Official 2012 Yard Sale Thread

You guys are so lucky...

Sales here are scattered but I was bored and wanted to get out of the house yesterday. Hit 11 sales over about 3 hours. Average drive between sales was like 10 minutes. Only one of the 11 even had games. One had said they had a PS2 but it was already sold. The one that had games had a bunch of PS2 sports games for 3 dollars each. Then I found a stack of games with no cases for 1 each at the same sale. Some decent titles (Hulk Ultimate Destruction for Xbox, Mechassault 2, SOCOM II) but they were in such terrible shape I left them.

Did get a couple nice things (Nice vase, a couple of wine glasses, awesome wine opening set which is brand new, brand new poker set) but nothing gaming related.
 
Yard sale season is big in tx right now. There were 200+ sales on saturday this past week in my city alone. Not many advertised specific selections so I decided against going
 
[quote name='Obiwan456']
Halo 2, Lego Star Wars, Battlefront 2 - $5 (Sold for $5.50 to a local store for cash)[/QUOTE]
I'd suggest saving the next Battlefront 2 you find, you got seriously ripped off by the store you sold it to :x
 
[quote name='aptanor']I'd suggest saving the next Battlefront 2 you find, you got seriously ripped off by the store you sold it to :x[/QUOTE]

but he said it was a local store! We all know that Gamestop is the only evil game store that insists on making a profit!
 
The N64 seems to be king of yard sale fodder around me, at least for the last few years. I tried to buy Mario Party 2 out of a set a kid was selling a few years back, but he absolutely insisted on selling me the console w/expansion pak, two controllers, and Banjo-Tooie for $10. Twist my arm...
 
[quote name='FatherChesz']The N64 seems to be king of yard sale fodder around me, at least for the last few years. I tried to buy Mario Party 2 out of a set a kid was selling a few years back, but he absolutely insisted on selling me the console w/expansion pak, two controllers, and Banjo-Tooie for $10. Twist my arm...[/QUOTE]

I love finding n64 stuff. Unlike some other recent systems, the n64 has a pretty high number of games worth at least $10-$15. A lot of these games are common too, so if you find n64 stuff, you generally find at least a few good games. It will start to dry up in the next few years, as Super Nintendo stuff has become quite scarce. And in a few years, we will all be finding a bunch of Wii shovelware...not looking forward to that.
 
I'm surprised at the dislike of the N64 from people. It has great games IMO. In fact, the N64 was probably the last console I actually rushed home from work to play. I admit, I've have/had more current gen consoles, but it seems like the N64 was the last console I really considered myself a gamer. I played the crap outta Mario 64, Diddy Kong Racing, Pilotwings, WaveRace, etc. I currently have 3 N64's in my collection, including a CIB N64, a N64 w/ cords, and just a bare console sans the cords.
 
[quote name='FatherChesz']The N64 seems to be king of yard sale fodder around me, at least for the last few years. I tried to buy Mario Party 2 out of a set a kid was selling a few years back, but he absolutely insisted on selling me the console w/expansion pak, two controllers, and Banjo-Tooie for $10. Twist my arm...[/QUOTE]

I have to agree, for the past 5-6 years I have found tons of N64 stuff, so much so that I have had multiples of some games to sell off and I have probably more than covered the cost of what I have actually paid for my collection of N64 stuff. I am sure I have been through at least 10 systems, keeping 2 for myself. Moreoever I also have a decent sized library of the good games, and seem to find less shovelware for this system than I do for any other system. It seems that with the N64 people bought the good stuff. I would rather pay $1-5 for a Mario or Zelda for the N64 than $1-5 for a PS2 game that has no value whatsoever and is worth maybe 50 cents tops on the secondary market. Now if I could just find a copy of pilotwings...
 
[quote name='Obiwan456']
Halo 2, Lego Star Wars, Battlefront 2 - $5 (Sold for $5.50 to a local store for cash)[/QUOTE]

Damn dude. Battlefront 2 (Xbox) is easily worth $30-$40 complete.
 
