If I come across a garage sale, I'll check it out. But I never go check them all out and am "out all day".
I still go check out thrift stores. Not that I've found anything incredible... but I suppose there's always a chance. I wouldn't go hours of my way, but if there's a store to check out, I will.
I stopped a long time ago. For one, I don't live in a major city, and flea markets have become very scarce. We have about five or six retro stores, luckily, but that's it. I miss finding the great deals at flea markets and garage...
Will never stop going to flea markets or yard sales. Although carts have dried up a bit, there's so much more interesting stuff that can be found and bought!
You guys that say there's nothing to be found anymore at garage sales and flea markets are selling yourselves short. Either that or its all a front to make people think there's nothing anymore in hopes to cut down on the competition, and you still go religiously lol. There most certainly is still stuff out there and you don't have to drive miles and miles all day for it. Check out some videos from channels like these for proof stuff is still out there to be found every single week:
Personally I find something worth my time almost every single Saturday morning, and I only check the sales in my town and maybe one other surrounding town for a couple hours and I'm done. After 11AM is about time when anything good will be gone. Of course April/May has generally always been the best months. My technique is I hardly ever bother with sales advertising "video games" and just do to the other sales and ASK. Its amazing how many times people don't think to bring out and try to sell their old video games until you mention it! Planning to post in my finds thread at the end of the month showing everything I've found for the beginning of the yard sale season soon.
Thrift stores though I have definitely slowed down on. Went from checking every day on my way home from work for years, to now once or twice a week.. The stores have simply caught on to the value of gaming items, and is compounded by the growth in competition game hunters. Not a day goes by that I check a Savers or Salvation Army and see some asshat searching through the games with his phone out and the Ebay app up.
Yeah, I think a lot of people (in this thread and others) are taking their own personal experience with the flea markets in their immediate area and applying it generally to the whole rest of the world, saying "there's nothing out there!" Speak for yourself! The flea markets where I am are still great if you get there early enough in the morning.
Of course, I'm sure there are a lot of people who visit the flea markets I do, but like five hours after I get there, look around, find nothing because I left nothing, and say, "Oh, there's nothing out there in the wild anymore..."
You guys that say there's nothing to be found anymore at garage sales and flea markets are selling yourselves short.
No, you're right, BUT its not worth the effort anymore. Why waste 3 hours of my day to save 5 bucks on something I don't even want? I could resell it and make 5 bucks, but thats more time/effort spent. I understand for some its worth it to get that $5 Earthbound once a year, but for others its not.
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.
I'm in the same boat. I never felt like it was a good use of time even back in the day, particularly as the stuff I was into then and the stuff I'm into now is nothing one is going to realistically find in the wild anyways.
You guys that say there's nothing to be found anymore at garage sales and flea markets are selling yourselves short.
No, you're right, BUT its not worth the effort anymore. Why waste 3 hours of my day to save 5 bucks on something I don't even want? I could resell it and make 5 bucks, but thats more time/effort spent. I understand for some its worth it to get that $5 Earthbound once a year, but for others its not.
Yeah I get that. You need to plan you're day around it so its not wasted time.
For example with me, since mid April my son has been taking a 2 hour art class in the next town over that I drop him off at. While I'm waiting for him to finish I am driving around town with the gsalr.com app open hitting all the posted yard sales. I figure its worth my time since I need to wait for him anyways, and the app makes it easy to drive around and hit the sales as efficiently as possible. Also I make some personal rules like not to travel more than one town over, and end at 11 when I pick up my son. Ends up being a 2-hour per week affair for me, and I have had some pretty good luck so far this spring. This past Saturday I actually didn't find games though, I found a sweet lot of vintage 1960's Tonka trucks lol.
Another thing to note about thrift stores, unless you are checking them regularly they are a complete waste of time. Unless you are extremely lucky you wont find anything ever if you only check once or twice a month. Consistency pays off.
Other than that, if you're not enjoying it well that's the kiss of death. I still enjoy the thrill of the hunt, and stumbling on that rare game in the wild is an unbeatable feeling you'll never get on Ebay.
You guys that say there's nothing to be found anymore at garage sales and flea markets are selling yourselves short.
No, you're right, BUT its not worth the effort anymore. Why waste 3 hours of my day to save 5 bucks on something I don't even want? I could resell it and make 5 bucks, but thats more time/effort spent. I understand for some its worth it to get that $5 Earthbound once a year, but for others its not.
