Yeah, so what's the deal with that A-Hole selling his Metallica for nearly $13,000 on EBay??

I post the following for information purposes. Not to say i'm better than anyone else or lesser than anyone else. I fully admit that I got carried away with the hobby, but I had fun along the way and I met some great people. I write this so others can maybe relate to the way I look at the hobby and others will offer their stories.

I started playing pinball when I was a kid. Grew up in Nevada. There were a ton of arcades and other businesses with pins. Between local businesses and casinos, I was lucky to play just about every pin ever made starting in the 70's all the way until now. Probably around 100 different pins at any given point to play during the 70's, 80's and early 90's. I remember being in the arcade when Kiss was unboxed and setup. So many others too. Even Hercules. All NIB or close to it and I couldn't get enough. I'll never forget Black Knight being unboxed and setup.

I wasn't financially able to get into owning a pin until 2003-04. That's when it started and it was a childhood dream come true. I went off the deep end. I had 43 pins at one point and I've bought and sold over 70 different pins since then. I now have ZERO pins.

The economy took me down with it and I had to do what I needed to do. Now I've recovered and I can get back into the hobby again, with the lessons I learned in the past. The hobby definitely has its ups and downs, but I'm aware of those things and so I either accept it or stay away.

Metallica LE will be my first pin in several years and i'm very excited about getting it. Don't plan on selling it, but if I do, i'll sell it for whatever I can get for it. Profit or loss, i'll be happy.

I made money on some pins and I've lost money and others I broke even. If I used the same logic as I've read about "flippers" and so forth, then I could easily apply it in reverse. So i'm not suppose to make money from the sell of a pin ? Does that mean that someone should pay me what I have into the pin so I don't lose any money ? Not logical or realistic at all. My point.. if I can lose money on a pin, then I fully have the right to profit from it also, at any time I choose to do so.

People also comment on the high prices. Prices have been going up ever since I entered the hobby. Back in 2004, I saw posts on the RGP about people screwing over other people by asking $4000 for a MM or CC. That's because they were being sold for $1500 NIB back in 1999 when WMS was closing it's pinball doors. I bought my MM for $5300 in 2005. Sold it in 2007 for $8500. Now what's the selling price ? Unfortunately, the later you enter the game, the more you will pay. The economy might take down some collector's, but at the same time, there have been more millionaire's and billionaire's created in the last few years than ever before. Rich people like toys and the more that get exposed to the hobby, the higher prices will go and that's what has happened the last few years. Kind of a catch 22. More people getting into the hobby, which is great, but that makes demand and prices go up.

I bought 17 NIB pins from Jack. He was my main man and one of the nicest person's I've ever met in my life. Always took care of me. Bent over backwards when needed at no cost to me. Stern never cared at all to know who I was. Bad management if you ask me. Regardless that Jack was the middle man, if someone bought 17 NIB pins from my business, i'd want to know who they are. How much effort does it take to send a loyal customer a thank you card. It costs almost nothing, but makes a person know that their business is appreciated. Jack did that, but Stern didn't.

Back to high prices. Jack made it very clear when he started his company that he was going after the high end collector. (rich people). He was going to make pins that had tons of toys, shots, modes, and the rest. Load them so that collectors would have no complaints on pins lacking features or shallow rules (which started to become the norm at Stern). But... all of that would come at a price. A higher price for those pins.

After, some very lackluster pins, Stern followed suit and started making the LE's, but all at a higher price. The days of getting a NIB LOTR, TSSP, SM or anything else for $3800 were over. The Pro models are a close option for today's so called low end collectors, but the Premium and LE market will always be high priced, because they are strictly made for the high end collector (those with the money to spend).

The hobby is doing better now than at any other point I've seen it since I got involved back in 2004. More and more people are being exposed to the hobby and that will drive the business forward. Unfortunately, that could translate into even higher prices. Not just for NIB, but for restored and used pins also. Not all of them, but definitely the popular ones.

