2013 Thrift Store Thread

I suppose Ill post again. Finished yardsales and decided to go to Goodwill on the way home. Xbox with controller and cables was $12, N64 controllers were $3 apiece, and Animal Crossing New Leaf was $3!!! Had a DEF SALV Target sticker but its complete, looks great, works. 

The 2TB HDD and Sega Saturn composite cable were on the porch when I got home. I was gonna just post everything in the monthly purchases thread but oh wells!



 
Picked up the following today:

Xbox: Soul Calibur II (Platinum Hits) - $2

Xbox: Sega GT 2002/Jet Set Radio Future - $2

PS2: DDR Extreme 2 with Eye Toy and no slide dance mat - $7.50

The Sega disc is in need of resurfacing, but I'm okay with that at $2.  I was happy to get the DDR mat at that price, as I have two from the PS1 days, but they slide all over the place.  Also picked up VHS copies of Akira and a Muppet Babies episode.

 
I havent been finding shit recently. 

Goodwill 1: No games at all but a PS1 complete with controller and cables for $5. Xbox in glass case for $12 with nothing. 

Goodwill 2: No really notable games cept a few sport games on N64 and SNES and PS2. Again an Xbox for $12 with nothing. 

I want more deals like my $30 Wii and $8 DS Lite. ;-;

 
Todays Sunday Thrift run, nothing much just a Atomic Purple N64 controller from goodwill and I traded in some Genesis games at a local retro video game store to get Spiritual Warfare for cheap. Next paycheck I'm going to the swampmeet close to me.

Spiritual Warfare/NES - $8.50 (originally $19.99 lowered the price with trade ins)

N64 Atomic Purple N64 Controller - $2.99

gallery_195532_8008_36303.jpg


 
Last edited by a moderator:
I found the original The Need for Speed for PC at the local thrift shop for a dime.  I know it's too old to actually run on my my PC, but got it anyway, just because.

 
Awesome find.

I picked up a Wii Balance Board for $4 today.  And a uDraw Wii game for $1.

Also saw a Playstation branded flight stick.  Looked to be PS1 era.  It was $35 so I didn't bite, but it was an interesting item.

 
Took back my Xbox from the other day, controller 1 port was dead and it wouldnt read discs. Didnt want to mess with it. Passed on a purple $8 system only Gamecube, a $15 silver Gamecube with cables and controller, busted see through black N64 controller, $15 PS1, and some Atari games. 

I did pick up a fat PS2 with cables and controller (missing rubber on 1 stick) for $15, a slim silver PS2 with cables, controller, and memory card for $15, and an N64 with cables (sadly with a jumper pack and not an expansion pack) for $10. 



And heres what I did with the 2 NESs I got from previous finds! 



 
slowdive21 said:
What type/brand of paint did you use?
Click to expand...
Krylon Fusion For Plastics and Krylon Low Odor Clear Finish (matte). The stickers are from Ebay. Ha the pics are deceiving, they do look really good in person but you can tell in a few spots that I sprayed too much and theres also some cracking from when the wind blew. Light coats and doing one in the garage provided much better results.

 
Stopped by 2 Goodwills earlier today and picked up 4 xbox 360 guitar hero guitars(3 wireless and one wired). I just sold 4 of my guitars and 6 drum sets to some guy on craigslist for $175 a couple days ago.

 
Went to Goodwill today and picked up 3 plun-and-plays and a box of Colecovision games for $2 each. I haven't seen a Colecovision in over 2 decades.

Also learned that my parent's neighbor's kid, who collects video games, just started a job at Goodwill. I cursed for 10 minutes straight at one of the best places for gaming finds immediately drying up, but when I went there I casually asked an employee if they get to pick some of the good stuff and she told me that merch has to be tagged for 24 hours before they get to buy it. Guess that doesn't stop him from hiding stuff in the back and any finds I see will be by pure luck of stuff just having been put out, but at least I have a fighting chance.

 
bozemanriverrat said:
Went to Goodwill today and picked up 3 plun-and-plays and a box of Colecovision games for $2 each. I haven't seen a Colecovision in over 2 decades.

