Lost my favorite thrift shop.

[davepesc]

I knew I was in trouble when my favorite thrift shop put a sign out advertising that they "Buy Sell Trade Video Games."

 

They never really had a lot of games, but I would usually find something new every week in a dusty cardboard box. Now, they have a roped-off section. That's right, you have to track down an employee and ask to go in the game room, or break the sanctity of the string. Any way, they must have been saving stuff up, because they have a decent selection of classic and current games.

 

The only thing is, I have no idea what they base their pricing on. Atari commons that used to be $1-$2 are now $5. Master system games are $8 minimum. Come on, Hang On/Safari Hunt in a cracked case is not worth $8. But the best of all is......(wait for it)...... in a glass display case is a sealed, but crushed, copy of E.T. I get closer to the case and I look in.....The price tag reads.......$20 RARE COMPLETE.

 

Oh my god.

 

They also had a sealed Frogs & Flies for $10.

 

Systems (as is)

2600: $40

5200 and 7800: $50

Odyseey 2: $100

N64: $50 (IIRC)

 

Their PS2 games were all around $10-$20, which is OK depending on the title.

 

I bought a blue label Grand Prix with box and inst for $5, so there are still some allright buys there, but things will get more difficult, I'm sure.

I also really want a sealed F&F for personal reasons (see my post on the 2600 board). There are none on Ebay, so I may go back and get it.

 

I've also never seen an O2 in box. What do they sell for?

 

Anyone else ever see their favorite shop start to think they were a game store?

[SimonTemplar]

At the value village around here I used to find rare carts once in a while, they`ve started pricing loose genesis consoles 29.99 , nintendo NES 29.99 , mario bros duck hunt 9.99 . I think they have gone crazy but I still find rare carts there. I won`t mind paying 5$ for a quadrun or a bumper bash.

[sku_u]

A boxed O2 can be had for less than half that on Ebay during the off season.

 

Maybe the rope is there b/c it's really meant to be a museum of a time capsule which about all it will be with those prices.

[adams_ale]

The local pawn shops namely "Cash Converters" have been selling Atari 2600 consoles with a few games(6 or less) for 100 bucks! Have these buyers never heard of Ebay?! They are a hot seller in this town, especially as it get's closer to Christmas. Thankfully the games are still a buck or less each. I've thought of selling my extra 4 switch which they usually sell, but I'm sure they wouldn't give me more than 15 bucks for it. Another example of the jacked prices is that Nintendo 8-bit systems are selling for 60 dollars. I've noticed that the NES is becoming much more collectible and as such the prices have been on the rise. Soon to be gone will be the days of thrifting for Atari and NES.

[bjk7382]

Yeah, there is a pawn shop near my house that have all their nes games mraked at $10 each

[Brad2600]

At the value village around here I used to find rare carts once in a while, they`ve started pricing loose genesis consoles 29.99 , nintendo NES 29.99 , mario bros duck hunt 9.99 . I think they have gone crazy but I still find rare carts there. I won`t mind paying 5$ for a quadrun or a bumper bash.

 

Damn! Sounds like another good reason to visit your neck of the woods. I remember flea markets that I used to go to in Quebec but they had mostly Coleco handhelds and a Bambino handheld for games.

[Chrispy]

I paid $40 for my 2600 Vader.

Yeah, I paid too much, but I had an NES and wanted to try a new classic system and I never played and 2600 and I got all excited remembering when I was little watching my bro and our cousins playing.

 

THe place where I bought my vader at had 2600 carts in a $1.95 bin.

 

$100 for Oddy 2 is crazy!

I paid $35 for mine in box and with 7-9 games, some complete at a Flea-market!

 

At a pawn shop pawn shop I went to a couple weeks ago they had an Oddy 2 for $50. There were about 5-7 games by it so I assume they come with it.

 

THe other one I went to the same day said that they don't even carry 2600 games. I should of asked why.

[rogueleader]

It always cracks me up to see these delusional people at thrifts and fleas thinking they have something big "because it's old". I once had a Goodwill base there price of $50 for a busted a** 5200 at over $50 "Because the price tag from the store says $200" Never mind the fact that it was a store that went out of buisness ten years earlier!

[MegaManFan]

I felt the same way when the local game store raised 2600 carts from 50 cents to a buck, but I lived with it. In the last year they want from a buck to two. I suspect by next year they'll double in price again.

[SimonTemplar]

At the value village around here I used to find rare carts once in a while, they`ve started pricing loose genesis consoles 29.99 , nintendo NES 29.99 , mario bros duck hunt 9.99 . I think they have gone crazy but I still find rare carts there. I won`t mind paying 5$ for a quadrun or a bumper bash.

 

Damn! Sounds like another good reason to visit your neck of the woods. I remember flea markets that I used to go to in Quebec but they had mostly Coleco handhelds and a Bambino handheld for games.

 

 

I was in the states in september and I was very disapointed about the Goodwill stores ; I have probably visited close to 25 of them and maybe 50 thrift shops in total and they did not have rare carts!

 

And in the flea markets all I saw were common carts priced at 5$ a piece!

 

If you come to quebec to find rare carts you are likely to find the rarer spectravideo carts like gas hog, master builder and bumper bash ; I found 4 gas hogs in the wild in the last 2 months.

