Mine's being dying off because of lame management. The only game sellers left are a buddy of mine and some absurd resellers ($40 for crusty DMG-001s that have been sitting out for the last five years and more overpriced sun damaged gear). Ian ranch dressing story Pt3 when
The "garage sale" people don't set up at the flea market anymore, now it's all the "vendor" sellers. Like the mattress guy, the stereo guy, the expired laundry detergent guy, etc. It's like a third world shanty town market now, it's definitely not the same anymore. And the retro games dried up long ago.
and all the actual yard sales it's like the only notification you get is a sign on the side of the damn highway and they never have anything of remote interest unless you're fucking 85
I've seen the laundry guy, or to say it's Consuela the cleaning lady at the La Quinta with a pallet of stolen 5 gallon drums of laundry soap and her husband with a pallet of 5 gallon drums of flat white landlord paint from the jobsite.
I’ve been going to flea markets for about 10 years and Ian hit the nail on the head. If I’m going to get up get out of my house on my day off and walk and rummage through stuff and still pay a high price tag I will just drive to local stores or online and get exactly what I want. Time is money I work too hard to give it away
Yeah, sell the good stuff online that won't sell for months because no one wants it anymore. All the big spenders have what they want, and people who got into it because it was a craze, are now dropping out. The only people left are the people who don't have a lot of money to throw around, but sellers insist on selling on ridiculous prices because greed.
It's funny watching Pat talk about this without acknowledging that his Flea Market Madness series was a big part of the reason why the collectors started going to flea markets and it became nearly impossible to find anything.
Joe H Not exactly. If you lived in rural areas, flea markets were the best place for cheap stuff and especially cheap food. Either you were smart and acknowledged the retro game scene to be plundered or not.
I live in a suburb of Cleveland and we have two flea markets within a half hour of me. Within two years of going Wednesdays in the summer and nearly every Saturday the best deals I got were ONE super Nintendo Console for 25 dollars. Literally not worth the time any more. Garage sales and family run estate sales are the last bastions of hope for finding deals. Even thrift stores these days are on crack with their prices.
jbinminot yup Jamie’s and Berea fairgrounds. It seems like at either if you’re not there literally the second someone is pulling games out of their car you’re not going to find anything hah
In my area there is one dominant estate sale company that happens to know nothing about video games. Sometimes it’s good like controllers for $2, even limited editions. Sometimes it’s bad like $75 wii with no games
Yeah I agree 100% on this cause I stopped going to flea markets and when I asked how much for this... looked at the game and they would pull out their phones to look at the prices and give me the same prices I just saw on eBay... when I tried to negotiate saying I can pay the same there they would come back well you would have to pay shipping and I’m like you would pay for eBay charges.. well buy it from there then... click click done ✅
Firestarta-666 I do the same thing then I show them the item was paid for and say you just lost out on a sale.. they probably don't care but neither do I plus it's fun to shop online in front of those sellers
Sin City Bargains exactly!!! Specially when you are buying a console you have no way to plug it in to test it ... once I bought a Dreamcast and couldn’t test it, all I can do was plug and see that the light would turn on so when I get home sure enough the disks would not read.. tried to go back the next couple of weeks and that sales never came back ... so I was out $60
Idk why this popped up in my recommended but it's funny to watch now in 2023. If you only knew how much prices would skyrocket and so many injected into retro hobbies at large, let alone games...
This is great to hear from Pat. I was a big time collector of retro (NES to N64 era) games about 7 years ago. I was grabbing games like TMNT 2 for $2 and Goldeneye for $4. I buy the games to actually play them, but the prices were getting ridiculous. I have bought maybe 10 retro games in the past 5-6 years. I would love to keep building my collection at a reasonable price.
Went to the flea market for the first time last weekend and was SHOCKED at the deals I found. OG Xbox + Wii +expensive GH guitar all for $20, gamecube controllers for $7, random Xbox/Ps2 games for 2 or 3 bucks each. flea markets are alive and well
Great video guys. I absolutely agree. Not just flea markets but even retro game stores as well. At least the ones in my location. I've noticed games piling up. All the commons your Mario's, zeldas. Everything. I think it's that most collectors already have alot of these games. I think that plays a factor into why the retro game buying and selling is in a slow period now. Not saying a bubble will burst but it's just slowing down. Itll get to the point where sellers will get tired of holding on to these games and they may end up dropping their prices. I just think it's a slow period and alot of collectors already have alot of the games out there.
Harry Warburg definitely. I just think it's just a slow down. Also not alot of collectors will pony up the cash for the heavy hitters like panic Restaurant. Flintstones surprise at dinosaur peak and other rare games. That can also factor in the slow down. Itll be interesting
I've noticed at my local pawn shop that every time I go there I see most of the same games, often there isn't much difference. back 4 years ago every time I went there would be different games every 2 weeks or so. Something is changing.
Even if some stuff starts to come back with everyone having the immediate market value on their phones, if there is a slight retraction as soon as it gets any momentum it will go right back to close to FMV for most things. I think a lot of it is a numbers game too. 10 years ago, you'd have maybe a 1 in 3 chance of going to the Flea Market and getting a good score. Now it's probably more like a 1 in 20 chance of a good score and two years ago maybe it was 1 in 18 chance. At the end of the day, I'll pop in on them once in a while just for fun maybe but hitting those and yard sales up at 6am, haggling, etc. every weekend just isn't worth it any more. Also, I know some casual gamers/collectors that have jumped ship on retro stuff in favor of newer, old things, and a lot of that casuals just pick up NES Classic, SNES Classic, Atari Gold, or the ATGames Sega system, while waiting for the N64 Mini. They don't see a rush to jump into the physical stuff as much as they did 3-4 years ago before all that stuff existed.
I agree, same thing is happening at thrift stores. Im actually finding more video game items when I go, even finding stuff at your run of the mill Goodwill. It was getting to the point that it was no fun going to hunting but now its like there's an influx of video game items showing up in thrift stores and flea markets
A few months ago I hit the Flea Market at the right time. I scored 2 working N64s with expansion packs for $5 each. 4 official Gamecube coltrollers for $1 each. 2 official N64 controllers for $1 each (one was gold). An original PS 1 for $5. and a couple SNES controllers for $1 each. I walked out with a box of excellent condition (and working) gaming goodness for $20. It was a guy that just had a junk table. He told me come back the following weekend and he would have more stuff. I was there bright and early but he never showed. Another person was in his booth selling honey.
I remember you saying in another video it's easier to buy this stuff when it's cheap than it is to try to sell it at a fair price and that is pretty much it. There's so many people getting into reselling that it's become harder to resell the stuff that was easy to sell a few years ago.
