Never been to a pawn shop...

You will never find a greater hive of scum and villainy but they can be really swell joints for finding deals.

I once found five good condition copies of Panzer Dragoon Sage for $20 each in a pawn shop. THey all pulled at least $80 on eBay. Pawn shop owner couldn't explain how so many came into his possession and said he'd been marking them down in $3 increments for months until I came along.
 
pawn shops are alright if u want old games for cheap pricing.. lol they arent all that trashy ish ... bad smells though -.- otherwise just browse pay and go dont needa inspect the place for cockroach or nothing
 
Pawn shops are VERY hit or miss
Most of them I visit one time and never go back, but there are a few I try to frequent on occasion just to see if there are any valuble games (my recent Secret of Mana purchase) or dvds (criterions), but even then since I am only there for a few items, I am out in no more than 10 minutes

They are a good source for CHEAP ass cds, and dvds (which I use towards 3 for 1 at Wherehouse) :lol:
 
Last time I went to a pawn shop I saw two things, a huge stack of dreamcast games and a laptop for 300 bucks, only thing wrong with it was a dead pixel. I bought neither but hey you never know what you would find.
 
^^ very hit or miss. When I was up in Woodbridge, VA about a two years ago, they had this awesome pawn shop. Always had good games, cds, and movies at low prices. I got Tactics Ogre PS there for 15. Vagrant Story for 8. All there dvds were 5-10 (except box sets). All cds were 3 dollars. I must have loaded up on the cds (most in perfect condition).
 
the pawn shop I frequent has dvds no MORE than 4 BUCKS... and not crappy titles, I saw an Osbournes Season 1 (censored...damn), Matrix Revolutions, Johnny English (bought it... it sucked), Anger Management... and plenty of others, picked up 61* (the movie) for only 3...
Their next gen video games are 10 bucks... not bad... but def. hit of miss
 
OMG. I would kill a man to find Panzer Dragoon Saga at a pawn shop! I've been wanting that game since the day it came out! *CRY*

Also, I found a SEALED copy of Two Towers extended version at a pawn shop for $12. Woo!
 
They are hit or miss. I have 3 pawn shops close by (2 of them the same chain: CD/Game Exchange, and the best stuff I have picked up include:

Earthbound Strategy Guide $0.25
Final Fantasy Anthology Strategy Guide $4.00
Bust A Groove 2 $12.00
Ogre Battle: Limited Edition $10.00
Rainbow Islands NES $2.50
Bubble Bobble NES $4.00
Metroid 2 $10.00
Panzer Dragoon $1.00

The shops are very hit or miss.
 
Yep. I figure that your changes of finding old games goes as such...

1. Game stores... of course, expect to pay the going rate.
2. Flea Markets... a bunch of garage sales in one place is more likely to turn up stuff than one garage sale... of course, these people may actually know what they are selling.
3. Garage sale... Parents selling their kids stuff rarely know what it is worth.
4. Pawn shops... You'll find games, but more likely that not, the prizes you seek just won't be there.
5. Thrift shop. While unlikely, sought after games can turn up here, and will be gaurenteed to be cheap... but most likely you'll just find old sport games and other massively produced titles (Sonic 2, Super Mario Brothers, etc.)
 
I like lookin' at pawn shops, it's sort of like treasure huntin' :D

I just bought Sonic Heroes for GC for only 9.89 affter tax.


I got some other good deals, but I can't remember em'
 
Do the pawnshops and flea markets you go too have the stuff complete and in good condition? The ones around me 99% are never complete and what not. I did pick up 3 NES games complete at a flea market before though, I think it was Dragon Warrior, Metroid, and Battle of Olympus.
 
[quote name='coolcps']Do the pawnshops and flea markets you go too have the stuff complete and in good condition? The ones around me 99% are never complete and what not. I did pick up 3 NES games complete at a flea market before though, I think it was Dragon Warrior, Metroid, and Battle of Olympus.[/quote]

I've never understood the completist mentality. I mean for the disk based media it's entirely different, because you have to go out of your way actually lose the case and manual... the situation for cartridge games is completely different.

