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Yard Sales and Atari


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Any luck with finding games at yard sales? I've never found an Atari item at a yard sale and I'd like to know if it's just me or is it slim pickins' most places. Also when I look in the newspaper I see tons of yard sales listed, but I'm not sure which ones to go to. Has anyone ever seen Atari games listed in a yard sale description in the paper? I tend to check out yard sales that are described as having video games and/or collectibles, however nothing but Nintendo and up so far. I've also noticed that some people give their phone numbers in the yard sale description. Not sure if I want to waste my time calling them to find out that they don't have Atari games. Thanks for any help that might make my searching more worthwhile. :cool:

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Found PilotWings 64 for a buck. It's not Atari, but the price was right.

Pawn shops, huh? Most of the pawnbrokers around here are too stuck up to deal on anything but slimline PS2 or Xbox 360.

Try taking jewelry in that's anything less than 220 kt gold, and they either offer you pocket change or give you a funny look like you were supposed to know your valuable stuff is junk that they can't take and the worthless garbage they have should be sold for hundreds of dollars. Funny thing is that if you look around their shop, they've got exorbitant prices on the same kind of items you're trying to pawn.

You try to pawn a Dreamcast and they either offer you $5 for the whole system, games, and controllers, then break it up and sell it for $10 per game and $30 for the system, or they tell you they can't take your Dreamcast to begin with. And just forget dealing if you don't have all four controllers with Sega branded VMU's and Jump Packs. No deal if it's not in mint condition, either.

 

Pawn shops are good for finding some things, but you won't find an Atari anything in ours. Nearly everything you get a good price on is broke anyway, and you gotta fix it. (If it's gotta be mint condition for them to take it, they why do they sell so much busted stuff?)

I got most of my musical equipment from local pawn shops, but still, getting a good price on a USA made Stratocaster is like pulling teeth. On top of that, I know how to repair instruments, and I had to repair most of the stuff I got.

Sorry, man, just don't get me started on pawn shacks--sorry, I mean, junk shop, er, pawn shops.

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I found a couple of CX40s at a garage sale in the U.P. back in 2003. (The guy told me, like a stake through the heart, that he had a ton of stuff earlier in the day but someone else had already bought it all.) I think that's the only time I've EVER seen Atari stuff at a yard sale, garage sale, rummage sale, whatever you want to call it.

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Not much around here. I visited a once-yearly local flea market this past week. I found an obscure Pong system two years ago, and last year I just missed a 2600 Jr system. I had money this time and was hoping for a similar find, but I saw no videogame stuff at all this year. Not even a grubby Asteroids or a lonely Mario/Duck Hunt. I was amazed.

 

Once in a while a yard sale turns up something interesting. Unfortunately I've been too wrapped with Real World stuff to do much yard sailing this summer. Maybe next year.

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My experience has been that not only have yard sales pretty much dried up when it comes to Atari stuff, but so have flea market and second hand stores. Used to be I could stop by any and would see Atari stuff, but not any more. At flea markets, I saw a shift a few years back away from Atari and moving up to Nintendo and Sega stuff. The Atari stuff just seemed to vanish. I feel fortunate that I got what I got when I did. Most of my Atari collection came from yard sales, flea markets and second hand shops. I'm sure I would have paid a ton more if I had relied on eBay.

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Yardsales, best I ever hit was two sets of paddles.

 

I have tried the "reverse" yard sale and had some luck:

 

If your neighborhood is doing a yard sale day, put a sign in the front yard that says "I buy Atari". I have had several dealings that way, and even got a roll of Coleco ADAM blueprints from the factory. Never know where this stuff will turn up.

 

Don't be afraid to try listing in your local grocery store for stuff. I have even put an ad in the school bulletin that goes between schools asking for stuff. Got a TON of 8 bit computer stuff a while back.

 

Cassidy

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I have stopped going to yard sales and hit the flea markets about evey other weekend and I dont find much. I find SNES stuff often and that stuff sells goos at my store.