General value of SNES games over here in the EU has been steadily reducing since last year, Yoshi's island was a £30-£40 game this time last year, now you can find it for under £20 on eBay and at used game stores like CEX, there's definitely been a reduced demand for certain games on certain consoles in recent months. Benefit for people like us in it because we enjoy playing games and not in it to make a profit
My local flea market has only 1-3 sellers with games. It's all the same sun beat crap so I've given up. Another flea market that's about 40 min away I still find occasional random things like figures, odd controllers, uncommon games but most people are all priced dead nuts eBay.
When I was growing up, we had a massive flea market called Super Flea and Farmers Market, that I would go to, as a kid. I remember seeing booths with wall to wall gaming stuff, but at the time, i collected sports cards, so i was more interested in finding good deals on packs of cards. Then when I grew up, and I moved away, i finally got into gaming, but by then, they tore the super flea down. Missed opportunities, man.
People know more about what they have now then they did back in the day. I’m happy people are actually getting some money for their stuff, they probably really need it.
My favourite videos are the flea market madness series. Something about it just is so awesome to watch. You should do one video of them every two months if possible?
Mr. Zero's is a retro game shop in MN that apparently didnt get the memo. I walked in there the other day and the prices were insultingly high. They had a loose Atari 7800 for $120, an Fz1 Panasonic REAL for $219 (just the system and a controller), Earthbound for $300 and a couple game cube systems for $90 each. I just recently picked up a PC Engine Duo with 2 controllers, a turbo tap and 3 games for less than what they were asking for the Panasonic REAL. In fact, my friend just bought a REAL at a garage sale for $1! I know my friend got a really good deal, but it goes to show you that deals are still out there.
I don't do much fleamarket hunting anymore... Got tired of hearing well it goes for x amount on eBay/online... What that really means is they searched eBay and found the most outrageous price and think that people are lining up to pay that price in reality the game is probably worth a 10nth of they're asking price... That's my experience at the flea market in my area ..also the retro game shop at my local flea market closed...
I've been finding lots of deals recently! I've found recently a lot of people in my area (Ontario, Canada) are selling off their collections, making it a great time for a newer collector like myself to get deals
I’m in San Diego as well. I used to see the game guys looking for games at 7am and have to speed walk the swap meet, lately, I’ve been alone and filling my backpack up quick. I’ve even been going later in the day and finding good stuff. Maybe it’s the recent heat. Hopefully it’s like this for awhile, it’s been fun!
I agree I do not see hunters as much as I did ten years ago. Also if you go to garage sales I get deals but I do believe the craze is dying down and not as much sharks as their use to be.
also yes the peak was 3 years ago, ten years ago no one cared and it was a dream to go to the flea market and find items. there were so many games or items to buy you kept the one you didn't have and sold the doubles.
Back then I used to get plenty of retro games at a flea market. Now days I'm lucky to find a broken game console that I can fix. No point in hunting in flea markets anymore.
I went to my local flea market for the first time last week. Mostly clothes, DVDs, old toys, Records from people you won’t recognize unless you’re at least 55, food and cleaning products and other misc. junk. Probably a 12,000 sqft building filled with junk. One 10’ glass case with games. ALL cartridge games at least $12. ALL disc games at least $3. I’m not a collector, I just like to buy games. But there’s better deals almost everywhere else.
Love this topic, I used to go to flea markets all the time to look for small cool things. After not going for a while and going again I found 4 Pokémon VHS, an original Pokémon toy, sailor moon stuff, and some knock off ebay cards I had to buy as a joke + just a bunch of other random collectible Japanese things.
I am looking for video games on the fleamarket for years and noticed it's been harder and harder to find decent games from the last millenium. In fact, it has been years since the last time I saw some Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64 or Master System games at private sellers. Here in Germany, the holiday season just started, so the flea market last week was smaller than usual, but it has also been a lot emptier. I was absolutely surprised to find around ten boxed Mega Drive games, not even sports games! Haven't seen any of those in like eight years except for resellers! I wasn't asking for the price (mainly because I'm not that much into Mega Drive and none of the games really got my attention), but just the fact that nobody has taken those yet made me feel better. Really hope I'll see something like that more frequently in the future. I should also mention that I usually go there pretty late, like 12 or 13 o'clock. Can't stand to stand up that early in the weekend.
A brit here, car boot sales as we call them are now definitely turning into a chore rather than fun/ a treasure hunt. I always think, is getting up at 5am and fighting through other people like me really worth it?
You guys nailed it. The prices sellers are charging are higher or at the level of ebay prices. So why bother going? That's why I haven't gone as much to these places. $7 for a PS2 sports game is hilarious and not worth my time.
Two of my local flea markets suck for games. One has 5 game sellers and the other has 7 or 8. It is just not worth going to them early and sit there all day waiting for tables to show up.
The last time I went to the flea market, it didn't have a different mood. But a lot of the game sellers weren't willing to bargain and had the prices set really high for things that didn't even have power cords.
I quit going to flea markets cause like you said, why get up early, go out there, walk around all day just to find ebay prices. Heck with all the deals ebay has been doing it is even cheaper on ebay most times.
Yeah, I used to go to the flea market around me (South Columbus OH) and could find decent game deals but on the rare times I go now, it's usually to pick up old newspapers/ephemera/comics. I keep an eye out on games but the few times I come across them they are either common or junk PS2/OG Xbox games, or someone selling older games at Ebay/Amazon prices. Hell, the best game deals I find are usually at the Volunteers of America thrifts in the Columbus Area. The one I used to frequent just closed its doors (high theft area) but I went to one on the East Side last week and found a copy of Super Smash Bros for the 3DS (not compete; in a GS case) for 90 cents.
I feel sorry for all you people that have to get up early in the morning for the flea market. In my town, we have a night flea market every Friday and Saturday, from 6pm to 11pm. It's awesome finding games during sundown when it ain't as hot outside.
I think with the cost of living going up dramatically in various areas, people are spending their money more on necessities and not on hobbies and toys.
I haven't been to my local flee market since 2005 or 2006. I've wanted to go but plans fell through and thats ok. I mainly buy records, CD's, video games, toys and collectibles online. I walked into my local record store about three days ago and did some light browsing. I decided to slow way down with how much i buy each month and enjoy what i have, i mean I've got enough video games to play through in a life time. Wow i can find Zombies Ate My Neighbors (SNES) online for $15-30 lose cart.
Pat hit the nail on the head for me, going to the flea market they want ebay prices or more, and even trying to talk them down in price they might budge a buck or two, heck the local retro stores ask less. And if you point out that you can get it fornthe same price on ebay they get rude.
this is legit one of the biggest reasons why the flea and farm markets in the greater Philly area are starting to break down. Everybody thinks they can sell for above ebay prices. last time I went to Berlin farm market, an outdoor vendor shouted at me, "I HAVE A REAL, USED NASCAR TIRE FOR SALE. ONLY $800!" I don't think he sold anything.