Yeah I get that. You need to plan you're day around it so its not wasted time.
For example with me, since mid April my son has been taking a 2 hour art class in the next town over that I drop him off at. While I'm waiting for him to finish I am driving around town with the gsalr.com app open hitting all the posted yard sales. I figure its worth my time since I need to wait for him anyways, and the app makes it easy to drive around and hit the sales as efficiently as possible. Also I make some personal rules like not to travel more than one town over, and end at 11 when I pick up my son. Ends up being a 2-hour per week affair for me, and I have had some pretty good luck so far this spring. This past Saturday I actually didn't find games though, I found a sweet lot of vintage 1960's Tonka trucks lol.
Another thing to note about thrift stores, unless you are checking them regularly they are a complete waste of time. Unless you are extremely lucky you wont find anything ever if you only check once or twice a month. Consistency pays off.
Other than that, if you're not enjoying it well that's the kiss of death. I still enjoy the thrill of the hunt, and stumbling on that rare game in the wild is an unbeatable feeling you'll never get on Ebay.
You guys that say there's nothing to be found anymore at garage sales and flea markets are selling yourselves short.
No, you're right, BUT its not worth the effort anymore. Why waste 3 hours of my day to save 5 bucks on something I don't even want? I could resell it and make 5 bucks, but thats more time/effort spent. I understand for some its worth it to get that $5 Earthbound once a year, but for others its not.
Yeah I get that. You need to plan you're day around it so its not wasted time.
For example with me, since mid April my son has been taking a 2 hour art class in the next town over that I drop him off at. While I'm waiting for him to finish I am driving around town with the gsalr.com app open hitting all the posted yard sales. I figure its worth my time since I need to wait for him anyways, and the app makes it easy to drive around and hit the sales as efficiently as possible. Also I make some personal rules like not to travel more than one town over, and end at 11 when I pick up my son. Ends up being a 2-hour per week affair for me, and I have had some pretty good luck so far this spring. This past Saturday I actually didn't find games though, I found a sweet lot of vintage 1960's Tonka trucks lol.
Another thing to note about thrift stores, unless you are checking them regularly they are a complete waste of time. Unless you are extremely lucky you wont find anything ever if you only check once or twice a month. Consistency pays off.
Other than that, if you're not enjoying it well that's the kiss of death. I still enjoy the thrill of the hunt, and stumbling on that rare game in the wild is an unbeatable feeling you'll never get on Ebay.
for sure, enjoying it is half the battle
I certainly wouldn't do it if I didn't enjoy it.
One surprising thing about it was how much I enjoyed always meeting and talking to new people, and I find negotiating face to face pretty exhilarating at times. If it ever gets boring I'll stop but I've been doing it for years and its still great.
I slowed down a little since I'm not buying much for myself any more.
Gave up on Goodwill; figure the handful of deals I'm missing aren't worth the time sink of going out there on a regular basis. Still hit the local franchise since there's obscure stuff they underprice while asking 30 bucks for a loose Mario 3.
You guys that say there's nothing to be found anymore at garage sales and flea markets are selling yourselves short. Either that or its all a front to make people think there's nothing anymore in hopes to cut down on the competition, and you still go religiously lol. There most certainly is still stuff out there and you don't have to drive miles and miles all day for it. Check out some videos from channels like these for proof stuff is still out there to be found every single week:
Personally I find something worth my time almost every single Saturday morning, and I only check the sales in my town and maybe one other surrounding town for a couple hours and I'm done. After 11AM is about time when anything good will be gone. Of course April/May has generally always been the best months. My technique is I hardly ever bother with sales advertising "video games" and just do to the other sales and ASK. Its amazing how many times people don't think to bring out and try to sell their old video games until you mention it! Planning to post in my finds thread at the end of the month showing everything I've found for the beginning of the yard sale season soon.
Thrift stores though I have definitely slowed down on. Went from checking every day on my way home from work for years, to now once or twice a week.. The stores have simply caught on to the value of gaming items, and is compounded by the growth in competition game hunters. Not a day goes by that I check a Savers or Salvation Army and see some asshat searching through the games with his phone out and the Ebay app up.
Those are obviously fringe situations (if even real). I have been going to garage sales for 20 years, and the amount of finds have slowed down.
I personally just have no use for the same common n64 lots and nes double dribbles that show up at garage sales. I don't care to flip games, and the games im after would never show up at garage sales at this point anyways.
