Dry flea markets ?

[israelg]

after a long time I had a visit in out local flea market ( jafo ) and as

excepted I didn't find any atari 2600 item ( I did find a mega joy nes clone with 22 games build in ), I think that in the past two years,

there is a drastic fall in atari items, Where do u buy your stuff ?, We don't have retro video games stores here in israel ...

 

is it the same in the U.S also ?

[dwh]

Yeah, blame it on the online auctions, or the lack of alcohol("dry" means no alcohol is available, in the US).

[Max-T]

I live in a city of well over one million people, and I don't know a single game store or pawn shop that still sells Atari stuff. And the last time I went to the flea markets, one had nothing at all and the other had only one seller with a few 2600 carts (all commons, and at ridiculous prices, like "E.T." loose for $6.00). EBay does seem to have siphoned off a lot of the classic gaming market. It's gotten to the point where I'm wondering if it's even worth driving all over the city to try to find stuff anymore.

 

... But as long as I have my Cuttle Cart 2, I think I'll survive.

[RavenonesGF]

I'm sorry to hear that guys. Here in Cincinnati theres plenty of stores and flea markets around that have atari stuff. You may not find rarities like 8,9, and 10 but theres still good games.

[ninjarabbit]

I haven't had much luck lately in flea markets, garage sales, and thrift stores.

[Ralph3]

Today, I just picked up an Atari Pong unit for $5.00 at the flea market I work at. I see a few other sellers (besides me) that have a few 2600 games and NES systems/games.

[christianscott27]

my advice is to find flea markets that do a good turnover, outdoor dirt lot ones are good like that. i hit at least one flea market every weekend, at least half the time i find nothing atari related (or any thing pre-1990). the other half of time though i do pretty well, i always say i'm only just one cardboard box away from having a very good hunt. look for the flea markets that are like giant yardsales, not the giant dollar store type, forget the guy with games table, its the mom cleaning out a cellar who has the atari stuff for cheap.

[gremlin]

it's neigh impossible to find any atari carts around se ohio! maybe i should travel out to cincinatti some weekend...

but then again i shouldn't complain after finding an earthquest waterworld at a fleamarket in logan for $3! but the guy mysteriously disappeared a few weeks later... very twilight zone. and the kooky woman who had a complete odyssey with 20 games isn't there anymore. my advice- buy immediately, don't assume the seller will be there next week!

barrett

[Mr Egg]

after a long time I had a visit in out local flea market ( jafo ) and as  

excepted I didn't find any atari 2600 item ( I did find a mega joy nes clone with 22 games build in ), I think that in the past two years,  

there is a drastic fall in atari items, Where do u buy your stuff ?, We don't have retro video games stores here in israel ...  

is it the same in the U.S also ?

 

i have found that the best cities for atari stuff in the US are up north . in the northern part of the states most houses have basements and attics where people can accumulate junk/atari treasures for decades and then release it to the public in yard sales and flea markets . my cousins up in chicago keep finding atari and nes stuff all the time . down here in the south, people are lucky to even have a garage, i know i dont so stuff does not sit in their houses for too long . i dont know how people live in Israel but from what i heard its mostly apartments so i dont expect apartment dwellers to accumulate that much junk/treasures. i also agree with the theory that ebay has caused much of the dry up.

[Chrispy]

Just this weekend I picked up a 2600 and sega master system for 45$

Thats $22.50 a system.

Also I found a lot of games at the same flea market. Theres also two other ones around St. Louis I go two maybe once a month.

[Adonick]

No offence but that's a little high for flea markets. I usually get 2600's for 10 CDN or less, with games. Same for SMS>

[BlackAtarian]

I didnt know that they had Ataris out there in Israel!

[Atariman]

My Atari findings have actually increased the last few months. I've been going to the same store as I have been all summer for Atari games, but lately, it just seems like people have been bringing in tons of stuff. I managed to pick up Tapper for the 2600 and a few other games (mostly rarity 3-6) for pretty cheap.

 

The flea markets around here have been disappointing, but all-in-all, they always have been. (Boy, oh, boy. Nothing like 10 booths where I can buy some socks... and 100 booths with dried flower arrangements...)