I hate when they say it's going online for this price, I don't give a shit how much it is online this isn't online this is a flea market, or when it's been sitting there for months and won't lower the price.
Went to my local flea market a couple of weeks ago (been YEARS!) and walked the entire thing, missing no table or spot looking for Atari 2600 carts. Took 2 1/2 hours. Right before I left, found only 1 seller with nothing but video game merchandise and he had a large box of loose commons (1-3 in rarity) for $3 each or 2 for $5. He had some boxed commons (some opened, some sealed) for $10 each. Then he had 2 rarish Atari 7800 carts (Commando & Alien Brigade) which he was quick to point out were rare. He wanted $30 each for those two. He talked the Commando up a lot (heck on AtariAge it's only a 4!) and the Alien Brigade is a 6. (Although AtariAge rarity is not the only thing you have to take into consideration.) Had to pass all the carts up. Own them all except the rarish 7800 carts, but they were too rich for flea market finds IMO.
I live in Europe and once a while i see a sale, Most sellers don't know how ebay works. Ebay includes shipping prices and most of the items have been more than a year online, the product is in good condition and if its not good i can even maybe get a refund or return it. But there is always a person selling cheap deals, so don't give up. My advice is look for advance sp games which are cheap enough and they are fun to play.
The appeal of the flea market was that people were unloading what was largely regarded as junk that the buyer was personally interested in. The old "one man's junk is another man's treasure" situation. Garage sales were the same thing. Now people are just too aware of how rare or valuable stuff is. They can look at eBay and see what it's selling at and see what sort of interest there is. I loved the old days where I could get legitimately rare games from sellers that didn't know better. That sounds like I'm happy to swindle someone but they didn't see any value in those games and they weren't selling until I showed up. They were happy to get my money and I was happy to get a game that I had been looking for for a while. But back then those games were valuable to ME but not everyone else. That's why they no one else was buying them for $2. But more people started the see these things as valuable so the prices went up and now the flea market is a waste of time for me because I'm priced out. The big item of my collection is Star Fox Super Weekend. I got it for $3 around 2003 or so at what would now be called a retro game store but at the time was just a videogame store that did trade-ins and sold used games. This was a store full of people wanting to buy videogames and they all passed on it until I showed up because it wasn't a proper full version of Star Fox, which was priced much higher. I wanted it because I knew it was insanely rare and was being sold at a price that might a well have been free. The market for it as the time was a group of collectors online, much smaller than today's, that were aware of its existence. The rarity was there but the demand was low and the market for it was spread out across North America. There were probably only a few people in the area that would have wanted to buy it and I was one of them. Now because of the proliferation of the internet the awareness is higher so the demand has gone up and it's a global market so if you can't find a seller in your hometown, there is probably one on the other side of the continent that will pay for shipping.
There have been people who buy video games cheap at flea markets and then sell them for outrageous prices on E-Bay. But when buyers of the price-hiked products dropped too much in number, the E-Bay vendors - many of them, anyway - decided to invest their time and money elsewhere. I've still been aching for years to visit a decent flea market, but I still don't have the time or money to do it. I've been wanting the NES version of Contra for over a decade, but the asking prices I keep finding are always way too high. Same goes for Tengen Tetris and the NES Top Loader.
My flea market has lost half its vendors, lots of reasons why but I stopped going when prices got too eBay or higher for everything. When I do go I go too 3 stalls and that’s it
I have stopped a long time ago since the prices went up so high and there were so many hunters. Couldnt find a good deal and finding things were rare. I miss game hunting.
I've been buying multicarts but it's nice to be able to hook up a game genie when I want to, so I still have a decent amount of individual game carts. I'm not a serious collector and probably have most of the games I remember from back in the day that I might play again.
Sad thing is, in the UK flea markets known as a car boot sales here, have not much in the way of retro games.. I think everyone has caught on now and sells most retro games on eBay.. for stupid money. So it’s very hard to find a good deal. The best I ever did was nabbing Final Fight complete for the SNES, good condition for £8 but that was years ago.
I went to a swapmeet at Tucson Arizona, and they open most people booths in the night, once I got through in a Saturday and I got nothing by going too early at 9 am
I think part of it is a combination of the boom from the 'im such a nerd xD, look at my ironic NES i keep on a shelf' stuff dying off as the mainstream has started to tick back towards 'people who play games are losers and probably school shooters waiting to happen' and things like the big bang theory are seen as bad now and not laudable combined with people riding that train making market stalls redundant. Not long after the boom of this strange idea i can only call 'corporate nerd culture marketing' when prices for things like NES games skyrocketed i noticed either young hipster types or old dudes who saw an easy buck where buying up large stock to resell it on their stalls at insane prices. I always remember seeing a Zelda on the NES for £300 and going "thats absurd, what possibly makes it worth that?" and the guy just went "dude its retro??? and gold???" to which i replied "oh well that explains it" and promptly moved on. Eventually it reached the point i could buy something online and it was cheaper and in some form or another covered in case it was a scam. Few years later and games dried up and the best prices you can find in my neck of the woods is stuff like mcm comicon where the average price of a PS1 game is £20 which is still often overpriced but compared to "ff7 still SEEEAAALED" for £150 for a platinum hits version you can still find sealed for £30 in just about any large retro store because so many were made its the best you can get. Maybe its worth looking at markets for something other than novelty bootleg carts again?
I have a couple big flea markets in my town, but I haven't found anything exciting in ages. All I really hunt now is deals on Magic cards. Does anyone know if flea markets are worth frequenting for those? Seems the sellers that do show up tend to match online prices, just like with these retro games.
Same story here in the Denver area. Our main flea market has been garbage since 2015 and there is almost no point of going to thrift stores and lawn shops anymore. I've also noticed how all the places that sell retro games have been holding onto them a lot longer than they used to. I think retro game collecting is finally dying.
Interesting. I might have to go to the flea market this weekend and see. I know in the chain thrift stores here people are buying broken video game stuff for insanely high ebay prices. I have not gotten any good deals on anything in the past 2 years.
Also this might be a good time to sell stuff on ebay again. Resellers on there were just so annoying to deal with. Every single game I would list for a cheap price would be accompanied by a dozen messages from resellers offering me half of my price if I would delist it and sell to them directly. It was awful. I just needed to sell stuff because I had to move for a new job.
You know what was bothering me too? The number of Children I would see trying to flip items a couple of years ago. Life is too short to let your kids waste their time trying to get a $5 profit off 4 hours of work reselling people.
