When TZD had a liquidation sale...

[djkcel]

Was anyone ever on TZD's mailing list?

I just found this farewell e-mail:

Turbo Zone Direct must clear out inventory! Our loss is your gain!

Well it had to happen, TZD must clear out thousands of inventory items before we must move in 30 days. This is your opportunity to save a bundle and lighten the load we must move. Here's an offer you can't beat, one we've never made before. We're offering 50% off our ENTIRE inventory for the month of November. Here are the details: You must include MOVING SALE in the comments section of your order. You must purchase at least $30.00 worth of merchandise at the net cost (after the 50% is deducted.) We will adjust the order total here. Your credit card is not charged until the order is picked to assure you the correct amount.

As usual nothing is held back, there are no limits to the number of items you may purchase or the number of orders you may place. This offer will end November 31,2007. We expect to close out a number of titles during this sale; we will make every effort to update the web site. This is a golden opportunity for you to stock up on your favorite Turbo merchandise at a super price. Don't miss out! Turbo merchandise not sold by TZD is getting harder and harder to find. As you know everything we sell is new, factory-sealed merchandise.

We do not know yet where we will be in 30 days so act now!

TZD is also looking for a wholesaler that might be able to take on or take over the legacy we started in 1994. If any of you know of a company or organization that can handle bulk resale of these classic video games, parts and accessories, please use our email contact at www.tzd.com

Feel free to write if you have any questions, you know we value your input and support.


I swear, I started riding my TG nostalgia just a few years too late.  If only I had known that a business was still selling factory-sealed TG merchandise as late as 2007...stuff that makes people on ebay very, very wealthy these days.

Does anyone know if any wholesalers "took on the legacy' that TZD started? 

[nat]

I think most people here, myself included, were on TZD's mailing list. TZD was the THE source for sealed Turbo stuff for almost 15 years.

A fly-by-night operation by the name of "Redfrog" bought all of TZD's remaining inventory (as well as tzd.com) when TZD closed its doors in December '07. Redfrog turned out to be some sort of eBay store that utilized some questionable practices, not the least of which was turning tzd.com into a storefront for themselves and selling games and accessories for current-gen consoles alongside the remaining Turbo stock. In many cases prices on the new Turbo goods were jacked up to be more inline with current eBay Buy It Now pricing.

Not surprisingly, Redfrog stopped responding to emails within months of acquiring tzd.com, and dropped off the face of the Earth along with whatever remaining Turbo stock they still had. In reality, there couldn't have been a more pathetic end to the Turbo Zone Direct legacy.

There's a huge thread buried somewhere here on the forums detailing the whole fiasco.

[Pcenginefx]

Before TZD sold off to Redfrog, I was finishing up on a site remake for them (don't remember if it ever went live or not) and managed to get some rare goodies from them as payment.  I have an online gallery devoted to them up in the Turbo Memoirs site.....

http://www.pcenginefx.com/TM/turbo_memoirs_-_tzd_gallery.html

[Necromancer]

I still wish I would've tried contacting them about buying out their business.  I'm not sure what all they had or how much they ended up getting from Redfrog, but I should've at least tried.

[djkcel]

While we're on the subject of TZD's glory days, check out what I found....

This is what their website used to look like in...

1996:  http://web.archive.org/web/19970418014246/www.tzd.com/tzd.htm

2003:  http://web.archive.org/web/20030409034546/http://www.tzd.com/

2007 (near the very end):  http://web.archive.org/web/20071009122717/http://www.tzd.com/

Man, check out that catalog!  Factory sealed Turbo Duo's for 200?  Brand new Hu Cards for $19?  Repairs for any hardware?

Pretty bittersweet.

[nat]

Yeah, most of the longtime members here (yours truly included) had been visiting TZD since day one. I remember those site designs like it was yesterday. As far as the prices go.... Yeah, that's sort of what the Turbo market was like until very recently.

[Joe Redifer]

Makes me so sad sometimes about TZD.  I'd often order stuff from them, but at the same time I always thought they'd be around forever so I didn't order EVERYTHING that I should have.  Arrrg!!!

[RR1980]

Makes me so sad sometimes about TZD.  I'd often order stuff from them, but at the same time I always thought they'd be around forever so I didn't order EVERYTHING that I should have.  Arrrg!!!

Ain't that true for everything in life! Can I hear an "Amen"!?

[SignOfZeta]

Makes me so sad sometimes about TZD.  I'd often order stuff from them, but at the same time I always thought they'd be around forever so I didn't order EVERYTHING that I should have.  Arrrg!!!

I ordered everything I wanted from them a long long time ago. I thought about getting another 300 copies of each TV sports game, but decided against it.

I think the only things I bought from them were imports. I know I got the Yuna 1 reprint from them in like...1995 or something. I can't remember what else.

Oh yeah, one of those shitty Duo AV cables you have to wiggle into working.

They did have copies of LoT for a very long time. Anyone who didn't buy that is obviously a dumb-ass.

[alexsduo]

Now tzd goes to some dumb movie site... I imagine there is still a lot of stuff in a warehouse somewhere?

[WoodyXP]

Now tzd goes to some dumb movie site... I imagine there is still a lot of stuff in a warehouse somewhere?

About 1000 copies or so of Madden.

[alexsduo]

I actually don't have a copy of that

[JohnnyBlaze]

Sucks that they are gone now that I have my hands on a Duo. Now, I'm forever cursed to pay ePay prices and be f*cked in the ass doing it. If only I had remembered this site BEFORE they closed....

[exile]

Steve was a good guy too he sold me his unpunched Kisado converter and gave me a free copy of Legend of hero Tonma for free when me sent me the wrong items once. I used to love picking his brain on when certain titles sold out in his inventory. I remember screaming when I missed bonk,splatter house and soldier blade by months. I'll forever be grateful for them because I bought a lot of stuff from them up until the end. Particularly manuals and odds and end stuff

[Necromancer]

Now, I'm forever cursed to pay ePay prices and be f*cked in the ass doing it.

Just be patient.  There are fairly priced goodies sold here from time to time, and not everything on eBay is a royal screwing.