Gah! Game Inflation!

[Alienblue]

Well, 3 weeks ago I went into our local Goodwill and got a loose copy of Jungle Book for Genesis for 99 cents. Great find, great price, great game! I would've paid $3 or $4 for it.

But today I went into the SAME GW store...at first I was excited to see they had more Genny and SNES games, including TOYS, TOY STORY, PEBBLE BEACH and BATMAN FOREVER(ugh!). Also some loose handheld games. But my jaw dropped when I turned them over and saw the price! $8.99!!!! Almost 9 bucks for dirty,loose games that were not even that great! The handhelds like Blackjack and connect 4 were $5! That is a dollar MORE than these games sold for over at wal*mart NEW!!!! Are other collectors having this "sticker shock" at Goodwill/Salvation army stores and other second hand places? It seems now word is out they are "collectible" they think every 2600 COMBAT is gold-plated!!!!

[andrew]

Its annoying to pay so much for old games. EBgames n64 prices fluctuate like crazy. One day starcraft 64 is $8.99 (great price), the next day nascar 99 sells for almost $20. At this store called bluenose, every n64 game is over $20 dollars with many $30 - $40 dollars. That's awful. I'm not spending over $20 for killer instinct gold!
 
Also annoyed that PS2 new games are selling just $10 less than next-gen games when many are second rate versions. I'm not spending $60 with tax for Tony Hawk Downhill Domination PS2. Although Metal Slug Anthology PS2 is amazing, $60 is too much. I wish the game was around $35 new.

[feilong801]

I know what you mean, Alien. In fact, it is getting harder and harder to even find such things at a Goodwill or Garage Sale. eBay has changed the rules to some extent, and if it looks like it has any sort of value, even kitsch value, someone is more prone to eBay it than to sell if for a few dollars in a garage sale or donate it to goodwill.

All I can ever find anymore are freakin' VHS tape rewinders! Not exactly the best game design on those...

-Rob

[BigOldCar]

Alienblue, I know what you mean, but I wouldn't let it get you down.  The prices at Salvation Army and (especially) Goodwill are erratic at best.  Sometimes I'll find two copies of the same item for very different prices!  The worst part is that if you bring it to their attention, they can only point to the policy that says that items are priced at the central warehouse and can't be changed in-house, and anything without a price tag can't be sold at all (just sent back to the warehouse where they'll guess at another price and send it back).  It's weird, real hit-or-miss.  I keep seeing dollar store items marked at $1.99!  *Shrug*

(I understand where they're coming from with their policies, though.  People are stupid and will steal from charity.  Without those policies in place, folks will peel off stickers and name their own prices, or start haggling and trying to make offers on groups of items.   "I know it adds up to $10, but I'm only willing to pay $8."  I had losers doing this at the one and only yardsale I had, even though the stuff I was selling was mostly next-to-new and clearly marked (and way cheap).  In my area, it is especially prevalent with ESL types.  I have no patience for that kind of nonsense.)

Be sure to check out church-run secondhand shops.  One place (A Company of Angels) had a bunch of Saturn games in new condition in their original cases.  But I'm not a Saturn guy.

[Anayo1]

I know what you're talking about, dude. I haven't been seeing $8.99 Sega/SNES games, but out of the three Goodwills I try to periodically check, there's this one in particular that has some borderline prices. I don't know about you, but when I buy a game from Goodwill, I expect to get a BARGAIN, not pay the eBay price. For instance, this one Goodwill has a nasty habit of selling NES games for $5 each - just as much as you can get them for on the Wii Virtual console! They also had SNES systems before without any cables, and they wanted $25 for them. An SNES system with cables and controllers was priced at $40. A Sega Genesis without any cables at all isn't uncommon to be seen going for $15. NES with cables, controller, and zapper was $30. I know these prices aren't quite extreme enough to be "unreasonable", not like that story posted somewhere on this message board about the $90 NES at a flea market, but still... they sure to push their pinky toes over that fine line of "good thrift store bargain" and "shoot, I might as well just get it on eBay."

Also, am I the only one who finds it irritating that thrift stores price old Atari and Colecovision games with the same $2-$3 tags they put on Sega and SNES games?