Flea Market's best and worsts

[dra600n]

This year, my friend and I had been going to the flea markets in our area's to see what we can and can't find when it comes to classic gaming. Now, we're both moderate collectors - get things to have that we can enjoy, or just some random oddities that we can show off to our friends and whatnot.

We've been pretty successful at the flea markets and some 2nd hand shops (thrift stores, pawn shops, etc).

Here are some of things I've gotten this year at these places:

Final Fantasy 2 and 3 (SNES) - $20 for both. Talked the woman down on price because they were carts only without any boxes or manuals. She was asking $30 a piece for them.

Secret of Mana (SNES) - $5
Legend of Zelda - A Link to the Past (SNES) - $5
Some Speedy Gonzalas game for $1 (SNES)

Shining Force (SEGA) - $5 - talked the woman down from $20

N64 w/ 2 controllers, controller pack, expansion memory pack, and all the hookups - $20

Another find I had was when I went out on a mission to find Mario Kart for the SNES. I went to the flea market expecting to pay upwards of $20 or so for the cart itself, and to my surprise, I found it. I asked the kiosk fella how much for the one game, and he tells me that he's selling the whole lot for $40. I told him all I had on me was a $20 (gotta love how flea market vendors will believe just about anything). He tells me he'll let it go for $25, so my friend slips me a $5 bill and I get my game. I look in the box to really see what I had just bought - it was a SNES unit with 4 controllers, the hookups, misc boxes and manuals for games I don't have and that he didn't have either (one of them being Bible Adventures for the NES), Mario Kart, DK Country 1 and 2, Mario All Stars, Yoshi's Island, a few sports games, Skies of Arcadia for the Dreamcast, and a few others. Great find on my part. The SNES, unfortunately, only displays the games in black and white. I'm not sure if the A/V port for the alternative video and sound works, but the regular connection to the TV only plays in B/W.

Craigslist today I found a Saturn with 11 games, 2 controllers and 2 light guns for $50. I was a bit sketchy about this because the Saturn has some rattling going on in the insides of it, but fortunately, everything works 100% (though I can't test out the light guns on the TV I used as it's a HD television and I'm pretty sure it needs to be used on a CRT - I'll test that out later though). Also on Craigslist I found today was someone selling some N64 games for $5 a piece. I figured I'd get the games that I know I like and that are somewhat hard to find at that price, so for $20 I was expecting just the loose carts of Mario 64, Donkey Kong 64, Golden Eye 64 and Zelda Majora's Mask. To my surprise, I got all of them in the boxes (except Mario 64), so I was quite content with that. The boxes are beat pretty badly, but it's still a nice addition to my collection. The games are in perfect condition.

Things I hate at the flea markets (this is the worsts part of the title) - vendors who put individual price tags on games, or ask eBay's higher end prices on games - even loose carts. I have noticed an abundance of sports games flooding the flea markets as of late as well...

I saw at a flea market an original pong set up for $130, not in box, and unsure of working condition. My friend offered the guy $30, and he whipped out the ebay prices. Why do people thing they can rape flea marketers on their prices? And why are NES's going for $75 to $150, not in boxes?

Anyways, what good finds have you found this year at flea markets/thrift shops/etc?

[buzz_n64]

There is a finds thread in the What's it Worth section once you've posted some more, and wait a bit, it'll be unlocked.

[dra600n]

Ohh, I was wondering about that... sorry!

[LynchJustRules]

One time at a garage sale, I bought a Sega Master System with 2 controllers and 30 games for only $10.

The guy just wanted to get rid of it and had no idea about the actual value of the games or the system.

[Gooch3008]

Theres some a-hole here at a local flea market who has had a big piece of tape with $50 scrawled on it on a loose copy of Ogre Battle 64. It has been there for over 6 months lol.

[Flack]

I went to a flea market one time that used to be a storage unit place. All the booths had roll up metal doors on the front of them. In the back corner of the flea market was a guy with a bunch of old electronics and game equipment. The guy had a giant rotating rack of Atari games, probably 40 or 50 games maybe. All of them had been bleached by the sun so the colors were non-existent, and because his shop was in the corner, everything was caked with half-an-inch of sand too. The guy was asking $5 or 3/$10 for the games. I remember picking up a copy of Space Invaders and just watching the sand and dust literally pour out of the cart.

At one point I thought I had found a Pac-Man in a silver box, but when I picked it up and looked at it, it was the plain ol' yellow version, but sunbleached.

