I had a harder time justifying paying a hundred bucks for LED lights in my kitchen...at that time I had spent well over 300 for LEDs for my pins. Pinball is a sickness

You have to factor in economy of scale, if you are paying for the artistic expression, and an understanding of the difference between bespoke creation and mass production.

Obviously, we all have to make our own decisions, but I like to presume that anyone making an item for this niche market not available elsewhere deserves some compensation for their time.

I haven't seen a ton of "gouging" - if something is priced out of reason, it won't sell. If it does, then it does.

Wow, really? The dude casts and hand paints those t1000 mods and does a great job. He will even replace them if it breaks (which it wont). You are being really harsh on some one else when it is your own decision to spend your own money. They set the price, if no one buys,. maybe they will lower it. Its THEIR time you are paying for. I wouldnt do it for any less as well. If it wasnt worth it to them, we wouldnt have any mods being made. Look at what Stern charges!

We're not talking about bread and milk here.

Those mods are typically hand made in small quantities. I think you pretty much always know what you are getting so don't get the blowback. Mods are usually well done and expensive because few people want cheap, tacky toys plastered onto an expensive machine.

I don't have a problem with people pricing things at what they feel the materials and their time is worth. Most of these are items they made for their own game that others wanted and were nice enough to make more. If I don't like the price, I won't buy it but i'm not about to tell someone their time isn't worth it.

Wow...kind of a dickish thread...please dont buy anything from me

Edit: just wanted to say that t1000 looks great...nice job to the guy who makes them

Guy doesn't know the difference between hand made and assembled in small quantities vs mass produced in China.

I think it's clear to 99% of us why pinball mods are pricey. If they're not worth it to you then don't buy them.

If I had a T2, I wouldn't flinch at picking this mod up. I've always thought it looks very good.

The amount of time it took to sculpt, make a master mold, mold each piece, clean up the molded figure, and paint it all adds up. I don't think the price tag is at all unfair.

If you wanted a cheap hobby, pinball is not for you.

This makes all the difference. Why would someone want to be away from their family to make these stupid toys for rich dudes unless it was worth their time?

Edit: The mod is cool, I just said stupid to put it into perspective. Life > pinball

Nobody is forcing any one to buy mods

I have bought a few mods from hooked on pinball, he puts a lot of time into development and they are well made
He is not getting rich of making pinball mods

Mods shit storm siren just went off

I love the T1000 mod. Its worth it considering the time and effort the guy puts into. Labor isn't cheap these days outside of China and third world developing nations.

If you don't like it and want your money back, post it for sale on this site and recoup as much of your money as possible. Its not like you didn't know what you were getting before you bought it. Its pretty straightforward.

When I hit the Powerball tonight, I will give you $1 more than you paid for it, and I will pay for shipping. Then you can use your Kleenex on more important things, like when you get a cold! Haha!!!

it's a completely optional mod you voluntarily sought out and purchased. neither the product nor the price were misrepresented. if you miss that $100 so much, get mad at yourself. it was a total luxury item that nobody forced you to purchase.

and as others have pointed out, this was designed and painted by hand and created in extremely small quantities. we aren't talking about a happy meal toy here. you are paying for a person's time, and quantities of scale don't really apply the same way as when you purchase some cheap plastic crap from Wal-Mart.

Do I get caught up and buy pinball mods and accessories that I might not otherwise buy? Yes, sure.
Do I blame the seller for me paying the price they ask? No.

I think most mods are stupid and a waste of money.

But people who do them can charge whatever they want. A project like that is a pain in the ass so why shouldn't the seller/creator get to pocket a few bucks? We are talking about pretty small profits when all of the work and material costs are put into consideration. It's pretty cheesy to bash someone because YOU have buyer's remorse, and can't control yourself when it comes to buying trinkets to pile on to your machine. if you don't like it, make your own mod crap (everybody else does it seems.)

tl;dr

dude_from_family_guy_(resized).jpg

Seriously though, mod makers should sell mods for only the cost of raw materials. It's a 3" hunk of metal. Who cares about the time that went into design, time and cost of manufacturing, or fact that it's selling to a tiny handful of collectors and not mass quantities, right?

If you don't like it, why did you install it on your game as opposed to sending the person a nice email saying "I'm not really happy with the quality of this piece and would like a refund".

I just bought a bunch of custom $6 plastic keychains so I could keep track of the pile of unmatched keys that go with my games. They were very nicely done and I won't hesitate to buy more as I accumulate more games.

Or I could do it myself.....

But 100 keychains (minimum purchase) for $43 + Shipping, find suitable artwork for each game, size it to fit properly, then print it out and put it in the keychain. Sure, it might only take 20 minutes per keychain, but that's 1h 20m of my time I would rather bill my clients or work on generating business.

