Who has stopped hunting for games in the wild?

MrWunderful

I personally haven't gone garage sailing or thrift shopping in 2 years or so.  Sure I will stop by a goodwill if its super convienent and quick, but thats it.  5-10 years ago I would leave my apt at 7 am on a saturday and hit 20 garage sales in the season.  SUnday I would hit every thrift store in a 20 mile radius.  I started finding less and less, and there was a super reseller in my area who beat me to MULTIPLE lots (like I saw him leave with them) and that deflated me.



I have found that my time is far more valuable than spending 6 hours finding 15-20$ worth of games at a sale.  I know the deals can still be found (as rare as they are) but personally I would rather spend a bit more and buy off eBay, or trade with a contact I have made over the years.  Especially because I don't need to "sell" to buy games (I understand thats how a lot of people fund their collecting)



Has anyone just switched to buying like me?  Or do you still head out to multiple sales looking for games on the weekend?

NintendoAge Moderator

Poll needs more options. Edit: see them now.



Like you for the most part. Stop when thrift stores are on the way, but I've mostly given up my regular quests. Left that mindset in Maryland, actually. Nothing but tumbleweeds around here. Of course, the area is only somewhat to blame I'm sure. Each passing month it gets harder.

Bort License Plate

Basically exactly that for me.



I didn't sell much before, but I was looking to see if I could find deals for my own collection. Lately I've trimmed down a lot and made room for stuff I really want. I'm not into it nearly as much as I used to be.

Buying online or in person usually costs the same anyway, so may as well blow my money sitting on my ass at home.

Tulpa

If I don't have to exert much effort, I'll check out a flea market or yard sale. Otherwise, everyone's already caught on around here that old cartridges = $$$.

Trevor

Think the last time I stopped by a garage sale was right after I finished high school in '08. Not worth my time trying to beat people who do this for a living so I just buy from them. I would rather spend that time with friends and family.

wesr

I still do if I'm at a place that might have them but I don't go out of my way to do it, I live 5 minutes from 2 yard sales so if I happen to be out i'll shoot past and see. I just buy online anymore as it's easier as everyone either wants ebay prices or worse.

pegboy

Maybe once or twice a month I will look around, but never for more than a few minutes at a time and only at actual game shops.  Even if there are no steals, I can still probably find something interesting. Thrift stores and goodwill are completely worthless.

SNESNESCUBE64

I especially stopped going to flea markets. Resellers buy anything before I even get there so after a while I said fuck it (although I got hooked up with a nice dremel for $10 a week ago). I haven't been able to get a whole lot of good stuff in a while. The last deal I got was a lot of NES games with manuals for $40. Ended making about $200 with the extras and such, but thats about it. I think it also has to do with the fact that I live in metro detroit right now. There is not really anything here other than disc replay and retro taku (which specializes in imports).

RunningUltra

I stopped going to yard sales and thrift stores years ago. There isn't anything to find anymore. I do however buy an incredibly enormous amount of stuff off selling apps, facebook, and craigslist.

Maertens29

I don't hunt locally anymore, but I still probably spend 1-2 hours a day Looking for newly listed BINs on eBay. It's basically the best of both worlds: I still get great deals now and then, but I can "hunt" at any time and often while doing something else as well.

LutherDestroysTheGond

SImilar situation, I used to go to the flea market every Saturday and leave with tons of stuff. Then I'd hit up some garage sales on my way home and maybe get a few more things. It got really cutthroat with other resellers/collectors recently and I don't even bother. I'd rather spend my free time with my wife and daughter or cleaning than rummaging through a dirty thrift shop or garage sale looking for a long time to only walk away with a $2 NES power brick or a $2 PS2 game

Gloves

I've not been to a yard sale in many years. I mostly trade and buy online these days, though I do stop in at the stores near me here in Toronto. Sadly the stores very rarely have good deals.

SONIKtheHEDGEHOG

I don't go out anymore. I have the majority of what I want and my time is worth more to me then getting up early on my few days off. I don't need anymore trade fodder. The chances of me finding something I don't have for a reasonable price are pretty much nil and I'm ok with that. It's been about 4+ years since I've gone out to garage sales and flea markets. I've still come across some great finds but they usually equate to me being in the right place at the right time.

jonebone

I've never really hunted in the wild anyway. I can probably count the number of times I went yard sailing on one hand.



It's not just about inventory drying up though, it's about valuing my time more. I make 2-3 times what I did in my early 20s so my time is worth more, and I also have a wife and kids that I didn't have in my early 20s. Being home and with them is worth more than driving around to come up empty handed.

empire

I stopped years ago. Super competitive market here, even online ads have dried up.

DefaultGen

There's a Goodwill on the way home from work. It adds like 2 minutes to my commute to park at the strip mall, walk to the DVD section, see that there's nothing but Latin American fitness DVDs, and walk out.



So I still only go maybe once a month to save the 2 minutes of my life.

AC Skywalker

No way, NA and EBAY make up 100% of my purchases

ne$_pimp

I go out game hunting all the time, there are still deals out there is your consistent. I mostly search game stores and thrift shops.

As for yard sales, I've never found much so I would rather leave them to the resellers. It's not worth it to get up super early on my day off to drive all over the city, and most likely come up empty handed. Kijiji and Flea Markets are like beating a dead horse. The folks reselling on/at those places are the ones buying up any other deals because that's where they spend their time.

VGS_foochie776

I live about 5-6 blocks from a store that usually has pretty fair stock and decent prices so I frequent there because of the convenience. Outside of that I generally rely on local contacts as well as some of the guys I've met over the years on here.