If people still enjoy hunting then awesome, this thread isnt about hating on that. Just curious who that used to go out into the wild stopped.
Those are obviously fringe situations (if even real). I have been going to garage sales for 20 years, and the amount of finds have slowed down.
Was that in reference to the YouTube channels I linked? Those guys post up new videos every single week and are totally real. There are many more like them on YouTube as well.
I understand this thread was your form of confirmation bias, and that's cool. But I was just offering up a differing point of view. I don't believe finds have slowed down, only changed. I am seeing less and less NES lots, and more GameCube and PS2 lots now, for example. As time goes on its a logical progression.
But yeah, like I mentioned I have definitely slowed down my regularity hitting thrift stores for stated reasons. But yard sales are still worthy to me, especially if you know how to play the game.
Also, Facebook group posts have been doing real well for me. I have been getting so much response there that my budget hasn't been keeping up and I've had to pass on some stuff.
Those are obviously fringe situations (if even real). I have been going to garage sales for 20 years, and the amount of finds have slowed down.
Was that in reference to the YouTube channels I linked? Those guys post up new videos every single week and are totally real. There are many more like them on YouTube as well.
I understand this thread was your form of confirmation bias, and that's cool. But I was just offering up a differing point of view. I don't believe finds have slowed down, only changed. I am seeing less and less NES lots, and more GameCube and PS2 lots now, for example. As time goes on its a logical progression.
But yeah, like I mentioned I have definitely slowed down my regularity hitting thrift stores for stated reasons. But yard sales are still worthy to me, especially if you know how to play the game.
Also, Facebook group posts have been doing real well for me. I have been getting so much response there that my budget hasn't been keeping up and I've had to pass on some stuff.
I agree that the scene has changed, you have to be willing to buy PS2 and XBox stuff as people are selling them cheap. I also think that Facebook groups have really changed the landscape. I probably make a few deals every month through them. The sales get posted early in the week and you have to check the photos and message the sellers early as things sell before many garage sales even start. Its an arms race out there.
I wouldn't say that I've stopped, but I very, very rarely buy video games in the wild anymore. Not even once every few months. Resellers and the cost of games aren't the only reasons. In fact, those aren't even the reasons at all.
The problem I have with buying games in the wild is that, where I live, finding games in good condition nowadays is nearly impossible. In 2002, I went to a used game store and found Batman for the NES in reasonably good condition. The label was intact, and the game was in working order. And it even came with a box, which was also in good shape with very few creases. In 2011, however, I went to another used game store and found a copy of Flintstones: the Rescue of Dino and Hoppy. A good portion of the label was ripped apart, and I needed to clean the game in order for it to work. And then, of course, there's the sticker residue when peeling price tags off the cartridges.
Once in a great while, I still occasionally browse used game stores just for the heck of it. I also sometimes go to Gaming Expos, and look at their selection of used games. But I don't expect to actually find anything in good condition at either of them anymore.
Let the record show I have not stopped. The school year ends June 2nd and it looks like it's the end of the wet season here on the east coast so I'll be in full swing for a least 2 months.
I've been very lax this year...it's annoying me to no end though. What with my budget not being that great and all of us being busy fixing the house up for our final check off, me and my parents haven't gone out to sales this year.
I'm planning on dragging them to some sales this weekend though since I'm just...urg...frustrated with the lack of games.
Those are obviously fringe situations (if even real). I have been going to garage sales for 20 years, and the amount of finds have slowed down.
Was that in reference to the YouTube channels I linked? Those guys post up new videos every single week and are totally real. There are many more like them on YouTube as well.
I understand this thread was your form of confirmation bias, and that's cool. But I was just offering up a differing point of view. I don't believe finds have slowed down, only changed. I am seeing less and less NES lots, and more GameCube and PS2 lots now, for example. As time goes on its a logical progression.
But yeah, like I mentioned I have definitely slowed down my regularity hitting thrift stores for stated reasons. But yard sales are still worthy to me, especially if you know how to play the game.
Also, Facebook group posts have been doing real well for me. I have been getting so much response there that my budget hasn't been keeping up and I've had to pass on some stuff.
I agree that the scene has changed, you have to be willing to buy PS2 and XBox stuff as people are selling them cheap. I also think that Facebook groups have really changed the landscape. I probably make a few deals every month through them. The sales get posted early in the week and you have to check the photos and message the sellers early as things sell before many garage sales even start. Its an arms race out there.
