Today someone tried to sell me...

[Atari Charles]

In Edmonton, there are a slew of fleamarkets. Commodre gear is easy to get for a good price, but Atari stuff is really expensive. I've seen really common cartridges selling for $5, that's just the cart, no manual, no box. I once told one of the shop keepers that his prices for carts was a bit high. She just said that I didn't have to buy them if I didn't want to. She has the same moldy carts week after week(well when I am in Edmonton).

 

Some shop keepers are pretty cool and their prices are fair. Other shop keepers are very unrealistic in what a defaced, beat-up, and dirt Pac-Man will fetch.

 

Too bad.

 

In Edmonton and Kelowna, finding anything Atari in the wild is next to impossible unless you like paying too much money for Combat.

[christianscott27]

when i pulled the DP guide it was pretty much a wits end situation. if anybody here remembers the big top flea market in providence it was the "sex offender registry" guy in the back. he was the type who always had more stuff than you could see at first glance. the had those bread pallets full of games from every era but seemed to know little about them other than what his greedy eyes told him. it was after i hit the place with a friend and fellow collector who picked up a few 2600 mid rares that i got into the SMS caper.

 

the guy was sitting in his cluttered booth on a sunday morning drinking a budweiser while eating "dinty moore beef stew" cold out of the can...NASTY! i dont even think he would have known an SMS if it had hit him on the head, in my view he based his prices on my profile, figuring a clean looking geek would have more cash to spend. i was really wanting a couple of the 3-D games he had and once he sensed that he got greedy. i get really sick of dealers who tell me what the games are worth cause to be not so humble, i know more than they do when it comes to games.

 

at that point in my collecting i did carry around an old DP guide, not for value but as a checklist. it was what used to see what games i needed. now i've moved onto a less bulky palm pilot. i even make a point of leaving a booth and hiding to check my palm pilot, lest the display of gadgetry convince them i'm a rich shark. the way i saw it this guy wasnt going to budge and i really wanted to have fun with him. what the heck the whole flea was closed for being a fire trap a few months later.

 

i'm sort of a flea market wise ass by nature, i've been known to try and talk down the price with dealers selling free AOL trial CDs just to amuse my friends.

[Philflound]

Actually I taught my wife and my mother how to haggle. If a price is extremely fair in my opinion, then I'll just pay it. Unless it's high, even if fair, I'll try and chew down a little. So if something is a buck or two, I won't beg for 50 cents, but if it's $10, I may ask for $8.

 

I hate the dealers who say everything is a "collectible". Most of them don't know anything and they continually try to "sell you" that item. The best is when they say they either sold one or saw one for double or triple what they are asking, or what's in the price guide. Better than that is when their item is in totally shit shape. Then I throw at them, "that's the value of the MINT NEW price! Yours looks like crap."

 

Phil

[Ziggy_Stardust]

Alas, I too have encountered these fools...

 

...once a long time ago at Goodwill, I noticed an Intellivision II, with just the power cord. Price? $25. $25?!?!?! It's missing a vital cord!!!

 

If I ever own a store of any type, fair prices for all will be listed on video games. However, as uncontent as I am with my job, I don't see myself owning any stores in the future.

 

In an unrelated note, the same thing happens with records. I've come across vinyl copies of Dark Side Of The Moon that cost $30. Insane (Surprisingly, the CD only costs, like $7 at Wal-Mart.)

 

Ciao!

[Atari Charles]

Ziggy was the Goodwill on Mars Maybe that's why the martian vender wanted a crazy price. And are we talking about American or Canadian Dollars or Martian Zenolbs?

 

On Ebay, I was checking out what Intellivision II's are on auction(as I recently placed an Intellivions II with power cord) auction of my own), and there were a few Intellivision IIs that didn't have the power supply.

 

I think when people buy an Intellivision II they soemhow assume that they'll be able to easily pick up the power suplly new somewhere

 

I've never found anything good at all at Goodwill, just dusty old clothes and giimmy kitchen gadgets and dishes from the 70's.

 

The only way that I could possibily get a good deal at a flea market for Atari gear, is to by a rare cart from someone unknowledgable. I would just have to hope, he wouldn't grab the cart from my hands, dash to the back, break it open, and damage the guts due to greed.

[oldgames]

I think a lot of people see an Atari cartridge sell for $40 on eBay and think, 'Oh, Atari cartridges must be worth $40'. It never occurs to them that, just like any other collectible, some are a lot more rare and valuable than others. It's like seeing a rare coin sell for $200 and thinking 'Oh, dimes must be worth $200'. Makes no sense. Even our local used video game store has a big bin of old ratty Atari commons for $2.95 each. I check in about every other month to see if they've gotten anything worthwhile and there sits the same bin with the same old ratty carts! They can't seem to grasp that these are just taking up valuable store space. I sell the same type of commons (combat, pacman, etc) at my garage sales for 50 cents each just to stir up interest in the hobby and let people know that I collect. Clears out some space gets me some trades, and lets new collectors have some fun.

[Albert]

Yeah, I've been to more than one flea market where someone saw some prices of Atari 2600 games on the InTeRnEt and then think that ALL 2600 games are worth whatever nutzoid prices they saw online. Some dealers are reasonable, but most whom I've encountered get $$$$ in their eyes once they see these prices. It's usually hopeless to try dealing with them at this point. The same is true for thrift stores.

 

..Al

[Lost Monkey]

The last 3 consoles I have seen in thrifts (that weren't Sega Genesis - I don't even look at those anymore..) were:

 

1. A PSX console - no accessories or games: $50.00 (You know damned well when you find a bare PSX like this, it is probably not going to read CDs anyway...)

 

2. An N64 console - with JUST the A/V cable $50.00. I think it may be the first N64 I've ever found (and left behind) in a thrift...

 

3. A 4 switch woody Atari 2600.. $49.99. Again, no accessories...

 

The worst part of this is... they were all gone at the next visit. I really hope it isn't because someone was ignorant enough to pay these prices...

 

I know Value Village employees are allowed to purchase anything off the floor (at a huge discount) once it has been on the floor for a certain amount of time...

 

 

I used to find consoles with games, controllers, etc in bags or boxes for <$10...