Eh my problem with the N64 was the lack of diverse mature games, rpgs, and good fighting games. But I still enjoyed Goldeneye, PD, and Smash Bros.
 
For the record, I am sick of looking at n64 stuff. The games are a pain to store and the standard system is ugly. NES and SNES are my preferred Nintendo systems.


I finally dragged my ass out to start the season. Didn't bother planning a route and only hit 4 sales.

These are my finds:


Was marked $3, got it for FREE. I asked the kid if he thinks all the pieces are there and he said "It doesn't look like it...You can just have it for free."

ac70c755.jpg


fa358080.jpg


Wii Games. I bought these from a deaf couple, so I didn't negotiate too much. They were marked $5 each and I asked what the best they can do? They offered $20 and I accepted and asked if I could have the "club nintendo" codes form their other games which they happily gave to me.

I don't have a wii or really follow game values, but these seemed like they would be the best of the bunch. Most of the games were wii fit, rock band, and stuff like that. For $5 a pop I didn't want to risk buying duds.


So long story short $20 total:


e80b0d9f.jpg
 
[quote name='ZombieToast']Hmm, I rarely hear anything negative about the N64 from people. I thought most folks still held it in high regard.[/QUOTE]
Not necessarily on this site, but other sites I frequent. People just seem to think the N64 wasn't that great of a system compared to others in its gen.
 
You need to stop talking to those people. Ha ha. Actually, I wish more people hated the N64; maybe it would make it easier to find games. In my time living here, I don't think I've ever seen a single N64 game at a yard sale or thrift store.
 
[quote name='kube00']Eh my problem with the N64 was the lack of diverse mature games, rpgs, and good fighting games. But I still enjoyed Goldeneye, PD, and Smash Bros.[/QUOTE]

This was my issue with the 64, too, and really why I preferred the Playstation. There just weren't many RPGs for it. Plus, my close friend in high school had a 64, Goldeneye, and WCW/NWO Revenge. That was enough for me.
 
[quote name='ZombieToast']You need to stop talking to those people. Ha ha. Actually, I wish more people hated the N64; maybe it would make it easier to find games. In my time living here, I don't think I've ever seen a single N64 game at a yard sale or thrift store.[/QUOTE]

I just made about $500 selling my extra N64 systems, controllers, and like 60 games on Ebay. I kept my blue N64 and 4 controllers and bought one of those rom cartridges with an 8GB sd card (I know I know some people frown on those, dont care). All that stuff was from yardsales, Goodwills, and cheap Ebay bundles. NES and SNES stuff have come to almost a complete stop for me within the last year and a half.
 
[quote name='TheHeef']This was my issue with the 64, too, and really why I preferred the Playstation. There just weren't many RPGs for it. Plus, my close friend in high school had a 64, Goldeneye, and WCW/NWO Revenge. That was enough for me.[/QUOTE]

That's what did as well. I used to call PlayStation "The lonely man's console" since it had RPGs and a lot of 1 player games...The n64 is for people with friends.
 
[quote name='slowdive21']That's what did as well. I used to call PlayStation "The lonely man's console" since it had RPGs and a lot of 1 player games...The n64 is for people with friends.[/QUOTE]

Seems like that was also their aim for the Wii, although that objective may have skipped a gen for Gamecube (?). I like PS3 and 360's new setups more of allowing the consumer to buy the "single-player-aimed" system first, and then optionally the "group-aimed" addition -- much more versatile.
 
