What?
The seller owes you nothing.
First offer acceptable to the seller at his doorstep gets the game.

similar advice likely to come that was in your previous/similar thread

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/dont-sell-to-someone-else-when-we-agree-on-a-price

Life's too short. Let it go.

I don’t see where the seller did anything wrong. You made an offer, someone else made a better offer, and he went with it. Sometimes when you come in low you get outbid.

I'd think it's common etiquette to at least let people who contact you know it's sold? Although I'm guessing it's not that common since so many people thank me when I bother to tell them...

Unless you'd already annoyed the guy so much that he'd made it clear he wasn't going to deal with you ever again or something.

Personally if a seller and buyer agree on a price and timeframe, I feel like at a minimum if seller gets a better offer they should offer buyer opportunity to buy it at that price instead. I've had times where a seller and I had already agreed to everything and I was getting the car cleared out and cancelling evening plans to go pick up a game and then the seller tells me it's sold to someone else, but even if I'd agreed to pick it up the next afternoon, once we've agreed to it I consider it done and write it on my calendar.

Agree completely, once a deal is agreed to it should be honored.
And the seller should tell others who were interested that it's sold to someone else.
But you don't get a chance to counter offer after the seller makes a deal with someone else.

I never bother to tell anybody a game is sold unless they ask. Why should I? I can’t keep track of all that and really can’t be bothered. And frankly, it seems like gloating to make it a point to reach out to everybody who lowballed me and announce I sold the game to someone who isn’t them.

Same thing as when I’m trying to buy a game. If I don’t hear from a seller, I figure they sold it to someone else and move on with my life. Or, If I just can’t sleep at night or want to increase my offer, maybe I’ll send them another message.

I’m guessing The OP is still fuming over some guy stealing his parking spot 15 years ago. Seems to have trouble letting go.

Here's a hint: Nobody likes a lowballer. You want better "etiquette" from sellers, be a better buyer.

Were did the seller agree to a price? Sounds more like the OP low balled him, he said no. So then the seller comes back with a group offer for 2 pins. The seller likely didn't want to deal with him at that point and sold one of the game to another buyer. He notified the OP that the game is sold and absolutely owes him nothing. Complete BS that the OP is on hear complaining about a seller for absolutely no reason. If he wanted the games he should have been more aggressive with his initial offer.

This!

If he received multiple offers at the same time and sold the game to someone else, why do people immediately think it was because of money? Maybe his next door neighbor or someone much closer to him(her) bought the game and it was just easier to sell it to them.

It is the sellers right to not sell to anyone for any reason at all. I have refused many offers to sell based on location, timing, an item having a pending offer, the game breaking, because I suspected a scam, along with countless other reasons.

After, during, or prior to selling a game I will not respond to offers beyond saying "it's sold". Sometimes, I don't respond at all. Especially since there is a more-or-less public record of it selling on Pinside. There is even a feedback system in place now. If you are upset that the seller didn't let you know that it was sold, you should probably find a different hobby.

You shouldn't because you live in the real world with the rest of us.

At this point, is there a single EM seller here who wouldn't groan and immediately hit delete at an ad response from Grayman? I'm wondering if he's a work.

First of all, don't mention this stuff here. No matter what, you're going to get a bunch of people who agree, who sort of agree and who think you're an asshole.

They never did.
I was agreeing with zacaj, not the OP.
So I agree with you also.

I can't tell if this guy is real or if its a fake account used to stir up drama.

OP: So, exactly how many of these threads are you going to have to make before you realize that you may be the one with the problem?

Oh Jesus not this guy again...

There will be a thread about it if that happens...

I would imagine he was probably offended again by your offer. I don’t think I would respond if I was the seller. I typically week out the pain in the butt guys and reply to those I feel will make the easiest transaction while respecting the order of pm’s. Unless the seller made a deal with you, move on. This is not something to bring to the public.

Maybe my expectations are too low, but I never assume anyone will reply or hold anything for me, so I don't get very annoyed or take it very personally. If I send a message about a game and don't get a reply, I assume either they never saw it, saw it and just didn't care, thought I was too low, sold it already, or just got busy and meant to but never responded. This isn't because I hate everyone, I just don't want to stress myself out and rearrange my life over something that's supposed to RELIEVE my stress and provide me with some fun distraction.

If we do work out a deal, I try to keep it local because I always assume that I'll get there and the game will be in worse shape, no keys, gone already, or some other catch.

I really try and not to message people about games unless (1) I'm serious and ready/have time to go get it if they say yes, and (2) have discussed with the wife and have cash ready to go. This probably limits me on some games but I find it way less stressful to buy games when the stars align and not sweat the ones that "get away".

For every deal I've "lost" I've found a great one down the road, and let's be honest, I love pinball (and arcades) but this is a hobby and some fun games...there are people with actual problems in the world other than someone ignoring their message about a $2,000 toy .

