Damn it Goodwill! I need to stop wasting my time at your stores.

[homerhomer]

Really? $19.99?

This game is all over ebay for like $5 with free shipping. I enjoying seeing what I can find but this is ridiculous.

I'm I the only one?


4511


RAGE!!!!

[Jaruff]

Depends on where you go. Your location probably sells inventory through ShopGoodwill.com. Usually the ones that do that have bad inventories and/or high prices. I know a couple of "hole in the wall" Goodwill's and those are good places to go.

Usually if the Goodwill looks trashy from the outside, it's a great place. If it looks neat and clean, it probably sucks. That's been my experience in the past 2-3 years or so.

[Miss Boris Yeltsin]

I know the feeling. There's a HUGE thrift store near my house that gets a lot of donations of all sorts of material... and an independent used game store about a five minute walk from that thrift store that basically buys all the stuff the instant it's put on the floor, marks it up to ridiculous higher-than-eBay prices, and lets it all sit and rot in a glass case. We're talking NES SMB3 at $20, SNES Super Mario World at $30, just really insane ripoff sleaze-bucket sort of stuff.

On the bright side, nobody ever seems to buy any of the games, but that doesn't stop them from continuing to poach the thrift store. Never thought I'd be saying this, but I really miss the days when Funcoland was around to keep the prices somewhat sane.

[Tokimemofan]

Depends on where you go. Your location probably sells inventory through ShopGoodwill.com. Usually the ones that do that have bad inventories and/or high prices. I know a couple of "hole in the wall" Goodwill's and those are good places to go.

Usually if the Goodwill looks trashy from the outside, it's a great place. If it looks neat and clean, it probably sucks. That's been my experience in the past 2-3 years or so.

When you go in check if they have CDs or DVDs, if not they usually suck, the manager at one location told me they now ship those out when I asked what happened.

[Gameguy]

It's not just Goodwill, most thrifts suck now. At the Value Village near me they have an Ipad stand(just a plastic stand for an Ipad) in the display case for $12.99, the exact same stand is being sold literally next door at Dollarama for $2 brand new. It's not like they'll alter the price if you tell them that, they just don't bother to compare prices with other stores. It's sad but most of the people who shop at thrift stores don't know how to shop around, they assume that because it's a thrift store it has to be the cheapest place to go to and that's where they shop for everything no matter the price. Ex-rental common VHS tapes for $1.99, books for $4.99, or crappy DVDs(including bootlegs) for $5.99-$9.99, worn out frying pans and other crap that should have just been trashed; no problem as it will all still sell.

[treismac]

We're talking NES SMB3 at $20, SNES Super Mario World at $30, just really insane ripoff sleaze-bucket sort of stuff.

That sounds like the retarded vendors at the Keller's Flea Market. Contrary to the widely held rumor that circulates on DP, Super Mario Bros. 1-3 are actually rare games to stumble upon. ROFL I seriously want to punch these people in the face when they say shit like that. That anyone could ever say with a straight face that any Super Mario game, let alone the system pack in title, was rare, mystifies me. I figure that either:

a) they think their potential customers are all idiots.

b) they are complete idiots.

c) they get some kind of perverse joy from setting up their booths every weekend and asking way too much for popular yet very common games, knowing that no one would every buy them for that much. I think the kids call this "trolling".

In all seriousness, I imagine some people who are not collectors or are very new to retro gaming might drop an Andrew Jackson on Super Mario Bros. when they get the wild idea to buy a Nintendo again. I struggle to imagine this happening at Goodwill for some reason.

[Steve W]

Goodwill stores vary from location to location. For example, the ones around me sell NES games around $5, regardless of rarity. I think it's because little old ladies are doing the pricing, and they haven't got a clue about games so they put whatever price they think they can get for it on. Either that, or they'll do it by cartridge size. Intellivision games at $3, Atari 2600 games at $4, Atari 5200 games at $5. I don't see that at Goodwill much, but at other thrifts, pretty often.

Now don't get me started on Salvation Army stores. I've barely found jack squat at any of them. At least I'll find a few commons at a Goodwill, I won't find anything at a Salvation Army around here. Or if I find some disc-based game, I'll open the case and find an AOL CD-ROM or some crappy music CD inside when I get home and slice off the layers of scotch tape (true story on both of those, and at the same Sally Army).

[Jaruff]

That sounds like the retarded vendors at the Keller's Flea Market. Contrary to the widely held rumor that circulates on DP, Super Mario Bros. 1-3 are actually rare games to stumble upon. ROFL I seriously want to punch these people in the face when they say shit like that. That anyone could ever say with a straight face that any Super Mario game, let alone the system pack in title, was rare, mystifies me. I figure that either:

a) they think their potential customers are all idiots.

b) they are complete idiots.

c) they get some kind of perverse joy from setting up their booths every weekend and asking way too much for popular yet very common games, knowing that no one would every buy them for that much. I think the kids call this "trolling".

In all seriousness, I imagine some people who are not collectors or are very new to retro gaming might drop an Andrew Jackson on Super Mario Bros. when they get the wild idea to buy a Nintendo again. I struggle to imagine this happening at Goodwill for some reason.

The two "major" game vendors at the local flea market I sell at sell those games at $15-30. They actually make money too because both of those guys have reserved tables and tents up. One of the guys (guy lady combo) travel to another flea market on Wednesday and sell there too. Overpriced as hell. I mean, I mark up SMB to $5-10 because I have to but those people get ridiculous. But hey, if people are willing to pay the asking price, more power to them. Ultimately the consumer decides how much an item is worth.

Reminds me of a few weeks ago when a local thrift had a Sega Genesis and NES for $49.99 each. I thought about buying the Sega lot for my collection (and there was a boxed GBC game that would have let me break even) but that's a ridiculous amount to pay for only two or three titles I didn't have (8 games in the lot). I went back the next week and both were gone. I'm assuming someone bought them or they realized that the asking price was too much and removed them from the floor.

There was another thrift store I go to when I'm visiting relatives that did that. They were asking above eBay prices on Sega Saturn games, took them off the store front, and put them back out a few months later at $5 a pop. I managed to get all but two of the good titles. When I saw the games the first time with the high prices, I mumbled "are you serious" and the woman gave me a mean look. LOL

The best places are the small, locally operated establishments. They serve the local communities and usually have cheap prices because they need that revenue. I've bought some of my best stuff (resell and personal collection) at small places. If you really want to make an impression, take them a cake or something around Christmas time. You would be surprised what a $5-10 investment can do for your reputation. Let them "keep the change" from time to time too. The regular employees will remember your kindness and when you see something awesome that isn't price marked, they'll give you good deals.

[sixxgunner81]

Ultimately the consumer decides how much an item is worth.

This is what I tell everyone who comes to my flea market spot. I think all of the Goodwill/reseller/eBay/game store discussions can easily end with this statement.

[substantial_snake]

At least you find games at your goodwill, I've been to maybe six is around here and none of them have games.

The place to find deals now is craigslist easily, my complete snatcher with a box of about 20 other games will attest to this. :p

[Tokimemofan]

Goodwill stores vary from location to location. For example, the ones around me sell NES games around $5, regardless of rarity. I think it's because little old ladies are doing the pricing, and they haven't got a clue about games so they put whatever price they think they can get for it on. Either that, or they'll do it by cartridge size. Intellivision games at $3, Atari 2600 games at $4, Atari 5200 games at $5. I don't see that at Goodwill much, but at other thrifts, pretty often.

Now don't get me started on Salvation Army stores. I've barely found jack squat at any of them. At least I'll find a few commons at a Goodwill, I won't find anything at a Salvation Army around here. Or if I find some disc-based game, I'll open the case and find an AOL CD-ROM or some crappy music CD inside when I get home and slice off the layers of scotch tape (true story on both of those, and at the same Sally Army).

