Official 2011 Yard Sale Thread

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Had some good finds today:

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Collection of 45 NES games. It was at an unadvertised sale. marked $1 each, offered $15 for the whole box which was accepted. some highlights include: TMNT tournament fighters, Die Hard, High Speed, SMB 2 & 3, Joe & Mac, StarTropics, Nightmare on Elm St, 3 Tengen games: Shinobi, Gauntlet, and Temple of Doom, etc.

Asked about games at another sale, and they brought out a plastic tote with these 12 boxed intellivision games on top:

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She wanted $1 each, I offered $10 for the 12 games, which was accepted. Most have the overlays, but only a few have instructions. What was killing me though was under the intellivision games was a colecovision with controllers and a couple games, some NES controllers and few other random accessories that I couldn't see well. Made an offer on the colecovision, but was told it belongs to the nephew and only knew for sure that he wanted to sell the intellivision stuff. She went on to say that he has a large collection of games and plays 'the xbox' regularly, but maybe there were other things he'd want to sell. I left my card (yeah, I have business cards with my contact info and a blurb about buying and selling games and toys) in hopes he has some other stuff for sale.

Also found a large lego set for $5 at another sale:

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looks to be missing a few pieces, and the instruction manual, but lots of parts for only $5.
Other finds for the day: SpellForce 2 for PC $1, Fanboys dvd $1, and an A/V cable for SNES .50
 
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4 different towns, 60 miles, 6 hours and what do I have to show for it? 0. Absolutely nothing. This is the most disappointing day in my entire yard sale-ing lifetime.
 
[quote name='Tsel']4 different towns, 60 miles, 6 hours and what do I have to show for it? 0. Absolutely nothing. This is the most disappointing day in my entire yard sale-ing lifetime.[/QUOTE]

That sucks dude. Maybe tomorrow will fare better.
 
[quote name='Dark Rider']That sucks dude. Maybe tomorrow will fare better.[/QUOTE]

If I even go tomorrow. If I go the other direction on Rt 34, it's about 30 miles of country roads til we even hit the first town. I'm debating.
 
[quote name='Tsel']Not at all. All that wasted gas and all I have to show for it is a half assed tan and sore feet.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, those really long yard sales tend to bring out a lot of dealers rather than genuine yard salers. I went to the Yard Crawl in Virginia two years back and barely found anything, most of the people were antique or junk vendors that travel the country selling at "yard sale" events like that.
 
[quote name='Doomstink']Yeah, those really long yard sales tend to bring out a lot of dealers rather than genuine yard salers. I went to the Yard Crawl in Virginia two years back and barely found anything, most of the people were antique or junk vendors that travel the country selling at "yard sale" events like that.[/QUOTE]

I saw a lot of dealers. Some guy was selling bootleg blu-rays for $20 a pop. From the looks of it, I thought the sale would have a lot of potential.

I get there and see a TON of strategy guides. I see Metal Gear Solid 3, Bioshock 2, Super Mario Galaxy Collector's Edition Sealed :hot:, Devil May Cry 4 sealed, Ninja Gaiden 2 sealed, among others. They had no price on them, so I politely asked. The guy comes over, takes one look, and says the unsealed ones are $20, the sealed are $30 and he said all prices are final.

I'm thinking, are you fucking kidding me? Needless to say, I just up and left after that. No way that con artist is getting my money. I go to garage sales to get DEALS, not to get ripped off.

The only other video game related thing I saw all day was Cabela's Dangerous Hunts 2009 for Xbox 360. I passed because the price was 15 and I didn't want the game enough to haggle. I swear, people these days. :roll:
 
[quote name='Tsel']I saw a lot of dealers. Some guy was selling bootleg blu-rays for $20 a pop. From the looks of it, I thought the sale would have a lot of potential.

I get there and see a TON of strategy guides. I see Metal Gear Solid 3, Bioshock 2, Super Mario Galaxy Collector's Edition Sealed :hot:, Devil May Cry 4 sealed, Ninja Gaiden 2 sealed, among others. They had no price on them, so I politely asked. The guy comes over, takes one look, and says the unsealed ones are $20, the sealed are $30 and he said all prices are final.

I'm thinking, are you fucking kidding me? Needless to say, I just up and left after that. No way that con artist is getting my money. I go to garage sales to get DEALS, not to get ripped off.

The only other video game related thing I saw all day was Cabela's Dangerous Hunts 2009 for Xbox 360. I passed because the price was 15 and I didn't want the game enough to haggle. I swear, people these days. :roll:[/QUOTE]

If there were some guides I wanted I might've offered the guy $10 for a stack of twenty :cool: Yeah, usually people like that need to suffer for awhile with their overpriced crap not selling, then you can come back and make the kill when they get desperate.
 
After compiling my route for tomorrow, I began wondering something for you guys.