1 reason we might not find much of any types of games anymore is there are many game stores like mine that ask people for this stuff and offer more in trade than they could hope to get at a yard sale and alot of people know how easy it is to sell the stuff on Ebay. For the last 10 years I went out to Yard sales and flea markets 2 time a week and hit the thrift stores almost everyother day and on a good day I could fill my car with games and systems. Some days I could find a couple of pongs for a $1 each a few Atari 2600 systems with a big box of games for $10 a few NES systems with a bunch of games for $10 each and tons of Genesis games for giveaway price and then always found other weird stuff.

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Yardsales, best I ever hit was two sets of paddles.

 

I have tried the "reverse" yard sale and had some luck:

 

If your neighborhood is doing a yard sale day, put a sign in the front yard that says "I buy Atari".  I have had several dealings that way, and even got a roll of Coleco ADAM blueprints from the factory.  Never know where this stuff will turn up.

 

Don't be afraid to try listing in your local grocery store for stuff.  I have even put an ad in the school bulletin that goes between schools asking for stuff.  Got a TON of 8 bit computer stuff a while back.

 

Cassidy

931166[/snapback]

 

Sounds like good advice, thanks! I'm considering putting an ad in the Classifieds section of my paper for a couple of weeks.

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I go to Yard Sales every couple of weeks and I find jack. I don't even see SNES and Genesis games. Flea Markets are a little better, but many sellers now try to get Ebay prices on stuff.

I agree that this is because of EB Games/Gamestop and EBay for the stuff that those stores won't take.

Really some of the best places to look for old games are locally owned used music stores. Many of them carry games and assorted items that the national chains don't want to be bothered with.

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Well, 7-8 years ago I used to find so much Atari stuff at yard sales that I would actually PASS UP a lot of the ultra-common stuff. I don't hit the sales as often as I used to and I still have one or two good scores a year from yard sales. A couple weekends ago my lovely wife picked me up a Sears Video Arcade II from a yard sale with 22 games for $5.00. :D I went back and picked up a stash of C-64 stuff, including and Espial cart, for $3.00 more.

 

There IS still stuff out there.

 

Oh, and if we go beyond Atari stuff, I got a complete N64 last year for $3.00 as well.

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Around here all I see is the local flea markets for ATARI.

I get some decent deals and interesting stuff from time to time.

Garage sales yielded me some good deals on NES stuff but no ATARI.

Haven't had much time this summer as we were busy at work, so I could not get to many Garage and Estate sales.

 

The thrift stores around here are sometimes ok... I once went to a SAVEMORE and I found a whole bunch of loose Atari and Activision commons. Stuff I already have and dobles and tripples ++

 

They were for the most part in excellent shape. but my wife talked me out of them and made me put them back.

 

Ohhh well.

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Found PilotWings 64 for a buck.  It's not Atari, but the price was right.

Pawn shops, huh?  Most of the pawnbrokers around here are too stuck up to deal on anything but slimline PS2 or Xbox 360.

Try taking jewelry in that's anything less than 220 kt gold, and they either offer you pocket change or give you a funny look like you were supposed to know your valuable stuff is junk that they can't take and the worthless garbage they have should be sold for hundreds of dollars.  Funny thing is that if you look around their shop, they've got exorbitant prices on the same kind of items you're trying to pawn.

You try to pawn a Dreamcast and they either offer you $5 for the whole system, games, and controllers, then break it up and sell it for $10 per game and $30 for the system, or they tell you they can't take your Dreamcast to begin with.  And just forget dealing if you don't have all four controllers with Sega branded VMU's and Jump Packs.  No deal if it's not in mint condition, either.

 

Pawn shops are good for finding some things, but you won't find an Atari anything in ours.  Nearly everything you get a good price on is broke anyway, and you gotta fix it.  (If it's gotta be mint condition for them to take it, they why do they sell so much busted stuff?)

I got most of my musical equipment from local pawn shops, but still, getting a good price on a USA made Stratocaster is like pulling teeth.  On top of that, I know how to repair instruments, and I had to repair most of the stuff I got.

Sorry, man, just don't get me started on pawn shacks--sorry, I mean, junk shop, er, pawn shops.