Must just be a bad Salvation Army location, I found Persona at one a year ago and a few months ago another one had some near mint NES games including Faxanadu, which I had been looking for for 5 years. Then again another one I went to was selling 8/16bit games for $15 regardless of rarity or condition, most being crappy Disney games that they had 20 of.

[VertigoProcess]

Tye only thing ive ever found at a goodwill was gex for 3do mixed in with the music cds... i stopped going due to there never being anything gaming wise.... but thats south florida for ya...

[Bazoo]

Obviously, it depends on the area and the management. I would say that many common systems like NES, etc. get dropped off to most Good Wills at some point here or there, but it depends on management as to how each is priced. However, I've had some -great- finds at Good Will, especially recently. I've gotten a $10 Genesis Model 1 (HD Graphics on it) and a $10 original XBox (heh, the same price), both with cables and controllers. Often I will find old controllers for $2. Obviously can't count on rare games terribly well, but I've uncovered an uncommon here and there.

[Miss Boris Yeltsin]

That anyone could ever say with a straight face that any Super Mario game, let alone the system pack in title, was rare, mystifies me.

I think eBay shipping and handling fees are partially to blame - back in the day when Funcoland was still around and the price of SMB/DH was down at $0.25, eBay vendors would typically have to charge at least $3 for postage and handling. Then the "second wave" comes in, sees that the games are going for a total of $3.25, and decides to sell their SMB/DH for $3.25 with free shipping. Enter the third wave, who figures that the people selling for $3.25 are just Post Office Power Users or whatever, and end up selling at $3.25 plus $3 shipping and handling. Enough people are desperate enough for a copy of SMB/DH (sad but true) to result in at least a few of these copies selling, and even if none did, it takes a lot, lot longer for the price to go down than it does for the price to shoot up like this.



The best places are the small, locally operated establishments.
I dunno, around here the small, locally operated establishments are usually the worst of the lot, copy-pasting their prices directly from an eBay search and even including the extra S&H surcharge. Not to mention that most of them are owned by merciless cutthroat personalities - if I'm doing $10,000 in turnover a day, I can afford to take a $5 hit on a few old NES games here and there, but a small shop owner whose profits go directly to the food on his table is a lot less likely to risk undercharging, even to the point of acting completely irrationally (i.e., keeping all the prices jacked up even though the games aren't selling, because they're subconsciously unwilling to accept even less of a profit in tough economic times, and fail to fully realize that buying at $1 and selling at $1.25 is still $0.25 more than buying at $1 and not selling at $15).

The best prices here are the grungy thrift stores that Give No Fucks Whatsoever, the pawn shops, the flea markets, Craigslist, and the "upscale" thrift stores that Have No Clue Whatsoever, pretty much in that order.

[VideoGameRescue]

The best thing you can do is get to know your vendors. Even if it's the teller at the goodwill. Smile and know their name and I've learned it makes a huge difference. If that person at least knows your face and knows your always nice then you get treated better. Perhaps they will start holding stuff for you.

[SirPsycho]

The closest Goodwill is about 20 miles from me and last time I went there the trip amounted to finding Jack and Squat huddled in a corner.

The same town has a DAV though that I managed to snag a disc only copy of Klonoa: Door to Phantomile for $1 and a big box of Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness w/o the game for free. Really it seems like the DAV gets forgotten about when it comes to thrift chains, everybody talks about how bad Goodwill and their local Salvation Army can be while the DAV flies under the radar.

That said there is a Salvation Army where I live that's pretty awesome for gaming finds when they have them, picked up a $5 DC with 1 controller (no hookups sadly) that works perfectly. When I was there yesterday I saw a big box with some Xbox stuff in it and a plastic bag with what looks like another DC (judging from the controllers and cords I could see). They're holding it all for me until I go back in a couple hours, they had not tested them yet.

[Jaruff]

The best thing you can do is get to know your vendors. Even if it's the teller at the goodwill. Smile and know their name and I've learned it makes a huge difference. If that person at least knows your face and knows your always nice then you get treated better. Perhaps they will start holding stuff for you.

This. A little bit of kindness goes a long way in these situations. For example, I've befriended several flea market vendors that aren't knowledgeable about games (they go to yard sales and such). They'll bring those games to me first. I've also had people give me stuff for free when they're leaving.

[xelement5x]

The closest Goodwill is about 20 miles from me and last time I went there the trip amounted to finding Jack and Squat huddled in a corner.

The same town has a DAV though that I managed to snag a disc only copy of Klonoa: Door to Phantomile for $1 and a big box of Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness w/o the game for free. Really it seems like the DAV gets forgotten about when it comes to thrift chains, everybody talks about how bad Goodwill and their local Salvation Army can be while the DAV flies under the radar.

That said there is a Salvation Army where I live that's pretty awesome for gaming finds when they have them, picked up a $5 DC with 1 controller (no hookups sadly) that works perfectly. When I was there yesterday I saw a big box with some Xbox stuff in it and a plastic bag with what looks like another DC (judging from the controllers and cords I could see). They're holding it all for me until I go back in a couple hours, they had not tested them yet.

How oddly relevant for me. I recently had someone recommend the DAV to me and I'd never even heard of it until the other day. There's one near me on the way home from work that I'll probably hit on Friday :)

[Clownzilla]

The clulessness of thrift store employees pay off sometimes. Example, several months ago my local Goodwill store had a stack of boxed NES games for around $10 each. Many of them were very common and not worth the money. However, in the middle of the stack (for $10) they had a complete copy of Rescue Rangers 2 for the NES. I had to look twice but sure enough it was Rescue Rangers 2. However, last week they were selling a used PSP-1000 WITHOUT an AC adapter for $130. It's hit or miss but you still can score great deals for the same reason they grossly overprice stuff.

[Polygon]

This is what I tell everyone who comes to my flea market spot. I think all of the Goodwill/reseller/eBay/game store discussions can easily end with this statement.

Exactly!

I see absurd prices all the time. Sure, it annoys me. But I just move on as I know I can find it for a better price. If someone is willing to be ripped off, well, they deserve to be. You can't blame the vendor if people are actually paying that.

[Tupin]

Yeah, the prices at thrifts can get ridiculous. The strange thing is, I never find rare stuff at a high price, it's always the common stuff. The rare stuff I find is always super cheap.

Non-Goodwill thrifts are hit and miss, but rarely overcharge.

[CelticJobber]

The thrift store near me keeps their video games in a box behind the jewelry/antique dolls/records counter. You have to ask for it, and the employees act like they get annoyed when you ask to see the games (and the employee working the counter usually leaves long before the store closes, which leaves a small window of time to even look at their games).

Most games are about $8.00 each from NES to PS2. And many of them are in horrible condition, looking as if they were dropped in a mud puddle. And for whatever reason, if they get anything by Square on SNES or PS1 it's usually marked up to like $40-50.

[sloan]

Goodwills can be spotty. I have some north of me that normally list NES, SNES, and Genesis games from $2-$6 a piece. The best deals can be had on 1/2 off Saturdays.


On the other hand, there is a chain of Goodwill stores in a larger city about an hour from me that never have any classic games out because everything goes onto their auction site. I don't think it is right that they do not sell back to the local collectors, but that is what they choose to do.

[treismac]

Ultimately the consumer decides how much an item is worth.

You mean that the vendor decides and the consumer agrees.

What bothered me more than the high price was the fact that they had the audacity to claim to someone of my generation that Super Mario Bros. was "rare." Salesmen aren't known for their honesty but come on...

[Pikkon]

Damn,that's one crazy price.

My local goodwill is pretty badass,all of there old games are now 2$ a piece.

