Flea market stampede

[wrldstrman]

Saturday the local flea market around here opened and my wife had a bunch of junk she wanted to get rid of so I helped her load up and took her to the flea market.We pulled into the lot and no sooner got stopped in a space and before we could get the first box off the truck a stampede of people (not kidding)came running to the truck and everyone of them asked if we had one thing (VIDEO GAMES) After telling them no I watched as a couple of the individuals ran up to every car as soon as they stopped asking for video games.Guess with all the high prices being paid for games on ebay its hard for us people who just like to collect for enjoyment to have any chance of getting lucky and snaging a rare game in the wild.I also overheard one individual telling someone he hit all the goodwills and thrifts on a daily basis.Guess if i ever want some of the rarer games I ll have to get a second job lol. One bright spot tho yard sales have started maybe i ll have some luck. Happy hunting all.

[Witchfynde]

I don't know if that's something to admire, or be scared as sh*t at. It could be worse, there's a "true porn clerk stories" bit that I've read on the net where this lady worked at a video rental place and the porn freaks were total...well, FREAKS, to say the least, banging at the doors at 9 a. m. for them to open, then rushing downstairs for the porn section to grab at the new videos.

 

Anyway, new dude, hope you have some nice stories to share here, that's a bit freaky (which I mean no offense, by the way)

[ussexplorer]

I have been in the group of people waiting for a thrift store to open. Guess it was just the wrong day to show up. I was told it was even worse in Utah for some places. I have yet to find that problem up in Boise yet. I also noticed that pay days on Thursday and Fridays seem to be bad to. Also I always remeber people picking up junk or I mean stuff and saying they can sell it for money. That the item is worth something. While, I'm thinking I have 25 of those at home.

 

laters,

 

Josh

[sku_u]

Saturday the local flea market around here opened and my wife had a bunch of junk she wanted to get rid of so I helped her load up and took her to the flea market.We pulled into the lot and no sooner got stopped in a space and before we could get the first box off the truck a stampede of people (not kidding)came running to the truck and everyone of them asked if we had one thing (VIDEO GAMES) After telling them no I watched as a couple of the individuals ran up to every car as soon as they stopped asking for video games.

 

I'm glad I don't live where you do Flea Markets are not that good for finding videigames by me, but I've found a couple of other resources that have been very good to me (no, not Ebay).

[Albert]

Wow that truly is frightening and pretty discouraging. I've never seen that behavior but if I did I'd probably stop going to flea markets looking for games. Oh, wait, I haven't been to a flea market in some time.

 

..Al

[Joey Kay]

there's a "true porn clerk stories" bit that I've read on the net where this lady worked at a video rental place and the porn freaks were total...well, FREAKS, to say the least, banging at the doors at 9 a. m. for them to open, then rushing downstairs for the porn section to grab at the new videos

 

It's true! I have two friends who are clerks at porn stores here in the city and new release day is bonkers! Okay, maybe not banging on the doors at 9 AM... but rushing in none the less for new releases... don't all those movies have the same plot?

 

However, in high school I worked at a restaurant in my hometown where EVERY morning all the local rednecks would park their trucks outside, and when the 7:00 news came on on the local country music radio station, all the rednecks would literally come STAMPEDING OUT OF THEIR TRUCKS and start POUNDING AND SHAKING the door to get in!

 

It gets scarier... if the door was still locked some of them would GO AROUND the restaurant to the back door and barge in through the Kitchen... NO LIES!

 

People are weird...

 

Cheers!

 

Joey

[datafreq]

I went to a flea market on the weekend ,

and nearly had a heart attack when I saw a HUGE box of atari carts,

as well as a box of BOXED atari carts...must have been a 100 of them...

 

as luck would have it...all super commons

 

i thought i'd pick up a few extras for trading etc,

but the guy wanted 3 bucks a cart / 4 for the boxed (which were ripped etc)

 

he also had 2600jr's in a poly bag for 50 bucks...

[+Allan]

I went to a couple of flea markets this weekend in Connecticut (Sku_u, you don't see this post. ) and saw a 4 switch woody that was very dirty with some commons and a bunch of joysticks. There was a jaguar controller there as well and I asked how much for it and they said $5. It was kind of beat up so I said forget it. I found my 2 port 5200 last year at the same flea market. You just have to be consistent with going every week. Stuff turns up although more and more people think the stuff is gold now.

