A discussion of "rare" games and the secondhand market.

[Scumdogg]

So i was wandering an indoor flea market today, as usual not even going into any of the many booths that specialize in video games. After a while i ran across one that i hadn't seen before. Finally, a new vendor! I walk in, and sure enough... He's got the bin in the middle full of filthy, unpriced games, with damaged labels. Then around the walls there are locked cases, with just hundreds and hundreds of games. Also all unpriced. I spot Final Fight Guy, loose. Sweet, i've been looking for that. I inquire about the price, and it's $20. And it seems prices for games in the cases just went up from there. So once again, i find another flea market vendor with an inexplicably huge stock and unrealistic prices for his surroundings, another guy i won't be revisiting.

 

I got to thinking, just at the two main indoor/outdoor flea markets in my area, there are probably a dozen vendors exactly like this. Massive stocks, huge prices, and seemingly a complete lack of interest in the games themselves. I've lived in this area for over three years now, and on the rare occasions i do go in these places, i'll see the same games sitting in the same spots for months or even years.

 

A few questions occur to me. For one, how is this anything resembling a decent business model? Those indoor booths aren't exactly dirt cheap at this place, and i see the same stock every time. They can't be moving enough games to make it worth their while to pay the rent AND have to be there all weekend, every weekend, year round. For every one apparent collector i see frequenting these booths, there have to be a million slack-jawed hicks wanting to know "How much them 'intenda tapes go fer". I mean...my entire life is pretty much based on spending money on this kinda thing, playing and keeping them safe from the mean world outside. If i think the prices are high, there's no way the average customer here is gonna go for it. Isn't it better to make a legit $10 than a purely theoretical $20, especially if you really don't even know what you have anyway?

 

Another, more interesting question...how many of the world's "rare" and "in-demand" video games are perpetually locked in a scenario like this? Flea market dealers eat their young, so i imagine when one of them gives up, their stock is probably sold to a guy two aisles over. This is the only way to explain the massive collections some of these guys have. So yeah... if suddenly the flea market vendors of the world simultaneously realized the error of their ways, i think the resulting tidal wave of games would probably all but wipe out the Ebay market for this kind of thing. I mean...if i can find one guy in southern Ohio that has like five copies of Super Mario RPG priced way too high, statistically, how many are out there just aging in cases, never to be sold?

 

I know this is the kind of thing that will drive me mad if i dwell on it for too long, but i thought it might make for interesting conversation.

[carmel_andrews]

Unfortunately scumdogg, seems as though 'ebay' prices are filtering into the offline world...seeming as though ebay seems to have the retro market (videogames) pretty muchy sewn up, therefore people are only going to be charging/paying OTO ebay prices

 

OTO-Over the Odds

[zach1845]

I have yet to see this in my area. They know around here no one is going to pay 20.00 for super mario all stars because they will just buy it online rather than a dirty flea market vendor. so these places go out and most people will sell all games at one price usually between 3-5 dollars each. there will always be rip of places, but there will always be places to get them cheap if you look hard enough

[Trade-N-Games]

Yes this is true and I spend alot of time in other mon and pop shops looking for great stuff and a bunch of them that I go into have way to high of prices and sometimes I go in a year or 2 later and they still have some of the same games in stock now just more dirty and beat up and still way overpriced. But the good thing about this is sometimes with high prices I can find a gem that is worth 10 times as much that they marked up out of the reach of everyone but they dont understand that in this condition with the box its worth ten times as much. I WIN.

I went into a pawn shop last week and they had 10 copies of Mario 64 for $35 each and 10 of Mario Kart 64 at the same price, and they had a bunch of other great stuff that I would love to have in stock at my store but everytime I get one in it goes right out the door. And they did not want to sell to me one buck lower than the sticker. I gave them a video game collector Magazine and said this is a better average price as to the value of the games and they did not even want to look. They said price guides are out of date befor they print them. for prices they were using some online price sheet from Cal.

[Scumdogg]

Another question is, besides the thing about flea market vendors eating their young, how do these apparent non-gamers whose only knowledge of the hobby comes from a price guide stockpile these massive collections?

 

If i set about hoarding some games, and resolve myself to being a complete filthy asshat about it, pretending i'm just going to resell them all anyway, will i somehow be able to wrangle a giant collection for cheap? Or do you suppose a large portion of these people just got lucky during the early days of ebay, when good deals still existed? Or perhaps like pawn shops and GameStop, they just buy stolen merchandise on the cheap?

[Atari5200]

some of the larger flea markets are the same way, they want ridiculous prices, i have a local junk store with tons of games because they can't sell any, other than their 2600. Their 2600 games are $1.99ea regardless of game, but any other system they want outrageous prices.

 

I find it best to get your stuff at garage sales, people at that point just want rid of the junk, flea market people tend to feel "well it's old so it must be worth money" which isn't the case in most instances.

