Thrift Stores

[BigO]

Funny you should mention the Odyssey2; I ran across one at the local Habitat for Humanity store a couple of months ago.

 

It had arrived in the box. That had been broken down and tossed into a trash can, evidently fairly close to when I had arrived at the store.

 

Five boxed cartridges (nothing that could be classed as either rare or unusual) were included with it. Their boxes were in great shape right up to the point where they were double-wrapped with packing tape to hold them together, then taped down to the keyboard so that they wouldn't get lost in the store.

 

The asking price? $150. I made some enquiries as to how they had arrived at that number, and was given the usual 'according to our research...' line, which, upon further investigation, meant 'we looked at eBay'.

 

They weren't very happy when I pointed out that they had effectively dropped the system's worth to around parts value by how they had handled it. It sat on the shelves at $150 for a couple of weeks, and (I believe) was eventually sent to e-waste.

 

Thrift stores and the like are more or less a waste of time these days.

I paid $5.00 for the 02 lot, though nothing was boxed and I was quite shocked at the price.

[HoshiChiri]

It's really a mix of things... the stuff we look for gets older every day, meaning more of it is broken/thrown out/already in the hands of collectors. It's just not available to turn up at a thrift store or rummage sale.

 

The thrift stores have a better idea of what things are worth and put 'the good stuff' online to get better prices. Assuming it's a good store- a sketchy one probably has the donation guys taking the good stuff long before it can get to customers at all.

 

There's a huge amount of TV/internet shows out there teaching people old junk can be valuable. So some people choose to camp out at the stores specifically to be the first to get at all new items coming out. Just sittin' on the couches all day, watching the back door for employees to come out with the restock cart.

 

 

The important thing is- keep trying. Once in awhile, the fates line up for you. This year I didn't get weekends off to really go look, but in the last two years I got:

 

-a $5 PSP with games & case from a group's charity sale. We got there, by chance, right as they opened up. Also got WarioWorld for GC for I think $2.

- $1 for an indigo Game Boy Advance with Summon Night 2 in it.

- $1 copies of Alien Vs. Predator, Desert Strike, and Wolfenstein 3D on SNES, all in boxes. That was an old-school yard sale that did no advertising other than a sign at the end of the block.

- A $5 box of assorted gaming things, including an original Xbox with cables and Logitech wireless controllers, A Wii Guitar Hero guitar, a Gamecube memory card (3rd party), a Wavebird with receiver, random cables, etc.

 

And this year I still got a $1 copy of Farcry 3 on PS3 and a $5 Kill All Humans for Xbox. Most of what you're gonna find is the 'dark era' stuff. Things that aren't old enough to be 'retro', but aren't new enough for good trade in value at Gamestop. PS3 (sometimes PS2), 360, Wii. If you go out expecting that, sometimes you'll get lucky and find something better.

[jhd]

Has anyone else broadened what they are looking for at thrift shops, beyond video games and electronics?

 

A few stores have internal auctions (ShopGoodwill is not a thing in Canada), but that is generally for things that are obviously collectible -- china, comics, "antiques", etc.

 

My primary interest has always been books (and I can usually find a few titles of interest per visit), but over the past few years I have also started exploring the "art" section of the stores as well.

 

Admittedly, most of what is there is either poorly executed amateur paintings and badly sun-faded prints that originally came from Zellers or Wal-Mart, but there are sometimes amazing things to be found. A few weeks ago, for example, I found an original, framed and matted, ca. 1920s sepia photograph print for $7. I am not buying to resell; this will shortly be hanging on my wall.

[AMenard]

ShopGoodwill is not a thing in Canada

 

No Goodwill, but we do have Value Village in Montreal which cater to the same market segment.

The videogame section is pretty bare except for the sport titles. On the other hand, the music CD section is good in most of them and the more you buy the less they charge per items. I don't buy electronics there though. Looking at the state of some of the stuff that is available, I don't want to bring roaches or bed bugs into my house.

[jhd]

Value Village is an international chain; they can be found across Canada -- I have personally shopped at Value Village stores in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Ontario, Alberta, and British Columbia (I travel a lot). Goodwill is also located across Canada (albeit in fewer locations than Value Village). There is also Salvation Army (often located in small towns), Bibles for Missions (only in some provinces), and various small, independent/church-run places.

 

What Canada lacks, as far as I am aware, is significant online auction sales by thrift shops -- at least I have never seen any. All that I am aware of is the in-store auctions, and only a small handful of places have those.

