FLEA MARKET RIP-OFFS

[paulvonscott]

Oh, one more thing. I notice all you guy's balk at being ripped off but how many of you say: "A dollar for that working console and 50 games? Why, I'll give you ten bucks, that's a fair price, I wouldn't want to rip you off or anything". Yeah I thought so. (Me neither )

[yiearkungfu]

I got one of those colored tag, some colors half off, mondays everything is half off thrifts here too. They charge $6.99 for games, doesnt matter what system. Basically the only days i go are when everything is half off or electronics are half off. TG-16 games are cheaper though, because they come in a cd case.

[ElvisDJ]

Here's a bit of irony for you...

 

After ranting about no good finds at thrift stores on this board just the other day, I was passing a Salvation Army thrift that is literally 1/2 a block from my house and something told me to pull in and check them out. Normally, I avoid this store because they seem to think that their classic game items are gold for some reason. Most carts are $3.00 each, and systems usually are $50 or so.

 

Well, this time, I go in there and what do I see? Not 1, not 2, but 3 complete Atari computer systems, including an Atari 600XL complete in the box and two Atari ST's, with 3.5" disk drives, modems and even a monitor! I'm not really an Atari computer collector, but this was too good to pass up.

 

None of it was priced, so I was actually just going to leave, as trying to get the workers to give you a price can be murder, and the store was busy at the time. I was debating whether or not to go, and I looked over at a living room setup in the front of the store, and what did I see underneath one of the endtables? A complete, boxed Odyssey2. Upon closer inspection, I found 10 boxed carts in the box AND found it was sitting next to a box full of NES games...again, none of it priced.

 

With this much classic stuff, I figured I'd have to ask and not pass it up, so I did. Fortunately for me, it was busy in the stor and there was only 1 clerk, so after waiting for all the people in line behind me to be rung up, the clerk took a quick look at all the stuff and, basically to get me out of her hair, said "How about $50 for all of it?"

 

Now, to put this in perspective, in this particular store, small 12" B&W TV's go for $30-40 themselves, so getting all this for $50 was unbelieveable. Anything "computer related" is always overpriced...

 

To make a long story short - a very good day for me at the thrift stores after a long, long, long drought. Woo-hoo!

 

Bryan

So, I asked the

[paulvonscott]

Look. I posted it as a joke but it's true. You may moan about being ripped off but you guy's are something else. No wonder people try and price stuff up when sharks like you exist. Ripping off a charity shop like the salvation army? You guy's brag about it, and love the fact you buy stuff for ridiculously cheap prices and sell stuff for a huge profit. You can't (IN THE NAME OF ALL THAT'S HOLY!) complain about being ripped off because you are part of the same human condition, i.e. base f***ing greed, that is the problem. I think you've got the answer to this question and it is a dissapointment for the whole human race. The people who rip you off are exactly the same people as you. If I cloned you (and I wouldn't) and put you in a room with some carts I'd probably feel as dissapointed as God must be.

 

And so the sermon endeth

 

 

 

ATARION

[spider-ham]

You guys missed the gold age. I started collecting back in the late 80s (when the Atari 7800 was still on store shelves and Crazy Climber was considered the rarest 2600 cart). Oftem I would ask for classic gaming stuff and a guy would come up and just give me a big box of of games and a system. Normally in mint condition. That happen a dozen times or so. People saw them as having no value. They we just happen to get rid of them. Often they were moving out of their parents house and they were holding one last yard sale to get stuff out of their parents' houses. I would often get large collections for $3 or less.. for everything. Around the mid 90's that changed and thing are as they are now.