[quote name='ex_eBay_buyer']Seems like that was also their aim for the Wii, although that objective may have skipped a gen for Gamecube (?). I like PS3 and 360's new setups more of allowing the consumer to buy the "single-player-aimed" system first, and then optionally the "group-aimed" addition -- much more versatile.[/QUOTE]

Hell, even the Gamecube had its fair share of great Nintendo four player multi games (although most of them were simply continuations of N64 series). Smash Bros, Mario Party, Four Swords Adventures, Metroid Prime 2, Star Fox, etc
 
I don't think the Gamecube was a bad system, it was right up there with the PS2 and Xbox, with the gamecube you weren't missing out on much as most multiplatform games were released on Gamecube as well as Xbox and PS2. If you stuck with the Wii this generation you missed out on everything because it got nothing that the other 2 consoles had.

I just rented NSMB (for free from the library) and its probably the worst game I have ever played in my life, if I want to play Mario bros I may as well just go back to the NES one. The graphics are horrible and grainy and the game is extremely frustrating, reminds me why I don't like mario games. I play on a HDTV with component cables but I have never seen another Wii game that is so grainy. You need a CRT TV for it. Super Paper mario plays very well (and is a much better game). NSMB feels like a low quality 3rd party shovelware Wii game.

That doesn't mean you made a bad purchase, the game is a steal at $5 because you can resell it for a lot more.
 
[quote name='slowdive21']That's what did as well. I used to call PlayStation "The lonely man's console" since it had RPGs and a lot of 1 player games...The n64 is for people with friends.[/QUOTE]

Lonely man's console? Ouch. So true, but ouch, though...
 
[quote name='SaraAB']I don't think the Gamecube was a bad system, it was right up there with the PS2 and Xbox, with the gamecube you weren't missing out on much as most multiplatform games were released on Gamecube as well as Xbox and PS2. If you stuck with the Wii this generation you missed out on everything because it got nothing that the other 2 consoles had.

I just rented NSMB (for free from the library) and its probably the worst game I have ever played in my life, if I want to play Mario bros I may as well just go back to the NES one. The graphics are horrible and grainy and the game is extremely frustrating, reminds me why I don't like mario games. I play on a HDTV with component cables but I have never seen another Wii game that is so grainy. You need a CRT TV for it. Super Paper mario plays very well (and is a much better game). NSMB feels like a low quality 3rd party shovelware Wii game.

That doesn't mean you made a bad purchase, the game is a steal at $5 because you can resell it for a lot more.[/QUOTE]

That's a letdown. NSMB was the only one I was going to keep. I'll probably dump the rest, since they are not in the best shape. I also have turned to the darkside and started to trade games in. What have I become...

[quote name='TheHeef']Lonely man's console? Ouch. So true, but ouch, though...[/QUOTE]


Well, I had one, so I based it on experience. ;) I named it after playing FFVII. It was a dark time. :lol:
 
I wouldn't touch NSMB Wii single player... but did you try multiplayer at all?

The game is stupid fun with 3+ people jumping all over the screen. I enjoyed it, but it is definitely meant for multiple players.
 
[quote name='slowdive21']That's what did as well. I used to call PlayStation "The lonely man's console" since it had RPGs and a lot of 1 player games...The n64 is for people with friends.[/QUOTE]

The Twisted Metal games and link cabled Command and Conquer matches where pretty good for multiplayer. Also what about RISK and Diablo? :cool:
 
[quote name='SaraAB']I just rented NSMB (for free from the library) and its probably the worst game I have ever played in my life, if I want to play Mario bros I may as well just go back to the NES one. The graphics are horrible and grainy and the game is extremely frustrating, reminds me why I don't like mario games. I play on a HDTV with component cables but I have never seen another Wii game that is so grainy. You need a CRT TV for it. Super Paper mario plays very well (and is a much better game). NSMB feels like a low quality 3rd party shovelware Wii game.[/QUOTE]

We clearly have not played the same NSMB.
 
[quote name='Indigo_Streetlight']The Twisted Metal games and link cabled Command and Conquer matches where pretty good for multiplayer. Also what about RISK and Diablo? :cool:[/QUOTE]

Yeah, twisted metal was the exception. That was fun to play with roommates. I love CC, but it would take me hours to play a match because the maps would slow down to a crawl (at least on red alert). Never tried to link it though.
 
