Is DKOldies REALLY a Scam?

Thank to all these Clip-Sharers they saved me so much money. I was so close to buying a TON from DK oldies

$180 for an OG 360 is absolutely insane. I see them in mom and pop stores for $30-40 all the time

The worst part? The fact that they seem to be deliberately putting their own warranty stickers on to discourage people from doing exactly this, because if you do and it is like this? Guess what, they can basically tell you to beat it and run off with your money because you voided their warranty.

Man, this is why I'm very grateful that I've been able to keep all of my older consoles and didn't need to trade them to when I moved on to the next generation.
I tend to take really good care of my consoles and at least twice a year I'll open it up and clean the inside, fans, etc...
Luckily my consoles going back to the Xbox 360, PS3, and even my PS2 are still in good condition.
These Retro games prices are pretty outrageous.

Saddest part of this video is it came a little after a ton of the backlash they were receiving and clearly they changed nothing. They could have such a thriving business if they just did what they said they would do. I was very close to buying from them till I heard about all of this a month or two ago.

I bought a "refurbished" gameboy from DKOldies. The funny thing is that this was the clear version so you could see into the console without opening it and it was clear that they left dirt inside and the only thing the actually did was replace the plastic screen protector

There’s a difference between a store having overhead and straight up overpriced products that aren’t even cleaned much less in working order

Should’ve ordered each one individually to different addresses because having a batch order alerts them to be more cautious since they’ll suspect it’s a content creator’s order

Hey Austin, make sure to play that Dreamcast for longer than just a few minutes. It's a common issue with older Dreamcasts where the solder on the power port will become brittle enough that once it heats the system will reboot, cooling the solder just enough for it to boot back up almost immediately. It looks like a software reboot, but it's a full power circle due to bad solder.

9:55 as someone who browses Ebay you can buy a Japanese game cube sometimes for extremely cheap (usually non functional) but that's probably what they did for any American GameCubes that have visable scratches or cracks so they could make it look as good for as cheap as possible

Dkoldies seems like the one game store guy at your local flee market who buys all the good stuff from other vendors and then tries to sell it for online prices as long as it works

Man, I'd be freaking furious if I had received that PS3. That thing ain't worth more than $50 in that condition. It's honestly a miracle it still works as well as it does. I see why they have those warranty stickers on them, since opening them up voids their warranty and they don't have to do crap even in these types of events.

I would dare to say this is a pretty final, ultimate nail in the DKOldies coffin, honestly. Thank you for covering the topic, guys.

I didn’t even know who DK oldies was until about a week ago, and I can say they are the reason I have never once bought a single refurbished or used item, because I know companies will just absolutely rip you off and get away with it. Rather just buy one at a garage sale

I can almost guarantee that 360 was returned early in its life cycle to Microsoft to be fixed, i had my first gen 360 for only a few weeks before it started having disc read errors and had to be shipped back to them. I was lucky and never got the red rings but they tried charging me another $100 for the repair claiming it was out of warranty, it did however come back with the updated cooling design...

Austin, I hope you will consider a follow-up video down the line. Did they stand behind their warranty and how was their customer service regarding the subpar condition vs expectation? I've had very few issues with eBay, but a shop with proper support is appealing.

I would imagine the scuffing on the top of the Sunshine disc is due to a common problem with resurfacing GameCube discs. Because they’re small, they often times like to get covered and have residue left over that would normally be left to like, the very sides of a normal disc. Super common to find that residue and scuffs on resurfaced GameCube games sadly

After buying old consoles, retro systems, and Raspberry Pi consoles, I'll stick with PC/Android/Mac emulation. Not always 100% smooth, there's glitches, but they are ALWAYS upfront about this aspect of emulation, along with how the options for playing can't be compared to, and fact you save a TON of money, makes it the only way I want to go now!

This is an absolute kill shot. All the negative press over the past few months and they get a relatively suspicious looking order asking for one of each of their consoles. Almost like someone might be gearing up for a massive review and they still send out worse than some of the original examples to start all of this. Gonna be hard to recover from these bigger channels calling them out.