How far away is too far for you? Tomorrow I have 3 sales advertising games about 30 minutes away from my place and they always look so tempting. I try to stay away because the gas is almost never worth it, imo. They're the only ads advertising games as well, so I know they're probably going to be hit as soon as they open.

What are your opinions on it? I get about 25 MPG so I dont do stellar on gas prices.
 
[quote name='Potatoeman']

How far away is too far for you? [/QUOTE]

I try to stick within the city or the next city over. Anything more than that and I spend too much time driving around. I also try to get the whole shebang down relatively quickly if possible. Last week was rained out, but week before I hit like 25 sales over three hours.
 
My general rule is anywhere between 30 miles away. I'll venture out of that zone if it's a townwide sale or something worthwhile. Otherwise, like you said, the gas often isn't worth the trip.
 
Got Need for Speed: Shift for Xbox 360 for 3 dollars today. It's in prefect condition and complete. Not a bad score. But I doubt I'll play it much since the second one is already out :\.
 
Great day today!

Went to a sale at a street very close to me. I saw some Game Informers so I asked about games. They told me to come back in an hour. One hour later I'm back and I buy:

Fable 3
Dragon Age: Origins (360)
New Super Mario Brothers Wii
Modern Warfare 2 (360)
Madden 2005 (PS2)
Tiger Woods 08 (Wii)
Metal Gear Solid 2 Substance (PS2)

All for $25

Also found some Simpsons cartoon books for .25
 
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The yard sale section of the paper was about half the size it usually is this weekend, so there wasn't much to look at; I only went to 12 listed sales and 3 random ones I spotted along the way. The only video gaming thing I saw was a stack of PS2 games for $5 each. I only recognized one of the titles, the rest were sports or racing games...I passed.

I did, however, come across a laundry basket full of DVDs, half of them still unopened in plastic. I dug around and found a movie I wanted, asked how much (expecting $1-2) and she was like "ugh, 10 cent?" She seemed annoyed by the entire stack (I like to imagine they belong to an ex and she is getting pleasure out of selling them off :applause: ). So, I gave her a dollar and grabbed 9 others; the rest were mostly kids movies that I have no use for. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, A Beautiful Mind, Dane Cook's Tourgasm, Blade Runner 2-disc, and Becoming Jane are a few of the ones I got.

I also happened across one of those large cheap DVD shelves that the owner had painted black. It look pretty neat so I asked how much; I was expecting 10, planning to try for 5, and she was like "$3 sound good?" So heck yeah I got that, letting me merge two smaller shelves into the one big one and use the smaller ones for other things.

Tl;dr:
10 DVDs - $1.00
DVD Shelf - $3.00
:D

As for Potatoeman's question, I stay within my city and the neighboring one; they kinda blend together anyway so it's not a big deal. I drive a maximum of about 15 minutes from my house, anything longer and I feel like I'm missing out on other opportunities. Though I've only been at this for three weeks now so I've yet to really figure out the best methods. >.>
 
Hit a few sales with the family this morning before the rain rolled in. Didn't buy anything but here are some items of note:

1970's Diamondback bmx bike $300
Had a sign on it saying "paid $400 new" and looked pristine. Very cool.

PS2 games - mostly sports titles, except GTA 3, Vice City (with guide), and San Andreas. Quite stickered up (Gamestop stickers that say $44.99, sucker). Didn't ask prices since I don't have a PS2 anymore.

Wheelbarrow $10
My parents bought it and we tried cramming it in their Ford Edge. Ended up folding down my seat and I sat in the cargo area. Luckily my grandma lives 5 mins away so we dropped it off.

Most everything else was baby junk or people prepping for the storms (crammed in garages). Going to head out in a bit for a sale advertising games since the rain is moving on.
 
About to go for my first real promising run this morning. Rained from 6 to 10:30. I had planned the night before where to go and when. Worst part is, Couldn't get back to sleep after waking up early.
 
I went out for a couple hours today. I hit 21 sales, mostly unlisted ones.

The lady from yesterday called her son, to whom the video games belonged to. Bad for me:drool:
Her son told her dont even think about selling the stuff. She seemed like she really wanted to sell the stuff though, so she asked for my phone number to call me when she coerces him. Turns out she and her son had just about every since the 7800 atari. She showed me all of it and I was so angry she called her son, haha. N64, ps1, genesis/32x, NES, SNES. Boxed games.

Ah well, maybe she will go against her sons wishes next weekend.

More on topic - I didnt find crap today. The only good game related stuff I saw was from a young couple. They had a xbox 360 driving wheel, Wii/Accessories/Games, and a couple newer computer parts. They wanted 175 for the wii stuff, 30 for the driving wheel. I asked if 45 for the Wii games+ wheel would fly and the guy said no way. They had 6 games, only decent one was Super Mario Galaxy.

Pretty lousy day today. I dont have A/C in my car and it was hitting 90 degrees by 10 so I was done.
 