[quote name='SaraAB']

I just rented NSMB (for free from the library) and its probably the worst game I have ever played in my life, if I want to play Mario bros I may as well just go back to the NES one. The graphics are horrible and grainy and the game is extremely frustrating, reminds me why I don't like mario games. I play on a HDTV with component cables but I have never seen another Wii game that is so grainy. You need a CRT TV for it. Super Paper mario plays very well (and is a much better game). NSMB feels like a low quality 3rd party shovelware Wii game.[/QUOTE]

I'm not sure how much credibility you had before, but I doubt I'm alone in thinking that you have absolutely none now. I understand that people have different tastes, but I don't see how you got to the conclusion that you arrived at.
 
I am just not a fan of the series, and I hate platforming games because they are too frustrating for me. For NSMB I already spent almost 2 hours on it and I couldn't even get past the second level. For me frustrating does not equal fun. I am not going to play a game where I have to spend over an hour to beat every small level and die a million times in the process, only to have to restart the entire level from the beginning again, and die some more. I played the entire Mass effect 1 without any problems and I have no complaints about difficulty in that game. I have played every pokemon RPG game to completion and beyond and I have no complaints about the difficulty in any of them. I just have very specific tastes. But everyone here should not take my opinion on NSMB as a fact that would apply to everyone, everyone should play it and decide for themselves on it.
 
[quote name='slowdive21']Yeah, twisted metal was the exception. That was fun to play with roommates. I love CC, but it would take me hours to play a match because the maps would slow down to a crawl (at least on red alert). Never tried to link it though.[/QUOTE]

Hahah, with C & C me and my nephew would engineer the max amount of players & number of units on the board at any one time to avoid slowdown. Then we'd build bases designed so that the other player's assaults would be frozen in a unique configuration.
 
[quote name='FlamedLiquid']I never find anything good at yard/garage sales near me. :([/QUOTE]

Keep the faith. You won't strike gold every time, but soon enough you'll have luck. When yard sales don't pan out, try thrift stores or flea markets. That's what I have to do during the winter months.
 
Hit an indoor booths sale that was advertised in the paper.

I saw a sign at a booth that listed prices for games and noticed SNES games were $1.

I asked the guy about them and he said a kid came by and bought all of them.

His stuff was really clean too. I don't even want to think about what I missed.

Bought some games from another dealer. Pics to come...
 
Kind of yard sale related. I was at BB today and saw a NES sitting on their shelf at customer service. I asked what they were doing with it, but the girl said they are going to try to hook it up in the back since some of the employees had never seen one before. She said someone dropped it off to recycle.

One less NES for me in the wild. The said part is it probably won't work and they will trash it and I could probably fix it.
 
[quote name='slowdive21']Kind of yard sale related. I was at BB today and saw a NES sitting on their shelf at customer service. I asked what they were doing with it, but the girl said they are going to try to hook it up in the back since some of the employees had never seen one before. She said someone dropped it off to recycle.

One less NES for me in the wild. The said part is it probably won't work and they will trash it and I could probably fix it.[/QUOTE]

I wonder if the tv they're using even has the right hook-ups?

Recently I stopped by an estate sale that advertised video games, about all they had left was a manual for an Atari bundle for pc. I'm sure they got gang-raped by resellers early on, but I don't think they had a lot to begin with (the vibes I was getting were professional woman home office set-up; I thought I saw a genesis in one of the online pictures, but it didn't seem like enough to get excited about).
 
I went to 13 yard sales this weekend. The ONLY video game related thing I saw was a copy of highschool musical for PS2. BLAH! I am very unhappy about this weekend lol.

On the other hand I got me and my girlfriend Mario and Luigi cosplay hats at the county fair. Best. Drunken. Purchase. EVER.

