Tips for collecting NES

Hello, I'm looking for some advice on how to cheaply add NEW games to my collection. I have around 100 carts so far... however it's starting to get real expensive trying to add the more uncommon and rare titles to my collection using eBay Amazon etc. Anyone have any tips on how to look for and find NEW games without breaking the bank? Any insight would be greatly appreciated
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Comments

  • Most NES games are just not that inexpensive at this time. The prices do seem to be leveling off some but some games are still high. I have gotten tons of games by being part of my local retro groups on facebook. You make friends and connections and you will be surprised how many people will look out for you. Of course this is not one way you have to give deals and be cool in order to get deals. Most of my big nes games the last year have come with trades from some of these guys.
  • If you have the time, hunt down lots of games (which are still ridiculously priced on ebay) and flip/trade doubles. Trading on NA is not bad once you build up some reputation.



    Wait, you're not real who am I talking to?  
  • When you say NEW do you mean carts that are new to your collection? Or do you mean NEW as in new and factory sealed?
  • Originally posted by: sadikyo

    When you say NEW do you mean carts that are new to your collection? Or do you mean NEW as in new and factory sealed?



    he means new as in my phone autocorrected from NES  
  • I am guessing since he mentions that he has around 100 carts, that theyre not factory sealed
  • To OP, yes games arent really cheap anymore, and you have a lot of competition. If you don't mind getting up at the crack of dawn to search garage sales and flea markets only to come out empty handed 90% of the time, you may get a deal here or there. If you value your time, I'd recommend just paying the man on eBay.

    There's no need to rush things, just pick something up here and there and enjoy the things you have.
  • Make offers on people selling stuff here. Keep in mind that they days of buying "cheap" Nes games is mostly over. Sometimes you will hit a jackpot at a garage sale or on craigslist or whatever, but that is the exception not the rule.
  • If you're not going for a full set, there are still some FAIRLY cheap games here and there. I would go after the games you want to play, or ones that strike your fancy. Set a few goals in mind.



    If you're going for a full set...



    Well...



    ...



    ...





    Any rich, lonely women you can Deuce Bigalow to help finance you along?
  • Cheap NES games are pretty much a thing of the past. Be prepared to spend some cash or invest a ton of time into searching every flea market and garage sale within your city.
  • I started collecting NES way too late. I never thought NES games would ever be even remotely valuable, so if I ever wanted any of them I could always get them. When I found out how expensive they are and how quickly their prices were rising, I knew it was basically now or never. I've been collecting now for about 2.5 years, but I know that I'll probably never get a Stadium Events or either NWC carts to have a fully complete set. I'm ok with that, too.



    I would just continue to collect what you can afford, when you can afford it. When it comes the time that you've gotten everything in your comfort zone, then be happy. At the end of the day it's your collection and it should make you happy.
  • 100 NES games is a great start and the hobby is super fun! Keep an eye on eBay auctions; sometimes I'm still able to get a good deal by putting a "snipe" bid in at the last second.
  • Just buy the games you like / will play. It's too expensive to bother with the whole set now. Get an everdrive to play the real terrible gems like Hong Kong 97 and such
  • There are 100s of good NES games for under $20. You can't buy a trunk-full of games for $2 a cart anymore, but if you want to buy things to play, not many single games really break the bank. If you just want to load a shelf full up with dollar store garbage, get into original Xbox or Wii  



    Sniping auctions is a good tip. Finding NES games in the wild, let alone at great prices, is hard these days. Track auctions for a game you want, set up dozens of lowball snipes until you win an auction that slips through the cracks. Gixen is a good site to use. I've used it almost a decade now.
  • If you want an enormous collection cheap, learn to be a great scalper and reseller. Keep a few things and sell the rest for profit. Their will be some sour jealous people who tell you that scalping and reselling is bad, but its not. You build your collection and create capital. This is how most collectors on this site have huge collections. For example, I bought 7 snes classic and sold them locally for $150, that is a nice $450 profit for a days worth of work, that I can spend on my collection without being financially irresponsible.
  • Originally posted by: RunningUltra



    If you want an enormous collection cheap, learn to be a great scalper and reseller. Keep a few things and sell the rest for profit. Their will be some sour jealous people who tell you that scalping and reselling is bad, but its not. You build your collection and create capital. This is how most collectors on this site have huge collections. For example, I bought 7 snes classic and sold them locally for $150, that is a nice $450 profit for a days worth of work, that I can spend on my collection without being financially irresponsible.





    That is most likely NOT how most collectors have huge collections on this site. Flip found items here and there for spending cash? Yeah. 



    Buying 7 SNES classics to flip day one? Douche move. Scalping is shitty, no matter how you justify it to yourself. And trust me, I am not jealous. Even worse is bragging about it lol



    Op- You can build a collection without scalping.  Some reselling will help, but dont lower yourself to that of a scalper. 

  • Originally posted by: ALTQQ



    Get an everdrive to play the real terrible gems like Hong Kong 97 and such

    But...but that is a Super Nintendo game?!  



    Keep in mind you shouldn't have to pay big prices for the games you want now. When I find cheaper games for misc/modern consoles, I will try to trade those towards my main system collection beforre I buy anything!
  • I've been able to build my entire collection in the past 6 years with buying lots, keeping what I wanted and selling the rest. Usually break even or make money on each lot that goes back to buying more games. Once you start getting more games in the collection each lot becomes more and more doubles so then it’s just expendable income you can use to buy the expensive stuff with no monetary investment after its all said and done. Scalpping new product is getting into a weird grey area a lot of people in this community frown upon.

