Missed the previous weekend's sales due to having to attend a wedding, so I was pretty anxious to get going on Saturday morning. I was in the area I planned on working by 6:30am for 7am start-time sales, and hit a number of sales just setting up. I probably hit 15 sales before I saw another customer besides myself. Unfortunatley, nearly everything in this particular community sale ended up being baby crap (fairly new community, probably should have known better but have gotten lucky a couple of times out here before). I did end up making a solid find at about 7:45 am, but it was mostly a bust before and after that.
Picked up everything in the picture above for $32 total. The NES stuff was marked at $50 for everything. I thought about just picking and choosing the gems of that lot, but ended up offering $20 for everything and took it for $25. A few seconds later, I added Paper Mario, Luigi's Mansion, and Kingdom Hearts to the pile (marked $3 each), which went from $25 to $30. I paid $30, then decided to pickup Elder Scrolls for $2. The games/carts were minty (case games were complete). Everything was very well taken care of, I only wish they had put out more.
Got lucky here, it was an older family (parents in late 50s) in a community full of families with children under age 8. I passed up an Xbox with 2 controllers, cords, and 8 or 9 games (no gems). It was marked $50, but I probably could have taken it for $25 or $30. I considered it, then decided it wasn't worth the effort to make $20 or so on it.
A few sales later I pick up Kirby Air Ride for $1 (no manual). After that, it becomes sale after sale of baby. Nothing even remotely of interest to me.
I leave the neighborhood around 10am, and head a few miles away, where a late 20s guy gives me 2 xbox 360s free of charge, says he doesn't need them anymore (after testing, 1 had RROD, one works perfectly). He also sells me all the NES games for $2 total. They are grungy and have writing on some (thanks to "Martin") but $2 is nothing.
A few sales after that I pick up a GBA with nasty screen and exploded batteries for $3. It cleaned up just fine, though. New screen + battery cleanup = restored.
Last sale of the day (around 11:30am), I ask about games and a ~10 year old kid brings out 2 junk xbox 360 games and a DSi with charger + New Super Mario DS. He asks $70 for the DSi + charger + Mario DS, I tell him I was thinking $30 (If he was an adult, I'd have offered even less, but didn't want to completey screw him). He sheepishly asked me to do $35, and I obliged. Craigslisted the lot 4 hours later for $80 for an easy $45 profit.
Same day, a craigslist post advertises video game systems at a sale the next day (Sunday). I ask what all he has, and he tells me Super Nintendo, Turbo Grafx, Genesis, Sears Pong, some odds and ends. Also alludes to the fact that he is unsure of working condition. Below is what I ended up getting from this Sunday-only sale on my first stop there.
Anyways, I show up a little too early and have to sit there until they set up. I allow them to set up a few minutes, then get out of my car and make my approach. Look through the cardboard box containing all of the gaming stuff. Disappointed not to see any SNES stuff at all, but somewhat excited at the Turbo Grafx, even if it needs a clean up and a power supply. I end up getting it all for $20. Basically nothing but the genesis is complete; everything is missing one cord or another, or is just an accessory. I try to get him to find some games, but he looks for a bit and can't find any. I leave.
2 hours later he texts me "just found 24 super nintendo cartridges." I head back (20 minutes away) to find 24 NES cartridges, almost half sports titles. At this point, I realize that he has Nintendo and Super Nintendo mixed up. Unfortunately, a lot of 24 NES games is probably worth just 10 to 20% of a lot of 24 SNES games, on average.
He references looking up a few on ebay, and asks $1 each. I tell him at that price I'd only buy a few. I offer $10 for all, we settle at $12. 50 cents a cart is decent, though I wish they truly had been SNES carts. Oh well.
Overall, I can't complain too much (some would say I shouldn't complain at all, but I will a little anyway because I have high standards). Still waiting for a massive score (one where I haul $500+ in games/systems off a driveway for $50 or so); had 2 or 3 of those last year. I only hit up the neighborhood that I did on Saturday because it was a community sale, where I figured I could hit 50+ sales and make a few solid finds, even if a lot was baby. Well, I hit 55 sales in that neighborhood and made exactly 1 decent gaming find. I could have outfitted 10 daycares, however. Will likely avoid this area in the future.
Will get back to my normal areas starting next week. Hopefully I'll find some SNES/N64/PlayStation stuff, though I'll settle for a nice GameCube or Xbox lot or 2.