The great thrift store famine

[thadsilverfox]

 

Tesla manufactures electric cars. They've been making headlines for years because they're the first to make these cars affordable for average people. You definitely don't need to own one of these cars to have heard of the company, or Elon Musk - they're pretty big names in their field. And frankly, I've never heard of Mark Cuban, but I'm not going to act like he isn't famous because my limited sphere of knowledge happens to not include him.

 

You're reading to much into my posts and drawing conclusions. I just never heard anyone use that name in that context when talking about success. I must be in the minority although I did asked a hand full of friends & family today if they ever heard of him and all I got was blank stares.

Edited April 10, 2016 by thadsilverfox

[fiddlepaddle]

 

Tesla manufactures electric cars. They've been making headlines for years because they're the first to make these cars affordable for average people. You definitely don't need to own one of these cars to have heard of the company, or Elon Musk - they're pretty big names in their field. And frankly, I've never heard of Mark Cuban, but I'm not going to act like he isn't famous because my limited sphere of knowledge happens to not include him.

70 thou is not affordable for average people, and you subsidize him with your tax dollars, substantially. And unless you charge it from a solar panel farm (how many square feet of dedicated sunny land is required to charge one car per day?), it's essentially a coal-powered car. Tesla isn't the first either; electric cars were available a hundred years ago. They really can't compete toe to toe with gas powered vehicles economically, not then or now.

 

Musk is overrated, in my opinion.

[atarilovesyou]

For me, thrift stores were never much of a retro haven. Flea markets, yes...to some degree. But there's only two stores I know of in my province that deal with retro, and oddly enough they do great business. I have NO clue where they're getting this stuff, though. The newer game places that used to cater to retro gamers, however, have dried up in my area. I'm glad I got the deals that I did, because it is sparse to say the least.

 

Pricing the stuff like it's ebay isn't helping, either. That's what those newer shops do, and it's dumb. The thing that keeps the other stores around is that the prices are actually quite reasonable, and they get a lot of stuff sold back, keeping it in circulation. It's not just disappearing into a collector's vault, these are games for gamers. And the retro stuff is popular, make no mistake. Perhaps not enough to base your business model on, but it's happening for sure.

[atarilovesyou]

Off tip

 

70 thou is not affordable for average people, and you subsidize him with your tax dollars, substantially. And unless you charge it from a solar panel farm (how many square feet of dedicated sunny land is required to charge one car per day?), it's essentially a coal-powered car. Tesla isn't the first either; electric cars were available a hundred years ago. They really can't compete toe to toe with gas powered vehicles economically, not then or now.

 

Musk is overrated, in my opinion.

 

 

I totally agree. It's like he's become the real-life Tony Stark, and Nerdonia is singing his praises. Go watch "What happened to the electric car? Part 2" and you'll see what I mean. I have no clue who funds this guy, because while he's a remarkably smart guy and all, it's not like he's the answer to the world's problems like some in Nerdonia praise...the guy is an entrepreneur, plain and simple. No more enviable than some other rich guy. From my viewpoint, the guy in an inventor and should be praised as such...not elevated to some platform, some demigod of a character.

 

And as soon as the other car manufactures take all his good ideas and market them to the lower income folks, Tesla will be left out in the rain, catering to rich folks....which was his M.O. from the beginning. Luxury electric vehicles for rich folks.

[Skippy B. Coyote]

That's where I'm at as well. I could walk into any thrift store and buy xbox or PS2 games if I wanted just to say I "found" something, but my wish list is quite small and mostly consists of big box pc games, Tandy Coco, C64, Atari 8-bit or homebrews. Almost none of which ever shows up around here, at least in the last several years, so it's online or nothing.

I certainly know the feeling. For me it's the Game Boy and Game Boy Color that I'm collecting for, and at this point the only games I still want are either really obscure titles that didn't sell well or games that were produced in such limited numbers that they've become very rare and expensive. Plus there's a few Japanese and European imports that I've been hunting around for, and my odds of finding those locally aren't too good either.

