Depending on what model, you may be eligible for a free or cheap battery replacement by apple. I think we paid $25 for a brand new iphone 6 battery and phone swap under the program last year.

Amazon will get you your money back or a new machine.

Prime delivery on some titles too, damn you Bezos!!!!

prime delivery comes and goes on different pins, it seems

Interesting.

Pretty sure they've sold them on and off for over a decade now. I remember them popping up once in a while in their lightning deals. Their standard price was no good, but the deals weren't terrible.

Here's some price history of them selling Avatar. It dropped as low as 3936 at one point in 2011.

https://camelcamelcamel.com/Stern-Pinball-Avatar-Arcade-Machine/product/B0043UF0ZS

I just finished reading an article where Bezos said Amazon is so big that it needs to scale up on the type of market risks it takes.

Short story: Amazon is of such scale that betting on a new product and losing a few million if the bet goes bad is no big deal.

Sounds like the risk for Amazon if Stern deal does not work will amount to nothing more than pocket change.

screw amazon and bezos. i wont give that real life lex luther a penny. ill stick with the smaller distributors. at least you can cuss out the owners personally when your stern blows up. you think bezos is gonna take your phone call?

I could care less whether I talk to Bezos personally or what he looks like... but customer service, convenience, and pricing with Amazon are awesome.

If amazon goes full force on sales and truly offer 3 year customer support, as wall as free delivery, as well was no interest for 24 months, as well as 5% cash back with the amazon card......how can any current distributer compete with that.

It would be a dumb move to not do that.

If amazon offered shipping to Canada, it would be a game changer up here. We currently have 2 distributors one on the left coast and one on the right. No free shipping, no 3 year protection plan, no cash back, and no interest free payments.

Just the possibility node boards and cpu would be covered under warranty make me consider buying spike again from Amazon.

Just wondering if anyone has utilized theb warranty process on a pinball from Amazon?

Why don't you tell us how you really feel? Am I to guess that Amazon has screwed you over somehow? I try to buy local whenever I can but many times Amazon is the only store that has what I want. I have never had a bad order come in.

amazon never got to screw me. i wont give the creep a penny. just the fact he owns the wapo is enough for me.

So everyone that is saying "oh thank goodness.....a 5 year warranty on fragile node boards....! TAKE MY MONEY"...

What do you do on year 6 once your node board craps out?

I have a buddy who bought a pin thru amazon.
It showed up with scratches on the head decal. To not ship it back they gave him a grand off the pin and he kept it.

Same thing you do on day 31 with the Stern warranty. Except in YEARS, not days.

For a guy who doesn't have a pin yet (currently saving for one) would it be smarter to buy brand new rather than used?

Do your research, buy a used HUO from a pinsider or someone trustworthy, and save a grand or more towards your next one (there WILL be a next one).

Depends what you want. Got a title in mind?

I don't understand. You're still hosed - just a longer "safe window" ....?

I know many people will say not a good first pin, but have my heart set on GB pro.

Well...interestingly enough, I did exactly that, myself. GB Pro is my first pin in the house, and we love it, despite what a lot of folks say.

GB Pro was the 2nd game I picked up once I finally got back into the hobby. I rushed a little to get it because my girlfriend was playing the crap out of the Met Prem, and I wanted to keep that machine low plays.

GB Pro was the first game I sold, it had 1746 plays on it, and neither of us really wanted to play it anymore, and I wanted the money for something different(JJPOTCSE).

GB Pro lasted 1746 plays, AC/DC Prem lasted 2002 plays. No regrets at all, I would have done the same thing as far as buying them and then selling them later if I had to do it all over again. They were both fun for a very long time.

These days I care less how much a machine gets played. I used to want to keep the plays kind of low for resale value, but I have seen games listed as fresh off route sell for about the same as HUO, so it really does not matter imo.

As far as selling a game, 500.00 less than you paid NIB it will sit for a while most of the time. 1000.00 or more less, it will sell fast and no bs.

As far as buying a game, I rely heavily on pinside and what I read here. I am in a pinball desert. If I want to try a game I normally have to drive 3-5 hours or more to a location that has one. So far I have purchased 7/9 games without ever seeing one or playing one in person. I went to Bumpernets in Birmingham to try a TWD Pro, and to a barcade in Huntsville to try a SMVE, before buying those 2. Went to Boxcar in Greensboro to try a AS, passed on it.

I love Pinside. Saves me some road trips.

Back on topic as far as Amazon and Stern...I have no problem with Amazon, if they ever expand manufactures and the price is great I may give them a shot. As far as Stern, luckily I have never had any pooling or chipping, but the problems I have had they ignored sometimes, and was awesome sometimes, but personally for a while at least I like what other companies are doing with creative thinking and service at the moment.

Down the road if I ever decide on another Stern I would look at Amazon for the warranty and power of Amazon regarding any issues that Stern likes to ignore.

I like my distributor a lot, but I have heard him on the phone with Stern, and he is too nice. A call from Amazon to Stern would be more like "look, we have a problem, and here is what you are going to do to fix this".

Maybe a touchy subject, and apologies for going off topic, should I stay away from purchasing a pin off ebay?

NIB maybe. Most used ones seem too high on ebay anymore from what I have seen. But with ebay and paypal you do have a lot of buyer protection, kind of like Amazon.

Our local NIB distributor is ClassicGameRooms.com in Covington, 45 minutes from me, probably just a tad further for you. Confirm in stock on phone, show up with cash, not a cc, and not a check, and he will do you right.

Personally if I was looking for a used GB Pro I would just keep a eye on Pinside.

