annoying garage sales!

[Dusk2600]

ever go to a garage sale and ask if they have atari and they give u a 10 min story just to say no, or that they threw it away last week, mabye they showed u the stuff and decided not to sell. or they make an ass out of u for wanting "that crap" heres ur chance to vent

 

(ps all this happend to me in 1 day)

[guitarmas]

ever go to a garage sale and ask if they have atari and they give u a 10 min story just to say no, or that they threw it away last week, mabye they showed u the stuff and decided not to sell. or they make an ass out of u for wanting "that crap" heres ur chance to vent

 

(ps all this happend to me in 1 day)

 

Oh hate that shit about "why would you want something so old?" or "An NATARI......((then they laugh))"

 

They need to do a little thinking before they speak.

[MCHufnagel]

What about going to a garage sale that advertises video games and all they have are crappy sports games from the last five years. And then they want $10 each for them!

[shadow460]

Or they want twice what the games are worth, and when you try to make a reasonable offer, they shake their head at you and smile sweetly as if to say "I'm not budging on my price, you moron, can't you see that?"

I guess those kind of people don't need customers, do they?

[guitarmas]

Or they want twice what the games are worth, and when you try to make a reasonable offer, they shake their head at you and smile sweetly as if to say "I'm not budging on my price, you moron, can't you see that?"

I guess those kind of people don't need customers, do they?

 

Well if they're being an ass then no. But if the customer understands that they have no idea about what they're trying to sell then they shouldn't get mad right? I mean 90% of the video game collecting community are individuals who are meek, understanding, but smart and impatient correct?

[sega saturn x]

I avoid garage sales just for these reasons, it's the flea market for me.

[shadow460]

That's where I ran into that one vendor. It was at a flea market, and she refused to budge by even one cent. Her games were all commons priced at $5 each.

I can get them for under a buck at the store, which is what I did. Actually, go look at my 2600 collection I just posted. Aside from the two Starpath titles, the average cost for everything there is $1 per game. There are a few R6's in there, too.

 

 

My response to stubborn garage sale people is "OK, Have a nice day, " then I leave.

Edited July 15, 2006 by shadow460

[Bill Brasky]

ever go to a garage sale and ask if they have atari and they give u a 10 min story just to say no, or that they threw it away last week, mabye they showed u the stuff and decided not to sell. or they make an ass out of u for wanting "that crap" heres ur chance to vent

 

(ps all this happend to me in 1 day)

 

Oh hate that shit about "why would you want something so old?" or "An NATARI......((then they laugh))"

 

They need to do a little thinking before they speak.

 

That's when you're supposed to start kicking over all their tables and then punch the old guy in the heart as hard as you can. That's what I do. If they're selling tools substitute claw hammer for fist and skull for heart.

[Bill Brasky]

ever go to a garage sale and ask if they have atari and they give u a 10 min story just to say no, or that they threw it away last week, mabye they showed u the stuff and decided not to sell. or they make an ass out of u for wanting "that crap" heres ur chance to vent

 

(ps all this happend to me in 1 day)

 

There are these same tools that come to my garage sales every summer. Our signs say "open 10-5" and these dickheads always come knocking on your door at like 8 am trying to beat everyone to the deals and want in early and pretend like they didn't see the sign. These guys always come in asking for old records or old watches. I always say " oh man, I just sold crates of old 50's/Elvis records/old watches for $1, right before you came in" just to watch them tear their hair out.

 

How about the turds that when they do a garage sale they don't even put the stuff on tables, they just lay it on the ground and they don't put prices on anything so you have ask. I'm glad I gave up garage sales years ago.

[Brian R.]

I went to a flea market once where I guy had a ton of Atari stuff, but he refused to sell me any because he said it was raining.

 

But it wasn't raining.

[Dusk2600]

I went to a flea market once where I guy had a ton of Atari stuff, but he refused to sell me any because he said it was raining.

 

But it wasn't raining.

 

 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

 

LOLOLOL wow thats funny omg lolol i wanna use that as my signature quote

[NovaXpress]

How about you guys getting a clue and realizing that a very small percent of the population gives a fuck about classic games? Why don't you go up and demand to see their covered wagon supplies while you're at it? Or bitch up a storm because they didn't understand your request for a replica Monkeemobile? Why the hell are you people so egotistical that you expect the whole world to share your devotion to a 30-year old game system? It's a specialty market. Get used to that fact.

 

You all sound like a buch of old women trying to get into a Sunday white sale.

Edited July 15, 2006 by NovaXpress

[eric_ruck]

Actually I tend to make out ok at the garage sales around here but the one and only flea market is horrible. Lots of Latinos selling Genesis/GBC era games for crazy high prices. Maybe not willing to haggle with me because I don't speak Spanish, I dunno, or maybe they find suckers willing to pay $60 for a Genesis 2.

 

On the other hand I did get one of those flying saucer things for $1 at a garage sale. While it's not worth the $20 that KB is asking for it, it is way more than $1 worth of fun, especially watching the dog trying to do flying leaps off the picnic table to catch it. For $1 I don't really care if he does get it.

 

Eric

[CARTRIDGE STEALER]

I love garage sales!! I go every saturday. i dont always get good stuff. month ago I scored about 30 NES games for $4.

 

my best haul to date was 2 summers ago when a guy was selling an ATARI 5200 MIOB (played with only twice!!!) he had it in its original wrapping still! not only that, he had 5 MIOB cartridges! I believe it was MS PAC MAN, PAC MAN, POLE POSITION, DIG DUG and something else all for $20!!

 

I talked him down from $25. Aint I cheap?

Edited July 16, 2006 by CARTRIDGE STEALER

[guitarmas]

Why the hell are you people so egotistical that you expect the whole world to share your devotion to a 30-year old game system? It's a specialty market. Get used to that fact.

