i'm kinda already getting worn out on thrifting.
one thrift store near me has someone who is savvy and prices a bit lower than ebay. super smash melee? $50 there.
it's just tiring.
i'm really ready for this bubble to pop and vidya gaem market crash or whatever. like, this shit is getting ridiculous. nearly found a kingdom hearts ii in box, it was a bit scruffed, but whatever, if it was $3 or w/e, i was gonna grab it.
lo and behold, the fucking box is empty.
i gave it to an associate and told her it was in her best interest to start telling the people in the back to glass-case those games.
the gaming community (resell community?) is fucking awful.
i kinda wish i would have offered to buy the case, but honestly, that would have made ME look like the thief there.
there was some other titles, but nothing of my interest. i left them. including a wrong-game-in-crash-bandicoot-case. and an incomplete tomb raider: last revelation, so i didn't bother with it.
they also had a lot of neat pc titles, but i simply didn't have the cash for decade-old pc games. wish i had, they had unreal 1, and i actually own the manual for it. also, a copy of tropico, complete other than the box, which was hella neat.
it really sickens me to go thrifting, then see a fuckload of stolen games. they're already at a huge discount.
i hit them all every so often, but a few, i'm going to mark out. namely, the ones who have 'wisened up' and have started pricing competitive.
even that OG xbox didn't stop the weardown of this scene. yea, the xbox was a cool find (just need a controller) but it's so dry around here. and even when i found that, this one guy fucking glared at me the whole time i was standing in line. guess he was the unfortunate fuck who found the mangled 360 controller for 5 bucks and thought he'd find something else. 'cept i already had the OGbox.
i dread bothering going to the flea market. i doubt i'll bother. it's a terribly long drive out, and the return is probably slim to none. the other one that is closer is 90% ghetto garbage.
on the other hand, i just hate buying online. offer up and craigslist is full of overpriced garbage too ("ps3 and 10 [sports/CoD] games $300 firm") so i have no idea where else to look. ebay is overpriced. amazon is insane. there's a couple used game stores around me that are pretty nice, but one of them puts in those anti-theft stickers that are a massive bitch to remove post-sale. (these:
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XdN5LdRPU00/T93hHcT3mZI/AAAAAAAAAUg/H0Fa23Tg4iE/s1600/anti_theft_sticker_3.jpg they're just dreadful to remove, they take half an hour per box) while i don't fault them for sticking them (nicely inside the box, behind the manuals) at ALL, they also have no way to remove them behind the counter (i asked, politely). so while their prices are actually below ebay prices on most games via pricecharting.com, at least for retro titles, i really mentally struggle with the 'should i bother?' thought.
yard sales just seem like nightmares to try to browse, especially considering offer up has a lot of resellers on there, who probably are headhunters here. i see the same 10 or so people with dozens of individual listings. i don't even want to bother with fighting them 'in the wild'.
dunno what to do anymore. guess that's why i'm preoccupied with ps3/360 rn.
i don't know, games have always been stolen in goodwill and shit, but seriously. it wasn't this awful when i first started collecting, back around 2007 or so. what the fuck has happened? i drop out of the scene here and there (i get focused on other things, drawing or i fall down the pits of a mental disorder i have that i can't climb out of quickly, or i start working ridiculous 55+ hr weeks, or whatever) and every fucking time i come back, shit seems to be crazier than the last time.
it's really depressing, all in all.