[quote name='Potatoeman']After compiling my route for tomorrow, I began wondering something for you guys.

How far away is too far for you? Tomorrow I have 3 sales advertising games about 30 minutes away from my place and they always look so tempting. I try to stay away because the gas is almost never worth it, imo. They're the only ads advertising games as well, so I know they're probably going to be hit as soon as they open.

What are your opinions on it? I get about 25 MPG so I dont do stellar on gas prices.[/QUOTE]

If it's a community sale, sometimes it's worth making one 30 minute trip as your first stop. It depends on the mood, as sometimes you can get sniped by local pickers and then your gas expense is for naught.

Edit: Personally I range more if I start seeing too many of the same faces in yard sales close to me.
 
Nothing too fabulous this morning, other than I found Disney Guilty Party for $3. I had been thinking about paying more, but now I'm glad I didn't.

I found a sealed Spongebob edition game of Life and an unopened Barbie I can be Children's Doctor from 2000, though, which were both very good finds. :)

I saw one sale asking above retail for xbox360 games, which kind of blew my mind.
 
[quote name='yourlefthand']Nothing too fabulous this morning, other than I found Disney Guilty Party for $3. I had been thinking about paying more, but now I'm glad I didn't.

I found a sealed Spongebob edition game of Life and an unopened Barbie I can be Children's Doctor from 2000, though, which were both very good finds. :)

I saw one sale asking above retail for xbox360 games, which kind of blew my mind.[/QUOTE]
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Picked up the following
Super C NES - 2.50
Battletoads - 2.50
Complete p90x - 3
Rear and front wheel road bike (made in Italy) - 30
3D puzzle - 2
Dell external DVD drive - 5

I did pretty well, I'm going to flip battletoads, p90x, 3D puzzle, and The wheels (hoping to flip the wheels for A LOT)
 
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Resident Evil :wii: Shot Blaster - $5
Seems pretty cool, I'll get some use out of it.

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N64 Games - $10 total (IAP $3 each)
GBA SP Charger - $.50
N64 Transfer Pak - $.50

My N64 collection is at the point where it's very difficult to find decent games I don't already have...these are probably all gonna get flipped.

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Ha! I totally tricked you with those mediocre hauls above. VIRTUAL BOY, BABY.
Complete and working with stand, controller/AC adapter, and battery pack, plus Wario Land CIB.

This was at the same sale where I got the N64 games. It was the first sale on my list, right near my house, and video games were mentioned in the ad. You know how that usually goes ("oh yeah, someone came by and bought them all three days before the sale") but I guess this time was different. I happily paid the $30 IAP since I can easily break even with the N64 games.

The thing looks and works great. Before today I never actually played a Virtual Boy game, but I wasn't surprised at all when it turned out to be as miserable as everyone says. Still, it's a cool collector's piece and I'm glad to have it.

I also got a $2 pair of analog speakers to go with my $3 turntable and $10 amplifier...all from different garage sales. :lol:
 
[quote name='N3UROP0D']

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Ha! I totally tricked you with those mediocre hauls above. VIRTUAL BOY, BABY.
Complete and working with stand, controller/AC adapter, and battery pack, plus Wario Land CIB.[/QUOTE]

Hey, at least you got the best game with the virtual boy lol. I loved Wario Land back when I owned one.
 
Today I hit a yardsale at 2 pm that was held in a large warehouse. Thinking that there just might be something that late I thought I'd check. Turns out it was the jackpot, but quite strange because they must have had about 12 n64s in a single box but no power chargers in sight. I grabbed the least dusty one along with 2 controllers. I ask how much the system would be and she says 5 dollars and 3 dollars each for a controller.
I ask If she can reduce price to 7 because I'd have to replace the power charger but she just gives me a rude look and says that its there. Again, I point out the lack of it and she pauses before just saying 'no' 11 dollars. At this point I find the whole deal kind of shady and wonder if the system even works. I ready my money and since I know they'll be there tomorrow I ask if I can come back tomorrow if I find out the system doesn't work. I figure it wouldn't be a big deal but she just gives me an even ruder look than before and just says 'no it's a yardsale.'
I just put back the system, and left the whole place right then and there. They must have had 10 n64s, 7 ps1s, 4 ps2s, and 6 gamecubes all in pretty bad condition. If they were being that shady about it I wasn't coming back.

tldr; found 64, shadyness abound, didn't buy.
 
Accumulated systems + no games = stuff a reseller couldn't sell (?)
 
I can't seem to find a decent priced yard sale, everyone wants huge amounts of money for junk around here. The few decent priced sales I have been to have nothing but junk. I am not buying it and neither is anyone else. I have resorted to picking up cheap cellphones, as they are the only electronics I seem to be able to find cheap, and most sell for pretty good money on ebay.

The $40 CRT TV's prevail around here, you can get a CRT for 8.99 at the Salvation army here, and they have almost the whole back of the store filled with TV's. Today I saw a kids flashlight priced at $10, who the heck thinks up these prices over here???