I do go to Goodwill/Saver's often but never just for games.

hmgbking

Ebay and NA are most of my purchases. I do support local so if you are ever in the area checkout Thrillhouse Games!

rockyyaknow

I find stuff on Craigslist from time to time, but there are a lot of resellers in my area and I know about half of them so sometimes I can even get deals from them. There's a flea market about 2 miles from my house so I usually shoot over there on Sundays, but I hardly score anything. Try to buy on here then eBay as a last resort if I really want something.

skinnygrinny

i still go to yardsales. its works out well with my time. i dont go into work until 3pm. i watch baby kai while moma kai is at work, in the morning.



so, on friday morning, baby kai (she is a good luck charm i swear!) is up early enough that i can hit the yardsales. sometimes i beat the resellers to the good stuff.



that being said. i come home empty handed more often than not.



flea markets are tougher to score at than yardsales.

tubeway

My wanted items are so specific these days that I can't realistically expect to find them in the wild. And with my current job, it's not worth my time trying to flip games for a profit unless they were literally handed to me, so I just buy much of what I want on ebay and Amazon. When I do hit a flea market or thrift store, it's more of a social thing with a friend, or an attempt to kill time (there's a thrift store next to where I get my oil changed, for example). Back in my teens and early 20s I made hunting a huge priority in my life, but as my interests changed I found I'm much more interested in playing select games than the finding and collecting aspect.



And yeah. Trying to compete with soccer moms, retirees, and other folks that have their afternoons free is senseless. Not to mention folks that live in states with lower cost of living, meaning spending their entire day to make $50 on ebay is worth it to them since they're only paying a few hundred bucks for rent.

teh lurv

I pass by a Savers on my way home from work, so I stop in most days to see if there is anything worth picking up. If it wasn't so convenient on my commute, I doubt I'd bother to stop. I don't hit other thrift stores as much anymore, just if I happen to be passing by I'll swing in to take a peek. Most of my local thrift stores have been clued in that cart games = $$$, so they usually are priced at or above eBay prices.



My local flea markets blow, the only decent ones (at least they were when I was there last) were out in western MA past Worcester. Haven't been out there since 2015, I have no real desire to travel halfway across the state to rummage through crap.



I still like to hit yard sales on the weekend, mainly because I just enjoy the morning drive around town with a cup of coffee. It's pretty relaxing, though I've scaled back to the yard sale hunting to just my town & surrounding towns. I keep myself within 15 minute drive from my house.

Allegro

I still go to the thrift store almost once a week, and while I find some good stuff to re-sell every once in a while, it isn't video game related. I get where people are coming from when they say they value their time more than a day's outing to find jack nothing or save 2 dollars over ebay, but that isn't really what it's about for me. There's a satisfaction and eventual story to go along with finding a game out in the wild, especially if it's CIB. You get to handle what you're about to buy and really know the ins and outs of its condition, maybe even haggle a bit with the seller and have fun there, too.



The adventure is a big part of it for me. Maybe it comes from living in a small town my whole life, or maybe I just have an unrealistic opinion of what I could be doing that would qualify as a "better use" of my time. It's just legitimately fun to go out and feel the excitement of "what if", even if there's a part of me that knows it'll end in "of course not". Probably helps that I have friends who like going out on the hunt, too.

mattbep

I stopped after a month cause it didn't happen and wasn't worth the time.

broncofantd793

I'm making the transition from hunting in the wild to just buying only online. Recently, I calculated the opportunity costs, accounting for gas, time, and loss of other activities, and it's not worth it as I become older. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the thrill of looking, but the competition at yard sales, flea markets, and thrift stores takes out a lot of the fun. I plan to still browse offer up, craigslist, and facebook, but I'll mainly rely on my saved eBay searches. I've gotten 2 good deals on there in the past week, totaling $80. There's NO WAY I'd have found what I got in the wild for an opportunity cost of $80.



And I find myself telling people no thank you on stuff unless it is in great shape. Really becoming very cut and dry with my collecting as I age.

zfleming54

After an entire year of garage saling and not finding one gaming deal, I stopped (I think that was 5 years ago). Then 3 months ago I had a $175+ score for $19 at an estate sale my wife went to. I have little faith that will ever happen again so I will still not be actively searching in the wild.

guitarzombie

Small time resellers are ruining it. I never bothered, I found all of my best deals on ebay, as long as you're patient.



*EDIT*



I do go to stores every few months, to see if anything new pops up and is something to do.  Have only found a handful of times people slipping, but its fun when it happens.  As for other goodwills and such, whenever I went with them for my buddy the only think you'd find is PS2 sports games.  I think ONCE we found a grey cart somewhere, and it was prob a n64 sports title.

Uncle Meat

The pawn shop here has always been awesome but I don't buy stuff anymore.



Everything was automatically 10% off for me to begin with and if I paid cash I wouldn't have to pay taxes either (In Canada this is huge at 14% from retail).



There was plenty of times I would just get $300 worth of stuff and he would just say "Oh give me 250 cash and it's yours (Would have been almost 350 for anyone else).



It was a pretty nice hookup to be honest, next best thing to just finding it at yard sales for nothing in my opinion.

dr.robbie

Of course i still hunt in the wild - thats the most fun part of collecting. I usually go to garage sales for fun with my wife anyway, so it doesnt really add much time for me. I tend to find better deals early in the year rather than later. I think ive gotten at least one decent gaming score every week so far this year. Just last Saturday, i did pretty well andi ended up with a pokemnon silver ($1), ds lite ($7), 2 psps with 5 games and accessories ($15), and a ps2 with 10 games including magic pengal ($15). Sure, i could get all of that on the bay for a tad more, but i feel like garage sales and the like have higher highs and lower lows that make the hobby exciting.