Tips To Save Money When Buying Video Games

While video game prices are currently high, there are still some deals to be found. In this video I give some general suggestions when buying physical video games at stores and conventions. What are your tips you would add? In the comments below let me know!
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▼▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
Subscribe for Free Videos!

Thumbnail made by Mason Conrad
Twitter: @MasNConrad

Binge watch some of my playlists below:

Bad Video Games:

Homebrew & Aftermarket Games

Ranking Videos:

Switch videos:

Xbox videos:

PlayStation videos

Arcade Related Videos:

Affiliate links below:
Switch OLED

Xbox Series S

First Time Oculus Quest 2 users can get $30 in store credit!

Cool NES themed mouse here

Tonor TC30 microphone

Sony Alpha a6100 Camera

[lobo]

Another benefit to buying at a show or flea market is avoiding sales tax. On the other hand, you have to factor in the cost of gas if it's a long trip.

[tommiegun]

In my country we have an second hand site where you can buy and sell stuff,

I've made an deal with people i have traded old junk from my home and i exchange that for gaming stuff,

I had a lott of old army clothes,
I traded that for gaming stuff.

In this way last year i've collected more than 30 consoles now.
And a huge games collection.

I was walking in my home and looked at what i dont use or want,
And then i put it on the second hand trading place to trade against gaming stuff,

I' ve lost my leg,
And there fore i cant work, soo i dont have allot of money to spend on games...
Soo trading for me was an great way to build an gaming collection😬👍...

Greetz yall from holland👍
Love the gaming community,
Great video again john🙏

[matthewcraig]

I love the show by the way I've been watching for a few years but I've never commented until you brought up this.

[kjhoskins]

Good stuff, John. I always try to support the independent small business. They are what's going to keep the retro gaming industry alive. Thanks for the video.

[matthewcraig]

The game store I traded my stuff was in Beaverton Oregon and I think they have another location to Hillsboro but outside of that there's no place to find used games.

[ThomasHostvedt]

Great advice John, as always. Another issue I have had collecting is any emotional tie to a specific game such as nostalgia. Be careful not to let emotions determine how much you are willing to pay. It’s easier said than done but I cannot count how many times I overpaid for a game because of this and then had extreme buyer’s remorse later after playing it for 5 minutes. 😂 Keep your emotions in check when making gaming purchases.

[zemiq]

Waiting is one of the absolute best tips for me! The price of new releases usually drops, and if I still think I really want it 6 months or a year later, I'll save more money & be more likely to play ot too.

[thafutureonline]

watching your videos makes me feel like were best friends John! you rock!

[DarkWorldQ]

Some tips that I would like to add:
1. Check used games, especially if they are on retro consoles
2. Consider getting a loose cartridge or a disc in a generic replacement case. Sometimes missing manuals might save you money.
3. Consider importing from other regions. Some games will cost much less in other regions. I know that some Japanese games will cost much less than its region 1 counterpart.
4. If a game was released on 2 generations at the same time, usually the older generation copy will cost less.
5. Skip getting limited/collector's editions.

[nearvanaman]

A few months ago, I was buying an Atari Jaguar and GameDrive at Disc Replay in the Chicago suburbs. Not something you see very often in person, so I was keen to buy. But, when I checked the prices they were selling for, I saw that the GameDrive was cheaper at Stone Age Gamer. When I told them that I'd only take the Jaguar for that reason, they instantly had no problem knocking about $60 off the GameDrive, selling it a little cheaper than SAG. Turns out that when they priced it, SAG had been out of stock and they were going off eBay prices. Moral of the story: it's good to talk.

[SnickterP]

I picked up a complete Panzer Dragoon Saga in 2015 for a now very reasonable $400 at a convention following the advice you just gave. Expressed interest to the private seller early on in the day. Returned to him at the end of the show and got it for about $30 less than his original ask. Very glad I picked it up now when I did!

[hectormontalvo]

There used to be a chain of retro stores here called Game Craze and they were awesome but the owner began to close them down because he wasn't making the amount of money he wanted!?! Eventually the last one closed around 2018 or so. So now there's no retro store here. And I just don't trust buying on-line too risky. I still have some 8-bit and 16-bit games I'll like to buy but they're usually loose and ridiculously going for premium price like they were sealed! Nah I gave up retro collecting. Good topic and cool video John!👉😃👈

[ytjaymz-x]

"just wait for sales and don't buy games you're not gonna play" is the best advice IMO.

[stevefulkerson]

I've built up a huge collection over the years going back several console generations by buying things used and on sale. Some of my holy grail games were bought out of clearance bins before they were holy grails. I only buy games that I'm interested in and I rarely by games on release day. Another good way is to pick up games that are the outgoing console. That's when I get games on the cheap that looked interesting but I'd never pay full price for.

[Cellfix]

I went to my first retro video game convention in my country (Norway) some couple of years ago. I went because The Game Chasers, The Completionist, Pat the Nes Punk and Brentalfloss was coming and I wanted to meet them all. I was prepared to spend a huge chunk of money (I just should've bought that Little Samson copy for $190), and I used the "tips" I had learned from The Game Chasers, and it was funny, because I saw people getting turned down (politely) left and right when I was using my "Jedi mind tricks" to save in total about $120 by talking to the owners of the booths and not their employes. It was a lot of fun. I scored two sealed gba games for $10 that now go for around $280 EACH, but I can never find one that are really "new", they just say they are new, but they aren't sealed, every single one of them are opened. I found ONE that was sealed some years ago, but it was badly crushed and my two copies are in mint condition.
So when I need a new kidney, I'm selling one and keeping the other one for myself XD

But anyways, everyone was really friendly, and I was getting deals here and there. You know, buy a lot, get like $25-$35 off, stuff like that. But then I came to this vendor, I found Hexen and Command and Conquer for the PS1, and I asked that if I buy them both if I could get $2 off the final price, which was $20, TWO DOLLARS!! And he acted like I had just pissed on his mothers grave!! Eventualy he gave in, I was polite all the way, but he was really acting like I was the spawn of Satan or something.


It was only $2 my man...

[MVLGAMING]

I always like to shop around, but the places I do go to often I can sometimes find better deals since I've built a good standing with the seller. Though I'll admit my impulsive nature often gets the better of me!

[danestegman]

Good video and some really good advice! It is tough nowadays to collect the much older titles, but if you look around, you can find some good buys!

[matthewcraig]

Couple days ago I traded in my GameCube, and then my game boy and my game boy advance. Very next day they all were released on the Nintendo switch.

[WilliamSmith-exet]

Hey John, great video there is a caveat to trade “something in your collection that you no longer care about… “ It will be some thing you care about once you don’t have it anymore lol isn’t that such a strange psychological phenomenon.

[benozkleenex]

With recession a lot more people are selling on ebay and this is where I see the best price atm. Got complete spikeout for 90$.