Our area is filling up with "permanent" yard sales, there are many houses here that just put tarp over their stuff and leave it on their lawn and uncover it every weekend. Other houses just keep all the stuff in their garage and bring it out every weekend.
 
[quote name='Indigo_Streetlight']Accumulated systems + no games = stuff a reseller couldn't sell (?)[/QUOTE]

I would bet dollars to donuts that is the case.

For me this week was a slight bust.

I went to a sale that advertised a ton of video games - final fantasy, etc. Went there right at 8 - was a bust. The games were all sports, a game I see at Five Below all the time, and some other randoms not worth the effort. They did have a Final Fantasy 10 poster laid out though (guess that was the Final Fantasy).

Saw a few 360 games at another sale for 4 bucks each and got excited (Modern Warfare 2, etc.) but they each had small cracks along the inside of the disc or the big scratched circle from moving the system. I don't know if I missed some other good ones earlier, but I'm going to doubt it.

Did pick up a few things. Everything was a dollar each.

Sealed Catch Phrase Game
Trivial Pursuit Millennium Edition
Disney Trivia (in big tin case)
Magical Kingdom board game
Clue
Flight of the Concords Season 1
A Family and Friends CPR Anytime kit
Some darts in a little case

The board games look pretty fun. May sell of the Magical Kingdom game if it is complete though.

My sister loves or at least use to love Flight of the Concords. I haven't heard them mentioned for a while so I don't know if they are still relevant. So I will either give to her or just ebay it for like 4 bucks.

The CPR thing I just kind of grabbed because it was funny to see that in a box of board games. Looks brand new and complete. May play around with it or just sell it if possible. It looks like it is for sale for 35 on the web and 25 on ebay.


There were barely any sales this week. Probably 20% of what I saw from the last few weeks. Hopefully that won't be the rest of the season or I'm not sure how excited I will be to go out to only hit like 11 sales in 3 hrs where I was hitting 30 (and still skipping a bunch) a few weeks ago.
 
We have perpetual yard sales here also. I normally avoid them as they usually have garbage and the prices are insane. One that I pass on the way to work has been set up all week, they just cover everything at night. Apparently they gave up this morning when it started raining; racks full of clothes were left out uncovered.
 
The prices here have been OVER THE HILL hear also the last month. We are hitting the end of our GS season as its getting triple digit temps so I would have figured LOWER PRICES BUT NO!!!!!!

So to recap the last couple of weeks.

2 weeks ago I went into a pawn shop and found some almost new scuba gear for CHEAP but even at cheap I didn't have the money so yesterday I took my nephew in to try the BCD on him and buy it if it fit and not there anymore. I fired when I saw it before that "I LIVE IN THE DESERT no one is going to buy this stuff and the fellow even said he had it there for the last 3 months" so I figured it would still be there. DAMN I COULD SLAP MYSELF!!! I thought about putting a $100 down to hold and I should have.

2 days ago I saw a crappload of Saga Saturn games at a used store and decided I would check prices and come back...(will return to this later)


OK on to today's sales.

4 planed sales 3 unplanned

First few sales had crap but I did finish up good with the last 3 sales and they were the unplanned sales. They did have some PS1 games at one sale along with a GB but wanted like $6 a game for commons and $50 for a ps1 system.

So the first Decent priced sale I got to was up a long driveway that is like 60% grade (OK OK A little less) and they had a gaming chair in like new condition. She said she would have to find the cords and found only the power. I was glad though as it gave me a bargaining chip. So she had it marked for $25 I told her without the Audio cord I could I could only give $15 (expecting her to counter) and she said she would except. I think I already have it sold for $50 so I did good here as a cable is less then a buck.

Not the best angle but it does look nice and works
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The next sale was mostly kids stuff and I saw a guitar for (I thought PS) I ignored it and asked if they had any games for .....(the normal line) and they said no and mentioned the guitar. So I looked at it and it was for the XBOX asked how much $2.00 countered $1 and got for $1.50 (HEY THAT $0.50 SAVINGS ADDS UP)

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The next sales I got a toilet paper holder for $0.50 and a spice rack for $2 so I wont put pictures of them.

OH the last one wasn't a GS sorry it was the used store. I came home and grabbed my price list for the games and went back. They wanted $3.00 each and I only bought games worth around $5.00 or more. Here is the list (some are doubled)

Battle Arena Toshinden URA (1 copy worth $4.95)
BUG! (1 copy worth $4.89)
Die Hard Arcade (1 copy worth $22.95 YES WHOO HOO SCORE)
Fighters Megamix (2 copy worth $9.98)
Last Bronx (2 copy worth $9.20)
NHL 98 (1 copy worth $4.98) don't know why I bought sports oh well
SEGA Touring Car Championship (1 copy worth $11.21)
Scud The disposable assassin (1 copy worth $5.99)
Soviet Strike (1 copy worth $4.15) OK a little less then 5

Not bad for $33.00 well $34 because I loaned my nephew a bill for a 45 album he wanted. Total worth almost $100 and that's through internet prices and I know I could turn them. I will only turn Die Hard Arcade because I don't like the old games to show high prices on my shelf s. I was happy as hell to see that game price.