 

Allan

[oesii]

i thought i'd pick up a few extras for trading etc,

but the guy wanted 3 bucks a cart / 4 for the boxed (which were ripped etc)

 

he also had 2600jr's in a poly bag for 50 bucks...

 

 

That sounds exactly like one flea market in my area, every cart is priced one or two dollars too much and I see the same carts month after month. So I just head over to the next flea which has much better deals and goes through inventory much faster. Some vendors just don't want to move stuff and are happy storing and hauling their wares.

[fire_Will]

Yeah sometimes people at flea markets have no idea. Think all game stuff is gold. I was at one last summer never stopped there before and the guy had tons of electronic stuff computers, old gaming systems wanted a mint and not all there atari carts were 5.00 for combat he told me they were rare. lol Just have to chuckle and go on he probly end up throwing em out.

[Cassidy Nolen]

People do think all of this stuff is gold. Just found a 6 switcher Sears in the wild, but ended up giving 22 for it and the driving controls (both of which are bad ). I paid too much, but I did not want it sitting there. That might lead others to keep checking back. In the long run, whats a few extra bucks?

 

 

I think the days of finding Quadruns in the wild are long gone.....

 

 

Cassidy

[Tempest]

I haven't found a 6 or higher in the wild in many years (at least 3). Thankfully you can still get decent deals on NES and DC stuff. Forget Atari at flea markets, if you're lucky to even find someone who has some stuff it's all $5 a game and systems for $50. Bleh! Makes me long for the days when guys would sell you a box full of games for $20.

 

I feel sorry for anyone getting into this hobby now, you all missed the golden days of collecting.

 

Tempest

[Happy_Dude]

Stow that line of crap.

Stuff like this is legitamizing the hobby. O.k not the e-bay vultures wrldstrman

was talking about, but the high prices at flea markets are a reflection of

the hobbies acceptance into mainstram society.

 

And frankly finding a $1 cart in a thrift or a $20 box of games at a yard

sale is a lot more satisfying when you know you've outwitted someone

looking for a profit.

 

Your either in it for the LOVE or the MONEY

[datafreq]

I used to go to the Goodwill in downtown Toronto up to about 5 years ago,

and after I noticed something strange...

 

I went on my lunch hour, and I saw that the same people were hovering around the "electronics" section all the time.

 

I went there on a few weekends, and it was the SAME people,

so I made a point of going on one of my days off,

and ...yep..same guys...

 

I was even pushed out of the way when the guy brought over a cart of electronics...

 

I think some people must hang out at these places full time,

but if they're not working, how do they pay for the stuff ?

 

Do they sell on Ebay full time ???

[sku_u]

I went to a couple of flea markets this weekend in Connecticut (Sku_u, you  don't see this post.  ) and saw a 4 switch woody that was very dirty with some commons and a bunch of joysticks.

 

*Calls wife's mother who lives in Thomaston and asks about all local Flea Markets*

[+Allan]

I went to a couple of flea markets this weekend in Connecticut (Sku_u, you  don't see this post.  ) and saw a 4 switch woody that was very dirty with some commons and a bunch of joysticks.

 

*Calls wife's mother who lives in Thomaston and asks about all local Flea Markets*

 

Ha ha ha ha!

 

Allan

[jsoper]

I've read on the net where this lady worked at a video rental place and the porn freaks were total...well, FREAKS, to say the least, banging at the doors at 9 a. m. for them to open, then rushing downstairs for the porn section to grab at the new videos

The digital press off-topic forum has a thread right now "who is your favorite pornstar". heh-heh-heh

[ussexplorer]

I'll check mate that people pushing out of the way to being yelled at for picking up an item on a shelf. Hey! I had that item first. So I would put the item down and yelp in a small voice. Probably couldn't make any money off of it anyway. That really works when my wife is with me and we startup the old. Even if I cleaned it up and fixed it story. I would still not get any money for it. If I got lucky. The item was put back in the same place for me to swing back around a couple of isle's and pick it up.

Now shopping carts brought out full of stuff to be put on shelves are the same way. Unless, you and several other people saw them just bring it out and you know the guy is lying.

 

Laters,

 

Josh

[EricDeLee]

At a local fleamarket... there is a guy that has been sitting on 4 boxes of atari 2600 cartridges. Each box has about 70-100 games in them. I figured they would all end up being commons, but after looking through them, I was actually impressed.

 

I'm new to the collecting field... so I really didn't know what is good and what is bad. I knew some stuff like Spiderman was harder to find than stuff like Combat. So with my limited knowlegde I approached the guy.