I flea in MD and when I talk to seller, they mostly say they sell anything avg or better on eBay and just flea the scraps... not much incentive to show up at 6am indeed!
It's exactly like you said about your local flea market mine is the same way I don't go that often like I used to either mostly the e-bay sellers and other rip-off artists are not as present as they were and some sellers will now negotiate pricing on certain games and such but yeah I can't really explain it but the vibe did change..but I'm guessing it's also due to emulators and retro style NES multi carts (the 120 in 1 kind) I own a red one like I picked up at the pawn shop I work at but it really comes down to more people now buying multi games and consoles even the"nock off" mini NES like that on a budget and value..at the shop I work at the top three I get asked allot for are PlayStation 4 systems,anything Nintendo switch related, and retro game stuff but the majority are asking for the retro stuff including plug n play Sega, retrobit consoles,and Nintendo 64
The guys have assured me that stupid story will NEVER be released. Sorry Anthonï but you can’t always get what you want, even if you’re Obsessive-Compulsive Disordered. Either give up now or forever waste your time. Signed; DreamCrusher. 🤣 👎 🐲 🚫 🚫 🚫
Hey. Hey. This man is on a mission, and he's proven that he will not stop until he succeeds. What we should do is build up the Ranch Dressing Army and see this through. Ian ranch dressing story Pt3 when!
He’s proven his OCD and nothing else. A sane person would have gone on to more productive endeavours after this long without ANY results. The men in White Coats will stuff Anthoni into a computer free padded room soon enough, thusly ending his delusions. Signed; The DreamCrusher. 🚫 🚫 🚫
And brushing my teeth is OCD because I do it on a daily basis. He's just making a comment for each video, it's not that time consuming. Quit being so dramatic, you edgelord.
The flea markets around here went to shit years ago. The last straw for me was when I was looking for a Turbografx 16 and they had one with no cables or controller, dirty as hell, and the seller wanted 100 bucks for it.
I found 15 Gamecube games the other day for 87 cents each including Pikmin etc at a rummage sale in Brooklyn on the 10th dat of the sale in the last hour lol I was blown away they still had them.
Well I love Pikmin, the first one is one of my all time favorites, I am just shocked any gamecube games were left that stuff never sticks around for 10 days.
Thrift Shopping and Dumpster Diving is like War. So stock up on MRE"s first, to keep up your energy levels. You might need a 24 hour First Strike Ration.
My friend and I have been discussing this as well in my area, Vermont. Personally I am a gamer and toy guy, but I pay attention to other genres. My friend is a car guy. We think it is across the board, not gaming or toy or whatever specific. I think it is more a change is people, first the economy is so-so, people are spending so freely, second the younger generations are not getting into tangible items and collecting, and the modern era isn't producing items the same with mass production and the digital age, third I think it is coming to a point where you either already collected them all or its too readily available, when I go to my local markets I look for only one thing that would make me go "wow I cant believe I found one and I need it" and thats the smaller ertl diecast airwolf. My friend and I both buy and sell and we would agree there is some sort of difference
The Game Chasers got it in our minds that every where we go we can find rare games. We've all woke up to realize they were only provided clever editing and fiction.
No...they did find rare games, but they built a fan base and we all started doing it. That led to sellers seeing a demand and the prices went up and the scarcity set in. There are deals out there, but it's not as easy to find them. 10 years ago it was dirt cheap and no one wanted it. 5 years ago you could still find deals at yard sales. Not so anymore .
With high prices and more new retro consoles available such as the NES/Snes mini and multicarts available, the flea market buzz has slowed down. However, everything is cyclical as well with new retro collector's who still find collecting cool and exciting.
Dont forget everything sells cheaper during summer slowdown in sales. Plus its over 100degrees in Cali lmao. Most people dont want to suffer to find deals.
Have you been to your local flea market/swap meet lately? Is the mood different?
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I hope I look as good as you at 85
Went last weekend, mine is about the same.
Mine's being dying off because of lame management. The only game sellers left are a buddy of mine and some absurd resellers ($40 for crusty DMG-001s that have been sitting out for the last five years and more overpriced sun damaged gear).
Ian ranch dressing story Pt3 when
Pat the NES Punk I was going to go, but forgot. There is a great one I like.
Also 85? Damn, I hope I look that great.
Just hard to find good stuff and when u do people are asking ridiculous prices around my way here in Baltimore
The "garage sale" people don't set up at the flea market anymore, now it's all the "vendor" sellers. Like the mattress guy, the stereo guy, the expired laundry detergent guy, etc. It's like a third world shanty town market now, it's definitely not the same anymore. And the retro games dried up long ago.
accaris that's the truth. Sometimes prices are worst then even retail and eBay. Even flee market underwear is expensive
and all the actual yard sales it's like the only notification you get is a sign on the side of the damn highway and they never have anything of remote interest unless you're fucking 85
and the "Yard sale" sellers have their phones in hand with the eBay app ready!
I've seen the laundry guy, or to say it's Consuela the cleaning lady at the La Quinta with a pallet of stolen 5 gallon drums of laundry soap and her husband with a pallet of 5 gallon drums of flat white landlord paint from the jobsite.
but they are a 'Hard working,God fearing,law biding and family orientated" people! lol
Pat looks pretty good for an 85 year old.
If you showed me a picture of Pat and told me he was 85 years old I would say it's clickbait :)
Dude... He's not 85..
He's 98.. He forgot his age again.
damn your click bait I fell for it again :)
This is why he gets all the GILFs.
Indiana Pat- “It’s not the years, honey.. It’s the mileage.”
Flea Markets were ruined by the Internet and smart phones
I’ve been going to flea markets for about 10 years and Ian hit the nail on the head. If I’m going to get up get out of my house on my day off and walk and rummage through stuff and still pay a high price tag I will just drive to local stores or online and get exactly what I want. Time is money I work too hard to give it away
They sell the good stuff online and keep junk at the booths = no point in going
Matt Fisher more for Meeeee
Yeah, sell the good stuff online that won't sell for months because no one wants it anymore. All the big spenders have what they want, and people who got into it because it was a craze, are now dropping out. The only people left are the people who don't have a lot of money to throw around, but sellers insist on selling on ridiculous prices because greed.
Lily Valentine market value is market value . if you can't afford it pick up lots if that doesn't work emulate
It's not market value. Don't disguise what's really going on.
Lily Valentine if a gentleman consistantly goes for $30 for a year that is fair market value. that's a basic explanation
"I should have bought it and flipped it" ** RESELLER ALERT!*** ***RESELLER ALERT!*** LOL
It's funny watching Pat talk about this without acknowledging that his Flea Market Madness series was a big part of the reason why the collectors started going to flea markets and it became nearly impossible to find anything.