[treismac]

I think eBay shipping and handling fees are partially to blame - back in the day when Funcoland was still around and the price of SMB/DH was down at $0.25, eBay vendors would typically have to charge at least $3 for postage and handling. Then the "second wave" comes in, sees that the games are going for a total of $3.25, and decides to sell their SMB/DH for $3.25 with free shipping. Enter the third wave, who figures that the people selling for $3.25 are just Post Office Power Users or whatever, and end up selling at $3.25 plus $3 shipping and handling. Enough people are desperate enough for a copy of SMB/DH (sad but true) to result in at least a few of these copies selling, and even if none did, it takes a lot, lot longer for the price to go down than it does for the price to shoot up like this.

Thanks for the analysis, Miss Boris Yeltsin. I've only been actively collecting retro video games for a almost two years, but this theory sounds solid to me.


The clulessness of thrift store employees pay off sometimes. Example, several months ago my local Goodwill store had a stack of boxed NES games for around $10 each. Many of them were very common and not worth the money. However, in the middle of the stack (for $10) they had a complete copy of Rescue Rangers 2 for the NES. I had to look twice but sure enough it was Rescue Rangers 2.

Flippin' awesome, Clownzilla!


If someone is willing to be ripped off, well, they deserve to be..

I strongly disagree. The ignorance of a buyer is never justification for shafting them, especially when deceit ("this game is hard to find") facilitates the rip off.

[treismac]

Damn,that's one crazy price.

My local goodwill is pretty badass,all of there old games are now 2$ a piece.

Any NES, SNES, or TG-16 games? :D

[Miss Boris Yeltsin]

The place to find deals now is craigslist easily
http://i.imgur.com/YcniH.png
Snipping the contact info so none of you hoarding jerks try to outbid me :vamp:


I strongly disagree. The ignorance of a buyer is never justification for shafting them, especially when deceit ("this game is hard to find") facilitates the rip off.
I couldn't possibly agree with you more. http://i.imgur.com/euhhS.gif Consumer behavior can be completely retarded, but it doesn't justify scumbags of any sort. People will buy a house without an independent inspection, doesn't excuse the behavior of a shifty realtor who sells grandma a poorly-wired two-bedroom particle-board shitbox built on swampland with load-bearing drywall for $600K. Tons of fruit loops will buy "healing crystals", "balancing wristbands", homeopathic "remedies" of all sorts, and magical cancer-curing black powder - doesn't excuse the scam artists who hawk those products. People falling for a pig in a poke doesn't make it any less of a con, and just because I traded my little brother a big huge shiny nickel for his crummy little wafer-thin dime doesn't mean I should be lauded as a Free Market Hero of Profit.

[treismac]

I couldn't possibly agree with you more. http://i.imgur.com/euhhS.gif Consumer behavior can be completely retarded, but it doesn't justify scumbags of any sort. People will buy a house without an independent inspection, doesn't excuse the behavior of a shifty realtor who sells grandma a poorly-wired two-bedroom particle-board shitbox built on swampland with load-bearing drywall for $600K. Tons of fruit loops will buy "healing crystals", "balancing wristbands", homeopathic "remedies" of all sorts, and magical cancer-curing black powder - doesn't excuse the scam artists who hawk those products. People falling for a pig in a poke doesn't make it any less of a con, and just because I traded my little brother a big huge shiny nickel for his crummy little wafer-thin dime doesn't mean I should be lauded as a Free Market Hero of Profit.

Amen. Very well said.

[Pikkon]

Any NES, SNES, or TG-16 games? :D


They have nes and snes but never seen any TG-16 games,even there ps1 games are 2 bucks but the games they have are ok for the most.

[BetaWolf47]

I see a lot of Salvation Army discussion in this thread. When I went to college, there was one down the road from me that I used to walk to every weekend. Let me tell you, that place was hit and miss, in every sense of the word. When it was dry, it was really ****ing dry. I'd look up and down for something decent, search every inch of the store that might have something game related. I'd look for maybe a CIB cartridge game with the books and VHS tapes. I'd look for Dreamcast and Playstation games with the music CDs. I'd look for any game accessories that might have gotten mixed up with toys. I looked in the magazines section for strategy guides. 90% of the time, I'd end up just buying a few dirt common VHS tapes, just so I wouldn't leave empty handed. Literally, I wound up with dozens of VHS tapes from them and got quite a bit of enjoyment out of those. In the end, I figured they must ship their games off somewhere to get ebay prices for them.

That is, until one day. I walked in there, expecting to see some Playstation sports and racing games, or maybe Tomb Raider and Spyro for the tenth time. I went in there looking for a decent movie to watch on VHS, of all things. It was a rather unambitious day, with me not looking for anything special. I walked in there, and lo and behold, I found some CIB Genesis games, including Contra: Hard Corps and TMNT: The Hyperstone Heist. Right next to it, on the same shelf, lay Pokemon Box for GameCube. Anyone who is a GameCube collector knows how hard that is to find in the wild.

On a sidenote, is it just me, or do all great thrift store finds happen on boring, unambitious days? You can be trying to find anything game related and not see anything. Then, you can go inside Goodwill just planning to buy a book or a shirt and walk out with something special.

[ReaXan]

Goodwill either has the worst price or the best price on something.

[wingzrow]

Most thrift stores don't suck for me but is IS a number game. Just keep at it.Anyone would be discourages after seeing that NES game at that price. Often times the overpriced games are common and the cheap ones are rare when I find them.

Not checking prices works both ways.

[markusman64ds]

I see a lot of Salvation Army discussion in this thread. When I went to college, there was one down the road from me that I used to walk to every weekend. Let me tell you, that place was hit and miss, in every sense of the word. When it was dry, it was really ****ing dry. I'd look up and down for something decent, search every inch of the store that might have something game related. I'd look for maybe a CIB cartridge game with the books and VHS tapes. I'd look for Dreamcast and Playstation games with the music CDs. I'd look for any game accessories that might have gotten mixed up with toys. I looked in the magazines section for strategy guides. 90% of the time, I'd end up just buying a few dirt common VHS tapes, just so I wouldn't leave empty handed. Literally, I wound up with dozens of VHS tapes from them and got quite a bit of enjoyment out of those. In the end, I figured they must ship their games off somewhere to get ebay prices for them.

That is, until one day. I walked in there, expecting to see some Playstation sports and racing games, or maybe Tomb Raider and Spyro for the tenth time. I went in there looking for a decent movie to watch on VHS, of all things. It was a rather unambitious day, with me not looking for anything special. I walked in there, and lo and behold, I found some CIB Genesis games, including Contra: Hard Corps and TMNT: The Hyperstone Heist. Right next to it, on the same shelf, lay Pokemon Box for GameCube. Anyone who is a GameCube collector knows how hard that is to find in the wild.

On a sidenote, is it just me, or do all great thrift store finds happen on boring, unambitious days? You can be trying to find anything game related and not see anything. Then, you can go inside Goodwill just planning to buy a book or a shirt and walk out with something special.

I'm always ambitious when I go to the Salvation Army, and I have found some things.

Zelda II and 8 Eyes (or something like that) CIB (didn't buy)
A Canon typewriter and a vTech Precomputer 2000 CIB
The E3 2004 and 2005 DVD sets
A Commodore 64 with a tape drive and power brick (not new, and I was so excited that I dropped it and broke one of the keys off ROFL)

Most of the time though it is just the same old junk.

[NayusDante]

I've been clean for about a year now, and I don't want to start the old habit again... I'm still trying to eBay off the pile of crap I accumulated.

The only thrift that I ever bother with anymore is the one that my church operates. I know where the money goes, and they consistently have interesting stuff. Not necessarily good stuff, but it's nowhere near the depressing stack of clothes and waffle makers that is Goodwill. They always have a big row of CRT TVs priced reasonably, and there's a stack of odd computer/AV parts nearby. When the church gets rid of stuff, it usually ends up there, so the stuff is usually in pretty decent shape. When they do get older games, they're priced reasonably.

I also make it a point to check out library bookstores when I can. They're often like thrift shops, but without all the clothes and crap. The stuff is in better shape, too. A lot of them just stick to books, but sometimes they also have music, movies, and games.

