Bad luck with Goodwill/Thrift Stores

[Cirrus]

What a bummer. I have had terrible luck finding any good deals at a thrift store or goodwill in my area. The best I can find is bad old computers that I have no interest in. Or terrible PC software.

Worse yet: we have a few "Abbey Ann" garage sale stores that I thought might have some great finds... Unfortunately, the best deal they had was a Nintendo 64 without any cords/hookups for 50 dollars. I actually had to tell the lady what a terrible price it was. I felt bad.

Please help! I get very jealous of all of these terrific deals you folks always get at Goodwill, etc. I even asked the manager at Goodwill, and he said they rarely get anything. I live in a relatively large city, so it's not that.

Thanks. I want to avoid paying eBay prices for a few things, at least.

[Emily]

You just have to go back to those places occasionally...over and over and over. Plus widen your search area. Eventually, someone will blow it and have some good stuff for cheap :-P

[Chainsaw_Charlie]

Exactly I check one goodwill,one salvation army and a few other places

[Cirrus]

Do most of you find that there tends to be nothing at all most of the time? Or do I have crappy outlets?

[Chainsaw_Charlie]

it's hit and miss you have to check 2-3 times a week

[Flack]

I would say that I have above average luck with thrift stores. I see, buy, and post about so many things there that people are always commenting about how great my finds are.

Those posts are sometimes deceiving. Sure, sometimes you walk into a thrift store and bam, there's something cool there. More times than not though, I find nothing -- or at least, nothing to write home (or post) about.

There are also a lot of local factors. It depends on what's popular in your area, how many collectors there are in your area, etc. All I can say is, give it a try for a couple of months, checking in once a week. There are lots of thrift stores arond here that I went to a dozen times before I found anything good in them. That's part of the excitement (and addiction) for me. That great find you've been looking for could be sitting on the shelf your very next visit!

[Raedon]

there are a few FAQs on collecting carts that mention Goodwill, Salvatin Army, etc. stores but these days they are dead. You will not find anything at these stores but common 2600/nes/etc systems and games.

[Goblin]

it's hit and miss you have to check 2-3 times a week

Is that really worth the effort. I never understand this?
With the amount of time you waste going into a thrift store 2-3 times a week, not counting the cost of gas, parking, etc. You need to score some pretty big deals to make it all balance out in the end.

I haven't made a thrift run in a number of years for this reason. Now if I want something I'll just pay going rate or else try and trade for it. My time is definately worth more than any savings ever averaged out to.

[Kid Ice]

Do most of you find that there tends to be nothing at all most of the time? Or do I have crappy outlets?

Yep, I hardly ever find something good in thrifts these days. I don't invest a lot of time though, I might check a couple of them out once or twice a month. Sometimes I'll make a small find that makes the trip worthwhile to me...it's not like it's a big hassle to stop there occassionally.

[oleanhosting]

I live in a small town and we have a few thrift stores. I think I am the only collector in the area. I walked in the thrift store the other day and I found an Atari 2600 jr, no cords and a Sears tele-games, just the video cord, 3 joysticks and 2 racing paddles, and 30 games. I got all this for $10.

2 weeks ago I traveled about 35-40 minutes to another 2nd hand store. I got a box of Atari stuff. It had an Atari 2600 jr, A regular 2600 with the woodgrain (4 switch) and a viper 2600. Also in that box was 13 joysticks and 13 paddles. It also had 32 games. I paid $12 for that box. I also bought a IBM PC JR with monitor for $20, I took that home and it was broke so I traded the guy for all the Atari carts he had. I walked out of the store with over 100 carts :)

[kainemaxwell]

Tends to be hit or miss with me also. I have a Salvation Army and thrift shop right across the street from one anothe rin my town. I usually stop by if I'm down that part of town going to the post office or something every couple weeks.