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OH some how I forgot a sale. I also purchased a monitor for $15 that was marked $35 my mom countered $15 then I asked to check (we work well together at times and she knows what I want and vise versa so she knew I would want this as my shops getting low on them). I am always willing to pay $20 for these and turn them for no less then $50. This one I wont let go for less then $80 as its got DVI and a USB hub built in also raises and turns. I know its a Dell but I also know what I can turn them for here and its worth it to me.

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So that's not bad when the last month has sucked unto now.
 
Picked up a Tandy 102 Portable Computer for $5 and Zelda Twilight Princess soundtrack for $1. Not much this weekend, but both seem like great buys.
 
The community sales aren't worth it here because all the old games have been cleaned out long ago since most of these community or block sales go on, they go on on the same block year after year. Most houses can't produce a magical supply of old games year after year. Also these are the most overpriced sales since people know there will be a lot of traffic they price their items higher. The best sales are the small unadvertised sales. The only way you will get games from one of these sales if someone has been holding onto them for some time and decides to get rid of it all. But that is pretty hard to find if the community sale has been going on year after year.
 
I have noticed that also. I love to find 1st annual sales or even the second year is OK but after that it is like they realize that they can sell shit for allot more and the good stuff is gone. I will still go to them but they are last on my list now. I do like church sales as they are cheap but the games seem to be gone the first year or two they run them. Used stores (non profit) are good for me but they price everything one price and so you must pick out the good ones. I have had some luck with a couple of pawn shops for things but they usually suck but its worth checking every now and then.

I am considering getting a scanner you all talk about. I was wondering if this is through a phone or a PDA I never thought about doing this but what a good opportunity to make a few extra dollars. I am going to look into this but I would like to be incognito about it. Any suggestions on what to buy?
 
Church and bag sales are totally hit or miss on games, even if you find games one year its totally possible to find more the next since the donors may be different. But that does not usually happen at community sales since the same houses have the sales every year.

If it was through a phone a scanner wouldn't be worth it since from my experience you can't scan quickly since the phone's camera doesn't pick up barcodes that good. Also it would probably cost around $100 a month in cell phone bills for a smartphone and data plan so if you are buying a smartphone for just that it probably isn't worth it unless you hit a crapload of sales. But I am super cheap and I think smartphones are a big waste of money since the monthly bills are so expensive here in the US. The only way it would be worth is if you had an employee subsidized phone, which in that case you may as well use the phone to make money.

Its gonna be obvious to pretty much every seller what you are doing except if they don't know and some may price things higher because you are scanning and some may refuse to sell to you, though I would imagine refusing to sell to you would be rare.

I don't sell on amazon because its so easy to get banned from there so I am not gonna start with this and the only books I see here are huge piles of mass market paperbacks which are worth nothing, finding a sale that has textbooks or anything worthwhile is really rare.
 
[quote name='desert_gold_hound']
I am considering getting a scanner you all talk about. I was wondering if this is through a phone or a PDA I never thought about doing this but what a good opportunity to make a few extra dollars. I am going to look into this but I would like to be incognito about it. Any suggestions on what to buy?[/QUOTE]


I looked into this a couple years ago when I started getting serious about generating more income through ebay/amazon. I found a site that will either sell or rent you a PDA with a couple different scanning options. you then subscribe to their service which, if I'm remembering correctly, compiles info from Amazon which you download to a memory card in the PDA. The scanner is just a bar code reader which works with the PDA, if you want to go incognito, they make a little wireless one that you use in conjunction with headphones, scan a barcode and listen for the noise...one noise for buy one noise for reject. This is the set up I see most often around here. I had 2 scanners hit my last yard sale, one like this, and one that had a scanner physically attached to the PDA out in the open. This method is quick, as it only takes a second for the thing to scan the barcode and compare it to the sales info from Amazon, you set up your criteria based on how much the item cost you to buy vs what it sells for, and it gives you the feedback on if you should buy the item.
Anyway, the point I wanted to make is that it is far better to spend some time doing your own research and learning what sells (IMO). You can spend way too lon scanning piles of books, cds, whatever, and none of them be worth anything. I ended up not buying a scanner, as I wasn't keen on paying a monthly fee for info I felt I could find myself. I think after you do it for a little while, you'll get a feel for the type of stuff that is common and not worth your time, and what is worth picking up. By having some basic knowledge of things to avoid you can quickly get ahead of any scanners you run into and beat them to the good stuff.

