New Independent Video Game Stores - Aversion to Pre-crash?

[dj_convoy]

It sucks, but the ratio of shelf space to profit probably isn't very high for the good old stuff.

[Gamemoose]

There are two game stores on the city I work that carry Pre Crash stuff. However a few years ago, one decided to drop their stock of that and stick with NES and up. Which I didn't blame them as they seemed to treat that stuff like the plague: I bought a 5200 system bundle from them for cheap and it didn't work.

 

The other place has a ton of pre Crash games but I hardly see it change when I visit the store. I remember a couple years ago they had a big VCS game blow out and I got games like Frogger II loose for way cheap. Even then, nothing really moved on that stuff.

[derFunkenstein]

You're lucky to have independant game stores at all.

Here, it's either chain shops that won't take anything pre-PS2, and used goods shops that will sell a Super Nintendo for 150€...

In my case, there's a chain shop that will sell you retro stuff for way more than eBay...Mega Replay is good for that. But there's always people there, so I dunno...

[Austin]

Would it be impossible for a game shop to sell carts for $1? Dollar stores make a profit on $1.

 

Uh, no. If they take a game in for 25 cents, they make a decent profit selling it at $1. Honestly, this is what the business model should be [like] for classic era stuff. Offer people crap (as stores always have for this kind of stuff), and offer it up to customers cheap. It's better than potentially seeing the stuff go to the trash bin, and people like us will certainly snap games up for that retail price. The problem is, every one including their grandmother wants to get eBay prices for their crap. If they don't, they think "it's not worth stocking". It's a sad state of affairs for the era.

[4300]

Its the same here. I think only one or two stores carry pre-nes. Honestly, i can't blame them. Atari, intelevision, coleco just don't move like Nintendo or Sega.

[Opry99er]

I used to go to a place in Tennessee where they gave even value in trade vs. buying stuff. If they valued a game at $5, they would give you $5 in trade value for it... if you wanted to SELL that game, they would give you something like $1.50. They always had fresh stock and a wide variety of stuff in there .

 

One thing, though, they would not take in certain items on trade if they were already stocked up on them. They would buy whatever you brought in, but the 1 for 1 trade deal was only on items they saw a need for.

 

They were always busy. And that's where I went to build up the first part of my collection.... $1 at a time.

[godslabrat]

Uh, no. If they take a game in for 25 cents, they make a decent profit selling it at $1. Honestly, this is what the business model should be [like] for classic era stuff. Offer people crap (as stores always have for this kind of stuff), and offer it up to customers cheap. It's better than potentially seeing the stuff go to the trash bin, and people like us will certainly snap games up for that retail price. The problem is, every one including their grandmother wants to get eBay prices for their crap. If they don't, they think "it's not worth stocking". It's a sad state of affairs for the era.

Selling games for $1 is easy. Getting people to accept 25 cents for that game is hard.

[pacman000]

What about this: customers can sell games for $1 & the store sells them for $2. Could that work? You'd probably have to move over a thousand units a week. Could a store do that?

[godslabrat]

What about this: customers can sell games for $1 & the store sells them for $2. Could that work? You'd probably have to move over a thousand units a week. Could a store do that?

Maybe. Are you willing to buy PAC-Man or Combat for $2?

[keepdreamin]

What about this: customers can sell games for $1 & the store sells them for $2. Could that work? You'd probably have to move over a thousand units a week. Could a store do that?

 

Customers, plural? One or two folks into the ancient cheapy-cheap isn't going to pay the rent. Millenials with deep pockets aren't looking for pre-NES stuff.

Edited June 15, 2018 by keepdreamin

[pacman000]

"Maybe. Are you willing to buy PAC-Man or Combat for $2?"

 

No; I already have those games. That may be part of the problem...

[godslabrat]

"Maybe. Are you willing to buy PAC-Man or Combat for $2?"

No; I already have those games. That may be part of the problem...

Its a huge part of the problem. If you collect Atari, you probably have what you want.

[Video]

Having already run my own game store (entertainment actually, if it hooked to a tv I likely had it) and I can tell you, even at a buck a pop, pre nes stuff simply, doesnt, sell.

