annoying garage sales!

[Wester]

Yeah, there's money in it if you know what to look for(which I really don't yet).

[ganonbanned]

Or theres this one guy at my local flea market who has buttloads of atari, NES, SNES, N64, gameboy, PS1, genesis, saturn, dreamcast, and current gen systems who never sell any classic because he trys to sell the games for $15 more than there worth. he also thinks that genesis sonic 3D blast is exetremely rare.

[Dusk2600]

he also thinks that genesis sonic 3D blast is exetremely rare.

 

well he is in luck, i got 1 here for him

[shadow460]

Tell yuor vendor that I normally sell Sonic 3D Blast for five million dollars, but I'll sell it to him for the low, low, sale price of just $499.00

[Dusk2600]

better yet, just smash 1 in front of him

[coreycorey2000]

Wow I've got it lucky then. By hitting up yard sales on Saturday mornings I can usually make an easy $200-300 (probably spend that much too) plus when my family goes they find just as much. So that's $400-600 every weekend. That's not even counting times I actually find something "good". I don't have time for thrifts anymore. Some fleamarkets are okay but generally I find way more at a couple yard sales. A flea market is like 20 yard sales in one place usually with slightly higher prices.

[kevin242]

Last fall I picked up 2 NES's (both worked), 4 control pads, 1 nintendo advantage joystick, and 2 milk crates filled with all best NES games for the grand total of!!! 12 dollars!!!

 

The people sellign the old games thought I was some kind of wierdo or nut or really cheap (one kid goes can't you afford a playstation even?) lol I ended up selling everything for over 300 dollars (dont collect Nintendo stuff)

 

 

My Heavy sixer was purchased for the grand total of 5 dollars. Works and looks perfect.

 

 

You can have alot of tag sales/estate sales if you have the time and get lucky. Alot of times these days I run into people that realise vintage consoles/games and computers have value, so that takes the fun out of it.

[bretthorror]

Not a garage sale, but close. The other day I saw an ad in the paper. Some cat was selling an N64, GBA and Xbox. I've been wanting to pick up an N64 for a long time, so I was excited to call.

 

I call and the guy tells me it's an N64, steering wheel and about 12 games. The games he listed were good, so I asked the price. His reply... $450. My jaw hit the friggin' floor.

[Wester]

Are you sure he didn't mean for the whole lot? It would still be high, but maybe the Xbox and GBA came with a bunch of stuff.

[madhatter667]

"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!"

 

First off, I hate sports games as a general rule... I can't understand how they gave survived as a long running genre. Naturally, there are some exceptions... I played a football, and a boxing game on the XBox360 that were fine party titles.

 

"Be aware of othere people like us out there"

Man, this is a good piece here. honestly... I cannot count how many times I have gone into a thrift store, searching out potential goodies, only to have some dude, usually Hispanic in my area hot on my heels to see what I am scoping out.

If someone picks it up, eyes it over, and then sets it back, it's game... but give everyone interested fair browsing time you know.

 

I think that some people just believe that since it's video game oriented, it's GOING to sell. So at garage sales they mark it up, without realizing that there are only a handful of individuals in any given area that truly care about such things. It's one thing if they are bartering hard for a good sale on an obscure title... but I have seen common carts marked for 4-5 bucks, even at thrift shops where they should be .50-1 dollar. Then I only pay that if I think the cart is worth it. I took a similar ($3) jump on a combat cartridge which looked a little metallic on the label a while ago. I haven't tested it for continuity yet... but it would be sweet if it were the real deal. If it isn't well, I took a $3 gamble that I was more than willing to take.

[Technosis]

"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!"

 

First off, I hate sports games as a general rule... I can't understand how they gave survived as a long running genre. Naturally, there are some exceptions... I played a football, and a boxing game on the XBox360 that were fine party titles.

 

"Be aware of othere people like us out there"

 

Yeah, if a newspaper ad mentions "video games" chances are you are not going to get any extreme bargains. Around here the garage sale ads are paid ads usually about $15 to run (for a few lines of print). So people just mention the "big" things that they have. If they have recognized the games by mentioning them in the ad, you are not going to get them for pocket change. (and there's even a chance they get purchased before the sale even starts. i.e. the night before)

 

About there being other people out there looking, it is so true for this area. There is an extreme concentration of other gamers, ebay'ers, flea mkt vendors, antique dealers,etc. scouring the area. If you are at a sale and even think you might want to buy something you have to walk around with it because if you put it down it will be scooped up right away.

 

The next bit is not gaming related but just shows some garage sale insanity:

 

My fiancee's aunt holds a garage sale every spring and fall. She actually had two antique dealers nearly come to blows in her driveway...the night before the sale no less.

The one guy had come to the door asking for watches and old pens, and left when told to come back in the morning. She heard a crunch out front, and looked to see that this dealer had backed out into the street into the path of a truck. She recognized the other driver as a local dealer that comes to her sales, apparently he was checking out the neighborhood the night before and wasn't looking in front of him......bizarre co-incidence. Anyhow, the two guys nearly went at it when on top of the dented fender and bumper they realized they had run into the competion....literally!

[A.J. Franzman]

I took a similar ($3) jump on a combat cartridge which looked a little metallic on the label a while ago. I haven't tested it for continuity yet... but it would be sweet if it were the real deal. If it isn't well, I took a $3 gamble that I was more than willing to take.

What "real deal" do you mean? What is this metallic-label combat cartridge you're referring to?

[madhatter667]

I have read (and have seen) that there are a number of label variations with the game "Combat", and one had a metallic based label, and it was a pretty rare item... the way to check to see if it is a genuine piece is to hook up a multi-meter to it, and check for continuity, as opposed to just having metallic lettering. I think it was something I had read on here at one point, or it may have been a google search... I don't recall.

 

It could also be complete rumor and speculation though too.

Edited September 29, 2006 by madhatter667

[A.J. Franzman]

AFAIK, most of the Atari and Sears text-label carts have a metal foil layer in the labels (the only exceptions I know of are the high-gloss, deep black Combat label from Taiwan, and the couple of weird later-issue "text"-style labels that don't quite match the format of the original-issue text labels {Star Ship, possibly Othello}). I thought maybe you were referring to a picture label, or a somethingorother "combat" game for another system.

Edited September 29, 2006 by A.J. Franzman

[madhatter667]

Well, at least it seems that I have a copy of Combat in each of the label variations. I have Space Invaders and Q-Bert, and I think Ghostbusters in variations as well. Not like those are particularly rare or anything... just fun.

[bretthorror]

Are you sure he didn't mean for the whole lot? It would still be high, but maybe the Xbox and GBA came with a bunch of stuff.

 

Nope, I only mentioned the 64.

 

 

Either way, someone is gonna have that 64 for a looooooooong time.