Joe H Not exactly. If you lived in rural areas, flea markets were the best place for cheap stuff and especially cheap food.
Either you were smart and acknowledged the retro game scene to be plundered or not.
I live in a suburb of Cleveland and we have two flea markets within a half hour of me. Within two years of going Wednesdays in the summer and nearly every Saturday the best deals I got were ONE super Nintendo Console for 25 dollars. Literally not worth the time any more. Garage sales and family run estate sales are the last bastions of hope for finding deals. Even thrift stores these days are on crack with their prices.
Savage_Gaming are you referring to Jamie’s Flea Market in Amherst?
jbinminot yup Jamie’s and Berea fairgrounds. It seems like at either if you’re not there literally the second someone is pulling games out of their car you’re not going to find anything hah
Savage_Gaming Yeah, I went to Jaime's while visiting my parents in Lorain, but the video games were slim pickings.
Thanks for the info. Been thinking of going myself to look for an SNES or DS Lite. If it's that bad I'll just stay home.
In my area there is one dominant estate sale company that happens to know nothing about video games. Sometimes it’s good like controllers for $2, even limited editions. Sometimes it’s bad like $75 wii with no games
I just found this podcast and as somebody who has listened too over 8 years worth of podcast this is one of my favorites.
Thanks Donald!
You're welcome. :)
I love this podcast, found it by accident recently and downloaded all of em on itunes. Thanks guys.
Yeah I agree 100% on this cause I stopped going to flea markets and when I asked how much for this... looked at the game and they would pull out their phones to look at the prices and give me the same prices I just saw on eBay... when I tried to negotiate saying I can pay the same there they would come back well you would have to pay shipping and I’m like you would pay for eBay charges.. well buy it from there then... click click done ✅
Firestarta-666 I do the same thing then I show them the item was paid for and say you just lost out on a sale.. they probably don't care but neither do I plus it's fun to shop online in front of those sellers
Sin City Bargains exactly!!! Specially when you are buying a console you have no way to plug it in to test it ... once I bought a Dreamcast and couldn’t test it, all I can do was plug and see that the light would turn on so when I get home sure enough the disks would not read.. tried to go back the next couple of weeks and that sales never came back ... so I was out $60
shemail goondall yeah I use it often in fact right now I’m talking to a guy that is selling viewtiful joe for GameCube
Firestarta-666 dont pay over 5$
Idk why this popped up in my recommended but it's funny to watch now in 2023. If you only knew how much prices would skyrocket and so many injected into retro hobbies at large, let alone games...
I miss the old format but at the same time love that the camera quality is amazing!
We had a fisher Price Family Farm, the door would "MOOO" when you opened it. 😂😂😂
Goodwill is the same way. I can’t even find a good vhs these days.
warnerg80 Maybe for you, for me the PS2 hauls have been fruitful for a good while. I've even had decent success with anime DVDs.
For me Goodwill is for original Xbox and PS1 games.
Don’t bother with goodwill, all their good shit just gets posted on their eBay page. Can’t find action figures or games at any of the ones near me.
My local Goodwill was garbage until recently. I’ve found some great records and toys lately.
Lmao my value village is loaded with vcrs
There in lies part of the problem: "buying & flipping!" 🙄🙄
This is great to hear from Pat. I was a big time collector of retro (NES to N64 era) games about 7 years ago. I was grabbing games like TMNT 2 for $2 and Goldeneye for $4. I buy the games to actually play them, but the prices were getting ridiculous. I have bought maybe 10 retro games in the past 5-6 years. I would love to keep building my collection at a reasonable price.
Went to the flea market for the first time last weekend and was SHOCKED at the deals I found. OG Xbox + Wii +expensive GH guitar all for $20, gamecube controllers for $7, random Xbox/Ps2 games for 2 or 3 bucks each. flea markets are alive and well
Collectors no longer want to get up at 5:00am, sit at the market for 5-6 hours, only to save $20-40.
Great video guys. I absolutely agree. Not just flea markets but even retro game stores as well. At least the ones in my location. I've noticed games piling up. All the commons your Mario's, zeldas. Everything. I think it's that most collectors already have alot of these games. I think that plays a factor into why the retro game buying and selling is in a slow period now. Not saying a bubble will burst but it's just slowing down. Itll get to the point where sellers will get tired of holding on to these games and they may end up dropping their prices. I just think it's a slow period and alot of collectors already have alot of the games out there.
Harry Warburg definitely. I just think it's just a slow down. Also not alot of collectors will pony up the cash for the heavy hitters like panic Restaurant. Flintstones surprise at dinosaur peak and other rare games. That can also factor in the slow down. Itll be interesting
I've noticed at my local pawn shop that every time I go there I see most of the same games, often there isn't much difference. back 4 years ago every time I went there would be different games every 2 weeks or so. Something is changing.
Even if some stuff starts to come back with everyone having the immediate market value on their phones, if there is a slight retraction as soon as it gets any momentum it will go right back to close to FMV for most things. I think a lot of it is a numbers game too. 10 years ago, you'd have maybe a 1 in 3 chance of going to the Flea Market and getting a good score. Now it's probably more like a 1 in 20 chance of a good score and two years ago maybe it was 1 in 18 chance. At the end of the day, I'll pop in on them once in a while just for fun maybe but hitting those and yard sales up at 6am, haggling, etc. every weekend just isn't worth it any more. Also, I know some casual gamers/collectors that have jumped ship on retro stuff in favor of newer, old things, and a lot of that casuals just pick up NES Classic, SNES Classic, Atari Gold, or the ATGames Sega system, while waiting for the N64 Mini. They don't see a rush to jump into the physical stuff as much as they did 3-4 years ago before all that stuff existed.
Ah! But is Wario still there??
Oh - 5min in
I just hit my local retro stores now for the same reasons. They take better care of their products and their prices are better than flea markets.
I agree, same thing is happening at thrift stores. Im actually finding more video game items when I go, even finding stuff at your run of the mill Goodwill. It was getting to the point that it was no fun going to hunting but now its like there's an influx of video game items showing up in thrift stores and flea markets
Holy Shit He Is Right!!!!! Things have changed A lot! I still hunt everyweekend and found stuff but A lot of hunters stopped
SecretGameStash
That's better! Less competition and in your situation less haters lol. Keep posting this vids bro
OH MY GYYADD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A few months ago I hit the Flea Market at the right time. I scored 2 working N64s with expansion packs for $5 each. 4 official Gamecube coltrollers for $1 each. 2 official N64 controllers for $1 each (one was gold). An original PS 1 for $5. and a couple SNES controllers for $1 each.
I walked out with a box of excellent condition (and working) gaming goodness for $20.
It was a guy that just had a junk table. He told me come back the following weekend and he would have more stuff. I was there bright and early but he never showed. Another person was in his booth selling honey.