[Mike 01Hawk]

Estate sales, Lots, and the "Eat the Young" come to mind.

[Mirage]

Another question is, besides the thing about flea market vendors eating their young, how do these apparent non-gamers whose only knowledge of the hobby comes from a price guide stockpile these massive collections?

 

Estate auctions. I previewed an incredible collection a few years ago. I'm not going to list the things I saw there, because it will make me ill again that I missed it. My current collection is fairly impressive, but this collection blew mine away. And most everything was boxed. They were selling it all as one big lot. I thought I was going to make it to the auction, so I didn't set up a proxy to bid for me. I ended up still being over two hours away from the auction when it started, and I missed it. I found out the next day that the whole lot went for $200. It was worth thousands. Heck, there were at least several $200+ carts in there.

 

My point is... estate auctions. You have to hit a lot of them to get the collections, but they are out there.

 

Plus, a lot of these guys at the flea markets are paying "real" prices for these games, thinking they are getting a steal, when in fact it's just the prices most of us would pay. Then, they mark them up and sit on them, partly due to some of these so-called price guides that are popping up.

 

As a collector, it makes me sick since I'd appreciate having some of the items, but I'm not paying some scumbag four prices it. Back when I had a smaller collection, I was more willing to do that (just out of pure excitement and youth), but not anymore.

[Jimmy Yakapucci]

The reason that I like flea markets is that there are a lot more people to buy from, but the prices are usually higher. Garage sales are better for prices since the people don't have to pack everything up, haul it somewhere, and pay to sell their stuff. You just have to hit more yard sales. That is where neighborhood yard sales are great. Church bazaars are usually good because since the items are donated, the Church usually prices them low so that they will sell. Of course, all that being said, I have found good deals at all three types of places. There are a number of places near where I live that run weekly or monthly auctions. The problem with that for me is that I work night shift and they usually hold them at some weird time, like Tuesday evening.

 

JY

[bones]

Interesting topic. Reminds me of a vendor at the Swap Shop in Ft. Lauderdale. He has a HUGE collection of games, all overpriced, just about twice what they go for online. Can't imagine what the business model for it is either, takes balls to overprice that much and hope some sucker takes the bait. Like someone mentioned it's fun to try and find the "deals" from a vendor like that, the average AtariAger know a lot more about the value of games than most of these yahoos

 

Fortunately most of the flea market vendors in my area use flat prices for games, 2600s are $2, SNES are $3-$5, etc. Those places are a lot more enjoyable to scope out.

Edited December 5, 2007 by bones

[cvga]

I got to thinking, just at the two main indoor/outdoor flea markets in my area, there are probably a dozen vendors exactly like this. Massive stocks, huge prices, and seemingly a complete lack of interest in the games themselves. I've lived in this area for over three years now, and on the rare occasions i do go in these places, i'll see the same games sitting in the same spots for months or even years.

 

Are those fleas across the highway from each other? If so, I have a good friend who used to live close to them and although I haven't been there in a few years, we used to see the same thing.

 

A few questions occur to me. For one, how is this anything resembling a decent business model? Those indoor booths aren't exactly dirt cheap at this place, and i see the same stock every time. They can't be moving enough games to make it worth their while to pay the rent AND have to be there all weekend, every weekend, year round.

 

I've wondered that same thing many many times. I also wonder why I always see people who don't have enough stuff to make any money after they pay their rent even if they happen to sell everything (which they clearly won't).

[Scumdogg]

I got to thinking, just at the two main indoor/outdoor flea markets in my area, there are probably a dozen vendors exactly like this. Massive stocks, huge prices, and seemingly a complete lack of interest in the games themselves. I've lived in this area for over three years now, and on the rare occasions i do go in these places, i'll see the same games sitting in the same spots for months or even years.

 

Are those fleas across the highway from each other? If so, I have a good friend who used to live close to them and although I haven't been there in a few years, we used to see the same thing.

 

 

Yep. The Traders World/Turtle Creek flea market juggernaut. Absolutely the worst place ever to shop if you like your flea market merchandise to be cheaper than retail. If you like crowds, getting ripped off, and borderline criminal hillbilly puppy mills, this is the place to be.

[cvga]

Yep. The Traders World/Turtle Creek flea market juggernaut. Absolutely the worst place ever to shop if you like your flea market merchandise to be cheaper than retail. If you like crowds, getting ripped off, and borderline criminal hillbilly puppy mills, this is the place to be.

 

We used to go to both of those places fairly regularly. Is the "MegaMan" (I think that was his name) still at Traders World? That guy had a bunch of old computers, atari games and missing teeth. He always had the more rare atari carts tucked away in a filing cabinet behind the counter. You had to gain his confidence to see them. Otherwise, you'd never know they were there. I bought a Frogger II from him for $15 which wasn't a bad price at that time.