[KEVMAN569]

Things I hate at the flea markets (this is the worsts part of the title) - vendors who put individual price tags on games, or ask eBay's higher end prices on games - even loose carts. I have noticed an abundance of sports games flooding the flea markets as of late as well...

I saw at a flea market an original pong set up for $130, not in box, and unsure of working condition. My friend offered the guy $30, and he whipped out the ebay prices. Why do people thing they can rape flea marketers on their prices? And why are NES's going for $75 to $150, not in boxes?

Anyways, what good finds have you found this year at flea markets/thrift shops/etc?

I hate these type of people at flea markets. I like to call them resellers I used to be able to find a couple of good deals every time but now I'll be lucky if I find one. Every time I see a vendor his Genesis and SNES games are always picked through and full of sports games. There are three parts to the flea market I go to: the back part, the part with a gazebo, and inside the main building (has permanent shops and an arcade). Most of my deals are usually found in the back but now I can't even find one thing that isn't overpriced.

/rant

I did find a CIB PS1 the other day. Box is beat up but the system is mint.

[tpugmire]

I found 4 turbografx controllers, a turbo tap, a controller extension cable, rf switch and AC adaptor for $15.00 earlier this summer. I haven't found much else worthy of mention, besides a few random NES games for a dollar or two.

[yosh]

picked up Zelda: Link to the Past and Super Empire Strikes Back yesterday for $1.99 a piece.

[Rev. Link]

There is a finds thread in the What's it Worth section once you've posted some more, and wait a bit, it'll be unlocked.

I never understood why the What's it Worth section is in with the Marketplace stuff. What's it Worth doesn't need to be hidden like that. Seems like every week we have some new user coming in posting a thread like this, and most times it leads to a bunch of flames telling that person to go find the right place. Well, if they can't see it how are they supposed to know? At least this thread didn't turn into a flame war.

[Choses]

Well I found Donkey Kong Country 2 for 95$ and Yoshi's Island for 65$ (both loose). Great prices. A lot of other common games for 55$+, too. Wow. I wanted to put everything on fire.

I never have chance at my local flea market. Everything is a little overpriced. Or very overpriced in some cases... when I try to offer normal prices, I get this : "It's so rare, and the best of the system ! So no, it's THAT price, not yours."
hatehatehate

[dra600n]

I never understood why the What's it Worth section is in with the Marketplace stuff. What's it Worth doesn't need to be hidden like that. Seems like every week we have some new user coming in posting a thread like this, and most times it leads to a bunch of flames telling that person to go find the right place. Well, if they can't see it how are they supposed to know? At least this thread didn't turn into a flame war.

I am thankful that this didn't turn into a thread war... and I wasn't trying to make it a "what it's worth" thread... more like a "what good deals and bad deals have you found at flea markets and small mom and pop shops" thread. I just decided that it'd be easier to wait it out to see the hidden forums than bitch about it...after all, I'm a n00b here

Well I found Donkey Kong Country 2 for 95$ and Yoshi's Island for 65$ (both loose). Great prices. A lot of other common games for 55$+, too. Wow. I wanted to put everything on fire.

I never have chance at my local flea market. Everything is a little overpriced. Or very overpriced in some cases... when I try to offer normal prices, I get this : "It's so rare, and the best of the system ! So no, it's THAT price, not yours."
hatehatehate

I HATE that at flea markets. I told a vendor there "if it's so rare, why are they selling it for $X and they have 3 of them?" When they ask "then why do you want this copy?" I say "Because yours is in better shape so I'd offer you a few dollars more", which most of the time is true, but sometimes I do just say that. If they deny me, I'll go back to the other spot where I saw it, walk by and hold it up and say "see?" and in 2 months, they still haven't sold it. I love how these scum of the earth flea market vendors think they're so much smarter than us hobbyists/collectors. Unless you've got some deep pockets and need that one cart to finish a collection, nobody in their right mind will pay for it IMO

[MarioMania]

Wow, what's up with some vender charging alot for commens..