[drewbrim]

my thrift stores are also bad pickins. I ususally avoid them but the last time I went in one they had a sega genesis with 3 games for $40 :/ . That was about 6 months ago and I'm pretty sure they still have it.

[Cmosfm]

You just have to go back to those places occasionally...over and over and over. Plus widen your search area. Eventually, someone will blow it and have some good stuff for cheap :-P

That's about it.

If I stayed in my own town, I'd have the same luck you have. Thing is, my search area spreads at least 7-8 towns, and a 50 mile radius. I can start at 8:00 in the morning and by 6:00 not even hit all the places I want to hit.

You have to do this over and over and over....hit your local ones 3-4 times a week, hit all the other out of town ones at least once a week.

I don't get as much as I used to, but I still always get something. :D

[Mayo]

Sure, sometimes you walk into a thrift store and bam, there's something cool there. More times than not though, I find nothing -- or at least, nothing to write home (or post) about.


I find that when I go too often to the thrifts it is worse, I actually have more finds when I go less than more often. Very strange, but it seems like a correct theory since I have been unable to disprove it in about 12 years of thrifting.

[RockyRaccoon]

Sunday is usually me and my friends Flea MArket day....where we try to hit every flea market we can drive to within a reasonable time limit.

of course during winter...only the indoor ones are open.

It's so much not the problem of finding stuff for me and my friend...it's more the point of finding stuff that the people don't think they have a gold mine on just because it mentions Mario in the title or "is just old" and sell it for 50 / 60 bucks a pop (Unless it's actually WORTH the 60 bucks).

Were still tryin to find thrift shops/Goodwills in this area. ><

~Rocky

[MegaDrive20XX]

Around here, all the goodwill stores have removed their games and shipped them to the main headquarters in Dallas.

I have no luck what so ever around here.

Once in a while, a few yard sales. Yet I always tend to find misc stuff, like two NES games, a controller, a cord...and that's about it. Still haven't found one of those "Here, take this for $20" kind of deal.

I can understand some people's jealously when it comes to this. I'm in the same boat and I can't even find a second oar to row.

[jslithy]

I've been going to the Salvation Army near my house for a few months, and the best thing I've found was a Saturn for $10. I've noticed that they get fewer video game things in now, so maybe they ship them away as well.

[shroudz]

A long time ago I use to go out to a lot of markets and fleas and garage sales
but I reached a point where I was just tierd of it all getting my 30th combat or 15th 2600 and not enough variation of stuff. Also In the last few years it has just become so hard to find anything decent at all . A lot of the time I have run into cool stuff at a garage sale like a japanese white saturn to be told ,the guy wants $100 for it because its supposely so rare ( groan ) I'd then have to explain to the person that maybe it would help if he had a joypad , powercable and tv cable with it and it didn't look like someone peed on it. To which I would get a reply alright $80 for ya then. With this sort of attitude I just got kinda sick with the collecting scene for quite a while.
I don't mind so much paying a fair price now, preferbly at least 20% under ebays cost. I figure the risk one takes without insurance, the fact the seller could die or rip u off or go bankrupt b4 sending the parcel out (yes depressing to hear I know but can happen) Also the fact that seller saves on ebay commision and paypal fees and also delayed time for payment or no payment at all, wasting weeks or months. BTW has anyone noticed the large amount of people lately hocking their stuff on mirc and forums for even more that what its worth on ebay, usually its the whole GBP thing though with the low cost of shipping and ebay worldwide, I still don't see why imports in the uk fetch such a high price? A lot of people are not even in the uk but just list their sales in GBP just to attract a higher price.
Trading is interesting but I find its usually easier to sell or just buy as most people (human nature) tend to always just go for the rare things in the list but wanna trade their less rare stuff or worse condition stufff. I have had some good trades in the past so Im not knocking it and I know some people are real succsessfull at it but its just not for me as I tend to try to collect items now of a more mint nature which can lead to a lot of complications sometimes. Anyway Iv'e kinda really strayed off subject but to end it "yeah I still go to the old market now and then and I still get that little glint in my eye when I find something unusual even if it looks like its been peed on but those times are few and far between and I kinda stopped dumpster hopping years ago ( Sad but true but hey I had no spare cash in those days).

