Goodwill Problems

[sloan]

My theory on the fact that you can no longer find any classics outside the realm of eBay and Amazon is that after a decade of hoarders, collectors, and resellers scouring the shelves of every thrift shop and tag sale across the country, there just isn't anything left. I maintain that the overwhelming majority pf games prior to the PS1 era are already in collectors hands or in the posession of a reseller who has them on eBay. That is why you very rarely see any older games besides junk sports titles available second hand.

One GW near me has about 20 Atari VCS commons priced at $2 each. They have been setting there for a couple months now, and my guess is that they will go in the shredder/dumpster if they don't sell soon.

[CloudGT4]

One GW near me has about 20 Atari VCS commons priced at $2 each. They have been setting there for a couple months now, and my guess is that they will go in the shredder/dumpster if they don't sell soon.

Hey sloan is there a possibility that I could paypal you the 40 or so bucks, and you get those for me?

[LeonHikari]

As somebody who's worked for two thrift stores (not major ones, just local to my area), I'll say that there's a lot that goes into pricing video games... and yes, it does matter who prices them. The place I work for now generally prices all games for $4 a piece, but I do try and bring the price up a little higher for rare things or a little lower for stuff that isn't going to sell. A lot of the time people assume that everything is worth money so they jack the price up to get the maximum (which unfortunately won't sell). As for systems, I personally like to make sure all the systems that come into my store work even if we do have a return policy, but my place of prior employment did not care about having stuff tested, just wanted it out on the floor.

If anybody's got any questions, go ahead and ask. I can tell you what i know about thrift stores, and even though I've never worked at goodwill I can tell you quite a bit about them.

[GamerTheGreek]

My theory on the fact that you can no longer find any classics outside the realm of eBay and Amazon is that after a decade of hoarders, collectors, and resellers scouring the shelves of every thrift shop and tag sale across the country, there just isn't anything left. I maintain that the overwhelming majority pf games prior to the PS1 era are already in collectors hands or in the posession of a reseller who has them on eBay. That is why you very rarely see any older games besides junk sports titles available second hand.

Thats probably true. I remember my first run on here back in the early 2000s i was always hitting crazy finds. Now not so much of anything. Being into 8 bit the finds are probably 1:50 to the atari 2600 finds. Prices on ebay is just either correct and im rich on my gold stack here OR ( which i probably believe more ) people tend to ask moon money and hopes that someone bids and buys it. Group lots do well online. Last refuge for finding good games for the collection at prices I can live with cause I can flip with what I dont want. Like Craigslist and even Ebay. But I hear alot of you guys do the CL sweeps. I wonder how many are into what Im into and how much competition I have for the same items im after.

[sloan]

Hey sloan is there a possibility that I could paypal you the 40 or so bucks, and you get those for me?

PM me and I will do it.

[mightykendar]

I've found that going alot(if the stores are actually close to you) often helps considering that they put out new merchandise daily.

Yeah, I'm fortunate in that there's a Goodwill more-or-less on my way home from school/work, so I try to hit it as many days out of the week as possible -- not Saturdays, though, as it's mobbed and horribly picked over. There's also a Salvation Army nearby that I visit once or twice a week. I'll come up with nothing for months at the Salvation Army and then have one good visit -- recently I got a bunch of NES carts that I needed for $1 apiece, including Castlevania II -- and then it's back to nothing. It doesn't hurt to stop in every once in a while, though. There's a Goodwill in the next town over that I try to hit once a week as well, depending on my schedule.

[spman]

Yeah, I'm fortunate in that there's a Goodwill more-or-less on my way home from school/work, so I try to hit it as many days out of the week as possible -- not Saturdays, though, as it's mobbed and horribly picked over. There's also a Salvation Army nearby that I visit once or twice a week. I'll come up with nothing for months at the Salvation Army and then have one good visit -- recently I got a bunch of NES carts that I needed for $1 apiece, including Castlevania II -- and then it's back to nothing. It doesn't hurt to stop in every once in a while, though. There's a Goodwill in the next town over that I try to hit once a week as well, depending on my schedule.

Your mileage may very with Goodwill putting stuff out every day. Here they have the handicapped guys put stuff out on shelves, and they only work a couple days a week, so it really doesn't make any sense to stop in there more than maybe twice each week.

[XianXi]

The Goodwill stores here function like franchises. They don't have the same pricing for anything. One of them had NES games for $2 each, another store for $5 and the most expensive store was $9.

