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Originally Posted by Dark Lord Greg Talking about stupidity, why do some thrift stores put cartridge games in a small basket inside of a case so you can't see the titles or prices so you have to either stand in line to get the cashier to walk over and pull them out and watch you as you look through them or have to chase down an employee with the key to open it. Feels like I'm wasting their time and mine especially if I don't buy anything and am done looking at the cartridges in like 5 seconds, other day spent about 5 minutes in line at the Salvation Army just to get the cashier to show me the cartridges, looked at them for about 3 seconds (all old football games) and was done. /rant

I agree, but on the flip side they're trying to curb theft. As idiotic as it sounds, there are people who steal from these stores. I picked up T2 and The Incredible Hulk on the Genesis at a Goodwill that were in the back with the VHS and other stuff. They were plastic taped, but I noticed the Hulk case was a bit light. I took them up front and the woman cut and opened the T2 and then noticed the Hulk was a bit light herself (and I commented I noticed it to.) She pulled it apart so the tape had been cut and there was no cart. She said it seemed like they'd have to start putting them in the display case again.

When I got home I priced the game and it was valued on vgchartz at like $6-7 and was priced in store for $3. So someone decided to apparently steal just the cart rather than paying a measily $3 for the cart and instructions as well.

Most of my stores here still don't bother with older games. Most stores stick anything in DVD cases in the display or else just current gen. Although it seems to depend on what room they have as some do auctions and others like my old Goodwill had more display cases as they got the Nintendo case when K-Mart remodeled (my friend has the matching Playstation branded display case, btw.)

My Salvation Army is a bit weird, though. Gameboy/GBC games are almost always in the toy section. SNES or Genesis carts only are near the front on a table by the cassettes and CDs. PS1/DC are mixed in randomly with the CDs themselves. Genesis-es in the case are in with the DVDs. XBox, PS2, GC are always in the display case. And the one time they had Game Gear games, they were in the display case as well. I've never seen any current gen games there.

Salvation army here is all sales final here, all appliances have an as-is tag on them and they won't do returns of any sort. They won't haggle either on prices as there are signs up saying that any item that is not priced may not be sold. I have never seen a thrift store in my area that has a return policy. However most thrift stores do provide a test outlet, but they certainly don't provide a TV and cables to hook up everything. I also have to assume that people don't donate this stuff to the SA unless it is broken, so I just assume most of their stuff is broken. We have enough accessable pawn shops here where anyone can take working stuff and get a few bucks for it.

Originally Posted by Dark Lord Greg Talking about stupidity, why do some thrift stores put cartridge games in a small basket inside of a case so you can't see the titles or prices so you have to either stand in line to get the cashier to walk over and pull them out and watch you as you look through them or have to chase down an employee with the key to open it. Feels like I'm wasting their time and mine especially if I don't buy anything and am done looking at the cartridges in like 5 seconds, other day spent about 5 minutes in line at the Salvation Army just to get the cashier to show me the cartridges, looked at them for about 3 seconds (all old football games) and was done. /rant

i 100% agree. i can't stand when any store puts stuff in a glass case but you can't actually shop it. the games are easy enough to fan out so that you can see all the titles of cartridge games

Well, had another rant-worthy GW experience this weekend.

Get a little excited after seeing a few Nintendo 64s and Gamecubes, along with a handful of games and a cool collectible Gamecube tote bag. I ask the lady if I could take a look at some of the items in the case.

First I see two copies of Goldeneye and one copy of Diddy Kong Racing. All three were cart only and marked $15. NO THANKS.

I then peek inside the tote bag and sure enough there's a GC with two controllers...nothing special. Before I even looked inside, the lady says "That's $49.99."

$49.99. For an indigo GC and a carrying case. I know there's overhead to consider, but these people are idiots if they think that will sell.

The only thing that saved the experience was finding a 64 with cables and no controllers for $15. I picked it up, since I've got plenty of spare controllers.

The thrift store we go to is usually OK but sometimes they have some ROFL pricing.

One time they were trying to sell generic Wavebird knockoffs for like $30 each. The kicker? The "wireless receivers" were N64 Rumble Paks.

Another time they had one of those Hoverround-type elderly gokart things that had obviously been used for years and was far past prime condition. $500

The last time we were there they had a little sound system setup thing from like 30-40 years ago...tape deck, tuntable, radio, receiver, and speakers. They were all a little dinged up and it looked like some of the parts were missing. The price? SIX THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED AND NINTETY NINE DOLLARS. I literally laughed out loud at that one...it's a running joke between me and my wife.

Originally Posted by KanYozakura The last time we were there they had a little sound system setup thing from like 30-40 years ago...tape deck, tuntable, radio, receiver, and speakers. They were all a little dinged up and it looked like some of the parts were missing. The price? SIX THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED AND NINTETY NINE DOLLARS. I literally laughed out loud at that one...it's a running joke between me and my wife.

What brand was it?

Oh man, my local Salvation army has a steady supply of material for this thread. The guy who manages the store is a total egomaniac who prices almost everything way too high. One time I saw him chewing out one of the younger employees for marking some mediocre leather loveseat at "only" $400.

This week, they had this ugly old brown couch; it was in two pieces, but not a sectional and not exactly what I'd call luxurious. Attached to it with a paper clip was a paper reading "Couch: $40". It was clearly an unsold item from a yard sale that had been donated (not an uncommon sight at this store.) Across from that, however, was the standard Salvation Army price tag. Their asking price? $700. Jesus, I should have taken a picture. I literally laughed out loud when I saw it.

On the other hand, I can appreciate the fact that they don't charge more than $3 for video games.