[tuxedojoe]

In all my time of collecting (which is not a very long time...), I have yet to find one gaming related item at a thrift store/Goodwill/Salvation Army/Flea Market/Garage sale. The bulk of my small collection comes from the following places:

-eBay - If you use this tool correctly, you can get some really good deals.
-school - Almost every kid at my school that I have talked to has some old game stuff sitting around their house that they want to get rid of. Most of them do not know the values of the games and just want to make a quick buck. It is not so good for rare titles, but I do get some good games this way.
-DP - This is a much more recent way of getting games. I have but made 2 deals here thus far, but I really like the community and I find that it is a great place to get games for a low price.

[scooterb23]

What typically happens around here is that the thrifts are really storng for a few weeks / months. And then they get the idea that certain items are "hot" and the prices go up...so I lay off for 6 months, the prices come back down...and all is well for a while.

It's been a while since I've done a good thrift run...

[thehistorian]

Is that really worth the effort. I never understand this?
With the amount of time you waste going into a thrift store 2-3 times a week, not counting the cost of gas, parking, etc. You need to score some pretty big deals to make it all balance out in the end.

There ws an old Garfield Sunday strip that defined it clearly. Damn I wish I could find it.

It begins with Garfield trapping a mouse under one front leg. Then he nails another mouse with the other. Then he snags two more with each back leg so that he is completely spread-eagled. Then another mouse walks by, and Garfield releases all the others to pounce on him.

Then with a knowing look he says, "It's not the having; it's the getting."

This is how it is for me and apparently, Flack too. There are many games in my collection that have been played once, on the day I rescued them. Most of them are really good games that I enjoyed playing. I just get caught up in the quest...

[maxlords]

Well, a LOT of thrifts eBay their stuff like that now. Seriously. I know of a lot of stores that do.

As for finding stuff in them, it's hit or miss, as has been stated. When I used to hit every pawn shop in town every week I used to find a LOT of stuff. And I got to know people there and they'd hold things for me so I had GREAT finds all the time! Now that I don't have time to look so much, I don't get as many. I hit the same Value Village every time I'm in town (3-4 times a month) and I'll find GOOD stuff there maybe 1 in 10 visits. But the last time I had a good find there I found Dragon Warrior 2 and 3 with manuals and maps for $7 each. Usually it'll EVENTUALLY be worth the wait if you hit at the right time.

[Raedon]

Bottom line.

If you are just starting at collecting and have nothing then hit up Goodwill/salvation army type places every day at noon (that is when they put out stuff.) You will find something every week or two that is common like a FFIII cart for $2.50.

Hit Flea markets every weekend at 7:30am before they open. The smaller the Flea the better. You will find the bulk of your games here for cheap.

At some time after serveral years you will come to a point where you only need 200 NES carts or 2600 carts and at that time the price per hour of looking for rares gets silly unless you use these $1.50 common NES titles as a sourse of income.

The fun of collecting games is finding that rare for pennies but now that the word is out that people buy old games those days are about gone. Even Ebay is saturated because this.

I wish you guys had got into this hobby before 2002. However, the common finds are still out there. Hunting games in the wild is still fun as long as you don't mind going thre 50 copies of SMB/DH or hearing, "It goes for that on Ebay."

[Chainsaw_Charlie]

it's hit and miss you have to check 2-3 times a week

Is that really worth the effort. I never understand this?
With the amount of time you waste going into a thrift store 2-3 times a week, not counting the cost of gas, parking, etc. You need to score some pretty big deals to make it all balance out in the end.

I haven't made a thrift run in a number of years for this reason. Now if I want something I'll just pay going rate or else try and trade for it. My time is definately worth more than any savings ever averaged out to.