 

Even the goodwills have been picking up a little as of late. Got an Atari 2600 with a bunch of games and one of those woodgrain 'Sears Telegames' cartridge/system holders and a bunch of manuals for $15 not too long ago.

[wrldstrman]

I know the flea markets here theres a guy who runs up to the cars as the park and asks if they have video games.Unless they want to much he buys everything.Guess try and be the first one at the flea market and maybe you can find some stuff.I know around here Iam battling with about a dozen others for games only two of us collect the others just to ebay.I have run across some good stuff at yard sales tho

[AtariDude]

It varies. There are flea markets where it is still possible to get cartridges and various other Atari related items cheap. However it seems that for a lot of flea markets, they find out if they can auction it on eBay first and then only put it on a shelf if it does not sell.

 

In my neck of the woods, I have only found Atari cartridges once at the local flea market (the labels were mostly off) but I can find Nintendo and Sega Genesis items in abundance.

[Philflound]

You'd be surprised at how many people still don't own a computer, have an internet connection, or even know how to sell on Ebay. There are also people I know who hate Ebay. They don't want the hassle of dealing with fees, non-paying bidders, packaging, shipping, etc.

 

It's a tedious thing, and the amount of time and effort, and even money being spent trying to sell an item on Ebay is sometimes not worth it, so people will just get rid of it in a garage sale or flea market.

 

Flea markets are only a good deal if they have a decent amount of "garage sale" sellers. If you have too many of the new "retail" people selling socks, cds, toys, etc, then you won't find the vintage stuff.

 

As for garage/tag sales, when I do it, I hit the classifieds. There is a website here in NJ that has classifieds from like all the papers, so I don't even have to leave my house. I make a list of the towns I'd like to hit, copy/paste into word, print the list, then get my trusty street map and go a hunting. Look for key words in the ad such as vintage electronics, games, toys, etc.

 

Consider making a flyer and putting it up on poles (if you're town allows it), or your local supermarket. Advertise you are buying these items. People WILL call and come a knocking at your door. Though expect to get many commons and duplicates, but this will be the way to get your holy grails. Also, don't be afraid to walk away from a deal. You are buying something that there isn't a vast market for. It's not like stamps or coins. The video game market is a small niche in the collectible world.

 

Thrift stores are decent, possibly some antique stores. Your best bet though would be to talk with the owners. Make up a business card (vistaprint.com gets you a few hundred for $5.00 or so), and ask them to call you first if they get any video games in. Antique stores may actually turn people away trying to sell these items if they don't think there is a market. Though you may want to mention a price you will normally pay, so they don't feel cheated when they buy it and you won't because they want to much. 50 cents per cart is usually a good price, since you'll get commons in the lot, but hopefully a few rare ones. If you can get away with it, try 25 cents.

 

Trust me, I speak from experience. I dumped in 3 auctions in the past month or so, almost 300 carts and didn't put a dent in what I own. I think in my house alone I have over 1000 extra games, plus whatever I have in storage.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Phil

[Philflound]

Oh, forgot to mention one thing. If you can, make friends with your garbage man. Trust me on this one. I have a dealer friend who drives a garbage truck. He makes a large sum of money on stuff he finds in the garbage on his route. In fact, I picked up a few video game collections from him, including all the Atari Age magazines except for the first few, the Data Age record, and some other nifty items.

 

Phil

[Red 5]

Got a neat mint vectrex and 5200 (broken controller of course but console is great) for $50 this weekend at the local flea market. I was very excited. I'll be selling the vectrex but keeping the 5200 as a spare.

I have a 4 port, and this one is a 2 port.

 

Lots of common 2600 games too and a good amount of nes / sega stuff as usual.

[fsuinnc]

I have not found anything Atari at flea markets or thrift stores in almost two years here (Chapel Hill NC). I don't know if someone always gets there before me or the stuff just ain't around anymore. The Flea market I used to hit every weekend and find something now has nothing but NES and newer and the NES stuff is all common. I found some good stuff at a flea in Ashville in summer 2002. Happen to be there againa few months ago and the same dealers had atari stuff but at outragious prices (boxed 2600 $150). I think the growing number of collectors has eaten up the supply. Maybe that's a good thing. Even Pac Man isn't really common anymore!