Its hard finding anyone who's not familiar with eBay. The site created the online auction template that has been copied by many competitors, most who've come and gone over the years. One that has remained strong though is Goodwill's online auction site, shopgoodwill.com.

While the ethics of the company are up for debate, that's a discussion for another day. Today I'd like to give a quick overview of their online auction site, which can be a great resource for video game collectors.

How to find the good deals

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The ultimate draw of Shopgoodwill is getting good deals on large lots of games. You can always find bundles of consoles, accessories and games that sell for a good price. If you're looking to get into a console, particularly Playstation 1-3, XBox, PSP or GBA/DS/3DS, you can often find really good bundles at far lower prices than you would anywhere outside of a good score at a garage sale.

If you're looking to bulk up your collection for a specific console, again this is a great way to do it. You can find lots of PS2/XBox/Wii games for about $2-$3 each if you're willing to put up with a bunch of filler titles included in the lots. But spend some time poking around and you'll be surprised at what you can find.

Lastly, look to see if there are local Goodwill stores listing items. If stores in your town or nearby are listing stuff on Shopgoodwill, you can usually avoid their absurd shipping fees by picking up your order. You have a big advantage on any auctions happening nearby, since you don't have to deal with the shipping fees, and this is where you can score the best deals. Big, heavy lots are a great thing to target if you've got lots of listings in your area.

Avoiding the bad deals

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Rare games, either sold individually or in a lot with other games, are usually singled out and the price is driven up to higher than eBay. I'm not sure why this happens, but I've seen it time and time again. People get focused on that rare item and drive the price way up. Perhaps thinking this is Goodwill and not eBay will dissuade people from bidding so high, but it just doesn't happen. I've managed to get a couple of rare games off the site, but I think it was mostly due to luck.

Another thing to keep in mind is that Shopgoodwill normally charges absurd shipping prices. I've seen them charge $12 to ship a single game before. Before you bid on anything there, you need to estimate the shipping and handling fees so you don't get a good deal that turns out to be a nightmare after they tack on some unreasonable shipping fees.

One last thing to note is most of their hardware is untested, so you're buying with the chance that you might be buying a dud. I've bought many 2DS systems from them and while they all turned on, half of them had broken screen hinges. If you're buying hardware, look closely for signs of damage or abuse before hitting that bid button.

In conclusion

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Shopgoodwill has definite positives and negatives, but using these tips you can often find some really good deals. While retro gaming continues to get more and more expensive, finding cheaper ways to get into the hobby are getting hard to find. Shopgoodwill is one of the last ways I know of, other than getting lucky out in the wild.

Thanks for reading. As always, upvotes, resteems and comments are appreciated!

_{^{Cover image: Wikipedia Other images: Shopgoodwill.com}}