Retro Video Game Thrift Store Sale Gone Bad - #CUPodcast

Collectors are upset at how a game store acted at a charity store retro game sale event.
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More info: www.reddit.com/r/madisonwi/comments/4y6i8u/another_st_vinnys_video_game_sale_gone_wrong/d6livcu?st=is7rgter&sh=a5da2b44

[@st.vincentdepaulsocietyofw3850]

Hey Pat and Ian, Just wanted to say I am personally a huge fan of the podcast. I work for St. Vincent de Paul Society of Waukesha county, not far from the stores involved in your topic. After hearing about what happened thanks to your podcast, I have personally reached out to those capable of implementing changes to ensure that these events in the future are handled in a way that is fair for all of our customers. We appreciate everyone who shops at our stores, and all the money goes immediately back into the community to benefit those in need, but as you yourself stated, all customers deserve a fair chance to find and purchase things that they desire. Thank you for taking the time to talk about this topic and as always, keep up the great work!

[@mikechartowich1482]

Thanks for taking action on this. Having a policy of no hoarding at sales usually prevents these kinds of things.

[@leeartlee915]

Wow, I wonder if this person is for real.

[@origintrackz5235]

@@leeartlee915 No he isn't, i actually work for St Vincents and his KZbin Channel is not official, and its kind of strange if i must say...

[@leeartlee915]

@@origintrackz5235 lulz. What kind of person fakes working at St. Vincents? Man, there are some sad as mother fuckers in this world.

[@animalhouse8849]

@@origintrackz5235 The videos on the channel indicate otherwise.

[@michaelcrandall6399]

Make rules for the sale. 1. No bins, bags, etc. 2. Limit 5 or 10 pieces per person.

[@GadGades]

maybe have a volunteer there or have it under glass. Like, you have to buy it as you pick it up like at a flea market. So they can't pick up a bunch at once without consent.

[@bogartwilley]

I could see a guy finding several items he wants & come back with a cane & sunglasses insisting he needs to do Christmas shopping for the grand babies - all 37 of em but shhhh it's July and he wants it to be a surprise

[@1up17]

The shitty thing about this whole situation is: 1. They hoarded all the games so no one else could look through them. 2. They slowly sifted through the bins of games in front of people and picked out what they wanted. 3. They reacted to the negative post on their Facebook page by sticking it back in the faces of people that complained instead of trying to fix the issue.

[@ninjamaster3453]

we probably wouldn't be talking about it if they didn't do #3.

[@mwemusic6598]

"dont believe the hype" the people bashing this store are local area scalpers. they are just mad because the store decided to out scoop them and it has created a "nerd"turf war. storage bins bags etc have always been allowed at this event.some one didnt believe me i showed them a pic, he deleted his comments? the other scalpers horde games sift through them in the corner etc etc. it is a shit move but if you go into this event it becomes survial of the fittest. best thing to do is put the non common and rare stuff behind glas

[@joeycameron4744]

Exactly what I'm thinking. Just start pawing through their storage bin at the same time they are. Until they put money on the table, the product belongs to the store and anyone can buy it.

[@ninjamaster3453]

Joey Cameron I guess. But takes a fun event and makes it into shit.

[@joeycameron4744]

Ninja Master Kinda looks like the fun was taken out of this event a long time ago by the people with the bins. You want to make it fun again...first rule: no dealers/scalpers and bins allowed.

[@muiscnight]

looks like I picked the perfect time to be a retro gamer..

[@leeartlee915]

There was never a perfect time. There’s only less expensive. And actually, I’d argue retro gaming is the best it’s ever been, as long as you don’t need the physical hardware. OEM’s and emulators are better than they’ve ever been.

[@haroldhall1517]

@@leeartlee915 true. The only "perfect" time would most likely have been the ps2 era early to mid 2000s. & thats mainly for snes, it always seems the best times are when everything is 2 gens ahead. Expect ps3 and 360 games to start increasing in the next 2 or 3 years

[@unchi1999]

@@haroldhall1517PS2 Master Race 🕺🕺🕺

[@hpiguy]

I have yet to find any old video games at St Vinny's or any thrift shop in WI for that matter and now I know why.

[@The80s8BitGuy]

There are some games at mine, but they're shit. Y'all want a copy of Charles Barkley's shut up and jam for Sega Genesis, Madden '94 for Genesis, or a $40 maybe working fat PS2?

[@RA2Channel]

My dad is in the collector car business and we were swapping stories the other day. We came to the conclusion that the retro video game scene has become just as cutthroat as the collector car scene.

[@jenningsmills5398]

retro collecting has gone to shit every swap meet is all resellers or grandma who wants $40 for mario/duckhunt

[@lyndza1989]

no fuckin kidding,, jokesters..

[@patrick8876]

Not worth my time. I love retro gaming but standing in line with a big bucket is ridiculous.

[@ninjamaster3453]

that's exactly how you should handle life. if you make $xx average per hour and work full time, why waste your free time for a chance at a discount?

[@Raarrow]

This is a common practice with this store. We used to have one here in Appleton, WI, and they did the same thing when our Blockbuster closed down. They took tons of bins and cleaned out almost the whole store. About a week later, movies and games with Blockbuster stickers on them were on the shelves. They also had stacks of games behind the counter with a piece of paper labeled "Ebay" on them, which was probably the better games. You could always find a crap ton of lousy sports games on the shelves, though.

[@melvinpunymeyer8104]

People do this everyday at thrift stores. They put their cart in front of the DVD shelf while they go through and scan everything. If you ask them to move, they ignore you or want to argue. I'm not surprised that is has reached this point. I wish everyone would just stop collecting and use Everdrives and modchips just to hurt the resellers. Then they could come in and clean up when the prices have settled and the resellers have moved on.