[understatement]

I strongly disagree. The ignorance of a buyer is never justification for shafting them, especially when deceit ("this game is hard to find") facilitates the rip off.



I couldn't possibly agree with you more. http://i.imgur.com/euhhS.gif Consumer behavior can be completely retarded, but it doesn't justify scumbags of any sort. People will buy a house without an independent inspection, doesn't excuse the behavior of a shifty realtor who sells grandma a poorly-wired two-bedroom particle-board shitbox built on swampland with load-bearing drywall for $600K. Tons of fruit loops will buy "healing crystals", "balancing wristbands", homeopathic "remedies" of all sorts, and magical cancer-curing black powder - doesn't excuse the scam artists who hawk those products. People falling for a pig in a poke doesn't make it any less of a con, and just because I traded my little brother a big huge shiny nickel for his crummy little wafer-thin dime doesn't mean I should be lauded as a Free Market Hero of Profit.

So, do you two go into game shops/ flea market booths/ thrift stores/ Craigslist ads and tell the sellers when they’re selling things to cheap or are you guys just complete hypocrites? (Hell, in treismac above post you congratulate Clownzilla for getting something for under its worth and condemn sellers that get more than what something is worth.) The way I see it, if that R.C. Pro AM or that Bubble Bobble was a Stadium Events this would be a much different thread.

I’m not saying that I like it when I see people put unrealistic prices on things but that’s their decision if some uninformed person buys it, more power to the seller and better luck next time to the buyer same when it's the other way around if someone wants to sell Stadium Events for $19.99 more power to the buyer and better luck next time to the seller.

It’s not like they’re forcing anyone to buy. I guess what I’m saying is; if Grandma doesn’t know anything about spotting housing pitfalls maybe she shouldn’t be buying a house without help.

You know, buyer (and seller) beware.

[Miss Boris Yeltsin]

So, do you two go into game shops/ flea market booths/ thrift stores/ Craigslist ads and tell the sellers when they’re selling things to cheap or are you guys just complete hypocrites?
It's irrelevant - you seem to be under the naive impression that a merchant/consumer relationship is, or is even supposed to be, "symmetrical". It's like getting pissed at your English teacher for giving you a "D" on an essay and going off on a smug tirade where you ask why your teacher didn't write an essay of their own.

And, heck, not to launch off into fundamental logic or anything, but even if we were hypocrites, it doesn't render our argument irrelevant. If John Wayne Gacy says "it's bad to rape and murder little boys", it doesn't magically become a wrong statement just because he's, you know, John Wayne Gacy. Arguments and allegations of "hypocrisy" are a classic way of disguising an ad hominem attack and sidestepping actual points of debate. But this entire paragraph is really tangential to the thread of conversation here. :)

[norkusa]

Any old-timers here that used to hit the thrifts in the mid to late 90's? I used to find mountains of gaming stuff back then...dirt-cheap Atari 2600 carts, Colecovision consoles, stacks of NES carts. I remember every time I'd do my 'runs' in those days, I'd find something worthwhile at about 50% of the thrifts I visited. Very rarely did I ever come back empty handed.

Then Ebay came along and ruined everything. :(

[treismac]

So, do you two go into game shops/ flea market booths/ thrift stores/ Craigslist ads and tell the sellers when they’re selling things to cheap or are you guys just complete hypocrites? (Hell, in treismac above post you congratulate Clownzilla for getting something for under its worth and condemn sellers that get more than what something is worth.) The way I see it, if that R.C. Pro AM or that Bubble Bobble was a Stadium Events this would be a much different thread.

I’m not saying that I like it when I see people put unrealistic prices on things but that’s their decision if some uninformed person buys it, more power to the seller and better luck next time to the buyer same when it's the other way around if someone wants to sell Stadium Events for $19.99 more power to the buyer and better luck next time to the seller.

It’s not like they’re forcing anyone to buy. I guess what I’m saying is; if Grandma doesn’t know anything about spotting housing pitfalls maybe she shouldn’t be buying a house without help.

You know, buyer (and seller) beware.

First off, Clownzilla ripped nobody off when he found Rescue Rangers 2, nor did he use deceit to obtain it at such a low price. He did not buy the game from a friend who asked him what a fair price was for a CIB Rescue Rangers 2. He did not buy it from a vendor trying to make a little extra money on the weekend at a local Flea Market. No. He bought the game from the non-profit organization Goodwill, whose purpose is to provide jobs and job training to the local community. It doesn't affect that mission in the slightest if it was a SMB/Duck Hunt or a CIB Rescue Rangers that Clownzilla bought for $10. I might be wrong, but I always thought that another part of the mission of Goodwill was to offer inexpensive products to the community, which a $10 CIB Rescue Rangers 2 fulfills.

There is another point that I want to bring up because my personal ethics were question, albeit in a non-judgmental manner. The crazy prices that old toys sell for sometimes bothers me. I understand that the market value of these "toys" is not immune to the laws of economics. It just seems crazy to me that something that was in many cases lost and forgotten, gathering dust in an attic can be spared from the garbage dump and then demands a relatively large amount of money. I understand there being a large value affixed to one of a kind items of historic value, but video games? When I first dusted off my old NES, I expected naively for games to consistently sell for around a $1. Boy was I in for a rude awakening. But such is the way the world works, eh?

[hamburglar]

Any old-timers here that used to hit the thrifts in the mid to late 90's? I used to find mountains of gaming stuff back then...dirt-cheap Atari 2600 carts, Colecovision consoles, stacks of NES carts. I remember every time I'd do my 'runs' in those days, I'd find something worthwhile at about 50% of the thrifts I visited. Very rarely did I ever come back empty handed.

Then Ebay came along and ruined everything. :(

Yes, I remember piles of Commodore 64 units and drives, tons of NES units and games, I even remember finding Famicom systems as well as games.
Haven't seen a Commodore 64 unit in the wild in a very long time.

[The 1 2 P]

Because I frequent a good amount of Goodwills and thrift stores I see the good and the bad. Most have stacks of PS1's sitting around collecting dust for $15-30 each. And my main Goodwill has a habit of marking up all their Target returns and clearance games much higher than the last printed clearance price. But I have also found many good deals over the last two years, like the almost new Target return Kinect sensor in box last January for $50 when it had only been out for two months. And despite their abundance of over priced games I still find gems like Blast Lacrosse, Marvel Vs. Capcom, Mario Party 2 and others for the normal $3 game price. Theres always bound to be things that they don't know the value of, like the recent dvd/hdd recorder I got for $20 that sells for $200-600. You just gotta know what to look for.

[Miss Boris Yeltsin]

Yes, I remember piles of Commodore 64 units and drives, tons of NES units and games, I even remember finding Famicom systems as well as games.
Haven't seen a Commodore 64 unit in the wild in a very long time.

Ugh, shut up, both of you, right now :bawling:

Here I was starting to feel at least slightly okay with getting into things in the late late 90s, when... well, when you could go to Funcoland and pick things up at a known price. Thrifts back then were usually a "treasure trove" of NES commons and Genesis sports games - oh god, the piles and piles of Genesis sports games, reaching as far as the eye could see-- well, more like as high as the funky shape of Genesis cartridges would allow before tipping over. But they reached, damn it. You'd also find 2600 commons at about the same rate as you find non-common NES games these days.

[norkusa]

Ugh, shut up, both of you, right now :bawling:

Here I was starting to feel at least slightly okay with getting into things in the late late 90s, when... well, when you could go to Funcoland and pick things up at a known price.

I forgot about Funcoland! It was insane how cheap they'd sell certain NES carts for. Most of the third party titles like Color Dreams and AVE were $0.50 - $1.00 each. I remember many times going in there with my Wanted list and and leaving with a HUGE stack of carts (including lots of uncommons/rares) for around $30-$40.

