Most will be great to deal with and keep your place in line.

Others won’t. It’s just the way it is.

I agree.

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Was the seller in the us?

Was it this guy ….from Queens ?

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I mean if someone is dealing with stuff I understand giving more attention to a local buyer that wants to come see the machine than a tire kicker asking for pics across the pond… not saying you weren’t serious but did you offer to buy or send a deposit ASAP pending the photos checking out?

Not sure what you expect, you live across the planet. You aren’t going to get preference over local sellers, especially if you’re not ready to buy or make an offer above asking. I actually did this last week, held a game for a guy in Australia because we had a good phone conversation and he said he was going to buy it, he ended up bailing on the sale because shipping was too expensive lol

Did the seller tell you that you were first to contact him?
Did he say that he was giving you preference?

I understand your disappointment, but I don't think you suffered any real wrongdoing here.
What if the seller passed on other offers to wait for your decision, then you decided not to buy?

Did you have a quote from beltman already? Were you ready to pay and not haggle with the seller to help “cover some of your costs?” You obviously didn’t come off as serious enough dude

If someone asks me to provide additional pictures and another person asks to stop by a take a look. My focus is going to be on the guy coming over. Plus you live out of the country. Cash on glass is easier and safer than shipping across the world. Don’t take it personal

Mate , of course he's going to give preference to someone who can come over and pick it up and pay cash , rather than having to wait around and have to deal with a shipping company .
And never assume , with buying and selling .

I ALWAYS prefer local cash on the glass deals. Long distance money transfers and shipping are highly risky. Has nothing to do with integrity.

I new the people down under were ahead of us, but this is serious. What the hell is 2023 like?!?

"down under" get with it, its 1998 man people dont say that anymore, its the Outback Steak House now

I always love the stating of the year as if its the keystone to closing an argument

How many games did actually buy in the last 6-12 months?

You're assuming you were the first to contact him. What if you weren't? What if you were 2nd or 3rd, and the people who contacted him before you are the ones having a look?

Sales and selling is never perfect. I made an agreement with a user on these forums to buy a game. We agreed to a price and he said he'd hold it for me. I took a day off from work and contacted him to make a time to pick it up. He made up some story about a part breaking and needing to fix it and we needed to reschedule. I moved the date back and later tried to contact him for the pickup up time with no luck. A month goes by and I see the same exact game in the "look what I brought home" thread. He sold it to someone else who paid a few hundred more than what we agreed upon.

The best I can do is give him a negative review and ignore that guy so I don't get bitten twice. It happens.

On the "lack of integrity" scale, this sounds really, really minor. The best way to see if someone on Pinside deals with integrity is to read their reviews! Just like Yelp! People get to weigh-in on their experience dealing with someone.

You had me up until “Halfway across the world…”

Had me until having to get a bunch of pictures when others wanted to come check out the game. If you're serious, send a deposit or come see it. I rarely have picture collectors ever come buy anything. I'm fine with window shopping but do it on your own time.

Bad news there: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/can-not-leave-feedback-unless-it-s-positive-now

IMO, mostly removes the usefulness of reviews, but sometimes the lack of reviews can be telling.

I’m curious, how do you know that you were the first person to respond? I mean, I understand that it feels that way because he didn’t mention other buyers up front, but perhaps he was wading through replies when he first responded to you and didn’t know he had an earlier buyer in line?

I’ve bought 2-3 non-local pins, and for the one that was furthest away, I responded to the seller within 5 minutes of the posting, sultanate some ridiculous time like 2:30am. I heard later from a friend that I beat them out by maybe 10 minutes in reaching out. In my DM, I was very explicit that I intended to buy, and that I just wanted confirmation of the represented condition to seal the deal. I’ve had other dialogues with potential sellers where I was much more on the fence, and I wouldn’t perceive it as a lack of integrity if they were showing it to other people at the same time since I never said point blank that I was going to buy their pin.

I feel like saying the seller didn’t act with integrity is based on some assumptions that may or may not be true. I’d personally want to think the best of sellers until I had incontrovertible proof that they’d acted in bad faith.

