People I hate: Game Hoarders

[Half Japanese]

Alright, this probably isn't directed at the majority if you who are saying "wha?" with a weird look on your face. I'm talking about the people (mostly the CheapAssGamer crowd) that find a deal on a game and then pick up every conceivable copy of it with the intention of attempting to resell them. I don't mind if you pick up a few for friends, or even one or two to resell, but when you bring your fucking wife and kids to the store so you can usurp the "limit 3 per title per customer" rule, I hope you burn in hell with a bad rash on your naughty bits.

These fucking ugly-assed people (the guy's teeth were so mangled and nasty I almost ran away at first) came into my store today to rack up on all of the CAG deals and wiped us out of several games they must have thought were hot enough to resell. Now let me get something straight: we have several CAG regulars in my store, and they're both two very friendly guys that I help find stuff and do price checks for, but these guys are buying for personal use, not to bastardize the process and effectively do the retail equievalent of sodomizing their fellow gamers. Both of these guys are nice as hell (one of them even offered me the last copy of Rez he had picked up since he had the DC version).

Anyway, back to the ugly-assed hoarders: these people come in there bumping everyone out of the way with their fat asses picking up everything they could find within the $10 range. They even cleaned us out of some of the penny promo items (which, even as an employee, I feel would be wrong to do). I asked the lady, just out of curiosity at the time, "you going to resell these on ebay?," to which she quickly replied "oh, they're for my husband, I don't know what he does with them!" Yeah right bitch, you're not fooling anybody. To further her incompetency at lying, she paid with a credit card emblazoned with the Paypal logo on it...

Whatever happened to just satisfying your own needs and letting others do the same? These assholes just rape a pillage everything they can get their fat fucking fingers on, screwing whoever else might have wanted any of the games they purchased. I know I'll probably get flamed to hell, but that's my opinion. Greed rules the day yet again. Fuck you hoarders. You know who you are.

[Queen Of The Felines]

Happens in every hobby, and I hate them all. I remember when Beanie Babies were hot some people would literally follow around UPS trucks and buy out a store's entire stock (or, if there was a limit, would go back out to their car, PUT ON A DISGUISE, and re-enter the store). They of course would then go sit out at the flea market or have a big garage sale and jack up the prices (this was before ebay, mind you). Of course, now most of them are stuck with a worthless pile of crap, so justice has been served.

Haven't really seen it around here when it comes to video games though...guess I should be lucky the collecting aspect hasn't really caught on yet.

Kristine

[ianoid]

It's called an angle. Everyone has one.

That is lame, however, it's not THAT easy to profit on those kinds of scams. I would say that if they're doing well, they're breaking even.

Anything that goes on sale that cheap will soon drop in price. Unless you can unload your stuff REALLY quickly, there will be a dozen other people trying the same scam.

[MarioAllStar2600]

I don't think making fun of there looks is the way to go about things.

[punkoffgirl]

Some people sell on eBay as a way to make a living, you know.
Can't really blame the sellers, who DOESN'T want to make a profit?

[Ed Oscuro]

I don't think making fun of there looks is the way to go about things.

I wouldn't do it either, but it sure does make the message clear, don't it?

This is something I've never heard of...and now that I have, I can laugh at yet more pathetic humans living on my planet. My folks had to deal with somebody trying to live off a small association's checkbook...now that was profitable for them, though highly illegal.

I hope this is the extent of these people's questionable activities. If that's true then I must say this is better than what they could be doing :/

[Half Japanese]

MAS, without actually seeing these folks, and being utterly spooked by them and their offspring, you have no right to comment on their looks. And I realize they're trying to profit from it, but that doesn't make them any less of a bunch of assholes in my opinion.

It's also worth noting before it comes up that, as an employee, I have first grabs on pretty much all of the stuff and I haven't ever bought more than one copy of any game for myself. So no, not everyone is looking to make a profit when possible.

[crashdummycow01]

yea that kinda stuff isnt coo... but if i went into a store and saw a pretty good game for $1 or $0.50.. i'd prolly grab a couple of extra copies.. i wouldnt clean the store out of the game, but i'd prolly grab a couple... but thats just me lol

[Lasermouse]

>Shrug.> Not much you can do about these types of people, true collectors know most items being cleared out end up being essentially worthless eventually anyway, how many hundreds of stores in each chain are there, and each has dozens of such items, not to mention unsold inventory in warehouses?

Yawn, I don't really 'collect' newer games anyway -- hoarding hot items is always a bad idea, as my father with an entire cellar full of formerly hot, now actually 'worthless' McDonalds' Happy Meal toys can attest. A few years ago, I remember vicious, near violent confrontations between dealers over these ultra-mass produced plastic doodads at tagsales and flea markets. Today, these items are offered BY THE POUND on ebay with very few takers. Same goes for recent issue comic books and baseball cards - what can you do? Collect what you like - money is not the main issue, at least not for real collectors/gamers.

Sure, a cheap game sounds like a good idea now, but I wouldn't be surprised if many of today's GCN, XBOX and PS2 (and even PS1, Saturn and GBA) titles end up being sold in bulk as well. I've seen boxes and boxes and boxes jamming up all of my local gamestores making it hard to believe any of these will ever be worth all that much or command the rarity that older games do. This is especially true with the rise of Antiques Roadshow and the popularity of ebay and collecting as a mainstream part of the culture these days. I'm going a bit off topic, just a small rant, sorry.

