Can you imagine the flowchart of which company shills hate the other company shills?

Meh.
I'm not a NIB guy.
Pricing seems silly.
Lots of guys seem to be in pinball for a buck instead of playing.
Those guys are mostly dicks anyway.

It's probably best to either sell or enjoy what you have.

WHAT! A real pinhead. I commend you deeply.

This is the problem imo. You don’t have to do anything. And if people did indeed do nothing, prices wouldn’t be where they are. But I’m glad they did, because pinball keeps growing cause of it.

You do realize that the guys who can drop $20k on a GBLE are the folks getting absolutely nothing from the govt except a 39% tax rate.

The trademark is available: https://trademarks.justia.com/875/31/every-family-needs-a-pinball-every-pinball-needs-a-87531117.html

we aren't there yet got a long way to go

Pinball is easy! And the best part is, at these prices, building them is VERY profitable.

Yes I do. The free money I am talking about is the free money given to people not working that they spend. It ends up in the hands of others. The other free money is PPP and ARPA and other social programs that, again, end up in the pockets of others. You can’t inject $4T into an economy in 3 years and not expect price inflation. Boats and airplanes are the same way right now.

You're not kidding! 20 years ago I was "This" close to buying a 1984 172 with a little over 2000TT, that had just been freshly overhauled; standard avionics, but had very nice updates, and had been maintained wonderfully by the original owner since new. A beautiful starter plane for sure. The gentleman wanted 24K; I ended up going the rental route at the time, as there was a long wait time for hangered storage at any of the fields near me, and I didn't want it to sit outside, as it was THAT nice.

Fast forward to today: I just glanced a few listings, and similar equipped planes, with 5X the time on the airframe and a few years older are going for 120k-150k! Holy shit!

So you think it's the unemployed that are buying $20k GBLE's?

Those people aren't buying pinball machines that's for sure. TVs, Iphones, other toys maybe, but not NIB pinballs.

Actually the data doesn’t support this.
https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2021/12/18/business/labor-shortage-boomers-millennials-nightcap/index.html

Yes it is all the poor people who are undeserving and not all the corporations announcing all-time record profits amidst global turmoil. Turn off the Fox news, play more pinball, and try to find some more love and empathy for fellow humans.

Can we institute a one-year ban for people who start these dumb threads?

They always cover the same stupid ground and end up the same stupid way.

These dumb threads - part of the problem in our hobby.

step back a minute and examine the big picture. Ads are a mechanism for selling items. Pinball ads are for buying or selling pinball machines or parts or services. If you don’t want to buy an overpriced machine or topper, the answer is simple and you are 100% in control of that answer. The solution to this horrible problem is …. don’t want the pinball ball machine or item. That’s right, if you stopped wanting it, you would have no need to open a classified ad and the problem is solved.

If we need a villian, my vote is for everyone that owns more than two pinball machines. Collectors with 4, 6, 10+ pins are severely limiting supply.

I'm joking in that I don't have a problem with you owning 100+ pins. But if we're looking to blame someone...

Those fargin' iceholes! Who are they?!?! I'll bet they even have multiples of the same title and won't sell those either. Fargin' bastages!

I had less than 4, 6, 10+ Pins once...
Once.

Actually, we are keeping the supply out of the flippers hands. So I'm doing you a service by having too many machines. You're welcome.

Not all heroes wear capes!!

It's a private website so it's really up to the owners to decide what type of community they want it to be. I know if it was me I would probable allow it in a specific forum that you had to pay to to post in and be a paying member to visit. I think way too many people exploit this site for profit, I would be taking a significant rake from that part of the community. I would take a much bigger rake of the mod community as well, especially the drop ship and LED Strip market. I guess I am a hypocritical capitalist, I do think all the flipping and gouging in pinball is bad for the hobby. At the same time if you can't beat them join them and its clearly good business. I would like to see a little more separation of the hobby and business.

Um, no. The prices have gone up the last 20 years or so and I don't see any signs of it stopping. Someday yes, but not in the near future imo.

Vote with your keyboard-don't respond

You need to read my post again. The free money (whether it be to people not working and spending free money or infused into corporations through programs) is what is driving products up in price. Also, Try to hire ANYONE right now. Many companies have increased the pay to retain their employees by 20-30%. In turn, many spouses have decided to stay home with their kids instead of working due to their spouse's raise. So, the price of everything goes up due to the free money and lack of workforce to make products. Add in some silly Joe energy wrecking policies and you will see 25% (real) inflation this year. Wheat is now $10 and beans are $20. Just a couple of years again they were 1/2 that price. Prices will continue to climb and it has nothing to do with flippers. LE machines are sold out and sell immediately whether flipped or not. Now, when all of the funny money is shut off AND spent we are going to see the mother of all corrections. Patience.

how much wheat and how much beans

Sorry, $16.30 for beans - was $8. Wheat $9 - Was $4.50 100% increase in 2 years.