[sloan]

^
I am kind of on the border between two different franchisees. One has a store by store pricing policy varying from $2 to $6 per game, while the other has a blanket $3/game policy.

[jb143]

My theory on the fact that you can no longer find any classics outside the realm of eBay and Amazon is that after a decade of hoarders, collectors, and resellers scouring the shelves of every thrift shop and tag sale across the country, there just isn't anything left. I maintain that the overwhelming majority pf games prior to the PS1 era are already in collectors hands or in the posession of a reseller who has them on eBay. That is why you very rarely see any older games besides junk sports titles available second hand.

More than likely it's because the vast majority of people who had boxes of their kids old games taking up space in their garage has already donated. I used to see NES and Genesis games all the time, now I mainly see PS2 and Xbox games...or the next influx of no longer played boxes of their kids old games.

[Gameguy]

Honestly Goodwill is looking better and better to me all the time, it's just too far away for me to visit that often. Value Village on the other hand is close enough to visit pretty much every day, though I'm not sure why I still bother.



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[Tupin]

Figured I'd mention that around here, Savers, which is owned by Value Village, is quickly becoming better than Goodwill. The Goodwills here have gone downhill here, they are absolute messes that make it impossible to find anything.

Let me just say this:
At Savers, you can buy a computer (Win98, but still) for $10.
At a Goodwill just down the road, a typewriter costs $40.

[mailman187666]

Figured I'd mention that around here, Savers, which is owned by Value Village, is quickly becoming better than Goodwill. The Goodwills here have gone downhill here, they are absolute messes that make it impossible to find anything.

Let me just say this:
At Savers, you can buy a computer (Win98, but still) for $10.
At a Goodwill just down the road, a typewriter costs $40.

I check Savers near my house from time to time. A lot of the NES games they get in are overpriced or match ebay. They had a boxed Donkey Kong classics for $40 and a cart only Mario Bros. Arcade (for NES) for $30. On the other hand, I've seen Final Fantasy 7 for $4. There are some deals to be found, but most times I leave with nothing. Of course prices may vary from store to store.

[Griking]

Figured I'd mention that around here, Savers, which is owned by Value Village, is quickly becoming better than Goodwill. The Goodwills here have gone downhill here, they are absolute messes that make it impossible to find anything.

Let me just say this:
At Savers, you can buy a computer (Win98, but still) for $10.
At a Goodwill just down the road, a typewriter costs $40.

I'm surprised that they actually sell used computers with the risk of recovering personal data from old hard drives and all.

[Gameguy]

I'm surprised that they actually sell used computers with the risk of recovering personal data from old hard drives and all.
They don't care about that. I know someone who bought an old computer from the Value Village near me and it turned out it belonged to a video rental store that went out of business. It was full of full names, phone numbers, addresses, and credit card numbers from all their customers. Luckily this computer was formated with everything sensitive erased, if someone else less honest would have bought it who knows what could have happened with that information.

[Griking]

They don't care about that. I know someone who bought an old computer from the Value Village near me and it turned out it belonged to a video rental store that went out of business. It was full of full names, phone numbers, addresses, and credit card numbers from all their customers. Luckily this computer was formated with everything sensitive erased, if someone else less honest would have bought it who knows what could have happened with that information.

The Goodwills in my area won't sell used computers for that reason. When you donate one to them they send them out to their HQ to be recycled.

[ZP3]

I have a few goodwills in my area, one that overprices everything ($30 for a crappy sega genesis with no hookups or controllers), but then another that really undervalues what they have, yet doesn't get as much stuff in. Its all hit or miss from what I've seen.

[ProjectCamaro]

I have hit EVERY thrift store in my city and between ALL of them I have found a total of two PS2 games and that is it! No other video game's, accessories, or consoles at all. I cannot believe how little there is here. I may not live in a major city but we do have seven thrift stores in town and the city has a population of over 100,000.

[spman]

I have hit EVERY thrift store in my city and between ALL of them I have found a total of two PS2 games and that is it! No other video game's, accessories, or consoles at all. I cannot believe how little there is here. I may not live in a major city but we do have seven thrift stores in town and the city has a population of over 100,000.

Another issue to consider is that EVERYONE is aware of eBay, Amazon, and Craigslist now. A lot of items like toys, video games, electronics, that a decade ago would have been dropped off at a thrift store, now gets unloaded online instead. That's also why you see Goodwill so loaded to the brim with junk like VCR's, CRT TV Sets, VHS tapes, antiquated appliances, etc. This type of stuff has literally no resale value at all, which is why people use Goodwill as an alternative to the junk yard.