[@NatureHacker]

even if its in your posession you don't own it.

[@FireMrshlBill]

Thrift stores are tough now with all the ebayers and resellers, most of the time there isn't anything worth buying or for the things that are something I'd want to play, the store has looked up the value and jacked up the price ($30 pink DSlites, some games going for over $10, just a couple $4 under eBay pricing).And then, I've been in front of the dvd/game shelf and have had someone swoop in and grab a game that was two games over from where my hand was. I wasn't blocking or being an ass, but to go right where they see my hand about to reach and grab something is a jerk move. Especially when you can tell they don't play video games, and they then just sit there and look it up on their phone for a value while looking at you in their peripheral to make sure you walk away before they put it back... just in case.

[@heroicdefeat5335]

When they bring up ebay prices I sound super excited. Then tell them I'll just get it shipped to my house from ebay :)Thanks for the info!

[@melvinpunymeyer8104]

I think if there was more of a demand for everdrives, there would be more chinese ED clones flooding the market. That would keep the price of real EDs from going up.

[@heroicdefeat5335]

If you want emulation just get a raspberry pi. Everdrives are nice but for just one console. A pi is often cheaper than an everdrive and can emulate anything from the amiga to the dreamcast. Sure you have to program it yourself but with youtube help its a walk in the park.

[@thancrus]

I believe the age old adage of "just because you can doesnt mean you should" Those people , as a business, should not have done that. Its a respect issue. If they really wanted all that stuff send a bunch of employees to grab what they could. Also bragging about screwing over your customers is really the worst PR possible.

[@JoJoHebadubus]

Happens in the UK a lot. Loads of Disney infinity figures were pretty much 90% off and some guy went to all of the local ones and cleared the entire stock within two hours. Bragged about it and stuck them in his shop for full price. Bullshit, I won't ever visit his shop over that crap.

[@lyndza1989]

@@JoJoHebadubus hopefully no1 bought his crap lol i would seriously hope anyway jus go w out dont support that sillyness

[@thepoliticalstartrek]

I would not have a problem with it if they didn't sort it out. Just buy it then deal with the consequences.

[@VideoCop]

they should honestly limit it to like "10 game items per customer" or something, idk. like yeah you get there first, you should get "first dibss" for sure but not first dibs at EVERYTHING. shoulda almost treat it like a football draft, first person gets first pick, second person gets 2nd pick and so on, but of course that would never work and it would take forever, haha. but yeah so dumb

[@michaelle185]

Couldn't someone just be an ass and take stuff out of there bucket?

[@markplott4820]

Michael Le depends on if you are man enough.

[@frednificent]

i like the idea, you take an item out of the bucket, does the scumbag let him take it, or drop the loot and risk others taking from it while they chase down the guy?

[@ninjamaster3453]

+Mark Plott retro gamers are pretty easy going people. they wouldn't be so bold. these guys were hustlers

[@AJTComicsBrand]

I have a thrift store that sells video game at EBAY prices that ARE up the ass.

[@hektorlinko]

Yeah me too! I have a fucking thrift store that has these games HIGHER than eBay. I always tell them straight up... I might as well go to eBay and at least buy the shit from a legit source where I know the games have been cleaned and tested. Damn I hate some of these thrift stores. I saw a NES for 60 bucks untested and a Super Mario/Duck Hunt cart for $15 noted "Rare." Fuck that shit. So yeah I feel your pain.

[@Thegaijinpenguin21]

+hektorlinko omg they have the ultra rare super mario duck hunt there was only 1 made by aliens

[@CommodoreFan64]

I've seen about the same on a $70 NES that was very very yellowed with some sort of fruit stickers all over it locked up near the counter in glass display in a Salvation Army of all places., and in one GoodWill in my area they even wanted $12 a piece for those little Vtech learning games that go in the Vsmile system with marker writing all over them locked behind the glass(they had a price tag on the plastic bin they where in). I looked at the lady in Goodwill pointed to the games, and said seriously? She said yes, and I walked right the fuck out the front door without buying anything, and that was all this past weekend. Shit like this pisses me off, and makes me thankful for emulators the way the prices are going.

[@AJTComicsBrand]

That's why I'll go to pawnshops. but is it really a thrift store or a game store? what I saw was Rule of rose for $140 unopened was $400... If any thrift store that has video game that HIGH, that's price gouging .

[@jordanchaq]

its insane. My local thrift store occasionally goes up to 35% over eBay prices on ps1 game.

[@Justin-Hill-1987]

In Green Bay, Wisconsin, where I live, we have two GB Games locations that I frequently visit. I also visit Pre-Played in neighboring Ashwaubenon, Wisconsin, as well as Game Trade in neighboring De Pere, Wisconsin. In my area, you won't find these bad thrift store practices, since our St. Vincent DePaul locations (we have two of them) follow the rules (thou shalt not steal). Other thrift stores in my area include three Goodwill store locations, The Salvation Army Thrift Store, Bethesda Thrift Shop, and a Manna for Life Thrift Store, which also sell video games and electronics in their stores with part of their money going to charity.

[@KombatGod]

If you think about it, retro gaming collecting has been trendy and mainstream for about 10 years now. Trends usually don't last this much, so we might actually see it go down soon.

[@KombatGod]

​@Kabob1 Brewster yeah, I know. SMB3 for 150K. Sigh.

[@TheKingfisher745]

The flea market is not worth going to at all anymore here for video games and collectibles. Their prices have seriously exceeded ebay. Last week the only seller had Populous boxed (not even good condition) for $60... I was done.

[@regul8r]

It depends on the type of seller at the flea market. I have a seller at our local flea market that buys all his games for $2 and sells loose games for $4 and complete for $5 so a few weeks ago I went threw his loose disc games which I don't usually (rather have complete) and found a ps2 metal slug anthology. So when/if im ready I can trade or sell that for $20 and they can resell it for $40. My point being deals are still out there don't give up.

