Slowly building my collection on a tight budget!
I've always been a budget minded collector/buyer....and several months ago my wife and I decided to start rebuilding our NES collection. Now, this meant that I'd do so on a budget (Since games aren't my main hobby) so I swore to myself to not get impatient. I hit the local flea markets on average of 2-3 times a month....as well as local garage sales,thrift stores, and resale shops.
I vowed to myself that I wouldn't pay outrageous prices....so I'm holding to my $1-$2 average prices for buying games. I can think of maybe 3-4 times where I might have payed upwards of $3-$4 for a single game (like GI Joe,Mega Man 3, and Kirby's Adventure) this past weekend)...but that's it. Sure, I could pay the normal almost $5 per game at some of the stores and flea markets.....but I'm patient.
I finally clipped the 100 game mark this past Sunday.... anyone can collect NES....on any budget....it just takes patience 
Brian
Comments
I am very... thrifty. I will not spend over half of what they a worth. I have been collecting for about 5 years and I'm currently at 460 some. With patients they will come. I have only paid full price for a few games. DW2, DW3, Rc-Pro Am 2. Then later I have found a couple cheap. I then resell them to get back to only paying half. It has worked out very nice for me. Keep it up. I set a goal of 100 a year. Tring to get to 500 by dec. I'm aready almost there and it's May! Thats rad your girls in to it too. Good luck.
LOL, yeah, I'm a cheap ass when it comes to buying almost anything...... Honestly, I just enjoy working within a budget. I too buy small collections and other games/systems and flip them from time to time.
My wife LOVES Gameboy....so she focuses on those...while I collect mainly NES and accessories....as well as SNES,N64, and etc. A 100 a year sounds VERY reasonable.....Lord knows that there's enough games out there to do it.
This is me, too. I've found so many games for $2 - $3 dollars (at most) at Goodwill, flea markets or garage sales. The only time I spend more is if I know I can resell something and make my money back. With maybe 1 exception, I've been able to buy most things and resell it keeping several items for free! Congrats, bro! I wish my wife would get into it with me.
Maybe try getting your wife into a hand heald system.....that worked for my wife.... now she's constantly buying cases,systems, and other games that we don't have yet
I also have to thank networking with another local NA member Ethan AKA Nullending. Ethan and his girlfriend and been a great help to us too....you've gotta have friends
I did find someone last weekend who had at least 50-60 games....and alot of them I needed....but at the $4 each it just went against my budget (outside of the 3 mentioned above that I just had to have). I plan to revisit the guy in a couple weeks, and try to negotiate to get the entire lot of games......if he'll work with me since I'm buying in bulk
I am very... thrifty. I will not spend over half of what they a worth. I have been collecting for about 5 years and I'm currently at 460 some. With patients they will come. I have only paid full price for a few games. DW2, DW3, Rc-Pro Am 2. Then later I have found a couple cheap. I then resell them to get back to only paying half. It has worked out very nice for me. Keep it up. I set a goal of 100 a year. Tring to get to 500 by dec. I'm aready almost there and it's May! Thats rad your girls in to it too. Good luck.
LOL, yeah, I'm a cheap ass when it comes to buying almost anything...... Honestly, I just enjoy working within a budget. I too buy small collections and other games/systems and flip them from time to time.
My wife LOVES Gameboy....so she focuses on those...while I collect mainly NES and accessories....as well as SNES,N64, and etc. A 100 a year sounds VERY reasonable.....Lord knows that there's enough games out there to do it.
100 a year is resonable until you get to the really hard to find titles. I am trying to knock out all the hard to finds now, before demand is even worse.
100 a year is resonable until you get to the really hard to find titles. I am trying to knock out all the hard to finds now, before demand is even worse.
Thankfully I already have alot of decently tough games...and classics. Of course I can pretty much count out SE,NWC, and CC.....but oh well
A good "voodoo accounting" trick you can use later on when you want to get some rare games, is to find a lot that contains one you want, and others you can resell. Get it at a bargain, resell the doubles and count that money against your original purchase price. You can essentially say you got games for free using this trick
Yes...using this philosophy I've been paid around $200 to build my NES collection. I just hit 341 unique titles today and I started back in January of this year. I've purchased multiple lots from here, eBay, and Craigslist, never paying more than $2 a game. I've acquired a lot of $15-$40 titles, but I'm going to have to do some serious hunting to keep my $2 a game average going...
A good "voodoo accounting" trick you can use later on when you want to get some rare games, is to find a lot that contains one you want, and others you can resell. Get it at a bargain, resell the doubles and count that money against your original purchase price. You can essentially say you got games for free using this trick
That's been my strategy for a while now....... I keep hoping to walk into some more local deals.....but it's taking time to find those deals.....
Today my afternoon trip to Goodwill yielded RC Pro Am and Mario/Duck Hunt for .79 cents each......I already have both....but couldn't walk out and leave them
A good "voodoo accounting" trick you can use later on when you want to get some rare games, is to find a lot that contains one you want, and others you can resell. Get it at a bargain, resell the doubles and count that money against your original purchase price. You can essentially say you got games for free using this trick
That's been my strategy for a while now....... I keep hoping to walk into some more local deals.....but it's taking time to find those deals.....
Today my afternoon trip to Goodwill yielded RC Pro Am and Mario/Duck Hunt for .79 cents each......I already have both....but couldn't walk out and leave them
That's crazy, all the Goodwills I go to think Old Games are worth $3-$5. Sometimes more!!! Then I go to the same Goodwill and It'll be a dollar. I hate their pricing system.
Congrats on reaching triple digits
A good "voodoo accounting" trick you can use later on when you want to get some rare games, is to find a lot that contains one you want, and others you can resell. Get it at a bargain, resell the doubles and count that money against your original purchase price. You can essentially say you got games for free using this trick
Yes...using this philosophy I've been paid around $200 to build my NES collection. I just hit 341 unique titles today and I started back in January of this year. I've purchased multiple lots from here, eBay, and Craigslist, never paying more than $2 a game. I've acquired a lot of $15-$40 titles, but I'm going to have to do some serious hunting to keep my $2 a game average going...
Yeah, I'd say my average was $2 shipped/game until around 350-400 games (since I didn't buy and resell too often). Then, I'd say my average went to about $3-3.50 shipped/game, until the good ol' 500 mark. At that time, you're lucky to need one or two games in any given 30-50 cart lot.
That's crazy, all the Goodwills I go to think Old Games are worth $3-$5. Sometimes more!!! Then I go to the same Goodwill and It'll be a dollar. I hate their pricing system.
Congrats on reaching triple digits
Yeah, I just don't get thier pricing either...... it's almost as if it depends on who's working on a specific day? Electronics prices are scattered all over the place.....strange....