If you're proclaiming to want to find games cheap but want them complete, you're an idiot... especially for cartridge games 10+ years old.
The only people that will have games that are in demand (RPGS, etc) in that condition will be collectors... and they know what is going on.

The completist mindset never made sense to me... these are games, not investments. If you want to pay a 2-3X premium for a box and a manual, more power to you... but you've just vastly cut down your chances of ever actually finding what you want.
 
Well of course Im not gonna find SNES games and stuff complete, I am talking about playstation era stuff, usually when I see it they dont even have original case. And I use to not care if I had stuff complete or not, but then a few years ago I stopped buying stuff it wasn't complete pretty much and I stopped buying used stuff at eb too. I would consider myself a collector too I guess, but all my games I play them and most of the time beat them, I dont just buy them and throw them in a pile and stare at them, though that could be entertaining too.
 
The flea market I go has a guy that has a fairly large selection of games. He even had Master System games and I even saw a boxed Odyssey system there before. The only thing is that the guy who runs it puts security stickers on all the discs (probably to keep people from pulling a switch on him saying a game wouldn't work). His prices are a bit high but his trade in policy is pretty good. If you trade a game you got from him, you get half of that price in credit to other games. I don't go there much unless he has something that is hard to find. I hate getting games with hard to remove security stickers on the disc. Plus for newer games, I always find better deals here.
 
[quote name='"MasterSun1"']They are hit or miss. I have 3 pawn shops close by (2 of them the same chain: CD/Game Exchange, and the best stuff I have picked up include:

if you are referring to CD/Game Exchanges in Maryland, they arent pawn shops. they buy and sell used and new products. Pawn shops give you money for what you bring in and you can buy em back later (or something a little different)
 
dont have any pawn shops but i do got a game exchange and i got

final Fantasy II for 10$
megamanX3 for 10$
luigis mansion for 2.50$

i was broke but they had super mario rpg 10$
Final Fantasy 3 10$
chrono trigger 10$
and earthbound for 35$
 
Probably the best deals I got at the flea market was $20 for Tactics Ogre (PS1), $20 for disc only Suikoden II, $20 for Persona 2, and $20 for Tales of Destiny. That was before he started watching Ebay prices.
 
[quote name='MasterSun1']Earthbound Strategy Guide $0.25
[/quote]

Reminds me of when my aunt found me an Earthbound strategy guide for $3 when I wanted it and she started calling random Funcolands in the state. Still in excellent condition too with all scratch and sniff things intact. \:D/
 
thay are hit and miss, nothing ever has a price tag as well as most have old games cheap and bad ps2 games really expensive you will find a great deal every now and then.
 
[quote name='Dead of Knight'][quote name='MasterSun1']Earthbound Strategy Guide $0.25
[/quote]

Reminds me of when my aunt found me an Earthbound strategy guide for $3 when I wanted it and she started calling random Funcolands in the state. Still in excellent condition too with all scratch and sniff things intact. \:D/[/quote]

The strategy guide was so entertaining, helped me get better at reading when i was little, i practically learned to read from rpgs. Too bad the person who has my earthbound also has the strategy guide for it.

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64.99 from Target, I can still remember waiting in the car while my mom got it, thats crazy.
 
I am a huge fan of...
A: Garage Sales
B: Flea Markets
C: Thrift Stores

If you check my history on the Garage Sale finds I'm killer. It's shaq-fuing awesome to pull in countless finds every other weekend.

Flea Markets don't bring in the haul that Garage Sales do but are good sources of grub if you don't overuse them.

Thrift Stores are usually strong in the clutch. You've got to frequent them a lot though as the games fly off the shelves quickly but are in at least for a few days every month.
 
[quote name='Dead of Knight']They had Targets back then? Target just came here a few years ago.[/quote]

We've had targets here since I was a wee little baby. And I'm 27.
 
I typically don't find much in the way of games at my local pawns, but they are a haven for cheap as all get out broken down tube amps and radios. I bought a super sweet antique tube stereo "receiver/amplifier" at a pawn once for maybe $15, rebuilt it and what not, then sold it to an antique store as "reconditioned" for $220.

