Does it seem like you have better collecting luck when you've been less focused on collecting?

[wyansas | 131]

This seems to be a pattern with me.  I usually check eBay daily, but I've found some of my best stuff on my first time checking eBay in a few weeks because I've been too busy or travelling or something.  But maybe I'm just making things up.  Anybody else notice this?

[the_wizard_666 | 1,325]

The thing I've noticed is the best deals pop up when you're not looking for them.  If you're constantly searching, you're more likely to skim over something and miss it entirely.  Also, even if you do find something, you're less likely to make a mental note because you've been looking for a while, whereas if you haven't looked and find something, it retains in your memory longer.

[docile tapeworm | 4,204]

I’m always looking. As far as epic scores Seems to be no rhyme or reason.

[darkchylde28 | 1,546]

Honestly, I think that idea is kind of an illusion.  Of course "the best" stuff pops up when you're not looking...because at that point it takes something truly noteworthy to catch your attention.  It's possible for folks to have run into massive deals when not actively being on the hunt or collecting, but for the most part, folks who have their nose to the ground every single day are going to have a lot more strike out days and remember them even when coming across that once-in-a-great-while fantastic deal versus the person who's actively ignoring or being oblivious to such things but then has something so good come up that they can't help but notice it.

[OptOut | 8,892]

Well, you can't will good deals or scores on games you are after into existence... They have to turn up on the market, which is generally a matter of time. So it's probably a coincidence that good deals would catch you by surprise, they really could happen at any time unrelated to whether or not you specifically are paying attention.

In fact, I would imagine you miss out on way more deals by NOT paying attention. Over here there have been great deals that come up quick and then get snapped up the same day they are listed, so if you are looking for something in particular you should always keep at least one eye open.

Another factor is price drops. I just bought a boxed Asian Green XBOX that had been sitting at over 200 bucks for ages, but in the past week the seller dropped the price twice in quick succession, scooped it up when it hit 150 because I saw some other guy was sniffing around in the buyer's questions.

 

So without paying enough attention to the things you know you want, you ARE likely to miss out on stuff. If you don't really care about what it is, you just want ANY old deal on anything, then sure you can wait until it hits you. But if you are focussed on a small range of stuff like I am, you really need to get into the nitty gritty and watch items closely to hit at the right time.

[DarkTone | 988]

Happens to me a lot. Not just collecting. Look for something in my house for ages, find it when I've forgot about it. 

[goldenpp72 | 1,235]

Opposite here, I finally got my first case of Covid on Sunday and haven't been allowed back to work since, and in that time I found like 30 games I wouldn't have found otherwise, just can't always be looking actively.

[Link | 2,727]

If there's a limited amount of stuff, and you look for it every day, you're not going to see new stuff every day. If you come back after a break you might have more to catch up on. 

[Hammerfestus | 3,882]

For me it always seems like deals pop up in bunches.  It’ll be nothing for the longest time and then bam like 4 in a row.  I’ve passed on some stuff I regret in hindsight because it came on the tail end of a bunch and I had time to feel bad about how much I’d spent.

[PII | 1,897]

This would the "Archimedes Effect" = You stop obsessively trying to force God/Universe/Almighty-Boogie-Woogie-Machine to produce your desired result for you.  You take a break, long enough to clear the desire from your mind entirely, and you will relax back into the natural rhythms of God/Universe/Almighty-Boogie-Woogie-Machine and your desired result will produce itself as if from nothing.

At risk of pissing into someone's material obsessive stance:

Anyone who would deny the existence of such a nature to the reality of moving and being that we are all experiencing is in my humble opinion simply not attuned to reality in this particular regard.  

Such a person may have experienced as much without becoming consciously aware of the fact for the simple reason that such workings are outside of that person's personal reality bubble which both may, as well as may not, overlap with actual reality in any number of ways.

I like to call this last circumstance: "The Pink-Eyed-Purple-People-Eater-Effect", or PEPEE for short..

..you can imagine why....

[Tanooki | 4,952]

I'm that way now and I've had an uptick in finds, at least for the last couple of weeks.  I gave up with buying online this year from ebay largely unless it's just what I can't source at all (super famicom) in this area.  Genesis largely and a few SNES games I've bumped into, moderately to largely beating the stupid online prices the stuff fetches.  It's been a great bit of variety with older-ish school pricing where I can truly have time, find stuff, enjoy it, not just bang bang bang onto the next.

[Code Monkey | 2,013]

I just came here to ask how you get less focused on collecting.

[wyansas | 131]

2 hours ago, Code Monkey said:

I just came here to ask how you get less focused on collecting.

You might just be joking and not actually curious, but in case you are, I get less focused on collecting when I'm travelling or engaged with my true hobbies.  Collecting's not really a core interest of mine.  I went through a phase when I bought back my childhood, but now I have all those games and then some, and the only things left that I want to find are the rare NES variants and the last few international Super Mario Bros variants I need.  I really want to find all of them, and if I do I'll stop looking to expand my collection altogether.

[Tanooki | 4,952]

Can't speak for others, but I'm intentionally less on collecting especially in the last few years, and this was before the virus/wata exploitation stuff set in.  Didn't like where stuff was going, put me in a bad mood and apathetic about a life long hobby, and I just lost so much focus and more so care to bother I rarely can fire up stuff and enjoy it.  The real nail in the coffin for change was being cut off from online sales since the tax scheme is too hard to navigate so I just start offloading more locally, and focused on a system or two tops, and I'm making myself actively spend more days than not in a week using some of it, and a bit of fun is coming back after being snuffed out.  So stopping being focused on the collecting, more so zoning in on the playing is helping, and in turn some stuff has popped up to actually play which has been thin and inconsistent for awhile now so it feels good again if that makes sense.

[DefaultGen | 5,432]

I only find the best stuff after digging through weeks of tedious saved searches and browsing entire categories for interesting deals.

[Alder | 243]

1 hour ago, Tanooki said:

Can't speak for others, but I'm intentionally less on collecting especially in the last few years, and this was before the virus/wata exploitation stuff set in.

I don't know if it's circumstantial or not, but I started feeling this way a long time ago too when it comes to finding stuff in the wild. I am younger than some here but my broke-student-game-thrifting days were ~2008-2013. I've still gone to yard sales and thrift stores since then, but the amount of overpriced stuff has only gone up. The market is one thing - I'm talking about people at yard sales trying to sell a dirty PS1 with no cords for $50. After seeing that so much it's like, you know what, nevermind. I don't expect to find totes of games for $0.25 any more but so much stuff is priced at or above ebay asking prices that it's hardly worth looking. And I started to notice this as far back as 2012, only then it was 1 sale out of 10 that would be asking that - now it's 9 out of 10.

[Tanooki | 4,952]

@Alder I get that. I’m older.  Started second hand in 1995 (85 for starting) to date things.  2012 was a rude awakening but the vulturism has really drained me as I explained.  People used to get mad about the bubble a decade ago.  Clearly it’s no fad but now there really is something causing external influence that will cause some correction sooner or later.  You can only price out so many before things break. 
 

im out at the moment. Did a little shopping and got lucky an hour ago with genesis stuff.  It felt like a better time again so I’m liking this change largely avoiding the online dumpster fire. 
 

Garage sales and fleas have failed around here. Stuff is gone largely. Retail gets what’s largely left from half price to game xchange (and a few other limited spaces) and it’s fine. If they’re too high avoid, if not buy or trade as it works. 
 

I don’t expect the dollar fun bin either but paying 20-30% under eBay works for me, more the better.  It’s fine. Save some, gain time to appreciate and use it. Win and win.