I remember you saying in another video it's easier to buy this stuff when it's cheap than it is to try to sell it at a fair price and that is pretty much it. There's so many people getting into reselling that it's become harder to resell the stuff that was easy to sell a few years ago.
General value of SNES games over here in the EU has been steadily reducing since last year, Yoshi's island was a £30-£40 game this time last year, now you can find it for under £20 on eBay and at used game stores like CEX, there's definitely been a reduced demand for certain games on certain consoles in recent months. Benefit for people like us in it because we enjoy playing games and not in it to make a profit
My local flea market has only 1-3 sellers with games. It's all the same sun beat crap so I've given up. Another flea market that's about 40 min away I still find occasional random things like figures, odd controllers, uncommon games but most people are all priced dead nuts eBay.
When I was growing up, we had a massive flea market called Super Flea and Farmers Market, that I would go to, as a kid. I remember seeing booths with wall to wall gaming stuff, but at the time, i collected sports cards, so i was more interested in finding good deals on packs of cards. Then when I grew up, and I moved away, i finally got into gaming, but by then, they tore the super flea down. Missed opportunities, man.
People know more about what they have now then they did back in the day. I’m happy people are actually getting some money for their stuff, they probably really need it.
My favourite videos are the flea market madness series. Something about it just is so awesome to watch. You should do one video of them every two months if possible?
I’ve noticed the same trend of comics at flea markets as well, here in Maine.
Mr. Zero's is a retro game shop in MN that apparently didnt get the memo. I walked in there the other day and the prices were insultingly high. They had a loose Atari 7800 for $120, an Fz1 Panasonic REAL for $219 (just the system and a controller), Earthbound for $300 and a couple game cube systems for $90 each. I just recently picked up a PC Engine Duo with 2 controllers, a turbo tap and 3 games for less than what they were asking for the Panasonic REAL. In fact, my friend just bought a REAL at a garage sale for $1! I know my friend got a really good deal, but it goes to show you that deals are still out there.
Retroman in the metro area or somewhere else in MN?
Yeah its in Roseville MN
Mr zeros is junk
I don't do much fleamarket hunting anymore... Got tired of hearing well it goes for x amount on eBay/online... What that really means is they searched eBay and found the most outrageous price and think that people are lining up to pay that price in reality the game is probably worth a 10nth of they're asking price... That's my experience at the flea market in my area ..also the retro game shop at my local flea market closed...
Flea market madness is why I subscribed
I've been finding lots of deals recently! I've found recently a lot of people in my area (Ontario, Canada) are selling off their collections, making it a great time for a newer collector like myself to get deals
I’m in San Diego as well. I used to see the game guys looking for games at 7am and have to speed walk the swap meet, lately, I’ve been alone and filling my backpack up quick. I’ve even been going later in the day and finding good stuff. Maybe it’s the recent heat. Hopefully it’s like this for awhile, it’s been fun!
My flea markets still suck, i went to one last week and all i heard from sellers was “well in ebay it goes for” and “its retro hard to find”
I agree I do not see hunters as much as I did ten years ago. Also if you go to garage sales I get deals but I do believe the craze is dying down and not as much sharks as their use to be.
I'm 46 and the opening clip gave me a flashback.
also yes the peak was 3 years ago, ten years ago no one cared and it was a dream to go to the flea market and find items. there were so many games or items to buy you kept the one you didn't have and sold the doubles.
Back then I used to get plenty of retro games at a flea market. Now days I'm lucky to find a broken game console that I can fix. No point in hunting in flea markets anymore.
I burst out laughing when you said I’m 85 years old.
I went to my local flea market for the first time last week. Mostly clothes, DVDs, old toys, Records from people you won’t recognize unless you’re at least 55, food and cleaning products and other misc. junk. Probably a 12,000 sqft building filled with junk. One 10’ glass case with games. ALL cartridge games at least $12. ALL disc games at least $3. I’m not a collector, I just like to buy games. But there’s better deals almost everywhere else.
Pat's seen a change, in you, like you never, had wings, and you feel alive
Love this topic, I used to go to flea markets all the time to look for small cool things. After not going for a while and going again I found 4 Pokémon VHS, an original Pokémon toy, sailor moon stuff, and some knock off ebay cards I had to buy as a joke + just a bunch of other random collectible Japanese things.
And with that, the glory days of the retro scene are finally behind us.
I am looking for video games on the fleamarket for years and noticed it's been harder and harder to find decent games from the last millenium. In fact, it has been years since the last time I saw some Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64 or Master System games at private sellers. Here in Germany, the holiday season just started, so the flea market last week was smaller than usual, but it has also been a lot emptier. I was absolutely surprised to find around ten boxed Mega Drive games, not even sports games! Haven't seen any of those in like eight years except for resellers! I wasn't asking for the price (mainly because I'm not that much into Mega Drive and none of the games really got my attention), but just the fact that nobody has taken those yet made me feel better. Really hope I'll see something like that more frequently in the future.
I should also mention that I usually go there pretty late, like 12 or 13 o'clock. Can't stand to stand up that early in the weekend.
I wish the podcast was only game collecting content and stuff like this.
A brit here, car boot sales as we call them are now definitely turning into a chore rather than fun/ a treasure hunt. I always think, is getting up at 5am and fighting through other people like me really worth it?
You guys nailed it. The prices sellers are charging are higher or at the level of ebay prices. So why bother going? That's why I haven't gone as much to these places. $7 for a PS2 sports game is hilarious and not worth my time.
Two of my local flea markets suck for games.
One has 5 game sellers and the other has 7 or 8. It is just not worth going to them early and sit there all day waiting for tables to show up.
Time for a new Flea Market Madness, sounds like you had more fun this time.
The last time I went to the flea market, it didn't have a different mood. But a lot of the game sellers weren't willing to bargain and had the prices set really high for things that didn't even have power cords.
I quit going to flea markets cause like you said, why get up early, go out there, walk around all day just to find ebay prices. Heck with all the deals ebay has been doing it is even cheaper on ebay most times.
Thomas Signer pretty much and for me the best part is i can judge quality most times.
ebay prices at yard sales last weekend 😬
Im visiting The San Diego area next week and will be coming to visit the Luna store. I’ll stop in to look at some NES games and say Hi!!
Yeah, I used to go to the flea market around me (South Columbus OH) and could find decent game deals but on the rare times I go now, it's usually to pick up old newspapers/ephemera/comics. I keep an eye out on games but the few times I come across them they are either common or junk PS2/OG Xbox games, or someone selling older games at Ebay/Amazon prices.
