Thrift Store Gold...

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So I was hitting all the used furniture stores I could find looking for a couple end tables when I came across a thrift store I didn't know was there. It was tucked away in a back corner that was really easy to miss. I poked my head in and alas, there were no end tables. I decided to paruse their wares a bit and see if I could spot anything interesting. As I was about to leave I noticed a pile of stuff that made a little alcove of space that I had missed. :whistle2:k As I looked around the tiny little area I saw the normal thrift store fare, old records, vhs, paper backs, and used shoes.

Then I saw it, a box on the ground. :whistle2:s I pulled back one of the flaps and there they were, dozens of them, just sitting there... boxed NES games! :shock: I looked to my left, then to my right, I was alone, so I started pulling them out. Standard games like GOAL, Roger Clemens Baseball, and Play Action Football came off the top. Next, some I remembered from my childhood emerged, Tecmo Bowl, Kid Niki, and Ninja Gaiden. I then started finding games I had never heard of and others I recognized as fairly rare collectables. =P~

After I gently put everything back into the box I picked it up and went looking for the 80 year old clerk to see about making an offer on the Treasure Box I had just discovered. I sifted my way through the racks of used clothes and old ladies looking at shoes to find him almost asleep behind the counter. I was a bit nervous when I found him, 90% of me was convinced he didn't know what these things were and that he would be open to making a deal. The other 10% of me was sure the jig was up and I would be leaving empty handed.

I set the box down and we started chatting. I said "I found this box over in the corner and was wondering if you would take "..." for it?" :pray: He leaned over and peaked inside, he paused for a moment and my heart skipped a beat. Then he said "sure, that'd be great, thanks." With a sigh of relief and a bit of excitement I took out my credit card and handed it to him. He swiped it once, twice, three times... "I'm not really sure how this thing works and nothings happening," he says. :wall: My nervousness returns as I realize I didn't bring any cash, but it occurs to me that they may not take AMEX so I say "give this one a try." Another sigh of relief as it rings through and I sign on the dotted line. \\:D/

It wasn't until I got home and sat down with the box in front of my computer that I realized just what I had found. It started slowly, finding that games were selling for $10 - $15. Then I started getting to ones I knew were pretty good and going for $20 - $30. :mrgreen: When I got to the games I wasn't sure of I was excited but didn't get my expectations up too high. As it turns out, old RPGs are NES Gold! The set of Dragon Warrior I, II, III and IV boxed and complete were selling in the hundreds! A game called L'Empereur that I had never heard of by itself was selling in the triple digits! :whee:

How much did the 80 year olf thrift store clerk take for the box you ask??? $20 :D

I decided I didn't want the agravation of listing them all individually I put them all up in one auction and they sold for $376 including shipping. :applause: Yes, I could have gotten more selling them individually but I don't really have the time for all that atm...

All in all after fees and initial investement I made a smooth $310. What am I going to spend it on you wonder... an iRobot Roomba of course!!! :booty:

Check out the games and great pics in the ended auction here:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160599295017&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT
 
Wow thats a good find right there, im always finding cheap old games in thrift stores all the time , they really are a treasure trove of gaming goodness. The good thing is that hardly any "young" people go in them so theres always something good.
 
This is a great find but couldve gone in the Thrift Store Thread, a story like that isnt gonna be easily overlooked even in that huge thread. Also a roomba??? REALLY?? Get a cheap vacuum and spend the rest on something good, it takes literally like 20mins for me to vacuum. That thing is just gonna keep circling the floor and missing stuff and then need to charge forever. Trust me my friend had a roomba and it looked like the biggest waste of money ever, plus it made him look exceptionally lazy.
 
Good find, but bad idea selling those in a lot. You could have easily made triple what you did selling individually. It would have been more work, but you would have made a lot more money.
 
Dang, I found a Roomba at a thrift store for $20 that I flipped for $65...and then spent it on games. I woulda been happy to trade you my $20 Roomba for your $20 box of games....
 
[quote name='JediKiller24']Dang, I found a Roomba at a thrift store for $20 that I flipped for $65...and then spent it on games. I woulda been happy to trade you my $20 Roomba for your $20 box of games....[/QUOTE]

Kid is allergic to dust mites, got rid of carpet for hard floor, dog hair is crazy on a daily basis. No desire to vacuum EVERY day as the dog hair on hard flooring is right in your face unlike carpet where it can hide. Only roombas that have hepa filters (for allergins like dust) are the new ones and the cheapest is a rocking $450 so this is a good chunk off of that fo sho! :)
 
Now the question is what message board just had a thread posted bragging about getting boxed complete copies of Dragon Quest I-IV as part of a lot for $376.
 