[AMenard]

Value Village is an international chain; they can be found across Canada -- I have personally shopped at Value Village stores in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Ontario, Alberta, and British Columbia (I travel a lot). Goodwill is also located across Canada (albeit in fewer locations than Value Village). There is also Salvation Army (often located in small towns), Bibles for Missions (only in some provinces), and various small, independent/church-run places.

 

What Canada lacks, as far as I am aware, is significant online auction sales by thrift shops -- at least I have never seen any. All that I am aware of is the in-store auctions, and only a small handful of places have those.

 

If I search for Goodwill store in Montreal, for example, I get links to Value Village. Both stores are partner under the Renaissance org. https://www.renaissancequebec.ca/en

[teh_lurv]

Has anyone else broadened what they are looking for at thrift shops, beyond video games and electronics?

 

 

I've been buying up cheap Blu-Ray movies as I have been finding them. Just over the past year Blu-Rays have begun filling the local thrift store shelves in appreciable numbers. I have a self-imposed goal to pick up all the Marvel movies in Blu-Ray second hand.

 

I also occasionally grab graphic novels when I find them. I have a tall stack of DC graphic novels on my reading backlog I picked up for $4-5 a pop. Fantastic savings considering they'd probably go twice or three times the amount online or through a local comics shop.

 

I also keep an eye out for vintage RPGs, but those are tough to find. People hang onto their old D&D stuff, and when its donated its typically grabbed fast because of their resale value. My best find in this category was a stack of softcover Pathfinder splatbooks priced as magazines (30 cents a piece!). I paid $3 for a stack of books that would normally cost about $80 from a local game shop.

[Blazing Lazers]

One look at http://www.shopgoodwill.com/and you can tell how Goodwill separates the stuff that can catch top dollar at online auction versus bulky furniture or clothing that is best sold in the shop.

It's like music, book, or toy shops, I think. Online shops have sucked up most of those, too.

THIS!! Shopgoodwill has almost completely dried up most of the decent stuff for that chain- that which escapes being poached or outright stolen by the employees themselves. The same happens at other thrift stores, too- very little of the good stuff is ever seen by walk-in customers. The stuff itself is still out there (even rare games sold thousands more copies than there are collectors looking for it now), but poachers and online sales make it seem as though finds in the wild are getting scarcer than they really are. I actually used to know one scummy collector acquaintance who took a job at a Goodwill specifically to be able to poach incoming donations.

[Jeremy Popp]

I personally have had better luck at garage sales, and especially my local flea markets.

 

A few days a year we dedicate the entire day to thrift, goodwill, salvation army etc and sometimes I get lucky. I almost never find anything at goodwill specifically, though last year I got a genesis model 2 with 2 controllers, power supply and 32x attached for $6.99. There is also a church thrift near me that even sells broken stuff occasionally, as I once got an "as-is" Atari 2600 for $5 that had a loose power connection.

 

It has dried up quite a bit overall, and shopgoodwill really sucks the fun out of the hobby. I always thought if it was donated within a community, and then sold back to the same community it would have the largest local impact. If they had something mega rare I can see online being a good outlet, but they literally put anything on the website.

Edited November 22, 2017 by Jeremy Popp

[Jumpman1981]

where I am, everyone just sells their old games (anything older than 2000, for some reason) rather than donating them to a thrift store

Edited December 1, 2017 by Jumpman1981

[cybercylon]

Our local one (Goodwill) has a sign that says to visit their Computer Works store downtown for anything computer related. Video games and systems go right to the auction site from what I was told. I think the DVDs go there to because it has been a year or so since I've seen much of those. Those shelves are now filled with VHS tapes and CDs of music that most do not want.

 

Tons of knock off George Foreman grills though...

[Tanooki]

Thankfully my local thrifts (GW) refuse to use that stupid website. But on the other end of it, they don't get much at all and haven't in a couple years really other than overly common PS2, X360, PS3 type stuff for the most part. There are 2 half price in town, and also in the county/over the river area 4 ma&pa same chain stores that deal with the stuff and most fools take it there for not that much or throw it online. Little even finds its way much at the flea markets either so it's not just a thrift problem. Most people around here got smart, they ask near ebay or same value, or just throw it on craigslist or just skip it to ebay.

[homerhomer]

Thrift stores like the GoodWill filter their inventory and anything of value they sell online.

 

Here's the games your looking for - https://www.shopgoodwill.com

[BigO]

I saw Atari 2600, Intellivision and Odyssey2 cartridges at Goodwill this week. $5.00 each for commons, but at least they didn't throw them away.

