Retro hunting at yard sales - is it dying?

[Pichu]

I have no hopes for yard sales anymore. Yes I'll check any and every one that I see, but it seems like people in this area just don't have anything good to sell.

In fact my flow of retro games has slowed to a trickle due to my local shop getting snarky with prices and yard sales drying up.

I can't wait to get my license so I can go hit up some out of town flea markets. Also, I don't give a sh!t about who it is, I will always look down on people who wear lens-less glasses frames.

[dsheinem]

I've basically had a big fat zero on garage sales and flea markets ever since this find a few years ago at a place outside of town where the guy was trying to get rid of a bunch of stuff before he had to move.

I actually think that more economically depressed areas = harder to find retro games at yards sales/local flea markets for a number of reasons (people hold on to their games to keep playing them since new games are expensive, they have garage sales all the time, they need to move their stuff for top dollar, they are more prone to trade in games when it is an option, etc.). When I do find stuff, 95% of the time it is last gen or current gen stuff, and even then it is almost always far overpriced. I have basically stopped going to yard sales on a weekly basis (more like every 4-6 weeks during the main season for them) and could see giving them up all together in the near future...

Retro stores are not much better as eBay pricing has largely taken over everywhere I frequent.

On the other hand, part of the problem might be that it is very hard for me to find much of interest any more - my "want list" has remained largely unchanged (and unfulfilled) for a year or more now, and so most of my perusing is really to find stuff cheap enough to flip. I have had almost no luck.

[Dakinggamer87]

It's been hit or miss for me the last several months in what I'm finding. I sometimes find stuff from PS2/Xbox/GC and other weeks it's NES/SNES/Genesis.

[loganm187]

Zelda OOT for N64 is SO DAMN HIPSTER RIGHT NOW!

[flojocabron]

no yardsales where I live right now Too Damn Hot

The yard sale scene down here in Socal border is quite small. Most everyone goes to the fleamarket anyways.

But heres a shocker.....

Why dont you ask?

Go up to the yard sale seller and ask politely to see if they have any videogames?

Sure maybe they'll pull out PS2/XBOX games, but it doesnt hurt to ask.

The least that they'll say is no.

Asking will make them think that you are intersted and some may know this and charge more. But Whats more for them may still be a bargain for us collectors.

Where's the post of that vid of the guy in the bike getting a SH!T load of snes games for a buck each?

Maybe exchanging phone numbers to the person will make them call you back, once they find their games that are put away?

it may be harder to find games, but not impossible.

[Pichu]

Where's the post of that vid of the guy in the bike getting a SH!T load of snes games for a buck each?

This guy?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zljZ4WIJvs

[AppleQueso]

I've found that most of my nerdy characteristics have somehow become hipster qualities over the years.

My theory on that:

That's because what's "cool" now is what was considered "not cool" back in the day. Which I think results from people constantly grasping for something "new" to follow. Because if there were no trends and followers/non-followers, then there would be no way to determine who's "better" than everyone else.

I don't see why we can't already use the existing system of whoever makes the most money wins.

You only say that because you make more money than most of us.

[Goregasm]

There is a few facebook pages dedicated to buying/selling/trading around my area and I post on there occasionaly. Usually I get responses straight away and it's crazy how many people have old video game stuff just sitting around that they dont know what to do with. The first time I posted I bought a NES lot of some lady and some guy had stacks of Psone games in his garage but he thought because of the ebay prices of what he had (especialy because it was Australian ebay) that he was entitled to a small fortune. If you guys have the same sort of online trading spaces for your area I highly reccomend giving those a shot.

[mysticx]

Over here in Holland things aren't much better, flea markets are mostly PS2 and Xbox games (Mostly fighting, racing and shooting at that), hardly any 8 or 16 bit Nintendo items (Guess the people who wanted to sell them to make room have sold them already, and professionals in the retro-game sales set up on the internet), Gameboy/GBA Games are common enough, though...

As for brick-and-mortar retrogaming stores: most of them got taken over by a big company that also runs the two biggest chains of toy stores in the country, end result? No retro games at all anymore and same prices as those toy store chains on the recent stuff...

So all in all, i do most retro shopping online now, not many bargains to be had though, those people know how common/rare their merchandise is.

[harper]

But heres a shocker.....

Why dont you ask?

Go up to the yard sale seller and ask politely to see if they have any videogames?

Sure maybe they'll pull out PS2/XBOX games, but it doesnt hurt to ask.

The least that they'll say is no.

If I had the balls, I totally would ask. But I didn't even have the guts to ask an old friend of mine that I bought an nes zapper from at his yard sale if he had more stuff. There will be a voice in my head saying "Ask him! Just fucking ask him!" But I can't get the words out of my mouth. Ah, the pains of being socially awkward.