What was collecting and selling like in the 90's?

[Armonigann]

In the 90's early 2000's I was'nt really collecting/selling retro at the time although I kept stuff I owned since bought.

 

What where games and systems going for then?

 

What were ebay, thrifts, and flea markets like for collectors and sellers at the time?

 

I can only imagine what types of treasures were found and how much money one could have made at the time.

 

Thanks for any replies.

Edited January 3, 2011 by Armonigann

[PsychoKittyNet]

I did not collect then, but I still remember seeing used NES's go for 50 bucks, so not much different

[Rev. Rob]

In the 90's early 2000's I was'nt really collecting/selling retro at the time although I kept stuff I owned since bought.

 

What where games and systems going for then?

 

What were ebay, thrifts, and flea markets like for collectors and sellers at the time?

 

I can only imagine what types of treasures were found and how much money one could have made at the time.

 

Thanks for any replies.

 

I started in the early 2000s. The difference is that most of the pawn shops are out of bins of games, big retailers like Gamestop no longer carry retro games, availability hasn't really gone down, but eBay has changed in a way to make it more of a BIN site than auction site, thereby artificially driving prices above what the market would set in a typical supply/demand situation.

[Mirage]

I started around '94-ish probably. Nearly every day on the way home from college, I would stop at a thrift store or two and almost every time there were computers, consoles, carts, you name it. CHEAP. No one wanted the '80s stuff, and thrifts just wanted it gone. I never really considered selling, as at that time I didn't know anyone was interested but myself. Stupidly, I passed up on a lot of things, mostly due to lack of space, but I guess it also didn't occur to me that it wouldn't always be like that. I quit for a little bit, but started up again around '99-'00 again, and found some collector sites. By that time, the thrifts had dried up a lot, so weren't worth stopping at as much, and the flea markets had raised their prices, but I did still continue to buy some here and there. Nowadays, I don't buy too much anymore, because it seems like (usually) when people want to sell, they want a lot, and if I try to sell something, everyone wants it for free and I can't get even half my $ back so usually I don't bother selling at all. And, I've mostly moved on to other hobbies that are much more expensive, so I don't have too much $ left for gaming gear anyway. Should enjoy what I already have to begin with!

[MrPastGlory]

Back in the late 90s my operational area was a radius of ~50 km around Nuremberg, Germany. In advance I should mention that I do not collect video games only. My collecting activities include video-& computergames/systems, Vinyl-LPs and electronic music instruments (synths, drum-machines, etc.).

 

My sources back in the days were:

1.) Flea markets - every weekend. Always found good stuff back then and most of it really cheap. Today the flea markets are dead, thanks to ebay, since ~2002. That's when I quit going to flea markets. Only good stuff You can sometimes find there today are Vinyl-LPs, if you collect that. The rest there is 99,9 % household waste.

2.) Pawn shops. Before ebay they sold things in the shop. Today, the few pawnshops left, keep the good stuff back to sell it on ebay.

3.) A paper called ALLES, which was all about small, private advertisments. There you could sometimes find real treasures. Once I bought a Neo Geo AES I found there with 5 games for 180 DM (~ 90 $). They guy thought it was broke but it wasn't - his TV did not support 60 Hz. Another great find was a customised Atari Falcon (Tower) I bought from a musician for 200 DM (~ 100 $) - new price for that system was over 4000 DM (~ 2000 $), etc. This paper came out every Friday and Tuesday. So quess who was the first Friday/Tuesday morning to go and buy it

And lotsa NTSC US stuff was around, thanks to there were lotsa US-troops here before they closed down many of their bases.

4.) For imports mailorder. But I knew the guy who ran a shop named 'Spielraum' very good and I visited him every Friday. That's where I got all my import games from back then.

 

Today:

- Flea markets = household waste. I've been to a few last year - forget it. Didn't even find a VCS, a C-64, a Gameboy or an Amiga, stuff which had once been absolutely common.

- Pawn shops - dead

- Alles: In print form not interesting anymore. But they run a country wide internet portal today.