[steve4]

Last week when I went into goodwill there was a broken ps2 controller(multiple buttons missing) marked for $20. Went in today and they had a couple CIB genesis games for $3 each

[treismac]

Last week when I went into goodwill there was a broken ps2 controller(multiple buttons missing) marked for $20. Went in today and they had a couple CIB genesis games for $3 each

I imagine they must have different employees marking prices with very different ideas about what items are worth. Just the same, what the hell, man?

[Shulamana]

My best thrift store finds were not games but IBM Model M keyboards. I got one for $0.69 in the box that was missing the cable and several keycaps and then another one with all the keys and the cable for $3 a few weeks later at a different Salvation Army store.

They're pretty much indestructible and were made with far better workmanship that any keyboard made today, and they still sell for more than $50 to people who do serious amounts of typing (software developers, etc.).

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/57/ModelM.jpg/800px-ModelM.jpg

Game finds on the other hand, well, I've had a few, but none of them are really worth mentioning as I pretty much got them for what they're worth.

[swlovinist]

My goodwill sucks

high priced games
crap selection
terrible service

I just save my money now and go to game shows and flea marts mostly. I also shop locally at my independent game store CLASSICS

[Steve W]

Any old-timers here that used to hit the thrifts in the mid to late 90's? I used to find mountains of gaming stuff back then...dirt-cheap Atari 2600 carts, Colecovision consoles, stacks of NES carts. I remember every time I'd do my 'runs' in those days, I'd find something worthwhile at about 50% of the thrifts I visited. Very rarely did I ever come back empty handed.

Then Ebay came along and ruined everything. :(

I used to read about people's amazing game finds in thrift stores in the '90s, in fanzines like the original Digital Press and the 2600 Connection. But I could never get myself to go into a thrift store, because of the stigma I thought it carried. Around 2003 I went to my first convention, the Austin Game Expo, and found that there were communities online that I could join, and they all talked about thrift stores. So finally I started going out on runs but not finding anything at all. Then one day driving home and thinking it was time to give up, I came across a thrift I'd never seen before, a real hole-in-the-wall. When I walked in, the first thing my eyes went to was a Rastan arcade cab with a $50 price tag (unfortunately not working, there was an arcade rental storehouse next door that donated it for the tax write-off). Wandering around the store, I noticed something that looked vaguely familiar - it turned out to be a Vectrex! No price on it, so I took it to the counter and asked them how much it was. They asked what it was, and I told them it was a black-and-white game console from the '70s or '80s. So they sold it to me for $5. I kept my right hand on the console on the drive home, just because I couldn't believe I finally owned one (I'd wanted one since they had come out). That kicked me in the butt and I started looking even harder for thrift store finds, which started piling up. I just wish I had started back in the '90s, but I just couldn't get past my own insecurity and bad opinion on charity shops and thrift stores.


I imagine they must have different employees marking prices with very different ideas about what items are worth. Just the same, what the hell, man?

Also take into account that they have to price a whole mess of stuff in one day. There's one Goodwill I pop into that has the donation area in the front of the building, and it's always piled up with plastic bags and junk. They've got to plow through all that stuff every single day and price it, otherwise it'd pile up to the ceiling. So you'll get badly priced stuff every once in a while, because they aren't taking the time to think about whether or not this stuff is really worth what they're marking it. They just want to zip through another heap of junk and take a chainsmoking break. :)

[Miss Boris Yeltsin]

I forgot about Funcoland! It was insane how cheap they'd sell certain NES carts for. Most of the third party titles like Color Dreams and AVE were $0.50 - $1.00 each. I remember many times going in there with my Wanted list and and leaving with a HUGE stack of carts (including lots of uncommons/rares) for around $30-$40.

God, Funcoland was the greatest. I remember it getting a lot of bile directed at it from the pimply teenaged ego-fest that was the "NES Scene" of the time (mostly for having clerks who had the nerve to not know every little detail about ten year old Nintendo games - and of course, those fucking cleaning kits they always used to push), but in hindsight, I can't begin to describe how much I miss it!

I even got a job there, right when Barnes and Noble was in the process of buying them, or starting to truly take them over and transfer the systems and all - it was definitely chaotic times. I remember one day, coming into the store and seeing one of the garbage bins stuffed full of SMB/DH carts - back then, if my memory serves me correctly, you either needed to spend $10 to get your 10% Funcoland Club discount, or you needed to spend $10 to get a Funcoland Club membership for free, something like that - anyway, some customer was a buck short, and the enterprising clerk had talked the guy into just buying a bunch of SMB/DH, since he'd end up saving five cents or so overall. So yeah, Funcoland would literally pay people to take SMB/DH - is it any wonder my stomach churns when I see it being sold for anything more than a dollar? ROFL

Needless to say, I still have those carts in my room, along with a top-loader, several of the comfortable "dogbone" controllers, and of course my launch-day PS2, long since broken. Fun times. Didn't last too long, though - I was hired in the fall, and by the time the new year rolled around, everyone who worked there literally stopped showing up. I thought I was the only one (I was a seasonal hire, and while there was talk of going full-fledged part-time, nothing was ever directly said one way or the other), but it turns out the manager disappeared from the face of the earth after the assistant manager transferred to a different store... the two employees (out of five or so) who bothered showing up couldn't get into the store and ended up just wandering off. I had a friend who worked at Babbage's, and evidently they had to send half their staff to the store I worked at, just to keep things moving, for about two weeks or so before they finally were able to hire a new staff.

[Griking]

Don't blame Goodwill or the stores that price games like this. Blame the people who actually buy them at these prices.

If they never sold then the prices would go down. Remember, their goal is to actually sell their stock.

[Tupin]

Don't blame Goodwill or the stores that price games like this. Blame the people who actually buy them at these prices.

If they never sold then the prices would go down. Remember, their goal is to actually sell their stock.
The things at my local Goodwills that are overpriced sit for months, then disappear. Then they send it to the store where they sell by the pound.

[Gameguy]

Any old-timers here that used to hit the thrifts in the mid to late 90's? I used to find mountains of gaming stuff back then...dirt-cheap Atari 2600 carts, Colecovision consoles, stacks of NES carts. I remember every time I'd do my 'runs' in those days, I'd find something worthwhile at about 50% of the thrifts I visited. Very rarely did I ever come back empty handed.

Then Ebay came along and ruined everything. :(
I never used to go back in the 90's, back then we all thought that thrifts just carried used clothing and nothing else. I did start going in the early 2000's though, I used to find tons of stuff almost all the time. Not just commons but imports, handhelds, merchandise, strategy guides, and everything was pretty cheap too. That seems to have ended a few years ago, every so often I can still find stuff and some of that stuff is still really good or really cheap, but it's just not that often anymore.


I imagine they must have different employees marking prices with very different ideas about what items are worth. Just the same, what the hell, man?
I like to imagine it's all the same employee but this person has bipolar disorder so the prices depend on whatever random mood they have at the time.


Don't blame Goodwill or the stores that price games like this. Blame the people who actually buy them at these prices.

If they never sold then the prices would go down. Remember, their goal is to actually sell their stock.
Not necessarily, I've talked with several major thrift stores and they told me that they send unsold merchandise overseas rather than mark them down in price. VHS tapes, electronics, toys, books, and other crap just gets sent elsewhere. It's like they can just write it off and still get money for it.

[hamburglar]

Ugh, shut up, both of you, right now :bawling:

Here I was starting to feel at least slightly okay with getting into things in the late late 90s, when... well, when you could go to Funcoland and pick things up at a known price. Thrifts back then were usually a "treasure trove" of NES commons and Genesis sports games - oh god, the piles and piles of Genesis sports games, reaching as far as the eye could see-- well, more like as high as the funky shape of Genesis cartridges would allow before tipping over. But they reached, damn it. You'd also find 2600 commons at about the same rate as you find non-common NES games these days.