[recorderdude]

last goodwill I went to had a God of War II with no actual game disc for $2 (just case+bonus disc) and disaster report for PS2 for $3 (was going to get it but disc was super scratched so decided not to) and a plethora of other worthless games for around the same price. Seldom do they get anything good.

[Ed Oscuro]

The Goodwill stores here function like franchises. They don't have the same pricing for anything. One of them had NES games for $2 each, another store for $5 and the most expensive store was $9.
Ditto for Michigan. Incidentally, it was either a Salvo Army or a Goodwill (whatever's on the beach there near Hilo) where I picked up my Atomic Runner.

Speaking of Salvation Army, those I've seen in the area are basically old medium-size grocery stores vacated and now very sparsely furnished with racks and a few display cases if you're lucky. However, one of them has the largest selection of old CRT TVs (of any value) in the area, although these were dirty and old. I was lucky / smart and held out for something new from a Goodwill instead.

My local Goodwill is as always - often poor CRT TV selection (usually just 13"-17" bedroom models with RF input only, very rarely something better) and goes back and forth on other gaming merchandise. Sometimes you find nothing at all, but other times fairly recent merchandise shows up new for cut rates. Sometimes they price things too high, but sometimes it's far below. They've given up on taping PC games shut, which is a mixed blessing because you can never be sure if there's anything missing. I've found plenty of PC classics there for $2.99 or thereabouts, including some legendary or obscure releases like System Shock (the rare original, non-EA Classics CD release! Only thing rarer is the Mac release) and Midwinter, a very early polygonal FPS. My last find was Dinotopia for Xbox, which I bought just because well, hell's bells, it's probably got talking dinosaurs, and looks hilarious. I've bought more than my share of crap from them too, though. I consider my $10 Jasper model Xbox 360 to be just evening the score somewhat.

[scaleworm]

Yeah, I'm fortunate in that there's a Goodwill more-or-less on my way home from school/work, so I try to hit it as many days out of the week as possible -- not Saturdays, though, as it's mobbed and horribly picked over. There's also a Salvation Army nearby that I visit once or twice a week. I'll come up with nothing for months at the Salvation Army and then have one good visit -- recently I got a bunch of NES carts that I needed for $1 apiece, including Castlevania II -- and then it's back to nothing. It doesn't hurt to stop in every once in a while, though. There's a Goodwill in the next town over that I try to hit once a week as well, depending on my schedule.

I do the same. Have a route, the car (I swear) drives on its' own... used to do daily, but now a few a week.

GW out here is crazy now in the Seattle area.
all on ebay.

Oh well, I got my years and years of gear.. I cannot complain, and yes I do have lots and lots of good stuff accumulated over a couple of decades...

[The 1 2 P]

Figured I'd mention that around here, Savers, which is owned by Value Village, is quickly becoming better than Goodwill. The Goodwills here have gone downhill here, they are absolute messes that make it impossible to find anything.

Let me just say this:
At Savers, you can buy a computer (Win98, but still) for $10.
At a Goodwill just down the road, a typewriter costs $40.

There were no Savers around here but one is opening next week in an area were a Salvation Army closed last year(they always had junk and they were literally across the street from a Goodwill so it was no surprise when they closed). The Savers will be alittle bit up the road from where the Goodwill is located so that makes for two places to look in the same general area. I can't wait to see what kind of stuff they put out and will try to make it for the grand opening.

[Collector_Gaming]

The local goodwill has a price nazi lately.

they have a barebones Ps1 for 50 dollars and a xbox for 50 dollars and another PS1 for 50 dollars >.<

[Panzerfuzion]

http://stores.ebay.com/Goodwill-San-Francisco every major city and most small cities have there own ebay accounts.
Then you included shopgoodwill.com there auction site.

Basically goodwill stores are for leftovers and returns from wallmart and target.

The only time i find stuff at thrift stores are when i frequent the mom and pop shops. Mainstream thrift stores such as goodwill are dead.

[Collector_Gaming]

more price nazi'ism

Same store... Dream cast with hook ups and 4 controllers and 4 memory units... 60 bucks >.<

[brainerdrainer]

I just scored a good amount of N64 games for $1.99 each. I was happy as hell

[Polygon]

I just scored a good amount of N64 games for $1.99 each. I was happy as hell

Damn! I'm trying to complete my N64 collection and I keep hearing about people picking up a bunch of games for good prices. I keep seeing a lot of YouTube video too. It's driving me nuts!