In december i found Lunar eteranl blue for $2 and i have bought a bunch of cds from there also

[Cmosfm]

it's hit and miss you have to check 2-3 times a week

Is that really worth the effort. I never understand this?
With the amount of time you waste going into a thrift store 2-3 times a week, not counting the cost of gas, parking, etc. You need to score some pretty big deals to make it all balance out in the end.

I haven't made a thrift run in a number of years for this reason. Now if I want something I'll just pay going rate or else try and trade for it. My time is definately worth more than any savings ever averaged out to.

I don't know about you, but most of us collectors get most of our enjoyment out of the hunt.

I'm happy when I hunt, I love doing it, and if I don't find a THING for the next 6 months...I'll still do it...and the "balance in the end" would be me actually enjoying some time outside work and having fun with what I do.

You must be out for resale value or something, cause if you're not, then you're just not as hardcore as some of us. Chime back when you actually enjoy your hobby, K?

[Raedon]

I don't know about you, but most of us collectors get most of our enjoyment out of the hunt.


I agree, the hunt for me was my fun for a few years. at Lunch I'd hit up the goodwill (small town) before meeting people for lunch and ever EVERY weekend at 7:30 on Saturday I was at a Flea..

Even though that ended because I'd rather work on my Vette on Saturday and finds I need are not going to be local (Bubble Bath at a flea?) there is a magic in the hunt that new collectors should get into.

There is something nice about showing up at a Flea before it opens and because you have been there every time at 7:30 people know oyu.

vendor, "Hey Wes! I got some new Nintendo stuff yesterday, come take a look"

me, "Hmm.. I'll take these 5 games *FF1 and Earthbound SNES are in there*"

vendor, " that will be $25"

"common, make me a deal! I'm buying 5 games here!"

"nonono.. I'm barely making anything at $5! I payed 4 for these."

"Well, how about $25 and you throw in that Playstation *2 but not mentioned* memory card?"

*guy looks at the deal in his mind*

"okay"

[Cirrus]

Well, thanks for the discussion. I think I should look into flea markets. Basically, around here, there is the Hartville Flea market and I can't think of much else. I guess I'll have to ask my grandma about that or something. :)

Also, garage sales are something I know I should get into, but you can have a whole day where you get nothing at all. On top of that, some garage sales are so depressing. (People set prices too high on lots of things, not just games, it's sad.)

[puxley]

Yeah, it can be discouraging sometimes, but when you make a find it's all worth it.

Do you have a Savers in your area? I've had many a find there.

It's always fun when you spot an Atari cart in with the cassettes or something, but it always raises the question - what else was here originally?!?
And that usually makes you come back.

[maxlords]

I don't know about you, but most of us collectors get most of our enjoyment out of the hunt.

You must be out for resale value or something, cause if you're not, then you're just not as hardcore as some of us. Chime back when you actually enjoy your hobby, K?

I don't enjoy the hunt. I just like playing the stuff. If it was easiuer to find, I'd be much happier cause I wouldn't have to waste all that time looking for it. Granted I resell a lot, but only because it's a way to finance buying the stuff I CAN'T find in the wild (and occasionally to pay the bills when I'm not working). I think that's a very narrowminded interpretation.

[Cirrus]

I don't know about you, but most of us collectors get most of our enjoyment out of the hunt.

You must be out for resale value or something, cause if you're not, then you're just not as hardcore as some of us. Chime back when you actually enjoy your hobby, K?

I don't enjoy the hunt. I just like playing the stuff. If it was easiuer to find, I'd be much happier cause I wouldn't have to waste all that time looking for it. Granted I resell a lot, but only because it's a way to finance buying the stuff I CAN'T find in the wild (and occasionally to pay the bills when I'm not working). I think that's a very narrowminded interpretation.

I agree. This is not just about "the hunt." I can be a hardcore gamer and not consider acquiring the games a spiritual calling.

