Becoming Friends
Throughout this process, I have no doubt purchased games from dozens of people. In the beginning, it started off as a third party system and a 143-in-1 cartridge from my local video game store, Level 7 Games. I’ve shopped with them before on numerous occasions for various systems and was always impressed with the staff, the selection, and some of the prices. Not everything has been as affordable as I wanted, but I would hardly call that their fault. That’s the market, right?
Sadly, I haven’t been back in a while even though it is less than a mile away for…. reasons. I guess if I’m being honest (and this would be the place to do that) I had a negative interaction with a staff member that after I returned to my car had left me so flabbergasted that I just wanted to Mario Kart out of that parking lot and never look back. I drive by that place daily (literally 0.7 miles from my house) and always stare out the window with a loving look and a heavy heart wondering if it will ever be again.
Next came eBay. This method is so cold and often disappointing. It actually led me to purchase sniping software that I could just set and forget. I acquired most of my library this way. The first initial batches I didn’t really care about cost of which games were in it. Just wanted to get going. It would be after the second or third lot that I actually started playing rather than just practicing. When purchasing lots through eBay, you end up with a lot of duplicates. It was actually kinda fun buying and selling for a while. And then I noticed that the lots that I actually wanted to win were getting more and more expensive. I would set my snipes around $3 per game. Then $4. Then $5. Soon I had to start really watching them just to make sure. I was winning less and less as the games I started to seek out in lots were getting more and more expensive. My purchasing went down and I just continued to sell my duplicates. Enter JJGames.
JJGames was a buyer that ended up purchasing a lot of duplicates that I was selling. I didn’t think anything of them until I went to the post office with the package, pasted on a blank address sticker, and looked into the ebay app to get their address. Wait…. they’re in Englewood? Wait… they’re BARELY a mile away from my house? What a coincidence! I sent them a quick message through the app to see if I could just drop off the package at their store/warehouse. Realizing it was the weekend and it might take a little longer for a response, and that they paid for shipping already, I just sent them the games anyway. Soon after, I took a look through their online catalog to see what they offered. It was amazing. So many games below my initial $5 threshold. I started building my shopping cart immediately. Another couple of messages back and forth and I thought I would offer to save them shipping by picking the games up. They agreed. Though their waiting room is small, I was very excited to be there and meet some of their staff and talk about my project. Since then I’ve made a few orders (with another being put together right now) as well as dropped off games to sell rather than eBay. Honestly, I’m not that concerned about the value I’m getting for my games this way or that specific titles I’m looking for my be a little more expensive than buying through eBay. I like supporting local businesses and it doesn’t get much more local than around the corner from my home. I even recently got an email from JJ himself. It’s not a huge deal, but it really meant a lot to me that he reached and and specifically talked about this project. A lot.
At Classic Game Fest, I knew I was going to walk away with a few games and in the process possibly drum up a little advertising of my project. I didn’t think I would walk away with 40 games. I also thought I would talk about my project more. Instead, I was having just a little too much fun being there, talking with vendors, and playing games that at times it totally skipped my mind that I was there for a specific purpose. And though I didn’t get as many names, numbers, or cards as I wanted to and I DEFINITELY didn’t hand out my information as much as I wanted to (read: at all) I did get a chance to meet with a lot of people. And I know that what I did learn will come in handy at the upcoming Portland Retro Gaming Expo.
The process was really focused since the beginning. And that wasn’t even that long ago. I’ve really proud of the progress I’ve made and the people I’ve met on the way.
Erik
http://tinyurl.com/replaythepast
https://www.twitch.tv/replaythepast/