Goodwill Problems
Hey i use Goodwill a lot for help in my journey for Classic games but recently they started marking up prices on Console's and Controller to over Ebay Value and games are still $3.00 each buy when i see something it's most likely had the disk problems. Yeah just needed to vent a little but could please tell me if your also having trouble game hunting at Goodwill
My dad works at a computer store of theirs. Man, last year I bought FF 8 and the 1 & 2 PS1 collection, Twisted Metal in a TM 2 case, and saw a N64 with controller and power cables for $20, the games were $5 or less cause of his discount. Now this year I bought a crappy SHADOWBLADE arcade stick for $2.
Ill ask him in the morning about any new actual policy changes.
The Goodwill stores in my region have dropped the prices on CDs, DVDs, and many electronic goods. Recently they've been stocking a number of older games and found a few awesome deals lately. A majority of their items are fixed prices so deliberately being tagged above on-line market rates would be strange.
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The Goodwill store where I live marks most games (from NES to PS2) up to $7.00, but if it's something rare they'll have it in a glass case with a print-out of an eBay listing and with the eBay price.
I stopped buying games and electronics at thrift stores several years ago because of the bullshit prices, and things seem to have only gotten worse.
I find far better deals at yard sales or even in the classifieds
The listing price, or the actual sale price?Originally Posted by CelticJobber
Goodwill prices vary from store to store. There are 3 in my immediate area and they all price their games separately. One charges $5 per game, no matter what system. Another one charges $3 for older games, $4 for PS2 or newer, unless it's a brand new Target clearance game, in that case it usually sells for half of what it would cost in the stores.
Gone are the days when NES games were sold for $1 each.
There are definitely good and bad Goodwill stores. And even then prices can be inconsistant because of the fact the person pricing the items haves no idea what they are.
On one day my local store had an Atari 7800 for $60, a PlayStation system only for $15, and a PSOne with the LCD screen 2 controllers and 2 memory cards for $10.
The same store charges $5 a game no matter what.
You find video games in Goodwill? My local Goodwill has very limited amount of video games since most of them are probably sold online. I did buy a GC Mario's Mansion for $4, and I once bought a GB Super Mario's Land for $1 at Salvation Army, but they were flukes.
this is sadly starting to become the goodwills i have
They have shrunk the electronics/electronic media sections down to tiny versions of what they once were and finding anything at all is like finding gold.
For awhile i could walk in and find sports titles for the genesis or snes like they were going out of style but now it would be a gold rush if i found one of those!
Maybe someday soon *sigh*
I got 99 problems but a Goodwill ain't one
"What is a man? A miserable little pile of secrets! But enough talk... Have at you!"
My feedback thread: http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?t=93213
My goodwill marks ALL VIDEO GAMES at 8 dollars now.
As others have said, Goodwill is always a crapshoot since different store managers have different attitudes about selling. The store half a mile from me is generally a goldmine all around; I've purchased many Genesis/SNES/N64 games there for $1-2 (sometimes MIB) and have found some amazing deals on hardware (GBC/GB Pocket for $1 each, PSOne with adapter for $3, Wii Balance Board for $4, etc.).
The store 10 miles from me is completely different. They seem content to price Gamecubes sans cables for $20-30, and Xbox demo discs/sports games for $5-6 apiece. They also have a used "gamer chair" tagged at $100; the same model is available new locally for around $50. Consequently, the store has next to zero turnover in their gaming area, and seems content with this.
Just out of curiosity, has anyone ever found a *Salvation Army* store with fair prices? All of these in my area are pretty terrible. (copies of Sneak King priced at $7, and one of them has Mario Sunshine/Super Smash Bros. Melee at $60 apiece for used copies)
I've never even seen good games for sale at a Goodwill in this area. I think they get picked over by ebayers and other resellers pretty quickly.
However, there are a number of other second hand stores around my small hometown. These are generally very good. They price based on type of object it is. Cartridge $2, CD $1. All systems are $10. Controllers without analog $1. With Analog $2. Racing wheels and arcade sticks are $5. If you bring up ebay they give you the "implied facepalm" look.
I found Einhänder, for PlayStation at a Goodwill on Tuesday for $2.02. Going thrifting is rolling the dice but generally the only risk you take is finding nothing at all and as such is wasting time. It can be demoralizing but when something good does come up it's generally cheaper than you'd find anywhere else. That's my experience which is why I still take time to check some out due to the unknown factor.
Whaddya mean invalid parameters?!
9,000 gigs of ram and it still can't answer a simple question!
SA stores around here always price video games at either $1.98 or $2.98 a piece.
For all the people with high priced Goodwill's (what a misnomer!), simply find a nice hiding place in the store, like under a display rack or something, hide the goods until half-off Saturday sale, and come back for the savings.
There's a local thrift store (not a Goodwill) that had a used NES controller and TV hookups that I wanted to buy a few years ago, thinking they would charge around $5, but they were going to charge over $20 for what was bagged, including an Othello cart (whoopee). I got the hookups on Ebay for less than $10 and my NES dogbone came with the toploader I bought on Ebay, so Ebay is often cheaper than thrift stores for video games.
thats friggin highway robbery right there.
What pisses me off the most about this kinda thing is they won't go down in price no matter how long they have on the racks and eventually will toss it out (and who knows if it survives said toss out.. and if you can even collect it after said toss out) because they don't care. It was a donation not like they are at a loss with it.
I think they just price things to whatever the employee wants to. Case in point is a local Goodwill of mine. I saw a Gameboy loose Alleyway for the amazingly low price of $29.99! In the same case were PS2 games for $2 each. There's just no rhyme or reason...
My dad told me all their software is sold on ebay. He thinks its stupid. All the software including games is taken to the south of our town where the E commerce people are and so is the shipments department. I brought up how people made all these videos of getting stuff cheap at thrift stores, and he didnt think that was the reason, but thats just him. Im glad I got the games I listed up there when I could.
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