How do thrift stores price their games?

[COMTARI]

Does anyone know if the major thrift stores have a formula they use for pricing games and systems, or does someone in the back take a glance at the items and say "I guess this looks old so it will be $5, this looks clean...so it's $15?? I've seen atari games at a Local thrift chain for 99 cents, go to another store in the chain and they are $4.00. Sometimes they have SNES console for $5 other times the same condition system will be $15. Some of the high priced items will sit on the shelf week after week until they dissappear. Perhaps they sold...or perhaps the staff tossed them in the dumpster instead of dropping the price? Has anyone worked at a thrift store? Do they make an effort to sale classic games or does alot of the classic game stuff they recieve wind up in the trash?? Just curious.

[A.J. Franzman]

Larger thrift stores I go to do not do any kind of research when pricing, and different people will set prices at different levels for different kinds of items. Generally they mark an item down gradually until it sells or the price gets so low that they consider it as worthless (they'd rather have the shelf space), then they dump it. How fast an item gets marked down or trashed depends on how much of that type of item a particular thrift store regularly takes in. I know a couple of smaller thrift stores that are pretty well filled with useless garbage, but their intake rate is so low that it sits there with ridiculously high prices forever, because they just don't need the space for anything better. I call that poor management.

 

Clothing is a semi-different story; any clothing that will not sell by the individual garment can still be sold by weight as rags. It's not worth a whole lot - about $10-20 a ton - but when you consider the amount of clothing that passes through larger thrift stores, even that little amount is worthwhile. I read a newspaper article some years back about some groups that buy these "rag bales" of unsellable clothing and give them to the homeless or ship them to 3rd world countries. In places like that it's often a choice between wearing other people's garbage, or nothing.

[Rik]

Does anyone know if the major thrift stores have a formula they use for pricing games and systems, or does someone in the back take a glance at the items and say "I guess this looks old so it will be $5, this looks clean...so it's $15?? I've seen atari games at a Local thrift chain for 99 cents, go to another store in the chain and they are $4.00. Sometimes they have SNES console for $5 other times the same condition system will be $15. Some of the high priced items will sit on the shelf week after week until they dissappear. Perhaps they sold...or perhaps the staff tossed them in the dumpster instead of dropping the price? Has anyone worked at a thrift store? Do they make an effort to sale classic games or does alot of the classic game stuff they recieve wind up in the trash?? Just curious.

The store I go to Value Village sells all game carts $4.00,rare or not,all priced the same,as they are not game specialists,so,game carts are just aonther object to them,good for us though!,ive gotten carts that were worth 5-10 times even 20 times more than what they sell them for,just my experience!

[jpfalcon2003]

Does anyone know if the major thrift stores have a formula they use for pricing games and systems, or does someone in the back take a glance at the items and say "I guess this looks old so it will be $5, this looks clean...so it's $15?? I've seen atari games at a Local thrift chain for 99 cents, go to another store in the chain and they are $4.00. Sometimes they have SNES console for $5 other times the same condition system will be $15. Some of the high priced items will sit on the shelf week after week until they dissappear. Perhaps they sold...or perhaps the staff tossed them in the dumpster instead of dropping the price? Has anyone worked at a thrift store? Do they make an effort to sale classic games or does alot of the classic game stuff they recieve wind up in the trash?? Just curious.

The store I go to Value Village sells all game carts $4.00,rare or not,all priced the same,as they are not game specialists,so,game carts are just aonther object to them,good for us though!,ive gotten carts that were worth 5-10 times even 20 times more than what they sell them for,just my experience!

The stores here like flea markets in the New orleans areas here, I have only seen commons so far. Gave up on those. Really glad you scored well though.

[Zwackery]

Goodwill and a few other majors have entered the Information Age and will have employees check, to varying degrees, the value of items (not just video games but silverware, plates, furniture, first edition books, etc.) on the internet. I have seen other, smaller chains use more of a fixed pricing structure with games hovering somewhere around the prices set for other media like CDs, DVDs, and audio/video tapes. Lately the cheapest I've seen 2600 carts has been 50 cents, with about $1 being the average, Genesis games for $2-3, and NES with a little wide range like from $2-5.

[dojosky]

yep ur right in the old days before eBay was a HIT i collected very easily and real dirt cheap !! but nowadays its sooo DRY ! and low chances finding games now at one good will years years ago i got malagai and boxed crazy climber for 50 cents each ! LOL no kidding ! and boxed mr do castle etc for $2.95 each ... and more

[King_Salamon]

I recall getting all pre-NES carts (boxed or loose) for 25 cents and NES carts for $1. My the good ol-days. Now they figure they have 'collector's items' and slap $5 on a copy of Asteroids. It's no longer any fun to try to collect... people have taken alot of the fun out of the old gaming hobby.

[sku_u]

At one of the Goodwills by me, employees check Ebay to see what items sell well on Ebay and sell them there. For the rest, they look through completed acutions, deduct 20% and round down or up to the nearest 25 cents. I have no idea if that is the norm.

[davepesc]

Place by me uses digital press and ebay. He even prints out what must be the hightst completed auction he could find and tapes it to the item.

[ianoid]

There is no logic. If they price as eBay, the stuff just won't sell. If I wanted to pay eBay I wouldn't be walking around a smelly thrift store. I've noticed over the years that places that price really high just don't sell stuff, and most of them go out of business. Some chains in some regions just don't sell much and don't turn around much, but stay in business because of national clout. Salvation Armies are commonly in this camp. Still, there is no logic. I can say that I am more and more appreciative of honest stores (that is, ones without skimmers who take stuff before it hits the floor) that price game carts reasonably, but high- like in the $3-$5 range. When games are priced under a buck apiece, just about anyone will buy them assuming that they are a deal. When the games are a little higher, the rare games sit a little longer, sometimes even until half price day.

 

So even when thrifts try to price higher, it's always questionable. A $30 SNES setup won't sell until it goes half price, almost invariably.

 

By the way, I've never been to a good thrift store that didn't have half price days.

 

Last comment- thrifts are all as-is places. You actually get alot better service on eBay. Yes, the feedback system and seller's own claims are more valuable than some dingy thrift store's lack of a guarantee. Things you buy on eBay are tested and cleaned. Finally you get your item delivered to your home. No gas, no hassle, no stink. For a thrift to compare what it sells to what people buy on eBay is preposterous. I find it offensive, but it simply is the reality of second hand shopping. Let's face it, it's not a sustainable approach for these stores to stay in business.