Good morning, Craigslist...
This question was answered yesterday (the 8th), as I came upon an unusually large Craigslist lot (especially for this area). Not many details were given...in fact, this was the original text, verbatim (except punctuated and capitalized as it's a headache otherwise):
"I have a lot of old games and systems, not sure what they are worth but would like to sale [sic] as a lot or trade.
Super Nintendo, 3 or 4 controllers, about 30 or more games. Needs hookups.
GameCube, has 3 or 4 controllers and about 4 games, has Donkey Kong game and drums.
Sega Genesis, has 3 controllers and I think 11 games.
2 Game Boys, 5 games, and carry case for 1 system.
Everything has been tested and works. If interested please e-mail or text (insert number here). I will get back to u [sic] as soon as possible. Interested in saleing [sic] all together or trade. Let me know what u [sic] have.
Thanks. Have a great day."
From the original structure, I got an idea this seller wasn't sure what they had, but I was in no position to text to respond to the ad to see what games were available. Fast forward 5 hours later, and I'm at home. I look at the ad, only to find out that the seller was evidently tired of fielding questions asking about which games were in the lot, and she listed the SNES portion in the ad. A few games stuck out to me as games of potential nice resale value, so I responded. Within an hour or so, we'd hammered out a deal, I was to meet her at 11 AM at a Walgreens in a particularly rough area of Chattanooga (about 40 minutes' drive from my house, but equally far in the other direction from her house, as she lives in Georgia).
I stayed up until nearly 4 AM working on the website and a few other things, and then at 9:40 AM, I was up and about, getting ready to meet her there. We got there, everything was good, so I gave her cash, and she gave me all the stuff. She'd said she had quite a few local collectors asking her about one specific SNES game in the lot, to the point where she and her husband decided to look it up on eBay and were shocked at its selling price...can you guess which? Anyway, after we did the exchange, she left, and I found out I'd left my lights on while we did the exchange...and my van wouldn't start. Thanks to a couple good Samaritans, however, I was up and running in only a couple minutes, and headed back to Cleveland.
I won't tell how much I paid, as every bit of it (except Breath of Fire) will be for sale, but I can comfortably say I risked a fair amount here. Pics:
The whole lot, minus the cords and controllers that went with the systems (SNES didn't come with any cords, but it had 3 controllers; Genesis had the RF switch and 3 controllers, and the GameCube had 3 controllers, the AV cable, and AC adapter). Both Game Boys have their battery cover...
SNES games. The one in the left column without the top part of the label is Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. The one at the bottom has so much of the label removed I'll have to play it to see what it is, but going on what portion of the label is there, I'd have to guess it's another Super Mario World. Breath of Fire is mine to keep, the other 32 are for sale. Most of these will clean up to B or B- condition, though a couple will be C's, and Zelda will obviously be a C-. Edit: Zelda's a D for condition. Expect it priced much cheaper than normal.
GC games. All for sale. A few of these (I want to say all of them except Donkey Kong Jungle Beat) don't have manuals. Discs are in surprisingly good shape.
Genesis loose games. Hiding behind Sonic & Knuckles is Sonic 2. All of these will be for sale.
Game Boy games. These weren't specifically listed in the lot, just that there were "5 games"...apparently, she couldn't count . All in nice shape, except for some weird label peeling present on all of them (I guess they were kept in a very humid environment). All for sale.
The Game Boy case. It'll be for sale, too. Camera flash washed out the color on the front...the "buttons" are colored normally, with no fading.
"I have a lot of old games and systems, not sure what they are worth but would like to sale [sic] as a lot or trade.
Super Nintendo, 3 or 4 controllers, about 30 or more games. Needs hookups.
GameCube, has 3 or 4 controllers and about 4 games, has Donkey Kong game and drums.
Sega Genesis, has 3 controllers and I think 11 games.
2 Game Boys, 5 games, and carry case for 1 system.
Everything has been tested and works. If interested please e-mail or text (insert number here). I will get back to u [sic] as soon as possible. Interested in saleing [sic] all together or trade. Let me know what u [sic] have.
Thanks. Have a great day."
From the original structure, I got an idea this seller wasn't sure what they had, but I was in no position to text to respond to the ad to see what games were available. Fast forward 5 hours later, and I'm at home. I look at the ad, only to find out that the seller was evidently tired of fielding questions asking about which games were in the lot, and she listed the SNES portion in the ad. A few games stuck out to me as games of potential nice resale value, so I responded. Within an hour or so, we'd hammered out a deal, I was to meet her at 11 AM at a Walgreens in a particularly rough area of Chattanooga (about 40 minutes' drive from my house, but equally far in the other direction from her house, as she lives in Georgia).
I stayed up until nearly 4 AM working on the website and a few other things, and then at 9:40 AM, I was up and about, getting ready to meet her there. We got there, everything was good, so I gave her cash, and she gave me all the stuff. She'd said she had quite a few local collectors asking her about one specific SNES game in the lot, to the point where she and her husband decided to look it up on eBay and were shocked at its selling price...can you guess which? Anyway, after we did the exchange, she left, and I found out I'd left my lights on while we did the exchange...and my van wouldn't start. Thanks to a couple good Samaritans, however, I was up and running in only a couple minutes, and headed back to Cleveland.
I won't tell how much I paid, as every bit of it (except Breath of Fire) will be for sale, but I can comfortably say I risked a fair amount here. Pics:
The whole lot, minus the cords and controllers that went with the systems (SNES didn't come with any cords, but it had 3 controllers; Genesis had the RF switch and 3 controllers, and the GameCube had 3 controllers, the AV cable, and AC adapter). Both Game Boys have their battery cover...
