Craigslist deal ever (several were from another local NA member that would post in a Finders Keepers thread.  Sellers would always back out after we agreed on a price/time/place.  Screw that guy).  

I would personally send him $ or giftcard for a sandwich haha

@broncofantd793    Buy him 2 sammiches 🤣  and a beer!!!!!

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Not to surprised with the cutthroat nature of the hobby now.

I remember a time that even messaging the seller about letting an item go for cheap would get you in trouble. Now it seems that high rollers are just watching sold eBay BINs and messaging sellers right after sale.

Also, while I’m not surprised that the controller is expensive, I am surprised that in that condition it’s still nearly $1000! Then again, N64’s real trophy pieces are NFRs, rare box variants, rare cartridge color variants, the Sculptors cut manual, and controllers so it makes sense.

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2 hours ago, RalliArtEvo said:

you should absolutely clean that bad boy up! It's really easy to take apart N64 controllers and clean each piece seperately. 

 

Nice grab! It's definitely a controller i've wanted for a long time!

I spent just under 2 hours cleaning it today.  The joystick and d-pad were nightmares.  I took the joystick parts from a mint original red controller to retain the black exterior, and the mint parts didn't even make the joystick tight, but at least this Millennium is a playable controller now.  There was so much gunk, plastic, and dead skin cells inside, that the newfound crack and broken interior screw holder were minor.  If there were a faceless Stadium Events of Millennium 2000 controllers, I have it!

From further communications, the seller received this as part of a second hand gift bundle when the prior owner no longer wanted it.  About 3 years ago, the entire bundle was stolen from the seller's house, minus these 3 controllers.  What a wild ride this controller has had.
 

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