- Mailorder for Imports ... only few shops still exist and they call ebay prices. 'Spielraum' - closed in 2006.

 

So where do I buy my stuff today. Some things I buy on ebay but most through the 'for sale' sections in forums or from people I know.

 

I really miss those days, especially the flea markets. Planing tours for the weekend which markets to visit and which market may be best to be there as early as possible. Always took a big sports bag with me to the markets. Bought so much stuff and always found 'treasures'. This really gave me a kick back then, I was kinda addicted to that.

 

Best wishes,

 

pastglory

[jahfish]

the 90ies were the golden age of atari collecting here in germany.

 

going to a fleamarket was more like going to a mall, as many people would sell their "outdated" atari consoles for as low as 10-15$ for a boxed console including the games. you'd have to go through the markets twice, once to check out what is available, a second time to purchase what you wanted in between all the stuff offered.

 

nowadays you're lucky if you find anything at all, and then they want 10$ per cart and tell you about how rare a pacman cart is and that it sells for more on ebay

 

also freight companies would sometimes liquidate boxes full of brand new games that were stuck in their storage for years after some companies went bankrupt. that way, i managed to get a whole crate full of activision, xonox, tigervision and imagic games .... about 80 of them

 

and finally ebay started at the end of the decade and was still a great source. no fees for selling, cheap shipping costs back then ...

 

the 90ies were the paradise for collectors ... i miss those old times!

[GKC]

I didn't collect in the 90's but I agree with the posters who said that ebay has changed everything. It's been a double edge sword. It has allowed us to get the games and systems we want (at higher prices) but it has all but dried up the thrift stores and flea markets with people who buy only to resell on ebay. Even though I didn't collect in the 90s I was still a gamer and I can remember walking into pawn shops and thrift stores and seeing tons of games and systems. Now? Well the other day I walked into a local thrift store where I saw 3 Genesis games. All sports titles.

[Reaperman]

I guess I started collecting about '97 or so when I got my first paychecks.

I was in Madison, WI back then, which turned out to be a great place for classic video gaming for some reason (boring winters?). Great shops, especially Video Game X-change which was a local chain.

 

Some things are less expensive today--Turbo Express hardware and everything Neo Geo has come down a bit from their insane pricing. Other items were far less expensive back then. 3do hardware/software, Sega Saturn stuff, and Virtual Boys were all nearly free back then. Importing games yourself was a lot harder to do without the current crop of websites, so I bought all my imports through game shops, but they didn't mind charging me for it. My first ever online purchase was a Jag CD, which I got about that time. It was miserable world before paypal, I think I had to call in to buy that item off of the website.

Edited January 3, 2011 by Reaperman

[HatefulGravey]

Collecting was so easy for me in the 90s that I ended up giving things away that I wish I still had thinking it would always be about that easy. Thankfully many of the things I gave away came back to me anyway.

 

Like others have mentioned, it wasn't collecting as we know it. It was finding those things and paying .50 for each game and playing with it for a while to remember and that was that. A few of us might have had enough games to call a collection, but no one really seemed to think of it that way. They were just old games sitting around.

 

I remember buying "retro" from GameStop. I also remember thinking things were going to change a lot as soon as I heard they were stopping that.

 

To compare it I guess I would have to say that people in the 90s put no value on these items. People now see news stories about a Nintendo selling for $100,000 and think they are worth that now, not knowing it was a super rare game that put it there. I get calls all the time from family members thinking I'm about to get crazy rich selling something they gave me for Christmas 20 years ago. A little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing, and eBay gives the lazy only a very little bit of knowledge. This is why I think prices have gone up. Can't tell you how many people I have told in flea markets to sell it on eBay if they think they can get that money. They are quick to say "thats what they sell for on eBay".

 

Moral of the story, global markets change everything, our hobby is no different. For better or worse.

[Reinhardt]

Pawn shops used to be full of classic games. Not so much anymore, well at least not at reasonable prices. In 1999, right after PS2 came out I picked up a Dreamcast for $30. It came with Sonic Adventure and Resident Evil Code Veronica.

