ITT: Share the most terrible and humorous deals you find out in the field

[NickAwesome]

In this topic- you share some of the worst deals you see online/out in the field

https://offerup.com/item/detail/299338210/?ref=Search&event_source=srch1f02b5fbb5794731be212440b7c8527b

[bikingjahuty]

Easy. Go on eBay and peruse the Buy It Now listings on any given game and most will be stupid high. Likewise, I find prices at retro game stores to be also bullshit overprices.

Actually while I'm thinking about it, the whole hobby of collecting has mostly become shitty no matter where you happen to be looking. It is over saturated with resellers and collectors which makes prices and the ability to come by good deals very hard, unlike how it was back in 2012 and before. I am still a firm believer that it will all crash or die down someday and we will see prices on most games normalize back to how they uses to be, save various rare titles on each console.

[emporerdragon]

I find myself disappointed that this topic is not about collecting shitty games.

[metshael]

I find myself disappointed that this topic is not about collecting shitty games.

My thoughts exactly. I love shitty games .

[NickAwesome]

Well I kinda meant for this to be a more light-hearted topic but I guess we can have that discussion too. 

I guess I just see re-selling and price inflation in a different light.  X number of people want Y things and there are only so many of Y.  It's hard for me to get that frustrated over supply/demand.  It makes hunting games more difficult but for me, sifting through all the terrible deals makes finding those sweet deals so much better.  And then I can laugh at all the terrible deals that likely won't ever sell.  I find it hilarious when a guy in my area on Craigslist will repost the same console lot way over market value every week for 12+ months without ever adjusting the price.   

I find stuff posted for great deals all the time in my area but I realize that is likely not typical for many people here who live in larger, more competitive markets.  It's definitely a bummer that there are some games that I will never be able to get because of the price but there are so many great games that I have been able to find over the years that I don't feel too bad. 

[NickAwesome]

I like collecting shitty games too!  That should be a whole separate topic... hold on...

[bikingjahuty]

Well I kinda meant for this to be a more light-hearted topic but I guess we can have that discussion too. 

I guess I just see re-selling and price inflation in a different light.  X number of people want Y things and there are only so many of Y.  It's hard for me to get that frustrated over supply/demand.  It makes hunting games more difficult but for me, sifting through all the terrible deals makes finding those sweet deals so much better.  And then I can laugh at all the terrible deals that likely won't ever sell.  I find it hilarious when a guy in my area on Craigslist will repost the same console lot way over market value every week for 12+ months without ever adjusting the price.   

I find stuff posted for great deals all the time in my area but I realize that is likely not typical for many people here who live in larger, more competitive markets.  It's definitely a bummer that there are some games that I will never be able to get because of the price but there are so many great games that I have been able to find over the years that I don't feel too bad.

I get the whole supply and demand thing, but it was nice when you found excellent, top tier games (not shitty games or bargain bin titles) for next to nothing and they were plentiful. I began collecting in 2008 and it was a goldmine just about anywhere you went given how few people were collecting back then, which also gave less incentive for resellers to enter the hobby. It was amazing until around 2012 and the market just exploded in popularity. I don't know when you got into collecting, but if it was post 2012/2013 I can understand why finding a gem here and there would excite you since that is about the best you can expect these days. Imagine, walking into any given thrift store or to any flea market and finding excellent title after excellent title almost every time, often for little more than a few bucks each. That was the environment that I came of age in as a collector and nothing has really compared since.

[NickAwesome]

I started collecting games as a teenager, so back in the mid 2000s and I really ramped it up once I got my license in 07, so I guess around the same time you started as well.  I did find a lot of great stuff pre-2012 but I remember hustling just as much as I do now, if not more, since I had less disposable income and more free-time to find the best deals.  But it's very likely that we focused on collecting different stuff in that era.  I'm primarily a Playstation collector. 

I'm not denying that the hobby has gotten more difficult to collect for, I just find the hunt to be part of the fun and appeal. 

[tripredacus]

The two topics you created have too similar of titles. Please change them.

[NickAwesome]

Okay.  I meant that to be humorous but I can change them. 

The point of this thread was to expand off the reddit thread r/shittygamecollecting.  I thought it would be fun to see what members in our community encounter when hunting for games.

Less price gouging of rarities from re-sellers and more posts/sales listed by clueless causal sellers who know that the hobby is popular but don't understand the market at all.  Or selling clearly trashed games or bundling incorrect peripherals and trying to sell for extravagant amounts of money.