[@Red13Nanaki]

The Kingfisher 745 It's been the same way with me. Instead of people trying to make a little money and just get rid of stuff they jack the prices up too much. I still think it's in part because of the Internet so everyone knows how much something is worth and they try to get the most out of it.

[@milkmanleeroy]

People like this are why I slowed down hunting for deals. It was great when I was doing it between 2012-2014 - I was able to re-shelf games from my childhood, got some amazing deals for myself. But then I ran into the poisonous side of the hunt and that were the resellers that were cutthroat and only in it for themselves. It got pretty scary for me one year (summer of 2013) when I was at a local thrift store and happened upon some pretty nice rare SNES games all boxed that were put out a few minutes before I got to the store. Some other guy came in behind me and saw I was taking the majority of them. When I walked out he followed me to my car and said how it was unfair that I bought pretty much the entire stock and that those games were what was supporting him and his family. I didn't even walk to my car because I didn't want him knowing what I drove or who I was so I walked across the street and the guy was still following me while he was screaming at me. It got to the point where I had to go into a gas station, threw my bag over the counter, asked the attendant to call the police because I was being harassed by this lunatic. Like... has it gotten to the point where people are relying on reselling games to make ends meet? Is it wrong of me not to feel sorry for them? I don't feel bad at all - it was a good score and I kept most of them to this day, but I feel this industry has gotten way too commercialized. (Moreso than before anyways)

[@milkmanleeroy]

Had he acted on his threats it would of ended a bit differently for him. I dislike hurting or fighting anyone but I'm very capable of defending myself in any situation. I tried to calm him down but he was going on about how I was encroaching on his livelihood. I'm pretty sure he was just a person with mental barriers... so maybe he couldn't find a real job. Who knows... I just felt sorry for him at the end. Three years ago, the retro gaming hunts were at the height of collectors and resellers alike. Fast forward to 2016 and those same reselling assholes are now moving into games and items that aren't even released yet.

[@milkmanleeroy]

+VideoGame Polak - what I do take away from this is that the people who made those purchases at the goodwill location paid near $800.00 in goods. I even saw the posted receipts as proof. I think I found myself more concerned that people who were in need of that money wasn't fully benefitting from the sale. This whole tub this is a very grey scenario. I've heard of people brining bins and camping out for a long time just to take a shot at it first. It happens here too. It's not a new thing but something that has been happening for years.

[@milkmanleeroy]

I spoke to the owner of the business on Facebook and inquired on how much was actually spent at this goodwill store. He had posted a receipt for close to $800.00 for the purchases in question. My initial concern was that this is a goodwill store and that money goes to families in need. My second concern was that whole bin business because I had never heard of people doing that in the past. According to the owner, it's been in practice for 7+ years (at least in his area) and that apparently other people were doing it. It really comes down to a business competing with your average stand alone customers like me. I'd be sore about it and might even deem it as petty, but I think I'd move on and just know never to shop there again if it bothered me that much. Or if I were desperate enough I'd line up 9 hours before the store opened (won't happen. I love sleep way too much...) Word of mouth goes a long way where I live and it wouldn't take much to locally voice your opinion to other local hunters like myself on the "buyer beware" aspect. A shop gunning for goods at a good will or a flea market, fine. But the same shop being a public dick about it... Eh... I stay away and repost the source for others to be aware. I'd never tell someone to avoid a shop - I leave it to the judgement of others.

[@milkmanleeroy]

The entire situation even confused me, so apologies for any confusion. Let's just agree that douchebags will be douchebags. Unfortunately, people like that will always be around, no matter where you live. Any time I get a big score, I like to think a scumbag reseller falls that much harder from grace.

[@JohnnyD1986]

To help deter resellers who are usually the first to camp out on stuff like this, they should limit how much of what people can buy, like most stores do on Black Friday.

[@FoxParasyte]

People do shit like this at goodwill. I've seen a couple go and fill their carts with DVDs and games until the shelves are completely empty. Then they use their phones to scan things that are worth something. Then once they are done they put the crap back on the shelves.

[@SameNameDifferentGame]

In college I worked at a store called Video Game Exchange in Milwaukee, WI (no relation to the one in Madison, WI), but we would never do anything like that. Granted, this was 15 years ago, and the old videogame buying demographic was much different, but still. It seems to me to be an ethical question. We did get loads of cool dead stock from a distributor our owner had a connection with, but even that stuff we sold at super reasonable prices. (Xmas of 2002 we had a contest to see who could sell the most new-in-box SEGA Menacers, because we got a palette of them from said distributor.) But I do think you're right about arguably the biggest point: this could cost them business, and their shitty response will likely exacerbate that.

[@Oksonowwhat]

The Madison store is called Pre Played

[@theninjawizard2028]

The guy who owns this shop is a really awesome person that is a good dad to his kid and he always gives good deals.

[@genewilliamson1634]

For years at a local gaming convention the game dealers would buy up almost all items worth anything at the auction to the point of having to over pay for them. Then return to their booth and immediately place the items for sale using it as a form of restocking.When only three people are getting auction wins, it starts to be a slap in the face to see it for sale an hour later. This was one of many reasons the convention continuously lost attendance numbers and finally shut down.

[@jasonlease1645]

Wow! This is my neighborhood. I had no idea St Vinnys held this event. Video Game X-Change is where Scottsqautch bought his copy of Ninja Gaiden Trilogy when Korn passed through town. VGXC will be fine honestly. There is no where else to get retro besides Pre-Played in Mad Town.

[@justinlink1616]

This event transformed this store from "a resource to help collectors get connected to game that they're interested in" to "an adversary standing in the way of collectors getting games". This hobby is so frustrating.

