It was pouring rain at a small citywide garage sale in the middle of nowhere, and most shoppers had stayed home. Video game reseller Chase After The Picks showed up anyway, with a friend and a van and, as it happened, $8,000 in cash left over from a deal that had fallen through the week before.
By the end of the morning he had spent every dollar of it on one seller’s collection of NES, Sega, Super Nintendo and GameCube games. A few days later, after selling it all, the collection brought in $13,080 after fees. He called it the single craziest garage sale he has been to in over 20 years.
A Rainy Day And A Lucky Charm
The reseller and his crew are on what they call the Road to Caterpie HQ, a journey to turn $10 into $100,000 by flipping items for profit, with the money going toward a video game business he has dreamed of. At the time they were at more than $35,000 and aiming for $50,000, because they were eyeing a new piece of property that could be perfect for a building.
With him that morning was one of his longest garage sale buddies, who he says is the only person who has ever beaten him in a garage sale challenge. The sale has been a honey hole for the reseller for around two decades. The early stops were modest: a pile of games for $15, and an Xbox One with its original controller and a Spider-Man game, which he bargained from $50 down to $30 for the console, plus a dollar for the game. He passed on a stack of sports cards, but a box of comics and some games came to $20 all together.
The Seller With The Hidden Stash
Then he met a man selling video game items at a table, and the quality was clear right away. The seller, Tom, was a collector who said he was thinning the herd, since prices for real physical media keep climbing. Tom also remembered him. The reseller had bought from him before, and says he spent about $3,000 with him five years ago.
Behind the table were boxes of complete-in-box NES and Super Nintendo games, Sega Genesis titles and boxed GameCube games. The condition was impressive, and Tom took care of everything. The reseller noticed that the pricing was based on a price-tracking site, and often a little below it. A game marked at $48 tracked at $55, and another marked at $75 tracked at $106. The reseller also noticed gaps. Some big-ticket games came without manuals but were priced as if they had them.
Making The Offer
The reseller said he had $8,000 in cash on him and asked if Tom had a sell-it-all price that would save him time. Tom said yes. Over the next stretch, the reseller and his friend stacked games on tables, scanned them, and added up the stickers. The total for what was on the table came to $3,621, and by the time they had added up everything, the stickers came to $10,537.
The reseller made Tom an offer of $8,000 including five more Nintendo items, and Tom took it. That worked out to roughly 75 percent of the sticker prices, and the reseller figures it was about 60 percent of current market value. “Name two people that have made $8,000 from their garage sale,” he joked. “Granny and Tom.”
It was a win for the seller, too. Tom has a full-time job, and listing, pricing, selling and shipping hundreds of games would have taken hundreds of hours. He did not want to deal with returns or fraud. Selling the whole collection in one shot was, in the reseller’s words, so much easier for him.
The Payoff
Back at their shop, the crew unboxed the haul. They found a boxed Friday the 13th with a partial seal, a boxed Lone Ranger, and a good many Sega Genesis titles in strong condition. There were also the usual disappointments, such as a couple of expensive games missing manuals. The reseller kept a few for his own collection and sold the rest in live shows over the next few days.
The GameCube games went in an auction for $780 after fees. The Sega Genesis games brought $3,300 after fees, for $4,080 so far. Then the NES and Super Nintendo show brought in about $9,000. Added up, the collection that cost $8,000 sold for $13,080 after fees. That money went straight back into the Caterpie fund for more garage sales.
Lessons For Anyone Holding A Collection
If you have a collection of your own, the story has real lessons. A buyer who pays cash and takes everything can save you time. A fair price based on current listings gives both sides confidence. Condition matters most with collectibles: complete boxes, manuals, baggies and clean cartridges bring the biggest money, which is why a careful collector like Tom gets paid well.
For shoppers, it is a reminder to always ask whether there is more. The best stash at this sale was behind the table, not on it. And a friendly face helps: Tom remembered the reseller from years before, and that history helped the deal go smoothly.
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