Would love a follow up to this showing us what the customer service experience is like when you try to get something like this fixed.

I guy locally told me a lot about these consoles. Many people have no idea how many on the market are never actually cleaned. GameStop was literally forced to actually refurbish these consoles once the word got out. The same goes for TVs & other electronics. The major failure is dust build up. Eventually the fans can't disperse the heat, & they start overheating which slowly kills the boards

Probably been said in here already but those paper stickers on the inside on the OG 360 was an indication that it's been sent back under warranty and had RROD fixed.

8:00 the grease makes sense cuz you have to grease the mechanical parts in the disk drive in order for the tray to come out smoothly on the 360. So with that said, you are always gonna have a little bit of residue left over. As for the dust, yeah there is no excuse for that.

Makes you wonder on the warranty and how they will honor it. Like how do they know if it should be covered if they never actually cleaned it, and how can we trust their records?

I've said it before and I'll say it again, DKOldies need to be held accountable for what they're doing to people. Not just the ridiculous pricing but the way they don't even touch the inside of their "Refurbished" consoles. Good to see Austin showing his viewers this!

I have a massive pet peeve about them changing the screen lens on the Game Boys. I think it should be an option, not something done automatically. If someone wants to collect these they will want to have the original screen, even if it's scuffed.

You should've bought it separately and accept the purchase at different locations so that they won't suspect you bought it for the purpose of creating content

That’s all I needed to deter me from ordering from them. Ordered elsewhere, thank you!

I was gonna order stuff from them a few months back but didn't cause it seemed like a scam then, glad I was right lol. Been seeing a lot more of content on the DKOldies store lately and all of it is exposing them for being incompetent lol

Regarding the Gamecube, its pretty common/easy for people to mod, you just short out 2 connections and that is how it determines which region its in. I've bought gamecubes from eBay (for like $80) claiming to 'play american games' and it turns out they did this mod on a japanese gamecube. It isn't incorrect, but selling it as an English Gamecube is VERY scummy.

11:44 Funny enough those void stickers are actually illegal in the United States under the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, so even if they did enforce that, you can probably fight them over it, assuming you didn't break it when opening.
Edit: I am aware that the sticker itself is not illegal, but many companies do void the warranty if the sticker is tampered with, which is illegal according to the FTC.
And also, please do not take this as law advice BTW, as I'm not a lawyer.

I think something I haven't heard said in any vids is that these consoles are only opened in the games don't run 'refurbished' meaning it worked for them and they operate at high cost so if they have to send another unit under warranty they haven't lost money. Still every console should have been cleaned and damaged parts should be noted and in the listing.

Dont forget to point a thermal camera at their housing. We love tests and videos that give us no information or information that would actually be bad to use!

I’ve seen so many videos but this one by far was my favourite. No insulting whatsoever but still managed to absolutely scold DKOldies. 😂

Honestly I have found all my retro consoles at Goodwill ( a GameCube , Wii , Xbox , Xbox 360 , PS2 , and a PS3 and each one was between 30-70$ and had cords and controllers so always best to look around before ordering online especially if you are willing to clean and repair but for the price you can get them at sometimes is well worth it.

Shoutout to Rich from ReviewTech and ESPECIALLY Jacob R. For brining these issues to light. Y’all should definitely shoutout those channels cuz they did the hard work before anyone else

Glad you’re covering this. I’ve had a nightmare of an experience with dk oldies. They’re terrible to deal with.

I'm happy you did this we needed a hero like you with an audience as big as yours!!!

I was looking at their Dreamcasts lol. I haven’t touched one of those in forever and it was my first ever system. But the price alone I was like eh I don’t care that much for it 😂

Incredible you'd actually get better results at your local thrift shop also I knew how this video was going to end the second that it was revealed that that Super Mario disk was scuff to glory on top of all things.

Its so weird seeing this store called out, back in the day they were the main store I bought from, never had a problem except with an old Genesis, which they replaced promptly and sent me my money back even though I also got a replacement.