When I find something that I am unsure about, I do have an Iphone, and I have the ebay ap, so I can quickly look up completed auctions to see if the item in question is worth my time, and for amazon based items (for me: books and movies) I set up the web browser before I leave home to be ready at the amazon values page so I can quickly check that if I need to.

I would say be prepared for flak at yard sales though, I've witnessed sellers giving scanners a hard time, and at my own yard sales I charge them a higher rate, since I know what they're doing.
 
Yea that makes sence on them charging higher prices. I might get me a tablet and use it in the car. I don't have a LARGE amount of ebay buyers here so I can take a min or two. Most games I have purchased have been there all day anyhow. My phone has unlimited web but the WEB SUCKS. I keep game price lists in the car with me and I have two of them. One has the prices marked 1/2 of what they really are. This one I use and tell them the truth that I am working to make money and I take the time to dig, list and package plus that I take all the risk on the games not working or someone being a bad buyer. This list has worked wonders for me as I can let them see the low value games at half price (They think full price) and the fact that I must make a profit, clean the contacts, replace the battery, list, package, ship, and take a chance at a bad buyer. I have had A+ luck with this after they have said "It sells on ebay for this!" I pull out my list and tell them NO in its condition it sells for less then Show them list. I must clean it....... This gets me sales LOTS of times when I couldn't buy otherwise.
 
[quote name='desert_gold_hound']Yea that makes sence on them charging higher prices. I might get me a tablet and use it in the car. I don't have a LARGE amount of ebay buyers here so I can take a min or two. Most games I have purchased have been there all day anyhow. My phone has unlimited web but the WEB SUCKS. I keep game price lists in the car with me and I have two of them. One has the prices marked 1/2 of what they really are. This one I use and tell them the truth that I am working to make money and I take the time to dig, list and package plus that I take all the risk on the games not working or someone being a bad buyer. This list has worked wonders for me as I can let them see the low value games at half price (They think full price) and the fact that I must make a profit, clean the contacts, replace the battery, list, package, ship, and take a chance at a bad buyer. I have had A+ luck with this after they have said "It sells on ebay for this!" I pull out my list and tell them NO in its condition it sells for less then Show them list. I must clean it....... This gets me sales LOTS of times when I couldn't buy otherwise.[/QUOTE]

I'm all for haggling, but doesn't that feel a bit dishonest?
 
N64 System With 4 Meg Expansion & Power Plug - 1
Mario Strikers Charged (No Manual) - 5

Didn't bother to take a picture for Friday's stuff since it wasen't much then forgot to include it with the picture I took for Saturday. Asked 2 for the N64 took 1. MSC was marked 7 and took my offer of 5.

Got out at 8 on Friday and was out till about 11:45, went to 28 sales.

First sale of the day advertised "Video Games" was PS2 & DS games with Conduit being the only Wii game (marked 10). The only other game worth noting that I remember was a complete Silent Hill 3 that had a fair amount of light scatches, marked 7. Afterwards I was thinking I should have grabbed it, I would have been more inclined to at the least bit offer 5 for it if I didn't already have it.

The sale I got MSC at was pretty much the same deal, advertised games (Wii And 360 in particular) and ended up having different prices for different games. Good number of Wii, 360 and PS2 games this time but while not way over the top too much for a yardsale to move more then little to nothing and surely high enough that some people are making less selling these same games at open auction (and some BINs probably) online. I'm guessing the PS2 games might have been 5 each (nothing interesting so I didn't look too deep but the game on top was 5) Wii & 360 games marked 7, 10 and (IIRC) 15 each. I was thinking after leaving that I should have offered 5 for Mini Ninjas (complete), was marked 7. One game in Resident Evil Darkside Chronicles was even marked 20.



2 Xbox Games (Complete) - 1 Each
Star Wars Force Unleashed II (360, Complete) - 5
Tekken 3 (Complete) - .25
Deus Ex (PC, Sealed) - .25
Sega Genesis Model 1 With Hookups, 2 Controllers And 4 Complete Games - 2

The Xbox Games, SWFU2 & Deus Ex from different sales and all asking price. Tekken 3 didn't have a price on it, offered .25. Genesis bundle was marked 5 and took 2.



Xbox Wireless Controller - 1
Game Gear Bundle (Another System Under The One Pictured) - 5
Misc SNES Stuff - 1

Xbox controller was out with no price, offered a buck. Found the Game Gear bundle out which somehow survived at this price till about 8:45, was asking price. The lady did mention that the power goes in and out (on both of the systems?) so maybe anyone else that was interested before me had a change of heart after hearing that. I found the Misc SNES stuff at one of the last sales of the day, was in a big box kind of off to the side on the porch. Was unclear to one of the sellers (and to me when I noticed it) if it was for sale. Asked the lady who it belonged to and it was for sale and said I could make an offer if I was interested which I did in a buck.



