Sorry to hear about your Auction Spider man . I think some of the issues you describe may be fixed with out a board repair.
I c would call Clive he has helped me more than once if a board needs to be sent in describe your issues on the phone see what he says. That would be my first step.
http://webpages.charter.net/coinopcauldron/brepairs.html

Other than the potential issue with a lack of local buyers, I think your second option is the way to go.
You won't get back the money you put into upgrades and repairs, even assuming you can make correct repairs. You might accidentally make some things worse doing repairs that you are not familiar with.
Ideally, you would have a buyer examine the game in person when they buy it.
Seems like you are intent on being open about the issues, and hopefully even a long distance buyer would understand that buying a game with issues is always a bit of a gamble.

I know this won’t be popular, but if you have an established ebay account I would do a no reserve, 7 day auction starting at .99 cents. That will get you interest and bids. I’ve never been to concerned when I do this as pinball auctions get lots of viewers. In my experience the 10% sales fee will be offset by a higher price do to more visibility and more potential buyers. I’ve sold plenty of pins that way and will probably do the same in the next week with a pin that isn’t generating much interest locally.

I would obviously consider listing locally or on pinside too, but I think you’ll have a ton of people wanting to kick the tires.

Edit. Just wanted to point out that any ebay auction I would recommend quality HD pictures and full disclosure of any known issues. I usually take video of gameplay and provide a link or embed video.

Great post and I appreciate your candor. I can see a few options depending on how much you want to put into it.

1. Sell it locally only so that the buyer has to come and see it and there are no claims of hiding things etc.

2. Have a quality tech repair and shop it out for you. Locally that could run a few hundred bucks if some expensive parts were needed. I would guess between $200 and $500.

3. Spend a few minutes taking a few dozen pics with your cell phone and a short video. (Suggested minimums below) list it for a really good price. I would say $3500 as is cash and carry. You paid 4800 for a routed Spiderman. IMO, a Spiderman today begins with a 5. Yours is rough and needs work. Take the one grand loss as cost of enjoyment and it will sell quickly.

Pics (with the glass off). Use a decent cell phone camera so people can zoom in.
4 sides of cabinet including head
Whole playfield
Any broken plastics
Shooter (spider has paint on shooter lane that wears)
Doc Ock magnet (paint wear site)
Doc Ock scoop
Playfield up
Short video of boot up including error codes.

Best of luck! I loved my Spiderman as it was my first pinball and it was NIB. I know this game well and agonized over selling it

This guy sounds like the "least" knowledgeable guy to me. Unless the board is burned or has acid damage from leaking batteries, it is probably not the cause of your intermittent problems. Sensors, switches, cleaning, and mechanical adjustments are probably the solution to most of the problems. Replacing the main board is not the solution.

I think your #2 solution is the winner. There are plenty of pinball people with skills looking for a good fixer upper. If you document it well and include pictures, you will find plenty of interest.

Good luck.

If you go with option 2, you may severely limit your market and/or have to drop the price further than you like. Simply based on your description I'd be surprised if you can get $4k in its current state.

I would consider option 1 if there is someone local that you know can do the work. Worst case you sell the game for a few hundred more than leaving it unrepaired. Best case you may be able to sell the game without taking as much of a loss.

I would sell as is, especially if $4000 would do it for you. There are a lot of knowledgeable people on here who don't mind troubleshooting a few problems. Looking through the archives I can't find a single Spider-man in the last year plus that was listed that low. I think your location may limit the options but it's not like people don't pay for shipping pins all the time. A pinside ad is free if the game doesn't sell so you've got nothing to lose by putting it out there. Just my 2 cents!

I’d be interested, but also ordered JJ PoTC LE and have limited space. Good luck with whatever you decide!