That's exactly it. Things with game hunting are just different now and I think the accessibility of the smartphone is a huge reason why.
I very rarely make deals from the posted sales though. For Facebook groups, I make my own posts asking to buy and wait for people to contact me which I found works so much better. For yard sales, I don't bother with the sales advertising games, and instead just ask at the sales that don't have them out. I would say nearly half the time they will have something they left in their house and maybe half of those times I can get them to bring it out and sell some to me. If you're polite and know how to talk to them it works.
The thing is a lot of these places have been harvested year after year and the grounds gone sour. To be successful you either need to be early, fast and lucky. Or else be that old wise man who knows what fresh ground looks like vs sour, over picked fields.
After I started getting large lots where everything was a dupe I realized I had turned into a reseller. Also my kid was born and I'd rather spend the Saturday at home.
I only buy large collections from collectors now and sell what I don't have. This is much more rewarding.
I used to have the same problem where i'd get mad the dirty reseller beat me to it. Then I realized I was just like him.
I still have good luck with the thrift stores and goodwills around here, none of them price games with ebay or anything, just by a base value for games. So its just a game of showing up a lot and finding the gold! I will say if my job didnt have me driving all over town I wouldnt be stopping in nearly as much, but for now it works! Rare to find good stuff but its a great feeling when I do.
The thing is a lot of these places have been harvested year after year and the grounds gone sour. To be successful you either need to be early, fast and lucky. Or else be that old wise man who knows what fresh ground looks like vs sour, over picked fields.
The actual "fresh grounds" in most cases are the untapped masses of middle aged or older people who have no clue on the value of their old boxes of games, so much so that when they DO have a family yard sale they don't even put that box out (hence what the guy above you was talking about) ... asking and them producing gaming stuff.
I think the more "neighborhood focused" advertisments are also untapped...... as in you put out a flyer with a phone number/email to contact in a given area (I'd do the more suburban locations). That 75 year old woman who has her sons 50 CIB NES games in her attic isn't going to be checking Craigslist to sell them, but if she sees a flyer in her mailbox advertising someone is paying cash for them she may pick up a phone and call.
I thoroughly enjoy the hunting but like others have said I'm after such specific stuff that at this point I don't expect to find anything to really add to my collection, although last summer I DID find an relatively uncommon SNES CIB that went right into my collection in a flea market booth for a decent price so that was cool. That was the exception not the rule though. The competition and grounds being so heavily picked over is definitely a "thing" in most places.
I got lucky with the one small second hand store that had sega stuff for 5.00 complete or near complete in the boxes. Sadly a year later it was gone but she clearly didn't have a clue or just didn't care. She had an original PS1 for 20.00 too. You also have to sometimes just wait for an area to build up again, once people start cleaning attics every few years you see more gaming stuff then it fades and you have to wait more.
I will say that used and retro game stores are decent places to pick up all the commons you're looking for, in the exact condition you want, and without paying for shipping costs, like if you were to grab them off ebay. This is how I filled in most of the gaps in my original Xbox, DS and PS2 collections.
I don't anymore. I always enjoyed it, thrill of the hunt and so on, but I'm never going to be cutthroat enough to deal with the level of competition I would have locally. That being said, I actually am running a game booth for a local store at my local flea market, so I'm there every weekend, and there's not much I enjoy more than hooking someone up with a deal on a game they clearly want.
As far as collecting goes for me, I've got 3 local stores, and I'm on very good terms with all of them, to the point where if any of them get either of the last two carts I need, I'll be their first call. I do repairs for them (basic stuff, but no one else in the area will even bother), and have actually managed to improve the business of the store I'm working for just because I'd much rather get along with everyone than try to make my booth be the "go to" for everything. I get people in the booth all the time the other store sent my way (and I send a ton of people their way as well.)
It's sad in a way, 0 games of my NES collection are from ebay, they're a combination of wild finds, trades, purchases here, and even gifts from friends. I've always been proud of that, and I don't know that if I had the disposable income for the last two, I'd want to resort to ebay, too much fear about fakes anymore.
You guys that say there's nothing to be found anymore at garage sales and flea markets are selling yourselves short.
No, you're right, BUT its not worth the effort anymore. Why waste 3 hours of my day to save 5 bucks on something I don't even want? I could resell it and make 5 bucks, but thats more time/effort spent. I understand for some its worth it to get that $5 Earthbound once a year, but for others its not.
