Flea vendor fun

[ClubNinja]

I've got a good one from today...

I approach a guy with a box of NES carts and two boxes of 2600/7800 carts. The NES box is marked "$5 each", while the first 2600/7800 box says "$1 each!" The second box is unmarked. So, I dig through each box of stuff, and only manage to locate a couple worthwhile titles in the unmarked 2600 box. Here's how it went down:

Me: Are these also a buck each?
Guy: Oh no! Those are the good ones, they're gonna be different. (Keep in mind that some of the "good ones" included Ms Pac Man and Pole Position II.)
Me: Uh...ok. How much are these?
Guy: Well, I'll need to call back home on those. Let me get my cell phone...
Me: Call home? Maybe you'd better not bother... (I see where this is going.)
Guy: No no, it's fine, I've already dialed.
Me: Ok....
Guy talking on phone now: Hey! Yeah, I have a few of the good Atari games here for a price check .... Ok, the first one is Oscar's Trash Racing .... No no, remember that website? EBay? .... Yeah, look on there and tell me what it says... $4.99 and running? Ok, I'll tell him 6 bucks on this one. The next is...
Me: Forget it buddy.

Here, he watches me walk away. Pretty freakin' lame. I found myself very irritated. If you want to sell on ebay, then sell on ebay, not at a flea market. What's new, though?

[Quintracker]

I know exactly how you feel. There's this one old guy at the flea market I go to that has his own little store/booth with tons of games, all unmarked. Every time I ask him the price or something he goes over to his little laptop and comes back and tells me the price. When I left (without buying anything) I peeked at his laptop and it was showing Ebay.

[Felixthegamer]

I don't understand people like that. If you want to make e-bay prices, sell on e-bay! Usually if I don't see a price, I don't ask. It makes me curious to know where some of these people pull prices other then e-bay. On the bright side, flea market people usually don't know the rare games only the popular games.

[simonbelmont7]

thats exactly why im growing tired of flea markets... they think they ARE ebay. This one local flea market of mine, i kid you not, has literally hundreds and hundreds of old games, NES, Genesis, Atari, etc. I could finish out my NES collection easily from her, BUT, her games average anywhere from $6-$25. When i asked her why others outside sell them for like $1 or so, and she asks so high for them, she simply replied, "thats what they sell for on ebay". Sad thing is, I found her ebay username, check out her auctions occasionally and she never sells a damn thing. First bid is too high, HAHAHAHA :) :) Bitch... ha

[Starcade]

HAHAHAHA :) :) Bitch... ha

LOL LOL LOL

[Mr-E_MaN]

I have a guy at my local pawn shop that does the same thing. At first he was OK with his prices, but then he decided to mark his prices according to ebay. Since he looks at the final price and then adds a little shipping price, his prices are way too high. I don't think he sells that much stuff anymore. I only buy the occational game that I need badly.

[chadtower]

You'd think these idiots would know to check those prices BEFORE they bring the games so that you can't tell that's what they are doing... it's not like they don't know what they will have each week.

[Raedon]

This sort of thing hasn't hit my local flee's yet but if I go to a Dallas flee omg.. Last time I was there a guy was selling boxed zelda's for $30.00

EDIT: When I mean "Selling" I mean he had a price on it of $30, they were still there on Sunday :P

[chadtower]

That's not that bad... hell Gamestop still wants $30+ for the n64 Zeldas... and that's without anything but the cart.

Luckily I just picked them both up, boxed (but beaten to snot boxes) for $9.99 each this weekend.

[zot wildstarr]

Most of those loser flea vendors are the same dipshits who are bitter that aluminum can prices hit bottom. They can't steal soda bottles out of garages anymore, either, so their other income source is also eliminated.

" Hey, I heard there is sumtin' called ebay," "and folks is making lots of money on it!'

LOL

[allstater4by800]

At least your flea market vendors can read... There is a guy at the flea market I have been to that when asked what a title was had to have my brother read it off for him.......

[Raedon]

My favorate Flee vendor stereotype is the guy who has 6 games you want at $5. You ask him if he will cut you a deal on buing more then 5 titles. He says, "sure, how many you want?" you say, "6" and he says, "lets see, how about $32.00" LOL

[Jackalneo]

This trend isn't only popular in the usa. Infact, Canada could be worse. There is a local pawn shop here that I check every few months. The guy has a clearly visible computer with ebay sitting on the monitor running all day. Anyway, the guy is still a chump regardless of ebay. He sold me Chrono Trigger and FF6(japanese) for 10 canadian each! :D

Chump!

[Captain Wrong]

My favorate Flee vendor stereotype is the guy who has 6 games you want at $5. You ask him if he will cut you a deal on buing more then 5 titles. He says, "sure, how many you want?" you say, "6" and he says, "lets see, how about $32.00" LOL

Geez...this guy is everywhere. I never can tell if these people are really that stupid, or if their regular customers are.