Also learned that my parent's neighbor's kid, who collects video games, just started a job at Goodwill. I cursed for 10 minutes straight at one of the best places for gaming finds immediately drying up, but when I went there I casually asked an employee if they get to pick some of the good stuff and she told me that merch has to be tagged for 24 hours before they get to buy it. Guess that doesn't stop him from hiding stuff in the back and any finds I see will be by pure luck of stuff just having been put out, but at least I have a fighting chance.
Click to expand...
I don't know if it's corporate or regional, but around here, GW employees aren't even allowed to shop on the days they work. They can only shop there on their days off. I'm sure this has alot to do with keeping them from putting stuff out right before they're done and then buying it as soon as they clock out.

 
The last two days at my local Goodwill stores have been incredible. I really needed it after a pretty dry couple of weeks.



Paid about $44 dollars for everything. The N64 games were seperated into three large ziploc bags with no price. The cashier had to call someone from the warehouse to check the prices. I was told that some guy already went through the bag earlier in the day and took a few games out (not sure why they would allow this customer to do that) and the bags were supposed to be $8.25 each. But they gave them to me for $5 each, so not bad. I can't help but think about what games I missed out on though, but I'm happy with what I did get.

So I decided to make my rounds again today after work, and at a completely different Goodwill then the one that I found the N64 lot at, I find this:



This time I paid a lot more. Around $115. This particular Goodwill usually prices games higher because the GM used to be a manager at an EB Games and knows a decent amount about retro titles. I couldn't pass it up though. The one sad thing about this lot is the SNES game with half the label missing. If you can't tell from the picture, it's Swat Kats. It sucks when it's the rare ones with the messed up carts. But still very awesome to find this stuff. Hopefully tomorrow I'll get my hat trick.

 
Jnova80 said:
The last two days at my local Goodwill stores have been incredible. I really needed it after a pretty dry couple of weeks.

Paid about $44 dollars for everything. The N64 games were seperated into three large ziploc bags with no price. The cashier had to call someone from the warehouse to check the prices. I was told that some guy already went through the bag earlier in the day and took a few games out (not sure why they would allow this customer to do that) and the bags were supposed to be $8.25 each. But they gave them to me for $5 each, so not bad. I can't help but think about what games I missed out on though, but I'm happy with what I did get.

So I decided to make my rounds again today after work, and at a completely different Goodwill then the one that I found the N64 lot at, I find this:

This time I paid a lot more. Around $115. This particular Goodwill usually prices games higher because the GM used to be a manager at an EB Games and knows a decent amount about retro titles. I couldn't pass it up though. The one sad thing about this lot is the SNES game with half the label missing. If you can't tell from the picture, it's Swat Kats. It sucks when it's the rare ones with the messed up carts. But still very awesome to find this stuff. Hopefully tomorrow I'll get my hat trick.
Click to expand...
Great finds, although I hate when people pay those prices at Goodwill, all it does is solidify in their minds that they can charge such high prices and get away from it. Over here it goes in cycles, Goodwill will get some good stuff at reasonable prices, and it sells quick. Next week they'll get some junk, overprice it, and then it sits on the shelf for a month before it goes in the dumpster. Then the next time games come in, they are cheap and get sold, etc. I stand by my opinion that if Goodwill wants to charge collectors prices, they should just sell on Amazon and eBay instead.

 
spmahn said:
Great finds, although I hate when people pay those prices at Goodwill, all it does is solidify in their minds that they can charge such high prices and get away from it.
Click to expand...
He paid like $3 per game, that's a pretty great price.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
spmahn said:
Great finds, although I hate when people pay those prices at Goodwill, all it does is solidify in their minds that they can charge such high prices and get away from it. Over here it goes in cycles, Goodwill will get some good stuff at reasonable prices, and it sells quick. Next week they'll get some junk, overprice it, and then it sits on the shelf for a month before it goes in the dumpster. Then the next time games come in, they are cheap and get sold, etc. I stand by my opinion that if Goodwill wants to charge collectors prices, they should just sell on Amazon and eBay instead.
Click to expand...
I see where you're coming from, my Goodwills will jump around anywhere between $1.25 to $5.25 per game. It all really depends on the people that price the stuff and some of the people there pick up on the fact that games in general are sought after. Normally I'd pass on a lot priced this high, but after seeing some of the games (Swat Kats, Turtles in Time, Power Rangers The Movie to name a few) I knew I had to get this one. I also tried talking the price down to $100 since I was buying both bundles (N64 lot marked for $40, SNES lot marked for $70) but they gave me the same excuse I always get: "We can't mark these down because we just got them in today." I wasn't going to walk away from this great deal, but it does annoy me when the manager says that they can't mark something down. They definitely can, but it is what is...

