How to pick a Yard Sale?

[StanJr]

I'm running out of options here in Kentucky. The thrifts are very weak, the FLEAs are a monthly bust; so I am relegated to the realm of yard sales. Now, I have no interest in rummaging through somebody's old underwear and lawnmowers to come up empty handed. So I ask ye, how do you determine which yard sales will be the most fruitful? Can you tell just by looking, or must you stop at every single box of broken Barbie dolls on the sidewalk? Are there telltale signs that someone might be harboring a treasured 2600 collection? Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

Bottom of the Barrel Stan

[davidbrit2]

Generally, I find the suburban garage sales with middle aged folks running them to be the most profitable (especially if they have teenaged kids.) I'll never forget that huge bag of games I got, which included Alien Brigade... There are exceptions to this rule of course. The places that are pointless to bother with are houses or apartment complexes which are very new. The odds are that they will have sold their old video game stuff before they moved. Trailer parks sometimes work well, in addition to suburbs. These guidlines will only narrow it down, however, because you'll still be digging through empty garage sales until you get a hit. These tips just might increase your odds a little, though.

[Osbo]

I haven't find sh**t in the yard sales... grrrr only a nintendo with some games, but that was like two monts ago

 

OsBo

[lesboulez]

If you live near a big city, head to the oldest suburbs. Typically if the suburbs were great places to be in the late 1970s and early 1980s, with newer high schools during that time period, there will be yard sales and garage sales with better odds.

 

I actually did a bit of yard sale searching in Arizona and Alabama, and after many a fruitless search, I started to think about it a bit, and those couple of guidelines helped. It just takes a little research — I'm a journalist so I don't mind Maybe I do have too much time on my hands?

 

It's still hit and miss and miss and miss. But it helped some.

 

Now I'm in the middle of nowhere in North Carolina and I can't find anything. But I've only been here three months and I did find a couple of RCA Studio II games in the boxes with instructions at one thrift store, so it's not ALL bad. Plus, I haven't been to the Raliegh/Durham area yet. I've got my fingers crossed...Any help from fellow North Carolina collectors????

[Joel D. Park]

Usually if they advertize baby clohes at the yard sale you can forget about Atari games.. :-)

[Tempest]

Since I live in the new burbs it's pointless to search out here unless your into baby clothes or N64 Pokemon carts.

 

Tempest

[atari70s]

I got lucky once. i was looking with dad and saw a wire under a pile of disassembled wood bed frame ( heavy ones). (now like kids who see a string they pull and pull till the shirt is just 1 string. i went on an adventure of the wire kind) . what was under this pile of wood. a nice Heavy 6xer with manual and comabt. so i go to pay for it and she said whered you find that.i said under the bed frame in the basement. shes like i didnt know i had it still . ill sell it to you for 5.00 ( CHA CHING) lol its mine and its my pride and joy

[Ze_ro]

Ugh... I've had no luck whatsoever with garage sales. I've occasionally found some Genesis games, or a Nintendo... but I'm starting to think that people just throw out anything older assuming that no one wants it. I joked with my friend (who also collects) that we should go rooting through the dump to see if we could find any good scores

 

--Zero

[Malathion5]

Big fat ZERO here too folks. I have found absolutely nothing at garage sales. I don't hit the papers and canvas the neighborhoods on a weekly basis, but once every two or three weeks and I still get nothing.

These machines have been out dated for so long that almost everybody thinks they are worthless and pitch them, probably years ago at that.

 

"Atari? Yea I had one of those. I think I threw it away about 6 or 7 years ago."

 

How many times have you heard that?

[Albert]

I've never had any luck rummaging around through garage sales either, and I've certainly picked over enough of them. It's usually pretty easy to find game systems that are a generation or two behind, but that's usually it. And many times these are accompanied by kids trying to sell the system, oftentimes asking unreasonably high prices (not knowing how quickly the value of these games drop!)

 

But I'll keep trying, knowing I'll get lucky one of these days.

 

..Al

[ubersaurus]

I find alot of good stuff at garage sales. I found that great intellivision with a bunch of boxed games for 5 bucks, and just recently a found 10 atari games with a holder for 5 more bucks. Not too shabby I think

[Cousin Vinnie]

Knoxville, I would imagine, would be a good town to pick over. Mainly because people here are about 10 years behind the times and it's a fairly big city with not alot going on. I found a red label Ballblazer at a local Flea Market...and I bought my wife a shrinkwrapped ET since she loved that as a kid. I also found a boxed Combat, Commando, and Rampage at the Thrift Store on Champman Highway.

 

I also scored 12 boxed 2600 games at an old market that was selling them on consignment.

 

CV

[StanJr]

Awesome, Vinnie! I've got a best pal who lives in Knoxville! Can you give me some other hot spots to send him to? I promise not to cut too much into your territory! I'm looking for mostly common stuff!

 

Stan

[jhd]

I'm originally from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada and in about 4 years of searching, I only once managed to find any Atari stuff at a garage sale. I remember seeing loads of NES carts and some Genesis stuff and that's about it.

 

Rummage sales were an excellent source and I managed to find a few good collections advertised in the newspaper.

 

I even tried to see a couple of 2600 consoles (and a whole pile of carts) at my own garage sale and there were no takers. I later sold it through the classifieds.

 

I have never searched here in Edmonton.