The Thrift Near Miss thread

[nightwheel]

Missing out on 2 Commodore 64's (one of which was Jr, not sure what the other one was), a commodore floppie drive that had to be rebuilt, some programs, and a load of Commodore Magazines for $10. On a local, non craigslist classifieds site.

 

I had the money, but no way of getting at it. The moment I was able to get at it. The listing was gone

Edited February 12, 2010 by nightwheel

[4Ks]

I took a shopping trip today, and one of the stores I stopped at was Goodwill. And in the game case I saw an Intellivision 1 with 6 games (Microsurgeon, Frogger, Donkey Kong, NFL Football, Armor Battle, and Las Vegas Pocker and Blackjack) sitting on top of (and plugged into) the system. I asked the clerk if I could buy just a few of the games, but she said no, she would only sell the system and games as a lot. And those where the only things I had seen worth getting in a whole 4 1/2 hours of shopping.

[STICH666]

Well how much was the lot? Something insane right?

[4Ks]

Well how much was the lot? Something insane right?

 

 

$40.00. But I only had $2.52 at the time.

[shadow460]

I see Intys go for $50 around here quite a bit, and they don't have any games with them.

[BDW]

Threads like these make me sad

[shadow460]

Yeah, especially when you narrowly miss a second LaserActive. Even if that player was a standard Pioneer model it would still be worth buying. There's a Pioneer player on Oklahoma City's Craigslist right now for $50. It's tempting to buy it.

[Lendorien]

I see Intys go for $50 around here quite a bit, and they don't have any games with them.

 

I've never seen a Intellivision at the goodwills around here. I'd think long and hard before I bought one. I have never been impressed with the games nor the console itself.

[shadow460]

I see Intys go for $50 around here quite a bit, and they don't have any games with them.

 

I've never seen a Intellivision at the goodwills around here. I'd think long and hard before I bought one. I have never been impressed with the games nor the console itself.

 

They're in our classic gaming stores. I've never seen one in a thrift shop, but I have seen games without the console.

[Lendorien]

Speaking of near miss thrift buys. I missed out on a developer PS1 on ebay. It was closing at 2 am int he morning and I was too timid to bid very high. Winning bidder got it for 60 bucks. Granted, no assurances it worked, but still.

 

Also saw an Odyssey 200 at Goodwill the other day, but they were asking for 75 bucks for it. It was int he box, but the box was beat. Not worth the asking price.

[NinjaWarrior]

do you think for a second people buying cheap lots or Systems, then selling it for big money on ebay..I'm thinking just that

Edited April 16, 2010 by NinjaWarrior

[madhatter667]

do you think for a second people buying cheap lots or Systems, then selling it for big money on ebay..I'm thinking just that

 

Except that doesn't work as well as you would think. I buy stuff cheaply, because I collect, and I've been selling off extras... some of it very reasonably for what it is (close to what I paid for it), and even then it can be hard to move items. Ebay adds all sorts of extra fees and whatnot. Unless you found a real rarity for dirt cheap, you wouldn't have much of a margin.

[Shantai]

Mine's about Wacky Packages (I've had soo many misses I could scream) but the king of them was this:

 

I saw an ad in "The Wrapper" for a collection of 200+ 1969 Wacky Ads for $1 ea! This was in 1993, when Wackys were starting to gain steam and the Ads were $5 ea. So I immediately called the guy, and offered to buy them all. What he had advertised was a 36 card complete set (Including Good and Empty!!) for $50 and the rest for $1 ea (Extras) well, He told me I JUST missed out on the set by 1 hr or so, and that the guy who bought the set took all the Good and Emptys as well (I think he had about 3 of em) I was glad to get 125 Ads for $125, but damn THREE NM Good and Emptys..... (# 25 Good and Empty today is roughly $1000 ea) /cry!!!

 

My friend LOVES checking Goodwills/SA and thrifts for all games up to Xbox 360, and has yet to tell me of a miss. But I know one is coming! (Unless you count the one time in Englishtown, NJ where he missed out on a good 300 Atari to SNES games that a dealer grabbed for $1 ea.. GRRR)

[shadow460]

do you think for a second people buying cheap lots or Systems, then selling it for big money on ebay..I'm thinking just that

 

I've tried that, too. It's just not worth the time unless you've found something really rare. In that case, I usually keep the item for my own collection unless I already have it.

It might work if you're out thrifting three times a week and hitting 20 or 30 thrifts each time then hitting a dozen flea markets and 200+ garage sales every Saturday morning. I like classic gaming, but I don't want it to consume my whole life.

[Lendorien]

Had one of these this past week. Went to a goodwill and looked around on the shelves. all that was there was a boxed n64 cleaning kit, a rumble pack and some sort of wireless controller rig that was missing the controllers. Well, I grabbed the rumble pack and stepped into line to check out, only to see a guy in front of me with a basket full of about 15 or so N64 games. They were all marked 2 dollars and all the ones I saw were good ones. No sports games.

 

Majora's Mask, Banjo Tooie, Banjo Kazooie, Mario 64, MarioKart, etc.

 

The guy was positivly giddy as he checked out. Meanwhile, I had a balck cloud over my head. If I'd only been there 10 minutes earlier...

[Mirage]

Crap, that means I missed out yet ANOTHER Waukesha score! The first 3 N64 games are ones I would love to have too. I NEED to start going out to thrifts again.

[AtariLeaf]

Had one of these this past week. Went to a goodwill and looked around on the shelves. all that was there was a boxed n64 cleaning kit, a rumble pack and some sort of wireless controller rig that was missing the controllers. Well, I grabbed the rumble pack and stepped into line to check out, only to see a guy in front of me with a basket full of about 15 or so N64 games. They were all marked 2 dollars and all the ones I saw were good ones. No sports games.