[hezeuschrist]

I need to hit up the dirt malls.

[brandver3]

The game guy at our local flea does it. He has ratted out, stickered, nasty snes games, and he startes them all at ten dollars. He charges 24 for super mario world. He won't sell any NES games at the moment, cause he was selling them all for 5 dollars, but realised they were selling more on Ebay. So he has been pricing all his games and will bring them back this summer with the "modified" prices.

I honestly say I hate Ebay. Stupid sellers and ignorent, rich bidders are killing our hobby. IT really pisses me off. I wanted to get five nes games, and the guy wanted 235 dollars. NOw they were rare, but not that rare. Said that was what they would all sell for on ebay, and he had to add a little to cover his overhead. I wanted to hurt him so badly.

Urggg, I'm leaving this topic, it pisses me off.

[Griking]

I know exactly how you feel. There's this one old guy at the flea market I go to that has his own little store/booth with tons of games, all unmarked. Every time I ask him the price or something he goes over to his little laptop and comes back and tells me the price. When I left (without buying anything) I peeked at his laptop and it was showing Ebay.


This happened to me over the weekend as well. He didn't have the laptop handy but he defended his rediculous prices by saying that he can sell them for that amount on ebay. Of course he wouldn't answer me when I asked why he's not selling them on ebay then.

What get's me it this. I've NEVER had a person quote/check ebay prices while selling, music, toys, computer equipment, comic books, or anything else I buy at a flea market. But for some reason videogames = ebay to flea market people.

[Dobie]

I hear the ebay references quite frequently while looking for games at these places--garage sales too. But the best line I've heard (and the one that pissed me off more than anything about ebay) came from some lady trying to sell common as dirt, old NES games for $6-$15 a pop--"They sold for $50 new." Yeah, in 1982. >:(

[Videogamerdaryll]

LOL ..I know a few vendors at the local Saturday flea market..

One in particular..always gives me that.."Oh I can get this much on Ebay for it"...Crap..
I told/tell him.."We'll why don't you sell it on Ebay then"
I come to the damn flea market to get things cheaper..This isn't Ebay.

The funny thing is he never sells anything..and when he does it's to some idiot who he reeled..in..

Then there is a few others who give me that same Ebay crap..
Some vendors sort of know I sell on Ebay..and try to get me with a higher price...They say.."Oh..We'll your gonna sell this on Ebay"..So I'll charge you..$$...I pass those jerks right up.
But most of the stuff I but there I don't..depends.

A few of the vendors want to buy stuff from me,to sell on Ebay..because they figure they can get a load of games I get for cheap,from me cheap and resell them on Ebay..
I always tell them.."Sure I'll let you know"....(Yea Right LOL)..

Knowing most vendors at the Flea market works two ways for me..
Some give me breaks..Some save stuff for me and others try to rip me off because they know I only come there for Video game stuff..

[Griking]

Sad thing is, I found her ebay username, check out her auctions occasionally and she never sells a damn thing. First bid is too high, HAHAHAHA :) :) Bitch... ha

Print out her auction listings and then bring it to the flea market. When she says "they sell for that much on ebay" pull out her auctions listing and tell her "obviously they don't".

You know what I'm going to start doing? I'm going to carry my DP Guide with me when I go to flea markets from now on. Yeah it will label me as a collector but at least I'll have something to back me up when i call someone's prices rediculous.

[Raedon]

You have to look at this both ways.

Why shouldn't these guys make more? I sertainly don't sell my chrono triggers for $5. If they can price them at ebay prices and still move their product then more power to them. What most vendors find is that you can put $20 on everything, when all the FFIII's, DW4's sell and no one is buying you can drop everything to $15 then when the bubble bobbles etc have sold and nothing is selling then you drop everything to $10 then $5 then $3 then $1.. after the first time a vendor does this they see what titles sell for more and remember those titles. My local used game store did this about 2 years ago and now you will see FFIII for $30 loose but all the SMB/DH Hockey/etc go in a box marked $1.. Used to be all NES was $6 and all SNES/Gen was $9.99.

[simonbelmont7]

another big thing about the lady i was talkin about, are her game prices and what not have no organization to them. For example, she has a box of $20 games, which has at least 40 games in it or so. Well, theres everything from Mega Man 6 to Final Fantasy, to Super Mario Duckhunt in there. Then in another $5 box, shes got like more Super Mario Duck Hunt, and Contra, etc Whats really sad, if this lady REALLY wanted to, she could take her mega collection home, and slap everything on ebay for $5 and she'd still come out rich!!!!! :)

[jjhudson63]

I've been going to my local flea for years. Now there is this guy who pays for a space just to get in early. He goes around and picks up all the deals and then when he's done looking he sets up shop and charges crazy prices. He's got Frogger for $20! I asked him a couple of weeks ago why he is selling Mike Tyson's Punch Out (which was faded from the sun) for $18. He told me he routinely sells them on the "NET" for $22 and for this price it's a deal! I had one word for him "Bulls**t" and walked away. These guys suck!