This is pretty much where I'm at. The time spent isn't worth the reward anymore.
The thing is a lot of these places have been harvested year after year and the grounds gone sour. To be successful you either need to be early, fast and lucky. Or else be that old wise man who knows what fresh ground looks like vs sour, over picked fields.
The actual "fresh grounds" in most cases are the untapped masses of middle aged or older people who have no clue on the value of their old boxes of games, so much so that when they DO have a family yard sale they don't even put that box out (hence what the guy above you was talking about) ... asking and them producing gaming stuff.
I think the more "neighborhood focused" advertisments are also untapped...... as in you put out a flyer with a phone number/email to contact in a given area (I'd do the more suburban locations). That 75 year old woman who has her sons 50 CIB NES games in her attic isn't going to be checking Craigslist to sell them, but if she sees a flyer in her mailbox advertising someone is paying cash for them she may pick up a phone and call.
However I will say that most neighborhood yard sales have been going on for year after year and for me are mostly miss. They're hot beds for resellers of all shapes and sizes and are wild cards at best. The key to neighborhood yard sales is going to day before it starts and scouting out who has their garage door open ... so aka be a giant creep. At least in my experience it is better than showing up day of the sale with everyone else.
For me, the best are unadvertised sales that are pop ups. Hard to find but typically FILLED with gold.
Gave up on hunting in the wild maybe a year ago. I just don't have the time for it anymore, and I almost never found stuff anyways. Just not worth the time.
Comments
If I come across a garage sale, I'll check it out. But I never go check them all out and am "out all day".
I still go check out thrift stores. Not that I've found anything incredible... but I suppose there's always a chance. I wouldn't go hours of my way, but if there's a store to check out, I will.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3TUWdhzxCGvZWBBq1xeXGw
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNjV3mi4vPW0y5lq7n01oaQ
Personally I find something worth my time almost every single Saturday morning, and I only check the sales in my town and maybe one other surrounding town for a couple hours and I'm done. After 11AM is about time when anything good will be gone. Of course April/May has generally always been the best months. My technique is I hardly ever bother with sales advertising "video games" and just do to the other sales and ASK. Its amazing how many times people don't think to bring out and try to sell their old video games until you mention it! Planning to post in my finds thread at the end of the month showing everything I've found for the beginning of the yard sale season soon.
Thrift stores though I have definitely slowed down on. Went from checking every day on my way home from work for years, to now once or twice a week.. The stores have simply caught on to the value of gaming items, and is compounded by the growth in competition game hunters. Not a day goes by that I check a Savers or Salvation Army and see some asshat searching through the games with his phone out and the Ebay app up.
Of course, I'm sure there are a lot of people who visit the flea markets I do, but like five hours after I get there, look around, find nothing because I left nothing, and say, "Oh, there's nothing out there in the wild anymore..."
You guys that say there's nothing to be found anymore at garage sales and flea markets are selling yourselves short.
No, you're right, BUT its not worth the effort anymore. Why waste 3 hours of my day to save 5 bucks on something I don't even want? I could resell it and make 5 bucks, but thats more time/effort spent. I understand for some its worth it to get that $5 Earthbound once a year, but for others its not.
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.
I'm in the same boat. I never felt like it was a good use of time even back in the day, particularly as the stuff I was into then and the stuff I'm into now is nothing one is going to realistically find in the wild anyways.
You guys that say there's nothing to be found anymore at garage sales and flea markets are selling yourselves short.
No, you're right, BUT its not worth the effort anymore. Why waste 3 hours of my day to save 5 bucks on something I don't even want? I could resell it and make 5 bucks, but thats more time/effort spent. I understand for some its worth it to get that $5 Earthbound once a year, but for others its not.
Yeah I get that. You need to plan you're day around it so its not wasted time.
For example with me, since mid April my son has been taking a 2 hour art class in the next town over that I drop him off at. While I'm waiting for him to finish I am driving around town with the gsalr.com app open hitting all the posted yard sales. I figure its worth my time since I need to wait for him anyways, and the app makes it easy to drive around and hit the sales as efficiently as possible. Also I make some personal rules like not to travel more than one town over, and end at 11 when I pick up my son. Ends up being a 2-hour per week affair for me, and I have had some pretty good luck so far this spring. This past Saturday I actually didn't find games though, I found a sweet lot of vintage 1960's Tonka trucks lol.
