This was obviously a good deal, but not seller-didnt-know-what-he-had good. I was doing the mental calculations on what those might sell for individually. The machines that already sold are the ones you would expect would go for a decent premium. But I was surprised when I saw some of the other asking prices: the only NIB I was accurate on with my musing was IM.

9.5 Tron Pro? 9.3 Avatar? 8.5 Transformers? It looks like some of these could be up to a -3K hit on opening the box. Is there really that big of a premium on NIB?!

I was wondering what kind of predicament could lead to this kind of bulk sale. It seems this guy was a collector and decided to also do some investing in his hobby. But guys like that would sell individually to maximize their investment. So maybe collector passed away suddenly?

The estate probably knows the approximate value but can't be bothered to sell individually, so they do a bulk sale. I can't help feel some sympathy that the collector didn't benefit from his astute investment: okay, he may have bought every LE blindly for a period, but I'm giving him credit for 4 Trons!

Fun to speculate: any other theories? Someone here must know this guy and the real story. He sounds kind of like one of us.

Did anyone catch the prices on the ones that sold? Maybe in the same category as ST at 9.5, or could have been a little higher.

That sounds about the ballpark to me: reading between the lines, asking prices total about 220K, and he paid well into 6 figures (let's say 120K).

My quick estimate of how much you could flip these for easily, before I saw the asking prices, was 150K. But I think I'm low on my NIB premium estimates.

Realistically, probably easily about 40K gross profit / 30% on investment.

Congrats! Should easily be able to keep two of the high end machines and still make some bank.

Fun to speculate...

Imagining telling "investors" I need 100K to buy pinball machines and I can double that money, made me LOL.

Maybe if you've got a bunch of rich pinhead friends...

Most of us who have bought and sold a lot of machines and have the cash would take about 5 minutes to realize this is a lucrative deal to jump on.

LOL, okay.

My comments were all about -this- particular deal, and you're throwing up a bunch of straw-man generalizations. I said 30% return, and you're criticizing "doubling money" or 100% return. I said -gross- profit: obviously there's a lot of expense involved. Of course this deal is the exception not the rule. That's why the congrats on what will surely be a bigger pay off than the norm.

There's no shit-show here, some fun speculation and interest. You trying to align your past situation with this buyer and this thread is laughable. For anyone that wants to decide for themselves whether you brought that shit-show on yourself can take a trip down memory lane below. Here's a hint to save time: people were upvoting Otaku's advice to this guy.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/warehouse-find-lots-of-pins-for-sale-shortly-no-list-yet

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/quick-poll-selling-off-machines-fairest-method-lottery-or-first

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/pinball-machines-for-sale-carlisle-pa-list-posted-on-other-post

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/warehouse-find-collection-sell-down-central-pa-update

You playing the victim is cute, but it's you who responded to and criticized what was merely fun and harmless speculation on my part.

I only proposed readers can investigate for themselves whether your whining about the past and alignment to this thread and buyer is accurate.

That's now a "hobby" of attacking? The hyperbole is cute too, but you've made it clear who's attacking who with irrelevant criticism.

There's been little or no negative talk in this thread, mainly just you coming in here to take the opportunity to vent about the old chip on your shoulder.