[the.golden.ax]

I started collecting around 1987 -88ish at a place called Bits N Bytes in Milwaukee WI. At the time I had an OD2 and a Full Adam Colecovision and a friend of mine had an NES. We began with his purchase of a Coleco/Adam Upgrade/EXP1 set so he had a Coleco as well. He sold me the EXP 1 and then I started picking up Atari and Coleco carts. We thrifted saw and rejected lots of stuff I'd kill for today. Older Odyssey systems in their boxes. We had low funds and had to ride the bus so carts for a quarter were about where we were at. There were ZERO game stores in the area then. By 1990 there was one, the guy even had Neo Geo real high prices, he later got kicked off ePay several times (real bad seller). Then Funcoland came in the Early 90's. By then I was in Tennessee buying stuff from a used comic shop primarily. Though I have thrifted throughout the journey, that was where most of my used stuff came from. They always had hundreds of CV and 2600 stuff for 25 cents to 50 cents and still do to this day. In 1990 KB and Toys R Us became my best pals when they clearance all the 7800 / 2600 stuff. The first console I bought was a 7800 from Hills (of Qbets Qubes fame) department store when it went out of business 90% off. It was the store display. Between KB, Sears Catalog, and Toys R Us I owned and played nearly 90% of the 7800 library by the summer of 1990. I was on the phone pestering Julie Wade at Atari about the new releases, what seemed like daily. She was a good sport to put up with a geeky teen like that. In 1990 I got my first NES for $50 with about a dozen games from a kid at school. Then a Sega Genesis for Christmas. By 1992 I had a Tg16 and a Lynx from area pawn shops... they then became my target for games and systems. EB had lots of mark downs at the time, and I was picking up new stuff for $5 or less. I still recall my sister and I picking Parasol Stars for TG16 at Hickory Hollow mall EB for $4.95 new in the box. Man if I had a time machine, I'd squirrel those away. Used game stores started to crop up, but I still did plenty of person to person deals from the newspaper and then the early internet in 1992 1993 on Prodigy/AOL. By 1995 eBay hit and the glut began

 

AX

[+save2600]

The 90's were awesome for collecting all around. Thrift stores, garage sales, flea markets, etc. That decade was one of great purging for sure. One aspect of the 90's that no one has mentioned yet was Usenet. Many of us moved on to Digital Press, scattered about or simply grew out out of the hobby, but I suspect there's a few old timers here on AA still. Usenet was where it was really at. Blew away ePay as far as confidence in trading AND diversity.

 

BTW: regarding emulation... the late 90's is when I first discovered this super slick Colecovision emulator available for PeeCee's. All the ROMS where there, all the sounds and it played absolutely perfectly on a P5 at 120mhz. I can't speak for everyone, but the fact you can emulate other machines these days, does not diminish how I feel about owning the real hardware and collecting. There's still nothing like the original controller experience and viewing on a CRT, let alone the artwork on the boxes, labels and manuals that all come with collecting.

[jhd]

I began collecting around 1989 or 1990. My main interest then was the Atari 2600.

 

Garage sales and charity/church/rummage sales were a great source -- the going rate for a 2600 and a big box of games was usually only $25. EB Games did not arrive until the mid-90s and there were only a few small independent game stores. It was still possible to find a few 2600 games new at retail, usually forgotten stock in clearance bins.

 

I also picked-up two Pong systems for $1 each. I did not see much in terms of Colecovision, Intellivision, etc. hardware or games. Then, as now, I had no interest in old computers.

 

Remember to that there were no rarity guides so games were often priced as commodities -- Pac-Man would be priced the same as Waterworld.

[the.golden.ax]

Forgot about Big Lots. Around 1993ish you could get tons of 2600 / 7800 games new for $1.

 

AX

[schuwalker]

I started around late 80's....

 

Most of my stuff mail order ads, garage sales and flea markets.

 

Majority also came from ebay when they first hit the scene. At that time not too many people had an idea on what alot of this stuff cost!