 
Last edited by a moderator:
About how much theyd be at my Goodwill, $3-$4 a game and like $10 apiece for the systems. Of course all that wouldve been separate so I couldve left out some of those crap games. The only time they bundle stuff is when they get in a system with cables, 2 controllers, and maybe 1 or 2 games. Then theyll tape all that up for 1 price. 

 
My Goodwills do that rarely, but they usually jack up the price. For example: A Nintendo 64 with cables and no controller would sell for about $10. An individual N64 game might sell for about $3-4. But if they were to bundle those two together the price would be about $20-25.

 
There are 2 Goodwills near me that will charge $7 for a game even if it's a old sports game (for a system like xbox 360, original xbox, and ps3). They will usually charge $4 for any ps2 game.

 
strawyleader997 said:
There are 2 Goodwills near me that will charge $7 for a game even if it's a old sports game (for a system like xbox 360, original xbox, and ps3). They will usually charge $4 for any ps2 game.
Click to expand...
Yeah when savers started charging 14.99-24.99 for cart only n64 games, I stopped going about 5 months ago. I just went today and some were 2.99.

 
slowdive21 said:
you guys are lucky. savers is 24.99 per system and people buy them around here for that price
Click to expand...
Don't be so sure about that. Savers generally likes a quick turn around on merchandise, and only lets stuff sit for a couple weeks before it either gets shuffled to a different Savers store, or gets tossed in the dumpster. So don't just assume that there actually are people dumb enough to buy those console only PS1's you see marked for $29.99, a good 80% of them just get tossed out with the trash. Video Games are also high on the list of items most commonly shoplifted as well, so there's that too.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Yeah,many times in a goodwill i've found something for a reasonable price and took it to the register only to have them telll me they keep the disc out on the sales floor and if it's not in there they don't have it. 

Stores that don't keep the discs behind the counter (most wont bother) get a lot of shoplifting.

The goodwill here are usually $2.99 for all games, sports or not, console or pc. It works out pretty good. Consoles themselves are all over the place. Sometimes it'll be $10 for good stuff, sometimes $30 for crap incomplete PS1 systems and genesis. 

The target clearance stuff that they put out is usually like $20 which always sucks. 

 
spmahn said:
Don't be so sure about that. Savers generally likes a quick turn around on merchandise, and only lets stuff sit for a couple weeks before it either gets shuffled to a different Savers store, or gets tossed in the dumpster. So don't just assume that there actually are people dumb enough to buy those console only PS1's you see marked for $29.99, a good 80% of them just get tossed out with the trash. Video Games are also high on the list of items most commonly shoplifted as well, so there's that too.
Click to expand...
I know this is sad, but i used to spend about 3 hours a day at savers. I would leave stuff like that and people would pick it up and buy it. I think it is because there is a used game store about 35 minutes away, so they see those prices and think it is reasonable. That's why I always find scraps at yard sales...

 
My goodwill that I often visit has gameprices are usually 99 cents (Gameboy Games) $1.99-$2.99 (SNES/Genesis games) and $4.99 (Current Generation). Sometimes they will assume a cart game has to be priced $4.99 and a recently release game be $20.

 
jer7583 said:
Yeah,many times in a goodwill i've found something for a reasonable price and took it to the register only to have them telll me they keep the disc out on the sales floor and if it's not in there they don't have it.

Stores that don't keep the discs behind the counter (most wont bother) get a lot of shoplifting.

The goodwill here are usually $2.99 for all games, sports or not, console or pc. It works out pretty good. Consoles themselves are all over the place. Sometimes it'll be $10 for good stuff, sometimes $30 for crap incomplete PS1 systems and genesis.

