Place to buy games cheap?

Thrift stores

Thrift stores

soapman72

There are many, many places to find great deals on video games, the key is persistance and patients in order to get the best prices. I mostly hit up flea markets, several used media stores that sell all their retro games at a flat price, several video game stores, and a few thrift stores to get 90% of my games. Most of the time I buy my consoles and games for way below Ebay, Amazon or any other website online's prices. Visit these kinds of places in your area often and you'll find which places are best for finding good deals and which ones aren't that great. You'll end up scoring some awesome kinds along the way as well. Lucky for you, most of the consoles you're looking for are ones that can easily be found and usually for very reasonable prices at the places I have mentioned.

There are many, many places to find great deals on video games, the key is persistance and patients in order to get the best prices. I mostly hit up flea markets, several used media stores that sell all their retro games at a flat price, several video game stores, and a few thrift stores to get 90% of my games. Most of the time I buy my consoles and games for way below Ebay, Amazon or any other website online's prices. Visit these kinds of places in your area often and you'll find which places are best for finding good deals and which ones aren't that great. You'll end up scoring some awesome kinds along the way as well. Lucky for you, most of the consoles you're looking for are ones that can easily be found and usually for very reasonable prices at the places I have mentioned.

Shenmue_Jehuty

Go to flea markets. There are usually a ton of games for cheap.

Go to flea markets. There are usually a ton of games for cheap.

Legend002

[QUOTE="Shenmue_Jehuty"]

There are many, many places to find great deals on video games, the key is persistance and patients in order to get the best prices. I mostly hit up flea markets, several used media stores that sell all their retro games at a flat price, several video game stores, and a few thrift stores to get 90% of my games. Most of the time I buy my consoles and games for way below Ebay, Amazon or any other website online's prices. Visit these kinds of places in your area often and you'll find which places are best for finding good deals and which ones aren't that great. You'll end up scoring some awesome kinds along the way as well. Lucky for you, most of the consoles you're looking for are ones that can easily be found and usually for very reasonable prices at the places I have mentioned.

Heirren

Getting good deals on eBay is starting to be almost as much work as going thrifting. You really gotta have a list of various things you want (you will almost always pay too much if you set out looking for a specific game) and really stay on top of it to find auctions where you can get a good price. For systems though, it's really easy to find a good deal w/ some games in a lot. Basically any previous gen system (minus some rarities like Neo Geo) can be had for well under a hundred bucks, w/ controllers, cables and a handful of really good games.

[QUOTE="Heirren"][QUOTE="Shenmue_Jehuty"]

There are many, many places to find great deals on video games, the key is persistance and patients in order to get the best prices. I mostly hit up flea markets, several used media stores that sell all their retro games at a flat price, several video game stores, and a few thrift stores to get 90% of my games. Most of the time I buy my consoles and games for way below Ebay, Amazon or any other website online's prices. Visit these kinds of places in your area often and you'll find which places are best for finding good deals and which ones aren't that great. You'll end up scoring some awesome kinds along the way as well. Lucky for you, most of the consoles you're looking for are ones that can easily be found and usually for very reasonable prices at the places I have mentioned.

logicalfrank

Getting good deals on eBay is starting to be almost as much work as going thrifting. You really gotta have a list of various things you want (you will almost always pay too much if you set out looking for a specific game) and really stay on top of it to find auctions where you can get a good price. For systems though, it's really easy to find a good deal w/ some games in a lot. Basically any previous gen system (minus some rarities like Neo Geo) can be had for well under a hundred bucks, w/ controllers, cables and a handful of really good games.

[QUOTE="logicalfrank"]

[QUOTE="Heirren"] I agree. eBay is expensive, I've been noticing. You can get deals, but it's to the point that people generally know what they've got. The one area eBay still exceeds on are game lots. Tc(I cant stand that term, btw) is looking into getting a few new consoles and games. In this case I'd actually recommend eBay--picking up a console with some games to get started. The costs are usually reduced greatly.Heirren

Getting good deals on eBay is starting to be almost as much work as going thrifting. You really gotta have a list of various things you want (you will almost always pay too much if you set out looking for a specific game) and really stay on top of it to find auctions where you can get a good price. For systems though, it's really easy to find a good deal w/ some games in a lot. Basically any previous gen system (minus some rarities like Neo Geo) can be had for well under a hundred bucks, w/ controllers, cables and a handful of really good games.

I've yet to run in to anyone like that on the UK ebay.

as for me, I usually buy my games on a website my country has that is pretty similar to cragslist, the difference being, you see a lot of old games for sale there

[QUOTE="Heirren"][QUOTE="logicalfrank"]

Getting good deals on eBay is starting to be almost as much work as going thrifting. You really gotta have a list of various things you want (you will almost always pay too much if you set out looking for a specific game) and really stay on top of it to find auctions where you can get a good price. For systems though, it's really easy to find a good deal w/ some games in a lot. Basically any previous gen system (minus some rarities like Neo Geo) can be had for well under a hundred bucks, w/ controllers, cables and a handful of really good games.

rilpas

I've yet to run in to anyone like that on the UK ebay.

as for me, I usually buy my games on a website my country has that is pretty similar to cragslist, the difference being, you see a lot of old games for sale there

