Best you can do is be frank with them and tell them to keep your contact info. I just had someone asking $1000 for a Hot Shot call me back after a month. Unfortunately for him I picked one up already but it can work.

Not related to a pin purchase but a definite Craigslist deal.

I bought a house a few years ago and wanted to upgrade all the appliances in the kitchen to stainless steel. I saw an ad on Craigslist for a bunch of appliances. I wanted the dishwasher. It was essentially new, top-of-the-line, double drawer style dishwasher. New it was $1500-$2000, the seller was asking $1200. I said "Hey I'll give you $500 cash and pick it up tomorrow" he responded "You got a deal."

So I went to pick it up an he has all these essentially brand new appliances in his garage. They just bought the house and his wife "didn't like" the appliances. So he ripped them out and listed them. He said "I have no idea what the used appliance market is like so I just listed them high."

The dishwasher is gorgeous and I have had zero issues with it.

So, yeah deals can happen even on highly priced items. You never know what the situation is on the seller side. Worst case they say no, not so nicely.

I would suggest contacting them and letting them know you are interested in the game and just tell them that in your experience they probably won't come close to getting their asking price. Then ask them to contact you if say, they don't sell it in the next month or two. If they really want to get rid of the machine, they may well come to their senses if they don't get any other calls.

Just my two cents...

Show him any price guide. Pinbot has to be one of the highest volume games for sales data showing they can be had ~$1000. If they look at actual sale prices and still think their antique is worth $4000, they're not a reasonable seller and it's not worth dealing with them

Dude.... this happens all of the time! I would personally not waste my time on trying to talk sense into the person. Most likely you will get nowhere fast! Sometimes people put sky high prices just to see if they get a sucker. For example at the moment I don't have any machines for sale but for the right price any of them are for sale if you know what I mean Everything is for sale at the right price....as have had plenty of late night drunken conversations have gotten way inappropriate Good Luck whatever you do!

I have tried talking to them on the phone, even visiting as an appraiser. But they see these go "ALL THE TIME" on TV for thousands of dollars. Someone told them that some pinballs sell for 10k and that NEW ones go for 5k so at 4k for a "rare" antique this is a steal.

People ALSO get a lot of their info off of Ebay which has some crazy prices. I am guilty as the next guy of inflating my price a little on Ebay but I do that to cover the 15% I have to add to pay all the fees.

SO all that said I think only once was I able to get someone to come down from 1500 to 800 on a pin after demonstrating that I know what I am talking about and I am not trying to con them.

I normally close with "You might find a buyer who will pay this. But you are really overpriced on the item so they either REALLY want it, or they don't know any better. Just so you know"

And I have to walk away. Most people see me as the jerk trying to con them. Some people call me back months later and offer it to me for less than my original offer. I can SOMETIMES go for it but normally I have already found that title and moved on.....sad.

"You are an idiot" and shoving price guides in their face is the wrong approach. For whatever reason they've got it in their head that they are sitting on gold and trying to convince them otherwise simply won't work.

The best thing to do is send them an email saying "Hey, I like your game but the market value on that is much lower...here's my offer. If you have no luck getting your price and would like to deal with me sometime down the line please contact me."

In the past I've had this work for me. Sometimes it takes months and sometimes you never hear back. But you won't get anywhere with a more aggressive approach.

Crap, how do pics attach themselves to posts by accident?

This is solid advice and def does work.

Sometimes you gotta play the slow hand

I agree with most of the advise above...

People just throw numbers out there, so you have to talk to them and negotiate with them a bit... "You know I've seen this pin before and it was $2500 but that was in perfect condition, if it wasn't across the country I might have gone $2500, but in this condition I can do $1500" or whatever the case may be...