The target clearance stuff that they put out is usually like $20 which always sucks.
Click to expand...
My local goodwill used to price disc games at 2.97 (DVD price) , however they have begun to randomly price them a :wii: copy of CoD: World at War was 10.97, and they put the system in the case for silent auction (had been bid up to $100, before it ended), whereas they used to price the occasional system randomly

 
spmahn said:
Great finds, although I hate when people pay those prices at Goodwill, all it does is solidify in their minds that they can charge such high prices and get away from it. Over here it goes in cycles, Goodwill will get some good stuff at reasonable prices, and it sells quick. Next week they'll get some junk, overprice it, and then it sits on the shelf for a month before it goes in the dumpster. Then the next time games come in, they are cheap and get sold, etc. I stand by my opinion that if Goodwill wants to charge collectors prices, they should just sell on Amazon and eBay instead.
Click to expand...
What you need to do is scour the local yard sales and flea market and get those games BEFORE the owners decide to send them to GW and other thrift stores.

But honestly just because they're a charity doesn't mean they have to price stuff cheap. The money they make goes to help their programs and I'd honestly prefer to see THEM make the money even if I too groan about the price gouging. Virtually anything I've bought in the last year from a thrift store has been for my own personal use. And FYI, they have their own site already(ShopGoodwill.com). The local stores haven't tried putting their stuff on there yet, but they honestly should. Some of the items they sold for $20-25 could've likely sold for double if they had only listed them on there.

 
Last edited:
200STM said:
My goodwill that I often visit has gameprices are usually 99 cents (Gameboy Games) $1.99-$2.99 (SNES/Genesis games) and $4.99 (Current Generation). Sometimes they will assume a cart game has to be priced $4.99 and a recently release game be $20.
Click to expand...
I clearly don't go to the right Goodwill. The only one I ever find games at is the one on Coffee and they charge ridiculous prices. I used to find good stuff for decent prices at the one on California, but they're not around anymore. Too bad 'cause they were probably the best thrift store in town. Sadly, I can only check out the stores on Saturdays (and that's only if we don't have errands to run) because I moved up into the mountains. We have a couple of thrift stores up here, but they close around noon and video games are incredibly rare. But at least there is no competition, so I have managed to snag a couple of Genesis and Saturn games.
 
The last GW I lived close by was awesome, they always priced PS2/Xbox/GCN games and older generations $2.99, means I could go in any day of the week and find something worthwhile.  They even priced PSX games $1.99 along with the other music CDs, so that was even better.

The one I live by now is still decent, but the new base price I have to deal with on DVD style games is $5.99, which makes most things I find just not worth it, and they usually don't survive until the 50% off days.

And yet another GW I don't stop by that often, they started the whole vintage stance now on NES games.  DVD styles are still $4.99, but NES games (mostly crap titles) are now $7.99 and always behind the jewelry case counter.

 
ChallengeEverything said:
What you need to do is scour the local yard sales and flea market and get those games BEFORE the owners decide to send them to GW and other thrift stores.

But honestly just because they're a charity doesn't mean they have to price stuff cheap. The money they make goes to help their programs and I'd honestly prefer to see THEM make the money even if I too groan about the price gouging. Virtually anything I've bought in the last year from a thrift store has been for my own personal use. And FYI, they have their own site already(ShopGoodwill.com). The local stores haven't tried putting their stuff on there yet, but they honestly should. Some of the items they sold for $20-25 could've likely sold for double if they had only listed them on there.
Click to expand...
Tag sales here are utterly worthless. People ALWAYS want eBay prices, and would just as soon not sell anything than take a lower price. Even when you do find something decent, the amount of time and gas it took to find the one tag sale never makes it worth it.

As for Goodwill, my contention is not with the high prices. I am a capitalist, and it's a free country, and they can charge what they want. However, if they are going to insist on prices games based on unrealistic prices from eBay and Amazon, then don't jerk your customers around by even putting that stuff on the sales floor. Just sell it online to the highest bidder and be done with it. I don't care if it's a charity, most of the regional directors are pocketing 7 figures a year, that's a load of crap.

 
I just went to a Goodwill and picked up:

Tales of Symphonia brady games official strategy guide(found it in one of the gray buckets of stuff that hadn't been put on the shelfs yet) -$2

PS2 Star Trek Voyager Elite Force(complete) -$2

rockband drum set foot pedal -$3

 
I often shake my head at prices of items, but they're gone the next time I visit, so the ridiculous pricing must work for them. 

I do find decent items but it's been a long time since I've found stuff older than PS1 at a Goodwill. 

