Anyone Ever Sell Games at a Garage Sale?

[Rozz]

I was thinking of selling old crappy last gen games for around $5 each at my upcoming garage sale (think stuff like True Crime: Streets of L.A.). I'm just wondering, would people pay this much for these games or do they expect everything for a quarter? Has anyone ever had experience with this? Thank you.

[GoofyPenguin]

$5 would be alright. if there's some relatively new ones, i'd have eb/gamestop appraise them and round that price to the nearest dollar.

[Javery]

Depends how old. Anything pre-PS2/GC/Xbox I'd expect to get for $1 max. If it's a PS2/GC/Xbox game then $5 max and that might be stretching it. Garage sales are supposed to be cheaper than cheap! They are basically - "please take my shit before I throw it in the garbage - I'll take anything you are willing to give."

[Rozz]

How much do you think old sports games would go for? You think people would pay like one or two bucks for them, or are they pretty much worthless?

[slidecage]

maybe list them for 5 or 10 bucks the first day and drop the prices on the final day.


what games you lookin at selling. Many people here would probally give 5 bucks for games

[PenguinMaster]

$5 for True Crime doesn't even match Gamestop's price. You never know how much you can sell games for at a garage sale though. People will be looking to get things really cheap, but you may get some people who think games for $5 is really cheap because they haven't really looked around. I see listings on craigslist all the time with a bunch of games for $5-$10 each (most of which are worth less than that), I have no idea how well they sell though.

[Caliburn]

I've bought PC games at the Dollar Store like Survivor and some other junk, and sold them at Yard Sales for $5 each. I also sold junk I never thought I'd sell, like old sports games for less than a dollar each (just glad someone wanted a copy of Madden '98!) and I sold a WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2007 strategy guide for $3...three months ago.

You never know. $1 for old sports games is fine, as does the $5 per title if they're common. They'll try to talk to you down to $3 or $4, which is fine.

[eliter1]

$5 for True Crime doesn't even match Gamestop's price. You never know how much you can sell games for at a garage sale though. People will be looking to get things really cheap, but you may get some people who think games for $5 is really cheap because they haven't really looked around. I see listings on craigslist all the time with a bunch of games for $5-$10 each (most of which are worth less than that), I have no idea how well they sell though.

Yeah, people have different definitions of cheap and people don't always know how much stuff is really worth. Try selling them for $5 and then if none bites lower the price.

[karkyco]

Nah there are plenty of suckers that go to yard sales that have no clue about pricing. They just see DVDs, games, etc. and don't really know the difference between the generations, and will pay $5, hell even $10 or $20 a game that they can get for well under $10 at any Gamestop.

Though most people that go to the yard sales that advertise games will be lowballers and expect them dirt cheap (like me).

I would try listing your games on craigslist first at a slightly higher price, maybe $10 a game. If that doesn't work put out a yard sale ad on craigslist advertising video games and don't list the names of the games you have (to get more people out there, say "I will have a dozen or X PS2, Xbox games etc.).

This way even though they will be disappointed with the crappy selection, they may be compelled to buy some. And you will also get the clueless types that will be happy to pay $10 for any crap PS2 game for their kid, since from their shopping experience they will think all PS2 games are $40 or $50.

[SaraAB]

Ive seen plenty of people pay 5$ or more for old Xbox sports games here.

If your selling genesis stuff though and stuff from that gen it has to be really cheap like, 50 cents for a loose cart and 1$ for boxed, I have never seen the prices to be more than this over here.

But yeah yard sales are supposed to be cheap, people here price items at 2-3$ when the item is worth a quarter at best. When I have a yard sale I go for volume sales, so if I sell 10 ebay-worthless items for 25 cents each, its a lot better than selling 1 ebay-worthless item for 1$. People will also buy more when its cheap, and you will have way less stuff to bring back into the house after the yard sale, plus you will make more money (you are there to get rid of the stuff, not to hold onto it!). Face it if your having a yard sale, you are gonna want everything gone! If you don't want to sell it for a cheap price, don't put it out!

[donut]

Here (yuppies and near a grade school) for last gen $5 is about tops (maybe $7) and I like Sara go for volume...
Sometimes (say for cds...I had welll over 100 last sale) I did $5 each or 3/$10 or 10/$20 .... after I sold about 50, I changed it to 5/$10....

Prior to last gen $.25 to $1

Good luck on your sale!

You could also try and get a lil more through craigslist before the sale....

[SaraAB]

I sold CD's for 25 cents each! The reason is because all the other yard sales I went to had CD's and they were like 1-3$ and nothing was moving. I would rather have it go into the hands of someone who will listen to it than selling it off to a pawn shop who will pick through my lot and tell me 3$ for the whole box then go and resell it at 10x for profit. Seriously, the people that come to your yard sale here are the poorest of the poor, so you have to make it so they can actually afford to buy the items. I also go to a ton of yard sales so I know how to price things below the competition and sell them instead of having them rot like everyone else who has a yard sale. I also do suggestive selling by suggesting a product to a person who is already buying a similar product, and I give them a great price on the extra items, this gets rid of even more stuff and most of the time they buy the extra stuff, they just didn't notice it the first time around. Also, for all the great video game deals I have gotten at yard sales, by having my own cheap yard sale I am kinda giving back to the community, its karma you know. Plus I get rid of a lot of junk and it makes a lot of space.

If you want profit, go sell your stuff on ebay, many people are too lazy to do even this, if you want to get rid of stuff fast and cheap, have a yard sale, and know the difference between the 2 ways of selling.

Not every ebay seller is a greedy miser....

[IAmTheCheapestGamer]

Wait....yard sales are a way to dump off stuff cheap? But, all of my stuff are prized one of a kind collectibles, like this here silver toilet plunger(shows plunger wrapped in aluminum foil).

