Hello from Birmingham, Alabama!

[WarpPipeDreams]

Hello all, from Birmingham, Alabama. I'm a 25 year old avid video game collector and entrepreneur. I've been playing games since before I was old enough to read and the passion has yet to diminish.

I've always had a desire to have a job in a video game related field, and I've always wanted to have my own game shop, so a few years ago I started picking up lots and individual games for cheap in various places. At first I was buying games purely as a collector, but that doesn't put money in the bank.

I started buying games from others and selling them to myself. If I got an awesome deal from the newspaper, eBay (impossible these days), craigslist, or a newspaper, the item would go to the shop. If I wanted it for my personal collection I'd have to pay my shop around the same price as what I would charge anyone else. I wasn't doing myself any favors personally, but I was enriching my own assets.

In November 2011 I decided I wanted to move beyond selling on craigslist. I looked at options on eBay, but the costs were prohibitively high for someone doing this as a secondary "job" with little payout. I was going to make my own online store, but traffic is hard to get when you don't have an established client set. When GameGavel started a promotion that gave away a handful of free seller accounts, I knew that's where my online storefront was going to be.

With all that in mind, I'm glad to be a part of this community and I hope to bring quality items to GameGavel. At some point I wish open a physical store front, but for now I'm glad to be here!

-Andrew

[GameGavel]

Hey Andrew,

Thanks for joining the forums and also for beginning to use GameGavel. I hope you can list a bunch of items. We do have a very nice bulk uploader if you need it as well. If you need anything just shoot me an email at socalmike@gamegavel.com

[WarpPipeDreams]

I feel welcome already!

[retroshaun]

Welcome Andrew! Great to have you here. Word of advice though... stay clear of working in the video games development industry... take it from a guy with 15 years of experience... its a crazily volatile place to work right now. If you DO wanna work in dev, make iOS or Android games in your spare time with friends - way more rewarding and less stressful!

[Nurmix]

Hey, Andrew.

In the early days of ebay, I did a lot of selling; mostly things I picked up at thrift shops. I also did quite a bit of buying - filling up the holes in my collection. These days, most of the thrift stores in my area (Los Angeles) have dried up, as far as the '80s retro games are concerned. The swap meets are still a great option if I drive a little out of town, but ebay has gotten out of control with fees and more or less everything being over-priced "buy it now" items.

Before ebay came along, I used to have USENET newsgroup video game auctions. That was a blast, and there wasn't any price gouging, since we were all collectors sharing with fellow members of the hobby.

I also briefly considered the idea of opening up some kind of retro-gaming store, and in a small way, I have, since I have my own computer/I.T business, and have plenty of retro-gaming related items on display in my office. Many times this will start a conversation going with my customers, and I end up with another friend in the retro-gaming community; often helping them acquire an old console or helping them out with emulation on their computer. I really enjoy it.

I've been on the RGR forums and listening to the podcasts for quite some time now, but have not yet started selling on GameGavel. However, I have a lot of retro-gaming goodness that I no longer need (mostly duplicates of things already in my collection that I've accumulated over the years), and would like to sell, so I am planning to give it a go here soon myself.

You couldn't ask for a better group of retro-gaming enthusiasts than you'll find here. And you won't find a nicer guy running an auction site than SoCal Mike.

Good luck to you, and great to see you here!