There have been way too many people burned with shipping and international scams. Out of country buyers are usually on the bottom of the list unless you’re talking about extremely high end games. It’s just easier that way, people can see it in person and give you cash, as opposed to getting charges and payments that can be refunded and then you’re out of the money AND your game

I've been in this hobby for nearly 20 years and I have never even had to ship a game to sell it, let alone ship it overseas. There are so many collectors within a few hours drive that can come with cash and inspect the game personally. I've had people overseas inquire about games, but usually the game is sold to someone in person faster than an overseas buyer could even review additional photos, coordinate shipping and complete payment. And I would have no recourse if the buyer dragged their feet and ultimately decided to back out, while I'm telling the guy across town with cash in his hand that I can't sell to him because I'm holding for someone overseas who may take it. I wouldn't take it personally, even if you were first in line, which you very well may not have been.

I don't think your experience is unique to pins, but it certainly happens a lot for items like this with so much demand. With online selling the person who says I will come over right now almost always gets the preference. If you aren't ready to buy immediately there is a very good chance in this hobby you'll have someone come along and take it before you.

I understand your dissapointment but even if you were not across the world but lived across the street from the seller, so many things have to go right before a deal is reached. There's a of timing and luck in all these transactions and lowering your expectations will leave you less frustrated.

It's a seller's market and NOBODY is going to deal with shipping and wire transfers over a local buyer with cash. Unless this guy made some sort of promise to you, this was just your everyday pinball sale. It's ridiculous for you to even expect to have an equal shot as someone who is local to the game. Cash on the glass trumps everything.
If you haven't already, just wait until you go to sell something, because buyers can be flaky too.

Damn they even have different years down under…learn something new everyday.

I won't ever sell another machine to another (except a friend) unless cash on the glass. I learned my lesson accepting Paypal, expecting it to be secure payment (like Zelle, etc.). Turned out the buyer filed a claim stating he never made the transaction, and Paypal returned the payment to him!

Sell local, cash on the glass.

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paypal is brutal for sellers. You have to use the friends and family option to prevent this kind of thing and anyone planning on doing that scam won't agree. to send it that way.

NO NO NO. I accepted the payment Friends and Family. This will not prevent this kind of thing.

Correct, Friends and Family is no better. Can still do a CC charge back.
Cash is king
Fuck long distance sales

Here was my saga for those interested in the details. In summary, don't use PayPal as a seller.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/paypal-do-not-accept-payment-using-paypal/page/4#post-6302382

This reminds me of something that absolutely drives me crazy in retail stores. When I've taken the time to travel to the store and have either picked out my item and am ready to buy or have a question and the clerk answers the phone when I'm standing right in front of them, then they automatically lose my business. I'm a buyer at the location ready to pay, and who knows if/what potential is calling them. As the saying goes, a bird in hand is better than two in the bush.

Integrity goes both ways. You can't put the seller on the hook waiting or not knowing your full intentions/timeline and expect them to pass on someone who is willing to be at their house with cash in a matter of minutes/hours. You asking someone to send photos is not a verbal contract. I would suggest next time that maybe you be more deliberate in your approach if your intentions are indeed to buy the pin if certain qualifications are met.

BTW, I have both purchased and sold long distance. When selling, I gave the guy a deadline for yes or no since he seemed serious (24 hours), and required a modest deposit since he couldn't pick up the game for a couple of weeks. When buying, I did the opposite. I was up front with the seller, told them if/when they supplied answers to the few questions I had, then I would immediately let them know yes or no, and offered to pay a deposit when I confirmed I wanted the pin (the seller actually declined to take it). In both cases the transactions went flawlessly. In the case of when I was selling, I did have others make offers during the waiting period, but I let them know that I had a buyer and if for whatever reason he backed out I would alert those interested in the order they contacted me.

Also, cash transactions each time. However, I did have one buying experience where the seller preferred a personal check (full disclosure - he lived right across the street from me at the time, so he knew where to find me if anything went wrong).

I deal with this kind of thing all the time here in the States when buying. I just assume that they prefer a local sale as opposed to sending me more pics cause Im 8hrs away. I don’t begrudge them a faster sale, in fact I frequently say to the seller that if they get a local offer they want to take, its not a big deal. Now, if we have agreed to a price and I have been told that its mine by the date we agree to exchange money/machine then I feel shorted. I don’t generally like to make deposits unless the person is a well known seller, as some people just take it and run. I would also note that if people just took some decent mother fudging pictures, things like this are less likely. How hard is it really to take pictures nowadays? For what its worth, which is nothing since Im not selling any games, I would have at least sent you the pics and given you the first right of refusal if you were first to contact me. Within a timeframe of course. Sounds like you are a little upset, but not overly upset and thats good. Life goes on. Or it doesn’t and you dont have to worry about it anymore. Good luck in your search for games!