 

Someone is human on this board.

[Dusk2600]

How about you guys getting a clue and realizing that a very small percent of the population gives a fuck about classic games?

 

100% correct.

 

It's a specialty market. Get used to that fact.

 

 

also correct.

 

point is that if someone asks for something specific at a garage sale they shouldnt be treated like shit or made a fool of. "Oh hate that shit about why would you want something so old?" or "An NATARI......((then they laugh))"

 

everyone at garage sales are looking for someone elses shit, deals, freebies and so on.... so why diss ones passion. im not dissing their pog collection i just wanna know if they have something specific thats all

 

we can not expect everyone to understand our intrests, to do that is selfish, but to respect it is not asking much.

 

*Added 1 sentence on edit*

Edited July 16, 2006 by Dusk2600

[Brian R.]

How about you guys getting a clue and realizing that a very small percent of the population gives a fuck about classic games? Why don't you go up and demand to see their covered wagon supplies while you're at it? Or bitch up a storm because they didn't understand your request for a replica Monkeemobile? Why the hell are you people so egotistical that you expect the whole world to share your devotion to a 30-year old game system? It's a specialty market. Get used to that fact.

 

You all sound like a buch of old women trying to get into a Sunday white sale.

 

And just how does a troll like you amass more than 10,000 posts on a subject he apparently loathes?

[shadow460]

'cuz he's not really a troll. I think he's just playing the devil's advocate.

But still, don't we see that the whole world doesn't collect classic video games? Gasp!

[Paranoid]

The problem is that people in America do not know how to barter or haggle. It doesn't matter if they are the seller or the buyer. They go in with a chip on their shoulder about the offer. I offered a guy $150 cash for an Atari 7800 system with CC2 here and he acted like I had slapped him in the face. He got real offended. Called it "lowball". If I were trying to lowball something like that, I'd wait for someone *real* desperate and offer him $50.

 

When I go garage-sailing and I see something I want, I find the seller, and give him a scrap of paper with my number on it. I tell him, "I want this item, but I'm looking at garage sales because I want it CHEAP. If you don't sell it, and you still want to get rid of it, call me after the sale and I'll come back and give you $x for it...

 

Probably 4 or 6 times out of 10 I get a call back. Sometimes they still want to haggle, which I'm ok with.

 

The other thing to do is hit the sale RIGHT at closing time, or a few minutes after. They're tired, they want to close up, clean up, and they're not looking forward to loading all the crap up and hauling it to Goodwill. They've got a pocket full of money and they've realized at some point in the day that they need to be negotiable and that those quarter or buck sales are adding up. They'll usually take anything green with a dead president on it, at this point, for just about anything.

 

Among some of my better scores... a nice metal frame futon with mattress for $20... Three iron, glass and wood tables that retail for around $400 each for $80... (My wife was ecstatic about that one)... and a ton of misc. computer systems for generally around $5-$10 each.

 

Oh... recently I caught a sale closing and they had about 5 XBox titles marked at $10 each. I grabbed two that I liked out of the 5, and offered $5 for both of them. The guy wasn't going to, and his wife went, "Sell it to him. You don't want that crap anymore anyhow".

 

Don't take a lot of money, don't take a credit card. Have $20 top in your pocket. And, when you make an offer, acknowledge that you're a cheap-skate, low-ball bastard right up front and tell them you don't want the item unless they can't sell it to any other sucker. Often, they can't.

 

Learn to spot the other guys like you, too... the professionals, the collectors, the antique dealers. Give them room, don't step on their deals, and don't let them catch onto yours. Flea Market, garage sale, thrift store, wherever... those guys are at all the same places you are, and most of them collect generally. I was in Bakersfield at a Goodwill and found my Intellivision buried under a bunch of electronics in the back, for $5. There was a guy at the front with arms full of electronic gadgets. He looked like he wanted to cry because he had missed the Intellivision.

 

The "come in at closing time" applies to car purchases too. Come in right before closing, on a long weekend, after eating, taking care of all your personal business. Have no worries and no hurries, and have the dealer and manager just DYING to get out of there.

[sega saturn x]

The best way to avoid this crap is to just not go to garage sales. I've yet to find a decent deal at one. And everything is always in bum shape anyway.

[Crazy Climber]

I've had similar experiences. The bottom line is when you are hunting for the rare stuff it feels like too many people are collecting, but when you look at the big picture it's really not as many people as you think collecting games. Re-selling seems to be the popular thing to do now which can drive prices up at garage sales. If someone see's there same Atari system attempting to be sold on Ebay for 150.00 then they will probably try the same thing if they don't have a lot of knowledge on the hobby.

[Crazy Climber]

Sorry, new computer is a little touchy (Double Post)

Edited July 16, 2006 by Crazy Climber

[Crazy Climber]

The best way to avoid this crap is to just not go to garage sales. I've yet to find a decent deal at one. And everything is always in bum shape anyway.

This may be a rumor but I heard that a collector on this site found a sealed Music Machine at a church yard sale, that sounds pretty good to me.

[MCHufnagel]

I avoid garage sales just for these reasons, it's the flea market for me.

To be honest, I've done much better at garage sales than at flea markets. To me the trouble with flea markets is that too many sellers base their prices with ebay auctions. People at garage sales are really just interested in getting rid of stuff. That's why you can get deals there. Now garage sales are more time consuming and I've come up empty handed more than once. But overall, I love them.

[Flack]

Putting up with the odd look or long-winded response is a small price to pay for occasionally finding good deals. I bought a set of shelves off of Craig's List earlier today. While picking them up I told them that they were doing in my game room and described it to them. When I got home I had an e-mail waiting from the seller, informing me that they found some Atari games in their closet that I could have for free if I went back out to pick them up.