[jahfish]

i have a 1993 fax from atari where BMX Airmaster is the cheapest game in the list, selling for 9.95$

[BydoEmpire]

In the early 90s I would come across people selling boxes of 2600 stuff cheap at garage sales. It's how I got pretty much everything I own now, and I haven't seen anything like that in a long time. I wish I had gone to more! There was a used game store in Appleton, WI that also had lots of 2600 carts and other older stuff pretty cheap. If I remember correctly, 2600 carts were $0.50 across the board. I bought a boxed Odyssey 2 w/ carts for $20 there. Video Game Star? I'm not sure of the name, but I used to go there pretty often (it was about an hour's drive). There was another mom & pop game store somewhere between Fond du Lac and Appleton where I'd buy NES carts 3/$10. I was never really a NES collector, but I picked up a few there from time to time.

Edited January 4, 2011 by BydoEmpire

[godslabrat]

The 90s were the best time to begin a collection. 80s-era video game stuff was finally old enough that the general public thought it was junk, and not so old that some people thought they were "collectible". To shop, you had the option of thrift stores, garage sales, Funcoland (before it sucked), and even just letting your friends know you'd "buy old games" you could get a decent find. That's not even considering the biggest loss to our hobby...

 

NEWSGROUP AUCTIONS!

 

Man, look up some of the old ng auctions from rgvc, and you'll weep at what eBay has done to this hobby. I'm not exactly an eBay hater, but in retrospect, newsgroup auctions were fantastic deals.

 

Another thing to consider is that the web was still kind of "new", so people didn't always know every little thing about every system. More often, people would find something in the wild and say "WTF"

 

I'm so glad I got my collection started before the 90s ended, because it would have been an uphill battle afterward.

[CGQuarterly]

I started in around 1999, and collecting has become progressively worse. Mostly because of eBay, but also because most people have already gotten rid of most of their classic stuff, so that it doesn't show up in thrifts anymore. Thrifts mostly have stuff that is 1-2 generations old, so now I see more Xbox and PS2 stuff, and some PS1 & N64 stuff. But in the late 90's it was all 8- and 16-bit stuff. Too much of the classic stuff is now in the hands of collectors or resellers. I am lucky that there is a chain of music/movie stores in my area that sells used games, going all the way back to the 2600. They don't price things based on rarity or collector's value, so I have scored some good stuff there. If it weren't for them though, it would be pretty dry around here.

 

Chris

[AtariLeaf]

I would literally come home from yardsales with GARBAGE BAGS full of 2600 carts in the early to mid 90s. Wanted ads yielded dozens of phone calls of people wanting pennies on the dollar for their systems and carts. And they would deliver to me

[ls650]

Cheaper.

[Coleco Gemini]

It was great! I started collecting in the mid 1990's. I used to shop at places like Babbages, EB Games, and Funcoland! Funcoland was amazing! I bought my first NES there in 2001 with a full warranty for $30, and used to buy craploads of vintage game stuff from them! Pawn Shops were great, and I used to happen across a lot of vintage games, but, the best were thrift stores and rummage sales. I used to travel a lot and the more rural the better the price! I have probably bought gaming stuff in person in like 30 or 40 states! Montana was the best, I remember I bought an Intellivision with 10 games and base for $5 and I bought a 5200 as early as 5 years ago complete with games for $5. You could also find a lot of stuff at Fedco in the early 90's that they were clearing out from the NES, 7800 Era. I still bump into thrift stores in my area with cheap 2600 stuff, rare as it seems. But, because of ebay and the rarity guides people are insane and want ridiculous prices, when sometimes you can find stuff for a good price, like my recent find of 70 2600 games and a few Atari systems and Swordquest Waterworld for $30! But, you have to look closely and quickly for these deals!

[Armonigann]

Yea tell me about it.

Edited January 4, 2011 by Armonigann

[VectorGamer]

It sucked

[cimerians]

It was a lot cheaper.

 

Ebay was in it's infancy (it was more of an auction site than it is today) and you could actually sell modded stuff and I ended up replacing a lot of things I lost from the 80's using ebay. Consoles and games. I'm glad I did it in the 90's because it was a lot cheaper.