[@Kaiser499TV]

Fly High, Lesbian Seagull!

[@nathanielgutschenritter2983]

Lmao

[@brandons7634]

Pat at 7:45 you totally took the words out of my mouth about the stock and competition of retro video games the collectors vs the stores you couldn't have made a better point thank you for speaking for us !

[@akoww1000]

I've seen this before in Florida, Now most places don't let you bring in buckets or anything to hold stuff. But when they still did as they checked out what they had in their bins people would walk up and grab stuff out of their bins they wanted to buy. the places allowed it , unless you are in line to buy it , it still belongs to the place that owns it . I've seen people threaten others for stacking stuff out of their bins they are going through and say they are stealing from them LOL but its not theirs until they buy it. Like on Black Friday if someone has four tvs in a cart you can take one and nothing they can do about , because it isn't stealing .

[@dewisp02]

this happens at the goodwill outlet stores all the time, especially with shoes. People fill shopping carts with shoes when the trays come out and then go to the furniture section to make matching pairs and decide which are worth keeping and which they want to dump back into the trays.

[@lyndza1989]

ur right.. ebay resellers.. then the local ppl who seriously need those cheap shoes for their kids feet well i guess f them right.. even tho thats what the entire purpose of the store is for.

[@rev949]

This happens at library book sales in my city. You get these scumbag re-sellers who practically knock people over to get in and start filling boxes with shit and sticking those idiotic scanners in old ladies craws as they browse.

[@404DecadeNotAvailable]

This kind of stuff is what stopped me collecting 4-5 years ago.

[@PatTheNESpunk]

Did the game store employees cross a line? Are people right to be upset? Was the monetary gain worth the bad PR? ►Listen to full audio podcasts: bit.ly/1ONIjuQ ►Want to watch the entire video podcast and support us? patreon.com/pxlsicle ►More #CUPodcast vids: bit.ly/1pOBDVH ►Follow on twitter! twitter.com/patthenespunk & twitter.com/pxlsicle ►More info: www.reddit.com/r/madisonwi/comments/4y6i8u/another_st_vinnys_video_game_sale_gone_wrong/d6livcu?st=is7rgter&sh=a5da2b44

[@thexpurt]

Though I would never do this myself, I wouldn't say they crossed any lines. The taunting maybe, but since word is getting around that they rubbed in people's faces, I anticipate their business will suffer in the end. These type of people take advantage of these types of situations all the time. I'm pretty sure this problem could be solved simply by releasing the games more often I don't see why anyone would release them only twice a year in the first place.

[@antibishonen]

Without a doubt, they would get more what they bargained for. I used to patron a collector store in my neighborhood and left a bad taste in my mouth after the clerk extremely low-balled my gaming collection, even I told him before it's the more uncommon ones.

[@epkahl]

I live in Madison, and have been to one of these events last year when they were doing the same thing, ruined all the fun, and I was there a good half hour before they opened, so like 730 am, I didn't get a chance to look at anything. They literally ran and bum rushed it to the back of the store where the games were, I was so dissapointed. Now I know the store and will definitely be avoiding them now.

[@epkahl]

Oh and they're not the only retro game shop in town either, which I have had much better customer/consumer interactions with, they will be continuing to get my buisness.

[@redgr81]

St. V is my favorite thrift store. Everything is priced beyond fair. In Indiana they do not do this 1 day video game sale. They (St. V) put it out as soon as they get it. I've gotten boxed Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time and Gauntlet Legends along with Smash Bros Melee. This is a great community store. I hope this BS and these ASSHOLES don't keep people from shopping at these stores.

[@TheZeroSbr]

Saying "Other people have done this" isn't a good reason as to why it's okay. That's such a fallacious argument, and I'm surprised you two didn't pick up on that.

[@TheZeroSbr]

***** No need to invoke Godwin's Law, but that's exactly what's wrong with that logic, yeah.

[@emmettturner9452]

They said that at 9:00.

[@TheZeroSbr]

Emmett Turner Yeah, they do xD

[@stumbling]

Yeah, it's pathetic, they are basically saying, "but why did _I_ have to get caught?" You can't act like a douchebag and then whine like a bitch when you get called out on it.

[@EchoNoctua]

Exactly!

[@pamendez3]

I would have just went up and grabbed stuff from their bin. And I would have told other people to do the same thing. If they would have said anything I would just make a scene and get them kicked out with me. That way the other people who just want just a few things can get a chance to get their stuff.

[@HyperComboEx]

The only way things like this can end, is if people stop paying so much for retro games. These guys and many other stores know somebody will buy it at a marked up value. Everything is dry these days. Goodwill's thrift stores pawn shops you name it! You have people going out buying all the games they can find just to sale them and flip them for another expensive game. You know the market is bad when you have to turn into a reseller to fund your collection. Most of the so called rare games are complete ass anyway. When are we gonna get to the point where somebody who spends 800 dollars on cheetahmen 2 is a idiot? Most of the time its just for bragging rights. It's always i added this to my collection today videos. Or look what hidden gem i found in the wild. What about what your playing? What are you enjoying? What have you finally beaten lately? Are you even playing them or just looking at them on a shelf? Me i just finished blaster master for the first time. After having like 10+ runs ended by that damn crab, and the infamous worm and spike room in area 8. Had the game since i was 5 and couldn't even get off the first boss as a kid.

[@SandmansHate]

I tried getting into retro gaming, by looking up a SNES, or Genesis for my two kids. See, I grew up with this shit, and thought it would be cool to get the same setup for my kids. What I quicky found out, was just use a damn Emulator on my PC, and forget trying to buy old systems. Bunch of Goddamn vultures killed what looked like a ton of fun.