Sometimes you'll find a guy who is unrealistic and unwilling to budge or you may find he was starting high just to settle lower... It's a great approach to selling unique products, but as a guy on the other side of things you have to either a) low ball so that you can negotiate to a fair price or b) settle on a number and be honest and clear that that's your final offer and just walk away... The problem I see most often comes when the seller starts high and the buyer comes along with a number in mind, say you were willing to pay $2500 as your final price and that's what you offered first, but then the seller offers it for $3000 and you're like "wow he came down a lot" and give up on your initial price of $2500 and end up paying 20% more... Either lowball in return and be willing to negotiate or offer your best and stay firm, willing to walk away... If you go the latter route, don't be surprised if you get a phone call a few days later asking if your offer still stands

Yes, do try and set them straight. Be polite and helpful. Tell them you are active in the pinball trade and their machine is one of the titles on your list. Ask how they arrived at that price 'cause other machines are going for $xxx. Is theirs a limited edition? Most homeowners just look at other machines for sale and don't really take into account mods., shopped, diamond plate.....They see one for sale for 5k and assume theirs is also a 5k machine. They also don't know how long that overpriced one has been advertised. Cash Talks!! I always say, "I can do $xxx-cash right now"

Negotiating isn't a matter of being nice or not... For a lot of people it's just a way of life... It's the niceness of us Americans who walk into a store and pay the asking price that gets us into trouble... I believe in variation in the market not standardization, it's up to the seller to demand the highest price and the buyer to strike the best deal... I'll take my capitalism over the communism any day!

communism...? i do not think that word means what you think it means.

If CL bothers you, don't even think about looking on eBay....those sellers are nuts. $3700 for a "shopped" T2??

Considering the person is not a "pinball person" I tell them if they search on Pinside they can look up the game and see a realistic value. Many seem to appreciate the info but still want the high end of the value. That's when you need to go see in person and judge the condition and make your offer then, in person, don't make low ball offers in email or text make a fair offer in person and with cash and taking right then.

Open 10 email accounts

Beat the dude up on price via all 10 email accounts from 10 different approaches

1 of your 10 personalities should get the deal

You're welcome

It all makes sense now!

Simply make an offer, and let the seller know that the offer will stand.. Let the seller realize that no one is going to pay that kind of money..

Sometimes people are stubborn and believe what they see on Pawn Stars, or the EBay listing prices, or wherever they see these numbers... once it sits for a while, they might realize they are way off..

And from time to time, check in with the seller, "have you had any luck, just wanted to let you know my offer still stands"..

Or they may just take the offer on the spot..

Anyone who lists Pinbot for $4000 is a prick therefore this is an acceptable way deal with such douchebaggery.

In my experience, telling someone that their price is out of line never works, not matter how much you soft-shoe it. Whatever price they've picked, they've either gotten advice from "someone how knows pinball" or they've seen these "sell for $XXXX on ebay" and any attemp to change their mind is going to be seen as trying to con them out of their game.

As others have said, the best you can do is simply say "your price is more than I'd be willing to pay for this game. I'd be interested in it at this price should you get to that point" and move on. Unfortunately, it seems that most are stubborn enough that they'd rather list it over and over for a year or better than to face reality and lower their price. Of course, your mileage may vary.

Dave

In my experience, people have been pretty receptive to something like: "I'm not looking for a steal - just looking to pay market value. Here are some links showing you what market value is on a machine like yours."

I had someone start the negotiation of a Breakshot by telling me that there were three listed on eBay for: $6495, $3800, and $3495. Though, he admitted the 6k was "not relevant, appears to be a high end restoration". lol.

We emailed a bit, and I ended up buying one from someone else. To which he said: "Wow...$1400, it must be in great shape."

This whole strategy assumes that you're willing to pay the average selling price you see on pinball price or boston pinball. I am. It's extremely difficult to find people outside of your network selling games at reasonable prices.

A friend and I talked a retired operator down from the moon at $2500 per game to three for $2200 (pinbot and a couple high speeds complete but not working) not a steal but reasonable. If I was alone I would've walked right at the start, but my buddy got him down to earth somehow just by jabbering on and making offers on whatever around his shop.

There was someone on here trying to sell a NIB IMVE for $4900. I was interested in that game and very kindly let him know that I could get one shipped to my door for couple hundred less than that. Next day he was asking $4800

I wish Chogard would chime in now . After all he's the king of talking sellers down .

If I don't like the price I move on, and don't waste my time or theirs. (I'd don't have the time to price police) there is a difference between negotiating and low balling.

