Tales from Good Will / Salvation Army 2008

I've never posted on here before, but I lurk the forums rather often and I've been especially interested in the threads related to Goodwill/pawnshops/flea markets/etc as of late, so I've been making rounds to local pawnshops and flea markets over the past few weeks, only to return (mostly) emptyhanded.

There are two Goodwills in the area and I had been wanting to check one out that I hadn't been to in well over a year, just for the sake of doing so.
I wandered in with my friend and my girlfriend and we browsed around for a little while.
I spotted a SNES football game, Tetris for GB, a few REALLY old PS1 titles, mostly sports related (and when I say old, I mean OLD. Like, tall-box old. None sealed, though.) and a few PC games in the glass counter up front. On my way out, I decided to further inspect the games in the counter and there were a few more tall-boxed PS1 games and a golf PC game, if I remember correctly.
As I stood back up, I noticed a double-disc PS1 case in the VERY back of the counter, behind EVERYTHING else. Upon further inspection, I noticed it was a black-label copy of Final Fantasy VII.
I IMMEDIATELY asked the woman to let me see the stack of games in the back and while there was nothing else interesting, the copy of FFVII was in near-mint condition. No cracks in the case, manual included, all three discs were scuff free. The only downside was some sticker residue on the inner top of the discs, but nothing that would affect gameplay. The total came out to $10.68. I'm STILL beyond stoked about it.

Needless to say, I'm checking out the other local Goodwill tomorrow.
 
[quote name='Doomstink']To everyone thinking Goodwill stores are a treasure trove of rare video games (or video games in general), they usually (about 80% of the time) are not. Most of the stores send off their video games to their respective state's central processing facility. That facility will then take the games and list them on www.shopgoodwill.com

In short, most of the video games that get given to Goodwill wind up on www.shopgoodwill.com. Those that don't just managed to slip by. The goodwill stores in my area almost never have games, I've only found worthwhile games twice and have only found anything rare once (and the discs were stolen).

Goodwill stores will ALWAYS be very hit or miss and I can't recommend making any long distance trips to them.

Also, not only do the games get sent to their website, if they do make it out on the floor or into the cases at the front, the old people shopping in the stores will normally snatch them up for their grandchildren no matter what the games are. I've just found it very hard to find anything at Goodwill stores.[/quote]

thats funny because I always see stuff in the cases near the register like jewelry (albeit real gold that might be worth something), comic books, and then a few days later the whole case is empty. Either they throw stuff out to make room for new stuff, or some re-seller /collector goes in there and buys the whole shabang :lol:
 
[quote name='Ye0ldmario']thats funny because I always see stuff in the cases near the register like jewelry (albeit real gold that might be worth something), comic books, and then a few days later the whole case is empty. Either they throw stuff out to make room for new stuff, or some re-seller /collector goes in there and buys the whole shabang :lol:[/quote]

They may also just rotate stock so new stuff is in the front fairly often, which is a fairly good idea.
 
There are never any games at our Goodwill. :( It's always like, size Small checker-patterned sport-coats and beanies. Worthless.
 
10usd for what I do believe what was once a complete suit set, spread throughout the store. Games? Nah.
smile.gif
 
Stopped by SA today for a few minutes and they didn't have jack shit. (yeah they're open on sundays) Funny thing is there was a sign that said "all media, cd's, records, video tapes, cassettes and video games half off" where are the damn video games? "new haul will be in tomorrow"

okay grandma. I'll be back!
 
Well, down at a good will I stop by every now and then, saw a few Dreamcast games on the shelf mixed in with the normal CDs. All old sports titles, but in the hopes that one of the discs were in the wrong case, I started looking though them. Well, to my surprise, one of them had a pirated copy of Crazy Taxi in it, complete with cropped cover art for a CD label.
 
Stopped at one I hadn't been in for months.

They had actually organized their PC games. Got a Disc/Case copy of Arcanum, for $2.
Saw several copies of Half Life GOTY edition, Diable, Starcraft, etc. Baldur's Gate 2 with Expansion.
All were $2.