Another thing to note about thrift stores, unless you are checking them regularly they are a complete waste of time. Unless you are extremely lucky you wont find anything ever if you only check once or twice a month. Consistency pays off.
Other than that, if you're not enjoying it well that's the kiss of death. I still enjoy the thrill of the hunt, and stumbling on that rare game in the wild is an unbeatable feeling you'll never get on Ebay.
You guys that say there's nothing to be found anymore at garage sales and flea markets are selling yourselves short.
No, you're right, BUT its not worth the effort anymore. Why waste 3 hours of my day to save 5 bucks on something I don't even want? I could resell it and make 5 bucks, but thats more time/effort spent. I understand for some its worth it to get that $5 Earthbound once a year, but for others its not.
Yeah I get that. You need to plan you're day around it so its not wasted time.
For example with me, since mid April my son has been taking a 2 hour art class in the next town over that I drop him off at. While I'm waiting for him to finish I am driving around town with the gsalr.com app open hitting all the posted yard sales. I figure its worth my time since I need to wait for him anyways, and the app makes it easy to drive around and hit the sales as efficiently as possible. Also I make some personal rules like not to travel more than one town over, and end at 11 when I pick up my son. Ends up being a 2-hour per week affair for me, and I have had some pretty good luck so far this spring. This past Saturday I actually didn't find games though, I found a sweet lot of vintage 1960's Tonka trucks lol.
Another thing to note about thrift stores, unless you are checking them regularly they are a complete waste of time. Unless you are extremely lucky you wont find anything ever if you only check once or twice a month. Consistency pays off.
Other than that, if you're not enjoying it well that's the kiss of death. I still enjoy the thrill of the hunt, and stumbling on that rare game in the wild is an unbeatable feeling you'll never get on Ebay.
for sure, enjoying it is half the battle
You guys that say there's nothing to be found anymore at garage sales and flea markets are selling yourselves short.
No, you're right, BUT its not worth the effort anymore. Why waste 3 hours of my day to save 5 bucks on something I don't even want? I could resell it and make 5 bucks, but thats more time/effort spent. I understand for some its worth it to get that $5 Earthbound once a year, but for others its not.
Yeah I get that. You need to plan you're day around it so its not wasted time.
For example with me, since mid April my son has been taking a 2 hour art class in the next town over that I drop him off at. While I'm waiting for him to finish I am driving around town with the gsalr.com app open hitting all the posted yard sales. I figure its worth my time since I need to wait for him anyways, and the app makes it easy to drive around and hit the sales as efficiently as possible. Also I make some personal rules like not to travel more than one town over, and end at 11 when I pick up my son. Ends up being a 2-hour per week affair for me, and I have had some pretty good luck so far this spring. This past Saturday I actually didn't find games though, I found a sweet lot of vintage 1960's Tonka trucks lol.
Another thing to note about thrift stores, unless you are checking them regularly they are a complete waste of time. Unless you are extremely lucky you wont find anything ever if you only check once or twice a month. Consistency pays off.
Other than that, if you're not enjoying it well that's the kiss of death. I still enjoy the thrill of the hunt, and stumbling on that rare game in the wild is an unbeatable feeling you'll never get on Ebay.
for sure, enjoying it is half the battle
I certainly wouldn't do it if I didn't enjoy it.
One surprising thing about it was how much I enjoyed always meeting and talking to new people, and I find negotiating face to face pretty exhilarating at times. If it ever gets boring I'll stop but I've been doing it for years and its still great.
Gave up on Goodwill; figure the handful of deals I'm missing aren't worth the time sink of going out there on a regular basis. Still hit the local franchise since there's obscure stuff they underprice while asking 30 bucks for a loose Mario 3.
You guys that say there's nothing to be found anymore at garage sales and flea markets are selling yourselves short. Either that or its all a front to make people think there's nothing anymore in hopes to cut down on the competition, and you still go religiously lol. There most certainly is still stuff out there and you don't have to drive miles and miles all day for it. Check out some videos from channels like these for proof stuff is still out there to be found every single week:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/U...
https://www.youtube.com/channel/U...
Personally I find something worth my time almost every single Saturday morning, and I only check the sales in my town and maybe one other surrounding town for a couple hours and I'm done. After 11AM is about time when anything good will be gone. Of course April/May has generally always been the best months. My technique is I hardly ever bother with sales advertising "video games" and just do to the other sales and ASK. Its amazing how many times people don't think to bring out and try to sell their old video games until you mention it! Planning to post in my finds thread at the end of the month showing everything I've found for the beginning of the yard sale season soon.
