I would suggest that buying a game from Playdium/Starburst is a decent way to go for your first pin.
You will likely lose approx. $700 by opening the pin, but if you get one that's decent and play it for a year or more, I consider that pretty good value. You could easily overpay for any used pin if you don't know what you're getting.
Depending on the game, you might even sell it down the road for what you paid, or even more.
A new pin can still have some issues out of the box, but so long as you know this going in, and make some contacts, you'll likely have little to no trouble getting it perfected. Stern is great with their after-sale support.