It's been a terribly long time since I've done any Flea Marketing- but I do remember finding a Genesis with the hookups for maybe 10 dollars as a younger child. Places like Goodwill are pretty good, though. I got three NES games and a PSX game for about six dollars- flea markets and Slackers stores would charge maybe 50 dollars for all the games. And, they all work and are in nice shape. You can also try and bargain with them, but don't go too low.
I wish there was a good flea market by me...the closest one is one in Richmond. And it SUCKS. It seriously is a junk market filled with dusty broken crap. The video games they have there are MAJORLY over priced. I mean 10 bucks for SMB/DH???
"The scary part is that I bought it >.<"
NES, Atari 7800, Genesis, SNES, Saturn, Nintendo 64, Dreamcast, PlayStation 2, GameCube, Atari Flashback 2, Limited Edition Red Wii, PS3 Slim, GBC, GBA, GBASP, DS Lite, and PSP 3000.
hell yeah...you can find all sorts of older stuff...get it cheap also if someone dont know what its worth...i have found lots of stuff at flea markets for dirt cheap...one of the best places to look for the prices..
I haven't been to a flea market in awhile but there was usually a decent selection of classic games there. Of course the prices vary heavily from vendor to vendor. Luckily, even the high price sellers will sometimes let you talk them down in price alittle bit. But not all of them are like that.
Last edited by The 1 2 P; 04-08-2010 at 04:49 PM.
ALL HAIL THE 1 2 P
Originally Posted by THE 1 2 P
This is unfortunately what most of the flea markets around my area are like. Nothing but dusty old shit for the most part.
Yeah I guess I'm gonna have to get to a flea market in the near future and check it out for myself. Hopefully if I find something that I want, and it's a bit pricey, maybe I will have some luck in talking them down on the price? That's rarely the case at the indy stores around here. It blows my mind how stubborn these places are when it comes to knocking a few bucks off a game! Some of these places have been sitting on the same inventory forever, at the same prices. I've offered numerous times to buy certain games, like a used Silent Hill 3 for $40 (I later got off ebay for $20 in mint condition : ), if they knock $10 off, but they won't do anything for me. Needless to say, I rarely go into these places anymore.
I'm an oddball when it comes to the haggling. I typically buy a large lot when I first go to a new store. I get to know the owner/manager, talk with them a bit, grab a large lot, and they'll give me a discount for buying the large lot of games typically. Then, when I come back, I'll start buying smaller lots and still get the discounts because they know I'll be willing to come back and buy their stock.
For many of my common places now, I usually get Buy2Get1 deals now because I help them move stagnant stock, and 10% off or more on the total deal. It's just about getting to know the people and having them work for you.
The Flea Market is great for this as well. You can play off competing vendors by price-checking items you want. At my Flea Market, one vendor is a collector downsizing his personal collection to get his store running and another is a reseller trying to maximize his profit. The collector only has Battlesphere Gold left to complete his Jaguar collection and the reseller has 2 copies, but he's holding it over the collector's head until he gets something rare in that he wants.
Needless to say, I get great discounts at the collector's store because I'm a fellow collector and I get great discounts at the reseller's store because I get a finder's fee for Craigslist and other finds.
Know and embrace the vendors, as you can get great deals and guarantee that you'll at least come away with something.
I don’t understand why most everyone says to stay away from the “dedicated vendors”. If you go enough (every weekend or every other weekend) you will know what sales and what doesn’t. If what doesn’t sale is something you want after a month or so you can just about name your price and if it’s more than what they paid for it (more than likely it will be) they will sale and if they don’t just walk away but keep coming back and asking about it. At some point they’ll see that it won’t sale and write it off (to you).
I’ve got a lot of things like that 2X TG16 one with a turbo buster on it for $15, CIB Mega Man 5 for $10, CIB Saturn Magic Knight Rayearth for $15, and a lot more.
Never try this on things the masses know about like: Mario’s, Killer Instinct’s, Donkey Kong’s, and the like will always be over priced at the “dedicated vendors” because the masses will buy them at that price when they don’t know where to get them for cheaper.
Like what Kisuragi said its about knowing the person and knowing what stock they’re willing to go down on and what they’re not. Although I have never got the kind of offers I give to work at a store no matter how much I spend at it.
Flea markets are pretty much always hit and miss. There aren't any around Seattle and the closest ones tend to have overpriced resellers. I don't even bother. But it really depends on your area. Flea markets, yard sales and Craigslist can be great or useless, all depend on your location.
Although thats how you would envision an ideal selling atmosphere to be like, this is hardly the case for some sellers. I could easily point to many ebay sellers who have had the same items listed at the same buy it now price for years. But since we are talking about flea markets and thrift stores I'll keep it based on that. However, sometimes it's pretty much the same case. I'm sure I'm not the only one who has gone to certain vendors who have the same items month after month, year after year. Every few weeks you try and talk them down a bit and even reason with them that if they don't lower their prices their items will never sell. But common sense never kicks in and they just don't get it.