Hell, the best game deals I find are usually at the Volunteers of America thrifts in the Columbus Area. The one I used to frequent just closed its doors (high theft area) but I went to one on the East Side last week and found a copy of Super Smash Bros for the 3DS (not compete; in a GS case) for 90 cents.
OMG I had that Play farm in the intro image you used...Now I'm feeling oddly nostalgic for it.
I feel sorry for all you people that have to get up early in the morning for the flea market. In my town, we have a night flea market every Friday and Saturday, from 6pm to 11pm. It's awesome finding games during sundown when it ain't as hot outside.
That sounds like there might just be a new Flea Market Madness episode at some point :-)
I think with the cost of living going up dramatically in various areas, people are spending their money more on necessities and not on hobbies and toys.
I haven't been to my local flee market since 2005 or 2006. I've wanted to go but plans fell through and thats ok. I mainly buy records, CD's, video games, toys and collectibles online. I walked into my local record store about three days ago and did some light browsing. I decided to slow way down with how much i buy each month and enjoy what i have, i mean I've got enough video games to play through in a life time. Wow i can find Zombies Ate My Neighbors (SNES) online for $15-30 lose cart.
Pat hit the nail on the head for me, going to the flea market they want ebay prices or more, and even trying to talk them down in price they might budge a buck or two, heck the local retro stores ask less. And if you point out that you can get it fornthe same price on ebay they get rude.
this is legit one of the biggest reasons why the flea and farm markets in the greater Philly area are starting to break down. Everybody thinks they can sell for above ebay prices. last time I went to Berlin farm market, an outdoor vendor shouted at me, "I HAVE A REAL, USED NASCAR TIRE FOR SALE. ONLY $800!" I don't think he sold anything.
I hate when they say it's going online for this price, I don't give a shit how much it is online this isn't online this is a flea market, or when it's been sitting there for months and won't lower the price.
been sitting there since 1995 lol
I had that Fisher Price farm playset as a kid
Went to my local flea market a couple of weeks ago (been YEARS!) and walked the entire thing, missing no table or spot looking for Atari 2600 carts. Took 2 1/2 hours. Right before I left, found only 1 seller with nothing but video game merchandise and he had a large box of loose commons (1-3 in rarity) for $3 each or 2 for $5. He had some boxed commons (some opened, some sealed) for $10 each. Then he had 2 rarish Atari 7800 carts (Commando & Alien Brigade) which he was quick to point out were rare. He wanted $30 each for those two. He talked the Commando up a lot (heck on AtariAge it's only a 4!) and the Alien Brigade is a 6. (Although AtariAge rarity is not the only thing you have to take into consideration.) Had to pass all the carts up. Own them all except the rarish 7800 carts, but they were too rich for flea market finds IMO.
I live in Europe and once a while i see a sale, Most sellers don't know how ebay works. Ebay includes shipping prices and most of the items have been more than a year online, the product is in good condition and if its not good i can even maybe get a refund or return it. But there is always a person selling cheap deals, so don't give up. My advice is look for advance sp games which are cheap enough and they are fun to play.
The appeal of the flea market was that people were unloading what was largely regarded as junk that the buyer was personally interested in. The old "one man's junk is another man's treasure" situation. Garage sales were the same thing. Now people are just too aware of how rare or valuable stuff is. They can look at eBay and see what it's selling at and see what sort of interest there is. I loved the old days where I could get legitimately rare games from sellers that didn't know better. That sounds like I'm happy to swindle someone but they didn't see any value in those games and they weren't selling until I showed up. They were happy to get my money and I was happy to get a game that I had been looking for for a while. But back then those games were valuable to ME but not everyone else. That's why they no one else was buying them for $2. But more people started the see these things as valuable so the prices went up and now the flea market is a waste of time for me because I'm priced out.
The big item of my collection is Star Fox Super Weekend. I got it for $3 around 2003 or so at what would now be called a retro game store but at the time was just a videogame store that did trade-ins and sold used games. This was a store full of people wanting to buy videogames and they all passed on it until I showed up because it wasn't a proper full version of Star Fox, which was priced much higher. I wanted it because I knew it was insanely rare and was being sold at a price that might a well have been free. The market for it as the time was a group of collectors online, much smaller than today's, that were aware of its existence. The rarity was there but the demand was low and the market for it was spread out across North America. There were probably only a few people in the area that would have wanted to buy it and I was one of them. Now because of the proliferation of the internet the awareness is higher so the demand has gone up and it's a global market so if you can't find a seller in your hometown, there is probably one on the other side of the continent that will pay for shipping.
There have been people who buy video games cheap at flea markets and then sell them for outrageous prices on E-Bay. But when buyers of the price-hiked products dropped too much in number, the E-Bay vendors - many of them, anyway - decided to invest their time and money elsewhere. I've still been aching for years to visit a decent flea market, but I still don't have the time or money to do it. I've been wanting the NES version of Contra for over a decade, but the asking prices I keep finding are always way too high. Same goes for Tengen Tetris and the NES Top Loader.
My flea market has lost half its vendors, lots of reasons why but I stopped going when prices got too eBay or higher for everything. When I do go I go too 3 stalls and that’s it
I have stopped a long time ago since the prices went up so high and there were so many hunters. Couldnt find a good deal and finding things were rare. I miss game hunting.
That farm set triggered a thermo-nuclear grade nostalgia bomb in my brain.
I've been buying multicarts but it's nice to be able to hook up a game genie when I want to, so I still have a decent amount of individual game carts. I'm not a serious collector and probably have most of the games I remember from back in the day that I might play again.
The most entertaining part of this video was seeing Ian's reaction to Pat's bat shit boring story of his life.
Sad thing is, in the UK flea markets known as a car boot sales here, have not much in the way of retro games.. I think everyone has caught on now and sells most retro games on eBay.. for stupid money. So it’s very hard to find a good deal. The best I ever did was nabbing Final Fight complete for the SNES, good condition for £8 but that was years ago.
I went to a swapmeet at Tucson Arizona, and they open most people booths in the night, once I got through in a Saturday and I got nothing by going too early at 9 am
I think part of it is a combination of the boom from the 'im such a nerd xD, look at my ironic NES i keep on a shelf' stuff dying off as the mainstream has started to tick back towards 'people who play games are losers and probably school shooters waiting to happen' and things like the big bang theory are seen as bad now and not laudable combined with people riding that train making market stalls redundant. Not long after the boom of this strange idea i can only call 'corporate nerd culture marketing' when prices for things like NES games skyrocketed i noticed either young hipster types or old dudes who saw an easy buck where buying up large stock to resell it on their stalls at insane prices. I always remember seeing a Zelda on the NES for £300 and going "thats absurd, what possibly makes it worth that?" and the guy just went "dude its retro??? and gold???" to which i replied "oh well that explains it" and promptly moved on. Eventually it reached the point i could buy something online and it was cheaper and in some form or another covered in case it was a scam. Few years later and games dried up and the best prices you can find in my neck of the woods is stuff like mcm comicon where the average price of a PS1 game is £20 which is still often overpriced but compared to "ff7 still SEEEAAALED" for £150 for a platinum hits version you can still find sealed for £30 in just about any large retro store because so many were made its the best you can get. Maybe its worth looking at markets for something other than novelty bootleg carts again?
