Sales Yard Finds - XI
-David, webmaster DVGI

With August rolling to a close the Sales Yard begins it's last big push before slowing down for Autumn.  In fact this last time out was the first week where school was back in session locally so things were far less crowded.  Not less crowded with genuine buyers and sellers but less crowded with groups of people that just wander around and never buy anything.  Let me tell you from selling at the Sales Yard many times that those people are a pain in the ass.  Just the same with the temperature at a comfortable level and the decline of the muck buyers a good turnout was expected however there was no reason to arrive before eight o'clock, which was just around when I got there.  As usual I wasn't looking for anything in particular and had skipped a week since the visit in which I picked up all that slot car track for a quarter.

On this particular visit I entered through the front rather than the back, which always has to do with one thing and one thing alone - which entrance you're parked closest to.  I was happy to see that the Chinese junk dealer was back in full force after not being there last time I was out.  At first it looked as if he had nothing but I continued to climb through his piles of junk.  Funny enough the same squaking old ladies and men that are there every week behind his truck (they know him so they get the choice items) were STILL going on and on like they own the place.  Some guy went up to a pile of junk and was going through it, five minutes later - "excuse me, excuse me, this stuff is sold!!" cut in one of the old ladies.  Then she's yacking to her buddy "what do these people think?!  That all the best stuff just happens to be over here?!"  I swear, if they're there next week and do a similar thing YET AGAIN I'm going to let them have it.  I mean, okay, they get dibs on a lot of stuff (although I've gotten things 10x as valuable and rare out of the normal junk piles and for next to nothing) but they think they're freaking royalty in that spot and that EVERYONE that gets remotely near should know that.  That guy wasn't trying to Shanghai their stuff, he was just looking through the junk like everyone else.  In fact that old lady's husband was standing right there watching him!  Anyway, in the piles of junk I found a Genesis 2 with the DIN plug RF box (Sega branded) and a standard Sega Genesis controller connected to it.  After removing it from a huge tangle of other wires I was unable to find the AC adapter, even after scouring many adjacent junk boxes.  I asked the head guy what he wanted, he said $3, I told him I had to pull it all out of a big knot and there was no power and so forth and he took $2.  With that I moved on.

Just across from him was a new junk dealer with a few boxes on a table, one dollar for anything inside.  I picked up an orange version NES Zapper for a buck from him since I only have a pair of grey ones.  (one has since been given away)  When I got the Zapper home it didn't work and upon opening it up I found that all that had happened was the cable had come unplugged from the board that controls the photo diode.  An easy fix, aside from the usual dirt and a tiny bit of rust damage inside.  Back to the Sales Yard, walking around the corner to look at some miniature superbikes the same guy had (look for a picture of me on my electric one in earlier editorials) I found even more boxes of $1 items, tons of them in fact.  The stuff was so well hidden that it looked as if no one had even been back there yet.  My uncle found a translucent red Dreamcast controller that looked like it had never been used, as well as that damned Dreamcast surfing game complete.  (there was another Dreamcast controller but the analog stick was shot)  I found a copy of Seaman with the booklet and complete microphone as well and the seller let me take both for a buck since I explained they need to go together.  Additionally there were tons of N64 controllers and accessories - in hindsight I should have bought it all but my funds were pretty limited at the time.  Oh well, I found a booklet for my copy of Seaman and another microphone and copy of the game to sell.

There were some other nice deals throughout the Sales Yard but again, I was light on funds (aren't I always) so I held back, which turned out to be a good thing.  Coming up to a seller I've dealt with before in the past, like a long time ago, I spotted some video game systems on a table in the back of his area.  One of them was a Sega Saturn.  Now my trials of attempting to get a Saturn are the stuff of legends.  Honestly I only want to play a few games like Cyber Troopers VirtualOn (which I nearly had the arcade machine of at one time), the Saturn versions of Daytona USA, that copy of NiGHTS I've had for awhile and so forth.  However I never am able to seal the deal and get one of these systems, I don't care how common or inexpensive most say they are.  The last run-in I had with one was at GameCrazy, it was mint and $25, and it sat in the case the whole time I was there.  Then came the day I quit, so when I went back the next week to pick up my payout I was going to buy it (at the time it was there we won some contest for $100 gift certificates which is why I was holding off, but once I quit I lost my eligibility for them) and it was gone.  Now GameCrazy still has Saturn systems in their inventory and they're still $24.99 but they only pay a penny for trade-in, so none ever come back through the system.

So the guy at the Sales Yard wants $20 for the Saturn, it's the second version with the round buttons.  It's in bad shape cosmetically, mainly just coated in dirt outside and under the disc lid.  I was able to find a pair of the second version controllers, both covered in dust and dirt same as the console itself.  He told me he had everything for it but no games and I kinda mumbled some stuff and he went looking for the power cord.  It takes a standard power cord but if he came up short I was going to use it to force the price down, however he did in fact have the cord.  While he was digging that out I found the Saturn DIN socket composite AV cable as well as a DIN socket RF cable but I didn't pay any attention to the RF box.  I asked the seller if he would take $15 since it was so damn dirty and he kept insisting it worked but in the end let me take it all for $15 - a bargain for Saturns now days since cheaper ones online (which are hard to find) still require about $20 for shipping alone.  Once I got it home I gave it a good cleaning and popped in my copy of Panzer Dragoon, it works perfectly.  I've since installed a US / JPN import region mod switch and everything seems to be working fine but I won't be able to test it for sure until I pick up a Japanese Saturn game.  On the next table over from the guy with the Saturn I was able to pick up one of the licensed Sega Dreamcast 4x memory cards for $5, a nice find indeed!

Well it turned out to be a mostly Sega trip to the Sales Yard, picking up some semi rare items and finally getting a Saturn.  Next week I should be doing better funding wise so I can pick up more stuff to resell.

Acquired...

Dreamcast - Official 4x memory card (loose)
Dreamcast - Seaman (loose)
Dreamcast - Microphone for Seaman (complete)
Genesis - Console with RF box, no AC (second version)
Genesis - Standard control pad (loose)
NES - Zapper lightgun (orange version, loose)
Saturn - Console with all cables (second version with round buttons)
Saturn - Standard control pad (second version, loose)
Saturn - Standard control pad (second version, loose)

Sold...
None
 

Written on 08-28-05 by David, insanedavid@classicplastic.net

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