PS>>>I hope, for your sake, Joey "Breaking_Dad" doesn't hear about this thread on the T-1000 mod...he is T2 biggest fan on Pinside and might open a can of whoopa$$ on anyone talking trash about anything related to that pin!!!

I had 11 LED $15 floodlights for my kitchen in my cart. Put them back. Too much.

Sold my T2 but loved that mod on mine! I'd buy another if I came across another T2.

tattoo_(resized).jpg

I got them for about $6-8 at costco which is much more tolerable... until you realize you need to replace your dimmer switch to one that supports LEDs rather than kill them. That's what happened when I retrofitted LEDs in a pinball machine, didn't look right until I got an LED OCD, another $100 mod that seems insane to someone outside of pinball, but is ultimately worth it.

But you bought it.. you saw it, you sent money, you installed it.. Seller asked a price, you paid it.. very odd thread here,

I think the mod is great, if I had a T2 I would get one, looks like it belongs there..

You could always start making your own mods..

If it was medicine you needed for your child, and the seller wanted 10K for something that cost 50 bucks, that would be gouging.. choosing to buy a toy for your bigger toy and then calling the seller a gouger, just cannot agree with that at all.

Nice work on that mod, I know a lot of people have it and love it, I put one in a game for someone and I thought it was fantastic.

If you pay somebody to mow your lawn, clean your house, or take care of your kids, then you are wasting money.

Problem with some mods are they are only available for a set amount of time. If you come late on the scene, you have to spend a ton of time and effort trying track one down, then sometimes pay double.

Things that are up for sale are worth whatever people will pay for them, and based on the actual supply thats available for the current demand.

Everyone has a right to sell whatever they want for whatever price they want to ask- if you do not find that price fair, do not pay it. Someone who finds it fair will pay it. If no one finds it fair, the seller will adjust the price accordingly.

It's a simply process, no need to b*tch about it - I am sure a quality piece like that T1000 mod you posted sells plenty well to people who find value in a custom handmade piece. I'd buy it if I had a T2 pin.

People think I am crazy for buying 30x Philips Hue LED bulbs for my can lights.. they were $59 each- plus I bought about 15 WeMo Wifi light switches ($40) to turn them on remotely. Some people would balk at those prices and not buy LED's at all - it really depends on what you price you are willing to pay. This translates just as well into pinball mods - some people think they are a waste of money, too expensive, etc- some find that they are willing to pay whatever it takes to get that mod or LED light because they find significant value in it. To each their own.

I wish this was the only thing I had to worry about.

cant believe this is an actual thread hah

I have spent waaay too much on mods... And I love them all

I couldn't disagree more. My wife and I work crazy hours and don't have a ton of time to keep up the house or outside. When we do have time, I don't want to spend the 4 hrs I have free this week mowing grass. I guess it all comes down to what you think your time is worth. To me the $60 I pay the kid to mow my yard is like stealing. I don't have to pay for the gas or upkeep of a zero turn mower, I don't have to buy a mower, weed eater, or blower. Plus I get to keep 2+ hrs of my week during the summer. I can make more money, can't buy more time though. Plus a kid has a job now and is making his own money.

I couldn't disagree more with working those crazy hours. But to each his own.

I value my time very much. And I have plenty of it to take care of my own stuff and spend time with my kid.

and now it's a thread on lawn maintenance and child care

It was a thread about wasting money...
Now it's one about wasting time...

powerball?

Dodge ball.

Good for you, but I like what I do and don't mind working a ton.

Indeed, so back on topic.

Don't buy a damn mod if you don't think it's worth the money. No one makes you do it.

When I only had 1 machine I did get into Mods, and thought it was pretty cool. After a long time I realzed instead of spending my monies on mods for this one game, I could be putting it towards more machines, so I got out of it minus some small things here and there.

I appreciate you just coming out blazing and sticking it to the man though. 2016 Negativity is going to be legendary.

Good for you. And I want to spend as much time as I can with my kid while I can.

Can you please share your recipe for success? The only way I know how to make money is to sell my time.

Not owing money, not paying for things I can do myself or things I don't need, and paying as few taxes as possible.

Don't have kids and I like to work and I like what I do. If I did have kids I'd probably feel the same way that you do though.

Great advice. The second one I go the route of not paying for things that I can do myself that I enjoy though.

Besides 30 pins!

I'd love to do my entire house on Hue lights, but it would cost me over $800 to do my game room alone. Best Buy did have them as low as $43 recently, and I found a different brand on Amazon for $35 out the door. Some day...

Needful things.

If you are experiencing buyers remorse, just remove the mod and sell it back to the pinside community for slightly less than what you paid.

Hmmm OP is mysteriously absent....