The most mind blowing fact about this is how not one person found it suspicious that someone ordered that many consoles and that MAYBE someone was going to review how well they 'refurbish' their consoles. I came across DKOldies a few months back and was going to order a couple retro consoles and with all the heat they're getting, I'm glad I did not.

Rip dk newies. One of the first channels to make an amazing parody of dk oldies before everyone else was doing it.

I wonder if the warranties even mean anything here also. It's one thing to offer a warranty, but I would like to hear if anyone has gotten a warranty honored by them. It's important for consoles like the PS3 and 360 as they are so easy to have die from normal use.

I was so close to buying a gba from di oldies when I first heard about em saw their prices and was like oh man ima wait it out for my next check and I’m glad I did I saw video after video that they were scamming and even found out about anbernic from which I bought one of their handhelds to play gba Pokémon games and some Pokémon roms

I’m so glad I decided to watch this, I’ve been wanting to buy a GameCube w/ Super Mario Sunshine to bring back the childhood memories but I’m glad I watched this, you got yourself a Sub my guy 😄

Has anyone tested their 1 year warranty to see if they would actually honor it, and if so would they open it up and refurb it properly, or if they just swap it out for another one?

Super slims trays are like that. It's a friction lock of some sort. You have to close it all the way or it will not function at all. Granted after you opened it up I'm confident that what you meant was excessive stickyness and not the normal

I purchased a gameboy color in the purple clear plastic, I was super hyped when it arrived. It was in decent condition but the screen wasn't new, as it had a pretty deep scratch right through it, and the battery cover was clear plastic, not the matching purple clear one. Never ordered another product since

You should have asked for it to be filmed.
Would be interesting to see what bonus would they throw in.
Maybe Virtual Boy or something

Oh wow, I ordered a copy of Tetris from them around the time the Pocket came out and it didn’t work/was in real bad condition. It was relatively cheap so I didn’t bother returning it but didn’t buy from em anymore. I didn’t know they had so many issues.

In regards to opening the Xbox case to get to the fans… even in the video they say that the device was taken apart to replace the laser. I’m thinking that if it tested fine they may not have had a reason to take it apart completely to clean it. I *do* however think that if you’re going to sell as refurbished that you should absolutely take every console apart, replace commonly worn parts and clean it and retest it.

Finally even bigger Clip-Sharers are exposing these scammers. Good on Austin for doing this video.

Bruh looks like a save a lot logic
Also, with the Japanese backplate on the GameCube, I bought some Wii remotes from there and one of them came with a Japanese backplate (with the sync button on the outside). Idk why they do it, but it's pretty cool

Damn, that’s kinda wild to be honest. Given that it’s their sort of thing you’d think they would at the bare minimum pull off the housing and run a duster can in there 🤣🤣

i thought they would of gotten better after the whole situation thank you for this video you saved me from wasting my money

they need to define what refurbished is basically. i think their selling point is that you can rely on a working console and there’s some warranty behind it, which can be difficult to find reliably elsewhere consistently. and theres a premium price to pay for that peace of mind. they just need to portray the refurbished condition more explicitly as what they do.

Yeah I’ve bought a lot of stuff from dk oldies but never consoles, strictly games and I can say some of their games are genuinely a really good price and I’ve always been happy but you’ve got plenty on there that are ridiculous as well. Just gotta pick and choose

Also keep in mind, there was an interview with Jacob R with an ex-employee of DKoldies where he explains that they are trained to not open up the consoles unless they’re literally rattling. Also those warranty stickers are intentionally put in place over screws necessary to open the console as a deterrent for people to open them up and inspect them themselves. They know exactly what they’re doing.

Former gamestop employee. The proper procedure for refurbishing a console is its supposed to get sent off to the repair warehouse. They take them apart, clean them and check the most commonly damaged components then do any repairs. However. They have a habit of just trying to sell a console if it doesn't have any immediate issues. That means it skips the entire refurbishment process if it works and has no noticeable damage.

it's not that hard to take a soft tooth brush and some 91% isopropyl and go to town. they dont even have to use good replacement thermal paste as anything is usually an upgrade from the stock paste(I use kyronaut) but all of these are at minimum double the price. This is a GRADE A fleecing operation if I've ever seen it.