 

Now, that's not to say I wouldn't buy it, I did. Most went to ebay, but I kept a selection on shelves too.

 

A bigger problem with pre crash stuff is the customers. You have three types.

Those who don't know(or care) what the stuff is worth, and just want it gone. Great to buy stuff, for the very few that bring it in rather than tossing it. But they don't buy.

Tv viewers with unrealistic expectations. I watched lawn stars, storage shows, and if news, and know every game is worth thousands. Yeah, I can't buy that, but they often unceremoniously clean you out. Great for selling, but you never get new stock.

Then middle ground people. I know what it's worth within reason types. You don't sell or buy from them. They won't sell cause "I can get more on ebay" and won't buy because "it's not drastically cheaper than ebay"

 

Regardless, wherever your store is, it's unlikely that the proper customer base overlaps. Meaning you can buy, or sell, but rarely both. And not uncommon, neither.

 

Ebayers often conveniently forget shipping too. $2 is reasonable for combat or pacman, that's literally what they commonly go for, but people will not pay that in stores because they can get it on ebay for that, forgetting the likely $2 they pay additionally for shipping.

[Opry99er]

Its a huge part of the problem. If you collect Atari, you probably have what you want.

So by this logic, there should be no market for Atari games then... who buys Atari games other than Atari collectors? If everyone already has what they want, then you reach a point of homogeneous dispersion. I look forward to that day. There will be no demand, except for that which I bring to the game, and I will become the ruler of all Christendom....

Edited June 15, 2018 by Opry99er

[MrMaddog]

Here's another thing I've encountered at a used game store... I asked the owner if she had any 2600 units for sale and she said that she doesn't even take them. The problem she said was there's no quick way of seeing if they work or not (no power LED or A/V ports).

 

And yeah it's true because I've gotten 2600's from flea markets but had no TV switchboxes or even a CRT TV to test them on. And once I get one....it doesn't work.

 

(And for the record i don't have the knowleadge to switch out capacitors and neitehr do the game store owners.)

[Great Hierophant]

Here's another thing I've encountered at a used game store... I asked the owner if she had any 2600 units for sale and she said that she doesn't even take them. The problem she said was there's no quick way of seeing if they work or not (no power LED or A/V ports).

 

And yeah it's true because I've gotten 2600's from flea markets but had no TV switchboxes or even a CRT TV to test them on. And once I get one....it doesn't work.

 

(And for the record i don't have the knowleadge to switch out capacitors and neitehr do the game store owners.)

 

Never overestimate the intelligence of a used video game store owner. A power LED turning on does not mean the system works. The system could be borked in ways that can only be determined by looking and listening to the console.

 

Additionally, a used video game store without a TV with a coaxial screw input is pretty pathetic. Your average cheapo LCD screen can accept the 2600's RF input and RCA to Coaxial/Cable adapters are cheap.

Edited June 17, 2018 by Great Hierophant

[empsolo]

My local gamestore is pretty interesting. The right side of the store is dedicated to NES, SMS, Genesis, and PS1 and on. But the left half of the store is made up of 2600, 5200, and 7800 stuff. Lynx and Jaguar stuff get their own glass cases. Plus there are a bunch of intellivsion and Colecovsion carts plus cartridges for the Atari 8 bit line as well as C64 Cartridges. Hell, there are even c64 and apple II floppy games floating around on shelves.

[pacman000]

That sounds incredibly awesome.

[Austin]

Selling games for $1 is easy. Getting people to accept 25 cents for that game is hard.

Getting old people to take next to nothing for their systems that sat in their attic for 30 years is easy.

[Tanooki]

The hard part is getting someone now to pay like $5 a cart for that old stuff as it's very niche with low interest compared to still kicking brands.

[Great Hierophant]

I think that charging $5 for a common Atari/Intellivision/Colecovision cartridge doesn't help. They just aren't going to move at that price. If you sold them for $3/cart or 6 carts for $20, they might move.

 

The RetroN 77 may help stimulate sales of cartridges and accessories to an extent because it has a cartridge port, but it also supports a limited number of ROMs on an SD card, so I emphasize the "may". Those RetroN systems are much more friendly to modern TVs than the retro systems, especially the RF only ones like the pre-crash systems.

