To Pick or not to pick?

[real_18aka]

for those who watch either canadian pickers or american pickers know where im going with this, those who dont know the shows these people go from city to city and buy items on the cheap and sell for profit.the shows are not videogame related except for the occasional arcade machine. but they are basically resellers. which i bring up due to the fact that many people some probably on this site look for games on the cheap just for the reason of selling it for profit which in of itself is not so bad to each his own i guess, but there is always the guy could be your best friend or worst enemy depends on the day, who being into buying and collecting games is an interest u both share, but he is lets say the picker and u are the collector. he sticks mainly to nes/master system/super nes, i on the other hand collect from every system available to me,anyway case in point said friend calls u up to brag that he found snatcher and Lunar: The Silver Star on the sega cd snatcher as u know fetches insane prices on ebay and the like,he paid grand total of 4.00 canadian both in the best shape ive ever seen for sega cd games found in the wild. without knowing the value, knowing what he paid i offered him 50 for both he said snatcher itself goes for 90 or 100 at the time.i said who cares u paid this amount ur still making a good profit ill give you 100 i really wanted them for my collection. he outright refused said ill sell them for much more, (i forgot to mention this guy is in an unhealthy competition with me lol) he really didnt want me to have them out of spite. anyway to make a long story short or at least im trying to :) i guess this is kinda turning into a rant which wasnt my intention. are u in the picker or collector category do u collect and keep ur collection except for doubles,or do u kind of collect but will sell ur game just for the profit no matter how good the game is? im surprised ive been able to keep my anger in check, i guess i dont really want to offend the people on this forum who fit the picker (scourge of the earth category) :) especially not on my first thread lol.

[XYXZYZ]

Check out Retro Gaming Roundup, there's a segment in that show called "Miked Up" where SoCal Mike (Kaboomer here on DP) goes to swap meets in California and gets lots of good stuff for cheap. He then passes the savings onto you by selling a lot of it for the price he paid.

I don't think the used video game market is really like the "junk a guy has in his barn" market. Finding good deals isn't easy thanks to the eBay pricing model. I imagine most of the good deals being had are by the used game shops that pay bottom dollar to some guy getting rid of some old games.

[MachineGex]

If this guy is an actual friend, you need new friends. So he called you just to rub it in? Dick move unless he would have sold them to you at a very fair price.

btw, your post is difficult to read. Try using the "cap" button at the beginning of each sentence. :)

[SpaceFlea]

Pickers, from what I've seen on the show, are a little different than the traditional douche resellers that troll eBay. Resellers snatch things away the collectors in the open market (many times at higher than average overall price) then sell them back to the very ones they screwed over at top price. The pickers (again, from what I've seen) find people who want to let their stuff go to other collectors, but don't want to or aren't capable of puting everything up for open auction. So while the pickers are indeed reselling items, they aren't ripping them away from potential collectors by their initial purchase. They're actually getting things into the market that collectors wouldn't otherwise have a chance to acquire. Not everyone who resells items is a "reseller" in the negative sense.

[Cornelius]

Yeah, your "friend" is a douchebag. I flip things all the time; I wouldn't be able to justify my hunting (time & gas) if I only every bought stuff that I could put in my collection. So I pick up random things I know I can make some money off of, usually games, but anything else I know enough about, too (which isn't much compared to some people). Just this month I bought a mini-fridge super cheap, maybe to use, probably to sell, it was just too cheap not to get. My neighbor and friend saw it in my garage and mentioned he needed something like that for his new house. I let him have it for my cost, and actually I think he may just trade me something he doesn't want for it. Doesn't matter much to me. Similar stories with a couple 360 wireless controllers I've found at different times. I don't have a 360, and a friend wanted some extras for parties so he gave me $5 for one, don't remember on the other. Probably more than I paid.

I do take those items off my expense sheet, though.

[Collector_Gaming]

I don't think the used video game market is really like the "junk a guy has in his barn" market. Finding good deals isn't easy thanks to the eBay pricing model. I imagine most of the good deals being had are by the used game shops that pay bottom dollar to some guy getting rid of some old games.
Yeah but thanks to ebay that model has moved onto everything.. Specially now with the mass production of smart phones with EBAY apps.

Even a 5 year old can look up to see what a jar of clay marbles is worth or what a 60's variation of a hot wheels toy car is worth.

In a model where you are looking to score a profit on a item perhaps. Is don't be afraid to ask to come down and show them you have the cash and not bullshitting and kinda play mind tricks if they fire back and be like "oh but i can't go 40.. I see on ebay its going for 50". Be that person that will be like "yeah but on ebay you gotta sit on it and take a chance to see if it will sell that or not. if it doesn't then your gonna have sit on it some more and take more of a chance. and do you want money now or 10 years from now?". I am sure Mike and Frank have gotten into some heated arguments with clients before that you don't see on tv explaining this.