[brainerdrainer]

I live in down town San Francisco and have 2 Goodwill locations near me and I check them every week for new games. Usually don't find much but every now and then I find N64, Genesis, PSX games

[xelement5x]

more price nazi'ism

Same store... Dream cast with hook ups and 4 controllers and 4 memory units... 60 bucks >.<

I don't really consider that too bad of a deal, pretty close to retail pricing actually. If it was a Sega Sports Dreamcast not bad at all.

[Collector_Gaming]

I don't really consider that too bad of a deal, pretty close to retail pricing actually. If it was a Sega Sports Dreamcast not bad at all.

really?

Man I must be a cheap skate.... I was thinking 40 as a desperate gotta have it now price. 30 as a decent price

[Gameguy]

really?

Man I must be a cheap skate.... I was thinking 40 as a desperate gotta have it now price. 30 as a decent price
I'm with you for the $30 price range, at least when I get spare systems I sell them with hookups and 2 controllers for $30. With 4 controllers I can see getting $40. I wouldn't pay that much for a system at a thrift store, Dreamcasts can have constant resetting issues(I've fixed one like this). Not that hard to fix this problem, I just don't feel I should pay full price for something that I might need to repair or at the very least need to clean thoroughly. I'm more for the $10-$15 price range for consoles with all hookups at a thrift or yard sale, I used to find systems like this with everything for $7.99.

[xelement5x]

I'm with you for the $30 price range, at least when I get spare systems I sell them with hookups and 2 controllers for $30. With 4 controllers I can see getting $40. I wouldn't pay that much for a system at a thrift store, Dreamcasts can have constant resetting issues(I've fixed one like this). Not that hard to fix this problem, I just don't feel I should pay full price for something that I might need to repair or at the very least need to clean thoroughly. I'm more for the $10-$15 price range for consoles with all hookups at a thrift or yard sale, I used to find systems like this with everything for $7.99.

I agree with you that I wouldn't pay they much either, but in a retail store I think it's a pretty decent price. Bare Dreamcast with hookups no way, but considering it was a unit with all hookups, 4 controllers and 4 VMUs it seems "not bad" to me; especially if everything is in good shape. I'd price a used controller at retail for $5, same for a VMU (again NOT what I would pay), so when you put it all together seems about on par for a place where you could return something if you wanted to.

[offthechartsvideogames]

I have a Salvation Army, an Impact thrift store (local chain) and some Goodwills within driving distance. I got tons of great great deals at the Impact, but slowly noticed the prices shooting up. Last time I went, they had Super Mario Sunshine for $30-$35 and I decided I would never go back. I have a 2nd Avenue, but they didn't have any games when I went. The Salv almost never has games, and when they do, it's like bargain bin PS1. It's definitely really disappointing. Whatever happened to the thrifty part of thrift stores? If its a thrift store, why are they selling ANYTHING over retail?

[Gameguy]

I agree with you that I wouldn't pay they much either, but in a retail store I think it's a pretty decent price. Bare Dreamcast with hookups no way, but considering it was a unit with all hookups, 4 controllers and 4 VMUs it seems "not bad" to me; especially if everything is in good shape. I'd price a used controller at retail for $5, same for a VMU (again NOT what I would pay), so when you put it all together seems about on par for a place where you could return something if you wanted to.
At an actual retail store that guarantees the system to be working and has some type of warranty, I can see someone paying $60 for a lot like that. He was talking about Goodwill as mentioned in his previous post, they don't seem to test anything and most I've been to seem to slap "AS-IS" or "No Returns" stickers over electronics so not only is everything final sale but at the very least you have to clean the thing first to remove all the stickers. If you can exchange the items at your store, it's still not a refund and good luck finding $60 worth of stuff to exchange for it. I usually have trouble exchanging $10 worth of stuff at thrifts as there's rarely that much I want at a single time. At Microplay they seem to guarantee used games for 6 months after purchase, at least the one closest to me does this. If something is final sale untested I won't pay much for it, it's the same at garage sales as things I'm told are fully working usually have some type of problem when I get home.


More relating to this thread, here are some recent pics from my local Value Village.

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[BetaWolf47]

http://stores.ebay.com/Goodwill-San-Francisco every major city and most small cities have there own ebay accounts.
Then you included shopgoodwill.com there auction site.

Basically goodwill stores are for leftovers and returns from wallmart and target.

The only time i find stuff at thrift stores are when i frequent the mom and pop shops. Mainstream thrift stores such as goodwill are dead.