2012-04-01_14-20-28_167.jpg



Better than last year. I drank close to 7 gallons of beer and bought a mexican wrestling mask. That was.. interesting
 
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I didn't find that much in the way of gaming this weekend. I'll try to take some more pictures soon of my finds, but was able to snap a quick picture of my best find of the week.

SDC14254.jpg


I got to a sale right at its start time of 8am, and a guy was setting up and putting out what appeared to be his collection of Sonic-related items, some items NIB. I asked about games, but he said he got rid of his dreamcast at a previous sale. However, I did feel like this complete set of Sonic Adventure talking action figures was worth picking up (Sonic and Tails talk, Knuckles doesn't and probably needs a new set of batteries). He asked $5 each, I offered $3 each, we ended up at $10 for the lot.

I did some light research on them, and it looked like another NIB sonic sold for $30 recently. Someone else is selling Knuckles and Tails NIB for $180 each, which is way overkill. I'd like to think I could get $120-$180 for the set. Any opinions on value?

He had a few other NIB sonic items; I looked a few up on my phone, and they were each about $5 to $10 items so I didn't bother. This however, seemed to be the cream of his crop. I had a couple other decent finds at other sales; I'll try to get some more pics up tomorrow.
 
[quote name='FlamedLiquid']I never find anything good at yard/garage sales near me. :([/QUOTE]

The less sales I goto the more lotto tickets I find.
I went to only one for the day a few months back and got 13 jag carts for $5.
Also went to only one for the day again a few months back and got a crate full of dreamcast games for $60

Fast foward to this weekend. I went to around 15 sales and didn't find didly shit.
 
[quote name='FlamedLiquid']I never find anything good at yard/garage sales near me. :([/QUOTE]

I find it hard to believe that you would find nothing worth buying, you need to look for a wide variety of items, things that anyone can use. Don't just focus on video games and electronics, because those finds will not be as common as other stuff and those finds will be very rare compared to the large amounts of other items you will see. Figure out what you are spending money on at retail stores (other than groceries or consumables because you obviously cannot yard sale for those), then think about how you could save money purchasing those items at yard sales instead of at retail stores. You also have to be willing to clean stuff up, and sometimes spend a bit of time cleaning things up, most things that have a layer of dirt on them clean up just fine. Most cleaning will involve wiping an item down with windex but you may find a few things that require more cleaning depending on what you are looking for. You can buy cleaning supplies at the dollar store if you don't have any or if you want to save money on cleaning supplies.

There is rarely a week that I yard sale where I buy nothing, it happens, but not very often, there might be one week a summer when I don't buy something.
 
OK here is the rest of the stuff:


$3 for the comics. All pseudo keys. The Tomb of Dracula is a blade appearance.

fdb96dda.jpg


Paid $10 total for the next 2 pics:

Various Sports Cards/Blaster box. Opened the loose packs and got a Mantle Chrome Refractor.

4113b10a.jpg

2 Games. I know Hamtaro is a good one.

76641960.jpg



Games: Wanted $5 each paid $10 total:

I knew the Baldur's Gate one was good, didn't have Dirge, and was hoping the other was a rare one...still worth it though.

7f3f2956.jpg



Is this an acceptable format that we can agree on for the thread?

Games no spoilers, everything else spoilers?

:bouncy:
 
[quote name='SnesGuy']Better than last year. I drank close to 7 gallons of beer and bought a mexican wrestling mask. That was.. interesting[/QUOTE]
Drinking 7 gallons of beer, equal to almost 75 cans of beer, would indeed be interesting.
 
[quote name='slowdive21']OK here is the rest of the stuff:


2 Games. I know Hamtaro is a good one.

76641960.jpg




:bouncy:[/QUOTE]

The Hamtaro game is very enjoyable to play. I loved it as a kid... and now!
 