Sellers can ask whatever they want, if it's too high of a price, it won't sell, simple as that.

Example, had my CFTBL listed for $3400, had 2 people "inform" me I was too high, and one offer me $2500. Of course it sold within the week at $3200......I get tired of the low balls, know it alls, and price police. Newbies that have been in for 2 years and think they know more about prices than a long timer. There are also people that will pass up a freshly restored $3200 creech to buy a beater for $2800. Then shop it, replace a broken ramp, plastics, fix the GI, and buy new side art, and have $3300 in it plus 50-60 hours. A year later, the same guy whining about price will have his Creech listed for $3600.

There is such a thing as a $3500 pinbot....if it is restored high end, new clear coated playfield etc. but that's my opinion.

I always offer what I am comfortable paying for something and usually ignore the asking price. If the asking price is way under what I'm willing to pay, I just pay it. Life's to short to dick around. If the seller doesn't want to sell, they will decline. Sometimes, some weeks or months go by and they do contact me and accept my offer, saying it was the best offer they received.

No matter how you look at it, people that are "selling" anything usually treat it like an auction, asking crazy high prices for things, hoping that some sucker will bite first.

A 3500 Pinbot? I don't think so... Not when a HUO High Speed sold for 2200 a couple weeks ago. You'd be stuck with trying to sell a 3500 Pinbot for years!

I will mention that sys11 and older pins typically sell for 1-2K less than most good DMD games. I could see a Dirty Harry or Shadow possibly bring 3500 in a retail spot... But not a Pinbot. Just my observations, YMMV.

Maybe not to you, maybe not to me…….but to a high end collector that absolutely loves the machine (grew up with it, etc) and wants a high end restore, oh you bet it would sell. I am confident if you ask any high end restorer (Brain, Chris, etc) they will tell you people have paid that much just for the restoration parts and work for a similarly priced machine. $4000 is chump change for a high end restore including new plastic, chrome, clear coated play field etc. I am not talking HUO (which has nothing to do with condition) I am talking High end restorations. Here is a HEP HS2 from 2 years ago
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/fs-hep-getaway-hs2

Go buy a $1500 pinbot, and a $900 play field, $300 in plastics and ramps, $100 in coils and flipper rebuilds, $200 in misc, $150 in stencils, some paint, this doesn't touch the time factor (or the trim for either replacement, powered, or chrome) and most importantly the 100 hours of labor…most folks charge $400-500 just for a play field swap.

$3500 would be a bargain for a high end restore…..BUT YES it is a limited market, like any other high end restore.

Others:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/hep-world-cup-soccer-94
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/diamond-plate-whirlwind-hep
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/older-hep-ij-for-sale-hep
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/for-sale-hep-no-fear-dangerous-sports
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/price-check-christopher-hutchins-full-restoration-stng

Disclaimer: I am not saying that is the case on the machine the op is referring to, but that is what I am referring to in my post above.

I saw a CL ad for a HUO T3. It was 4 miles from my house. He wanted $3500. I responded by saying that the going rate for that game was $1700. His response was the lowest he could do was $3200. I said good luck with the sale, and i thought that was the end of it. 2 days later he contacts me and says he could do $1900. I was at his house in 5 minutes....

I am always very polite when I make my initial offer. "would you consider X cash? If so I can come and pick it up today or tomorrow" Usually they tell me that the game is worth much more. My next email sends links to boston pinball and maybe a thread or two on RGP/Pinside showing my reasonable offer, I also let them know that based on the age I will most likely have to replace X,Y and Z not to mention the 10-20 hours to get it back to 100%. If they do not accept the offer, I always say "it may be worth that to someone but I have purchased quite a few games and its worth X to me, if you change your mind let me know" I have had many people over the years come back to me for my original asking price. YMMV

The moral of this story is make sure you are polite, talking down to someone on CL doesnt get the deal done. There are tons of jackasses online, its easy to stand out by being polite.