I rarely find stuff at thrift stores, ever. I've been collecting for 7 years now, and around here, the amount of retro games I've found in every thrift store combined is probably in the single digits. Pawn shops, however...

[TheRetroVideoGameAddict]

Goodwill and Salvation Army stores in my area get picked by sellers who just want to scrounge up every last game so they can go sell them for absurd prices, it's sad. I remember when flea markets in my area had great deals on NES games back in like 2002-2004, many dealers had them for $2-$3 each, but these days there is only one dealer at the flea market near me who marks them up at "eBay pricing" and refuses to go lower. Which I find odd because he always seems to have the same selection of games in the same order in the same cabinet, hmmmmm.....

[Immutable]

The GW stores in my area have nothing but Xbox and PS3 games... and one sports game for the Genesis...

[Collector_Gaming]

Since they acquired a mad person with the price gun at the local goodwill... They now have a record (as far as i know since i started going a few years back) 7 consoles for sale.

2 Ps1's, 3 PS2's, 1 Dream Cast and 1 xbox original.

all the ps2's are 50 bucks (1 of them being in the box and others just wrapped up in a bag).

the dream cast still at 60 bucks and the xbox still at 50

1 ps1 at 50.... and get this....

1 is at 25 dollars....................... WHY?!?!? I looked them over closely and they are exact same model. Come with the same hardware and they both look to be in the same shape.


Almost makes me wanna ask who the hell is pricing this stuff and what kinda medication are they are on or should be on?

[brainerdrainer]

found these at Goodwill yesterday for $5.49

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3827/8843889008_4aac395605.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/mildred_killdred/8843889008/)
extreme green N64 controller (http://www.flickr.com/photos/mildred_killdred/8843889008/) by Y=MX+B (http://www.flickr.com/people/mildred_killdred/), on Flickr

[Casati]

The local Goodwill actually had a cart full of NES brought out onto the sales floor a few years ago and people quickly snapped them up. They were priced at something like $1 or $2 each. I bought a Castlevania and couple of NES consoles. I haven't seen any NES games there since then. There's another thrift store in a small town nearby that had many of Nintendo Power's first 100 issues. I bought the first issue and 70 others for $1 each. I don't expect to see anything like that at the local Goodwill though, although I once found a rare mythology book worth hundreds of dollars with a $4 price tag there. I think that was because the book's worth wasn't readily ascertained by searching Ebay or Amazon.

[Edmond Dantes]

I don't know about anyone else, but I tend to find decent stuff at Goodwill.

Yesterday, I found the following:

Star Wars: Dark Forces
Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight
+ expansion
Hexen II
+ Expansion
Heretic II

All for like $1-$2 each (Heretic II I just threw in there because why not).

Also they had tons of anime, including three DVDs which I snapped up, and a few VHS tapes I considered (Is "Macross: Clash of the Bionoids" hilariously bad or just "avoid it" bad?)

[Tron 2.0]

I don't know about anyone else, but I tend to find decent stuff at Goodwill.
Also they had tons of anime, including three DVDs which I snapped up, and a few VHS tapes I considered (Is "Macross: Clash of the Bionoids" hilariously bad or just "avoid it" bad?)
Very bad,it's dubbing is like that of a kung fu flick.Id say you be better off with a bootleg of macross dyrl with the fansubs.

[Gameguy]

More pics from today. I didn't bother taking pics of the $25 PS1, Genesis, loose Gamecube systems. I still go for other things but it looks like games aren't one of them. A few years back I found a complete copy of Metroid for $1.99 at the same store, with several other complete games. I guess that's done unless the management changes.




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[Collector_Gaming]

the dream cast no longer exists so hopefully someone bought it at whatever crazy price instead of getting tossed :/

I saw 8 or 9 consoles there with varying prices that didn't make sense. The only thing close to a good deal I saw was a PS2 for 20 bucks (if its in good shape working order and i didn't already have one i would have bought it for that) and 2 sega genesis V1's with the actual ac brick which we know is rare considering they get lost and they only work for the first gen model. 40 bucks... I honestly wouldn't pay more then 30 but thats just me.

oh and the other good will had 2 kinda nasty looking SNES controllers bundled together at 10 bucks

[Atarileaf]

the dream cast no longer exists so hopefully someone bought it at whatever crazy price

If true, that just proves the system was worth $60, assuming of course that there was no price reduction or some kind of coupon/discount given.

[Pikkon]

My local good will has taken a turn for the worse as I never see any older games there anymore except ps1 but there 6 bucks a piece.They also use to have this red box behind the jewelry counter that has a bunch of gb,gbc,gba and ds games but they got rid of it.

