Actually American Pickers is different than other reality shows in this aspect. Sure a lot of the interactions are scripted to make it more interesting, but they generally do not buy pins because they are not experts and do not have repair capability. Pins are simply not in their wheelhouse, so they only occasionally buy them and the prices seem reasonable compared to other shows.

Sure I can fix a coil for $12 plus shipping or less if I have one in my junk pile. If I had to hire a repair man, $100 would be quite reasonable for a house call. Point is, they don't restore pins as part of their business model. They mostly like items they can flip for profit. That said they are into motorcycles, cars and bicycles and occasionally take on projects there. They usually don't make much money on those either.

My on demand lists it as season 18... First aired date is 5/27/2019

No surprise at all. As stated before, they are not pinball guys. They are KISS people and motorcycle/Evel Knievel people hence buying a KISS backglass as a wall hanging and hence not caring about the Captain Fantastic and instead focusing on the home version EK to make a coffee table out of it.