Even all the local Goodwills and thrift stores around me have ran with Ebay pricing.
I have a couple big flea markets in my town, but I haven't found anything exciting in ages. All I really hunt now is deals on Magic cards. Does anyone know if flea markets are worth frequenting for those? Seems the sellers that do show up tend to match online prices, just like with these retro games.
I went to the San Diego Swap Meet a few years ago and bought comic books and Aliens toys!!!!
I stopped going because I ran my credit card up. When I'm done paying it back down I'll be back there.
Same story here in the Denver area. Our main flea market has been garbage since 2015 and there is almost no point of going to thrift stores and lawn shops anymore. I've also noticed how all the places that sell retro games have been holding onto them a lot longer than they used to. I think retro game collecting is finally dying.
Interesting. I might have to go to the flea market this weekend and see. I know in the chain thrift stores here people are buying broken video game stuff for insanely high ebay prices. I have not gotten any good deals on anything in the past 2 years.
Also this might be a good time to sell stuff on ebay again. Resellers on there were just so annoying to deal with. Every single game I would list for a cheap price would be accompanied by a dozen messages from resellers offering me half of my price if I would delist it and sell to them directly. It was awful. I just needed to sell stuff because I had to move for a new job.
You know what was bothering me too? The number of Children I would see trying to flip items a couple of years ago. Life is too short to let your kids waste their time trying to get a $5 profit off 4 hours of work reselling people.
I flea in MD and when I talk to seller, they mostly say they sell anything avg or better on eBay and just flea the scraps... not much incentive to show up at 6am indeed!
It's exactly like you said about your local flea market mine is the same way I don't go that often like I used to either mostly the e-bay sellers and other rip-off artists are not as present as they were and some sellers will now negotiate pricing on certain games and such but yeah I can't really explain it but the vibe did change..but I'm guessing it's also due to emulators and retro style NES multi carts (the 120 in 1 kind) I own a red one like I picked up at the pawn shop I work at but it really comes down to more people now buying multi games and consoles even the"nock off" mini NES like that on a budget and value..at the shop I work at the top three I get asked allot for are PlayStation 4 systems,anything Nintendo switch related, and retro game stuff but the majority are asking for the retro stuff including plug n play Sega, retrobit consoles,and Nintendo 64
Ian is holding his face like I do when I have toothpain
Ian ranch dressing story Pt3 when
The guys have assured me that stupid story will NEVER be released. Sorry Anthonï but you can’t always get what you want, even if you’re Obsessive-Compulsive Disordered. Either give up now or forever waste your time. Signed; DreamCrusher. 🤣 👎 🐲 🚫 🚫 🚫
Hey. Hey. This man is on a mission, and he's proven that he will not stop until he succeeds. What we should do is build up the Ranch Dressing Army and see this through.
Ian ranch dressing story Pt3 when!
He’s proven his OCD and nothing else. A sane person would have gone on to more productive endeavours after this long without ANY results. The men in White Coats will stuff Anthoni into a computer free padded room soon enough, thusly ending his delusions. Signed; The DreamCrusher. 🚫 🚫 🚫
And brushing my teeth is OCD because I do it on a daily basis. He's just making a comment for each video, it's not that time consuming. Quit being so dramatic, you edgelord.
Your results - a gorgeous cavity free smile. Anthoni’s results - ZILCH!
The flea markets around here went to shit years ago. The last straw for me was when I was looking for a Turbografx 16 and they had one with no cables or controller, dirty as hell, and the seller wanted 100 bucks for it.
I definitely enjoy going to the Spring Valley Swap Meet. I tend to find a lot of good deals there. Damn. Definitely going this weekend now!
PressStartFrank Is that Spring Valley near Rockland County??
I completely agree this has happened in my area. I’ve been finding amazing deals around me even on Craigslist.
srccar shoot I wish I could use Craigslist. It's just the same 10 sellers reposting over and over by me in Illinois
I found 15 Gamecube games the other day for 87 cents each including Pikmin etc at a rummage sale in Brooklyn on the 10th dat of the sale in the last hour lol I was blown away they still had them.
Probably because nobody really wants Pikmin except collectors, and most people I know are dropping out of the collecting craze.
Well I love Pikmin, the first one is one of my all time favorites, I am just shocked any gamecube games were left that stuff never sticks around for 10 days.
Pop Fun To Play at that price I'd assume the discs are scratched beyond saving
That is what I thought but they were minty mint, I think 2 of the 15 games had some fingerprints but thats an easy clean fix.
video games collecting dead
Thrift Shopping and Dumpster Diving is like War. So stock up on MRE"s first, to keep up your energy levels. You might need a 24 hour First Strike Ration.
My friend and I have been discussing this as well in my area, Vermont. Personally I am a gamer and toy guy, but I pay attention to other genres. My friend is a car guy. We think it is across the board, not gaming or toy or whatever specific. I think it is more a change is people, first the economy is so-so, people are spending so freely, second the younger generations are not getting into tangible items and collecting, and the modern era isn't producing items the same with mass production and the digital age, third I think it is coming to a point where you either already collected them all or its too readily available, when I go to my local markets I look for only one thing that would make me go "wow I cant believe I found one and I need it" and thats the smaller ertl diecast airwolf. My friend and I both buy and sell and we would agree there is some sort of difference
The Game Chasers got it in our minds that every where we go we can find rare games. We've all woke up to realize they were only provided clever editing and fiction.
Check out SNES Drunk
I love your youtube channel Capn!
No...they did find rare games, but they built a fan base and we all started doing it. That led to sellers seeing a demand and the prices went up and the scarcity set in. There are deals out there, but it's not as easy to find them. 10 years ago it was dirt cheap and no one wanted it. 5 years ago you could still find deals at yard sales. Not so anymore .
I wanna like this comment a million times cus it's so true.
caught you slipping.
With high prices and more new retro consoles available such as the NES/Snes mini and multicarts available, the flea market buzz has slowed down. However, everything is cyclical as well with new retro collector's who still find collecting cool and exciting.
Another Flea Market madness with Frank coming soon??
watched the entire list of them in 2 sessions, would love a new episode
Dont forget everything sells cheaper during summer slowdown in sales. Plus its over 100degrees in Cali lmao. Most people dont want to suffer to find deals.