[Flojomojo]

Retronauts Podcast talked about how thrift stores have dried up as a source for old games in the past decade, thanks to so many more collectors/resellers out there (and ebay, and YouTube)

 

http://retronauts.com/article/699/episode-128-explores-the-insanity-of-the-collectors-bubble

[BassGuitari]

I'll pop into a goodwill once in a while for old times' sake, but I never expect to actually find anything.

I won't say there's never anything good in thrift stores anymore--my wife came home from a Goodwill with a frickin' Vectrex a few months ago--but it's obviously exponentially more rare to find retrogaming items now. I mean REAL retrogaming items, not Guitar Hero guitars and GameCube shovelware.

[Tanooki]

That's the reality of it. Some goodwills refuse to put stuff online, a good many do to exploit people, and yet some that don't sell online also still to their old wall pricing. Thrifts they vary on high or low but most won't bother playing the ebay game at least. There's one GW in my area that's fairly sleazy on pricing, any system gets the ebay value or near it. I saw at that one today a psone+lcd combo with the box contents (power/av/controller) for $66. Not a deal, easily had for that with some patience and perseverance yet like I said before I got some nice $4 N64 carts at one I regular picking the kid up from school. In either case they don't get a lot, even calling it seasonal maybe a stretch system or $20+ value game wise, but it happens. Just really don't bother going there is my best advice unless you widen your interest to other stuff you want -- old electronics, antiques, cheap movies or music, etc. Going for games only anymore you're better off overpaying many times over than pissing your time, money, and gas/wear and tear on the car at this rate.

[SignGuy81]

I went into Goodwill last Sunday and this Saturday. Each time I found the exact same Redoctane Guitar Hero guitar.

 

Same as pictured here

 

One of them is missing the strap and one of them the whammy is broke which I'll have to fix. I bought each for $2.99.

 

 

EDIT:

Also yesterday I found a princess peach amiibo I bought for my daughter for her Wii U for $1.99

Edited December 11, 2017 by SignGuy81

[pacman000]

Thrift stores like the GoodWill filter their inventory and anything of value they sell online.

 

Here's the games your looking for - https://www.shopgoodwill.com

Just went there. Interesting that most of the games seem to be sold as "lots;" is it too expensive to ship one game?

 

Also, I just looked up Pokemon and it gave me 151 results.

[BigO]

Just went there. Interesting that most of the games seem to be sold as "lots;" is it too expensive to ship one game?

 

Also, I just looked up Pokemon and it gave me 151 results.

I tried to buy from them, but shipping always seemed to be marked up significantly so I quit looking there.

[Osgeld]

I won a apple II monitor on there a few years ago, their shipping calculator spat out a reasonable price, but at the end of the auction the shipping cost increased and that good will slapped on a handling fee (which is supposta be in the listing) so my ~60 meh that not a great, but not a terrible deal turned into almost 150$

 

I never paid and they booted my account

[pacman000]

Good to know.

[Tanooki]

I wouldn't have paid that either. When I've looked I've noticed it's like they tack on a $3 or so handling charge just on a single game/movie sized item. It's like where do they get off thinking having some whack job throw one item in a bubble bag or a box is worth $3 worth of extra paid effort? I don't think so. And then based on size it scales up just right along with their already high shipping charges which are like from what I've seen double ebay on a same item sale. It's a shame enough people just don't care so it continues.

[Osgeld]

my theory on handling fee's is, least when I sell something online, I already packed it up and put that effort into it, how else should I get accurate shipping data ... so the handling is already done, charging extra just makes one seem like a leech, its not like the post office doesnt come every day, and a simple click sends a UPS/FEDEX van your way

 

(or in my case I drop it off at the post office on the way to work, or just lug it to work where fedex and ups shows up every single day anyway, its minimal effort even for one dude)

Edited December 13, 2017 by Osgeld

[Blazing Lazers]

I won a apple II monitor on there a few years ago, their shipping calculator spat out a reasonable price, but at the end of the auction the shipping cost increased and that good will slapped on a handling fee (which is supposta be in the listing) so my ~60 meh that not a great, but not a terrible deal turned into almost 150$

 

I never paid and they booted my account

I can't fault you for doing that- their site at best didn't have all of the costs properly listed or was intentionally set up to try and hit a prospective buyer with surprise charges. Your story here is yet another reason for me to avoid buying on that site- thanks for the heads-up about this sort of scummy business practice of theirs!