Some examples:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Shittygamecollecting/comments/6jxtdr/i_find_this_to_be_so_funny_like_how_does_this/

https://www.reddit.com/r/Shittygamecollecting/comments/6jpv68/hmm/

https://www.reddit.com/r/Shittygamecollecting/comments/6jo8o7/what_a_steal/

I should have explained more in the initial post.  If I am the only one who finds this funny, the topic can be closed. 

[bikingjahuty]

I started collecting games as a teenager, so back in the mid 2000s and I really ramped it up once I got my license in 07, so I guess around the same time you started as well.  I did find a lot of great stuff pre-2012 but I remember hustling just as much as I do now, if not more, since I had less disposable income and more free-time to find the best deals.  But it's very likely that we focused on collecting different stuff in that era.  I'm primarily a Playstation collector. 

I'm not denying that the hobby has gotten more difficult to collect for, I just find the hunt to be part of the fun and appeal.

Fair enough. The hunt was fun for me until it ended up becoming going to 10 thrift stores and finding like two games that I may have saved $20 on total after looking for a couple of hours. It just stopped being worth my time to grind like I used to which really destroyed my desire to hunt like I used to. I was a regular at nearly every thrift store and pawn shop for several years because I was finding great stuff at them for real cheap almost weekly. I also used to hit up our local flea market every weekend and only on a handful of occassions did I not leave with at least a  full backpack of games and consoles. If it sounds like I am ultra sentimental about that period of time it's because I was. I guess the only plus side to having so many cheap games at my disposal for so long is it allowed me to really beef up my retro game collection, which have now become the hardest consoles to collect for given price and scarcity.

I am also a huge Playstation collector, especially PS1 and PS2. I amassed most of my respective collections on these consoles during this time, although there are a lot of heavy hitters which I ended up picking up years after my collecting hayday or jhave yet to find.

[burningdoom]

It only going to get worse.

In the 90s, I used to get "retro" games for under $5 a piece, regardless of what it was, because no one cared about "crappy old games".

In the 2000s, people started to care, but the scalpers and resellers still weren't keen on it. So while it wasn't an under $5 market, it was still manageable with most retro games being under $20.

Nowadays, even shitty games are $30 bucks are more if it's anything other than Sega Genesis or Atari 2600. It's getting to the point where it's not even fun anymore. I've pretty much moved on to seeking out comics, DVDs, and VHS on my local hunts anymore. eBay is the only reliable way anymore, and even then it's not cheap.

Thankfully, I got most of my first party titles (especially Nintendo titles) before this got completely out of control.

[sworddude]

30 $ seems a bit much for **** games

There are plenty of trash tier games for way less than 5$ pretty easily since otherwise they will never be sold.

That aside this topic is getting pretty dramatic it isn't all that bad far from it.

I still enjoy the hunt quite allot you won't hear me complaining, in thrift stores I won't deny it is pretty bad and definetly not worth your time unless you collect trash tier games. but than again some people just work there to snag all the stuff with value for the low prices so yea it is kinda expected. Flea markets same thing.

[xsuicidesn0wmanx]

There's a booth in the Volo Antique Mall in Illinois that is run by a former store owner. I'm sure it's just a mistake, but he had a copy of Spy Hunter on the Colecovision/Adam for $219.99 when I was there last weekend. He wasn't around to point out the mistake. Still though, I got a laugh out of it.

Went in cause I knew he had a couple copies of Fighting Street on Turbo CD. Last time they were $24.99, now he wants $49.99, about twice what it's worth. Most of his prices were two to three times what they were worth so I figured there might be a few items mistakenly marked below value since he clearly did not know what anything was worth. I ended up finding a CIB copy of Double Dragon on Atari 7800 for $42, and a sealed copy of I-War on Atari Jaguar for $24 while I was there. Both are in fair condition and worth about twice what he marked them. Took some pics to I could see if he had any other games marked wrong so I can go back and get some more deals.

[burningdoom]

That aside this topic is getting pretty dramatic it isn't all that bad far from it.

Absolutely it is. If you've been collecting for more than a few years, it is a very "dramatic" difference in prices and even being able to find stuff in the wild. Just since 2010 prices have doubled. (And it's far more than normal inflation.)

I could walk into any thrift shop and be able to find NES and SNES stuff on a regular basis. Now it's like a big deal when you do. I was able to peruse eBay and get all kinds of deals on retro games. Now it's all sniped up.

You are right about the crap games being under $5...but who wants crap games?