(Topic ID: 78858)

Are people really paying the crazy high prices seen on pinside?

By Deez

10 years ago


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  • 279 posts
  • 94 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 10 years ago by karmalord
  • Topic is favorited by 1 Pinsider

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    #113 10 years ago
    Quoted from Acampero:

    Seems like a shortage in So Cal for good machines.

    SoCal Craigslist was pinball heaven around 2007-2010 or so...great titles & projects CONSTANTLY showing up at great prices....then it really started to dry up. Once the collectors & flippers gobbled up the "casual owner" inventory, those games were kept in collections or repaired/shopped/restored & sold for more. I barely look at CL anymore, and when I do, it's the same 3 T2's that have been listed for a year for $2k+. Hopefully you'll start seeing good deals again once people realize they're going to HAVE to lower their price to sell these games. Or - if you see a game you want, it can't hurt to offer a realistic price. I've purchased games at great prices after seeing a high-priced ad and making a reasonable offer. Just be nice! Say something like "If you can get what you're asking, by all means...but if you want the game gone - I've got cash, I'll show up on time, and get it out of your way."

    #139 10 years ago
    Quoted from laryans:

    100% agree. I'd add that once the economy took a dump there were a bunch of people who started to depend on game flipping to survive, plus the quasi-retailers have discovered it's a source of cheap games. Craigslist has become a long shot for deals on pins and other arcade games unless you are using one of those apps that constantly checks for you, and even then the competition is insane. Right now I think it's better to just buy at market value and be happy and not be obsessed with getting cheap deals.

    Competition from flippers definitely got brutal - but these days there are barely any games even being listed, aside from the same overpriced ones over and over. You almost have to buy at market value cuz there just aren't any cheap projects popping up anymore. Thankfully I got most of my collection "back in the day" so I'm not really looking that hard to pick up anything else. Phew.

    #142 10 years ago
    Quoted from LesManley:

    People here are funny. Holding on to what they paid for a pinball machine like it was a potential cure for cancer. What's the big deal? I'm fine with what I have paid for every pinball machine I have purchased and wouldn't hesitate to tell anyone what I paid to help them gauge prices if they asked me. Nothing to be embarrassed about here.

    Same here…ask away!

    #147 10 years ago
    Quoted from Sly_Old_Devil:

    I want Rainman level details here please, Names, dental records, place, year, price, condition, weather and shipping/tidal/moon phase cycles otherwise it would all be too random to analyse.
    Also if you could compare the local price of bread and pork bellies at the time I can trend bacon sandwiches as well.
    Basically this information is useful (just the pricing stuff) so that EVERYONE can become more informed about their buying and selling choices, yes there are going to be the usual market variations such as location and exchange rates etc but there needs to be some baseline information as a starting point, it is how the real estate market justifies itself.
    Post edited by lol_implied : more context to my ramblings

    Keep in mind, I could tell you that I paid a super low price for my games - but, that doesn't take into account that they may have also been filthy, broken, needed board repairs, tons of new parts, and time time time time! Time is money. I don't mind paying more for a game if I don't have to do jack shit to it.

    #155 10 years ago
    Quoted from CaptainNeo:

    which is kind of a bad way to look at it. Because $500 is $500. SHould have the same value to you in the grand scheme of things. I'd like to save $500, whether or not it's a 15000 car, or a $1000 window.

    Once you're deep into this hobby, $500 does seem like nothing...which IS weird, but it is what it is. However, I don't look at my games as individuals anymore - it's just one big pool. So, I might "lose" $500 selling one game...but then I might "make" $2000 selling another. Any "losses" I've had selling games have been made up for by other deals - so, I really don't sweat the hundreds anymore when it comes to buying/selling if it makes the other person feel good and gets the deal done.

    #157 10 years ago
    Quoted from chadderack:

    Someone around here is looking to sell their WH20 for $8K. I cringed.

    ...and it sold. I think 2 sold around that price.

    My first WH2O was $750!

    #162 10 years ago
    Quoted from pinballsmith:

    I paid $3000 for my last TZ and handing the money over almost made me sick. I can't imagine how some people here can pay for some of these games and not have anxiety.

    Your "I won't pay more than..." just keeps inching up and you get less anxious. I started with arcade games, and never paid more than $300...most of them were $50, $100, etc. My first pin, BTTF, was $300 - that's how I got in! It was within my self imposed limit. My first "big" purchase was a BSD for $1000. I couldn't believe it - I thought I was insane. Then my ceiling kept inching up...$2300 for RFM. Most of my purchases were $1-2k, sometimes less...and I could always sell them for more than I had into them. That finally got rid of the anxiety. I finally hit $4k when I bought CV. I felt really weird doing it, but it was done. Then I finally got into NIB territory and it's all over. LOL

    #164 10 years ago
    Quoted from gweempose:

    Yeah, once you start buying NIB, the sickness has fully consumed you.

