Pretty much any printed materials are pretty easy to fake.

Just because it's analog, doesn't mean it's foolproof.

Video is harder to fake, but...

Google actually does this to confirm ownership business listings before they are allowed to be listed.

You can start a moderator feedback thread and include their username along with any other relevant details concerning the situation.

It's the most recent craigslist scam going around that's surfaced in the past few weeks, unfortunately. I hope nobody has been taken by it.

Beware of facebook scams--they are becoming more frequent.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/scam-too-good-to-be-true#post-5757159

You shouldn't have any problems from a reputable & established distributor. If you're not sure about a particular distributor, you can always post a thread and ask about peoples' experience with them.

Note, however, there seems to be a scammer who tends to copy content from other distributors (usually ThePinballCompany.com) and recreates their own brand new websites with lower prices in attempt to attract and scam people.

Another scam site popped up named "pinball base"

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/pinball-base

These new scam sites seem to keep cropping up fairly regularly lately.

You can report it to their hosting provider. You'll probably need to do a reverse IP lookup to see what company is registered for the IP address to find out who that might be.

Then *if* the hosting provider is responsive and takes the site down, the scammer will just set it up again somewhere else.

You can also try reporting it to the domain's registrar. Again, no guarantee they would be responsive.

It's a donation to help keep the site running. Pinside+ gets you a few extra features & perks.

https://pinside.com/pinball/donate

Pinside members do not need Pinside+ in order to add images to threads or marketplace ads. However, what Pinside+ does is give you the ability to send images in PMs to other members.

There is nobody who manually reviews every single ad that gets posted. Us moderators usually keep an eye on the ads in our geographical region simply because we're looking at those ads anyway, but we also rely on reports from individual members like you. If you think an ad looks fishy, hit the report button, and that sends a notification to the moderation team that it needs to be reviewed.

When corresponding with other members concerning an ad, you'll have to use your best judgement. There are also some good information within this thread and within the links in the first post of this thread. But, most people fall back on the near foolproof mantra "cash on the glass"; meaning, inspect the pin you're interested in buying (in person), then pay for it in cash (or if you're selling, invite the buyer to inspect the pin in person and only accept cash as payment).

This is probably a question that is better served in its own thread, rather than this one.

It's pretty easy for an automated scraper to parse those. You're only making it more difficult for real people to read the contact info.

Just enter your contact info in the proper fields that craigslist provides. Or if you don't want to publicly list your phone number, either don't list it at all, or just use a google voice number.

These days, area codes are pretty much meaningless. Lots of people don't end up changing their cell phone numbers when they move to a new area, so they end up having an out-of-area area code. Or, they could be using a google voice number.

It looks pretty much the same as the other scam sites that have been regularly popping up. The domain name is pretty much brand new as well. I think it's safe to say that it's another scam site.

Work with an established seller with a good reputation.

pinballtheatre.com

No, it's yet another scam site. The domain name was only created in December 2020. It uses stolen photos and even links to a promo video from another company.

No, there's a requirement for having to make funds available. Just because the funds are *available* doesn't mean that they have actually cleared. That time is vastly shorter than the time it takes to actually clear a payment/transfer with a banking clearinghouse. That's how the scam happens--you think you got paid, when in reality, it was a bogus check that bounces later when the banks attempt to reconcile it, and the guy who scammed you is long gone.

I've seen companies not list their street address. Sometimes there are valid reasons for not listing it publicly.

I wouldn't use it as the *only* data point for determining legitimacy, but it's certainly one piece of information that can help fill in the bigger picture.

lol, no.

Yes, quite easily.

Cash on pick-up is the only way I do things.

Those pens are basically only effective if the paper isn't right.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counterfeit_banknote_detection_pen

It won't detect "washed" bills, or counterfeit bills using the right kind of paper.

Well, I do see what looks like some planking in the blue area on the left side. Those horizontal lines are hard to refute.

pasted_image (resized).png

Some of the minor nicks & scratches you highlighted do seem to appear in the photos. I probably would have chalked those up to image artifacts or reflections without the direct comparison.

The left top backbox damage doesn't appear to be visible in the original photos, so that is inconclusive as to whether or not that could've happened during shipping, but it does appear to be conveniently out of frame.

If the game is stored in a poor environment (unstable temperature, unstable humidity), planking can develop fairly quickly. It could have possibly developed in 40 days it spent in the shipping container, regardless of what happened to other games (they weren't all made from the same batch of wood, after all).

But based on the photo, it looks like the planking may have already been present. However, it's also possible that it got worse during transport.

I'd agree that the cabinet was not mint or completely free of flaws.

I was not even aware that you could actually do that.

All in all, I do not think this falls into the category of a scam. It sounds like there was a difference in opinion as to the actual condition of the game.

Moderator's comment:

I would ask that the parties involved with this specific dispute take it to a new thread or PM, rather than clog up this dedicated general reference sticky thread. No further posts on this issue will be approved in this thread.

I hope that the matter will able to be resolved.

Scam.

Typically, if you feel you have to ask, it's likely a scam.

Cash on the glass, accept no substitutes