What Would You Do?

[icbrkr]

My stepdad realizes I'm a game collector and lately has been doing something that has been irritating the hell out of me. He's been hitting the same thrift stores I've been hitting, asks friends for systems, goes garage saleing, and starts picking up any good finds on old video game systems and is putting them on eBay. He knows nothing about what he's picking it up, or even if it works, so I get a call today:

"Hey I got a Nintendo with 7 games and 3 controllers for $10 - are any of these games rare?"

He then procedes to list every game in the list.

"What's it worth?"

I ask him if the NES works he says:

"Not sure, can you take a look at it?"

I'm not sure why this bothers me. Surely anyone is allowed to go out and buy stuff and resell on eBay if they want to. I think that it bothers me that he is doing this strictly for profit and he has no love for the hobby at all. I mean, I'm just as guilty as buying something for tradebait/resale but it's only dupes. I really don't like telling him where I shop anymore - we no longer hit thrift stores together. Another point is he's purposely finding this stuff from friends and other sources and getting it for free to resale. If I were at a friends house, and they offered me a bunch of stuff that I couldn't use, but I knew a friend who had it as a hobby, I would just *give* it to them. I think the thing that really gets me is that he constantly wants me to appraise things for him and check it out to see if it works. If he wants to sell items that I collect, he should do the research on why it's rare, how to fix something, what it's worth, etc.

How would you handle this? Am I overreacting a bit?

[chrisbid]

as long as you got dibs on stuff that wasnt in your collection without paying ebay prices, then id be cool with it.

[icbrkr]

Ah, I left that part out... he doesn't sell me squat, he just ebays it :\

[Achika]

Time is money. If there are things in his lots that you want, tell him you'll take that as payment for testing/fixing/cleaning. If he says no, tell him he's on his own. DP Guides are a small $25

[chrisbid]

then you need to start using deception

yeah, "that SMB/Duck Hunt cart is super rare, you got a killer deal"... etc

[-hellvin-]

Lol, just tell him to look up the rarity on the web. Don't help him out. Pretty much ignore him. Sooner or later he's got to get tired of doing it. Constantly ebaying stuff and possibly making a profit and continually going out to drive around and search for stuff should wear on him after a while.

[halbert]

Well, my dad is not the type to go to garage or thrift stores, but my mom does a lot to look for house decorations and stuff. If she finds games cheap, she will buy them and then sell them to me for what she got them, and sometimes I'll give her more if she found something really good.

In your situation, I think you're feeling this way because it seems like your stepdad should be doing this to help you collect games, not to make a few extra bucks on ebay. Maybe you should tell him how you feel... :o

[omnedon]

I 'am' a stepdad.

Your stepdad is NOT being cool about this at all.

If he was being 'cool' about it, he would let you have first pick (ideally at his cost) from his finds for your collection (not for you to re-sell). Then he could re-sell the rest, to cover his time. A bonus for him, is he would be helping out his stepson. How thoughtful.

He is being decidedly uncool about this. He knows you collect, but won't sell to family (you) for anything less than Ebay maximum. He's taken what he found out about your hobby, and has turned it to his own ends. That is all perfectly fine, as it's a free country and all. However, Mr. Stepdad took a perfect opportunity to improve his relationship with you, and tossed it away.


I think you should cease being 'cool' about it right back at him. He wants advice, get dumb.

"I'm not sure"

"I'm not familiar with that one"

"It could be rare or dirt common, I have no clue. Why don't you search Ebay, or buy a guide?"

"It's a real time consuming pain to test a system, every controller operation and all cables. I don't really have time to do it. It's pretty much 'work'. You're the one getting paid for your finds thru Ebay, so maybe you can find the time?"

"What? Oh! No, I haven't tested that NES yet. Yes, I know you asked me twice, but it's a real time consuming thing to test properly. If you are in a hurry to get it on Ebay, just grab a TV and give it a go. Sorry!"

You can use that last one over and over and over until he gets the hint.

Don't be a dink about it, as you want peace in your family right? If you want peace, be polite, and clueless. I hope this is an 'adult' situation, and not a 14 year old stepson and 30+ year old stepdad thing. It shifts the balance of power heavily in stepdad's favour and puts stepdad in an easy position to abuse.