I also seem to find good deals on guitars here and there, not so much now that used instrument stores have become more prevalent. My best scores were an Ibanez Jem-Universe for like $300 (new they're easily $1,500) and the prettiest BC Rich Mockingbird that I've ever seen. American made from the early 80's and totally decked out. Picked it up for $350, sold it maybe two years ago for almost $3k.
 
pawn shops are frigging incredible, in my estimation. for music gear (i'm a musician), video games, and dvd's, i've had nothing but good luck. got my platinum gamecube, with two nintendo controllers, for $80 at a time when th ey were going for twice that, used, with one controller... also got countless movies and games for cheap, and some pretty good music stuff... some vintage keyboards and effects boxes, where they were too rare to easily find a price for it, so they just sold it for super-cheap.

then again, they aren't good in every city... i split my time between nashville and miami, and nashville has about 9 or 10 worthwhile pawn shops where miami has only one... maybe two (lots of jewelry only pawn shops, but they don't have anything but, well, jewelry). a good rule of thumb is that they're always going to be close togehter, though... and in pretty bad neighborhoods, usually. see if your city has a cash america pawn (they're ubiquitous, and pretty good), and there will probably be a couple more local shops nearby.

patrick
 
I used to go to the big Flea Market out in Rosemont every weekend a few years ago.

One of the best things I found was a BOXED NES Deluxe set w/ROB the Robot and everything else complete. The guy wanted $65 but I haggled him down to $40. Twas a good day.
 
I hit the pawns 3 times a week (sometimes 4) . So I am well known.

I find great stuff from the NES to the current 3. Yes some of the prices are a joke, but I always find great deals.
Bought Zelda WW for $10 sold it on ebay for $28. I have found a good 2/3 of my dvd collection from pawns. Got CSI s.2 for $20, LOTR TT Box set $10, Sex & the City seasons 1, 2, 3 all for $12.50 each, Star Trek: TNG s. 1 $25, etc..

So their are deals to be had you just got to frequent them, also get to know some of the employees. Try to haggle the price down, especially if you buy multiple items.
 
thought i'd post an addendum to the post i made yesterday... today i hit some pawn shops, and got legend of zelda: collector's edition, complete, for $6.99 tax included (probably worried about that "not for resale" on the front, heh). also got a couple dvd's for $5 each... from pawn shops on gallatin pike in nashville. the loz:ce is a pretty excellent deal, but is also pretty typical of what you might find when you go every once in a while. not to mention, i don't really even look for ps2 and xbox games, since i don't have those systems... and those games far outnumber games of any other system.

so yes, i recommend pawn shops.

patrick
 
Just today I went to look at some cd's, dvd's, and games for DC and GC. I got Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles for $18, Beach Spikers for $12, and dvd's of Finding Forrester and Black Hawk Down for 14 total.
 
[quote name='Dead of Knight'][quote name='MasterSun1']Earthbound Strategy Guide $0.25
[/quote]

Reminds me of when my aunt found me an Earthbound strategy guide for $3 when I wanted it and she started calling random Funcolands in the state. Still in excellent condition too with all scratch and sniff things intact. \:D/[/quote]

...I'll give you $20 for it :x It also goes without saying that the more crime-ridden the city, the better the pawn shops.
 
WOO!

Just went Garage Saililng with a buddy today and I found:

Devil's Crush (complete) for Turbo Grafx 16 for $1!
and
a brand new Fellowes 64-CD holder for $2!

Woo ha.
 
I made a thread a few days ago about some nice finds I made at a local pawn shop, the highlight being Metroid Zero Mission for $7.95. Pawn shops are hit and miss like any other place, but worth a look every now and then, because you never know what you may come across. :D

And on a side note, CD/Game Exchange isn't a pawn shop, but still rocketh the house. I can't begin to tell you how many awesome finds I have made at the four locations in the Portland, OR area.
 
[quote name='Gameboy415']WOO!

Just went Garage Saililng with a buddy today and I found:

Devil's Crush (complete) for Turbo Grafx 16 for $1!
and
a brand new Fellowes 64-CD holder for $2!

Woo ha.[/quote]

Ok ... I am officially jealous about that Devil's Crush... I have Alien Crush, but Devil's Crush is THE pinball game
 
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