I’ve been spending more time on alternatives to Yahoo Auctions these days. Right now, there is a small window of opportunity for buyers using the PayPay Flea Market application. Because this is a new channel for selling off your old stuff, they are running a free-shipping promotion to improve brand recognition and increase the number of items for sale.
It’s not easy-pickings, but the combination of allure for sellers and the relatively unpopulated state of PayPay Flea Market means that you can sometimes find some interesting stuff for low prices. Persistence is the key, I search multiple times per day to try to be among the first to find the real treasures.
For example, I found this FM Towns. It is a 2F, so I already have this exact machine, but the one I found was in amazing shape. It came with the original box, the first time I’ve ever seen one.
30年以上の箱として悪くないです 
And the machine itself is as if it had never been touched. Look at this thing!
It was untested, but it has been working perfectly, making it a total bargain. I can’t imagine what it would fetch with a standard auction format, but I was able to talk the seller down from 15000 yen to 12000 yen (with free shipping) and bought it on the spot.
Unfortunately, as unique as it is, it is not practical for my to keep the box. I’d like to, but I know it would just end up in the closet, never being looked at. So I have put my old FM Towns 2F into this box and have it ready to be listed on Yahoo Auctions tomorrow. The new machine itself I will keep!
I really like the look of the box too. I wonder if these were on shelves and were meant to catch shoppers eyes. I think most, if not all, pre-built computers I purchased just came in a brown cardboard box.
Indeed, most Japanese computers that I see, including 8-bits, were in ho-hum packages (my Sony MSX2 machine being the only notable exception I can think of offhand). Commodore and Atari were not so, very vibrant packaging. The X68000 box has a kind of nice aesthetic to it, compared to most, but yeah, this Towns really takes the cake.