[Goblin]

You must be out for resale value or something, cause if you're not, then you're just not as hardcore as some of us. Chime back when you actually enjoy your hobby, K?

Not really into it for resale, if anything I'd say you guys frequenting the thrift stores are the one who are looking to make a buck rather than paying fair market value. Time is a premium with me, so for it's not worth my effort effort. If it makes you happy, then go for it. I wasn't trying to knock it, all I said was I didn't get it.

And for the record I enjoy the hobby just fine, that is I enjoy playing, and acquiring new things for my collection. What I don't enjoy is spending time in grungy thrift stores hoping to get lucky. I'd rather spend the time making trades, searching ebay to get what I want, or actually playing what I own.

[NESVIDIOT]

I agree with Maxlords too, sometimes I enjoy the hunt( usually when the finds are good) but it can be a drag when you spend a whole day searching and find nothing. That's part of it too though, if it was easy to find it wouldn't be valuable. Look at Pokemon- tons of it around = low value.
I've found that most of the thrift stores are picked over- better than thrift stores are flea markets pawn shop and game stores. Make it a regular habit to stop in at these places, build a rapport with the store. Sure at first you might have to pay the full price, but after awhile, when you are a regular and they know you by name then the deals start to appear. Also, always ask for the deal- nothing ventured nothing gained. Ask for a package price, put together a few things and "see what they'll do for you" The seller always wants your money. Raedon got the same idea here too. It works!!
Good luck!! :)

[Nesmaster]

the local salvation army stores havent had anything in, for probably about a year now... value village and goodwill on the other hand usually ALWAYS have at least 1 or 2 games every time i go. Salvation army sucks here :/

[Chainsaw_Charlie]

The Volunteers of america here are bad, I have had luck with Goodwill and Salvation Army but not for a couple of weeks

[Castelak]

Bad goodwill luck? I missed a Neo Geo MVS system a couple days ago at my GW... is that bad luck? *cries*

[Kamino]

I only hit the stores on my way home from college these days. Even that is getting pathetic. But, I -did- find a working double pong in december. Every dry day was worth it just for that damn pong. However, I can't say I ever found anything else really worth it at a thrift. I did find Rad Racer, but i had to shell out for, and saw it cheaper later :\
Also: Pays to know people. A drunk guy I go to college with found an XEGS for $1, sold it to me for $3, I rushed out to buy it before he sobered up and figured out it might be worth more :)

[Captain Wrong]

Y'know, every couple of months we have the "thrift stores/wild are dead" post but every week we have a new "finds" thread and among the "I picked up 25 common games at TRU" posts, there's at least a couple of real "in the wild" finds. I think the problem is, like so many other things, there's this mythical "golden days" that never really existed.

Let me put it this way, I've been in the thrifting game for about 15 years. Mostly I've been looking for records, but even when I wasn't a "collector" I'd always keep an eye open for 2600 carts I didn't own. While I will admit I used to see more carts than I do now, it was still the same damn common as dirt titles I see when I see carts now. In almost 15 years, I think my best VCS find was Submarine Commander, and that was less than 2 years ago.

My point is, thrifts always have been a crap shoot and always will be. Unless things were radically different in a different part of the country (I live in the midwest) or a different time (I started about '89) it's always been this way, it's just that the spectacular finds tend to stand out and we tend to forget the millions of mundane trips other collectors make.

[neuropolitique]

I consider the hunt a separate thing from this hobby. I love the hunt. I don't do it near as much as I used to, but I try to whenever I get the time/money. My hunt includes more than just video games. Vintage cameras, weird PC stuff, or anything else that catches my eye. The hunt is excitement. You may find nothing all day, then find a stash of games at one last thrift shop. That's why it's called "The Hunt". Otherwise, it'd be called shopping.

My video game collecting has moved largely to eBay. This is largely due to a change in the focus of my collection. You just don't find complete Game Boy games in the wild. ;)