 

On the upside of things, aside from a handful of chase rare titles these systems are pretty cheap to collect for even taking eBay pricing into account. There's not many games I still want for my collection that will set me back more than $10 or $15 when a good condition cartridge eventually turns up on eBay, so even though what I'm looking for is hard to find it's not going to be very expensive when I do eventually locate a copy online. I'd imagine the same is probably true for most of the systems that you're collecting for.

[karokoenig]

Here in Germany, the model "thrift store" isn't all that widespread. In the city where I live (>300k people), there is exactly one. And there's a used game store right across the street. So yeah... guess where all the games will go immediately...

[Keatah]

EM started paypal with the express purpose of funding his companies.

[Andromeda Stardust]

yea I drop in twice a week and have found a famiclone and yars revenge in like 5 years, not all goodwills are equal

 

The one thrift store that does carry games around here that I have found doesn't mark them the look it up on eBay when you ask

And that's exactly why they still have the stuff in stock.

 

As mentioned above, if you do want to find anything you must go regularly and perhaps several times a day. That's what the resellers do and they do this because it IS their job. What I've noticed though is that a great many resellers don't hold down regular jobs. I know of at least two in my area that flip video games because they can't or won't hold down a job. Too stressful, boss is a meanie head, I'm lazy, getting up before noon sucks. I think there's a pattern to these charmers.

Yeah, and they're probably collecting from SSI and/or disability income, so they can afford to drive around all day long raiding thrift shops, flea markets, and garage sales for deals.

 

They use reselling to pad their income. You can usually tell these blokes apart from the hardcore collectors / professional resellers by searching their inventory. If they have a lot of miscellaneous items that don't belong together, they're likely either cleaning out their attick / garage, or more likely flipping anything they can find. And many of the people with huge stocks of game items may be selling out of the back of a shop somewhere, especially with the more obscure stuff.

 

Also many eBay resellers are unemployed housewives or soccer moms who hunt thrift stores when the kids are in school. I've bought gamres from eBay dealers before, then I browse their for sale to see if I can lump anything together for shipping discount, and they've got a few games listed and a crap ton of purses or dolls or other items women generally collect that I wouldn't associate with gaming. Look at the names on your eBay invoices. A surprising number of sellers are women.

[Keatah]

If I'm gonna pay ebay prices I better damned well be getting genuine ebay merchandise! Not some garage sale crap.

[NinjaWarrior]

And that's exactly why they still have the stuff in stock.

 

Yeah, and they're probably collecting from SSI and/or disability income, so they can afford to drive around all day long raiding thrift shops, flea markets, and garage sales for deals.

 

They use reselling to pad their income. You can usually tell these blokes apart from the hardcore collectors / professional resellers by searching their inventory. If they have a lot of miscellaneous items that don't belong together, they're likely either cleaning out their attick / garage, or more likely flipping anything they can find. And many of the people with huge stocks of game items may be selling out of the back of a shop somewhere, especially with the more obscure stuff.

 

Also many eBay resellers are unemployed housewives or soccer moms who hunt thrift stores when the kids are in school. I've bought gamres from eBay dealers before, then I browse their for sale to see if I can lump anything together for shipping discount, and they've got a few games listed and a crap ton of purses or dolls or other items women generally collect that I wouldn't associate with gaming. Look at the names on your eBay invoices. A surprising number of sellers are women.

 

I have disability income

 

But I buy to keep not to resell, I would never do that. I have to get Food & Stuff what I really need

 

The last thing I bought at the Goodwill was a Genesis Extention Cable, Not much to find. Buut you have to get lucky

[Zookeeper]

At this point I guess I should bank on a crash, hoping things become sane again someday. Little point in going after the crazy expensive stuff, as I don't have much money anyhow. And if it doesn't happen, I guess there's nothing I can do.