I'm now thinking there selling they older games online now.

[Parodius Duh!]

The only cool thing Ive ever found is a lamp shaped like Darth Vader from the 80s and a stack of 300 70s DC comics (who the hell just gives away vintage comics?!) for $50 bucks a few years ago.

[bigbacon]

Goodwill and Salvation Army stores in my area get picked by sellers who just want to scrounge up every last game so they can go sell them for absurd prices, it's sad. I remember when flea markets in my area had great deals on NES games back in like 2002-2004, many dealers had them for $2-$3 each, but these days there is only one dealer at the flea market near me who marks them up at "eBay pricing" and refuses to go lower. Which I find odd because he always seems to have the same selection of games in the same order in the same cabinet, hmmmmm.....

must be like that around where I live also because I have NEVER found even a good deal at a good will, SA, or flea market on games. they are always absurd in price. I can get things cheaper on ebay with the shipping.

[JakeM]

Today I went to goodwill and there were 3 white xbox 360's with RROD issues for $10, pretty good price for the moment but theyll over heat again till theyre too warped to turn on. Working Genesis for $15. 3 Dreamcasts with problems like not turning on, they were $10. There were two xbox controllers, BUT NO CONNECTOR!!!!!!!! FUCK! (Microsoft was sooooo trolling used game buyers with this, of course the connector would be lost or moved somewhere else where Goodwill older employees wouldnt know what it is and throw it in somewhere else UUUUGH!), I really was hoping to find that. The controllers were $5 though. Their computer games were basically all $5. They had a Gundam Double O series as software and in with the computer games, hahahahahaha! I didnt get it though, it was $20, it had two mangas in it, maybe Ill get it if I have the extra money and its still there. I saw Diablo 2, Deus Ex, Psychonauts, Battlefield 3 unopened!, Half Life and expansion packs, and Half Life 2 :S Im not wasting the money. So pretty good stuff sorta.

[Soviet Conscript]

pulled a decent haul from my latest goodwill trip. hit a few stores. like i said earlier mostly gw is great for retro computer stuff but I did find some none pc stuff. picked up a timex sinclair 1000, tandy trs-80 model 100 and a tandy COCO 3 for about $8 total. found a boxed copy of the neverhood for the PC which is a rarer pc game but unfortunately though unsurprisingly the game was either donated not in the box or someone stole it rather then pay the $3. anyways I explained the game was missing but asked if i could have the box and papers and they agreed so maybe I'll come across the game in a jewel case one day. not to much on the console front though. picked up a pilot wings 2 for SNES and also surprisingly Loom for the tg-16 CD. it was missing manual but not a bad score for $2

[Atarileaf]

pulled a decent haul from my latest goodwill trip. hit a few stores. like i said earlier mostly gw is great for retro computer stuff but I did find some none pc stuff. picked up a timex sinclair 1000, tandy trs-80 model 100 and a tandy COCO 3 for about $8 total. found a boxed copy of the neverhood for the PC which is a rarer pc game but unfortunately though unsurprisingly the game was either donated not in the box or someone stole it rather then pay the $3. anyways I explained the game was missing but asked if i could have the box and papers and they agreed so maybe I'll come across the game in a jewel case one day. not to much on the console front though. picked up a pilot wings 2 for SNES and also surprisingly Loom for the tg-16 CD. it was missing manual but not a bad score for $2

Man that got my attention. I'm a tandy coco whore and a find like that would make my month, or year.

[The Adventurer]

pulled a decent haul from my latest goodwill trip. hit a few stores. like i said earlier mostly gw is great for retro computer stuff but I did find some none pc stuff. picked up a timex sinclair 1000, tandy trs-80 model 100 and a tandy COCO 3 for about $8 total. found a boxed copy of the neverhood for the PC which is a rarer pc game but unfortunately though unsurprisingly the game was either donated not in the box or someone stole it rather then pay the $3. anyways I explained the game was missing but asked if i could have the box and papers and they agreed so maybe I'll come across the game in a jewel case one day. not to much on the console front though. picked up a pilot wings 2 for SNES and also surprisingly Loom for the tg-16 CD. it was missing manual but not a bad score for $2

Couple things, the Neverhood box is pretty valuable on its own. So good score.

Second, I didn't know there was a Pilotwings 2 on snes.

[Jack_Burton_BYOAC]

Second, I didn't know there was a Pilotwings 2 on snes.

That's because there isn't one.

Wonder what he's got?