Jack will have my business again. He's earned it. WOZ would be in my plans, but I only have money for 1 pin and I choose Metallica over WOZ. I totally expect the WOZ to be much higher quality and a deeper pin, but the theme loses it for me. Metallica is another pinball dream come true to me. I just wish Jack was the one that was making it. I'm giving Stern another chance. I won't list how they let me down in the past. It's what they do now and in the future that matters now. If they fail me, they will lose my business and my references to anyone I know.

I see the Hobbit being the next pin for me. I can't imagine how great that pin will be. There is definitely more value in Jack's current prices as compared to Stern. Widebody is just the beginning. Stern has had the advantage of faster production times, but I don't mind waiting. In the meantime, i'll still be playing pins and I expect Jack's production times to speed up with each new release. Stern was very slow and producing lackluster titles when it started out, despite having many things from the Sega/Data East days already in place. Jack is starting from scratch. Give him time. Impatience is a part of the hobby. It sucks, but as they say, good things come to those that wait..... Unless your still waiting for the MM from Wayne. LOL !! I was one of them. I waited like 2 years and then asked for a refund. He sent it to me very quickly.

Well.. enough for now. Sorry for the long post. I should post this and my other post in its own instead of on this subject of someone selling their pin. Sorry if I offended anyone by anything I said. Not my intention. I'm just one person of many in this great hobby. As someone once said, can't we all just get along. LOL !!

Thanks for the nice comments and I'll be posting more in the future.

Oh dear god another novelist...

I said sorry. LOL !! I know long posts are frowned upon, but it's just one long post instead of ten separate ones.

No problem. At least you used paragraphs. Which is far beyond some of the past long posters abilities.

you lost me at..

I totally understand. LOL !! I really don't expect anyone to read all of that. It's just there for anyone that wants to.

I moved my posts to a separate thread titled, Pinball.. To hell and back, for anyone interested. LOL !!

Best of luck to the original poster and the sale of your pin.

All this talk of concrete... Say the word guys and I will start loading trucks

LOL, that's classic!

I know... LOL !! I had it coming.

So you love Jack, hate Stern, and bought a Metallica?

PinKeeper is a great guy.

I explained why I chose to buy Metallica LE over WOZ. I never said I hated Stern. Just that I didn't like some of the things they were doing at that time (layoffs, lower quality parts, lackluster themes/gameplay and rules). Since then, many things have changed and I've seen some really nice pins coming out of Stern.

Metallica (along with other pins I wasn't able to buy) drew me back into the hobby and so Stern deserves credit for doing that, but Jack was a huge reason why I bought as many NIB Stern pins as I did. Stern by themselves wouldn't have gotten as much business from me and so I wanted to make sure I pointed out how great Jack was to me and has still remained a friend after years of being away from the hobby and not buying anything. It seems Stern has improved their efforts in customer service and so that's a great thing to see.

Just my opinion and personal experience. No one has to agree with it.

Thanks Jason !!

Sorry, couldn't resist a little sarcastic fun at that. No offense intended. I agree with your choice.

I think a lot of people have this same opinion about Stern and JJ.
I'd love to buy a pin from JJ, since they seem to be built very well and with some new ideas. Unfortunately, the idea of "the yellow brick road" playing non-stop, along with the theme didn't appeal to me.
Hopefully he knocks it out of the park with the Hobbit, but that's down the road.
Until then, I'll just enjoy my Metallica...(once it frickin gets here!!).

BTW...is there a pin for sale somewhere in this thread?

@PinKeeper, thanks the good post. Long posts usually mean meth-fueled rants with no structure, but I enjoyed your thoughts. Let us know how you like Metallica.

That sux . I opened mine already but I was looking for 140,141,or 142 to match my AC/DC. I know I could have paid for #s, I just wont.

This game is soooooo awesome, it will sell for sure. We have been playing ours non stop!

How is this still available?!