And put whatever game you want on your wishlist, and Pinside will email you. Although I have found faster to just check often.

100%. Do not even think of buying your first pin off Ebay. You're courting disaster because of all the dishonesty in the listings.

THIS!!!
I bought my first pin on ebay about 5 years ago. But I didn't know any better and just wanted a game and didn't do any research and bought HOOK of all games . Should've known something wasn't right when it was so much cheaper than all the other pin but you live and learn. So don't be like me and stay the fuck away from ebay, far far away...

but if it was much cheaper surely that price reflected its condition?

Made a huge mistake buying my tspp off eBay , was so poorly packed it came with a chip in cabinet . I would
Also advise do not buy off eBay unless u can go see it yourself and play it before purchase

Wow. This got off topic quick. With that said, someone just listed a huo GB pro in the Cincinnati cl.

Yes. A longer safe window. A 60 times longer safe window. For $58. Covering parts that break frequently. In machines that people very frequently sell long before the warranty would end. What's not to understand?

Let's get it back on topic.

How many distributors are there in the U.S. ? Does the closest distributor to you have a good reputation for service after the sale? How would you find out this information?

For those who think buying a pin from Amazon borders in lunacy, what if you live out the the middle of BF Egypt? If you live out in nowhere land where a service call is going to be 150 miles one-way, why would Amazon NOT be a good option for buying a pin?

I suppose if I were a distributor, I would think that Amazon's getting into the game would suck big time. If I were to buy a new pin, and Amazon stands behind its guarantee, why would I not want to buy from a well capitalized company that has the money and the nuts to stand behind its guarantee?

I am not a Prime member and I am not shilling for Amazon, but it just seems like buying from Amazon offers a lot of positives for the buyer. And as someone else stated, if Amazon calls Stern and says, "we have a problem", Stern is going to listen.

I bought a phone and had asurion insurance on it. They made it next to impossible to collect when something went wrong with the phone. All kinds of exclusions and pro-rating. I gave up in the end. It sounds like a great insurance but based on my low cost purchase of the phone I'd bet they'd be even pickier supporting a 7-9k pinball.

I have purchased multiple pool vacuums from Amazon and on the last one I put one of these insurance policies on it. Sure enough, at around 18 months it died (like the others) and I filed a claim with the third party insurance. Other than some online affidavits I had to complete, the process of getting my money back was pretty easy and took around two weeks. I bought another one and put another $12 policy on it this past summer. They were polite and with Amazon's sales history it was really pretty easy.

I'm betting there are a lot of people trying to game the phone insurance, " I dropped my phone and ..." Not to say that they were not trying to stick it to you, but I think a company insuring a cell phone would be committing insurance suicide.

Unfair! I can't get it shipped for free through Prime!

"This item requires special handling and cannot be shipped to your selected location."

I've dealt with my local distro for either used or NIB games since I was 14. He's never screwed me and I always pay cash, therefore he gives me a HUGE discount---more than I can get on Amazon. However, if I were to ever buy a pin on Amazon, I would certainly buy the insurance. Face it--Stern (and now JJP) have crap "Quality Control" and rather than put the onus on the distributor for making things right, I'd gladly pay Amazon ~$20.00/year for it and have THEM lean on Stern/JJP. Mind you, this is if I *were* to buy a Stern/JJP product, which is highly unlikely given their dispassionate way of treating problems.

With so many things moving into the online marketplace, there are lots independently owned shops that are going out of business. I spent years racing bicycles in the SoCal area and watched many bike shops close up as people moved to buy most items online. The bike shops were usually owned by former racers and staffed with folks that really loved riding bikes and talking bikes. They gave great advice and did it because they were passionate about it. With the rise in online retailers, I would see lots of people go to the stores, ask technical questions, try things on, then go home and order online. All but the largest shops ended up closing in my local area. I fear the day when online retailers have put most of the mom and pops shops out of business by undercutting pricing and now completely control pricing - at that point we will have no choice but to pay whatever they want to charge....with no other options and no one technical enough to answer our questions. When it comes to pinball, I much prefer the interaction with individuals / distributors whether buying or selling and have learned a lot from those personal interactions. I think it is easy to forget that until it is gone.

They won’t ship a pinball machine to Alaska without a surcharge?

Shocking.

Call Sarah Palin

This happens all over.

Best Buy is just a big demo room for Amazon. People go and look at the physical TVs and figure out what they want and then go home and order it online.

You've been buying machines since you were 14? Who are you doogie houser?

Two rules in Pinball if you don't want to lose money.

Don't buy anything off of eBay.

Don't ever buy NIB.*

*I'm picking up my NIB JP premium today!

In all seriousness, try your best not to buy NIB bc it's always a losing proposition unless you get lucky with an Alien, TBL etc. I try to resist bc there are so many nice HUO out there but certain themes I can't wait for HUO.

Probably not. Pinball sales is an atom compared to the business they do.

Next time I see you I'll tell you a great story about a 12 year old and a dolly.

Good luck with nib. Gamble.

This is the stupidest thing I have ever read on pinside.
Well done

Lol, nope! Just started young...1st machine, not NIB was a Williams Tropic Fun in '77...it was down hill from there! 1st NIB was Space Invaders in '80 (I bought 3) and man do I wish I still had those! I actually ended up re-buying one of them in around 1990. It went to a homeowner and it looked like it was placed in Grand Central on free play for 10 years. That machine is why I ALWAYS question "HUO" when someone is selling. It doesn't mean that it was well taken care of, and in some cases, quite the contrary.