SNES games. The one in the left column without the top part of the label is Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. The one at the bottom has so much of the label removed I'll have to play it to see what it is, but going on what portion of the label is there, I'd have to guess it's another Super Mario World. Breath of Fire is mine to keep, the other 32 are for sale. Most of these will clean up to B or B- condition, though a couple will be C's, and Zelda will obviously be a C-. Edit: Zelda's a D for condition. Expect it priced much cheaper than normal.
GC games. All for sale. A few of these (I want to say all of them except Donkey Kong Jungle Beat) don't have manuals. Discs are in surprisingly good shape.
Genesis loose games. Hiding behind Sonic & Knuckles is Sonic 2. All of these will be for sale.
Game Boy games. These weren't specifically listed in the lot, just that there were "5 games"...apparently, she couldn't count . All in nice shape, except for some weird label peeling present on all of them (I guess they were kept in a very humid environment). All for sale.
The Game Boy case. It'll be for sale, too. Camera flash washed out the color on the front...the "buttons" are colored normally, with no fading.
Comments
Edit: Also, I gotta know, what was the "particularly rough" area of Chattanooga? Haha
Originally posted by: Swaffar
Wow... That's quite a large lot for craigslist. Hope u [sic] don't loose money on the deal. SNES list??
Sure. Left column, top to bottom:
Batman Forever
Bram Stoker's Dracula
Breath of Fire
Clayfighter
Contra III
Cutthroat Island
Demolition Man
Dennis the Menace
Donkey Kong Country
Donkey Kong Country 2 x2
Donkey Kong Country 3
Final Fight Guy
Killer Instinct
Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
Mechwarrior
Monopoly
Right column, top to bottom:
Mortal Kombat 3 x2
Newman Haas IndyCar featuring Nigel Mansell
Starfox
Super Black Bass
Super Buster Brothers
Super Mario All-Stars x2
Super Mario World
Super Off-Road: The Baja
Tetris Attack
Top Gear x2
Wario's Woods
WeaponLord
WWF Royal Rumble
X-Men: Mutant Apocalypse
The game that's centered at the bottom is the unknown.
Originally posted by: ColdStatic
I was talking to that guy too, tried to score his Final Fight Guy for cheap but he knew what it was worth so I backed off haha. Cool to see someone here got it.
Edit: Also, I gotta know, what was the "particularly rough" area of Chattanooga? Haha
Rossville Boulevard, though it was closer to the state line than to downtown. It was past Chattanooga Pinball...
Originally posted by: ColdStatic
So East Lake basically... yeah, you've got me there, that's definitely the rough part of Chattanooga haha. Good thing you didn't run into any retro gaming Crips
nice.What part of town you guys from?
Im so surprised to see so many NAers after the same CL deal lol
But Congrats to the Op. And FYI for the other guys..... you need to never point out a certain game in a bulk deal. never ever never....
It will always backfire on you. Do like Matt and just buy it all and dont even mention that there is a FFG in the lot, that will ruin and make ya miss out on more deals in the end. Also i dont even ask for lists.
Ask for pics if they can do it and then spot it yourself. Once they get to typing out a list, they might aswell put that list up for everyone since they went through all that trouble.
Originally posted by: Parpunk
Nice Score Matt
Im so surprised to see so many NAers after the same CL deal lol
But Congrats to the Op. And FYI for the other guys..... you need to never point out a certain game in a bulk deal. never ever never....
It will always backfire on you. Do like Matt and just buy it all and dont even mention that there is a FFG in the lot, that will ruin and make ya miss out on more deals in the end. Also i dont even ask for lists.
Ask for pics if they can do it and then spot it yourself. Once they get to typing out a list, they might aswell put that list up for everyone since they went through all that trouble.
My issue was just money. I knew for a fact that the amount I could offer wouldn't buy the lot so I had to just go for it with FFG. Specifically I said FFG, Breath of Fire, and 2 random cheapo commons from the lot and played it off like I was trying to buy back some childhood favorites, lol.
Edit: And FWIW I wasn't the one who asked for the list. The list was already there by the time I saw the ad or I would have just offered on whatever SNES stuff she had.
Originally posted by: ColdStatic
played it off like I was trying to buy back some childhood favorites, lol.
And never lie..... thats rule #2 LOL
Trust me ...........karma man...... karma lol.
Ive been doing this for a long time and can honestly say i score the most and the best deals when i play it cool, dont make up lies about "im buying these for my son blah blah" And just be honest and nice to people, will get ya far.
Originally posted by: lb1993
Which megaman for gb is that?
4
Originally posted by: Parpunk
Originally posted by: ColdStatic
played it off like I was trying to buy back some childhood favorites, lol.
And never lie..... thats rule #2 LOL
Trust me ...........karma man...... karma lol.
Ive been doing this for a long time and can honestly say i score the most and the best deals when i play it cool, dont make up lies about "im buying these for my son blah blah" And just be honest and nice to people, will get ya far.
What else do I tell her, "I'm a collector and I'm trying to buy these valuable games off you for $40?" Why's she gotta know why I'm buying them?
Originally posted by: the tall guy
Great score Matt. Let me know if any of those SNES games end up being D or D- condition.
A couple of them have fallen into or near that category...I'm mulling over what I'm going to do with them (probably a 5 for $$ deal, like I did with poorer-condition NES games (see http://blastedmachines.com/5-NES-Games-for-5-NES-01-012-01-8001.htm for an example of what I'm talking about).
(damn you Paul)
Originally posted by: fish2
Originally posted by: ColdStatic
So East Lake basically... yeah, you've got me there, that's definitely the rough part of Chattanooga haha. Good thing you didn't run into any retro gaming Crips
nice.What part of town you guys from?
Whoops, late reply... I live in East Brainerd.