[quote name='burz88']Drinking 7 gallons of beer, equal to almost 75 cans of beer, would indeed be interesting.[/QUOTE]

[quote name='Zaku77']Yeah, I feel like someone might be exaggerating juuuust a bit lol[/QUOTE]

I was thinking the same thing either that or he made a mathematical error OR Andre the Giant would have been the only human walking god's green earth that could drink him under the table ;)
 
With these pics, I'll be almost current in my yard sale finds.

SDC14250.jpg


Last week, a lady was having a friday/saturday sale. I stopped by friday afternoon to check it out. Her driveaway was filled with baby clothes and junk, so I rang her doorbell. She was holding a crying baby, but I mercilessly asked if she had any video games/systems for sale. She pointed me in the direction of box in her garage. It contained a PS2 slim with memory card/controller, and about 5 really really worthless games. I spent 10 minutes untangling the necessary cords from a nearby box of cords, then offered her $5 for the system (didn't want to bother with the crap games), which she accepted. Everything worked when tested.

Next day (Saturday) I got out and made only one find, but it was good and cheap, at least.

SDC14283.jpg


The weather is overcast but not raining. It's 8:10 am and I ring on the doorbell of an 8am start advertised sale. The two middle-aged women who answer the door in their pajamas claim they forgot to take their craigslist post down and were not going to have the sale, due to the iffy weather. Nonetheless, I still ask about games. One of the women goes inside and comes back out 2 minutes later with a cardboard box containing the above items. It's somewhat dirty, and I use that to my advantage by offering $3 for the box, questioning whether it will even work. She accepts my offer with no hesitation at all. I knew that a Genesis and CD combo had some value, but was unaware that Mad Dog II was a $50 game until later. Cool, cheap find. Everything worked fine.

Fast forward a week to this Saturday (3/31). I hit a multi-family sale (same sale that I find the Sonic stuff a few posts above from another guy, about 5 minutes later) right at its 8am start, and my gf spots a box with a Playstation in it, and calls me over to inspect. I look inside to find the below contents.

SDC14286.jpg


Once I see FF VII, I know that I'm taking the box home. I ask the middle-aged woman how much she wants for everything. She says $5. I offer her $4 and claim its really old stuff (part of the fun for me is bargaining, even if I know I'm already getting a steal). She accepts. FF VII had a little crack in the case, as most of the games did, but at least it was complete.

Overall a decent set of finds, but the mega find still haunts my dreams. Still have one more so-so find to post, got bored of taking pictures tonight. Maybe tomorrow.
 
[quote name='burz88']Drinking 7 gallons of beer, equal to almost 75 cans of beer, would indeed be interesting.[/QUOTE]


I started drinking at 8am, and don't remember most of the day, and was drunk most of the next. basing the amount on what people said i drank, including my mother, and how much money i didn't have the next day.

The cell pics were... interesting. yeeea. That was the last time I drank until this year.

Anyway back on topic, I hate you floopy. lol.
 
[quote name='SaraAB']I find it hard to believe that you would find nothing worth buying, you need to look for a wide variety of items, things that anyone can use. Don't just focus on video games and electronics, because those finds will not be as common as other stuff and those finds will be very rare compared to the large amounts of other items you will see. Figure out what you are spending money on at retail stores (other than groceries or consumables because you obviously cannot yard sale for those), then think about how you could save money purchasing those items at yard sales instead of at retail stores. You also have to be willing to clean stuff up, and sometimes spend a bit of time cleaning things up, most things that have a layer of dirt on them clean up just fine. Most cleaning will involve wiping an item down with windex but you may find a few things that require more cleaning depending on what you are looking for. You can buy cleaning supplies at the dollar store if you don't have any or if you want to save money on cleaning supplies.

There is rarely a week that I yard sale where I buy nothing, it happens, but not very often, there might be one week a summer when I don't buy something.[/QUOTE]

well I don't go shopping for antiques, crafts, used tools, and baby clothes. Lol
 
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