Game hunting.

[BarcaBoy]

I am pretty new to collecting games. I plan to go hunting for games this weekend, anyone have tips for searching? Also, how does one know when a flea market is in your area? I live in Alexandria, Va but cant seem to find any near my area. Any help is greatly appreciated . Thanks

[Tanooki]

Flea markets in general are not random. Use google, you'd be surprised how often there are websites out there that log what exists and you may find something. That's your best best, secondarily I have had good luck with community wide garage sales where little neighborhoods all go in at once.

When I was out west since it rained never weekly on Sunday I'd hit this place religiously each weekend and even after things got greedy and slid ever worse starting in 2011 I could still pull something out of there every week except on a rarer bad day, and before it got stupid I could have a bag of stuff for $20 or so. Community garage sales for me haven't been about bulk but a nice hit somewhere in the area and those I've down back out here now, fleas have been a lot more 50/50 here at least with games (but I do often find awesome badass vintage toys.) Community yard sales this season in spring netted me 3 CIB N64 games for $5/ea at one home, another week got me some other goodies too like Harvest Moon 64 for $3. It's random but consistent, just not bulky.

Your worst best would be local non-chain retail, even shops who play the ebay game tend to slip up if they have plenty of stock, and some will price 10-20% under ebay and randomly throw out a 30+% off bone to keep people coming in and you can do nicely that way too.

[Ro-J]

...community wide garage sales where little neighborhoods all go in at once...

These have been the best score for me over the past several years. I typically look for old games, vinyl, 80's toys and board games and can often bring home a respectable haul. Unfortunately the peak time for community yard sales (May\June) has passed.

Another great place to look, Church sponsored yard sales\flea markets. Typically things are listed at give-a-way prices and definitely worth going to if you see any advertised.

YMMV, but check your local Patch site for upcoming yard sales and flea markets, sometimes they're listed.

[wiggyx]

Craigslist will often have flea market listings (in my neck of the woods at least). Garage sales are great, but depending on where you live, there may be lots of other gamers/resellers trying to hunt for deals too. My advice? Find the most promising listing, and then get there right when it starts.

[meggo]

My advice is to check craigslist every day. Every damn day. I'm always finding more deals on there than I can even respond to. Also never forget thrift stores, local small ones and Goodwill stores. They can be a real mixed bag sometimes but I've found more jackpots there than anywhere else. Garage sales are always a must.

One big thing too is to not always just believe the price the seller is asking for, no matter what. Often times sellers will mark up games that are big-name titles or that they want you to believe are rare. Today at a local game store I had the guy behind the counter try to convince me that a common n64 racing game was "blockbuster exclusive" because it had one of those "property of blockbuster" stickers on the label. He had marked it up to $70! That happens so much.

[Atarileaf]

One thing I don't do - bother with yard sales that actually advertise video games. (1) When they specify like that they generally want a lot for them and (2) its like chum for resellers and you'll be fighting them.

I try to go to the out of the way sales, out in the county. That's where I've had the best luck. Resellers try to maximize their time and go to sales in the city where sales are closer together.

[bigbacon]

I am pretty new to collecting games. I plan to go hunting for games this weekend, anyone have tips for searching? Also, how does one know when a flea market is in your area? I live in Alexandria, Va but cant seem to find any near my area. Any help is greatly appreciated . Thanks

there is eStarLand in Chantilly VA, press start games also but thats way out in winchester or front royal. If you really want to travel there is cartridges galore in Cumberland Maryland (they have good prices) and lastly there is a guy in the Strasburg flea market/antique bazaar that sells a lot of games.