[chadtower]

I've been going to my local flea for years. Now there is this guy who pays for a space just to get in early. He goes around and picks up all the deals...

You know, if I knew of a flea that consistently produced excellent finds, that would be one HELL of a great idea. X_x

[miles]

Those guys getting in early and buying all the videogame stuff and then reselling them, at higher prices, pisses me really off. Makes me wake up way too early on weekends to get there before them.

What´s really nasty is, that some vendors tell me "Oh,there was a guy who told me this would sell for "that much money" on ebay .", and "Oh that guy told me that game was rare".
Fucking bastards, if they don´t want to buy the game, why are they ruining the prices for everyone else.
If I ever see one of those "guys", i really would have to control my temper.

[chadtower]

Those guys getting in early and buying all the videogame stuff and then reselling them, at higher prices, pisses me really off. Makes me wake up way too early on weekends to get there before them.


Yeah, I don't buy to resell, that's for sure...

[Lifebringeroftorv]

I saw a chronotrigger at the fleemarket and asked the price, they wanted 120 bucks. I almost fainted forgeting I was at a fleemarket. Later that day, I went to funcoland and picked it up for 35.

[christianscott27]

best bet is to hit em at the end of sunday just before they have to pack it all up, for best results make an offer instead of asking for a price. i had a flea market video game guy do this to me once when i wanted to buy some of his SMS carts. he starts in with rare this and ebay that, i just opened up my back pack pulled out my digital press guide looked up the games...he starting squinting at me funny, i pronounced the games overpriced and walked off, i just know he spent the rest of the afternoon wondering about that book i had ;)
________
Ford 999 history (http://www.ford-wiki.com/wiki/Ford_999)

[chadtower]

The problem is, you just destroyed a source for games. That guy is going to find the book and use it as a base minimum to price all of his games. He'll add on for 'overhead', 'cost', and 3 other things. Now that guy will be selling his games for way more than he would otherwise.

[omnedon]

The problem is, you just destroyed a source for games. That guy is going to find the book and use it as a base minimum to price all of his games.

I dunno. That works both ways. Perhaps the Duck Hunts and Combats would finally drop below $10 each! LOL

[christianscott27]

well that guys not selling any games at any price level these days, his flea market got closed down a couple years ago. he was sort of a nut job, i'd be suprised if he'd have the brains and cash to buy a copy of the guide. toddst might remember him best as "dinty moore man", the guy was sitting there eating cold stew out the can and chugging busch beer. he was funny in sad sorta way, he never had any idea where his stuff was or what it was, always called everything nintendo games. the thing was that after you dissed his prices he'd tell you about how he sold some to some guys who really looking for old games a few months ago (not figuring out that was me he was talking about). then as i'd laugh at his $10 a game price he'd call out after me walking away..."alright lets make a deal i gotta pay rent on my space"

anybody else remember the big top flea in providence?
________
Simca 1307 (http://www.dodge-wiki.com/wiki/Simca_1307)

[chadtower]

Can't say I remember it, I do live in the area and have been looking for hunting grounds... new to the area, don't know it well yet.

[Scoots]

Big Top Flea = teh ghey. All new crap, bongs and aromatherapy garbage.

I almost wish flea vendors would use DP to price their wares, since I find DP's prices to be on the low side generally. Lower than Gamestop anyway.

[nesfanatic]

I also occassionally go to that flea market without any success. When i do see something interesting it is either way way over priced or broken to bits.

[christianscott27]

shameless plug -----> if you live near the big top (or the former big top) you're close enough to join forces with the New England Classic Gamers Group. Visit the site, look, laugh and learn! well the pictures are fun :/

http://www.gis.net/~bertulli/
________
Chrysler E-Class History (http://www.dodge-wiki.com/wiki/Chrysler_E-Class)

[brandver3]

As bad as all this is, I have worse.

There is a guy at my local flea market that doesn't sell anything. He gets a booth to get all the deals before anyone else. But he doesn't sell.

Example. He put out a top loader boxed with a sign that said "sold" all day,
Or he'll bring his entire tabl top arcade collecttion (frogger and such), but them all out on diplay at his booth, and then tell people there not for sale.
He but $30 price tag on Duckhunt/Super Mario just to see if he can sucker someone into getting it.

I really hate people like that, alot.