930879[/snapback]

 

 

Yeah... the Pawn Shops here only sell PS2 and XBox... I have yet to see a pawn broker selling any atari stuff.

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The thrift stores around here are sometimes ok... I once went to a SAVEMORE and I found a whole bunch of loose Atari and Activision commons. Stuff I already have and dobles and tripples ++

 

They were for the most part in excellent shape. but my wife talked me out of them and made me put them back.

 

Ohhh well.

931583[/snapback]

If I see Atari carts that are reasonably priced (i.e., fifty cents for a Combat instead of five bucks) in a thrift, I feel compelled to buy them even though I already have them (maybe several times over). I never have a problem reallocating common Atari games to interested friends.

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Best place around here is honestly gameXchange. That's unless I'm completely blind.

I went pawn shopping today and found only slimline PS2's and a few N64's. There were controllers for all the newest systems (thought of getting a second Dual Shock 2 but passed), but hardly any xboxes. That's probably because the pawnbrokers stopped taking them in in favor of the imminent 360. One said he got Atari in occasionally and it sold extremely fast.

Look in gameXchange, though, and there's droves of it up to rarity 4 on the 2600 scale.

I came home with Sears pic Space Combat and Atari pic Street Racer (didn't have any copies of that yet). Those came from gameXchange.

gameXchange only has so much, though. Other than that, it's ebay time, I guess.

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About 10 years ago up until about 3 or 4 years ago when I wanted to play atari I used to be able to go out any sunday on a garage sale hunt and get an atari 2600 and at least 10 games for under $20 bucks. It was when the garage sales started to get harder and harder to come by with atari stuff that I realized I should be keeping a hold of my atari stuff and not throwing it out when I got bored with it.

 

I swear when I was younger I would get an itch for some old school atari (this was when the NES and then the SNES where "cool") go out to a yard sale. Get my atari fix and when I got bored just give it away, re-yard sale it myself or throw it out. Now that I'm an atari game "collector" I just puke at the thought of all the yard sale deals I once had.

 

Moral of this post, yard sale atari finds are over. Now it's even by chance you see anything older than a SNES in my neck of the woods. The early 90's where awsome for ATARI finds but now... Shit I'd be happy to find a combat cart in the yard sale wilds.

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I agree with most of the comments - I too remember seeing atari memorbilia everywhere but now it is just absent. I never had much luck at pawn shops, but even the flea markets and thrift stores are drying up. There are probably a few pack-rats out there with their systems still in their closets from like 15 years ago whose kids will probably find them when they die and put it out in a yard sale but that will no dount be a low percentage. Unless you get outright lucky, you will most likely be at the mercy of other collectors to fill the holes in your collections. I have seen several lots on ebay that were worth it but you have to take on like 99% duplicates to get the one you want and the single games - at least the ones I am looking for are a far shout from the 1 and 2 dollar yard sale carts of the past.

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All your replies have been USA based. Here is what I find in Southern New Brunswick, Canada. Yard sales have dried up. A 250 vendor sale in August has dried up. This year nothing...common or otherwise. This is the same place that I got my initial system and a dozen carts for 12 dollars in 1997. I hadn't played Atari since 1982, so it was 12 dollars that seemed like spending 12 cents, I felt like it was 1982 again. This sale is spread over two baseball fields plus! Not one cart for the last four years. A few carts for the first Nintendo priced at amounts that I laughed in the faces of the vendors. $20 for each cart! Get real! A local canadian chain store called Value Village which collects door to door each month (you put your donation in a bag marked with an X and they stop at all houses where they see that on your stoop) is a good place to get carts here. It is still rare that dropping by will produce anything other that the common ones, but sometimes there are surprises, particularly carts and cassettes from Germany. No idea why... They price everything at 49 cents a cart, having no expertice in rarity, nor concern, I guess. I picked up a Kim Wilde tape that would have cost me over $30 canadian on E-Bay to get. It cost me $1.15 tax in:) They sometimes have a find. I don't go there more than weekly, so who knows how much I missed out on!?

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