[@HyperComboEx]

That's what really sucks about the whole thing now. If you wanna get into retro gaming at this point its just far to expensive. The top games for each console are pricey, we even have common games creeping up in price its ridiculous. I'm so happy that i kept up with my collection since i was a kid, so i don't have to deal with the things some people have to. Emulator is definitely the way to go these days. I myself use them even though i own the real things. It's just some games are to expensive and i refuse to pay the prices people are asking. But what can we do? I mean we have people paying hundreds of dollars just for boxes and manuals. Until people chill with how much they are willing to pay for retro gaming, the prices aren't going anywhere.

[@zacharykelway5797]

Man, you said it, remember the late 90 when you could go buy what would be a 50$ game for 3-5 dollars. The fuckers cost more now than what they did brand new.

[@SandmansHate]

HyperComboEx Yup, I remember selling my old Genesis collection on ebay around 2004 or 5, my God do I regret it. A huge ass bundle, for about 45-50 bucks. I bet it would fetch over 300 now easily.

[@bluearmy893]

I pretty much said this in another comment, completely agree.

[@Drinkabeerandplayagameofficial]

scummy move, but not a bad way to do it from a strictly business centered perspective...gloating about it though....woof

[@Drinkabeerandplayagameofficial]

***** thanks bud, appreciate that!

[@roguecactus7]

Yeah, like pat said, is it worth it to get a good deal at the cost of your store's reputation? It doesn't seem like a good long-term business strategy. 🚽 Savages.🙂

[@mrwednesdaynight]

I am from Madison and this is absolutely true. The St Vinnie's video game sale is an insane day. If you aren't there early, the picking get slim fast. It's ridiculous.

[@Night-Jester]

Thanks for fighting the good fight and bringing attention to these incidents.

[@Night-Jester]

And if the business of retro games is cutthroat and that is how it is....then fuck the business. I'm moving forward with my gaming.

[@Konacha37]

This is the main reason I don't collect as much anymore.... crazy prices for some games, resellers getting crazy prices (I went to a flea market Saturday, a woman wanted 90 dollars for an Atari 2600. My girlfriend was going to get a few toys from her but after hearing the price of what mine was she put it back and left) and getting nothing but Madden games at other places. I've almost finished games that I had as a kid that most of my buying is at cons and some retro game stores.

[@RyuHayabusa06]

I've been to 2 St.V stores and they had nothing but smelly old clothes. I got into collecting just out of love for video games. If the games were worthless I'd still collect. Things have gotten so out of hand. It's almost impossible to find anything in the wild anymore, at least for me. Flea markets, peddler's malls, thrift stores, etc have nothing around here. There's a handful of stores that might have something decent every once in a while but they've checked Ebay and put some ridiculous price.

[@Pandiosity]

Most of the thrift stores in my area like goodwill and salvation army usually take the game collectibles and sell them via an online auction page or through an auction in store. I remember a while back an seeing classified add for good will hiring a person with collectible knowledge to sift out the good stuff so they can sell it on their auctions.

[@tim26847]

The store needs to set boundaries, exactly. Nothing like totes or backpacks aloud.

[@SeekerLancer]

I've been done with collecting for a few years now. I love what I have but the time for buying is definitely over.

[@TheMizunoPro]

reminds me of the Video game reseller Pat shows in his flea market madness series. goes through everyones lots and buys rare games to resell them 20 feet away 500% the amount he paid 10 min ago

[@TheCaptainSquid]

Scumbag buyer of the week?

[@sjshady0169]

lol, that was gonna be my exact comment. XD

[@ZefTillDeath8878]

Scumbag buyer/dealer of the week. I looked them up and I'm surprised how few negative google and yelp reviews they got out of it.

[@pjbrown4736]

cue reverb

[@TheCaptainSquid]

+Morphic c You are what you eat, after all.

[@shagadelic8680]

And people condemn emulation....

[@TheZeroSbr]

Both emulation and what Pat described are typically not moral.

[@igofast6591]

+Tom Wilson says the Atari dork

[@TheZeroSbr]

Tom Wilson Cute. Feel like a big boy now?

[@TheZeroSbr]

***** Oh, it does. I said it typically isn't seen as moral, because it's not. I never said I didn't do it.

[@DrDizzleFrizzle]

I've had some sound issues with NES, though I've never had any issues with SNES, gameboy and playstation (besides some disc changing issues). I've been meaning to check out retroarch because I've heard it does a lot of emulation quite well.

[@the8-bitnerd712]

at my local flea market the resellers used to be pretty fare games were priced by system and about 1-30 each (1$ being like gamboy 30$ being vectrex) all systems were about 15 each, now it's all depended on system and game title and whatnot, i resold everything to the main reseller I bought from them for higher than what I had bought it from them for a few years ago. Taste of their own medicine

[@GameShowGumbo]

There is a St. Vincent de Paul in Renton, WA and they usually charge $2-5 for regular commons and they have the expensive stuff in the glass cases with regular consoles like Xboxs and the like for $10-30 in the electronics section. I haven't had any personal experience with this, but I do admit that this story really rubbed me the wrong way, especially when this guy decided to screw everyone over, especially a charity shop, just for a dollar. Pathetic.

[@VGRetroQuest]

This is in my area, and it's like this every year. As a collector, you have to do the same thing to get anything. This has been going on for 7 years twice a year and is not anything new.

[@VGRetroQuest]

VGX-CHANGE I have no interest in talking to you whatsoever. All I have to say is that burning bridges and making yourself look bad is no fun. I didn't even bring any of this up, so clearly I am not the one that had beef with you. I did find it very humorous when I saw this KZbin video the other day and immediately knew what it was referring to. My game collection is tiny these days - I sold most of my collection to pay for surgery I had earlier this year. I spent about $200 at this sale on only items I kept for myself (some Wii and PS1 games as well as a few replacement controllers and the like). I have no comment on your actions whatsoever. I don't care - I don't want to be involved. All I know is that you look really bad on KZbin, Reddit, and even your own Facebook page now, and it isn't me that is saying that. You need some seriously good press sir, and I wish you the best of luck with your future endeavors.