Thrift stores though I have definitely slowed down on. Went from checking every day on my way home from work for years, to now once or twice a week.. The stores have simply caught on to the value of gaming items, and is compounded by the growth in competition game hunters. Not a day goes by that I check a Savers or Salvation Army and see some asshat searching through the games with his phone out and the Ebay app up.
Those are obviously fringe situations (if even real). I have been going to garage sales for 20 years, and the amount of finds have slowed down.
I personally just have no use for the same common n64 lots and nes double dribbles that show up at garage sales. I don't care to flip games, and the games im after would never show up at garage sales at this point anyways.
If people still enjoy hunting then awesome, this thread isnt about hating on that. Just curious who that used to go out into the wild stopped.
Those are obviously fringe situations (if even real). I have been going to garage sales for 20 years, and the amount of finds have slowed down.
Was that in reference to the YouTube channels I linked? Those guys post up new videos every single week and are totally real. There are many more like them on YouTube as well.
I understand this thread was your form of confirmation bias, and that's cool. But I was just offering up a differing point of view. I don't believe finds have slowed down, only changed. I am seeing less and less NES lots, and more GameCube and PS2 lots now, for example. As time goes on its a logical progression.
But yeah, like I mentioned I have definitely slowed down my regularity hitting thrift stores for stated reasons. But yard sales are still worthy to me, especially if you know how to play the game.
Also, Facebook group posts have been doing real well for me. I have been getting so much response there that my budget hasn't been keeping up and I've had to pass on some stuff.
Those are obviously fringe situations (if even real). I have been going to garage sales for 20 years, and the amount of finds have slowed down.
Was that in reference to the YouTube channels I linked? Those guys post up new videos every single week and are totally real. There are many more like them on YouTube as well.
I understand this thread was your form of confirmation bias, and that's cool. But I was just offering up a differing point of view. I don't believe finds have slowed down, only changed. I am seeing less and less NES lots, and more GameCube and PS2 lots now, for example. As time goes on its a logical progression.
But yeah, like I mentioned I have definitely slowed down my regularity hitting thrift stores for stated reasons. But yard sales are still worthy to me, especially if you know how to play the game.
Also, Facebook group posts have been doing real well for me. I have been getting so much response there that my budget hasn't been keeping up and I've had to pass on some stuff.
I agree that the scene has changed, you have to be willing to buy PS2 and XBox stuff as people are selling them cheap. I also think that Facebook groups have really changed the landscape. I probably make a few deals every month through them. The sales get posted early in the week and you have to check the photos and message the sellers early as things sell before many garage sales even start. Its an arms race out there.
The problem I have with buying games in the wild is that, where I live, finding games in good condition nowadays is nearly impossible. In 2002, I went to a used game store and found Batman for the NES in reasonably good condition. The label was intact, and the game was in working order. And it even came with a box, which was also in good shape with very few creases. In 2011, however, I went to another used game store and found a copy of Flintstones: the Rescue of Dino and Hoppy. A good portion of the label was ripped apart, and I needed to clean the game in order for it to work. And then, of course, there's the sticker residue when peeling price tags off the cartridges.
Once in a great while, I still occasionally browse used game stores just for the heck of it. I also sometimes go to Gaming Expos, and look at their selection of used games. But I don't expect to actually find anything in good condition at either of them anymore.
I'm planning on dragging them to some sales this weekend though since I'm just...urg...frustrated with the lack of games.
Those are obviously fringe situations (if even real). I have been going to garage sales for 20 years, and the amount of finds have slowed down.
Was that in reference to the YouTube channels I linked? Those guys post up new videos every single week and are totally real. There are many more like them on YouTube as well.
I understand this thread was your form of confirmation bias, and that's cool. But I was just offering up a differing point of view. I don't believe finds have slowed down, only changed. I am seeing less and less NES lots, and more GameCube and PS2 lots now, for example. As time goes on its a logical progression.
But yeah, like I mentioned I have definitely slowed down my regularity hitting thrift stores for stated reasons. But yard sales are still worthy to me, especially if you know how to play the game.
Also, Facebook group posts have been doing real well for me. I have been getting so much response there that my budget hasn't been keeping up and I've had to pass on some stuff.