[wingzrow]

Both, but I would say I do more picking than collecting these days. It's not that I don't like what I find, it's that the stuff I actually want to keep just never seems to show up. I found a SINGLE SEGA Saturn game this year, and I've been going to flea markets and garage sales the entire year non stop. The rare stuff it getting harder and harder to find. When's the last time one of you found a copy of little samson, Panzer Dragoon Saga, or a boxed copy of any decent original gameboy game?

I was finding games for my collection all the time up until 2008 or so, but now I rarely find anything to brag about.

I'm never going to find the Jetsons for Super Nintendo...

[xelement5x]

I'm a bit of both, but mainly collector it does irk me though when I see people buying stuff just to flip at a higher price.

Last weekend I was at the local media store in Colorado Springs that I hit every week to see what comes in, out of the corner of my eye I noticed one of the sales guys I know has a copy of Tales of Destiny in his hands for $20. I quickly ran over to him but he mentioned that another of his regular customers already had the game along with some other nice ones. Oh well, a bit too late I thought, it's only a video game.

As I was checking out though I mention to him that my wife and I really enjoy the Tales series and it's too bad we missed it, and he said "Well, you can buy it from the guy that bought it, he runs a game store". It was so disheartening! I wouldn't mind if a collector or someone who would play it got it, but to be snatched from my clutches just to be resold is so sad :(

[BlastProcessing402]

btw, your post is difficult to read. Try using the "cap" button at the beginning of each sentence. :)

Thank you! He should also try pressing enter a few times. Makes long things much easier to read than a wall of text.

Anyway, if your friend won't sell to you at the price you offer, oh well. That's his right. Ask him how much he thinks he can get elsewhere, and then offer him that (or don't if you think it's too high). If he's really out of line in how much he thinks he's gonna get, he may come back after it doesn't sell and take you up on your offer.

[mailman187666]

I half collect, half pick. I try to sell the things that I wouldn't normally want to keep around for systems I don't specifically collect for if I can get a good profit. As far as selling things to friends or family, I always give it to them at what I paid or even free if it was cheap enough for me. My brother and I both collect and pick yet we go to the same flea market at the same time looking for the same things. We are basically rivals. He collects gameboy and I collect Saturn and Atari, so we always let each other have at those games before searching through them. Other finds that we get we do like to piss each other off with, but its ok, I'd rather one of us get it than somebody else. Some people make a living off picking so they will be more aggresive about it naturally.

[Gameguy]

I'd rather find stuff for me to keep, but I'll pick up anything worthwhile that I come across. If someone I know is there with me and wants it for themselves, I'll usually just let them get it unless I know it's much more valuable than the asking price. A $10 item for $3 isn't something I'll fight over if it's not something I personally want, if nobody else wants it though then I'll still get it.

Plus with good stuff at thrift stores they tend to be destroyed if left on the shelves for too long so I'd rather just buy it so someone else can enjoy it.

[real_18aka]

Thank you! He should also try pressing enter a few times. Makes long things much easier to read than a wall of text.

Anyway, if your friend won't sell to you at the price you offer, oh well. That's his right. Ask him how much he thinks he can get elsewhere, and then offer him that (or don't if you think it's too high). If he's really out of line in how much he thinks he's gonna get, he may come back after it doesn't sell and take you up on your offer.

thanks for the tips :) I was paying more attention to not using run on sentences and spelling lol.


This happened over a year ago and at the present time he is a friend until he eventually screws me over again, Then ill avoid him till he learns, it sucks that hes the only collector friend i have. It would be much easier having someone working with you then against you.

[joshnickerson]

thanks for the tips :) I was paying more attention to not using run on sentences and spelling lol.


This happened over a year ago and at the present time he is a friend until he eventually screws me over again, Then ill avoid him till he learns, it sucks that hes the only collector friend i have. It would be much easier having someone working with you then against you.