[@mwemusic6598]

"burning bridges" "beef" what about your reddit post from 2 years ago? i kept my mouth shut all in the name of "peace" when it was brought to my attention. you posted on reddit bashing my store and preplayed and gamestop

[@nostalgicwizard9762]

As someone who buys a lot of video games (carts)- wow. That would upset me and I'd be sure to share it with my local facebook retro gaming exchange groups.

[@harrysweetpea]

Stuff like this is why the bubble is going to deflate.

[@jaydeniemuth9366]

It's a shame too I'm a regular at a majority of game stores in the region. I'll still go to these stores there good places to shop.

[@sonicmario64]

I don't think I've ever had to deal with anything like that at the St. Vincent DePaul store in my hometown, but after learning about how cruel and heartless some game collectors can be, it kinda makes me glad that I decided to retire from retro game collecting, especially since it's become rather difficult to collect used games just to play them. :P

[@stevethrowaway5023]

I don't want to pour more gas onto this fire, but I feel I have to add more context since I was at this sale and saw this behavior. It's been weighing on my mind for a while and I haven't really found a good outlet for it. Here is some general info about what happened: The three store employees specifically targeted the cartridge game table. They grabbed everything they could get their hands on and threw it into their tubs (except sports games). In this second picture, the table at the bottom of the frame is the table full of their castoffs. This table was surrounded by a bunch of scavengers waiting to have a chance at the games that the store employees knew they couldn't make money on (which included desirable games that were priced at near retail value). I heard one girl say that she was broke and just wanted to pick up some fun games to play, then offered some of the things she had found to another shopper. These are the type of people that should have been able to enjoy this sale, and the fact that she was deprived of this makes my stomach churn. Meanwhile these punks had tubs full of games that they had to sift through just to find out what they had grabbed. They had no idea what was in their tubs as they would triumphantly hold up rare games that they had found as they were digging through their bins. The main employee proudly announced as he was going through the checkout counter that he spends at least $700 every time he does this at one of these sales (implying that they do the same thing every time the same sale happens). The store owner cleaned out his facebook page as he started to receive negative backlash. He started to telling people who were voicing their frustration that they were just pissed because they didn't get anything good. To clarify, I am not frustrated because "I didn't get anything good." I'm new to retro collecting and actually got some really fun, although not rare or expensive, games that I've been enjoying since. I'm upset by this behavior because I don't think it was ethical and it clearly deprived people that could have benefited from reduced prices. Regardless of whether or not it was allowed, it was a scummy way to conduct the public facing side of a business. All anyone wanted was an apology from the store owner and maybe an agreement to adopt more fair practices in the future. Slandering people on facebook was the most immature approach possible. Just so everyone knows, there are good alternatives in the Madison area. Preplayed, located in Madison, is a fantastic alternative. The prices may be a bit higher, but I've always had a really friendly experience with the staff at this store.

[@DergEnterprises]

Hustlin' backwards. I buy stuff mostly from Amazon now. It's not the cheapest place to buy from, but it's quick and easy.

[@Midori_Hoshi]

I don't think it's wrong for them to buy cheap games to resell for higher because there is no other way for them to run that kind of business. If they didn't do it, someone else would. But what bothers me is them rushing into the store, throwing a ton of games into a large container and then taking their time to sort through it. That feels like it's breaking an unwritten rule.

[@splicetape9435]

surprise to me. My local st Vincent sells mostly shellac 78s. they rarely have vinyl 33s. I'm surprised they new what a video game was.

[@MatthewD0404]

I live in Cincinnati OH and we have St. Vincent DePaul stores. I buy games there often and have never heard of this before.

[@dirtclaude3730]

I worked at St. Vincents in canada we never did this, but a guy I worked with found a copy of a link to the past sealed in box.

[@Sir_Loin_Tippe]

This sort of thing has been happening around me for a few years now. Two Summers ago they opened up a Goodwill Outlet store a few miles from my house. I was out of school and had no job at the time so I went every day pretty much for the first few weeks. I literally walked away with stuff from that store every day. Video games, the occasional handheld, video game posters, manuals, or merchandise. Even books and movies and stuff. Then after a few months I started noticing the same faces in the store over and over again, and they had carts and carts full of stuff. What they would do is learn when they switch out the tubs with new merch and just fill up a few carts with stuff, then sit down on the donated furniture in the corner of the store and look up everything on their phones. That's why the few tubs in the corner are always jam packed 4 feet high with stuff falling over the edges because the resellers would just toss everything back in the closest bin. I later saw several of the Goodwill regulars at the local farmer's market peddling their stuff every weekend. I no longer go to the flea market or the Goodwills really. In fact, I kinda gave up retro video game collecting as a whole. I just play the games on my PC now.

[@koolaidman531]

I have the same thing happen at the goodwill near me in Illinois. there's a lady who spends all day camping out the tubs for anything she can get her hands on. then she throws it on her cart, sits in one of the same couches on her phone and looks everything up.

[@koolaidman531]

I have the same thing happen at the goodwill near me in Illinois. there's a lady who spends all day camping out the tubs for anything she can get her hands on. then she throws it on her cart, sits in one of the same couches on her phone and looks everything up.

[@clintonrenfro628]

There isn't much better reason why I get 10 modern games to each retro game these days. I don't even bother shopping at retro stores because from my experience, most are the same. I'd rather deal with a pawn shop the way retro gaming stores view their customers.

[@stoltobot]

If they are sourcing their products from under the nose of consumers they are basically scalping, adding zero value. I used to sell thrift store games from Japan but I could justify it at the time cause I was connecting a collector to a hard to get product. Now I kinda regret doing it though because the well has absolutely run dry in the 10 years I've been here.