I'll be the first to stand up and say being a stepdad is very hard (and very different) from being a Dad (I'm both). Even with that said, reading this sort of thing pisses me off.

You are not his servant. You should not be expected to do work and offer expertise (outside of household chores) that someone else is getting the compensation for. It's just WRONG. :angry:

[Chooky]

So he's not only buying things that you could have potentially found, he's using you to make money? And he isn't even giving you a chance to buy his stuff? And he isn't even sharing some of the profit? I think you just need to tell him that if he wants to buy and sell stuff, he can do it himself. You're not his tool.

[Cmosfm]

I have no clue on what to do, but I do have to point out something here....your stepdad is a fucking asshole....all I can say do is lie to him about what he has, cheat him out of items, and rip him off royally because theres nothing else to do without pissing him off.

Me? I'd have yelled at him by now already. I suggest trying that also

[vision89]

I got a brother in law that's the same way. I can't help but like em though, he always gives me first pick. Hell, the other day we were at a flea market and he found a Vectrex for $30, but he let me take it cause he knew I wanted one. Great guy. If I were you I'd probably try hinting that there are other things to sell for profit on ebay. If that doesn't work try asking him to keep an eye out for a few things for you. If he agrees you may be able to get first pick. One thing I do with my brother in law is, if he finds something that I've been looking for, he sells it to me for what he paid and we agree that I'll offer to sell it back to him at the same price if I ever go to sell it. Also, we go flea marketing together a lot, so we usually try to take turns with finding stuff. Like if I find something then I'll let him take the next find. If all else fails just try talking to him about it, communication can solve a lot of problems, unless he's quick tempered :angry: Good luck!!

[portnoyd]

I'm with omnedon on this one. He put it quite well. At the least, make him pay, in one way or another, for your services. He's not a fellow collector, and shouldn't be treated like one. If he refuses, then give him wrong info, so I can have someone new to make fun of in the eBay forum.

dave

[Aussie2B]

I agree with Cmosfm here. If someone was doing that to me, I'd think he was being a complete asshole. It's bad enough when you got other collectors in your area going to all the same stores and buying everything good before you get a chance, but it's much, MUCH worse when it's somebody close to you and/or someone who isn't even interested in the hobby. He saw your hobby and decided to turn it into a business with the knowledge of retro game shopping he learned from you. That's being a jerk in my book. And asking you for help and info... that just adds insult to injury. At the very least, you should refuse to help unless he compensates you in some way, and I recommend you let him know how you feel about the situation. Hopefully he's considerate enough to stop butting in on your hobby.

[Flack]

Put up a disclaimer on your website that says you charge $20 for appraisels and system testing. Then the next time he hits you up send him there.

My guess is he'll get tired of it real quick. Unless you sell a LOT of eBay or find some really good sources, most people don't make enough money to keep their interest.

[Jibbajaba]

I totally agree with Cmosfm. It seems to me that he is doing it in order to piss you off. I mean shit, he could be picking up the stuff, letiting you take what you want, and then selling the rest for a profit. There's no excuse for him going to the same stores that you go to and doing what he is doing unless he is trying to be an ass. No one is that fucking clueless.

[KirbyStar27]

Well...if he ebays , that kinda sucks. But, if he is looking for you for stuff, then its basically another pair of eyes to look for old games. And hey...you never know if he'll snatch up a rarity! :)

[icbrkr]

To reply to some of these:

Omn: I'm 30, not 14, so I think I'm okay in this department :) If he wants to come over and do my housework, he can knock himself out :D

Rest: Thanks for the replies. As far as yelling and screaming at him, I'm sure that'll make a rift between my mom and me. I think though the overall tone is correct: Don't allow him to use my services without paying for them or at least giving me a fair chance and whatever he gets, and explain to him the situation.

[sisko]

Well, I buy a lot of stuff for tradebait, and a lot for the specific point of reselling. I also do it independently.

So your stepdad is hitting up all your stores....not cool, but nothing terribly wrong. You just need to learn his cycle, the store's restocking cycle, and figure out how to work them both so he gets squat.

Now when your dad starts asking you for help, thats an asshat thing to do. Just start ignoring him when he asks you those sort of questions. Every person here takes the time and effort to learn how to appraise games properly, he should be no different.

[Kid Ice]

I 'am' a stepdad.

Your stepdad is NOT being cool about this at all.