Got my DESW off of CL. The seller originally had it listed at like $3500 and I emailed saying that when it didn't sell at that price, I interested. Immediate reply was he would take $2500. Still too much for me, but $1000 was already knocked off the price. Got it several days later for $2000 and it is mint.

Sometimes just have to let a seller see for themselves it won't sell at that price, but let them know you will buy at the realistic price.

I don't really disagree with anything you said. But things don't really work like that though. All this is way risky to buy for a Pinbot if your intent is to ultimately sell the machine when you are done. (refernenced links above)... Most "restorations" tend to stay with the owner and never see a sale anyway. Not all, but most do. It does not make sense to sink 3K into a Pinbot restoration unless, you are going to keep it for yourself, or there is a potential buyer already lined up. It's a losing battle right from the parts purchase if you are expecting to sell a 3500-4500 Pinbot. I refuse to buy into the hype that suggests that there is any such thing as "better than new" regarding pinball restorations. I prefer my games all original and my collection reflects that fact. Others don't mind spending 4K on a restoration. That's awesome for them, just not for me. Everyone I tell that I've spent over 1K on my mr./ms. pac think I'm crazy. (I don't really care though... Just like that guy that would love a 4500 Pinbot.)

There is a big difference in pinball when you are restoring pins with a business title. The smart money tends to stay away from the harder to sell restored pins and cheaper titles tend to fall into the DIY "hobbyist restored" area. Xenon, Eight Ball, Pinbot, ect. Not saying the "high end-lesser title" doesn't happen, but it certainly happens much less often where the intent is to turn a profit as a business.

Businesses that sell pins are banking on the fact that people "just gotta have it" right then and now. Instant gratification tends to drive most higher-end American collectible markets where buyers have more money than they could ever spend in one lifetime.

I've had even better luck on eBay pins. Contact the seller via email and haggle away from eBay. Most recent guy wanted $2800 for a good condition but routed WPT. I offered 1900 cash via email. He countered at $2100. Sold.

I contact buyers that have too low of prices and tell them theyre priced too low... there are 2 sides to every coin

I'm talking to the same seller...lol. I took a gentler approach by just stating what I would pay for it sight unseen - $1000, maybe more, maybe less dependent upon seeing it in person / better photos.

I inquired about the history of it as I think she probably acquired it from a house purchase, or a hand me down.

Not holding my breath either - you're much closer than I am - good luck if you can nab it!

I don't want or need any pin badly enough to bother with a wildly unrealistic seller. In most instances you're talking to wall. Best to be patient and deal with other hobbyists and/or realistic sellers.

Yeah, agreed on that. I almost left it alone when I saw it listed at $4k but couldn't as I have been after a PB for a little bit now after I blew it on a HUO one @ $800 about a year ago.

That thing has been on there for months.

OK who wants to start contacting people to bitch about their prices?

orangecounty.craigslist.org link

$4000 T2

orangecounty.craigslist.org link

$3295 Avengers THE PIN

losangeles.craigslist.org link

$4799 POTC

losangeles.craigslist.org link

$4999 24

losangeles.craigslist.org link

$5199 LOTR

losangeles.craigslist.org link

$4999 TSPP

losangeles.craigslist.org link

$1950 Wizard!

Too Far

Agree completely.

I don't want to be "that guy" that just comes across as a jackass, who gets pleasure out of telling someone that they are clueless when it comes to the value of the pin they are selling.

as has been said, make an offer you're comfortable with and leave your contact info. either they'll find a sucker, keep the game, or call you

I mostly agree, but start a little differently. Whether it's by email, phone or face to face, if the game is overpriced, I always start by asking if their price is negotiable. I've never gotten a quick no on a way overpriced game. They may think about if for a few seconds and kinda say no, but they never outright say no. Typically when a game is overpriced, they're guessing high and expect to sell at a lower price. Getting them to acknowledge that the price is negotiable sets the tone for your reasonable offer. They're expecting you to ask questions. Ask the most important one first. Break the price ice.

A link to Boston pinball has helped once or twice (via email), along with an explanation that games typically sell for more on ebay due to fees and wider exposure. Most reasonable people understand and accept this. The term 'undesirable title' has also gotten me some good deals. d