I agree that the scene has changed, you have to be willing to buy PS2 and XBox stuff as people are selling them cheap. I also think that Facebook groups have really changed the landscape. I probably make a few deals every month through them. The sales get posted early in the week and you have to check the photos and message the sellers early as things sell before many garage sales even start. Its an arms race out there.
That's exactly it. Things with game hunting are just different now and I think the accessibility of the smartphone is a huge reason why.
I very rarely make deals from the posted sales though. For Facebook groups, I make my own posts asking to buy and wait for people to contact me which I found works so much better. For yard sales, I don't bother with the sales advertising games, and instead just ask at the sales that don't have them out. I would say nearly half the time they will have something they left in their house and maybe half of those times I can get them to bring it out and sell some to me. If you're polite and know how to talk to them it works.
I only buy large collections from collectors now and sell what I don't have. This is much more rewarding.
I used to have the same problem where i'd get mad the dirty reseller beat me to it. Then I realized I was just like him.
The thing is a lot of these places have been harvested year after year and the grounds gone sour. To be successful you either need to be early, fast and lucky. Or else be that old wise man who knows what fresh ground looks like vs sour, over picked fields.
The actual "fresh grounds" in most cases are the untapped masses of middle aged or older people who have no clue on the value of their old boxes of games, so much so that when they DO have a family yard sale they don't even put that box out (hence what the guy above you was talking about) ... asking and them producing gaming stuff.
I think the more "neighborhood focused" advertisments are also untapped...... as in you put out a flyer with a phone number/email to contact in a given area (I'd do the more suburban locations). That 75 year old woman who has her sons 50 CIB NES games in her attic isn't going to be checking Craigslist to sell them, but if she sees a flyer in her mailbox advertising someone is paying cash for them she may pick up a phone and call.
I thoroughly enjoy the hunting but like others have said I'm after such specific stuff that at this point I don't expect to find anything to really add to my collection, although last summer I DID find an relatively uncommon SNES CIB that went right into my collection in a flea market booth for a decent price so that was cool. That was the exception not the rule though. The competition and grounds being so heavily picked over is definitely a "thing" in most places.
As far as collecting goes for me, I've got 3 local stores, and I'm on very good terms with all of them, to the point where if any of them get either of the last two carts I need, I'll be their first call. I do repairs for them (basic stuff, but no one else in the area will even bother), and have actually managed to improve the business of the store I'm working for just because I'd much rather get along with everyone than try to make my booth be the "go to" for everything. I get people in the booth all the time the other store sent my way (and I send a ton of people their way as well.)
It's sad in a way, 0 games of my NES collection are from ebay, they're a combination of wild finds, trades, purchases here, and even gifts from friends. I've always been proud of that, and I don't know that if I had the disposable income for the last two, I'd want to resort to ebay, too much fear about fakes anymore.
You guys that say there's nothing to be found anymore at garage sales and flea markets are selling yourselves short.
No, you're right, BUT its not worth the effort anymore. Why waste 3 hours of my day to save 5 bucks on something I don't even want? I could resell it and make 5 bucks, but thats more time/effort spent. I understand for some its worth it to get that $5 Earthbound once a year, but for others its not.
This is pretty much where I'm at. The time spent isn't worth the reward anymore.
The thing is a lot of these places have been harvested year after year and the grounds gone sour. To be successful you either need to be early, fast and lucky. Or else be that old wise man who knows what fresh ground looks like vs sour, over picked fields.
The actual "fresh grounds" in most cases are the untapped masses of middle aged or older people who have no clue on the value of their old boxes of games, so much so that when they DO have a family yard sale they don't even put that box out (hence what the guy above you was talking about) ... asking and them producing gaming stuff.
I think the more "neighborhood focused" advertisments are also untapped...... as in you put out a flyer with a phone number/email to contact in a given area (I'd do the more suburban locations). That 75 year old woman who has her sons 50 CIB NES games in her attic isn't going to be checking Craigslist to sell them, but if she sees a flyer in her mailbox advertising someone is paying cash for them she may pick up a phone and call.
I wrote a post on how to win at yard sales and asking is a big part:
http://nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=5&threadid=161588
However I will say that most neighborhood yard sales have been going on for year after year and for me are mostly miss. They're hot beds for resellers of all shapes and sizes and are wild cards at best. The key to neighborhood yard sales is going to day before it starts and scouting out who has their garage door open ... so aka be a giant creep. At least in my experience it is better than showing up day of the sale with everyone else.
For me, the best are unadvertised sales that are pop ups. Hard to find but typically FILLED with gold.