[QUOTE="rilpas"]

[QUOTE="Heirren"] I get bad vibes from a lot of the sellers. I was just in an auction for a new n64 controller. It went up to $83. I did not win. I then get a message from the seller claiming the top bidder backed out and that I could buy it for $82. The day after I lost I see some other controller(s) going in the mid 80s. I'm convinced that the seller was bidding on his own auction, to gauge what he could realistically get for it. My responce to him was that since the auction has ended, to why not put up "make an offer" so that I could do so. The response I got was "never mind, ill offer to someone else for $1 less". Heirren

I've yet to run in to anyone like that on the UK ebay.

as for me, I usually buy my games on a website my country has that is pretty similar to cragslist, the difference being, you see a lot of old games for sale there

I've been relatively lucky with my saturn shopping, but yeah as Darkman said many times, you have to have a LOT of patience with the Saturn, waiting for good deals and such

I'm also going for another sp(backlit) as my front lit model light seems to be more washed out. It seems this model went up in price over the last few years.Heirren

The backlit ones definitely went up in the last couple years since I got my first one. I honsetly just think people are getting hip to the fact that there's two different models. My first one, the only way I knew it was backlit was based on the color. If you are patient, you can eventually find one that's been mislisted for a little cheaper--graphite listed as onyx black for example.

As a side note, my silver front lit model has much quieter sound than either of my backlit models. Definitely, the screen is more washed out though or unplayably dark if you turn the light off.

The retro-gaming fad is really getting out of control. It really is getting harder and harder to find good deals out there. Everyone wants to set their prices according to eBay, which most longtime retro-collectors have long-known that many sellers on eBay inflate their prices.

About the only place I can find good deals on video games anymore is at Goodwill.

I want to buy a few older systems for my collection including the Dreamcast, NES, 7800, and Master System among others. My main concern is that everyone is charging double on websites like Amazon and Ebay and I do not trust websites that don't look official and polished, which includes craigslist.
I want to find a place where I can buy these systems at cheaper prices. I am not the most wealthiest of people so paying over 2 grand for a system with 5 games is bat freaking insane and hope someone can help me out.Superpesticide

Basically anywhere where you might think there may be even a slight chance they sell games.

Yard sales can be great as most(not all)don't care about the value of what they have, but about the fact that it's taking up space in their house.

You can strike gold at thrift stores like Salvation Army and Goodwill.

Mom and Pop stores that sell movies can also be a good place to look as some of them sell games/systems too.

Auctions.  You'd be surprised.  I picked up a SNES bundle that no one else bid on.  Had Secret of Mana Complete in box and some other games and I only paid $5 for the lot. Cleaned up the SNES and sold it for $20, so I got money back on my investment.

Flea markets.  Vendors are getting smarter here, but if you buy in bulk and ask if a deal can be swung when doing so you could walk away with some good deals.

If you find yourself going to one place frequently, build a rapport with the vendor/staff. Be friendly and grateful for the deals that come your way.  You'd be surprised how that can work to your advantage later.

Finally, be patient.  Since I started doing this I've taken the time to keep an eye out for the benefit of my wallet.  The most I have paid for one item in the past 8 years was $27 for Shenmue, and that was because it was factory sealed brand new.

thrift stores, pawn shops, toy shops, and record shops.

GameXChange has some decent prices, they had some PS2 games that came with the case, art, and possibly the manual for the same price it would cost to get it elsewhere as disc only. They have good prices on some of their less popular retro games, 10% off on Tuesdays, and B3G1 free on $7.95 or lower any system. They sell retro consoles for great prices, SNES is $45 with controller and cables, N64 is like $25 with everything, they had Sega Genesis with Sega CD together for $65.

I've gone to Goodwill and they usually never have any games worth buying. I've never seen games for sale at record stores. I've never been to a flea market that had games for sale.

[QUOTE="Heirren"] I'm also going for another sp(backlit) as my front lit model light seems to be more washed out. It seems this model went up in price over the last few years.logicalfrank

The backlit ones definitely went up in the last couple years since I got my first one. I honsetly just think people are getting hip to the fact that there's two different models. My first one, the only way I knew it was backlit was based on the color. If you are patient, you can eventually find one that's been mislisted for a little cheaper--graphite listed as onyx black for example.

As a side note, my silver front lit model has much quieter sound than either of my backlit models. Definitely, the screen is more washed out though or unplayably dark if you turn the light off.

[QUOTE="logicalfrank"]

[QUOTE="Heirren"] I'm also going for another sp(backlit) as my front lit model light seems to be more washed out. It seems this model went up in price over the last few years.Heirren

The backlit ones definitely went up in the last couple years since I got my first one. I honsetly just think people are getting hip to the fact that there's two different models. My first one, the only way I knew it was backlit was based on the color. If you are patient, you can eventually find one that's been mislisted for a little cheaper--graphite listed as onyx black for example.

As a side note, my silver front lit model has much quieter sound than either of my backlit models. Definitely, the screen is more washed out though or unplayably dark if you turn the light off.

I know graphite is one of the colors because it's the one I have.  Easiest way to tell if it's a backlit model is to check the Model number on the back.  If it ends in "101" it's backlit.