You should find someone who collects for different systems than you. For instance, my friend collects almost exclusively Sega while I'm almost exclusively Nintendo. If he comes across a cheap boxed copy of Chrono Trigger, he sends it my way. Conversely, if I find a copy of Panzer Dragoon Saga... well, naturally I'd be a dick about it and brag, then end up giving it to him for his birthday. :D

[real_18aka]

You should find someone who collects for different systems than you. For instance, my friend collects almost exclusively Sega while I'm almost exclusively Nintendo. If he comes across a cheap boxed copy of Chrono Trigger, he sends it my way. Conversely, if I find a copy of Panzer Dragoon Saga... well, naturally I'd be a dick about it and brag, then end up giving it to him for his birthday. :D

you sound like a stand up guy :) My problem like i said is that i collect for every system imaginable from intellivision to 360 whatever i find in the wild. But the difference is even if it is a game he already owns and i dont he would not let me have it, he would want to make a quick buck instead of letting me buy it for myself. Yes he can be a royal ass and somewhat of a dick, But hes my ride lol

[Tanooki]

Going to have to join the group here, your fake friend is a dick. By your terms I guess I'd be a gamer-picker mix. I posted in another thread why. Simply put, no money, limited budget, and had to sell off a like a dozen systems and 1000+ games made the collector in me die a painful icy death. I wouldn't even if I had money to throw around even be a picker, it's a forced situation. I've learned up and down the values of most cart only games for nes, snes, n64 and then anything of the gb, gbc, and gba line and it has served me well. If it's not a dead week out there (sadly it happens a lot now due to ebay linked phones or just literally nothing there) I tend to pick up a few things of which I'll keep some, flip the others so I can afford to even buy games for myself and keep it out of our monthly budget. Like last week I found a Pokewalker for free, Pokemon FireRed for $10, and a couple Radica 90s lcds for $3 (slots and poker.) I kept FireRed for me, and the others went online and so far the Pokewalker got $14 shipped. Also super rare(my goodwill legit gets no games but once every 4~months) I found SMW, SMAS, Super Ghouls n Ghosts and Boogerman SNES all for $14. Boogerman I was going to keep but damn it's not fun, sold that one for $28 shipped, and SMW and SMAS went for 12 and 15 shipped respectively. I just do what I have to do so I can get the games I want to play. :\

I go to this flea weekly on Sundays and I tend to end up with a couple of friends I made there just bumping into them. We don't compete, we also don't undercut and stab either other in the back on things. Sometimes I see something, sometimes he does. Like I got an Earthbound for $2 a couple months back, I kept it, he was like drooling when he saw why I bolted to a table like 20ft off but we both kept our cool and then got kicks out of it after (he already had it anyway.) There have been other times I've seen stuff, he's been interested in it, and I'll just let it go and he does the same. Or if we end up buying a game the other wishes to have, obviously we still want to make a few bucks but we don't rake each other over the coals. Like a month ago this one evil guy there (he rips off garage sale types there and then asks over ebay at his spot, but he's dumb and doesn't know values just names) was selling MM1 and MM5 for $5 each yet his Marios are like $15+. Well he got to MM5 before I did, and we rolled back around and I got 1. He didn't know I was looking for it, but I had been silently for a couple years now as I refuse to drop top dollar on it and it has never showed up ever. He knowing it was $40-50 online at the time was willing to let me have it. I was about to ask if $20 was cool and he got to asking me if that was ok instead first so I did it. :P (Now I have all 6.) Another friend will help me with dead batteries on carts as he can do repairs(he even does 360 reflow fixes and stuff) and a few weeks back for (my offer) $20 he let me buy a stack of SNES manuals off him, some had maps and all in near minty shape such as FFMQ, Soul Blazer, Secret of Mana, FF2, and FF3 and other just manuals had some gems too he just gave to me free. We just do favors, not snipe.

That's really the better way to do it. Again, your fake friend is an ass.

[Jorpho]

My personal experience has convinced picking is a sucker's game. The majority of the time when I bet on my ability to flip something, I lose out. Even GameTZ, which used to be a useful resource, seems to be practically useless now.

[Tanooki]

Sorry to hear that but I've rarely lost out, and if I have it has been just on totally common $5 level type stuff and not often, and only to break even. You really just need to know the values, or at least covertly check a net phone while holding onto something you suspect you should be when out. ebay=>search=>completed listings and see what shakes out in the averages.

[mailman187666]

Sorry to hear that but I've rarely lost out, and if I have it has been just on totally common $5 level type stuff and not often, and only to break even. You really just need to know the values, or at least covertly check a net phone while holding onto something you suspect you should be when out. ebay=>search=>completed listings and see what shakes out in the averages.

that really is the way to do it, or at least thats how I do it. For some reason it seems as though this year has been very dry for collecting. Every table I see that has games are either over-priced or has Madden 07, 08, 09 NHL 07, 08, 09 ect. I used to walk out of my favorite flea with multiple bags of games or would even have to drop stuff back off at my truck and then go back in. This year its been nothing except 7 uncommon and rare 2600 games for $20.....and a complete Primal Rage 32X for $7.