     
  • Originally posted by: MrWunderful

    Originally posted by: RunningUltra



    If you want an enormous collection cheap, learn to be a great scalper and reseller. Keep a few things and sell the rest for profit. Their will be some sour jealous people who tell you that scalping and reselling is bad, but its not. You build your collection and create capital. This is how most collectors on this site have huge collections. For example, I bought 7 snes classic and sold them locally for $150, that is a nice $450 profit for a days worth of work, that I can spend on my collection without being financially irresponsible.





    That is most likely NOT how most collectors have huge collections on this site. Flip found items here and there for spending cash? Yeah. 



    Buying 7 SNES classics to flip day one? Douche move. Scalping is shitty, no matter how you justify it to yourself. And trust me, I am not jealous. Even worse is bragging about it lol



    Op- You can build a collection without scalping.  Some reselling will help, but dont lower yourself to that of a scalper. 



    I agree, another name for the list.
  • One thing that I didn't see anyone mention is get imports. They are much cheaper than the north american versions. For example, I paid $2 for my Famicom version of Mario 3 which is a $15-$20 game now-a-days. Also, nothing beats the satisfying click of putting in a Famicom Disk System game, and then being disappointed because error 28 is the devil. One of my favorite sellers is japan_4_you, they are pretty cheap for being a an ebay seller. I paid $60 for my AV famicom for example.



    Also, like suggested, trade up. There's a lot of people here who are willing to trade all sorts of games.
  • Sweet, you are off to a good start. Just don't expect it to happen overnight but part of the fun is finding the games. I spent a good 10 years buying up different NES games at flea markets, yard sales, etc...& anytime I would find a collection with the systems and games I would buy them (around 100 frontloaders and 10-15 top loaders) & I managed to gather up a lot of rare titles this way. Once I got to around the 500 different titles I started hitting ebay & buying the most reasonable price loose cart with decent label I could find. I had a list of all the nes games printed out with rarity rating & would use a big yellow hi lighter to mark them off. Some of these were rather expensive but all in all I got by pretty reasonable this way. I recall buying a huge NES collection on ebay just to get Little Samson which also had the instruction manual. It slipped by apparently because even back then Little Samson was bringing as much as I paid for the entire lot. I got up to around 770 different titles. I never got a stadium events, bubble bath babes, hot slots, those the most recognizable games that I just could not drop so much money on they were not cheap even a few years back. Just print you out a list with rarity & that way when your out and about and find one you can determine if you are willing to drop the amount they want for it based on rarity. You'll be surprised how fast your collection will grow. I also suggest getting the games you want to play first and play them as you collect because that will inspire you to hunt even harder.
  • Originally posted by: RunningUltra



    If you want an enormous collection cheap, learn to be a great scalper and reseller. Keep a few things and sell the rest for profit.... This is how most collectors on this site have huge collections.



    imo this is probably the best advise you are going to get if you are looking to get a large/complete collection. i try to never buy single games. if you want a game wait for a lot that has that game in it, buy the lot and sell the extras to bring the cost on the one game you want down (most of the time you will get stuff for free). reselling is no different than trading a double for a different game you need from a friend. it just eliminates the hastle of both parties simultaniusly needing eachothers games. 



    basically just buy lots, learn how to sell effectivly and quickly to reduce your exposure, and you will be able to build your collection for free. thats what many of us NA mambers have done and imo its the only responsible way to collect. dont spend the kids college money or the wifes vacation money. find a way for your hobby to be self sustainable. plus it adds a new level of fun to hunting.



    good luck

     
  • Maybe more of a finders/keepers thread post, but relevant here. I put an ad on Craigslist to buy Nintendos, working or not. I got two calls. First girl sold me 2 consoles, two controllers and 8 games for $60, then another guy sold me four consoles and a satellite receiver for $60. Bonus: the 2nd guy also pulls out a top loader from his trunk and says he knows nothing about it and that I can have it if I want it. I told him I would research it and fix it up. So in total, I got 6 front loaders, 1 top loader, 2 controllers and 8 games for $120.
  • Go back in time at least 5-10 years. Everything is so expensive now.
  • Be patient, I'm down to my last 8 licensed, and I've gotten the last 20 or so games well under the "going rate". If you wait long enough, you can talk someone down (a reasonable amount, not 50% of their asking price) whether it be here or on ebay. Making those connections is key though, a lot of people here have hooked me up and vice-versa, simply for keeping it real.
  • You've all been had.
  • Originally posted by: AirVillain

    You've all been had.





    To be fair, this user is very clearly labeled as being not real.
  • Also if you go ebay route. Make sure you sign up for ebay bucks. You get 1% back for every dollar you spend in a quarterly fashion. Sometimes they do an 8% or 10% cash back on money spent.

    Great way every 3 months to get stuff for your collection for free.

    Just picked up an NES die hard manual for basically 7 cents
  • Do not ever pass a rare game you want at a good price because it has a tiny label flaw. Some games I passed on for not being perfect I later bought, still imperfect, for 3x the price... The NES is a great set to build, I for one had a blast amassing it. Down to the final 2 licensed for me!
  • I'm not really sure how one gets into NES / SNES collecting from zero these days. 5+ years ago when you were still likely to see a lot of stuff reasonably priced at thrift stores or tag sales, sure, but those days are long gone. It's been a good long time since I've seen that stuff outside of retro shops where even the most crap common games are priced at $4.99 and up. Your only real hope is eBay where prices can at least sometimes be reasonable.
  • Originally posted by: Gloves

     
    Originally posted by: AirVillain



    You've all been had.

    To be fair, this user is very clearly labeled as being not real.



    Haha, exactly.



    And they haven't even come back to enjoy their work.



    I'll also answer so they have something to read upon returning:



    To the OP... get off that wallet!
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