Edited April 10, 2016 by Zookeeper

[madhatter667]

"Yeah, and they're probably collecting from SSI and/or disability income, so they can afford to drive around all day long raiding thrift shops, flea markets, and garage sales for deals."

-I think that is n over-estimation of the income levels of those on disability. I have a very close friend on SSI, and he only gets about $600 a month. My mother in law is on disability, and she gets even less. Afford in terms of time? Maybe. Afford in terms of cost (fuel, items to resell etc)? Not as likely.

Edited April 10, 2016 by madhatter667

[Keatah]

I suppose we could be grateful to those that do the cruise and make the rounds. They take care of the nitty-gritty stuff, brave the elements, filter out some of the junk, and all we have to do is click-buy. The stuff shows up at our doorstep in a few days.

[Retro-Z]

I suppose we could be grateful to those that do the cruise and make the rounds. They take care of the nitty-gritty stuff, brave the elements, filter out some of the junk, and all we have to do is click-buy. The stuff shows up at our doorstep in a few days.

 

This is exactly what I was getting at earlier. Online resellers with FAIR PRICES are definitely an asset.

 

In my experience, it's never been "easy" to find the really good stuff "in the wild". Sometimes it's possible to get lucky, but usually making a big score relies on a lot of patience, persistence, and hard work. Just because someone can't walk into a thrift store and find a full Atari 7800 system for $5 doesn't mean the stuff isn't out there.

 

I have a short list of SNES games I keep an eye out for, primarily titles from my youth that I remember renting at Blockbuster as a kid. In over 5 years of looking, I have NEVER found a copy of Air Strike Patrol or Choplifter III in person (including at numerous independent and corporate gaming stores). These aren't even rare or valuable games! In situations like this, I am THANKFUL for eBay resellers listing up games like these for less than $20 shipped. Saves me a ton of time finding those specific games, and I get to enjoy the game sooner rather than later.

 

So yeah, the "golden age" of finding tons of interesting vintage gaming stuff at thrift stores has probably come to an end. However, it's completely inevitable that this would occur. it's still a great time to be a vintage video game collector/gamer, with TONS of different sources for great vintage games, modern homebrews, vintage gaming collectibles, etc. Plus, if someone is persistent enough to keep looking, I guarantee they'll find something cool from time to time. Or just find a fair price for it on eBay, buy it, have it shipped directly to you, and save yourself from all of that hassle...

Edited April 11, 2016 by Retro-Z

[The Usotsuki]

"Yeah, and they're probably collecting from SSI and/or disability income, so they can afford to drive around all day long raiding thrift shops, flea markets, and garage sales for deals."

-I think that is n over-estimation of the income levels of those on disability. I have a very close friend on SSI, and he only gets about $600 a month. My mother in law is on disability, and she gets even less. Afford in terms of time? Maybe. Afford in terms of cost (fuel, items to resell etc)? Not as likely.

Just for the record, I get SSI - $820 a month including the state part, plus food stamps. It's enough to survive, but not a lot free after taking care of the bills.

 

Makes the retro hunt kinda difficult, really.

[madhatter667]

Which reinforces the point: SSI, and disability income is next to nothing, and it would be hard to fund a reselling operation on funds that probably don't fully cover the necessities.

[Skippy B. Coyote]

Just for the record, I get SSI - $820 a month including the state part, plus food stamps. It's enough to survive, but not a lot free after taking care of the bills.

 

Makes the retro hunt kinda difficult, really.

I'm in the exact same boat. After taking care of the necessities I have about $60 leftover from my SSDI every month to spend on whatever I want. Since I don't have a car, that means that retro game hunting locally costs me bus money and digs in to what little cash I've got left. On the upside of things, my wife (who is also disabled and getting SSDI) is into retro games too and is usually happy to pitch in some of her spare funds for larger gaming purchases like new consoles and such. We're actually planning on pooling our money to get an Everdrive for our NES next month.

 

Still, money is always really tight for us and there's no way that either of us could afford all the traveling expenses to be resellers.