 

He wants right around 2 bucks a game. I quickly talked him down to $1 a game (only if I bought 10 or more he kept saying). So, I only got 13 games on my last visit. What kind of games: Spiderman, Frogger Threedeep, Towering Inferno... etc. Your not so run of the mill games. I think I'm actually really proud of the Froggerthreedeep cart! That game is actually fun.

 

Anyway... I kept taking to the guy, and asked him how much he would sell the entire boxes for if I were to buy in bulk. He really didn't want to give me a price but finally settled on .50 a game. So I will be going back this weekend to buy at least one box of goodies!

I figure that $50 isn't too bad of a deal for about 100 games. Especially if I run into other stuff like Frogger Threedeep. I know I saw a few of those, a few strawberry shortcake games, and other cool stuff. There was a Beany Bopper there.... but I'm guessing it is the Rarity 4 one (I can't remember the label). I picked up a Beamrider... only to find out it wasn't an Atari 2600 game. Oh well.

 

I'll keep you all updated on what I get from him. This fleamarket I go to has about 6 different people with Atari games. I'm also picking up a 4-switch? (woodgrain) with all attachments for $25 from the same guy.

 

quick question: there are to games out there that are about Journey (the rock band). I can only find one of the carts on the cart list... although I have seen two different games. Do any of you know what the names are? I'll buy them tomorrow... but can't think of them right now.

 

Eric DeLee

 

Just scored a clean, working Atari JR off of 'E-BAY' for $2.40 + shipping!!!!

[Witchfynde]

I picked up a Beamrider... only to find out it wasn't an Atari 2600 game.  Oh well.

 

Beamrider was also made for the 2600...do you mean you found the Intellivison version or something? Keep looking for the 2600 version!

 

 

quick question:  there are to games out there that are about Journey (the rock band).  I can only find one of the carts on the cart list... although I have seen two different games.  Do any of you know what the names are?  

 

The only two games made were Journey Escape for the 2600 and the arcade game.

[EricDeLee]

Are there label variations then? Because I know I have seen two different labels.

 

I'll go to the store today and check them out.

[EricDeLee]

Nevermind... I thought there was a different label variation but I guess not. I just saw the two carts I was talking about... and they are the same.

 

Lol

 

 

But I did pick up some gems! (River Raid II!!!!!)

[Video]

Stow that line of crap.

Stuff like this is legitamizing the hobby. O.k not the e-bay vultures wrldstrman

was talking about, but the high prices at flea markets are a reflection of  

the hobbies acceptance into mainstram society.

 

And frankly finding a $1 cart in a thrift or a $20 box of games at a yard

sale is a lot more satisfying when you know you've outwitted someone  

looking for a profit.

 

Your either in it for the LOVE or the MONEY

 

Don't forget that high prices in easily accessable places like your local flea markets will push classic games back into obscurity. Remember, high prices means fewer people buying. Which means the prices will drop, people will notice them dropping, and wait for them to drop somemore, and they'll dissappear for a time. This always happens with collectable stuff. You can always get it cheaper elseware.

[Mendon]

Silly me..... when I first read the title of this topic I thought there was a new hack of the game "Stampede" available... something like you have to rope Flea Market shoppers who are making off with $1 Chase the Chuck Wagon carts before they can sell them on eBay for $100.

 

Oh well...

 

Mendon

[bradjewell]

Thats something I like about here on atariage. Although, sometimes we disagree and stuff, a lot of us are like-minded individuals when it comes to certain topics. I also like the fact that you most always find good people to trade with who AREN'T worried with money and many times will help you out. Since I've started coming here, I've really expanded my collection and also helped some other peoples.

 

That being said, I agree with a lot of folks on here about hating seeing people at fleamarkets thinking they're sitting on pure gold. "No good sir, that's not a ming vase, it's a combat cart. Yes, it's super rare and it's 1 million dollars." It's a shame too, cause occasionally (though not often) these grizzled-up old farts will have like one scarce game, but there huge price it way too much to pay for their BMX airmaster, let alone that pac-man missing the end label. I see em way too much wanting 5, or even ten dollars for a 2600 cart, and the same for NES carts. People need to realize just cause one cart like quadrun or something is worth money the rest of those are not. I'd like to say people need to get more educated, but then it would be even harder to get good stuff, cause they just filter it all out and leave the shit. I guess Im done venting for the moment.

 

 

Brad