[@RossLarson]

I went to the video game sale in question (Madison area, St. Vincent de Paul) later that day, as it happened on a weekday, and I refused to take a vacation day in order to participate in the event. I've been to one of the sales in the past, arriving at the opening of the store on that day. Unfortunately, it was like this both times. It was a very stressful experience being in the store. Anything still left in the store was at or above market value, although there were some broken consoles available at low prices. At this point, I guess I'd rather buy online or from people I know. I sold a portion of my video game collection (boxed 32X games and, light gun games, some CRT TVs) to a person who runs a convention in the area for below market value, but I knew that the games were going to be played instead of being marked up for maximum profit.

[@conspiraciesarejustgreatst2059]

look, these people who snatch up all these games are creeps. if u want to do something, don't go after the charity or try to force them to change their policy. use the free market method of the consumers passing the word around about the d bags who brought the containers and screwed everyone over. tell your friends, tell the public, make signs, etc. that's how u handle this

[@brpadington]

Our thrift stores don't sell games in store anymore. With the exception of PS2/PS1/Xbox games. They have been selling them online for obscene prices.

[@TheGuinnessMick]

Recently we had two well-known resellers in my city who run a Facebook auction group, get caught deleting comments so they could score games cheap. Unfortunately, this kind of thing happens and it does suck.

[@logcabinday42]

I live in Wisconsin. No wonder why I can never find anything at thrift stores (including St. Vincent DePaul's).

[@finnthecollector8669]

This is a super interesting topic in which I don't live in that area. But I live where there is a st vincent thrift store that does similar things as far as putting games out. Well I got fed up with that situation. So I got with the manager and decided to help out the store at one point by spending some weekend days helping straighten up their stock room and organizing everything (literally everything). That in turn at the end of my charity work allowed me to buy a ton of stuff from the location, things that were being held in the back.

[@TheSP33DFREAK]

Since I now live in Madison, I see the video game x-change store when I ride on the bus. This is pretty cool.

[@vegetagallitgun]

If I'm not mistaken, Video Game X-Change are also vendors at Midwest Gaming Classic every April in Wisconsin. BTW, I'm not sure if this is a thing or not, but, has anyone seen the "Reseller Scum" T-shirts some vendors/store owners are wearing?

[@robertoramirez9030]

all this hype for retro gaming is in part due to these two,

[@K_Bomaye]

Biggest bitch defense there is, is to say we're not the only ones doing it.

[@randymontoya977]

I used to get up at 6 am to hit up my local flea market but the amount of resellers buying up all games in sight is really bad. It's gotten much worst. Even if you get to the games first they'll rush in and grab them out of your hand.

[@nicodemoscain]

It's always shady as hell when re-sellers do crap like this. I've seen it with games, comic books, anything collectible. Even ticket scalpers. It is absolutely discouraging people from going out and collecting. There's been too many times that I've thought about going out to a Craigslist ad to check out a yard sale or collection sale and I knew, no matter how early I got there, there would be 4 or 5 guys from a resale store hogging everything, so I wouldn't go. Not only that, but I'm sure it drives up prices on these things because most people selling at yard sales or flea markets use eBay prices as examples. If these resale guys are hoarding everything, then they set the prices and that's double shady and bunk.

[@Bigbacon]

this is exactly why I stopped collecting anything post Atari 2600/5200/7800. It wasn't worth it. Never find anything, all the local stores get it first, it all started to get stupid expensive for even basic games. I sold everything and went everdrives. Much easier, less money spent, less annoyance, less time, and less stress. Too many local stores that have the ins with places. As a regular collector you'll never find anything around where I live. Most certainly NOT worth the time anymore. If there was something I wanted, I'd just hop on ebay and find it and get it over with.

[@jwconglomerate332]

This is crazy. I grew up going to every iteration of Video Game X-Change and Lance, the owner always seemed like a really cool, solid dude. The kind of shop that allowed you to try games, they had NES and SNES systems hooked up and ready to go. I was actually just there on Labor day while back in town and I was kind of blown away by their reasonable prices and robust stock. I'm not sure if there is new ownership or if it's just the nature of the business but this kind of saddens me and is in conflict with the local gaming store that supplied me with all of my gaming needs for almost a decade before the retro craze was even a craze. It sucks that these things happen, it was a big deal in the retro clothing scene also back in the late 90's early 00's.

[@thexpurt]

Am I the only one that heard a demon attempting to communicate through Ian? 4:34 - 4:37 (Listen Closely) O_O

[@kr00m]

yes you're the only one

[@wakyblarg]

He's full of demon whisper...

[@regul8r]

And lets keep in mind not all "mom and pop" places are this greedy. I have done a lot of business with my local disc replay and have never felt ripped off.

[@Zim85]

part of the reason I stopped collecting was pricing. the nearest flea market is over an hour away to me. other than that retro game stores are an hour away from me. game collecting is cut throat and stories like this reinforce the idea.

[@glowyrm]

Umm, it's CLEARLY not right. They don't own those items yet. I would be going through their bins with them, taking what I want. Would love to see them try and stop me...on what grounds could they even do so?

[@slayerofthend9752]

its like this, your at a grocery store, you pick up milk. Your going to get the milk, but then someones come and steals it, you get angry but OH WAIT, you don't own does items yet

[@glowyrm]

SlayinThatEndBrah I'm not certain which side of the argument you're on based on that comment. I can tell you I already went through the "market example", I'll call it, in my head before commenting myself. The example I thought of, and one that illustrates your point better (if I am understanding your meaning), is if a person was walking in the grocery store with the last milk in their hand. I couldn't run up and snatch it out of their hands because they "weren't ready" to buy it yet. I'm assuming that's the scenario you were getting at. But 1 item vs a bucket full of items, and a line to get to a table of games VS the walking around nature of a grocery store, changes things. It's apples to oranges. The differences are very easy to see. Honestly, a store probably would frown on customers walking around with things they didn't intend to buy. You can't really prove that. In the circumstances of this gaming debacle though, it was done in front of people multiple times and then rubbed in their face, that's we know they grab things they might not intend to buy.