The thought of travelling to pick up the pin(s) should not even have crossed your mind since there was not even a hint of a deal being made. Also, the seller probably read your previous thread. I would be hesitant to deal with you knowing all the BS you're packing. I would gladly sell for less just not to deal with the drama.

Am I the only person that looks forward to the replies to the OP’s posts?!?

The seller doesn't give a F about your drive time or how it's hard for you to get the game. They deal with constant flakes and are going to sell to the first good offer with cash in hand. If you are serious about getting the pin you should quickly research the seller, make sure you have good pics of the game, give them a call, if all is good then send a deposit, go get he game at the time you agreed upon. This stuff keeps happening because you expect sellers to cater to you at every turn. With the resale market today they simply do not have to. A game priced good will have several offers the first day.

yes

Man I am totally gonna gloat at the guy who offered me $100 for a game and then insulted me when I told him no once I sell it.

Low ballers I'm not going to give the time of day but if someone offered me $2k on a game I was asking $2200 for, but I'd already sold it full price, I'm gonna at least be nice enough to let them know it's not available

And it's not spectacular!

All the lowballers and tire kickers can see it's sold the same way they could see it was for sale. Selling a pin is not the joy people think it is.

It's a little amusing! It's a little sad!

Sad that greed causes a lot of problems. Should have just offered what the seller was asking. I'm curious of how low the OP's offer was.

Good grief.

Your approach to attempting to buy games doesn't work, and each time you bring it up, people explain exactly why it doesn't work. Yet, you seem to keep doing the same thing.

People are under no obligation whatsoever to wait on you to decide whether or not you are going to buy a game. They do not care what arrangements you feel you have to make. They don't care about sob stories or hardships. They don't know you and don't owe you anything.

All they care about is that someone is going to buy the game and will arrive at a specific day/time to pay for it and haul it away. It's really pretty simple.

Instead, you make things complicated with this nonsense where you feel like you have to arrange multiple deals simultaneously, and it kills your chances with *all* the deals you try to initiate. And then you complain about deals falling through.

To put it bluntly, the problem isn't with the sellers--it's you.

If you want to lock a pin then ask for PayPal address, send deposit NOW,set a realistic time frame to pick up and pay balance with cash.
It's that easy most of the time.

Well OP stop being such a cheap ass, and put deposits down on games. You can argue all you want, but it's still not getting you any pins....

This 100%

In before the lock.

Your are talking about roughly $500 EM's. Any seller is going to take the quickest, most efficient deal that comes up. You want them to hold it for "x" days/weeks while you arrange picking it up? If I'm interested in a $500 pin, I'm in the truck, on my way to get it immediately. If not, I'm going to lose it to someone else. There's nothing new about this. It's the way pinball sales have worked for decades.

Frank - buying, selling, trading, fixing them since 1982 (and owned them before that!)

Unless you're a friend, when I'm selling a pin, the money is all I care about. Sounds to me like you're expecting "good buddy" prices when dealing with strangers.

He didn't respond after two lowball offers? Damn, what is wrong with that guy?

lol, your approach is logical and reasonable but you really need to read his previous thread. You'll get a better sense of just how much OP is in the dark ages when it comes to buying/selling. Pretty sure he's still looking for printed ads in his local paper.

IIRC, the problem last time was that renting a truck is an expense, so you have to combine as many deals as possible for maximum efficiency?

That's the wrong way to look at it.

When you bought your car, you saved thousands by not buying a truck, right? And over the years you've owned your sensible car, you've saved money on fuel and repairs, right?

So, with all that money saved, when you do need a truck, you can man up and rent one. And if you need one the following weekend, you can rent another one.

Don't think of that one-dollar-per-mile U-Haul bill as adding to the cost of the pinball machine. Think of it as adding to the cost of your sensible car. It's still cheaper than owning your own truck, right? Then relax.

You forgot about his furnace dilemma too.

THE PROBLEM IS YOU!

JR (resized).jpg

If there is no price agreed upon and no deposit placed, the seller is going to move on the next potential buyer. If I’m serious about buying something, especially far way. After we agree on the price, I will give the seller my info and a deposit. If it’s something you want, you’ll make a nice offer and not lowball the seller

Problem, problem,
Problem, problem,
Problem, problem,
Problem, problem,
Problem, problem,
Problem, problem,
Problem, problem,
Problem, problem, problem.

I had a very cool buyer from out of state buy an airline ticket and rent a van. Worst part was we couldn't hang out because he had a 1,500 mile trip home. If you want something enough anything is possible.

dude, you make convoluted lowball offers and then get hurt feelings when sellers don't bite. in the other thread you made on this same topic, you complained about sellers who objected to holding pins for a long time with no down payment so you could work out a way to pick them up at some future unspecified time.

selling to you sounds like a huge hassle with no up side.

Low-ballers are betting that the seller is desperate, right?

With the way pinball prices are running these days, what are the odds that the seller is desperate?

I had a friend who heard the song in my car and thought it was called "Rob Lowe"