Everything In This Picture - 20

All of the guides (except for DMC), manuals & 2 demo disks were free. PSP game is disk only but the rest are complete. It came up to 27, Fire Emblem was 2 and I don't know what they were asking for the DMC guide, I offered 20 when I walked up with everything which was taken.

Got out at about 7:45 and was out till 11:30. Went to 33 sales total Saturday.

Pretty early on I was having deja vu as I saw a boxed Atari Computer Bundle I remembered seeing from last year at a different house marked 200 100 50 this year (IIRC 200 100 last year). What actually had me dumbfounded was what looked to be a new in box hard drive nearby with the reciept taped to it and the price for said item circled. It was dated 1997 and the price circled a little over 300 to justify this monster being $150 at this yardsale, the beast inside this box....6.4 gigs. It was like some sort of weird yardsale (April Fools like) joke.

The sale I got what was mostly PS1 games at advertised "DVDs, VHS, video games". I was originally planning on making what would have been a small detour to make it my first sale of the day but decided against that has I was having deja vu and double checking figured it was a house I got a clear Game Boy at in 2008 which I'm about 99% sure it was (didn't keep track of the address when I went, it was the only sale I went to on that Thursday when I stopped by the nearby Staples so I just memorized the address). I figured it would be nothing special but this ended up being the exception to the rule. The games were all face up when I got to the sale with no gaps but BSing with the owner of the games it sounded as if they had quite a few more games and at first they were all on the table with their spines up as if they didn't have room to display all of the games cover up at first since they had so many. They said that people were showing up at 6:30 and that stuff was going off the tables about as fast as they were putting it out (start time of 8). A part of me wonders what other gems they may have had while a part of me can't help but think that I didn't miss out on that much considering what I got and some of the prices. It doesn't really make sense to me and I'm thinking maybe they didn't have room for all of the games and some of the good stuff came out late or maybe for the most part the early birds didn't know much about PS1 games and picked out what looked most interesting to them at a buck but didn't bother with anything marked 5 or who knows why what was still around lasted while selling a fair amount of games before I got to the sale around 10. I found out with some friendly BSing about games that they did have a copy of Beyond The Beyond that sold at the sale already and that they used to have Suikoden (but it was sold some time ago and not at a yardsale for what sounded like clearly more then they were selling these games for). Most notable I passed on with price - Brave Story: New Traveler (8), Final Fantasy VIII - no manual (2). It was different family members around this time running things then it was when I was at this house in 2008 much better vibe this year with a better idea of honestly wanting to price and deal to get stuff out of the house.

I did leave my number 3 times today, I was going to offer 3 for Star Wars Force Unleashed II but decided to pay asking price since someone else took my number when I asked about old games and figured that might turn them sour to calling me back (not that they ever do call). One other time today when I asked about video games I was asked if I could come back later or tomarrow. Asked about what it was to get more details and Zelda OOT, Starfox were mentioned along with a Nintendo system at another house the girl lived at. Then mom or someone came out and mentioned a bag of games that it sounded like who I would guess was the brother (I'm guessing if he still has he wouldn't want to sell said "bag" of games anyways). I suggested leaving my number has this was downtown and I live in a suburb about 10 minutes away. Afterwards I was thinking that they will probably be shy about it and not call or e-mail making my chances of it turning into something worse then if I just stopped by later but I also pictured making a trip back to this sale for nothing and being told sorry couldn't find anything if I did so. I feel like saying something like "your sure you know exactly were this stuff is and will bring it tomarrow?" in a situation like this on one hand but on the other would feel like I'm being a pushy asshole if I did that. Leaving contact info makes this better and worse but while I wonder what if.....the pessimistic in me figures who gives a shit since if it's not right inside and they don't go right in and get it it's not going to work out and I at least saved myself a wasted trip.

Some of the usual lines when I asked about video games today (one a little more interesting then usual mentioning a few old systems and politely mentioning that they are too attached to them to get rid of them). The only thing I was told about missing this weekend was the Playstation games at said sale above along with no other overpriced video games to mention besides what I went into detail about already.



NES With Everything Except TV Hookup, Game Genie With Book & 9 Games - 35

Tripped over a yardsale on the way to the flea market Sunday. When I asked about video games they brought out the NES stuff. They actually brought it out pretty fast (only took a minute or two) I think they were actually planning on selling it and just haven't gotten to bringing it out yet, this was about 20 minutes before the official start time of the sale. Looked it over and asked about the missing TV hookup (only to be told any A/V cord would work). Wanted 40 and I said I was thinking more like 10 to 20. I suggested meeting in the middle at 30 and was told that 35 was the best they would do.

I actually put the NES bundle down and almost left without it but decided what the hell and ended up getting it since it at least had all 3 of the Super Mario games. I figured I'd regret not buying it if it ended up being a slow day at the flea market (which it was).
 
[quote name='allyourblood']Yeah, class act all the way, there.[/QUOTE]

Yep.