Edited April 11, 2016 by Jin

[Sharkham]

Honestly? I think that the thrift store famine is because nostalgia's a commodity now, and it's big business. That's why "retro game shop" has become a viable business model in itself; for whatever reason, people (myself included) all want retro junk. I remember, as a kid, I would see lots of Sega Genesis stuff in particular at the Goodwill near my childhood home, but now, there's absolutely nada. I don't think I've seen a single video game worth talking about there in years.

When I first bought my Atari 2600 - and it's not even the classic '70s woodgrain model, it's the Sears Video Arcade II - I think it cost me $70. And games on shelves can vary from $1 to $8, and if you dare to buy anything individually online, you'll probably pay $10 after S&H. Obviously, the biggest bang for your buck comes from lots, but if you do that, it's inevitable that you'll double dip and end up with five different copies of Combat. But this stuff is just Atari - big name Nintendo stuff dwarfs these already notable prices. I also collect for the Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64, and Nintendo Gamecube that I've owned for years now, but that's just because I've held onto them ever since I was a kid, and although it's hardly as retro as Atari, I've noticed an enormous surge in Gamecube prices for some reason.

Its just that the demand is higher than it's ever been and resellers are capitalizing on that fact. From what I've seen, the typical "hidden gem" Super Nintendo game costs $20, classics can cost up to $40, and Nintendo 64 carts are higher - I think there's a loose cartridge of Conker's Bad Fur Day sitting in my local shop's cases with a hefty $80 sticker on it. From what I gather, Conker is a rarer game than most, but still. The "garage sale goldmine" effect is dying out too, because I think anyone that still has this kind of stuff has caught wind of how valuable it is. Any scant scenarios where a treasure trove of games is being sold for nickels are definitely going to end up in some naive Suburban Mom's kid coming home from college very upset.

Honestly? I blame popular internet collectors/reviewers like James Rolfe (Angry Video Game Nerd), Jon Jafari (JonTron), Mark Bussler (Classic Game Room), etc. They kind of romanticized the whole idea of a "game room" lined wall to wall with retro games (and I would be lying if I said I wasn't a big fan of James and Mark), even though these people clearly not only had money to burn on collecting, but are smart collectors who have been collecting since childhood, and by virtue of that have been collecting since way before the big boom in the market. They're the kind of guys who used to be able to buy a bloated garbage bag full of NES cartridges for a pittance, but they and their typical audience member just can't do that anymore. When a bunch of impressionable fans wanted to start collecting too, not only did demand increase, but the resellers noticed. So it's impossible to collect on that scale anymore without lots of disposable income just because of how many people are collecting.

The whole reason that I started collecting Atari was because I had just lost interest in the huge, expansive, and demanding games of the modern day. I was attracted to the arcade-style simplicity of the old Atari library. Atari has the kinds of games that I can literally boot up with the flick of a switch and start playing - most of the time, there's not even a main menu. I oftentimes find myself awake at night, not tired enough to sleep but too tired to do anything else, and ever since I bought that Atari, those games have proved almost therapeutic, if not meditative. Somehow, the fuzzy aesthetic of Asteroids acts as a retro lullaby that helps clear my head. Furthermore, getting into Atari has made me very interested in the company's heyday. I love the "wild west" of creativity it was back then, as the era was full of quirky cowboy coders who were doing a lot of extremely difficult programming tasks with limited technology. The things these guys could do was fascinating, and I have a lot of respect for the innovative gems that came out of the time. Even now, the elegance of Yar's Revenge or the graphical effects of Robot Tank wow me.

I bring this up because I'm a very utilitarian collector of old games. I try to pick only the good ones that I'll probably keep playing. I'm not into, say, copping E.T. or Pac-Man just for the sake of having them. I'm not collecting for collecting's sake, I'm collecting because I enjoy the things I choose to collect, and I'm sure there's plenty of people here who feel the same way - however, a thousand and one resellers are all about hoarding every game they can find and hiking up the prices, which screws over the people just trying to, you know, play games.