Actually, that data does support what I am saying. Many older people are saying "screw it - I am not getting the vaccination and taking gender diversity training to work for some woke company. I will live off of my 401k that has doubled in the last 6 years". Many students are staying in school because they don't have to pay their loans back currently and figure the government will pay it all off anyway. Debt is cheap right now and people are taking advantage of it since they think they are rich having their money in the Wall Street casino. Lots of funny money chasing too few of goods.

As for the person that said I need to have compassion for others: I absolutely do! They are being killed by this BS inflation that should not have happened. The poor and the middle class are hurt the worst by the policies that are in place.

I agree 100% but unfortunately, like others have said, there really isnt anything that can be done about it. Its sad because its happening with so many things of value. Go try and buy certain luxury watches. Some have a 5 year waiting list because people are buying them up and reselling them for double the value. A few years ago you would just walk in and buy it. Its insane. The only way to stop it is if people refuse to overpay for these items and the flippers get stuck with huge bills. But thats not whats happening. A flipper will put a $15,000 price tag on a $6000 pin and youll see 5 morons masturbating in line to buy it cash. I was out of the hobby for a few years and when I came back I was shocked at how many people are selling newer pins that just came out. I mean, dont people want to actually play their games? Seems like most people are buying at any cost....playing a few games ( because they really arent into pinball anyway) then selling at a huge profit. What I think is going to happen is theres going to be a huge market correction and people will no longer have disposable income like they have now. It will happen, because the housing market and all this insane splurging cant keep going on forever.....and when it does, these $20,000 luxury buys will be the first things to go ...

And 8 others complaining about it.

You put quotes on this like that is what the article said, but it did not. That is your own bullshit narrative. Are there people out there that think that? Maybe...apparently, you do. But for you to pass this off as the gospel truth is disingenuous at best. I'm sure you know what it is at the worst.

Are they masturbating as well? Asking for a friend.

What if Seller were to list his nib pinball machine at msrp, plus shipping and any taxes paid? He would be flipping for zero profit and this is what you desire, right? Let’s say lil’ BigFlip buys it and before going to pick it up, he marks it up $3k and re-lists it. The game promptly sells to it’s 3rd lifetime buyer, who must pick it up at original Seller’s home and the game will sit, strapped to the original pallet. This is the free market system and it is working. Why would you want to stop or even control it? Better to spend any bottled up anger and energy participating in the process and masterbating all the way to the bank. Say hi to Gary Stern, should you see him on one of his daily runs, where he can be spotted laughing maniacally and depositing big bags of CA$H and credit card slips.

The problem with the hobby is I don't have enough money or space to have all the pinball machines I want.

Truth! I am in the same boat.

Everyone cant afford a Ferrari, and that is the world we live in. With all the stuff going on in todays world, hug your family and play some pinball with friends on location...enjoy your short time on this planet and maybe find a NEW hobby, if you dont like it.
The only way to stop the high prices is to stop buying...PERIOD! Used or NIB...I for one still enjoy this hobby for the community, so I will personally still be part of the problem....

For any of you who hunt or otherwise own firearms, you should check out current ammunition prices. Holy crap!

“Everything” is going ape-shit price wise.

I’m surprised Stern hasn’t made a price hike this year (or maybe they have already?)

I agree with a lot that is said there, but it is not the whole story. Look around man. It’s not just LE new machines. Everything is nuts. Cars, boats, planes, homes, dining out, food at Walmart, etc. nobody is exempt. Free money instead of production and stupid low rates got us here. Stagflation will take us back to reality.

Supply and demand is the name of the game.

Flipping for profit is a result, not a cause.

Yep

I've seen a lot of squeaking about "then don't buy LE's" on this thread. So does no one see the all the Premium and Pro pins getting flipped too? There's a DP Pro near me with a ton of play on it that just got listed for $7800. A machine that's still in production and there a ton out there. And I bet it will sell, unfortunately.

False (in my opinion). DP is tough to get. There have been a lot of times Stern said they were making more, and they got pushed back.

My big question is, what will be the first stock Pro that sells for 10k. Not the crazy one off sales (blue birds), but regularly. Because of (forbidden topic) and (forbidden topic), we are heading for the moon!

It's the market, man. Nothing you can do about it. You think pinball is bad, you should look at the real estate market in the Bay Area. Some houses are selling for a million dollars over asking price. Literally.

I own a Ferrari. I wish everyone else could as well, they are amazing machines.

I will say, i timed it to where i gave my office staff a substantial raise before I took delivery of it so I didn't kill the morale at the workplace lol.

20220215_174851 (resized).jpg

hate people flipping brand new LES but I don't care if people buy projects, fix them and flip them as I do the same.

Nothing wrong with that at all. That's adding value

I vote this "humble brag of the year."

Wish there'd actually be more flipping for Prophet. Sell your game for Jesus!