I had a guy trying to talk me down in price using that tactic on a '66 Cadillac I was selling. He was saying he would have to pay this much for a custom paint job, that much for wheels and other custom add ons so he could put it in shows.

I basically told him that was his problem. If he wanted it he would have to pay the price I wanted. Some people are easily manipulated though.
 
Its pretty dishonest but if the sellers are gullible enough to believe a bunch of prices written down on paper then I don't really feel bad for them.

Since there are a lot of sellers here claiming that everything is a "collectible" and that it is worth money and tons of the sales I go to have things overpriced more than what I can get them at other places every day of the week I cannot feel bad for the sellers anymore. Then I get home and find out these collectible items are worth nothing or aren't selling at all on ebay, but to be fair I never did fall for that trick anyways. Though I really don't think they are trying to scam anyone, they just genuinely don't know its worth nothing, and they are just trying to pitch items they can't sell to whomever possible.

I haven't run into a scanner yet in this area but that is probably because we don't really have enough sales in this area and the sales are spread far apart between quite a few towns so you would have to do quite a bit of driving to hit them all. Even if you hit them all its possible you could strike out and not even hit a sale with decent books or text books. There might be 5-10 sales in each town/city with a 10-15 min drive between places. Plus you have to know the areas so you can find all the streets easy, unless you have a GPS unit.

Another thing that isn't really related here that I would like to mention, my local library has almost all the big name Wii titles available for rent for free. I guess I don't really need to buy any of them since I can just rent them at the library. You can borrow one game for a week and if I am gonna play a Wii game for longer than that then I should probably just buy it for myself. Too bad the library doesn't have better hours so it would be easier to return and pick up games. However the library is pretty close to me so that is a plus. Someone could save a ton of money by just renting the games instead of buying them for $50 each.
 
[quote name='SaraAB']Its pretty dishonest but if the sellers are gullible enough to believe a bunch of prices written down on paper then I don't really feel bad for them.[/QUOTE]

I don't think that's the point at all, but you should remember that the next time someone puts one over on you.

People are going to do what they want to do. I just think it's in bad form to broadcast that sort of thing to everyone here. Anyway, I'm over it; carry on.
 
No I don't feel dishonest infact I beleive half price is about right. Lets look at some of the facts. Sometimes the prices are with out shipping, THIS COSTS, I have to pay for shipping materials THIS COSTS (yes I use the free boxes but padding and ext), all of these costs must be figured into what an item is worth. I might still mention these costs to the seller but I still feel half cost is about right.

I consider myself an honest man I sell for decent prices and try not to rip anyone off. I have seen prices rise and fall and rise again. So half the labeled price protects me from drops. I also feel that as a collector half price is what I would pay for my collection there for its what its worth to me.

Now if you feel that is dishonest fine you pay a higher price, let the sellers rip you off. Its no more dishonest then not informing them "Hey your $0.50 item here is worth $200.00". That is the same thing in my opinion you are buying the item under false pretense. I am simply bringing the price down to what I feel the items are worth to me in the current conditions. I have never seen a game full of dust that hasn't been cleaned up sell for the same on ebay as a clean one. If you send dusty games your ripping the buyers off. So I feel more then happy and honest showing them my 1/2 priced list. Its what I feel the games are worth.

I dont do half priced on anything above $20 I mark them down less.

Now that I am done defending myself :booty:not that I need to. I would like to hear your garage sale tactics? How do you talk them down on games? Do you use the fact that its an OLD NINTENDO?
 
[quote name='desert_gold_hound']Its no more dishonest then not informing them "Hey your $0.50 item here is worth $200.00". [/QUOTE]

I guess I live on a different planet.

Put it in the setting of a store. Say Metroid Prime Trilogy is marked $35. Are you going to go up to the counter and tell them it's $90 on ebay so you pay $90? No.

Are you going to tell them it's worth $20 and tell them that's MSRP and demand it at that price? No.
 
[quote name='elessar123']Put it in the setting of a store. Say Metroid Prime Trilogy is marked $35. Are you going to go up to the counter and tell them it's $90 on ebay so you pay $90? No.

Are you going to tell them it's worth $20 and tell them that's MSRP and demand it at that price? No.[/QUOTE]

First off I am not saying its dishonest I am saying its NO MORE dishonest.

I don't tell them it eather. I can almost garenty that all of you have used the lines "I only have $$ on me" , "How much is this !!OLD!! Nintendo game".....

The money one is a LIE and I see it on here all the time. Is this lie any better then my price list? If so please tell me how one lie is ok and my list is not.

At garage sales games are dirty and not tested. THAT LIST IS ACCURATE plane and simple for this reason alone.


EDIT: Oh and by the way we are not dealing with STORES we are dealing with Garage sales BIG DIFFERENCE....OK OK and please don't use my spelling against me I also noticed it and don't plan to fix it.
 
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