The state of retro game collecting at thrift stores...

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Some footage from World of Longplays (With permission)

[RetroNick]

Just gonna say, youtube re selling killed thrifting

[birdazoid]

Found a stack of Sega CD games for $3 each. In that stack was the cleanest copy of Snatcher I’ve ever seen. It’s still one of my most prized possessions in my game collection.

[christianescobar]

My area mostly has Goodwills and Salvation Armies. They dont even put out video games, they sell them on ebay.

[CyberNinja]

Eco Tek and Eco Town are Japanese second-hand stores. They also own Book off in the US anf Hard Off in Japan. That's why you saw all the Japanese games. They are regularly imported to the US.

[scourdx]

You can still score some good finds at thrift stores, but they often check eBay prices and set their game prices accordingly. Just yesterday, I saw Wind Waker for GameCube priced at $99.99, Mary Skelter for PS Vita at $89.99, and Silent Hill 4 for PS2 at $129.99. The downside is that thrift stores usually don’t offer refunds, and they often don’t verify the condition or authenticity of items, which means buyers are taking a big risk. That said, I’ve occasionally found titles priced well below eBay listings, so if you’re lucky and in the right spot at the right time, you can snag some great deals.

[apathyinc.]

I used to be able to find entire Vinyl record collections in very good shape at thrift stores. Now the employees raid those things and flip them. All you can get is garbage Christmas records from people you've never heard of, now.

[ColinHutchins-eq]

Honestly I am so offended by 97% of resellers.
So grossed out that I don't want to give these bums for retro games.

[billdagrasshawking]

This might get a bit long, but you asked about my biggest thrift store win ever and I have an epic story. My family wasn’t exactly well off, grandma was a single mother of four in 1960’s Canada. I’m not even sure why or how but she had an incredible knowledge of antiques and collectibles. My mother being a single mother in 1980’s Canada ended up needing to work every chance she could which left grandma babysitting me most weekends from the time I went from toddler to teen. For many years we would spend two weekends a month thrifting and garage sale hunting. one weekend would be spent cleaning and refurbishing our finds. The last weekend of the month we would run a garage sale or set up a stall at a flea market. By the time I was 15 I could construct any piece of furniture from any piece of junk you can imagine. By my 20’s I had a bizarre amount of knowledge for things like 1st edition books, antique glass an grand ma’s favourite Japanese tea cups. In 2007 I moved across the country chasing the wrong women, scrambling to find a job, I ended up working as a donation sorter in a large chain of thrift stores. My first week a Noritaki “tree in the meadow” set showed up in a box, along with two “occupied Japan” tea sets. My boss insisted they were hideous and would never sell, she told me to trash them. I tried to tell her what they were she got mad an told me off, when I asked if I could keep them she said sure just leave me alone. I sold that box for over $4000

[suicidesamuraiz]

I'm in Oregon, and they still have what I understand is the last Goodwill Tech store, but everything is super over priced.

I grew up in the flea-market/garage sale/antique shop/thrift world, and one day my mom found 4 books of 12 (or 16), 1 oz. National Park coins marked $4 each. She tried to tell the woman they were EXTREMELY underpriced, but the woman cut her off to say, "NO BARTERING, " so she bought 48+ oz of .995 coins for $16.

[Applegs]

I started thrift store shopping way back in 1995. You wouldn't believe back then how many vintage computers, video game consoles and game cartridges there were, they'd be overflowing to the point you'd find them loosely scattered on the floor! Cost? Practically pennies! Most game cartridges were 25 cents or less, a game console like a SNES, Genesis or NES a buck or two. Or C64, Apple IIc, Amiga 2000? Just $2! I built my entire video game collection hunting thrift stores during the 90's and early 2000's, and dirt cheap because no one wanted these back then (you could bring an armful of stuff to the cash and make an offer). I think the most expensive thrift purchase back then was my Vectrex for $25.

What made it so fun and enjoyable was how inexpensive a hobby it was, I was collecting and playing ALL the older generation game consoles for practically pocket change. It's sadly no more, if I do happen to see vintage games or console at a Salvation Army or Goodwill they're priced like eBay, way beyond what it's worth to me. Ironically it was the Internet that got me into game thrifting, but it was the Internet that killed it.

It's not all lost, back in September last year, someone was unloading boxes from their car to donate to a thrift store in my neighbourhood. I walked by and saw a box marked "video game stuff" and curiously asked what was in it, because I collect video games. The guy said, "you want it? It's yours! Take it". Didn't cost me a dime and it had inside a complete Wii U, complete PS3 Slim, controllers and a mountain of games for both! Talk about the right place at the right time!

[ohmfly]

I bought a machete off the shelf at goodwill. The cashier asked me where I found it and was shocked. She said “someone’s getting fired today”

[matthewschuiling]

Everyone’s going to say I’m lying, but I found and bought a clay fighter sculptures cut authentic from Salvation Army for $20 in 2020. Craziest thrift find I think anyone has ever had. Happy to share the story

[keggarmaker]

Thrift stores near me are a joke, they literally have Dollar Tree items marked $3.99 when you can buy them new for $1.25. That's just an example of how bad all of the items are marked.

[manmalone]

Yeah my local savers is plagued by this couple who are resellers who are there from 9:00 to 8:00 all day waiting by the door for them to send out the carts. The key is unfortunately you have to go every day to find good stuff. One of these days I'm gonna snag something out of their cart and run to buy it and flip them off even if it causes me to be banned from the store

[cristiansegui]

I feel like it honestly comes down to where you live because here where I live we just have a few Goodwill's and they barely ever put anything cool out. I've found games before but rarely but overall I never find much or anything, watching this video wherever he's from has so many amazing thrift stores and videogame stores so of course he's going to find a lot but it literally comes down where you're from and what stores you have around you!

[RadiumZ]

I remember you from the game expos in Portland, and I think I interviewed you for my channel years ago. You were always nice and funny. I’m glad your channel is where it is. Super Genuine. Love this video. Hope to see you again someday.

[bradyobrien]

5.99 violin goodwill ended up being an early 1900s original. Sold for 500 to local shop to fix up same day, worth 2k after refurbishing.

[huskerschaben]

Game related: NIB original xbox console for $30, sealed gba metroid fusion and castlevania circle of the moon for $5 each, about 100 early Nintendo Power magazines for $0.50 each. Non game related: Nakamichi Dragon cassette player for $15, Beatles Butcher album for $0.49, bunch of 80s/90s hip hop concert tees (biggie, tupac, dmc) for $3 each

[Wj]

Biggest flex ever at a thrift (Goodwill) was when I found an NES Top Loader with about 5 games (commons) with 2 controller and the hookups for 10 bucks back in 2019. The same trip they had $1 N64 games: Super Smash, Mario 64, Mario Kart, Goldeneye, and several others

[the_vintage_reserve]

Biggest find at a thrift store is actually a 3 way tie between a vintage Carhart arctic parka for $20, 14k gold Hamilton watch for $50, and a Hamilton khaki field LL Bean manual wind watch for $6. Each item is worth somewhere around $700