Not a bad selection.
 
I just got back from SA and they had Madden 95 CIB for genesis and College Footballs National championship CIB for genesis,

$2 each, I grabbed them because they were both complete.
 
I've been so bummed about my Goodwill store because they haven't had anything great in a long while. Nothing else better to do at lunch today so I stopped in and found a plethora of 90's alt-rock!

Matthew Good Band - Beautiful Midnight
Matthew Good Band - Underdogs
Jimmy Eat World - (self-titled)
Jimmy Eat World - Futures
I Mother Earth - Blue Green Orange
Semisonic - All About Chemistry
Spacehog - The Chinese Album
and my favs: (already own them, but they're GOOD albums)
Tonic - Sugar
Our Lady Peace - Spiritual Machines :hot:

Couldn't pass them up at a buck a pop.

Also grabbed a Metroid Prime 3: Corruption guide in really good condition and a Nintendo 64 (no cables/controllers) for $5.00. Not too bad as my younger sister took my N64 and games awhile ago!
 
I haven't found any major things yet, but have picked these up in the last month -
Does anyone know if the turbo controller is worth anything or safe to use, haven't sen much about it around.


1 Grey N64 Controller - 3.99
1 Clear Green Turbo N64 Controller - 3.99
1 N64 Memory Card - 3.99, It's still sealed in the original box
Battle Vixens book 1 - 0.79 (Manga)
:xbox: Blinx the Time Sweeper - 3.99
:xbox: Dead or Alive 3 - 3.99
:xbox: Kakuto Chojin: Back Alley Brutal - 3.99
PS1 Breath of Fire 3 - 5.99, disc only
The Pagemaster - 2.99
F-Zero - 2.99
Super Mario World - 2.99


:xbox: Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude - 3.99
Diablo 2 LoD Strategy Guide - 0.99
Sonic 2 - 2.99
NES Monopoly - 2.99, open but has all original papers and casings.
 
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Went to a couple random thrift stores today and didn't find much of anything. One had a sealed copy of Motocross Mania for PSX and a complete copy of Rad Racer for NES, but neither was worth the asking price by any means.
I went to another one that was devoid of any video games except a Nintendo 64 for $5, which was a pretty good deal, but I passed it up due to being tight on fundage.
Perhaps I'll fare better next time.
 
it's hit and miss on the systems with no wires. I wish they would at least take 5 minutes of their time and test it out before putting it on the floor.
 
[quote name='Ye0ldmario']it's hit and miss on the systems with no wires. I wish they would at least take 5 minutes of their time and test it out before putting it on the floor.[/quote]

I asked the local stores why they won't take the time to see if everything is included with the items before putting them out on the floor. They told me they 'get too much stuff in to have any time to test it'.

I suppose that's why 4-5 of the employees are just standing around twiddling their thumbs when I come in, huh?

Although, I doubt some of them would know how to hook them up(since most of the people working at my local SA stores are old), even if they had the right wires and tv or whatever to hook them up to test them.
 
[quote name='IAmTheCheapestGamer']I asked the local stores why they won't take the time to see if everything is included with the items before putting them out on the floor. They told me they 'get too much stuff in to have any time to test it'.

I suppose that's why 4-5 of the employees are just standing around twiddling their thumbs when I come in, huh?

Although, I doubt some of them would know how to hook them up(since most of the people working at my local SA stores are old), even if they had the right wires and tv or whatever to hook them up to test them.[/quote]
I think that N64 auction with the SNES controllers and NES games pretty much proves most of the employees don't know the first thing about game systems.
 
I passed on alot of good stuff from there before because some of it is just so high priced that it's not worth taking the chance.

At least at flea markets the guys have inverters in their truck so they can plug stuff in. The one I go to they do this.

Theres one guy who sells tools and once in a while some video game stuff and he lets people plug it in his inverter in his van to see if it works.
 
I posted this in the Transformer thread in the Othe Deals section, but it might be more appropriate in here...

