Let me know if there are any of you here from Michigan. Having really bad luck at my local Salvation Army, and the retro game stores have outragious prices. Let us know where you found some games
Hey, I'm in sterling heights. Its tough around here. Thrift stores are raped by local resellers and craigslist has just become pointless. I've always had the best luck at garage sales and some pawn shops that price everything the same.
Hey, I'm in sterling heights. Its tough around here. Thrift stores are raped by local resellers and craigslist has just become pointless. I've always had the best luck at garage sales and some pawn shops that price everything the same.
Im in Clarkston, its tough here too. Havent really had much garage sales yet. Its going to be my first year going to garage sales. My thrift stores, which theres only The Salvation Army, never has anything. My pawn shops, the ones in waterford, are also raped by resellers. Its tough.
About a year ago the retro game hunting scene in Michigan dried up. It was great and bountiful then just died for whatever reason...more people hunting I guess. Craigslist is an absolute waste of time, its mostly people asking to buy old games. Pawn stores qquit carrying anything. Thrift shops have nothing in stock or sell online now. Garage sales are the final frontier and even they disappointed this past summer compared to prior years.
Got a Salvation Army, two Thrift Stores, A pawn Shop, and a flea market all right by me. Still absolutely nothing. The Pawn shop has good deals on games if they get anything since he just marks them at set prices. Salvation Army has nothing at all, same with the two thrift stores, Flea Market is a hit or miss. Outside you can get great deals, Inside you can get a great to decent deal on everything but games.
Garage sales have been okay last year for me. Got a Game Cube Gameboy player with disc for like 5 dollars, Luigi's Mansion for a dollar, and both ps3 Rachet games for 5 dollars. I don't see me getting anything like that this year though.
Not to brag, but i find nice stuff all the time in Michigan. You honestly have to go all the time. i think the reason why you might not be finding stuff is because you're stuck with salvation army. Try to find goodwills that are kinda close to you and go frequently. Yeah, resellers have become crazy in M.I. but honestly its like that in every state, if not worse.
About a year ago the retro game hunting scene in Michigan dried up. It was great and bountiful then just died for whatever reason...more people hunting I guess. Craigslist is an absolute waste of time, its mostly people asking to buy old games. Pawn stores qquit carrying anything. Thrift shops have nothing in stock or sell online now. Garage sales are the final frontier and even they disappointed this past summer compared to prior years.
This is how bad my salvation army is, that xbox, $20!
The two 64 games are sports, actually all of them are sports!!!
Not the best. Small town with lots of competition. I mostly find vintage toys/electronics to fund my collection now with an occassional CList find.
I can defiantly say the same here in Clarkston/Independence Township, all through I don't think there is much or if any competiton here. The games just don't come into the Thrift shops I guess.
I seem to do okay in Michigan, but I don't know any better I guess. It seems that buying and selling patterns change every few months and depending on the season. I live in West Michigan and look in practically all of it. Some times garage sales pay off like a Bonk's Adventure for $4, or RC PRO AM II for 2.99 at a thrift shop. Other times I won't find a deal for months
I don't think it's bad at all. In the last year I've built my collection pretty rapidly. Garage sales are where youll find most of your stuff. Craigslist is hit or miss, but has paid off pretty well for me. Since youre in the clarkston area, you should check out the Dixieland flea market, you probably have to get there early though. Even if you dont find anything, its quite the experience. Was there anything in particular that youre looking for?
About a year ago the retro game hunting scene in Michigan dried up. It was great and bountiful then just died for whatever reason...more people hunting I guess. Craigslist is an absolute waste of time, its mostly people asking to buy old games. Pawn stores qquit carrying anything. Thrift shops have nothing in stock or sell online now. Garage sales are the final frontier and even they disappointed this past summer compared to prior years.
This is how bad my salvation army is, that xbox, $20!
The two 64 games are sports, actually all of them are sports!!!
Yeah, that seems to be the norm pawn stores and thrift shops anymore. Really unfortunate as they both used to get in good things in my area up until a year or so ago.
I don't think it's bad at all. In the last year I've built my collection pretty rapidly. Garage sales are where youll find most of your stuff. Craigslist is hit or miss, but has paid off pretty well for me. Since youre in the clarkston area, you should check out the Dixieland flea market, you probably have to get there early though. Even if you dont find anything, its quite the experience. Was there anything in particular that youre looking for?
