Here's hoping you find a $5 Stadium Events next time.  

when the ask price was 5 bucks a few minutes prior, it's hard to get excited even if 100 is a good price 

I think we both have had many run-ins with that particular NAer. Honestly he is one of the reasons I don't even bother with craigslist anymore, and it's not like I live close bye either!

I remember when I was looking to buy a sharp nes tv years ago and I saw one a few hours away for a very reasonable price. I contact the guy and tell him I'll take it. 3 days go bye and I am about 10 minutes away from leaving for the trip when the guy says that "someone" pestered him about it and bought it already. Well a few days later I am on here and what do it see? That exact same tv listed on here for over double the price he bought it for. In his finders keepers thread he said how much he has always wanted one and how amazing he thinks it is, and within 72 hours he has it listed to be sold. Goddamn it. I guess it worked out for me since I got a much better condition tv with the remote for about the same price as I was gunna pay for the other tv, but holy shit did that experience just make me never want to use this site or craigslist ever again. He's on the other side of the goddamn state and he still snags my deals away! And I have a few more stories similar to this too. Just not right man.
 

This is why I don't frequent as I used to. There's a lot of great people on here, who've helped me considerably in the past but I've seen the exact same things you guys do and it gets old fast.

what part of the state does this asshole live in?

I'm not trying to be an 'apologist' here, but I just hope that people give us a little bit more credit and don't hold individual members' actions against us as a whole. People get very frustrated and upset when they have bad experiences, but it almost seems like they forget any positive experience or trade they've had on here. I have learned over the years, and come to terms with, the fact that there are people on here who really just use this place as a market to buy, sell, and yes, even just for profit. BUT, there are also still lots of people around here who love participating in the community, sharing their experiences, helping others, and still give out good deals.

I get that this whole thread is pretty much about venting, so I understand that and I think it's ok to a degree, but I just get disappointed when certain experiences are applied to NA as a whole. I don't do a lot of trading on here, but when I do, I am pretty selective and use the feedback system, and overall I have had fantastic trading experiences here. I know there are people who just use this place a fee-free ebay alternative, but that's just the way it is, and it isn't the way everyone operates.

Do I wish people would 'cut deals' for fellow collectors more often? Absolutely. I think it'd be great if people on here did all sorts of things. I know it has changed a bit as NA has grown, and with more and more members and being as well-known as we are, of course we are going to have more issues and more people coming on here just to resell or make a profit. But I just think there is still a lot of good on here and I don't want the frustrations to turn people away from making this place the best it can be.

I am a rookie to the NA site but have been collecting for many years locally.  I was watching a "Pat the NES punk" video and he mentioned this site so I checked it out a few times before joining.  Since joining NA I have completed maybe 6 or 7 purchase deals.  All NA members were great and all items were less that "Ebay" prices.  Some even went out of their way to give me better prices for a bigger purchase.  So far, everyone I have had dealings with have been exceptional.  I am thankful that NA exists for both the collecting and advice aspects.  In my opinion this is way less stressful than Offer Up, Craigslist, Ebay (Fakebay) and Garage Sales (see my previous story above).  
 Just my opinion on the matter  
 

Ugh...!

This was around $100 and at the last 10 seconds I bid $150 and was the high bidder, only to be scooped at the last second by someone else. I would have bid more but that's all I had to through at this.

I need a good quality Buster Bros, which has alluded me for a while. I know others may not think this is cool, but the price was so cheap, I was going to keep the cart and resell the box and manuals, and just sell off the other CIB since I don't need it for my collection.

This guy got a steal... it would have been mine, too, had he not successfully posted in the last second or two.

Edit: Mod removed link.

That was a good deal and you probably should have bid higher.

Also, we are not allowed to post links that just ended until 2 weeks have passed to prevent backdooring.  If someone else thought it went too cheap they could try to backdoor the deal.

 

Oh... I hadn't thought of that.  In fact, I wouldn't have thought of that.  Do I need to redact my post?
 

It has been edited, your post is fine. You can talk about ended items, just do not post direct links unless 2 weeks have passed.