I love your Flipper toppers for GNR , they're my favourite mod I've brought for the game , and really appreciated you walking me through how to use PayPal friends , and I loved getting that envelope , hand written from Texas .
Buy , Buy , Buy from Mr_Tantrum with confidence

Some people have integrity - some don't. I am in Massachusetts, a seller listed a Funhouse on Craigslist about an hour and a half drive in Acton Massachusetts. . Spoke with him Saturday, sounded legit (not a scammer). Told him I had my brother coming from Maine to help me transport. He mentioned that he had a lot of interested, but I had the first shot. Told him I would be at his house Sunday at 11 AM. I met my brother in law, was on my way to meet the seller (who is a doctor). I got a call from him when I was 1 hour into the ride. He claimed that the Funhouse was having issues, and he wanted to repair before it was shown. I told him I would take a look at it anyway but he refused. So I turned around with my brother and went home. The seller stop responding to my calls/texts. Wasted hours of my brother and my time. I had another friend call the seller, turns out he decided to sell me out for $200. So this Massachusetts DR. did not have integrity.

Imagine what this doctor does daily to make a few extra dollars off his patients.

My easiest transactions have been with guys from Australia. They pay via wire instantly and setup shipping via STI. easy peasy. The hardest transactions are the guys who drive over and nit pic every damn spot on a 30 year old machine.

I understand you're smart city Folk , and we're dumb country folk , but , are you trying to say , " I knew the people down under were ahead of us "

Even though I disagree with him in this instance, the OP comes across as a good egg.

Although I can't speak for him, I'm guessing he sees the logic in some of the responses.

You need to respect the sellers time too, when you ask for more photos etc, especially when you're 6000 miles away - i mean, come on. Wouldn't you prefer a local sale with cash on the glass too?

This game may have been for sale locally for a month before he posted it on Pinside. He may have been lining up potential buyers already.

To your point though, if he wasn't even going to entertain the idea of intl shipping ( we don't know his reasoning), he could have said so right up front, like I would have.

You've been scouring the market for a year and havent pulled the trigger yet? That's kinda the definition of tire kicker - - - - -

Exactly agree with this comment. Here’s my advice to OP since you had some… Don’t assume and stay local and you will keep your sanity. It’s totally fine to NOT want to ship a game when buying AND selling. I just ignore people that contact me asking the questions you asked or say “I don’t ship” because it would be impossible to accomplish a deal using my personal buying/selling preferences. Sounds like the seller may have the same policy/preferences. You also do not know that someone an hour away did not offer the seller over their asking price. You will never get a response if that’s the case. If someone contacts me first, it doesn’t matter if they ask for something that I’m not willing to do.

It sounds like the seller threw up a “roadblock”, hoping you would just go away. I mean that is kinda silly. Maybe they should have just said “I don’t deal with overseas transactions.”

Also, with email PMs I typically check them once a day. If 5 people contacted me on the same day, I would probably reply to the first message that agrees with what I am willing to do, not the first one that messaged me. It may not be the way everyone does things but there’s nothing you can do about that, especially since you have no way of knowing. “Don’t torture yourself.”

He's just a newbie , 1-year , probably less on pinside , I don't think he is aware of the backlash he will cop , because people will think he's naive , but you live and learn .
I've been there and done that , and now I think twice before I post , but usually , I'm too drunk
, and whatever gets put up
just like now . It's now 5:30 am and I kept saying , I should go to bed hours ago .
But I always find an excuse to stay up

Pictures, for what they're worth.....I've asked for pics, but when I've gone to buy the machine they somehow didn't show the bad issues. Also, I've driven hours to buy a machine as agreed upon, and found it not to be as described. That sucks. Some people have no integrity.

Years ago, I thought I had finalized a sale over the phone with a Craigslist seller in B.C.
Within 2 hours of talking, we crossed the Canadian border, exchanged money at a bank for a fee, and arrived at his place. Only to have the seller say the price had gone up and there was another interested party waiting after me.
I almost went to get more money, but was so annoyed that we went to dinner instead.
Lesson learned I guess.