The short of it is that anything with Mario on the front is going to sell for $50 or more until the end of time, or until this ridiculous reseller market collapses and we can finally pay fair prices for mass produced thirty-year old cartridges and consoles.

Edited April 12, 2016 by Sharkham

[Andromeda Stardust]

 

I have disability income

 

But I buy to keep not to resell, I would never do that. I have to get Food & Stuff what I really need

 

The last thing I bought at the Goodwill was a Genesis Extention Cable, Not much to find. Buut you have to get lucky

 

Just for the record, I get SSI - $820 a month including the state part, plus food stamps. It's enough to survive, but not a lot free after taking care of the bills.

 

Makes the retro hunt kinda difficult, really.

 

I'm in the exact same boat. After taking care of the necessities I have about $60 leftover from my SSDI every month to spend on whatever I want. Since I don't have a car, that means that retro game hunting locally costs me bus money and digs in to what little cash I've got left. On the upside of things, my wife (who is also disabled and getting SSDI) is into retro games too and is usually happy to pitch in some of her spare funds for larger gaming purchases like new consoles and such. We're actually planning on pooling our money to get an Everdrive for our NES next month.

 

Still, money is always really tight for us and there's no way that either of us could afford all the traveling expenses to be resellers.

Just a heads up, I didn't mean to single anybody out. Being poor or on disability sucks, as does being unemployed.

 

I recently graduated community college with an Associates in Industrial Technology, although I am currently unemployed *still* living at home with my mom. My dad passed away in 2002. Most of the funds I spend on living expenses and games is royalties and inheritance from some joint ventures between me and my uncle. Money I should really be saving towards retirement. I get 45%, or half minus a ten percent "management fee". It's not much, about ten grand a year, sometimes more, but that's a lot considering I can eat meals at my mom's and basically live rent free.

 

Now that I've graduated, I'm in a bit of a conundrum. I have no recent work history, last paying job in 2008. I also am not "fresh meat" out of school, being now 35 and only having an Associates and a couple certificates to show. My local Community college is offering free OSHA10 safety training and industrial readiness course free of charge with federal grant money, which I'm currently enrolled. Once I get my OSHA card, is off to a temp agency, because that's likely the only way I'll get my foot in the door.

 

I was merely iterating a fact that reselling is a full time job that doesn't really pay much. You get lucky once in a while but it's mostly flipping old junk for five, ten dollars here and twenty there with little reward. Gas is at an all time low right now, especially in the south, which probably helps. These vultures scouring the flea markets, thrift shops, etc certainly mustn't be holding an additional full time job and still have extra free time to hunt during the morning hours and post found items online in the afternoon/evening so that the auctions end when the 9-5ers are off work and on the internet. I imagine many resellers are either part time or otherwise underemployed, have some source of supplemental income, or are married to a full-time spouse with a posh job that provides them with everything.

 

I was by no means suggesting that members here on disability/SSI/whatever are taking the "easy road" by not holding employment and spending free time playing games. It's not a position I or most would willingly chose to be in. I apologize if my comment came across like that.

[Sharkham]

I just mentioned James Rolfe (Angry Video Game Nerd) in my big diatribe a few hours ago, and turns out that a few days ago, his pal Mike Matei posted a video where he talks with some other collector about how the whole scene kind of changed as more people got into it and got more knowledgeable.

 

 

"I was collecting games in college, in 2000, in 1999, 2000, 2001, when really, no one cared then...now it's totally different, because people see it as a collector thing, and people understand..."

Edited April 12, 2016 by Sharkham

[Skippy B. Coyote]

Just a heads up, I didn't mean to single anybody out.

I was by no means suggesting that members here on disability/SSI/whatever are taking the "easy road" by not holding employment and spending free time playing games. It's not a position I or most would willingly chose to be in. I apologize if my comment came across like that.