I would seroiuiy thow a damn brick at his head

[KEVMAN569]

I am thankful that this didn't turn into a thread war... and I wasn't trying to make it a "what it's worth" thread... more like a "what good deals and bad deals have you found at flea markets and small mom and pop shops" thread. I just decided that it'd be easier to wait it out to see the hidden forums than bitch about it...after all, I'm a n00b here



I HATE that at flea markets. I told a vendor there "if it's so rare, why are they selling it for $X and they have 3 of them?" When they ask "then why do you want this copy?" I say "Because yours is in better shape so I'd offer you a few dollars more", which most of the time is true, but sometimes I do just say that. If they deny me, I'll go back to the other spot where I saw it, walk by and hold it up and say "see?" and in 2 months, they still haven't sold it. I love how these scum of the earth flea market vendors think they're so much smarter than us hobbyists/collectors. Unless you've got some deep pockets and need that one cart to finish a collection, nobody in their right mind will pay for it IMO

I've always been tempted to go off on some of these guys like you do just to show them off. Maybe one day...

[dra600n]

I've always been tempted to go off on some of these guys like you do just to show them off. Maybe one day...

My buddy gets a kick out of it because I get all into it. He calls it my "flea market mode". It's not like I go up to them acting like a complete dbag and try to belittle them or swindle them. The only time I ever consider being a dbag is when someone pulls out the eBay card, which I say "then go list it on ebay, because I bet in 2 months, you'll still have it sitting there collecting dust", and 9 out of 10 times, I'm right.

There's a shop in Rhode Island that wanted $125 for a loose Earthbound cart. I offered him $75 for it, just to see if he'd budge (and if he did, I would have gladly manned up and bought it), but he went on to say how much he could get for it on ebay and how rare of a game it was and that it's one of the rarest games out there, etc etc. This was back in February. We went back there and it was still there, albeit marked down to $75 now. He recognized me and asked me if I was still interested, and I told him that the offered passed and I wasn't interested in it. My friend only went there to scout out Atari games.

I do try to be as polite as possible, because I wouldn't want someone coming up to be being a random dbag that has the potential to ruin my day, though I have been known to get into an argument or 2 with some of these people.

[frogofdeath]

I've never picked up games at flea markets, but last time I was there I found a vendor with a large collection of 8-bit and 16-bit era games. I started thumbing through just to see what was there. Many games were sans label and some even had chunks missing from the cartridge plastic. There didn't seem to be any order, at least none that I saw, so after I took one game out to look, I replaced it at the front of the bin. The seller was none too happy and quickly started rearranging the games, including ones I never looked at!

It's funny everyone talks about game sellers at flea markets ripping off consumers, especially since I have found other vendors to be so willing to cut good deals. Next time I go, I'll have to haggle with a game seller and see what happens!

[LaughingMAN.S9]

found an almost complete copy of valkeryie profile at flea market for like 20 dollars flat, case and book were in near perfect condition, but it only came with disc 2, that same week i went and bought disc 1 for like another 20 dollars online making my copy complete,


lol actually i think it coulda been bought off someone off this forum, lol to whoever it was, thanks guy

[nhm]

I am officially 10 IQ points lower for reading this thread.

"Wah!Wah!Wah! Such and such seller didn't sell me a game for the price I told him he should sell it to me for! Wah!Wah!Wah!

Sellers pull the ebay card because YOU are offering a price that will pay them LESS than they would get on ebay. Let me put it in language many of you will understand....

Burger King offers you $9 per hour to flip hamburgers. McDonalds comes along and says, "I'll give you $25 per hour to do the same job." What would you choose?

[Gameboy415]

I scored this stuff at the Flea Market this past Sunday:


CIB Willow for NES - part of a 3-for-$10 deal
Trog! for NES - part of a 3-for-$10 deal
Adventures of Lolo for NES - part of a 3-for-$10 deal
Snake's Revenge for NES - part of a 3-for-$10 deal
Golgo 13 for NES - part of a 3-for-$10 deal
NES Cartridge case - Free with purchase of 3 NES games and the PS1 games below!
(I got the Power Pad @ Half-Price Books)

I also picked up:
CIB Skull Monkeys for PS1 - $5
CIB Devil Dice for PS1 - $5
NEW/sealed Akira BluRay - $6
NEW/sealed Buzz! Quiz World for PS3 - $10
CIB The Lion King for Genesis -$2
The Simpsons: Night of the Living Treehouse of Horror for GBC - part of a 3-for-$10 deal

There were a TON of other games I wanted, but I only had $53 so I had to pick and choose.

[Landon]

My girl picked up a working Nintendo Game and Watch Pinball for .25 cents at a yard sale last week.

Just like this



I'm about complete on NES, so I've been hitting the vintage handhelds and tabletops pretty hard lately. I don't know whether to thank her or cuss her out for buying this, since it started a new collection strain...