Seriously though, around here unless it's knick knacks or bric a brac crap, it's priced pretty high at the yard sales.

I've dumped stuff off on CL before and thought about getting a spot at the local flea market, but I had to go through a super stringent check before I could even get a spot there(I guess me telling the owner that I wanted to sell games cheap didn't fly with his one long time tenant who sells games for 2-3 times MSRP).

Either way, best of luck Rozz and let us know how you make out.

[ImReallyTired]

I've sold games worth pennies for like 5$. The people buying, usually parents, don't really give a damn. It's 5$.

[SaraAB]

Wait....yard sales are a way to dump off stuff cheap? But, all of my stuff are prized one of a kind collectibles, like this here silver toilet plunger(shows plunger wrapped in aluminum foil).

Seriously though, around here unless it's knick knacks or bric a brac crap, it's priced pretty high at the yard sales.


People price stuff high and it rots here, the plus side to this is if your willing you can hit their houses after the sale and get all the stuff from their garbage since it doesn't sell (whats the point of a yard sale if it doesn't sell?)

I've run into people who would rather throw things out than sell it at a cheap price (I really fail to see the logic there) and then I have run into people who say oh this item is worth this and this on ebay (which I counter with, if its worth that much on ebay, why don't you sell it there then?) People are just lazy or they are using that line to get you to buy the item. Then I just run into people who want 3-6$ for every used article of clothing, hello this is not the salvation army here!

[FOnewearl]

People price stuff high and it rots here, the plus side to this is if your willing you can hit their houses after the sale and get all the stuff from their garbage since it doesn't sell (whats the point of a yard sale if it doesn't sell?)

I see this a lot also at yardsales, $10 for a 10 year old computer monitor? People may not realize what's realisticly cheap enough to move a certain item at a yardsale and it just won't sell if they don't lower the price or get a lower offer that they accept from somebody that is seriously interested.

I also see a lot of junk that nobody would probably want even for free at yardsales. I tend to see a lot of generic Christmas CDs, PC software that came free with some old computer in CD piles & boy band memorabilia lol While they might have had some similar stuff that was actually half way decent that I might have missed it's hard to believe that it was really that much better.

On the other hand I've overheard people talking about certain things around here like longaberger baskets that went fast at their yardsales that they probably even made some decent money on especially for a yardsale.

As to add something on topic, I would agree with a lot mentioned by others here OP but how much and how well something like PS2/GC/Xbox games sell for at a yardsale I'm sure will vary a bit by area. I think it's a safe bet to say that PS2 games will sell better then GC or Xbox anywhere just because so many people have Playstation 2s. Personally I would start out at a certain amount and just lower it after about 2 hours if I wanted to be rid of the games if they ain't selling or getting any counter offers.

[Rozz]

Thanks for the advice everyone.

Here are some of the titles if anyone is interested:

PS2 - DBZ: Budokai
PS2 - And 1 Streetball (and an assortment of old sports games)
Xbox - True Crime
Xbox - Half-Life 2

I'm gonna add more, but that's just to give you an idea...

[IAmTheCheapestGamer]

Depending on condition, you could probably sell HL2 here to someone, I'm sure. I had a copy of it at one point, but I don't think I ever opened it and I returned it to Kmart(where it was snapped up cause it was like $2-3 at that point).

[rainking187]

Surprised to see some of these responses. At any garage sale I've had anything priced over "5 for $0.25" doesn't move. I don't know what it is about garage sales that makes people think $5 for a TV is a reasonable offer.

[Unickuta]

Depends how old. Anything pre-PS2/GC/Xbox I'd expect to get for $1 max. If it's a PS2/GC/Xbox game then $5 max and that might be stretching it. Garage sales are supposed to be cheaper than cheap! They are basically - "please take my shit before I throw it in the garbage - I'll take anything you are willing to give."

QFT, and I finally understand your avatar- I saw "Radioactive Man" last night. :D

[SaraAB]

If stuff isn't moving I put a lower price on it, or just put make offer or OBO, especially if its a big item I really need to get rid of. I sold a bunch of old computer software for 25 cents a disc, probably 20-30 discs (that I picked up at a bag sale, lol). I probably only had 5 discs left at the end. Most people price these at 2-3$ each and they don't move.

For some areas you also want to start off higher in the morning since thats when the resellers and the people who will spend more hit (at least here) and then lower your price throughout the day. I would only bother doing this with games and stuff of value though, and everything else can be priced really cheap. Just be nice to everyone who comes to your sale and be flexible if someone seems interested in an item and you need to get rid of it fast.

People like the mature rated games and the games that are super popular here like sports games, 50 cent and halo. So these are games that will sell here. I have mostly RPG games in my collection so my chances of selling my games without giving them away are probably slim to none, if no one buys them from the stores no one is going to buy them from my yard sale. People just aren't interested in the product.

[cranguy]

You'd be surprised. I've read plenty of stories right here on CAG about average folks paying ridiculous (talking maybe $5 ea) prices for crap games at yard sales just because they THINK they're getting a good deal. It's psychological, I guess.

[Grico]

yeah people at garage sales sometimes are thinking of how much something would be at a store, not what its real value is. You get more analog people at garage sales. When they see Max Payne for the xbox for $5 at your garage sale they probably think about the 20 buck greatest hits version they saw at k-marts, not the fact you could get it used for 2 bucks at gamestop. And if people think prices are too high at garage sale many people have no shame in offering you lower prices. So put $5 and then maybe some guy offers to buy all at 3 bucks each, turns out decently for. I would have to say that you need to make sure your garage sale looks like you have stuff to sale. A garage sale that looks like it only has a few items is likely to be just drived by. Garage salers are browsers, they need to think you have something to browse.