Where do you guys get your games these days?

[OttawaJim]

I'm dipping back into collecting after a (several year long) break. Finding the scene has changed a lot. Not so many people selling/trading stuff on forums any more, and prices have shot waaaay up. Now there's also Facebook groups to contend with, too. Kijiji is just nuts.

Wondering where everyone scores games for a reasonable cost these days? Am I destined to prowl for massive lots and try to flip what I don't want? Are we all doomed to pay astronomical eBay prices that shops and even collectors seem to be charging these days? Say it ain't true!

Please offer up your advice!

[nes_pimp]

I visit a local game shop by my home every week or two. I've slowed down with collecting and don't go game hunting much these days.

The cgcc swaps are a great place to find some of the games you might be looking for. Most of the vendors are reasonable with their prices.

Otherwise ebay. I find most folks on Kijiji are trying to get ebay prices anyway.

[Law212]

I dont collect too much but I do check thrift stores and I also go to the flea market at times and in the summer i try to check garage sales as often as I can.

[theyangman]

Garage sales are the last real chance at finding "deals" out in the wild. Anyone at a flea market, antique store, or Kijiji has probably done some research (eBay) and marked their games accordingly (exorbitantly).

Garage sales are usually just priced to sell with no attention paid to anything in particular. However, you do have hit them early and hope for the best.

Swap meets have items priced closer to true market value but that doesn't help when you're trying to find a 5 dollar, Little Samson. End of the day, retro gaming is a supersaturated market now, prices are sky high and both sellers and buyers know it. Tough to find deals nowadays unless you get ridiculously lucky.

[nes_pimp]

Do you guys still have fleamarkets that you can find games at? The ones here in Niagara usually have nothing, other then one game vendor who also runs a store.

I stopped checking out yard sales a few years back, other then the occassional one I find when I'm out on a morning bike ride. Resellers will show up at a persons house the night before if they hear anything about video games. All I ever found was broken guitar hero guitars.

[Law212]

I find you can usually haggle the prices down at flea markets. Thrift stores are the ones who price games too high at times and do not haggle.

[theyangman]

Flea market guys are all re-sellers, they know what their stuff is worth or a perceived value of it anyways. Might have some haggle room but you're still not finding anything crazy unless you catch them slipping.

Best deals are the moms and dads clearing out their old collections who have no idea what it is worth. They are rare to stumble across nowadays though. The heyday for these sorta finds was in the early to mid-2000's. With re-sellers scouring the same ads you and I are for their own inventory to resell it makes it nearly impossible to find anything decent nowadays. Too many people competing for the same, ever decreasing slice of the pie.

Retro game collecting has blown up so huge with so many different youtubers and such posting finds that it isn't easy to come across deals anymore. And by deals I don't mean paying 800 for a game that costs 850. I mean finding a real deal like a NES or SNES with controllers and 10 or 15 games for like 50 bucks.

NES collecting and SNES collecting is an extremely difficult hobby to break into nowadays. I still remember getting my carts at a fraction of what they are worth nowadays, those were the good days...

[Playgame]

I use garage sales for this, but really seldom. As I can see, physical mediums with games are dying out. I don't think, that in next 10 years we'll have an opportunity to buy games in stores. This generation of gamers always download all the games or spend an enormous amount of money for PS disks.

[LoganN64]

I get them wherever i can... usually off Amazon.ca.

Otherwise i pricematch stuff at Best Buy, Walmart, and occasionally go out to EB Games when they have a sale.

I have been keeping tabs on games on Shop4Ca.com when i want a physical game, they have a good selection and prices, plus a rewards program. THe only caveat on it is they are European games and may require a European account to activate or get DLC for... which is not too bad as the UK PSN has better/fairer prices usually.

There is a shop in Mississauga i go to in the Central Parkway Mall called "We Got Gamez" they are pretty decent if i need a semi-rare game.

If i am looking for imports, more specifically Japanese/Asian games, i go to either Playasia.com, SolarisJapan.com or more recently: Nin-Nin-Game.com/en/

And of course as a last desperation: Ebay