 

Majora's Mask, Banjo Tooie, Banjo Kazooie, Mario 64, MarioKart, etc.

 

The guy was positivly giddy as he checked out. Meanwhile, I had a balck cloud over my head. If I'd only been there 10 minutes earlier...

 

That is one of the worst feelings. I lost out on an Atari lot at a yard sale by literally seconds and the infuriating thing is it was this little old lady who bought everything.

She did miss the system and I also got a boxed vic-20 at the same sale but I still fume over what games I might have missed out on that this old bag nabbed for $5

[Lendorien]

Crap, that means I missed out yet ANOTHER Waukesha score! The first 3 N64 games are ones I would love to have to. I NEED to start going out to thrifts again.

 

I wondered if the guy was you, but then I figured you probably are my age or a tad older and this guy was probably a bit younger than me. Still, I keep wondering if we've passed each other in the parking lot ever.

[Lendorien]

That is one of the worst feelings. I lost out on an Atari lot at a yard sale by literally seconds and the infuriating thing is it was this little old lady who bought everything.

She did miss the system and I also got a boxed vic-20 at the same sale but I still fume over what games I might have missed out on that this old bag nabbed for $5

 

This one was the worst near miss for me in the past year. Most of the time I get to the thrift store and see the hints of a score. But I've done well overall. Found ChronoCross for 2 dollars about a month ago. Not a huge score, but no complaints!

[kevincal]

just missed this one on CL hundreds of dollars in profits this was going to be for me!!

 

Nintendo 64 bundle in perfect working condition $200

 

* 2 Controllers

* 2 Controller Extension Cables

* Controller Pak

* Power Cord and RCA cable

* Controller Desk Cleaner

* 256K Memory Card

* The Legend of Zelda - Ocaraina of Time Players Guide

 

Also includes 60 games in original boxes with instructions.

o 007 - Golden Eye

o 1080 Ten Eighty Snowboarding

o Aero Guage

o Lamborghini 64

o Banjo - Kazooie

o Banjo - Tooie (no box or instructions)

o Blast Corps

o Bomberman 64

o Bomberman Hero

o Buck Bumble

o Chameleon Twist

o Clay Fighter 2

o Cruis'n USA

o Diddy Kong Racing

o Donkey Kong 64

o Donkey Kong Country

o Extreme G

o F-1 World Grand Prix

o Forsaken 64

o F-Zero

o F-Zero X

o Glover

o Golden Nugget

o Gradius III

o GT 64 (Championship Edition)

o Iggys Reckin Balls

o MarioKart 64

o Milo's Astro Lanes

o Mortal Kombat II

o Mystical Ninja

o Nagano Winter Olympics '98

o NFL Quarterback Club 99

o Pilot Wings 64

o Pilot Wings

o Quest 64

o Rampage - World Tour

o Rush 2 - Extreme Racing USA

o San Francisco Rush - Extreme Racing

o Snowboard Kids

o Southpark

o Star Wars - Rogue Squadron

o Star Wars - Shadows of the Empire

o Starfox

o Starfox 64 (with Rumble Pak)

o Street Fighter II

o Super Street Fighter II

o Super Ghouls'n Ghosts

o Super Mario 64

o Super R Type

o The Legend of Zelda - A Link to the Past

o The Legend of Zelda - Ocarina of Time (collectors edition)

o Topgear Overdrive

o Topgear Rally

o Turok - Dinosaur Hunter

o Turok 2 - Seeds of Evil

o Turok 3 - Shadow of Oblivion

o Virtual Chess 64

o Virtual Pool

o Wave Race 64

o World Driver Championship (no box)

o Yoshi's Story

[desiv]

AAaarrgghhh!!

Craigslist had a FREE Commodore 128 with a 1571 drive (possibly non-working) and I missed it!!! :-(

 

I saw it an hour and 23 minutes after it was posted.. Probably an hour and 22 minutes too late..

 

Oh well..

 

desiv

[+FujiSkunk]

I posted this in the thrift store finds thread, so pardon the repeat, but it actually fits better here.

 

A couple of weeks back I discovered I was robbed by sumguy, and all because I wanted a lousy Billy Squier record!

 

That previous Saturday, I found a new stash of record albums at Goodwill. I picked a few out, but passed on others, thinking I already had them. When I got home, I discovered the Billy Squier album I thought I had was actually on cassette, not vinyl. I'm trying to whittle down my cassette collection, so I decided to swing by Goodwill again after work to pick up the record. I figured it would still be there, because how many people want Billy Squier records nowadays, right?

 

It was nowhere to be found. But I did find a couple of other albums to buy, so I headed for the counter. As I was paying for them, the cashier noticed one and said, "Oh, Marty Balin. Another guy earlier bought this record too, and a whole bunch of others. He had Eddie Money, that John Lennon record with him kissing Yoko Ono... umm, the first Ringo Starr record... oh and the first Beatles record..."

 

Now who knows how well she was remembering this, and even if the Beatles were involved, odds are it wasn't a first-pressing. Still, I could've used all of those!

 

That guy probably made off with my Billy Squier album, too!

 

I'm not sure who I hate more now, sumguy, or Billy Squier for making me go back and discover what I missed!

[Lendorien]

Found a bunch of 32XD games at goodwill the other day. No 32X actually to be found. I had to have missed it by only a couple hours.

 

Course, that same day I found Fatal Frame 1 & 2 for 4 bucks each, so I wasn't too upset.

 

Anyone have any new stories since July?

[STICH666]

Just the average mess of sports titles and commons that hinted at a huge lot.

[cybercylon]

Just the average mess of sports titles and commons that hinted at a huge lot.

 

Ditto. I have run into that a couple of times since July... there has been a gaping hole on the shelf in the glass case where something was probably there.