Charity Shops Whinge!

[~nomad~]

A while ago we were talking about charity shops, and I said about them destroying games because they think they are worthless (happens all the time).

On a similar note I just went in a shop and found a copy of Mario Tennis on the Gamecube, no disc in the box but I know they keep them behind the counter in this shop. When I asked at the till I was told they only keep the 15s and 18s behind the counter, so it must have been nicked and would not even check to see if it was there! I asked if I could still by the box (it was totally mint, with the instructions and club nintendo points) and was told that no, the box would now have to be destroyed as they have to keep a count of stolen stock! I was happy to pay the 2quid for the box but they were not interested. I find that amazing.

[BuckoA51]

Shocking how crazy bureaucracy is seeping even into places like charity shops.

[Tinsair]

I thought chrity shops needed all the money they could get!

I'm thinking the person behind the counter maybe wanted that game for themselves but needed to put it out for a sustained period of time to make it look good, then after it's been on sale for a while & not sold they can then have an option to buy or even take it themselves? Just a thought.

[Pondis]

I hate when shops do that.

I have heard horror stories of destroying retro games when a shop decides to stop stocking them and it kind of makes my heart bleed.

Saying that the local charity shops near where i live like to hang on to things. One place tends to have a lot of ps1 and 2 games, and occasionaly the manager appears with a big box of MD stuff which i buy in bulk.

[gamesgaryjp]

I wouldve put the money down and walked out with it anyway, what are they going to honestly do?

[Collz69]

I wouldve put the money down and walked out with it anyway, what are they going to honestly do?

+1

[~nomad~]

Exactly what my mate said, I was a bit gobsmacked at the time tbh!

I am certain noone in there wanted it, they don't have to wait to get stuff in charity shops, they just have it before it ever goes out on the floor! On the upside I now know they put stuff like that out, which hopefully means a game person doesn't work there, so I have a chance of getting stuff.

[muppet42]

Certainly when I worked at the local DIY store, when we wrote stuff off via stolen parts or the like we couldn't technically keep the damaged item even though the store had written it off to be binned even if we offered money for it. Though this would often depend on the manager that was on that day

It is a ridiculous situation though, especially as you say for charity shops, which should by their very nature be fighting for every penny they can for the cause they're there to provide for

[~nomad~]

Good news! I popped in today and the actual store manager was there, I asked her about it and she said it was nonsense, still had the box behind the counter and gave it to me! I stuck a quid in the charity box though! For my Karma.

[Grizzly]

well i know this is a whinge thread but i have recently applied to a charity shop to work on my days off as a function tester for their games and consoles! The aim of this is to advise their true worth and make sure everything is working properly before they go out on sale really looking forward to going in on tuesday as when i applied i saw what they had in their back room. This Oxfam had an entire back room section dedicated to mint condition Dreamcast, Game Boy colour/advance games and a set of big box pc releases that stacked from floor to ceiling!

[Bambi]

I quite often buy empty cases from charity shops, usually they just ask for a donation, I'm glad it all worked out in the end.

well i know this is a whinge thread but i have recently applied to a charity shop to work on my days off as a function tester for their games and consoles! The aim of this is to advise their true worth and make sure everything is working properly before they go out on sale really looking forward to going in on tuesday as when i applied i saw what they had in their back room. This Oxfam had an entire back room section dedicated to mint condition Dreamcast, Game Boy colour/advance games and a set of big box pc releases that stacked from floor to ceiling!

I don't like the sound of that.

[Grizzly]

I quite often buy empty cases from charity shops, usually they just ask for a donation, I'm glad it all worked out in the end.

well i know this is a whinge thread but i have recently applied to a charity shop to work on my days off as a function tester for their games and consoles! The aim of this is to advise their true worth and make sure everything is working properly before they go out on sale really looking forward to going in on tuesday as when i applied i saw what they had in their back room. This Oxfam had an entire back room section dedicated to mint condition Dreamcast, Game Boy colour/advance games and a set of big box pc releases that stacked from floor to ceiling!

I don't like the sound of that.

well Oxfam have a tendency to over price as well as underprice. my intention is to tell them that "this game will not sell at this price" or "stick this on ebay." it is after all for a good cause!