[brainerdrainer]

Got these two at Goodwill for $4. Mutant League Football CIB and a sealed Final Fantasy PSP game

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7456/9412648350_696a08f185.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/mildred_killdred/9412648350/)
IMG_6703 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/mildred_killdred/9412648350/) by Y=MX+B (http://www.flickr.com/people/mildred_killdred/), on Flickr

[Soviet Conscript]

That's because there isn't one.

Wonder what he's got?

Ah, sorry. I mean wings 2 that ww1 flight game. I always think of it as pilotwings 2 for some reason.

[The 1 2 P]

I still find good stuff at Goodwill atleast every other week. Within the last two weeks I've found a cheap DS lite and a bunch of good cart only N64 games, among a few other things.

[The Adventurer]

My Goodwill is pretty much only good for common PS1 titles, PS2 Controllers, and the occasional PC gem (picked up Blade Runner last week) I think its my location more then anything. I've only found a handful of (not Sports) cart games ever, and one system (boxed Model 2 Genesis last year) EDIT: Oh wait, and a Game Boy Advanced with Yoshi's Island in it. That was a good day.

[StarMan_NES]

I never find good games at Goodwill stores or any kind of thrift stores for that matter. Some of them have caught on that certain games are worth good coin and jack up their prices while the others are picked over by local video game store owners or re-sellers looking to find rare games cheap to turn a profit on. It sucks.

I hate today's market where store owners sell based on eBay pricing and re-sellers scour from top to bottom leaving almost nothing to be found in the wild unless you go through them. But I guess it was bound to happen over time, I just wish it didn't.

[Jimmy Yakapucci]

I was in my local Goodwill last week looking for computer books and actually found the exact book that I was looking for at a price of $1.67 and I picked up another book for the same price. The only interesting gaming stuff that I saw was about 30 new UMD movies for the PSP for $3 each.

[TheRetroVideoGameAddict]

I've had some slight success at Goodwill recently where I found a copy of Dragon Warrior III for the NES for only $4, so I picked it up since it was in much better condition than the one I had (label damage). Other than that it's been pretty flat with Goodwill and Salvation Army in my area with extremely dirty Xbox (first gen) being the norm for consoles and sports games being the norm for SNES and Genesis. Bummer.

[The Adventurer]

Found a copy of Metal Gear Solid 2 for PS2 at Goodwill today for $4. Not the best deal, but I did need a copy.

[PizzaKat]

I like to go to Value Village which are more common in my area just to browse. My main priority are games but I also like to check out the CDs VHS Cassette tapes and Vinyls. So even though I know I'll never find games at least the trips not a total waste. The places I do got always have what they consider rare behing a glass case. A Wii Shovelware title for $15 A useless Genesis sports title for 7-9 and other sports titles for 8 and up from the PS2 and Xbox oh not to mention those Poker games when texas hold'em was the craze.

The best deals Ive found was Aladdin on the PS1 for $3 that was mixed in with the cds. Three packaged bags of Gameboy games that contained four and they were really good games like Bubble Bobble, Pokemon etc for $2 each. I also got a PS1 for $6 it had Road Rash 3d in it so I took a chance figuring it might be a guinea pig to repair if it didn't work. Well it worked perfectly so that was a bonus. Other than that its usually bare or overpriced junk

[meggo]

I visit the goodwill down the street from me a few times a month in search of games (but sometimes I also pick up VHS tapes, CDs, vinyl, stuff for the house etc.) and I've come across some huge goldmines before. A few months ago during their 50% Saturday I found a toploader NES for $7 and the first three Megaman games all for $3 each. That was probably my best Goodwill haul in the past year.

In the past I've also found loads of PSX RPGs, the GC Master Quest/OOT combo for $4, gameboys, lots of PS2 slims for $20 or less, the list goes on. That said I've also come across so much crap. Lots of broken consoles, or stuff that was marked up triple. The employees price everything based on what they think it's worth.

[T2KFreeker]

Man, I scored today. I found a TMNT Turtles in Tile for $4.99. Loose, but the cart is clean other than the yellow price sticker. I need to remove it, but I'll take a picture first to prove it. LOL

[Tron 2.0]

Man, I scored today. I found a TMNT Turtles in Tile for $4.99. Loose, but the cart is clean other than the yellow price sticker. I need to remove it, but I'll take a picture first to prove it. LOL
Nice at auctions it often go's for more TMNT IV has that demand as of late.