Welp, the first time I encounter Turbographx16 stuff in the wild, it turns out to be a (mostly) loser weepers. I hit a charity yard sale in my town early this morning. This sale every year seems to bring in retro games despite never advertising games on CL, so I tried to get there as soon as possible. As soon as I arrive, I spotted a teenager making a foot tall stack of TG16 cases from a box of CDs. I didn't want to know what I missed out on so I tried not to look too closely, but I did see kid snagged Bonk & Splatterhouse. I should've kept walking, but I made the mistake of saying to him: "Wow, nice find!"

Kid: "Yeah I know! The lady is selling them 3 for $5!"

Me:


The only two consolations I have:

1. With stuff like TG16 its always complete sets, so while the kid was finishing up looking over his lot of games I found and bought the TG16 hardware on the otherside of the sale grounds.

2. I talked with the kid after, and he mentioned the games are going into his TG16 collection, so at least they went to someone who'll keep at least some of the games.

Teenager, too. That's encouraging.

Lol, I saw that guy post up the lot on an FB group
 

had swamp thing on a wanted list at a local brick and mortar. they called me to let me know they had gotten one and were asking $100. i passed, mainly becsuse that price, but i had also picked one up recent for quite a bit less.

that asking price got to me because this place is usually decent with price...... should have picked it up for trade.... damn when did swamp thing spike?

Almost a year ago?




 

Yes, you can thank cinnemassacre for that spike in cost for old swamp donkey!!!!!

My claustrophobia makes travel difficult, even within the city (it's a miracle I get any finds at all to be honest!), and not a day goes by that I don't see a half-decent deal online and miss out because they live "too far away" (a ten minute drive for you normies).

Today's miss: http://www.kijiji.ca/v-video-game...

If anyone here is in or near Toronto, this literally JUST got posted, so my loss can be your gain if you're fast enough.

thats not the spike im talking about. its gone up again...
 

Went to play my nomad today and it has a crack in the screen. My roommate has a.. let's call it, "A competitive Spirit", and he has a tendency to throw around controllers which I'm sure cracked it. Partly my fault for not putting it away but what a bummer! All I have is my game gear, and it's not the sega portable I prefer.

I was at a charity sale a while back and to say that the items were disorganized would be an understatement. They usually have about 6 or 7 rows of tables filling the room and sometimes you would find a roller skate on one table and find its mate 3 rows away and 20 feet down the table. I was there looking for whatever struck my fancy, (I try to support this charity because I know they do good work), and there was some young teenager with his mother there just running up and down the rows grabbing everything that looked video game related. I am sure that they did not buy it all and instead went off into a corner to dig through it. I wasn't about to sit around until they were done so that I could look through the leftovers.

Back in 2015, while browsing a video game store I'd never been to before, I ended up stumbling upon what I thought was the deal of a lifetime: a Powerglove in its original box...for $25!

It felt too good to be true. I didn't even stop and consider why no one else hadn't already gotten it; I just snatched it up and casually walked to the counter, doing my best to keep my expression as stoic as possible. And my expression remained that way...up until the man checking me out told me that my total was over $200.

It turned out that the $25 price sticker on the box was its price way back in the mid-90s, when it had been part of a different store's closeout sale. The cashier informed me that the only reason that they hadn't bothered to attempt to remove it was because they were afraid they'd damage the box in the process. He then asked me if I still wanted it, to which I responded: "What do you think?!"—and left without even checking out the rest of their wares.

lost out on this one. just didnt quite have the $225 laying around. damn.

it was listed as "negotiable" for about a week. my offer of $60 was turned down  

*gng in the glare

I have a buddy who runs a flea market once a month in a nearby bar that I like to hit up. Sometimes I find stuff, and if not I can just grab a drink and hang out for a bit. My friend knows I collect, so he keeps an eye out for games for me. Last time the market happened, he texted me the pic below to give me a heads up that someone is selling NES games at $5 a pop.