Here's what I found today at our local Goodwill, mint and complete:
100_2204.jpg


for this price:
100_2214.jpg


I found that 25th Optimus Prime mere minutes after I had scoffed at that same GW's value appraisal of items, as they want $5 each for old Atari 2600 cartridges.
 
Lots of Goodwills get the leftover clearance from local Targets and they had all clearanced out their 25th Ops after Christmas. I picked one up at 75% off ($14.98), but $7.99 (and in that condition) is a steal! That's awesome. All the ones that made it to 75% at my store were in awful condition.
 
Ok, I have a story to tell that will haunt me for the rest of my life
I had a chance to pick up 4 working arcade cabinets for 40 bucks a pop except for one that was 100 dollars
I was 20 minutes too late to buy missle command, UN squadron, cobra commando(each 40) and pacman (100)
Only good thing that came out of that visit was that I found two Wii-motes for 10 bucks each
 
today got a sealed smallville season 7 at a goodwill for $4. considering it retails for $70, i was floored. the real deal was the guy in front of me who got the complete calvin and hobbes (those 3 huge books in a collector's case) that retails for about $150, he got it for $10! i was so mad that i didn't see it before he got it. oh well.
 
[quote name='lolwut?']What's it actually worth?[/quote]
retail is like $70
they have two of these at my walmart on "clearance" for the low, low price of $69.87 :/
 
[quote name='chimpster1313']the real deal was the guy in front of me who got the complete calvin and hobbes (those 3 huge books in a collector's case) that retails for about $150, he got it for $10! i was so mad that i didn't see it before he got it. oh well.[/quote]

The only problem with those is they are so hard to read comfortably. I've got the Far Side set which is about the same as the Calvin one and the individual books are so heavy and akward. I actually prefer my old paperbacks.
 
[quote name='Zincdust']I posted this in the Transformer thread in the Othe Deals section, but it might be more appropriate in here...

Here's what I found today at our local Goodwill, mint and complete:
100_2204.jpg


for this price:
100_2214.jpg


I found that 25th Optimus Prime mere minutes after I had scoffed at that same GW's value appraisal of items, as they want $5 each for old Atari 2600 cartridges.[/quote]

Oh man, I love Transformers and really wanted that one, but the msrp was insane. :cry:
 
Be careful of xbox 360 games at goodwill.I went there today and got ninja gaiden 2.I got home put it in my 360 and found out the games are fakes.I had a bad feeling about them being fakes because they were in blank cases with a color copy of the real cover.I figured it was a old rental wrong.They had a big case of those games so stay away
 
[quote name='samblueman']Be careful of xbox 360 games at goodwill.I went there today and got ninja gaiden 2.I got home put it in my 360 and found out the games are fakes.I had a bad feeling about them being fakes because they were in blank cases with a color copy of the real cover.I figured it was a old rental wrong.They had a big case of those games so stay away[/quote]

Well now, I think that's a rather rare case there. It still sucks to get screwed like that, but I don't think EVERY goodwill is going to have this problem... it's not like they're bootlegging the games.
 
Found this one today:

HeroQuest (board game) for $7.00 (complete!). Kinda like D&D lite. I remember playing it with some friends of mine when we were about 10-11 and they had mentioned that "they stopped making it." Instantly my CAG senses went off and I picked it up! Somewhat rare, it looks like it gets around $50 on ebay. :) Still don't know if I'm going to keep it or not.
 
[quote name='Zeguna']Oh man, I love Transformers and really wanted that one, but the msrp was insane. :cry:[/quote]


I bought that for $46 2 months ago on amazon. Thats a big win right there.

I'm going to stop by my local shop today for lunch, I will report back with any findings.
 
I just got back from my salvation army store in Lansdale, pa. No games or dvds, just a bunch of VHS tapes and old cds. The place was such a mess and pretty busy. I won't be back.
 
passed up the opportunity for a bulky playstation 1 with a controller, medal of honor in the disc holder, but missing the a/v cable for $7.50. slightly debating going back for it. think i should?
 