[Scoots]

The Big Top has reopened but if anyone is thinking of finding games there, let me disabuse you of the notion. Samurai swords and bootleg latino cds yes, games no. It's almost exclusively "new" stuff.

Two weeks ago I was at the Rocky Hill flea in Warwick RI someone wanted $50 for a bare (no controllers/cords), yellowed SNES console LOL

But the worst offender IMO is still the North Kingstown RI Salvation Army with their $15 loose SNES carts....fuck that noise.

[christianscott27]

is the Eagle flea market still going? i honestly get them mixed up, if i remember right the big top was the one off atwells just behind the dunkin donuts and the plaza with the goodwill? it was all one story and the eagle is the multistory firetrap?

i had some good finds there years ago, felt like i was the first gamer to step foot in those places. there was a latino family that ran a game and gadgets booth in the big top and i kid you not- i found my lab loaner copy of 2600 battlezone there for $2! then there was the tent in the back end of the eagle where this shamen/voodoo lady set up, you'd go inside her little tent and she'd lift curses with candles, cigar smoke and by spitting jack daniels over things, no joke!
________
Discuss vaporizers (http://vaporizer.org/forum/herbal-vaporizers/)

[chadtower]

shameless plug -----> if you live near the big top (or the former big top) you're close enough to join forces with the New England Classic Gamers Group. Visit the site, look, laugh and learn! well the pictures are fun :/

http://www.gis.net/~bertulli/

Been there. Other than some photos, what was I to have taken from it? The last time I asked about an NECG gathering on this forum I was chastised rather heavily from several directions.

[christianscott27]

i think you might have read something the wrong way chad. we think of ourselves as pretty welcoming folks ,thats why we keep extending invitations to you. our next meet is a rather ambitious plan that is taking sometime to get together, you'll see what we mean later this summer. normally we just throw up tons of promotions and tell everyone to come to boston but this time we're leaving the safe confines of my place and venturing onto a bigger stage. have a little patience, it will be well worth it. our plan as always is to have 3 get togethers a year, the febuary one was the largest yet and we're aiming even higher for the next one.
________
FERRARI 312 HISTORY (http://www.ferrari-wiki.com/wiki/Ferrari_312)

[Scoots]

is the Eagle flea market still going? i honestly get them mixed up, if i remember right the big top was the one off atwells just behind the dunkin donuts and the plaza with the goodwill? it was all one story and the eagle is the multistory firetrap?

No, the Big Top is another place about a mile from there. The ones you're thinking of are Eagle Square and Atlantic Mills IIRC. One of them is still open, the other one got demolished. It's better than the Big Top, but still not to great. Those places are very hit-or-miss though. One week--treasure, the next--garbage.

[Ascending Wordsmith]

Street Fighter Alpha 2 for the SNES was a game I was interested in getting from the flea market.

ME: "How much for the Alpha 2?"

VENDOR: "$25."

ME: "Okay, where's the box, manual, and the instructions?"

VENDOR: "I don't have them."

ME: "So you're asking $25 for a loose SNES game?"

VENDOR: "Yeah. Back at the warehouse, I sell'em for $50 and $60."

Clearly this guy's ego was worse than the sunburn that scoured the skin around his neck. Despite that I found his claim to be ridiculous, I noticed that he said he sold them for MORE at his warehouse. When you sell from a warehouse, you're usually selling at LOWER prices. But this guy seems to have a knack for upping the cost 100% from his flea market asking price.

What a fuckin' idiot. :roll:

[stonecutter]

I like to purposely piss off these types of vendors at the fleas. As we discussed here before, people from the GTA will remember the guy from the Pickering Flea market with his crazy prices. He also has a booth in the Courtice flea if anyone here is close I suggest you try the following, its great entertainment lol. He tries to justify the whacky prices with the line that you keep the sticker and comeback to trade the game and you get a $50 dollar credit.... can you believe that????

Anyway I wait long enough that the guy forgets me and I go every couple of months to yank his chain and piss him off. I always say things like I can get them cheaper new and he doesn't have the manuals etc... he explains his policy and tries to justify it while I continue to ride him. The guy has a foreign accent and gets pissy saying " me explain my policy, if you like you buy, if you no like you go...me have work to do now".... meanwhile there is no one there, he tries to act busy. So I pressure him some more, he says " me have big store in London and over 8000 satisfied customers ", so I will say something like don't you feel guilty for ripping off so many innocent kids lol.

Then I will ask him for something hard to get that I see he doesn't have there, and he will say, " me have that at my store but I no sell that to you" . Which just opens the door for more punishment, then I start on the whole why the hell you have a business, either you won't sell what you have, because you don't want to, or the the prices are so bloody ridiculous it will never move anyway.

I always get a charge out of this clown. He is just to easy to get pissed off.