So I get excited and get there right at 12pm when they're supposed to open. I spot the game guy quickly, but notice there's no NES games. I then spot another game hunter leaving with a big black bag and find out that guy scooped up everything before I could get there. Turns out he snuck in about half an hour early with the sellers. Sucks, I really wanted to grab that Wolverine and MAD game.

I'm in Thailand for my friend's wedding. Before I left he asked if I was bringing my New Nintendo 3DS XL. I wasn't before he asked but changed my mind, since he seemed interested in me doing so for whatever reason (he has his own which we helped him get last Christmas). I soon realized that he was more interested in my big pack of games than using it when his was dead or playing against me or whatever, and our charger was 110v-only anyway, so I left him with the games and the 3DS was relegated to the luggage with dirty clothes and such.

We've actually been traveling all over Thailand and staying at different hotels but we routinely return to a particular hotel in Bangkok. We leave a lot of our luggage there and only pack enough for the number of days we spend at the other hotels. My friend didn't tell me why, but he kept objecting to me deliberately leaving my wallet with the luggage. I assured him that it only had money I couldn't spend (USD instead of Thai Baht) and IDs I couldn't use (Georgia Driver's License instead of US Passport). From my perspective, it was riskier to take it than to leave it with the people we were paying specifically to watch our luggage.

Well, we thought that the last trip to Samui and several surrounding islands was by bus and boat, so we packed the luggage we were bringing and the luggage we were leaving and met in the lobby only to be told that we needed to get our one big bag into two smaller carry-on bags because we were taking a regional Air Asia flight. We made a super-quick transfer of contents right there in the lobby and went on our way, inadvertently bringing the 3DS we had meant to leave.

Now, even though our bags were carry-on for the flight, they were checked in for the ferry boat. That means they were out of our hands in a vehicle somewhere below deck. On the way to the island I recall some suspicious-looking activity when looking down at the vehicles on the lower deck but it looked like most of the vehicles were occupied including the ones that had our luggage. On the way back I didn't think twice about it and never even looked.

I know we had the 3DS out in our hotel room when word suddenly came that our driver to the ferry was already waiting outside. I was literally stepping into the shower when I heard that because our itinerary never said we were leaving that early! This means I had to cancel my shower and throw everything into a bag and leave ASAP. I do recall grabbing the 3DS and part of the Hori clear protector was still in one of my bags, but the 3DS itself seems to have disappeared.

From the ferry we transferred to a double-decker bus where our luggage went into the hands of some guy standing inside a cavernous storage area. From there we went straight to the airport.

We discovered that the 3DS was missing literally as soon as we could throw our luggage open after the flight, but the hotel says it isn't there. Assuming they are telling the truth and that the staff checking/cleaning the room didn't nab it, then someone removed it from our luggage we checked in on the boat or the bus. It was carry-on, only inspected by machine at the airport.

Now is see why other people in our group struggled with backpacks and such on the bus and boat, since there's a good chance our bag was pilfered. With the rush to throw our stuff in the bag and leave the hotel I would have just assumed we left it except that I know that the Hori shell piece I found in the bag was on the 3DS at least up until we were packing to leave. The top half slips off easily and it seems that it stayed in the bag when someone removed the 3DS... someone who likely didn't immediately notice like I would because they aren't as familiar with it as I am.

It's still possible that in my haste I threw it in one pocket then pulled it out to throw something else there (something I wouldn't want in the same pocket) and simply ran off without putting in back in somewhere else, but I probably would have noticed leaving half of the Hori protector and the hotel probably would have found it when we called hours later. I'm reasonably sure that it was in our luggage and someone on the boat or bus pulled it out.

On the other hand, my wallet was just fine staying at the hotel with our other luggage, so the 3DS probably would have been as well. We've also been leaving a Nintendo Switch and NES Classic Edition with them which are also accounted for. Even so, I think I'll be bringing as much of my valuables as I can on my person from now on. Just glad I didn't bring those to the island as well!

TL;DR

Someone may have taken my New 3DS XL from my luggage or I could have left it at a Samui Island, Thailand hotel that says I didn't. Either way, it's long-gone.