P1000163.jpg


Here is what I got at my Salvation Army store today (my first time ever going into one too never knew where to find it)

$3.99 for Mario Bros/Duck Hunt with a Manual and Case
$1.99 for Sonic Classics which has Sonic 1, Sonic 2, and Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine (got this for $.99 since it was half off :)). When I first put it in the Genesis it would not read but after getting some glass cleaner and cleaning off the pins it worked perfectly.

Now to get a NES....
 
I picked up a SNES today with no AV cable/power wire for $6.99 plus tax. It's a bit dirty and I need to clean it up, but hopefully it's a great find. I've always wanted a SNES and for $7 I couldn't say no.
 
I just got back from the Salvation Army. Well two trips. I walked down and bought a sealed pack of staples for .75 that apparently were the kind (not for my free yardsale Arrow stapler, but the kind to put up insulation or thin boards).

Anyway, I mentioned to my dad they had an HP LaserJet 4+ for $5.75 with three third party toner cartridges for $4.75 each. Apparently, the printer he brought from his last job was a LaserJet 5, but it didn't work. We got back, he plugged it in and it fired right up.

Oh, and for those who don't know... the printer is worth apparently like $70-$100 and the toner cartridges at least $20 a piece. I never really followed printers much, as I haven't printed anything in 5 years. All I knew was that it was likely a good deal.

Finally, the kicker... last night he caved in and bought a Canon Laser Jet for like $300, as the Xerox laserjet we had hooked up isn't compatible with Vista.
 
[quote name='Animal7390']i still have the snes i got for my 9th birthday. still works perfectly with no discoloration.[/quote]

That's what shocked me about this one, is that there's no real discoloration on this one either. It's a little dirty and I may have to search through my entire tool set to find the right bit to open this up and clean it out thoroughly, but first and foremost I'm finding a set of cables for it so I can test it and make sure it works before I put any work into cleaning it.

Again, for $7 I couldn't say no.

Now if only I'd picked up that GC/SNES/N64 AV cable I saw at another local SA for months for $3-4.
 
[quote name='detectiveconan16']I saw a GameGear with about 10 games at the Goodwill. Asking price was $25.[/quote]
Do you remember thegames, or if it had any accerssories? It could be an excellent deal.
 
[quote name='IAmTheCheapestGamer']That's what shocked me about this one, is that there's no real discoloration on this one either. It's a little dirty and I may have to search through my entire tool set to find the right bit to open this up and clean it out thoroughly, but first and foremost I'm finding a set of cables for it so I can test it and make sure it works before I put any work into cleaning it.

Again, for $7 I couldn't say no.

Now if only I'd picked up that GC/SNES/N64 AV cable I saw at another local SA for months for $3-4.[/quote]

Yeah, mine's a bit dirty, but not discolored. And I've smoked around the thing as I've gotten older. Heck, my dad's one hasn't discolored really and he's smoked around it too. The only one we have that's really badly discolored is one he got from some yard sale for $1 or $2 as the plastic was cracked (to the point there was a hole near the back of the case. He bought it for parts, then got home and foun the thing still worked.
 
Empirical evidence has shown that it's mostly sunlight that discolors the type of plastic that they used in electronics in the 90's. So if your SNES has been sitting in the back of your closet for 15 years, it's probably not going to be that discolored.
 
My brother's SNES was already discolored when he bought it used at Gamestop in '96. It really didn't take too long for the discoloration to kick in.
 
stopped by the salvation army yesterday and once again they only had 2 genesis gammes (boxed). NHL 96 and another hockey game for 1.99 (passed). But I did find one of another atari TV games paddle for $3, and it works great. Now I have the ms. pacman one and the regular pacman one :)

I don't know what the deal is with the SA I go to, they never have any systems and all they ever have are genesis sports games. It looks like the person who goes through all the junk takes the video game stuff for themselves. Not fair!
 
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WOO HOO!!! THE SNES I bought the other day for $7 WORKS!!! I tested it at my one local shop. Now all I need to do is find some wires and some games worth playing on it.
 
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