[maximebeauvais]

Here in Ottawa, 5 years ago, the atari 2600 was 0.25 to 0.50. Nintendo game was 0.69

 

Now atari game are 1.99 and nintendo 1.99-4.99.

 

price is going up and up and up and up

[sniperCCJVQ]

At the value village around here I used to find rare carts once in a while, they`ve started pricing loose genesis consoles 29.99 , nintendo NES 29.99 , mario bros duck hunt 9.99 . I think they have gone crazy but I still find rare carts there. I won`t mind paying 5$ for a quadrun or a bumper bash.

 

Damn! Sounds like another good reason to visit your neck of the woods. I remember flea markets that I used to go to in Quebec but they had mostly Coleco handhelds and a Bambino handheld for games.

 

St. Eustache ?

 

I have to agree with Maxime and Simon, price still going up !

[wrenchien]

i wish more people could have the courage to do what i'm suggesting, but i'm leery of doing it myself ..

 

..... next time ask the goodwills you visit if they sell anything to ebay, like the games you were looking for but can't find much of anymore.... and if they don't refrain from doing so , their selling to ebay, and resume selling the donated goods only to those who walk in the store, you'll contact the national headquarters of goodwill , wherever that is, and have that store's charter and rights to operate as a goodwill revoked ... since they're helping people outside their designated community by selling instead to an corporate entity named ebay ....

 

tell them unless they stop dealing with ebay, you and others you will tell will not shop there anymore.. and nothing a store would hate, than to lose a big customer like ebay.. on purpose.. would be to lose all the little other customers who's contributions do add up over time.

 

maybe if you tell them that, they'll decide to not save 'carts' for ebay anymore. enmasse. if that's indeed what you think they're doing.

 

it's just a crazy, maybe controversial, idea i've had. not sure if it's a good one, but at least you'll know where all those carts are going you used to see for so cheap... you see in places other than your thrift stores.

 

and if they're independent, tell them unless they leave ebay alone you'll also organize boycotts in the community. because while ebay may be inescapably on the internet.. it doesn't have to also be in the backroom of a thrift store you've used to like going into, now does it?

 

a backroom you're not legally permitted in.. but the people are still selling stuff from anyway, who work there?

[davepesc]

I don't have a problem with my local goodwill (scored a SNES and 3 games for $15 recently). My favorite haunt is a privately owned thrift shop that now thinks it stumbled into a classic game goldmine. I would tell them that combat and e.t. are not worth $4 loose, but I'm afraid that if the guy figures out how much the commons are worth, he'll also figure out how much the rares are worth. With all games like $3-$5, I still can dream about a $5 Crazy Climber.

 

On the good side, I went searching for another place to frequent this weekend and found a flea market where this lady sells all 2600 games for $2. Picked up 15 games I needed. Nothing beyond a R4, but still pretty cool.

[adams_ale]

When I go to the flea markets the more expensive games are almost always the more common games. I'm okay with that I suppose. I went to the flea market today and noticed that q*bert, pac-man, ms-pacman, pitfall, and other commons were 3 dollars each. Whereas california games, shark attack, blue label Demon Attack, blue label River Raid, and blue label Kaboom were only a buck.

[MegaManFan]

Hopefully you bought those blue labels since they were only a buck apiece :!:

[adams_ale]

Sure did! The problem is I still don't have lot's of common games as they tend to cost more than the scarce to rare games. Still don't have Pac-Man, Q*bert, or Ms. Pacman. Probably should have paid the three dollars after all.

[x6d696168]

i wish more people could have the courage to do what i'm suggesting, but i'm leery of doing it myself ..

 

..... next time ask the goodwills you visit if they sell anything to ebay, like  the games you were looking for but can't find much of anymore.... and if they don't refrain from doing so , their selling to ebay, and resume selling the donated goods only to those who walk in the store, you'll contact the national headquarters of goodwill , wherever that is, and have that store's charter and rights to operate as a goodwill revoked ... since they're helping people outside their designated community by selling instead  to an corporate entity named ebay ....  

 

tell them unless they stop dealing with ebay, you and others you will tell will not shop there anymore.. and nothing a store would hate, than to lose a big customer like ebay.. on purpose.. would be to lose all the little other customers who's contributions do add up over time.  

 

maybe if you tell them that, they'll decide to not save 'carts' for ebay anymore. enmasse. if that's indeed what you think they're doing.  

 

it's just a crazy, maybe controversial,  idea i've had. not sure if it's a good one, but at least you'll know where all those carts are going you used to see for so cheap... you see in places other than your thrift stores.  

 

and if they're independent, tell them unless they leave ebay alone you'll also organize boycotts in the community. because while ebay may be inescapably on the internet.. it doesn't have to also  be in the backroom of a thrift store you've used to like going into, now does it?  

 

a backroom you're not legally permitted in.. but the people are still selling stuff from anyway, who work there?

 

Considering goodwill has their own online auction site, do any goodwill stores actually sell to ebay? It seems like it'd be dumb for them to pay a fee when they have their own internal infrastructure setup to do the same thing.

 

http://www.shopgoodwill.com/

 

And yes, the prices there suck as well.

[davepesc]

Adam's-Ale, I have a Pac-Man I'll trade you for one of those bothersome, easy-to-come-by-cheaply rares

[adams_ale]

You would do that for me? That is very kind of you!