Mainly those really cheap deals on NES games. Like $2.99 for Contra Force or really any uncommon games for cheap. I mainly want to go for a complete Black Box collection for NES. Ive passed by Dixieland a couple of times, never been there, i might try it this weekend to see though.
Mainly those really cheap deals on NES games. Like $2.99 for Contra Force or really any uncommon games for cheap. I mainly want to go for a complete Black Box collection for NES. Ive passed by Dixieland a couple of times, never been there, i might try it this weekend to see though.
I think we all want deals like that, but most people never find rare games in the wild. I have gotten lucky more than a few times in the 10 or so years I've been frequenting yard sales, flea markets, etc. but I've never stumbled on anything like Earthbound, Flintstones 2, etc. etc.
wait, like near Kalamazoo? when did you find Bonk? I'm hoping i find some rare games at garage sales this season, but its getting harder now since alot of people know what they have or they're taking their games to games stores, which suck.
Yeah where I live, garage sales haven't started, at least in my neighborhood. Im limited to ridding a bike since I haven't gotten my license yet. But I live in a huge community, so theirs gotta be some Nintendo or even game related stuff around me.
I think if your goal is going out and finding a rare game its going to be very disappointing most times. When I go out searching, im usually glad to find anything.
In the last year, the rarest game i found was duck tales 2. I found it for 2 bucks at a garage sale. You just cant expect to find that every week, or even every month.
True, its just nice to think you MIGHT just find something that is rare or a game you've been looking for a quite sometime. That's why i enjoy the thrill of the hunt rather than finding games on ebay.com.
True, its just nice to think you MIGHT just find something that is rare or a game you've been looking for a quite sometime. That's why i enjoy the thrill of the hunt rather than finding games on ebay.com.
Yes, the thrill of the hunt is what its all about.
Yeah where I live, garage sales haven't started, at least in my neighborhood. Im limited to ridding a bike since I haven't gotten my license yet. But I live in a huge community, so theirs gotta be some Nintendo or even game related stuff around me.
Hopefully you live in an area with older houses.
As a general rule I try to stick to areas with older houses becuase people have been living there longer and therefore are more likely to have older stuff (I focus on NES, SNES, Genesis, N64, TG-16). They are generally empty nesters and are more worried about getting rid of stuff than making money.
Newer houses and subdivisions don't generally have anything older than the GCN/PS2 generations and won't part with them for cheap in some cases ("we paid $50 for that game in 2002 so it must still be worth at least $30"). They are generally families with kids still living there and are more worried about making money than getting rid of stuff. However, GBA stuff can be found dirt cheap in places like these.
As always, there are exceptions to the my rules but I've been garage saling for games for 6-7 years and these are just general observations that I've made. Sometimes you'll find younger families who just want to get rid of stuff and sometimes you'll find empty nesters who have been watching Pawn Stars / American Pickers too much trying to hit gold.
Estate sales and especially moving sales are your friends.
Comments
Originally posted by: HoMenace
Hey, I'm in sterling heights. Its tough around here. Thrift stores are raped by local resellers and craigslist has just become pointless. I've always had the best luck at garage sales and some pawn shops that price everything the same.
Im in Clarkston, its tough here too. Havent really had much garage sales yet. Its going to be my first year going to garage sales. My thrift stores, which theres only The Salvation Army, never has anything. My pawn shops, the ones in waterford, are also raped by resellers. Its tough.
Got a Salvation Army, two Thrift Stores, A pawn Shop, and a flea market all right by me. Still absolutely nothing. The Pawn shop has good deals on games if they get anything since he just marks them at set prices. Salvation Army has nothing at all, same with the two thrift stores, Flea Market is a hit or miss. Outside you can get great deals, Inside you can get a great to decent deal on everything but games.
Garage sales have been okay last year for me. Got a Game Cube Gameboy player with disc for like 5 dollars, Luigi's Mansion for a dollar, and both ps3 Rachet games for 5 dollars. I don't see me getting anything like that this year though.
Originally posted by: applejack8706
About a year ago the retro game hunting scene in Michigan dried up. It was great and bountiful then just died for whatever reason...more people hunting I guess. Craigslist is an absolute waste of time, its mostly people asking to buy old games. Pawn stores qquit carrying anything. Thrift shops have nothing in stock or sell online now. Garage sales are the final frontier and even they disappointed this past summer compared to prior years.
This is how bad my salvation army is, that xbox, $20!
The two 64 games are sports, actually all of them are sports!!!