8:15 "is that morse code?" HAD ME DYING

I’ve ordered from DKOldies many times. I’ve gotten an N64 with four controllers and several Gameboy Color and a few Gameboy Advance games and I’ve never had a problem with them.

I use to work at gamestop. My first two weeks there, our store leader had us "refurbish" the console but we never were instructed to clean them. One day I said, "can I clean this? this is really gross." she goes, "only if we have time." As if its not literally the first thing people look at. I couldn't believe it. If I was working by myself or someone or we were slow, I would clean tf out of the controllers and accessories with a clorox wioe.

In my experience, the biggest problem is not that the product isn't quality, or doesn't work, it's that the website you buy it from is always out of stock and backordered.

You mentioned it in the beginning but the fact that there was a huge batch order on systems, which should've alerted them it was probably a content creator, and they still couldn't be bothered with refurbishing them is quite concerning.

I wish you did a tear down on the Cube. Interested to see what they did with it

Good on you for exposing them like this. Even some refurbished consoles on eBay for prices similar or less for a PS3 wouldn't be as bad as what you experienced.
I've never ordered from DKoldies, but now? Not a chance. Straight up overpriced for everything they sell.

I was about to buy every Tekken and Twisted Metal ''loose'' games and I was shocked because the price is equivalent to a brand new ps4/ps4 slim today luckily the reddit community helped me an alternative store that has a reasonable price and was glad because some were loose and complete but the most important thing I got to replay my childhood games and got to keep them forever.

Refurbished just means it works and maybe got cleaned a little for most retro gaming stores. Generally they won’t take apart the console to clean the inside unless it isn’t working for some reason.

Oh, taking a Wii apart is a pain. I question them opening and cleaning these on the inside as long as nothing is obviously broken.
I took all my old consoles apart as the big plastic box I was storing them in smelled really bad (chemical) and I feared leaking caps. Later I found out that the plastic used for this box secretes this stench, gathering it inside when being closed for a while, even though I have other similar boxes that don't do this...
Btw, we have a 20GB 360 and it's loud like a hover. Cleaning on the inside and replace thermal paste (remember this being a pain) did nothing to improve this. But the one in the video sounds even worse, not louder but like it will break down any moment now. 15 years isn't a "very old console" though. 15 is nothing. xD

Well, goddamn. Even a big Techtuber like Austin is calling out DKOldies now. They really HAVE to straighten their business practice if they still want to stay... well, in business. No sweeping anything under the rag anymore, I'm afraid.

Fun fact about a Japanese consul it’s able to play all of its sub country sections. I had a Japanese super Nintendo and he could play all of the super Nintendo games from the US but the US consul couldn’t play the Japanese games so I think it’s just they make the Japanese consuls more universal

Never bought a console from them, shame as they looked like a great supplier. I don’t think it’s the same as the 360, but the caked dust on the PlayStation is usually a good sign it’s been in a smoking household, you get that tar with dust caked on the fan blades, bearings, etc.
Source: smoked for 8 years, regularly cleaned PC and laptop but not console until recently.
Oh and as for the beige color, classic PC cleaner will bring it up to be white/r again which is probably what DKOldies did. Either spray on one, or you can take it apart and bathe the parts

I’ve had the 360 sound like that 😂 it’ll be alright but! I do warn not to have it standing up. The side is better, had issues for me standing up the way it was when you heard that noise. Which indeed, does improve when you turn it over like you did. 👍🏻

I didn’t know these kind if consolse still go for that amount, a couple of years ago I picked up an og xbox 360 out of the condo’s recycling room, it was relatively clean, it was missing the cables but I was able to luckily pick one up at a value village, and a rock candy controller, I was able to play a couple of games on it, mostly skyrim and about a year or two I threw it out. Same goes for the Wii and PSP, parents gave it away, I Should have just sold it.