Edited June 26, 2018 by Great Hierophant

[vintagegamecrazy]

The owners of the majority of those game stores you guys are mentioning do not be long owning those stores. They are either lazy or ignorant or possibly both. If they can't keep a little 13 inch tube TV or something small like that to test that stuff or don't even know how to test that that shows they don't want to put the time in to make the store work. If all they want to do is look everything up on eBay and they're probably ignorant as well. it wouldn't be that hard for them to Take 5 minutes when the customer brings it in to hook it up to the TV and put a game in it and see if it turns on and works. Would it be that hard for them to offer something around $20 for a system and games? Take a turn around clean it up and sell it for anywhere from 50 to $70 and make a nice profit. They don't have to bother pricing everything which would save time and all they would have to do is make a nice bundle and display it nicely and make it attractive and it would probably sell. Whenever I do large garage sales flea markets or shows I generally don't come back with any systems that I've taken there from that era. I priced all common games that are worth anything in the 5 to $10 range at $2 each or 3 for 5. I almost always got at least $10 from everybody that saw the selection. Most of the time you can pick those games up for a pittance so any time I saw the system I could get anywhere from 50 to $60 and I would tell the customer pick out $10 worth of games for free. That made them so happy and they were generally go and take all the cheap Classics that they remembered. Most of them were not collectors they just wanted to play the stuff again so the cheap stuff was right up their alley. Game store owners need to realize that not everything needs to be priced according to eBay and they also need to realize that not everybody is a collector and I need to start catering to the General Market and Casual Gamer. I don't know why this is so hard for some of the store owners to figure out. Intellivision games are extremely hard to sell loose so I generally bundle a bunch of them with the system and people buy those bundles all day. I find that kind of stuff exceptionally easy to sell around here and I make good money doing it too but I also don't price gouge people on the stuff with eBay prices.

[Keatah]

To most of these store owners. The games, consoles, and supporting paraphernalia, are just faceless widgets. Something to be bought and sold and moved in and out of a store - to make money and nothing else. To the gamer each game is distinct, different, with a unique personality.

 

I see a mismatch and conflict of interest there.

[Tanooki]

VGC - You're taking it from a gamers perspective, buying it from a general pool of gamers more than just locals and uneducated fools, plus the lazy as you put it on the shop owner. They just care to make money, and yes taking an hour to strip and clean a small stack of games and wipe down of a system exterior to them is a loss of an hours pay tying up an employee. If they took your possible care of stripping and cleaning a console and the accessories, that's hours more lost profit. IT's about the easy in and out and accepting the risk put into having a few duds pass through (deads, fakes, roached batteries.) So yeah there is a mismatch and conflict of interest -- for an education gamer/buyer. But for someone walking in for a few memories or just something that looks fun and they're too stupid, lazy, and/or impatient to buy it on ebay for less with a cleaner product in nicer shape that's there choice -- but those nicer items usually have been cleaned up or maintained in the first place and have to fight against a lot more choices right next to it. The store dude doesn't care other than what can be squeezed out of it on the common average, not at a deal (a loss of potential profit) to make people happy. Greed wins, not effort. And for the pre-crash stuff, there's no profit much in it at all. Maybe a bundle of a 2600 and 30 games for $50 might work, but taking in whatever from any old system is playing with fire in most cases to them.

[vintagegamecrazy]

For my experience in dealing with many store owners majority of the stuff they got for many generation was in filthy condition and needed time to clean up. I understand they wouldn't want to buy stuff that's invisibly trash condition but I don't see what's stopping them from buying a clean system that somebody brought in and was just looking to get some Quick Cash 4. Taking a little while just to clean it up and make 30 to $50 on it's pretty reasonable. I understand that they don't want to carry a large selection of it but having at least a small selection does draw some people in and most of the people around me in the Chicagoland area agree to that and carry this stuff and can move it pretty easily. The other thing that I've noticed and talkin to General gamers is that one game store owners turn too much stuff down it becomes a turn off for the people over time at that store when the store owner constantly turns everything down.