Don't worry about these promo sale items, they are being sold dirt cheap for a reason, and 6 months from now, 99% will end up back in the pre-owned bins, cheaper and more unwanted than ever, IMHO. Don't get caught up in it - take the long view and you'll be fine.

- Michael

[brykasch]

Hey If I knew it was something that I could make my money back on I would graba couple of extra, and I have been known to do that for people who didn't have a particular store in their area.

I look at this way, if say (wild arms 3) is on sale for 9.99, and everyone re-sales them on ebay then there is gonna be a glut of em and you may only make 2-3 over sticker price. Not really worth it in my opinion. Now if it was a great deal like the 9.99 used Wario World for GC yesterday, or the Kay-Bee sale more power to ya.

With that aside I have no use for rude, vulgar customers.

Beanie Babies, well people got payback on that one, just like the Comic Speculators in the early 90's with Valiant comics among others. I say buy one for yourself, a couple to sell and leave the rest.

[MarioAllStar2600]

If I find 2 Stack-ups, im gunna pick them both up. One for me and ill turn to everyone on the board to see if they want my extra copy. Sure I will make some bucks off it, but I need to pay for my collection. Its the people that are heavily into this crap that annoy me.

[Ed Oscuro]

Thanks, Lasermouse! You're absolutely right about the promo items...I bought a couple of things a while back and I didn't pay much for them, and likewise I don't expect much from them (countertop-attached information booklets and "store personnel only" booklets are much more interesting for my site, though).

[Achika]

But is it wrong to pick up several copies to toss in your trade box....dirt cheap, but you buy up the stores stock of 5 of them? Not so much to resell, but put them in a trade bin and hope that one day they work into that deal that you want to go through so badly.

[Buyatari]

When I see the penny strategy guides at Best Buy I buy every last one. Then I go to the other Best buys in the area and get the ones they have there.

If I sell one for $1 it pays for 100 of them.

Some I sell at my store and a few I gave away. Most of them I still have. Still I am way ahead of the game as far as profit goes.

Why get so many?

I dunno its a disease I tell you. The Video Game horders disease.

Hate me Hate me Hate me

I'm guilty as charged.

Adam

[Sotenga]

Hoarders... don't know anyone who is one, but from the sound of it, these guys really suck. There's nothing wrong with having a collector's spirit, but what they're doing violates the sin of greed. Can't they think about the other gamers for once? For example, I don't wanna see five copies of Shinobi III disappear when I go back to Microplay the next day! I don't know what cheeses me off more: The fact that I wouldn't know where to find the games that hoarders snatch (besides eBay) or the fact that they'll raise the price to an amount higher than I should pay.

I'm with you, Justin. Feck them. Feck 'em all.

[Flack]

What exactly is the problem here?

I mean, they're ugly and fat, okay I get that. But, buying stuff to resell makes them monsters? I wouldn't call them hoarders -- that implies they're buying the stuff to keep for themselves. Instead, they're buying stuff low and selling it on eBay. Nobody here has ever done that before? There wasn't an entire thread about people buying Gamecubes on black Friday, half of which were resold on eBay?

[Querjek]

As much as I dislike it when people completely clear out a store, I'm actually ok with the idea. Sure, it makes me mad when someone walks out with 10 $5 copies of Shinobi for the PS2, but they're priced like that to be sold. I pick up 1-2 copies of something like that and either give one to a friend or use it on one of the days that EB has the "Any no-sports game for $10" trade-in deal. Sure, it isn't the best thing to do, but it's always going to happen. I understand why you guys hate this practice, but there isn't really that much wrong with it.

[hu6800]

shit son feel free to hoard everygame im selling in my for sale thread..

I only know of one person like that... and he never even plays them.
Damon.. buddy of mine.

[TheRedEye]

When I see the penny strategy guides at Best Buy I buy every last one. Then I go to the other Best buys in the area and get the ones they have there.

If I sell one for $1 it pays for 100 of them.

Some I sell at my store and a few I gave away. Most of them I still have. Still I am way ahead of the game as far as profit goes.

Why get so many?

I dunno its a disease I tell you. The Video Game horders disease.

Hate me Hate me Hate me

I'm guilty as charged.

Adam

Hey, I did the same thing. I traded about seven of them to a used toy/video/game store for a full set of Rocky & Bullwinkle VHS tapes, and ended up throwing the rest away months later, after they'd sat in my trunk.

Am I a bastard too?

[Querjek]

When I see the penny strategy guides at Best Buy I buy every last one. Then I go to the other Best buys in the area and get the ones they have there.

If I sell one for $1 it pays for 100 of them.

Some I sell at my store and a few I gave away. Most of them I still have. Still I am way ahead of the game as far as profit goes.

Why get so many?

I dunno its a disease I tell you. The Video Game horders disease.

Hate me Hate me Hate me

I'm guilty as charged.

Adam

Hey, I did the same thing. I traded about seven of them to a used toy/video/game store for a full set of Rocky & Bullwinkle VHS tapes, and ended up throwing the rest away months later, after they'd sat in my trunk.

Am I a bastard too?

*stares at piles of guides and demos that he spent a total of $0.38 on*
Yeah, I think we all are.