I was wondering why I wasn't seeing much of their videos on the shorts areas of Clip-Share anymore.
Just kind of knew about them from their ad-like YouTueb shorts that occasionally popped up. Thought they were neat but probably were overpriced because retro stuff are these days. But I guess all of this isn't so surprising.

DK Oldies have been around forever like Lukie Games and come up on Google searches for anything. Their target audience is casual nostalgia players that will never bother opening these up or comparing prices.
It’s still crazy that with all the negative videos about them, a huge order like this didn’t set off some red flag.

Wow, glad I haven't bought anything yet from them. Definitely will have to reconsider.
Thanks for the video, gonna take my money to a thrift store, it may be the same quality, but will definitely be cheaper.

Thanks for those awesome reviews. I was about to spend over a 1000 on DK old school refurbished consoles wanna bees

After seeing other videos like this, I am convinced DK Oldies stays in buisness because of youtubers buying a bunch of stuff from them to see if they are a scam or not.

You need to get 4 separate orders, under 4 different names, AND going to 4 separate addresses. Ask your friends and then do the test! They definitely know a Clip-Sharer ordered this lmao

I've ordered many items from them over the years and never had a problem

My issue is I imagine Austin ordered these things AFTER they were exposed, and they STILL are not refurbished😂

I suppose they figured they could get away with this because most people wouldn't open their units.
Except anyone willing to pay for these are definitely going to open them up at some point.

There’s a company that’s pretty similar to this in the UK called CeX . They do second hand games like gamestop, but also do vintage consoles and give a *2 year warranty*. They also sell consoles for pretty close to second hand price.

I saw gameboy coolors with basic casing but lighting screens installed at my local shop for $99... The owner of DK Oldies needs an old school public trial cause thats villainous pricing

Thank you for this, I was thinking of getting some consoles from DKOldies. I will not be after this unless they can prove they actually refurbish the consoles.

I think i might be able to tell what's going on with their console pricing. The warranty isn't free. You're paying $100 above what they think the console is worth for it. But because they don't offer an option to not have the warranty, they can pitch the warranty as free and the price as just a "bargain for a restored vintage console"

What I find interesting is that several of the consoles in these unboxing videos had the residue of a previous DKOldies seal peaking out from the current seal including this Dreamcast . This leads me to believe that they were previously sold by DKO and were returned , most likely with a problem , and then checked/fixed and were resold . They must have a pretty high return rate which is understandable given the lack of actual refurbing going on there .

I will say, if I was a business owner and I saw an order that was essentially 1 of everything, I’d make the assumption it was from a product reviewer

i am so glad i went with ebay directly over these guys, i know theres very few success stories with it but i dodged a MASSIVE bullet

I bought my Dreamcast new on release day for $199. The fact they want $165 for it today is insane. I am glad I still own my old consoles and they are still in decent condition. I try to take care of these and not abuse them. These prices are a ripoff.

I think the price is crazy but I understand that retro consoles should hold some value as they are not being produced anymore / units fail over time = less supply... but still yeah not a fan of the dk oldies mark up

Man I remember my friend and I fixed our 360's by opening them up and gluing pennies onto certain spots to help the heating issue. And it worked.

Calling DKoldies a trustful company is like calling GameStop a great store.

Always knew it was a scam, back in 2020 I first saw them n saw them on tik tok n was checking their consoles out and saw how a ps2 was $200. Absolutely insane! Went to eBay and found one for $38 and it works to this day.

When DkOldies first started making videos, I remember telling people that shit was over priced and I bet all he did was use air duster and packaged it. You could just tell by his “packaging” videos, the way he would just toss the stuff around that he doesn’t give a shit.

I bought a truly refurbished wii u from the manufacture. And it was actually like brand new with the peel off stickers and everything. Im not sure exactly but i think it was sent back from nintendo. I saved probably like 100$ and the system was mint

From what I learned they do refurbish them but sometimes they forget which sucks but hopefully they learn their lesson