I forgot about the boxed Genesis games, it seemed for the most part when you found Genesis games secondhand they always had their case and instructions unlike SNES games, I can understand the SNES boxes were just cardboard.

I remember thrift shops would sit on these games, I'd pick up anything decent, but most games just sat there, eventually I would see less and less coming in, unlike SNES games that people actually bought, I wonder if they ended up trashing them or sending them off somewhere else since they knew they wouldn't sell.

[understatement]

It's irrelevant - you seem to be under the naive impression that a merchant/consumer relationship is, or is even supposed to be, "symmetrical". It's like getting pissed at your English teacher for giving you a "D" on an essay and going off on a smug tirade where you ask why your teacher didn't write an essay of their own.

And, heck, not to launch off into fundamental logic or anything, but even if we were hypocrites, it doesn't render our argument irrelevant. If John Wayne Gacy says "it's bad to rape and murder little boys", it doesn't magically become a wrong statement just because he's, you know, John Wayne Gacy. Arguments and allegations of "hypocrisy" are a classic way of disguising an ad hominem attack and sidestepping actual points of debate. But this entire paragraph is really tangential to the thread of conversation here. :)

I don’t think the market is “symmetrical" at all (by the way it sounds you’re the one that wants it to be “symmetrical") I think the market should fluctuate with input from every available source. The problem is when selling used and discontinued goods most of input is gone and most don’t know how to find the tiny bit of info that remains, thus you get “rare Mario/Duck Hunt” to most of them it is rare to find NES games.

On a side note, I think making random statements that only vaguely touch on the moral of the subject matter are more of a sidestep than me asking if you really believe in what you say. But, they have been quite interesting to read "it's bad to rape and murder little boys". LOL


First off, Clownzilla ripped nobody off when he found Rescue Rangers 2, nor did he use deceit to obtain it at such a low price. He did not buy the game from a friend who asked him what a fair price was for a CIB Rescue Rangers 2. He did not buy it from a vendor trying to make a little extra money on the weekend at a local Flea Market.

Read above, not everyone that uses the word rare is out to get you.


No. He bought the game from the non-profit organization Goodwill, whose purpose is to provide jobs and job training to the local community. It doesn't affect that mission in the slightest if it was a SMB/Duck Hunt or a CIB Rescue Rangers that Clownzilla bought for $10.

But from the sound of your previous posts if it was a loos Mario/Duck Hunt for $10 you would be outraged that they would have the audacity to try and swindle someone. (This came out a bit more melodramatic than intended but is sounds better than "you be mad bro" :p)


I might be wrong, but I always thought that another part of the mission of Goodwill was to offer inexpensive products to the community, which a $10 CIB Rescue Rangers 2 fulfills.

Loose copies go for $80 so wouldn’t selling it CIB for $50~$80 also fulfill that mission?

[Desfeek]

Really? $19.99?

This game is all over ebay for like $5 with free shipping. I enjoying seeing what I can find but this is ridiculous.

I'm I the only one?


4511


RAGE!!!!
HAHA

I saw this exact same cart at the Goodwill "Superstore" on like 7th and Hawthorne in Portland, OR: $19.99 RC Pro AM next to a WoW:WotLK CE ($49.99 lol) and WoW:BC CE ($49.99 lol). Thought about taking a picture of it too, I'm glad somebody else discovered (and exposed) this ridiculousness!

Let me just say: I did walk away from that store with some goodies about three days before you were there. Gotta dig, and timing (luck?) is a huge factor, especially in a retro-clogged area like the one we live in :)

[dgdgagdae]

I used to read about people's amazing game finds in thrift stores in the '90s, in fanzines like the original Digital Press and the 2600 Connection. But I could never get myself to go into a thrift store, because of the stigma I thought it carried. Around 2003 I went to my first convention, the Austin Game Expo, and found that there were communities online that I could join, and they all talked about thrift stores. So finally I started going out on runs but not finding anything at all. Then one day driving home and thinking it was time to give up, I came across a thrift I'd never seen before, a real hole-in-the-wall. When I walked in, the first thing my eyes went to was a Rastan arcade cab with a $50 price tag (unfortunately not working, there was an arcade rental storehouse next door that donated it for the tax write-off). Wandering around the store, I noticed something that looked vaguely familiar - it turned out to be a Vectrex! No price on it, so I took it to the counter and asked them how much it was. They asked what it was, and I told them it was a black-and-white game console from the '70s or '80s. So they sold it to me for $5. I kept my right hand on the console on the drive home, just because I couldn't believe I finally owned one (I'd wanted one since they had come out). That kicked me in the butt and I started looking even harder for thrift store finds, which started piling up. I just wish I had started back in the '90s, but I just couldn't get past my own insecurity and bad opinion on charity shops and thrift stores.)

I'm in the same general area as you, and the only Goodwill I've been in is one in Plano. I only went in once, and I don't think I'll be back. To me, it's not the stigma of going into a Goodwill, as much as the feeling of depression once you're inside. Mostly it was elderly people who probably can't afford to shop elsewhere. There were some families too, looking at second hand clothes. And there I was parking my expensive car in the parking lot, looking for good deals on video games. It just didn't feel right.

[Miss Boris Yeltsin]

I don’t think the market is “symmetrical" at all (by the way it sounds you’re the one that wants it to be “symmetrical")
So you, the one saying that buyers and sellers should have an equal moral responsibility, don't believe the market should be a symmetrical situation. I don't think you understand what the word "symmetrical" means. :(


I think the market should fluctuate with input from every available source.
And I think there should be magical unicorns that grant wishes, but, much like the notion of an amoral self-regulating market, magical unicorns are a myth.


On a side note, I think making random statements that only vaguely touch on the moral of the subject matter are more of a sidestep than me asking if you really believe in what you say.
My statement had nothing to do with morality, it's a shame that you completely missed the point. It's sort of hard to talk to someone who doesn't understand what words mean and who resorts to ad hominems instead of even trying to back up his original statement, so do forgive me for using something as complicated and seemingly-impossible-to-understand as an analogy.



Read above, not everyone that uses the word rare is out to get you.



But from the sound of your previous posts if it was a loos Mario/Duck Hunt for $10 you would be outraged that they would have the audacity to try and swindle someone. (This came out a bit more melodramatic than intended but is sounds better than "you be mad bro" :p)



Loose copies go for $80 so wouldn’t selling it CIB for $50~$80 also fulfill that mission?[/QUOTE]

[treismac]

Read above, not everyone that uses the word rare is out to get you.

Perhaps. After all, I barely understand my own intentions, let alone the inner motivations of others. At the flea market I go to most vendors have an idea of the market value and supply of old video games. One vendor, Sandra, who says that SMB/Duck Hunt is "rare" and "hard to find," has a tub of games on the ground behind the counter, which has eight or so cartridges of SMB/Duck Hunt besides the three she has on display. I doubt she believes that the game is truly "rare." Concerning knowledge of the market outside of the flea market, I've had an elderly vendor mention (accurately) the going price for Wild Gunman on ebay when I was haggling with him. (The story is more complicated than that, but it is not pertinent nor interesting enough to retell). All of the vendors have an idea of what other vendors have as well, because they will talk about the other vendors and what games they have. While it is possible, I doubt any vendor believes that SMB/Duck Hunt is actually hard to come by relative to other NES games. I'd be willing to bet they understand that their statement is "untrue," regardless of if they are "out to get me" or not.


But from the sound of your previous posts if it was a loos Mario/Duck Hunt for $10 you would be outraged that they would have the audacity to try and swindle someone. (This came out a bit more melodramatic than intended but is sounds better than "you be mad bro" :p)

The intent of the statement of mine that you quoted was to say that a good price for a game still fulfills the mission of providing work and job training at Goodwill. A price that is too high fails, as many posts in this thread have demonstrated, since it does not get sold. My irritation at prices that are too high for common games at the flea market rather than at charity shops is that the vendors at flea markets know better than the employees at charity shops. I could hardly curse my local Goodwill for having a SMB/Duck Hunt listed at $50. They just don't know better.