[TheRetroVideoGameAddict]

I visited my 2 local Goodwill stores this morning and one was littered with Xbox and PS2 sports titles and a couple random Genesis sports games that were in an area not by the other games. They had a disgusting looking SNES that looked like it had been barfed on by 10 different people and a few first gen Xbox consoles and that was about it. The other store had a ton of DS and GBA loose games and actually had a red Wii console, but they wanted way too much for it ($90 I think). Waste of a trip to both.

[CastlevaniaDude]

pulled a decent haul from my latest goodwill trip. hit a few stores. like i said earlier mostly gw is great for retro computer stuff but I did find some none pc stuff. picked up a timex sinclair 1000, tandy trs-80 model 100 and a tandy COCO 3 for about $8 total. found a boxed copy of the neverhood for the PC which is a rarer pc game but unfortunately though unsurprisingly the game was either donated not in the box or someone stole it rather then pay the $3. anyways I explained the game was missing but asked if i could have the box and papers and they agreed so maybe I'll come across the game in a jewel case one day. not to much on the console front though. picked up a pilot wings 2 for SNES and also surprisingly Loom for the tg-16 CD. it was missing manual but not a bad score for $2

Totally off topic, but I haven't seen you in a thread I followed in a while.... I did just randomly think about you the other day, because I drove past Elmos.

Anyway, back on topic -- I have NEVER seen a complete retro computer at a goodwill, and you got 3 for 8 bucks? Wow. What Goodwill was that?

[GamerTheGreek]

My best and only GW game
Find was a genesis with 3 games for 15.00. I needed it but overall my finds were disappointing

[mailman187666]

I dont really live by any goodwills, but my grilfriend and I happened to be near one over the weekend. We popped in there and they mostly had common PS1 and PS2 games, but I did find Koudelka for PS1 complete for 5 bucks. That was really the only good deal I saw one of the few times I've been to one.

[sfchakan]

Local Goodwill is still very random. You can walk away empty-handed 9 times out of 10, or even 29 times out of 30; but their prices are typically very good here. It's also smack dab in the center of town, so it's pretty easy to stop by real quick when you're doing other stuff and not waste much time. The last time I went, I saw they put all of their games back with the VHS/DVDs and now priced them to $1.99 for all platforms. It'd been a while since my last visit, when the same games were separated and priced at $4 or so.

I guess it's time to start hitting it up again regularly. :)

[T2KFreeker]

Nice at auctions it often go's for more TMNT IV has that demand as of late.

Yuppers, that's why I was happy with the score. First time in a long time I have seen games in the store though. Usually they don't have them because they just put them on the auction site or Amazon.

[Soviet Conscript]

Totally off topic, but I haven't seen you in a thread I followed in a while.... I did just randomly think about you the other day, because I drove past Elmos.

Anyway, back on topic -- I have NEVER seen a complete retro computer at a goodwill, and you got 3 for 8 bucks? Wow. What Goodwill was that?

well actually I moved about 1 year ago. relationship fell apart and just fell on some sucky times so in the great American tradition I moved out west to find myself...or some crap. I currently live in Phoenix, AZ and compared to the Pittsburgh area there are a ton of GW's out here. besides an overpriced atari 400 computer I also never found a complete retro pc at a Pitt area goodwill though i did pretty commonly come across boxed retro PC games. Since moving out here though I find a lot more stuff on average, I don't know if its because there are more GW's to hit out here or if its the higher population or just the area being more affluent. I know WD and Intel have a few factories in the area so maybe there have been more PC savey people here for longer. I find rare PC stuff here a lot though. older and harder to find 8 bit isa stuff among other things, came across a random 486 mca card to overclock old IBM PS/2 systems not to long ago which was kinda neat. also a boxed vic-20 at a local thrift about a year ago.

the console front sucks pretty bad though. I see old systems now and then. randomly found areobiz supersonic about a month ago which was a favorite as a kid.

[Gameguy]

Another few pics from Value Village, taken a couple days ago. Just some general pricing on some empty Rubbermaid container.



http://i43.tinypic.com/10mpqmw.png

http://i39.tinypic.com/289evqs.png

[8-Bit Archeology]

Wow. That has to be a mistype.
I still find it funny, about 2 or so years ago I was browsing through our thrift store thats about 20 miles north of here. Sitting almost next to eachother was a gamecube with no cables and fingernail polish all over it for 45 dollars, and a sealed original big box Ultima Savage Empire for IBM and PC. Selling price was 2 bucks. When I got to the counter the woman said "thank god, everytime i get a dang computer game they just sit" its been a regular stop for me since. Haha.