^ Exactly.

[quote name='Scorch']Should've definitely sold individually.[/QUOTE]

This is what you should have done so you could have avoided the above.
 
Roomba's are great, but their batteries die quickly. Permanently die, as in won't charge anymore. At least all mine did. :whistle2:(
 
[quote name='RedvsBlue']Now the question is what message board just had a thread posted bragging about getting boxed complete copies of Dragon Quest I-IV as part of a lot for $376.[/QUOTE]

I already have all 4 complete - but would've bid anyways. Pretty much resell for almost the same price and keep Romance, Lemperour, and a few of the others I don't have complete.
 
I always hate to be a downer, but you got a great deal buying AND selling those games. Just because a website shows you that Dragon Warrior IV complete is worth $140 doesn't mean thats what anyone is paying for it. These games all sold individually might have cost you money when a lot of them sold for very little. It's fine to use your car salesman like tactics on ebay to convince people this is an $800 collection, but any self respecting video gamer couldve researched this for a matter of minutes and seen you sold these games for a reasonable/high amount. Also, anyone this excited to have $300 should "have time" to list them individually. People often say they hate me due to my brutal honesty and that it makes me sound like a dick.
 
[quote name='GUNNM']uh what?[/QUOTE]

Yes my friend, you too can sell a bundle for a reasonable/high amount, yet make more listing individually!
 
[quote name='zappa103']People often say they hate me due to my brutal honesty and that it makes me sound like a dick.[/QUOTE]

How true... lol :booty: There is so much about what you said that is way off base but whatevs...

Too everyone else:

Basically, the reason I sold them in one bundle is this. I used to sell lots of things on ebay including games. Ebay has changed (for the worse imho) sense I started and I'm also not a big fan of packaging and shipping. Here's the break down:

Video game fees and shipping cost restrictions have ruined video game selling for me on ebay. Flat out, it costs too much. And no, I never gouged ebay by charging a crazy shipping amount. 15% for fixed priceing is far more than I am willing to pay and that is how I would have sold the high value games.

I don't have a working printer atm so I have to go to the library to print out shipping labels, which is fine. I prefer doing that over paying for over-priced ink but it is still a pain.

If you looked at my auction you would have seen the detail that I put into them. I write my own HTML and it is very time consumming, plus it gets very boring.

I pulled the lazy card here for a few reasons, if I was in need a few extra bucks I certainly would have found "the time" to do it but as it stands, I'm not.

I looked at this find like any good "aucton hunter" does. Look to get about half what it's worth. So I was happy with something close to $400. In my experience here, TGN, and craiglist, people on sites of this type don't want to spend what things are "worth." I don't mind that cuz I certainly am one of them. That is why I didn't put them here as I figured it would be a waste of time and people would be more apt to make negative comments about my prices then to make a deal. I did post it in the auction thread. I put these on craigs list before ebay asking closer to what they are worth but still at a bargain and some fool copied my post, screamed what a scammer I was and that you could get these cheaper everywhere else (which was totally false as I did do the research) he flagged my post and it was removed.

So, I appologize for not making as much money as I could have, my bad. I thought it was a nice find for a 20 spot and a decent little profit to offset the cost of a soon to be super awesome Roomba, lol.

So to lay it out short n sweet, I like finding awesome deals, making a bit of money, and am kinda lazy. Off to play some xbox... :joystick:
 
Holy word misusage and spelling errors, Batman.:whistle2:#

Either way you got what you wanted out of the deal and that's really all that matters in the end.

The people on CL are a buncha assholes who expect shit for pennies on the dollar cuz they view it as a 'flea market' of sorts. They get a 'how dare you' attitude when you want a reasonable amount for your stuff on there. Case in point, I was trying to sell a $275 or so GS gc on there for a while. I kept getting dickwads wanting to give me $30 for it.:roll:

I've only made a handful of deals on there and only after weeding through tons of assholes and flakes. I much prefer Amazon as at least on there I can put my shit there forever and let it sit and it'll eventually sell.

Most of what I put on there is stuff I paid nearly nothing for anyway, so if it sells I'm almost guaranteed profit.:D
 
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