I was thinking the same things. My stepdad, other family members, and family friends give me freebies on a regular basis and alert me to yard sales, etc. Lucky me I don't have a family member like that.

[Crush Crawfish]

I'm glad no one in my family is like that. The worst I have is a friend who found a store that had some complete NES games, some even sealed, and refuses to tell me where the hell it is!!!! :angry: Every time I ask, he just says "They don't have anything. I bought everything that was any good." Then why the hell can't he just tell me? Rage swells within me!!!!!

[Half Japanese]

I'd show up at his job and knock the broom out of his hand.

What an A-1 dick. I'd pretty much ignore him, as I think that would piss him off/discourage him more than even straight up lying to him.

[dojosky]

I'm glad no one in my family is like that. The worst I have is a friend who found a store that had some complete NES games, some even sealed, and refuses to tell me where the hell it is!!!! :angry: Every time I ask, he just says "They don't have anything. I bought everything that was any good." Then why the hell can't he just tell me? Rage swells within me!!!!!


rent or use a different vehicle and follow him around lol but that might take forever !!!

[EndlessChris]

God damn I hate people who aren't gamers trying to get into selling video games. These people know nothing about games outside of what is listed in whatever rarity guide they dug up. I have plenty of stories. Once I saw a copy of Megaman X2 at a game store and got all excited. I asked what the price was and the guy told me it wasn't for sale because he could get a lot more on eBay. There's another game store run by some lady who gets all the prices out of an overpriced guide and re-seals old NES and SNES games to make them look unopened. Hell, some 70 year old man at a flea market had a video game booth with PS1 games for $10 apiece, yet Fox Hunt was $30 because it had three discs, and was therefore the same as three games.

Rediculous.

The worst part is that these eBay sellers ruin the retro games market. With all the old SNES and NES titles being bought up and resold to collectors around the country, the used game scene is starting to dry up in less populated areas , it's rediculous. This is the same thing that happened with the comic book market. A bunch of idiot investors realized old comic books sold for a lot of money, so they bought up every single book they could find. Now those books are worth virtually nothing.

Tell your Stepdad that he has no business investing in a market he has no knowlage of. This community should be run by gamers, not pricks looking to make some money.

...I'm an angry person sometimes

[Nez]

I would tell him about the dp guide, then make him buy it. Then tel him hes on his own. End of story if he wants anything just remind him of the book. If he keeps asking well the only other option is :smash:.

[icbrkr]

Just an update:

Stepdad came over here last night, with Nintendo and games that he bought in hand. I look it over, it looks like major ass - it appears it was used to line a cat's litterbox or something (there was sand/mud on it and all the games). First thing I tell him is that if he's going to sell that, he'll need to open it up and clean it up. I also strongly urged him to test it out, since I'm sure the 72 pin connector was shot. I then proceeded to explain that he'll need to clean the mud off all the games and to run alcohol across the connectors. Before I finish, it appears that I talked him out of wanting to collect old cartridges - having to work instead of just reselling didn't sound very appealing. He doesn't want to take a chance and sell something that might not work 100% and ruin his eBay feedback. So he offers to sell it to me for what he paid for it. 8 NES games + NES for $10 - of course I took it.

[omnedon]

Good!

If he's scouring anyway (for other stuff to Ebay non VG related) you 'may' want to ask him to buy VG stuff for you, only when it's very cheap, like the above example. If he's looking for other things to Ebay, tell him you will likewise keep your eyes open for stuff for him.

I met a gun/old outdoor equipment collector at a garage sale last year. He regularly finds me stuff. We aren't 'friends' per se, as he needs to make money on each transaction with me. I've told him he can count on $2CDN per cart from me, no matter what. It's gotten me finds. No treasure yet, but I can at least break even at that price, and have another whole set of eyes hitting the garage sales and thrifts.

Then again, in your case, you may want to leave well enough alone in this case.

[-hellvin-]

I knew it! Good job, ya kept to yourself and let him wear himself out. No one who has NO interest in games is going to put themselves through hell week after week hitting up thrifts and reselling and shipping crap as WELL as cleaning it just to maybe make a few bucks. It's just not fun. Driving to thrifts is very time consuming, tiring (and in the arizona sun) hell. Looks like you won't have to worry about this problem much longer! =)

BTW, what games did he get with the NES?