[@HowDoUPlayGames]

There's hundreds of cartons of milk so if someone takes one from your cart they're just too fucking lazy to walk to where the stock is. You can't compare retail stores that consistently sell the same products and have big quantities of those items to a thrift store that relies solely on what is donated to them, and typically only have one of each donated item.

[@HowDoUPlayGames]

Also by that logic, you could walk around shopping out of other people's carts and taking whatever you pleased. But you do that and odds are you'll get kicked out of the store due to complaints. Or someone will go too far and physically assault you. People are dumb. :P

[@WeaponXYZ]

Except no one will steal your milk cause you're buying one carton of milk. These guys, using your own comparison are shoving carton after carton of milk buying the best ones while leaving the ones that are a day away from expiring. Which is a very scummy thing to do and why I hate retro video game collecting. Everything is so fucking expensive now, might as well just play emulators..

[@ilpalazzo150]

This is exactly the thing that has turned me off to collecting. In my area, too many people gobble up everything they can find at the usual places (Goodwill mostly) and resell on either Facebook or OfferUp.

[@kristopherb8046]

That was some shady shit they pulled but no different then what ALL game stores an re sellers do, buy up everything dirt cheap then sale games like contra for like 30+ dollars

[@togusa1989]

What is it with places called gamexchange. I used to work for a company with the same name in the uk and they were scumbags too. They are now online only as their high street section went bankrupt twice in less than 12 months

[@sbranham314]

That's definitely not cool by those shop owners. Collecting is madness now. It's very discouraging seeing where it is now compared to where it was 10 years ago.

[@divergentevolution8114]

A good editing tip for those channels that do the whole "People just sit there talking about events" videos is to move away from the people talking as much as possible. When you say things like "And they took pictures of people doing this" then pull away to show those pictures, "They argued with them on facebook" Then pull away to show the facebook page. The less people have to look at people just sitting there, the more engaged they will be.

[@JamesMeyer2]

Easy solution. Anything that goes in something larger than a regular size grocery bag, the customer must buy and can't return the games they don't want.

[@isunshin999]

Around 2006 at a St. Vincent de Paul, I found a minty Bubble Bobble Part 2 for $4, it was awesome!!

[@schwarz7670]

Easy solution for the charity event. When you come in you need to leave your bins and bags with the clerk at the entrance. A lot of stores already do this.

[@pie_stains]

At the st vincents I have been in they do not have a sale like this. Anything that is remotely valuable from video games, electronics, jewelry, collectibles and anything they recognize gets looked up on ebay and sits behind glass at ebay or higher.

[@cookieskoon2028]

Pat keeps saying he's so old. I wish he'd stop, he's making ME feel old. I'm not a ton younger than you, Pat! haha

[@JoeFpoc]

its been this way for a while. im kinda a casual retro game player. if i see a game i want to play ill grab it if the price allows, anyways its the same story at every garage sale when you ask if they have any older video games, "someone came first thing in the morning and bought everyone of them" i always wonder if its a reseller or just someone who actually wakes up early to find good deals

[@crazyrabbits]

Incidents like this make me feel fortunate that I stick to digital (Steam) game collecting. Yeah, you still get people buying out stocks of keys and everyone having a hoarder's attitude, but you don't have to deal with lineups and people trying to one-up you in person. I shop at a St. Vincent's store in my area (Ontario, Canada) and I've thankfully never seen this, but if the same thing occurred at a book sale and someone did that while I was waiting in line to get in, I'd be just as pissed too. The biggest problem was allowing people in with giant plastic tubs in the first place.

[@crabbypatty10fefrefe]

They should not be allowed to enter the premises with anything that isnt provided by the store itself, let alone these huge tub containers. Absolutely disgusting.

[@TwoGunToast]

that one guy had no idea what to say. heh

[@stevenmajewski3870]

"The same thing happens with records" ... you got that right and it makes me pissed to think they don't care about playing them or the history behind the item they just want to sell it. I go to auctions all the time and if I am bidding against a little old lady that just wants what I want to sell I will let her have it because life is too short to be an asshole.

[@robertmcknightmusic]

Pat's out of his element talking about records

[@AbstractM0use]

I'm glad I've almost completed my retro collection, and can stay out of this shit before it gets even worse.

[@MidniteClimax]

stuff like this is why I barely ever buy or attempt adding to my collection anymore. I would love for the retro collecting market to just crash. I don't care if my collection loses 75 percent or more even, I would just like it to be fun to search for stuff again.

[@skiesohryu]

I have ST Vincent in Washington. Found a Miracle Piano with NES controller cable at it.

[@jthom0027]

This gets fixed when you don't allow totes to be brought in and you can look up game prices on your phones. I can not stand when I go to auctions and there are people trying to look up every single thing on ebay. People should know the value of what items go for and use that knowledge when they are hunting in the wild.

[@lyndza1989]

i would think totes to lug what u PAID for doing multiple pay outs.. why would any seller allow someone to pull everything w out paying or even looking at the item. then put multiples back afterward.. thats insane. why even open for the public then jus tell that 1 weirdo the time n make an exchange why involve others and waste their time

[@tennies]

The Madison St Vinny event thing is just stupid. It wasn't just Video Game X-Change though (other companies too). The big people that complained was people from Raven Software. VGX get most of their stock from garage sales and this event. Really it's also stupid on St Vinny's part.