Also, I always appreciate a more formal tone in a back and forth exchange. Too much slang hurts one's ethos, after all.

[tom]

Here in Germany my local second hand shop has a huge amount of unboxed SNES carts sitting on the shelf collecting dust (and N64 too). Prices is between Euro 1 - Euro 5 ($7).
I've been going to this shop since 5 years now to buy PS games, the SNES games haven't moved for 5 whole years!!!

On the other hand, he had a cib MegaDrive with 7 cib games for $40, sold within two days.

[understatement]

So you, the one saying that buyers and sellers should have an equal moral responsibility, don't believe the market should be a symmetrical situation. I don't think you understand what the word "symmetrical" means. :(

When did I say that? I say each party should have their own responsibilities not the same responsibilities.


And I think there should be magical unicorns that grant wishes, but, much like the notion of an amoral self-regulating market, magical unicorns are a myth.

My statement had nothing to do with morality, it's a shame that you completely missed the point. It's sort of hard to talk to someone who doesn't understand what words mean and who resorts to ad hominems instead of even trying to back up his original statement, so do forgive me for using something as complicated and seemingly-impossible-to-understand as an analogy.

Moral (not morality) was used as a noun for the embodiment of something.
You seem to be irritated with me, for that I’m sorry but I don’t think you understood my OP and now you seem to be trolling.



Perhaps. After all, I barely understand my own intentions, let alone the inner motivations of others. At the flea market I go to most vendors have an idea of the market value and supply of old video games. One vendor, Sandra, who says that SMB/Duck Hunt is "rare" and "hard to find," has a tub of games on the ground behind the counter, which has eight or so cartridges of SMB/Duck Hunt besides the three she has on display. I doubt she believes that the game is truly "rare." Concerning knowledge of the market outside of the flea market, I've had an elderly vendor mention (accurately) the going price for Wild Gunman on ebay when I was haggling with him. (The story is more complicated than that, but it is not pertinent nor interesting enough to retell). All of the vendors have an idea of what other vendors have as well, because they will talk about the other vendors and what games they have. While it is possible, I doubt any vendor believes that SMB/Duck Hunt is actually hard to come by relative to other NES games. I'd be willing to bet they understand that their statement is "untrue," regardless of if they are "out to get me" or not. .

I agree, they’re just trying to make a sale. I guess that I just don’t see it as all that deceitful it’s not like most “real” scam artist that get something for nothing. Also I don’t see it as all that effective; people like you know that it’s wrong and people that know nothing and just want to play Mario again don’t care if it’s rare or not if it in their scope to buy they will.



The intent of the statement of mine that you quoted was to say that a good price for a game still fulfills the mission of providing work and job training at Goodwill. A price that is too high fails, as many posts in this thread have demonstrated., since it does not get sold. My irritation at prices that are too high for common games at the flea market rather than at charity shops is that the vendors at flea markets know better than the employees at charity shops. A could ahrdly curse my local Goodwill for having a SMB/Duck Hunt listed at $50. They just don't know better.

Yea, here is where we had the brake down. I thought you were saying someone that put a high price on something and put it where you could buy it (or not) was a "swindler" as well.

While I don’t like seeing high prices in game shops, (or places run by people that should know the rates) there is usually a reason for the high starting price (highest BIN on ebay, it sells for that locally, or whatever) but if it sits long enough (around here anyway) supply and demand kick in and the price will lower.

[Miss Boris Yeltsin]

Ended up going to two Goodwills today, after visiting a third the other day.

Complete list of finds:

A four switch 2600, no hookups. $39.95
A toaster NES, no hookups. $49.95
NCAA Football for SNES, boxed. $10.00
Some random suckshit Genesis sports game I don't even remember, boxed. $10.00
Gran Turismo I and II for PSX. $5.00 each
A handful (maybe 15 total) of random PS2/XBOX sports games. $5.00 each

:-/

Yeah, needless to say, my wallet isn't any lighter than it was when starting out. Dear Goodwill: When running a thrift store, where people "donate" things to you, for free, so that you might sell them, it is typically accepted practice to charge less than "market value". That way, everybody wins - the buyer saves money, you make money for free, and you can use that money to help your local community or pay six figure salaries to your executives (http://taxdollars.ocregister.com/2010/08/02/goodwill-charity-exec-earns-354605/61979/) or whatever it is you're supposed to do.

You dudes are pricing music CDs at $5 each, VHS tapes at $2.50 each, and trashy romance novels at $1.50 each. This may come as a shock to you folks, but these aren't bargains.

[Parodius Duh!]

I say why bother. NEVER, not even when classic consoles were new or semi-dying, have I found games or systems at a goodwill. I found a copy of donkey Kong Country once, but the label was torn up and it looked like it was dug out of a mud puddle. Im not even sure if that was at a goodwill either.

[Bazoo]

I say why bother. NEVER, not even when classic consoles were new or semi-dying, have I found games or systems at a goodwill. I found a copy of donkey Kong Country once, but the label was torn up and it looked like it was dug out of a mud puddle. Im not even sure if that was at a goodwill either.

I think this has been stressed before, and I understand why you feel that way. But again, it's all dependent on region. For example, both the 2600 and NES that Yeltsin mentioned would have been priced at $10 at my Goodwills, because that's the "go-to" for consoles. I'm never going to blame them for their stock...

Yeltsin, have you ever tried talking down the price? Sometimes Goodwills are up for haggling, sometimes not, but hey no skin off your bones if it doesn't work.

That being said, the six figure salary thing is striking, and certainly I wonder about that with any "charity." It seems like most charities really can't be trusted much any more, eh, whether due to incompetence, an entangled system, or just plain greed. :|

[Axeman]

I've given up on finding any SNES games at Goodwill. I look on their site as well, but they're looking to get high eBay prices for the complete games.

Now I stop into Pawn America. They mark up their games, but when I talk with the employees, they don't care about the profit. They're 18-year-olds making minimum wage. I'll blow the dust off the games and say, "hmmm ... how about $5 for these five games?" They shrug their shoulders. "Sure," they reply.

I know some of the other Pawn America send their SNES games to an online auction. Thankfully this one doesn't.

But I did hit a great old-school video store with 100 some complete SNES games. I talked with the owner for a while and walked out with a pristine copy of Prince of Persia 2 with manual and box. The rest of them ... the owner has some ideas about holding out until the apocalypse, when people will give millions for the rest of her collection.

Until then, they are behind the counter, collecting dust.

[Miss Boris Yeltsin]

That being said, the six figure salary thing is striking, and certainly I wonder about that with any "charity." It seems like most charities really can't be trusted much any more, eh, whether due to incompetence, an entangled system, or just plain greed. :|

If you think that's bad, it used to be even worse (http://www.ncrp.org/news-room/news-2005/402-goodwill-chief-agrees-to-pay-cut).

I know a handful of people who work for non-profits - most of them are pretty burned out by now. Even if you don't go in with naive dreams of huge changes, you at least expect to do a little good. Then you witness middle management, drawing the same salaries as most other executives, doing about the same generic hob-nobbing stuff as any other middle manager, and the higher up the ladder you go the more divorced these people become from the trenches. It's all just percentages and numbers to them. There's still good deeds being done, nobody argues that, but it's dwarfed by the silly money-making shit - even if we can somehow agree, for the sake of argument, that a $800K/year chief is better at raising money than someone who'd make $150K/year (again, just for the sake of argument), you really have to wonder if the amount of extra money raised and connections formed are really worth it - that $750,000 salary difference would buy a lot of meals, clothes, and educational training for poor people.