[~nomad~]

Loads of people do just that, sadly alot are ebayers who will buy it for naff all and sell on. Not sure if Oxfam do this thou, as the stuff they have seems to go out at higher prices than most charity shops, sometimes on the money, sometimes over.

Fair play to you for helping charity

[ewjim]

Since still being unemployed after the great GAME debacle 2012 I've been volunteering at my local Oxfam too. They don't really do games (in the 5 or so shifts I've seen one ps2 game). They have not a lot of interest in them where I am, but at the same time there isn't any space at all for a section. It is sad to hear of places breaking games and disposing of them, when the better idea would be to sell them via their stores website (I believe they are starting this up / already doing it in some places). Or at worst send stuff to stores that actually sell it all.

[Grizzly]

Yeah oxfam have their own site which features a load of stock. The prices are questionable though. They do have an unbowed cement factory game and watch for £20 though.

[orkney]

Here in Orkney the charity shops are a bit hit and miss. The "high street" charity shops aren't worth looking in really, but we have a couple of local-orientated shops and the prices are generally amazing when they get stuff in.

We have one shop called The Blue Door where all video games are £1 each regardless of console/game/CIB status etc. They get a lot of PC, PS1, PS2 and Xbox games. Sometimes they sell "untested" consoles too and they only charge £3.00 each - never had a broken console to date.

We have another charity shop called CLAN. All games are only £0.50 each but they don't really get new stock very often and its slim pickings these days. I did pick up Final Fantasy VII on PS1 from there though, aswell as a couple of weird asian bootlegs of Resident Evil 2 and Tekken 3 on PS1.

Whenever down south I dont bother with charity shops in the cities - just too many other folk already picked through them or prices are too high. I have had some great finds in little village shops out in the countryside though.

[Smii]

On a similar note I just went in a shop and found a copy of Mario Tennis on the Gamecube, no disc in the box but I know they keep them behind the counter in this shop. When I asked at the till I was told they only keep the 15s and 18s behind the counter, so it must have been nicked and would not even check to see if it was there! I asked if I could still by the box (it was totally mint, with the instructions and club nintendo points) and was told that no, the box would now have to be destroyed as they have to keep a count of stolen stock! I was happy to pay the 2quid for the box but they were not interested. I find that amazing.

Similar thing happened to me once, Golden Sun 2 for only around £3 CIB - they couldn't find the game, so told me they'd have to bin the box and contents. I offered to pay for just the box, but no - it had to be binned. Luckily I went back in later (had been a tad irritated about it all day :/) and they'd found the game but not put it back out yet, so I ended up buying it after all. Seemed ridiculous to me though - basically a store refusing money for its charity due to stupid policies, and such a waste - in reality who would actually have known whether they'd really destroyed it or not?

[Grizzly]

So yeah I started at oxfam today and spared no time in diving through the dreamcast games and old pc stock. Found some real treasures in amongst the lot and in surprisingly good condition. Oh, and a stack of boxed intellivision titles which just blew my mind! Let me know what you are looking for guys as I can put items online at the oxfam store site just bare in mind that i won't put the items at rock bottom, the shop needs to make money for the charity after all!

[Bambi]

So yeah I started at oxfam today and spared no time in diving through the dreamcast games and old pc stock. Found some real treasures in amongst the lot and in surprisingly good condition. Oh, and a stack of boxed intellivision titles which just blew my mind! Let me know what you are looking for guys as I can put items online at the oxfam store site just bare in mind that i won't put the items at rock bottom, the shop needs to make money for the charity after all!

What Dreamcast games did you find? I'm rebuilding a collection for it so there's probably something I'd be interested in.

[Grizzly]

So yeah I started at oxfam today and spared no time in diving through the dreamcast games and old pc stock. Found some real treasures in amongst the lot and in surprisingly good condition. Oh, and a stack of boxed intellivision titles which just blew my mind! Let me know what you are looking for guys as I can put items online at the oxfam store site just bare in mind that i won't put the items at rock bottom, the shop needs to make money for the charity after all!

What Dreamcast games did you find? I'm rebuilding a collection for it so there's probably something I'd be interested in.

mainly sports titles but we did have crazy taxi, aerowings, rayman 2 and a few others which i cant for the life of me remember.