It's all good man, I didn't think you meant anything hurtful by it. Everyone has their own problems that they have to deal with in life, whether it's being unemployed, disabled, a chronic foot sniffer, or whatever. We've all got our challenges that we have to deal with, and that's just kinda part of life. I don't think I would have chosen to have the stomach and intestinal problems that keep me from working and landed me on disability, since feeling like you've got the stomach flu a couple days every week does really suck sometimes, but on the plus side it does give me a lot of time to spend with my family and indulge hobbies like playing old video games. Even though being poor and disabled wouldn't have been my first choice for how my life was going to go it's still not all bad. I like to think that there's an upside to everything that life throws our way... though, now that I really think about it, I'm not sure exactly what the upside to being a chronic foot sniffer would be.

[Gentlegamer]

All of my Amiibos are unboxed.

 

Too many collectors with pegboards and unopened sh** everywhere; it looks like they're running a retail shop in their basement or something. I have a special shelf now devoted to small trinkets and figurines, the vast majority of which are Amiibos.

 

My intention to was to buy amiibo because they were cool little Nintendo figures, but I didn't quite know how I wanted to display them. It started with three... then grew. Anyway, they were placed, still in packaged, on a shelf while I worked on rearranging some things.

 

Problem is... they kinda look good in the package.

 

Help.

[madhatter667]

Lol. That was a pretty good video linked there. It's odd thinking back that it has been a pretty fair amount of time to watch the environment change.

[+FujiSkunk]

As a thrift store volunteer, I can say that stuff does still get donated. Those who keep an eye on my marketplace threads can tell you even great stuff still comes in periodically. However, even the managers of the store have acknowledged they don't see the volume of games and gaming hardware that they used to. There are the reasons already mentioned -- more collectors, more awareness -- and there is the simple fact there isn't that much left to be donated in the first place. Even if Retro wasn't the big market that it has become, I suspect by now we would still lament how we don't find mountains of old Atari, Sega and Nintendo cartridges the way we used to.

 

Also as a thrift store volunteer, I admit I'm kinda-sorta part of the "problem". I go through what gets donated and sell the best bits online (mostly on here and below eBay prices, so hopefully nobody here hates me too much ). Consequently, anyone who browses this particular store hoping to find buried gaming treasure is going to be disappointed. I see the other side of the story, though. The Goodwills and the Value Villages aside, most thrift stores exist to support a good charity. My particular store provides food and other assistance to the local needy, and other stores near me support various animal welfare programs and a battered women's shelter. These are worthy causes that benefit from the extra cash online sales bring. Still, even with the "in" I have, I would rather not see video game sales dry up completely at local thrifts. That's why I make the effort to sell things in the store as well, particularly bundles that give buyers everything they need to play in one single purchase, games included. Sometimes I feel I should sell more individual games in the store as well, and I may still make that effort, but unfortunately in places like this, anything small that anyone might consider collectible has a tendency to walk out of the store on its own, and there is only so much room behind the counter and in the display cabinet.

 

So, yes, the wells are running dry, but I don't think you can blame the stores, or at least not the good local shops. And like I've said before, if you have the opportunity, I recommend volunteering your services. Before I linked up with my store, the staff was letting stuff pile up in a room because they knew video games "might" be valuable but didn't really know how to tap that value. I've also heard horror stories from other potential volunteers about how some shops still throw stuff away because they don't know any better! With a little effort and a little luck, there are still feasts to be found.

[Osgeld]

good local shops are getting hard to find, there's oh maybe 6 "thift stores" just down the road

 

Goodwill, who has 1 handicapped guy that seems to run the place, the rest are mostly teenagers, everything techy goes downtown to their computer center and on their website, never anything of any interest

 

the "cares" place, which was on the news last year for embellishment, I found a cockroach hotel genesis 2 in there, decided to leave it, otherwise all clothes and books

 

The one at the old folks home thats ran by a church, they are ok, but rarely anything but clothes and trinkets

 

The other 3 are really for profit found junk resellers that put thrift store in their names, 24.99 for a copy of super mario / duck hunt assheads