Collecting Physical Games on a Budget — Tips, Tricks, and Deals

[The_Liquid_Laser]

Here are some tricks I know based on how old the game is.  I'm in the US.

Brand New or Relatively New - Walmart sometimes sells new games $10 cheaper than other retailers.  Buying online (Ebay or Amazon) can often save a few $.

Current Generation Systems - Buy and Sell on Ebay.  Mostly you are paying shipping plus around 13% in Ebay fees.  Gamestop sometimes has buy 2 get 1 free deals, but I find Gamestop's selection to not be as good as they were 10-20 years ago.

One Generation Old - You can buy a lot of games cheaply on Ebay if you search for "game lots".  This is probably an ideal time to buy PS4 game lots, and you might find some good Switch ones too.

More than one Generation Old - Cheap games are best to find at flea markets and retro game stores, because you can avoid shipping costs.  After that you have to compare retro game stores to online prices.  I have found one store in my area that is competitive or better than online prices, but the other retro stores tend to be more expensive.