Retro hunting at yard sales - is it dying?

[Retrogamer0001]

I know there have been lots of topics and posts about being a retro gamer in 2012, but I thought I would add my two cents and hopefully get some feedback from everyone here. I have only been hardcore collecting for about three years now, and I typically focus on the best games from for each console/generation, but from my personal recent experience, it is getting extremely tough to find anything older than the N64/PS2/Xbox era at yard sales/flea markets for reasonable prices. In fact, I'm having a hard time finding anything at all from the SNES and earlier days. Maybe I'm just horribly unlucky (I frequently travel between about five medium-ish towns to game hunt, which includes random yard sales and flea markets) but I haven't found anything retro of note in a LONG time, with the exception of over-priced game re-sellers at flea markets, which I avoid.

I've read alot about the "video game bubble" that we seem to currently be experiencing with older games, and I have to say that I'm becoming less and less convinced that this will eventually die off. Looking at recent eBay prices for games like Mega Man X2, Mega Man X3, EVO, Earthbound - prices are skyrocketing consistently. Complete copies are even worse, with each of these games generally in the 200-250 range, and Earthbound reaching truly unreal levels of 700 or more complete. I personally blame Ebay, the Youtube retro community (AVGN, The Game Chasers, CGR) and the internet in general for this price leap, but it also got me thinking about the future of game hunting.

Speaking from my personal experience, if I'm not finding SNES and NES games at yard sales now in 2012, what will my chances be of finding anything in 2015? Obviously, the outlook isn't good. I feel like these games are steadily trickling out of the general public's possession (which makes sense, considering the games have been out of production for twenty+ years) and retro hunters are soon going to be out of luck for finding these games in the wild at reasonable prices.

What do you guys think? Are any of you still finding older generation games with regularity on the secondary market, or is my experience a lot more common than I thought? I think it goes without saying that with the greater interest/public awareness of just how much these games are worth and how much demand there is for them, that places are drying up. I think it will be a sad day for retro hunters when all we'll be able to find at yard sales will be used Xbox/Wii/Ps3 games - I'm certainly not looking forward to it.

[s1mplehumar]

No shortages on my end. When I pick a weekend I hit 25+ sales though. Multi-family and community yard sales are key.

[Forlorn Drifter]

There are a lot of things that factor into this.

One of the bigger problems right now are hipsters. That might sound odd, but their quest for old or quirky things has skyrocketed the price of a lot of retrogaming and retro music memorobelia. 8 tracks have gotten expensive in some areas. Around San Marcos, the closer to the college, the worse the price is on records, 8 tracks, and cassetes. In Seguin, on the other hand, they are dirt cheap. Where you are at makes a huge difference.

Also, we need to factor in on how many people have found retro games that turned out to be money making treasures lately. People are starting to think they will be able to pull off the same thing, and are willing to pay horribly high prices for games that aren't worth the plastic they are encased in. Thus, part of the problem with skyrocketing prices.

[MrPopo]

One of the bigger problems right now are hipsters.

Hipsters and El Niño, they're to blame for everything.

[Forlorn Drifter]

One of the bigger problems right now are hipsters.

Hipsters and El Niño, they're to blame for everything.

Its true. I'm serious though, I'm tired of those snarky bastards. Quit wearing damned frames if you don't need glasses.

[DinnerX]

One of the bigger problems right now are hipsters.

Hipsters and El Niño, they're to blame for everything.

I blame rock and roll.

[BoringSupreez]

One of the bigger problems right now are hipsters.

Hipsters and El Niño, they're to blame for everything.

I blame rock and roll.

Sex and drugs too.

[RyaNtheSlayA]

Damn commie spies.

[Forlorn Drifter]

Damn commie spies.

Better dead than red.

Know what else? These new fangled "emos" and such.

[mas]

Let's get serious here. I see that also. Every yard sale I don't see anything but ps2,xbox, some gc but anything else forget about it. Alot of the vendors that are at flea markets are using prices from ebay that are currently listing and completed. I never see any nes or snes even n64 for less than 5.00 and its always sports or craapy games. Anything with zelda or mario 10.00 and up automatic.
It sucks because I really would love to get back into the cartridge scene. This is why I'm kind of happywith the ps1,ps2 people are just giving great games away. The gamecube though, that's a different story. Trying to find a good deal on those games are 1out of 10. Last week some guy was trying to sell me a gamecube with nfl2k3, scorpion king, and tony hawk 3 for 60.00 because he says it's rare?. I smiled and walked away. Also I can never find saturn or dreamcast or sms. Genesis is 1 out of 5.
My point is yeah I feel like it is getting harder and harder to find anything at a good price for anything towards the cartridge base systems. Gameboy is the only thing I find all the time and it's usually crap games.
This is why I'm keeping all of my ps2 finds no matter how crappy the game is. Hell I got mary kate and ashley for the cube Im going to keep th.... well I just keep the black case.