Haggling

As far as haggling goes, it really isn't worth it - there's usually a line, and typically the employees working the registers don't have the authority to change prices. So you end up waiting around for a "manager" (or whatever the internal term is for someone with haggling authority) to come around, only to tell you no, sorry, all prices are final. Yes, sir, I understand it's the same price as eBay, but I'm not responsible for pricing, sir, I'd have to talk with The Head Store Manager, sir, and he/she is awfully busy, sir. I am really sorry, sir, you may be able to find it on our online auction site, would you like the URL address of the site, sir? Once again, I am sorry sir.

Part of it comes from being in a semi-yuppie area - I'm sure in less "Executive" areas, people are a lot more laid back. Here though, the customers are a mix of unintentionally arrogant yuppies who nobody wants to haggle with (you're driving a Lexus and trying to dick us around over ten dollars? Fuck yourself) and people who come from places where haggling is very, very engrained in the culture (so tuning out haggling requests is basically second nature). The worst of both worlds! :)


I say why bother. NEVER, not even when classic consoles were new or semi-dying, have I found games or systems at a goodwill. I found a copy of donkey Kong Country once, but the label was torn up and it looked like it was dug out of a mud puddle. Im not even sure if that was at a goodwill either.

Eh, back in the day Goodwills I visited were pretty much guaranteed to have a toaster NES for $10 and a handful of NES commons. Maybe a copy of E.T. or 2600 Pacman, occasionally some Genesis sports games. Rarely anything actually worth buying, of course, but at least there were cartridges to sort through and be disappointed at. :D

I'm not surprised that there are less 8-bit and 16-bit systems out there in the wild, but I guess I am at least mildly surprised at the lack of 32-bit and 64-bit systems to take their place. It likely has to do with modern gamers growing up more used to trade-in culture, and offloading their stuff for a bit of Gamestop credit instead of letting their parents give it away when they move to college.

Such is progress...

[Axeman]

I'm in the same general area as you, and the only Goodwill I've been in is one in Plano. I only went in once, and I don't think I'll be back. To me, it's not the stigma of going into a Goodwill, as much as the feeling of depression once you're inside. Mostly it was elderly people who probably can't afford to shop elsewhere. There were some families too, looking at second hand clothes. And there I was parking my expensive car in the parking lot, looking for good deals on video games. It just didn't feel right.

True, it can seem a little depressing. However, any money you put into Goodwill does rotate back around to help people who can't afford shopping at Macy's or L&M. So I think it's a win-win.

[sloan]

Most of the Goodwills in my area go by this reasoning: Well, it lists for $xx on ebay, so that is what we will price it at.

Word to Goodwill: YOU ARE NOT EBAY, AND MOST OF THOSE BIN AUCTIONS NEVER EVEN SELL AT THOSE INFLATED PRICES!

When I shop at Salvation Army or Goodwill, I do so knowing full well the items may not even work when I get them home. At least on ebay I can go through Paypal and get my money back if someone gyps me, but at GW and SA you take a big risk, hence they need to sell for maximum of half the ebay selling rates.

[atarikurt]

Thrifts near me have wildly erratic pricing. I have seen Gameboy Color systems priced anywhere from $2.99 to a mind blowing $69.99! (with bonus battery corrosion) at the same store.

[SpaceHarrier]

I've been to quite a few Goodwill stores out here recently, inspired by Game Chasers and the monthly finds thread right here at DP. I found next to nothing at most of them, except a beat-to-hell, dirty n64, a $50 gamecube, and Wheel of Fortune for NES.

[Aussie2B]

Usually the thrift stores I go to aren't so bad. The prices usually aren't especially great, but they tend to be fair and not overpriced that often or by that much. But I went to a thrift recently, one that used to be my favorite for finding good stuff, and apparently they have a complete moron pricing stuff now. First of all, they piece everything out, which is nothing new for there since I had to buy my 3DO that way (but it was still a good deal), so they had a bare NES, GameCube, and Saturn priced at $20. That wasn't as bad as the other bits and pieces, though. They had standard NES controllers priced at a whopping $7.99 each, an NES Advantage was priced at $19.99, and copies of SMB/DH and some Madden on SNES were $7.99 each as well. It wasn't limited to games either. I went with my mom, and I met up with her at the clothes. Most women's jeans are typically priced at something like $4.99 or $6.99, but I saw some priced WAY higher than usual, like $19.99, and not even for a fancy brand, something cheap from Old Navy or The Gap that was probably $20 when it was brand new. I don't know what the hell happened with the store, but I hope it's not a trend that continues or it definitely won't be a favorite any longer.

[swlovinist]

Ended up going to two Goodwills today, after visiting a third the other day.

Complete list of finds:

A four switch 2600, no hookups. $39.95
A toaster NES, no hookups. $49.95
NCAA Football for SNES, boxed. $10.00
Some random suckshit Genesis sports game I don't even remember, boxed. $10.00
Gran Turismo I and II for PSX. $5.00 each
A handful (maybe 15 total) of random PS2/XBOX sports games. $5.00 each

:-/

Yeah, needless to say, my wallet isn't any lighter than it was when starting out. Dear Goodwill: When running a thrift store, where people "donate" things to you, for free, so that you might sell them, it is typically accepted practice to charge less than "market value". That way, everybody wins - the buyer saves money, you make money for free, and you can use that money to help your local community or pay six figure salaries to your executives (http://taxdollars.ocregister.com/2010/08/02/goodwill-charity-exec-earns-354605/61979/) or whatever it is you're supposed to do.

You dudes are pricing music CDs at $5 each, VHS tapes at $2.50 each, and trashy romance novels at $1.50 each. This may come as a shock to you folks, but these aren't bargains.

Have to agree with this, as I see it here. My local Goodwill is a total EPIC fail. Sometimes there is an occasional score, but rarely. I have stopped going to many thrift stores and just now dedicate my funds to the local independant game store CLASSICS. The time I spend in an overpriced, fanstasy land of crap selection is time I could have been at a local game store going though a real selection. If I seemed pissed it is because Goodwill should stand for Good Grief.

[BricatSegaFan]

I had been to my local thrift store recently and found a gamecube in perfect working order will all hookups and a memcard stapled inside of the instruction manual for $7. After that I went back the next day and found a Toaster NES for 9 bucks with two controllers and a gray Zapper. So I went to pick up some games and I managed to find Mario 2&3 for $4 a piece Cib. Of course I also found a gold cart Zelda for 2.99 but with wrong manual in the box.

[BetaWolf47]

I've given up on finding any SNES games at Goodwill. I look on their site as well, but they're looking to get high eBay prices for the complete games.

Now I stop into Pawn America. They mark up their games, but when I talk with the employees, they don't care about the profit. They're 18-year-olds making minimum wage. I'll blow the dust off the games and say, "hmmm ... how about $5 for these five games?" They shrug their shoulders. "Sure," they reply.

I know some of the other Pawn America send their SNES games to an online auction. Thankfully this one doesn't.

But I did hit a great old-school video store with 100 some complete SNES games. I talked with the owner for a while and walked out with a pristine copy of Prince of Persia 2 with manual and box. The rest of them ... the owner has some ideas about holding out until the apocalypse, when people will give millions for the rest of her collection.

Until then, they are behind the counter, collecting dust.

They can do that because they're pawn shops. Pawn shops thrive off of return customers who haggle.

[Jack7]

ive actually never had a problem with goodwill. the ones near me price all games at around 4 dollars. so yeah a copy of madden 96 for genesis I would never get. But Ive also gotten Conker for n64, DKC, ALTTP, mario all stars and such for 4 dollars as well

[kedawa]

A friend o mine used to work for a thrift store, and the unofficial policy for classic computers and games was to overprice it so it would barely sell at all, that way they would have something on display, and a lack of demand. The endgame was to create a situation where they could take stuff home as it came in, since it wouldn't sell anyway and just take up space.

This is apparently a very common practice.