    Yeah, for me it was after a big breakup...I guess I kinda had an early midlife crisis...I was like "I deserve pretty things!!!" and ordered BDK and IM NIB

    #166 10 years ago
    Quoted from NPO:

    I'll vouch for this. I have never paid more than $2000 for any of my pins.
    LW3: $1000 (2003)
    JM: $1150 (2012)
    JP: $1900 (2012)
    TFTC: $1600 (2012)
    XF: $1300 (2012)
    T3: $2000 (2014)
    I don't list those prices to brag; I list them to help other newcomes gauge the prices paid and the years purchased. They also don't include shipping/gas/vehicle rental/food.
    Never ever thought I'd see the day I ventured into $2000+ territory. I have 4 other titles I'm interested in, and for nice and clean examples, I know already I'm going into $2500 - $3000 realm.
    Just part of the territory. Sucks to know in 2009 you could get nearly any pin for $3000 and less. I remember on eBay seeing AFM for $3000, TZ for $2500, TAF for $3000. *sad nostalgic sigh*

    Alrighty just for fun I'm looking at my "Collection History" and remembering what I paid for them...keep in mind these were 2008-2010-ish

    AP: $1900
    GNR: $1900
    Dr. Dude: $400
    FH: $1250
    WOF: $2450 (NIB closeout)
    Big Guns: $325
    EATPM: $500
    SW: $900
    JP: $800
    A13: $800
    GE: $650
    Tommy: $1500

    Some good prices on games I still have
    TAF: $2400 (with mods and Pinball Pro speakers!)
    BK2K: $700
    NGG: $2200 (HUO, barely any plays)

    #170 10 years ago
    Quoted from NPO:

    Geez.......
    Were any of these projects?

    Pretty much all of them to some degree. At the least, most needed full topside tear-down shop jobs...some needed new parts, new ramps, flipper rebuilds, mech rebuilds, board repairs, paint touch up, etc.

    #181 10 years ago
    Quoted from Betelgeuse:

    If the prices here are crazy, where can I go to get the sane prices these days? Is there a different website where all the games are 30% less? Link please. It's a collectors market and it doesn't have to make sense and it probably never will. $8k for a 20 year old game? How about $1,000,000 for an old baseball card or an old painting. There's nothing to them but paper and ink! Relative to the things we actually need in our lives, these things just are what they are. Supply and demand will dictate the price points, for better or worse. As has been said countless times, if something is overpriced, it won't sell. Nobody is being hurt by inflated asking prices.

    If you're buying from collectors, even high prices are probably somewhat reasonable if lots of work/parts/restoration went into it. Honestly the best place to get good prices is to luck your way into a project game that you do your own work on.

    #203 10 years ago
    Quoted from chadderack:

    Sorry... I meant around my area not Pinside No offense.
    You probably had almost as much money in it as that, though.

    Hmm? I only have like $1300 into my WH2O.

    #210 10 years ago
    Quoted from chadderack:

    I'm still going to guess you're a stand up guy

    I feel like we're having 2 different conversations here....and I can't tell if you're complimenting me or being sarcastic...lol. Oh well, thanks?

    #250 10 years ago
    Quoted from CaptainNeo:

    When I first started, I didn't give a shit about cabinet condition. I didn't play the cabinet. Price and if it was complete was the most important. everything else was fixable. I became more and more anal about cabinets as the years went on. Especially when I realized how shitty decals are. Now i'm super anal about (non decalled games) being original.

    I still don't care about cabinets if the price is right. I appreciate an unfaded/nice cabinet as much as anyone - but if I find a game with a nice playfield but faded cabinet, and it's $1000 less than the going rate - I'm buyin' that game! At the same time, I'm happy if I get an unfaded cabinet at a faded cabinet price. It's all relative.

    #257 10 years ago
    Quoted from PoMC:

    Yup, get a not so nice cabinet, then place it between two other pins. Playfield and backglass condition matters the most. You don't play on the cabinet.

    Yup. My MB has pretty torn up cabinet decals, but it doesn't affect my enjoyment of the game at all. One day I might take the plunge and re-decal the cabinet...but in the meantime I don't really care.

    #259 10 years ago
    Quoted from Aurich:

    Pretty sure your plan is to buy the remake and sell it to me for what you bought it for.

    Hah...maybe ...but that's purely speculation and/or years off so I don't care.

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