 
WOW what a kick to the balls today after posting about $3 games above! Walk in and see 4 NES games in the glasscase.....$8 for Tetris, $8 for Punchout, $15 for Zelda, and $75 for Wayne's World! I said "what the fuq is this?" out loud hahaha. So im walking around the store lookin that game up, yup thats actually less than going price for WW. I end up finding a stack of other games by the electronics and pick up everything except California Games, Top Gun, Super Mario Bros, and...I think a basketball game (cant remember but I didnt need/want it). 

Im waiting in line and the manager says "did you see those games over there?" 

Me- "yeah.....uhh no thanks at those prices!"

Him- "That Waynes World, the lowest we found on Ebay was $150 with 8 bids!"

Me- "uhhhh I just cant see myself giving you guys $75 for an old Nintendo game that someone just dropped off in a box here"

Cashier- "that is a good point, I thought that was crazy too when they brought it up!"

Me- "whenever that doesnt sell you should mark it down half and ill buy it for my collection, I wont even Ebay that one!"

Cashier-"yeah IDK what will happen, I dont see many people buying games besides you and I doubt someone is looking to spend that much on an old game here!"

Me- "welp Ill take these normal price games than and get out of your hair!"



 
Went to Goodwill today and picked up 3 plun-and-plays and a box of Colecovision games for $2 each. I haven't seen a Colecovision in over 2 decades.

Also learned that my parent's neighbor's kid, who collects video games, just started a job at Goodwill. I cursed for 10 minutes straight at one of the best places for gaming finds immediately drying up, but when I went there I casually asked an employee if they get to pick some of the good stuff and she told me that merch has to be tagged for 24 hours before they get to buy it. Guess that doesn't stop him from hiding stuff in the back and any finds I see will be by pure luck of stuff just having been put out, but at least I have a fighting chance.



If you think that is bad we have a local gaming chain called Oogie games here who sets themselves up in plazas that are conveniently located right next to good wills or other thrift stores or in the general vicinity of where the thrifts are located here. Basically makes it impossible to even finds game here, you literately have to plan to go to an area where Oogie hasn't set up their scam yet.

Also I am pretty sure that rule about goodwill applies, employees are only allowed to shop on their days off but who knows how well that is enforced.
 
See I would have ended the conversation right at "the lowest one we found on eBay was $150 with 8 bids", by repying "well then why are you selling it here for $75 when you can sell it on eBay for $150?". Either way, Wayne's World is not worth anything close to that. It's a rare late release, but only worth about $65 at the most, and it's such a piece of shit like every other T*HQ title from that era that unless you were obsessively collecting every NES title, there's no reason to pay even 10% of that price.
 
Oh yeah I did mention selling it on Ebay or ShopGoodwill, that was before the "IDK" line. Just the first page of Sold Listings are $70-$110, most at the $70ish mark. The thing is I probably wouldve been like "thats probably crap" if I had seen it in the normal priced stack and maybe passed on it! Didnt know about that one. I saw a couple copies of Mario Bros Arcade Classics goin for $15-$20 and some of my others for $10ish so I could make my $ back from the ones I picked up but I actually needed most of these! 

 
Pretty meh day but guess I did find... all complete except the SNES game...

The Game of Life (PS1): $1.99 (apparently goes for around 10 online... who knew, only grabbed it because my fiancee loves the board game, lol)

Wii Sports Resort (Wii): $1.99 (the one in the sleeve, it was still sealed, opened to make sure it was in there, only sealed with a sticker)

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Double Agent (PS2): $1.00

NHL 96 (Genesis): $00.50

007 The World is Not Enough (PS1): $00.50

Patriotic Pinball (PS1): $00.50

Super Bubble Pop (PS1): $00.50

Superstar Dance Club #1 Hits (PS1): $00.50

007 Tomorrow Never Dies (PS1): $00.50

Madden NFL 96 (SNES): $00.50 (only got it for use as a repro...)

Stopped at Gamestop also and walked out with Valkyria Chronicles 2 complete for PSP for $14.05 after tax. Used a birthday coupon.

 
I saw so many Rock Band and Guitar Hero guitars today. Sooo many. I also saw 2 drumsets today. 

Game wise: I pretty much only saw Hannah Montana the game and about 15 sports games.

Console wise: I saw a PS1 slim for $20 and a PS2 slim for $40 along with 2 controllers and 2 games.

Buying wise:I bought Wii Sports for $4. Pretty good condition too. 

 
You must log in or register to reply here.
bread's done
Back
Top