Luckily, it isn't always like that and thats why I pointed out to Duffman that you can definitely try to haggle with any flea market vendors. Many are very receptive to this, while others swear they know everything about video games and will refuse to lower their prices because(and I quote) "I can get this much money if I sell this on ebay". If that were true than he wouldn't still have the same copy of Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt on his table for the 78th week in a row priced at $25
ALL HAIL THE 1 2 P
Here's a scenario that I see happen every once in a while: someone who doesn't do flea markets at all decides to check it out. He/She isn't into video games either. Walks by the 25 dollar SMB/DH and stops. Goes back. Picks it up. Says, "Oh man. I remember this game. Only 25 bucks? hmmmm....".Many are very receptive to this, while others swear they know everything about video games and will refuse to lower their prices because(and I quote) "I can get this much money if I sell this on ebay". If that were true than he wouldn't still have the same copy of Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt on his table for the 78th week in a row priced at $25
They keep it at that price for at least 2 reasons. 1, eventually that scenario plays out. 2, they don't want to get "out vendored" by someone else (the ultimate crime to a vendor is doing the same thing to them...buying their wares cheap and reselling at a higher price). Including Ebay.
-Sosage
WTF is a Dim-Mac?!?!?
Yea, that's why I stated that it will not work on the games the masses know about. A dedicated vendors will never come down on games like any Mario, Contra, Punch Out, Final Fantasy, and so on.
Also I guess it all depends on the flea market too the one I go to you have to pay a good bit ($40 and up per-day) for a booth so it's more of a "if it sits here all I do is lose money" mentality. I hate that it's so much because I sale at it every once in a while (that's where the really good deals are you won't believe what some people will sit in front of you for little to nothing) but it does keep prices down on most things.
Guys, what are "big" (big = 100+ sellers every weekend, lot of junk not just chinese crap, antiques....) flea market in the US east coast (NYC, Boston, Buffalo....)
Oh eBay! you are such a pain, I am addicted to you like crack cocaine. You offer things I cannot find in stores,You are the pimp, and we are all your whores.
How dumb do you guys play it at the flea market? I find that with the average Joe sellers that if I show any knowledge of video games or any hint of being a collector I often get the super high price because they're worried that if I'm looking at it, it's a hidden treasure and I'm going to rip them off and flip it on eBay. I usually just walk around asking people "Got any Nintendo tapes" like I'm stupid and don't know anything about games, but that has its drawbacks too because they try to rip me off in other ways like telling me Sega CD games work on Playstation.
I also try to never let any strong interest in anything show, like I'm meh and just on the verge of putting it down and walking away even if it's one of my grails.
I run into this with small resale shops from time to time. For example, I show up at one wearing a Zelda t-shirt, and happen to find an Atari 2600 game I had been wanting (Pitfall. Nothing impressive, but I loved that game and didn't own it yet). No prices where marked on anything, so it was whatever they felt the price should be, judging on the person buying it. Automatically, the person who runs it assumes I'm a collector (After all, nobody else but a collector would wear a shirt with a Nintendo character on it) and wants me to pay $30 for it because "it sells for 2k monies on teh eBay". Naturally, I put it back, but I show up again the next day, wearing a plain t-shirt this time. I try to buy the same game again, but this time, the price they said was $.50, because it's "worthless junk". Naturally, I buy it at that price.
That's why trying to hide the fact you're a collector when you're dealing with mom-&-pop resale shops or booths at flea markers is a must; especially when the prices are not marked. If they pick up any hint as you being a collector, they'll try to jack up the price to unrealistic highs; because they assume you'll pay top dollar for a beat-up copy of Madden '95.
Flea Markets
Yeah I never show much of an expression when haggling (poker face). Namely if you show that you want the item, they will jack up the price. When I haggle, I say I'll give you so and so $XX for it and remind them that you will get money right now vs having it sit there. Plus I pull out the money and show it in their face. Another thing I do is tell them that I only have so and so cash on me. Take it or leave it (quite a few times this works out).The problem with flea market nowadays is that a lot of people recognize that there is money to be made in retrogaming. Yup I do here the "ebay sells it for $50, I'll sell it to you for $40" even though it is worth no way near that price. You do have to go to flea market early since I have seen other vendors buying from the mom and pop and try to flip it (I really hate that). Most of my collection is from flea markets though, but the mass was bought about 5 years ago. Back then, it used to be 2 for $5 and no one cared what titles they were selling. Final Fantasy, Megaman, Chronotrigger, Mario, Dragon's Quest etc all $3 each or 2 for $5. I think thrift store's is becoming a place that you should check out often as they have very decent prices in my area (example Boxed Darth Vader Atari 2600 for $6 was something I bought last week).
Yeah there's a local game store that does the same thing. They have a few display cases full of what they consider to be rare games, which some aren't really, and none of them are priced. You ask them how much a certain game is, and one of the sales clerks will go over and ask another one what the price is, and they have a little quiet discussion and pull any random price out of thin air. I laughed my ass off one time when they told me $100 for a black label FFVIII...which I found two days later for $14.99 at a pawnshop.
Ive definately found my best deals at the fleas and the ole' Craiglist..Ebay sux monkey nuts unless you buy lots or win an undercover auction.
Im looking for Bonk for the NES. No need to pm me though, unless you would accept bits of string for tender.
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