Adventures in thrift store console pricing

norton9478

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The OP works at a Thrift store and to quote the original poster so, $150 isn't unreasonable for all of that, but I highly doubt anyone that shops at our thrift store is going to pay that much, but, I could be wrong"
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The Retro Games shop that I went in was STOCKED to the brim with sh8t BUT this was early last year....I mean, everytime I've went into the place they are stocked to the brim with RETRO stuff so I highly doubt the shelves were cleaned out like toilet paper and hand sanitizer was....

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Once in a while, the one of the thrift stores around here will charge a lot of stuff (mostly stereo). I guess they get it because it disappears.

Goodwill (which we don't have around here), puts their non junk shit on ebay.
https://www.ebay.com/str/gwspokane/Video-Games-Consoles/_i.html?_sacat=1249&rt=nc&LH_Sold=1
 
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norton9478

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Wow, what? You can't, nor would we ever, do that here. Once a price tag is on something, that's what we charge at the register, or, as my boss puts it: "Once an item is priced and on the floor, we can mark it down, but, never up." If I put $2 on a European copy of Kizuna Encounter, by Mai's holy tits, that's what you'd pay (plus twelve cents sales tax). Sometimes a customer will try to haggle for less, and, if their argument has merit, I'll usually mark it down or even give it to them for free (an item having damage or missing an important component that I, or other staff, didn't notice, like a small stain or tear on a T-shirt, being the most common reason, but, we often mark suspect things "as-is" too, so, it's the buyer's gamble, as it was with me and Masturbating Tarzan, who was marked as-is, but worked perfectly when I got him home, installed good batteries, and put some quality porn on the telly for him to enjoy.)


What type of place is it?

Is it like a used stuff/junk shop that gets free shit? Is it privately owned or a non-profit/not-for-profit?
 

Ajax

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Have you ever heard the Nas track One Love? The overall feeling of that track is what I feel watching what has become known as "Retro Gaming". It's completely out of hand. When I got into collecting NES and Master System games seriously in the late 90s, nobody gave even the lowliest shit about any of it. I've still got almost all of the stuff I picked up back then, and I didn't pay more than a few bucks for any of it. A few years after that, 16 bit systems went through the same thing. I remember 16 year old me thinking $15 for a complete copy of Super Metroid was so fucking expensive... Glad I scooped it though. I guess the explanation is that the people in the generation that really ate this stuff up as kids are reaching middle age and have more income to burn, I dunno.

Have you seen the prices of CRT broadcast monitors recently? It's totally insane. Looking around ebay, it seems like there are some folks who have fallen into the odd situation of getting all of a newsroom's reference monitors or something, saw that they are sought after, and are unloading all 15 that they got (for free) for a grand a piece. It's silly. You ever get any of those at your place M?
 

Ajax

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@ShootTheCore - Is this Fun Unlimited up in Logan? If so, that really disheartens me. Got a lot of good scoops there back in the day.

There's an arcade dealer around here doing the same shit, and it's really frustrating. Honor the posted prices, or foh, seriously.
 

@M

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What type of place is it?

Is it like a used stuff/junk shop that gets free shit? Is it privately owned or a non-profit/not-for-profit?

Yes, all of our merchandise is donated to us free from the community at large and/or businesses. It's a Christian organization. The store has to make money to stay operational (wages, taxes, electricity, water, heat), but, I wouldn't say it's purely for profit either. Funds made by the store also go to operating our free food bank and offering utility assistance to the needy as well.
 

@M

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@Ajax:. No, we generally don't accept TVs or monitors of any kind, CRT or whatever. Sometimes one will sneak in inside a box full of other stuff (or assholes will just dump stuff at our donation doors and drive away) and we'll price and sell it, but, otherwise, they're verboten. If we started to again, we'd probably have a room stacked full of unsellable computer monitors and older analog TVs by the end of the month. We don't take PC towers either, just peripherals like mice, keyboards, speakers, webcams, etc., and those don't sell well either, even for the 25¢ we usually price them at.
 

norton9478

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If anyone wants a real mindfuck, go look what disc only copies of Wii Sports are selling for on ebay.
 

ShootTheCore

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@ShootTheCore - Is this Fun Unlimited up in Logan? If so, that really disheartens me. Got a lot of good scoops there back in the day.

There's an arcade dealer around here doing the same shit, and it's really frustrating. Honor the posted prices, or foh, seriously.

Yep, it is Fun Unlimited unfortunately. They were one of the best go-to places for used video games for years. I even worked there for a year in college, although most of my paycheck went into scooping up the best games that customers traded in.

They still have a great selection today but I discourage everyone from going there. Not only will they look up Ebay pricing on the spot while you watch, they won't sell you a game with a box or manual - even if it's the box and manual on the shelf that you bring up to the register. They will only sell you a loose cart or disc for the Ebay CIB price. A friend of mine was furious when he went to checkout with a stack of boxed 3DO and Master System games and they refused to let him take the boxes.
 

Ajax

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Wow... That's terrible and I'm sorry to hear that. I can't imagine any serious collector would waste their time with that.

That said, I got on this like... dead mall/vaporwave spiral right at the beginning of the pandemic, and I've been dying to go to the Cache Valley Mall again...
 
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