Are these collector items? If they are or aren't, still keeping theme to display. They came in a bag only $.99!!
Originally posted by: videogamedomain
Im in the "other" part of MI....Yooper.
Really? How is video game hunting up there?
Originally posted by: GameCollector03
Originally posted by: videogamedomain
Im in the "other" part of MI....Yooper.
Really? How is video game hunting up there?
Not the best. Small town with lots of competition. I mostly find vintage toys/electronics to fund my collection now with an occassional CList find.
Originally posted by: videogamedomain
Originally posted by: GameCollector03
Originally posted by: videogamedomain
Im in the "other" part of MI....Yooper.
Really? How is video game hunting up there?
Not the best. Small town with lots of competition. I mostly find vintage toys/electronics to fund my collection now with an occassional CList find.
I can defiantly say the same here in Clarkston/Independence Township, all through I don't think there is much or if any competiton here. The games just don't come into the Thrift shops I guess.
Originally posted by: GameCollector03
Originally posted by: applejack8706
About a year ago the retro game hunting scene in Michigan dried up. It was great and bountiful then just died for whatever reason...more people hunting I guess. Craigslist is an absolute waste of time, its mostly people asking to buy old games. Pawn stores qquit carrying anything. Thrift shops have nothing in stock or sell online now. Garage sales are the final frontier and even they disappointed this past summer compared to prior years.
This is how bad my salvation army is, that xbox, $20!
The two 64 games are sports, actually all of them are sports!!!
Yeah, that seems to be the norm pawn stores and thrift shops anymore. Really unfortunate as they both used to get in good things in my area up until a year or so ago.
Originally posted by: tramfan3
I don't think it's bad at all. In the last year I've built my collection pretty rapidly. Garage sales are where youll find most of your stuff. Craigslist is hit or miss, but has paid off pretty well for me. Since youre in the clarkston area, you should check out the Dixieland flea market, you probably have to get there early though. Even if you dont find anything, its quite the experience. Was there anything in particular that youre looking for?
Mainly those really cheap deals on NES games. Like $2.99 for Contra Force or really any uncommon games for cheap. I mainly want to go for a complete Black Box collection for NES. Ive passed by Dixieland a couple of times, never been there, i might try it this weekend to see though.
Originally posted by: GameCollector03
Mainly those really cheap deals on NES games. Like $2.99 for Contra Force or really any uncommon games for cheap. I mainly want to go for a complete Black Box collection for NES. Ive passed by Dixieland a couple of times, never been there, i might try it this weekend to see though.
I think we all want deals like that, but most people never find rare games in the wild. I have gotten lucky more than a few times in the 10 or so years I've been frequenting yard sales, flea markets, etc. but I've never stumbled on anything like Earthbound, Flintstones 2, etc. etc.
I haven't hit any garage sales yet but I plan to tomorrow, as well as some local flea markets. If I find anything good ill post in here.
In the last year, the rarest game i found was duck tales 2. I found it for 2 bucks at a garage sale. You just cant expect to find that every week, or even every month.
Originally posted by: freshGamer
True, its just nice to think you MIGHT just find something that is rare or a game you've been looking for a quite sometime. That's why i enjoy the thrill of the hunt rather than finding games on ebay.com.
Yes, the thrill of the hunt is what its all about.
Originally posted by: GameCollector03
Yeah where I live, garage sales haven't started, at least in my neighborhood. Im limited to ridding a bike since I haven't gotten my license yet. But I live in a huge community, so theirs gotta be some Nintendo or even game related stuff around me.
Hopefully you live in an area with older houses.
As a general rule I try to stick to areas with older houses becuase people have been living there longer and therefore are more likely to have older stuff (I focus on NES, SNES, Genesis, N64, TG-16). They are generally empty nesters and are more worried about getting rid of stuff than making money.
Newer houses and subdivisions don't generally have anything older than the GCN/PS2 generations and won't part with them for cheap in some cases ("we paid $50 for that game in 2002 so it must still be worth at least $30"). They are generally families with kids still living there and are more worried about making money than getting rid of stuff. However, GBA stuff can be found dirt cheap in places like these.
As always, there are exceptions to the my rules but I've been garage saling for games for 6-7 years and these are just general observations that I've made. Sometimes you'll find younger families who just want to get rid of stuff and sometimes you'll find empty nesters who have been watching Pawn Stars / American Pickers too much trying to hit gold.
Estate sales and especially moving sales are your friends.
Good luck!