We have these places called Pawn America over here. They have gotten much more consistent over the last few years but man, they used to have the most random ass prices. A game sequel would be cheaper than the first inferior title, two of the same game would have a $10 price difference. Sometimes you struck gold, other times they were trying to rob you blind. I have no idea how they were coming up with these prices.

The glass cases are annoying but people will steal if they have a good opportunity. I always have a back pack on me and I have been asked to take it off multiple times at my thrift store.

Speaking of stealing, one of the craziest robbery jobs I have seen was dealing with games. I was probably about 13. I was in Kmart and they used to carry their SNES/Sega/N64 cartridge games in these long glass columns. You could move the columns left and right and look at the games front and back covers.

Anyway, one day I was walking into K-mart and this guy had somehow taken an entire column. He had it under his arm and he was booking big time. Some security guy was chasing him but the thief was looking like an Olympic runner. He probably got away with 12 $70 N64 games at the time. As a kid I found it kind of funny and I was envious that that guy had all those games stolen or not lol.

Originally Posted by Tsel I'm 99% sure my Goodwill prices video games based on size and it really pisses me off. A slim PS2 is $9.99, while a fat one is $29.99. Single disc PS1 games are $3.99, but 2 or more discs and it's $7.99. Same goes for movies, as well. The smaller the item, the cheaper it is. It's good for some occasions, but most of the time, it doesn't work out in your favor.

i did community service at goodwill and priced stuff and NO that is not how they price they just come up with what they think is the price or ask the manager if there not shure theres no ryme or reason one person could price something at $30 another would price the same thing at $5... they wanna make the most profit of any item but dont wanna charge to high plus not to low because they have a half off sale every other week... ive seen them over price so much junk made me sick..

Lesse...a somewhat beat up Teal Gameboy Color system for 20 bucks...how about no? I swear that thing has been sitting there for months. Oh and something really rich, a used Xbox 360 Arcade system for 225 bucks! The box it was in was also a bit beatup but STILL.

Originally Posted by Calinks The glass cases are annoying but people will steal if they have a good opportunity. I always have a back pack on me and I have been asked to take it off multiple times at my thrift store. Speaking of stealing, one of the craziest robbery jobs I have seen was dealing with games. I was probably about 13. I was in Kmart and they used to carry their SNES/Sega/N64 cartridge games in these long glass columns. You could move the columns left and right and look at the games front and back covers. Anyway, one day I was walking into K-mart and this guy had somehow taken an entire column. He had it under his arm and he was booking big time. Some security guy was chasing him but the thief was looking like an Olympic runner. He probably got away with 12 $70 N64 games at the time. As a kid I found it kind of funny and I was envious that that guy had all those games stolen or not lol.

That reminds me of the one regular Kmart employee at my closest store telling me about someone trying to shoplift a big plastic bin loaded up with clearance games a few years. Apparently the guy grabbed it off the counter and started sprinting up toward the front doors with it, with games falling out all over the place.

I would've loved to see that, if only so I coulda tripped the guy and laughed when he face planted.

ok I got one for you:

I see Chip n Dale 2 for NES with instruction manual, so naturally I freak out because its like a $100 game and I think I'm gonna get a good deal. Of course there is no price tag so I ask how much it is. The clerk then proceeds to go on ebay, search for the game, sort by "highest price first" and then tells me "uh....I guess its $100 since thats what it is on ebay", so I just tell him forget it I'll buy it on ebay then. A few days later my friend is in the same store and calls me and says "they have chip n dale 2 marked for $20 now" but she said it didn't have the manual anymore. I told her to ask him where is the manual because I was in there a few days ago and they had it. He said "oh, we sold that copy". As if this place really had TWO copies of Chip n Dale 2 on hand??? Give me a break! Anyway, the store went out of business and now that idiot clerk works at the mall selling those stupid remote control airplanes.

I went to Goodwill today and they had an original for $40! GTFO

As long as it works and has at least one controller and all cables for it I see no problem with $40 for an original Xbox.

Originally Posted by IAmTheCheapestGamer As long as it works and has at least one controller and all cables for it I see no problem with $40 for an original Xbox.

Really the original Xbox still has value? Whats the point of buying one if you can play almost any Xbox game on the 360. Well besides for collecting purposes it seems pointless.

Originally Posted by Calinks We have these places called Pawn America over here. They have gotten much more consistent over the last few years but man, they used to have the most random ass prices. A game sequel would be cheaper than the first inferior title, two of the same game would have a $10 price difference. Sometimes you struck gold, other times they were trying to rob you blind. I have no idea how they were coming up with these prices.

There's a Pawn America near me, too, and I've noticed the same phenomenon of very different prices for the same item. There are some very good deals there if you're willing to dig.

I had to pawn a friend's stuff there to bail him out of jail once (), so I can shed some light on the exact process they use for pricing things. You bring your items up to a dude who sits there with a computer, and he googles the going prices of each item (presumably incorporating eBay), one by one. I couldn't see the screen, but it was extremely obvious that that was what he was doing. In my experience, the dude took a solid two or three minutes on each item.. took forever. It seems they don't (or didn't) have any real record of their own as to what prices to use for specific items.

Originally Posted by Dark Lord Greg Really the original Xbox still has value? Whats the point of buying one if you can play almost any Xbox game on the 360. Well besides for collecting purposes it seems pointless.

Google Xbox Media Center.'Nuff said.

Went to a couple of Thrift Stores today. A lot of varying prices but some of them were appalling.
Small PS 1 - 59.97
Xbox - 80!
Sega Genesis w/o wires - 20

Found another Xbox and PS2 for around there.

Originally Posted by jman2avatar I went to Goodwill today and they had an original for $40! GTFO

i just bought one at my goodwill for $15 xD