Round Rock, TX
Here's my 2 worthless cents on the auction.
First, Steve is a retailer and he's looking to get top dollar for all machines. So in general his reserve is going to be high and that's ok. He can ask any number he wants. I do also thank you for bringing so many pins to the show Fun!.
Jared, I would agree that some of the prices listed in the link provided from last years auction could be considered good deals IF those were the sale prices, IF there were no additional buyers premium, and IF the games were very clean and working 100%. I'm not going to go through the entire list, but this is a good example: on page 1, TAF listed at $4600 but buyer is "on site" so it didn't sell. I have no idea what the actual condition of that TAF was, but 4600 would be a good price for a clean (not just a wipe to the top you can reach, but stripped down and fully cleaned), 100% working TAF, even a players condition. Even adding just sales tax $4979.50 wouldn't be bad. Obviously if in better condition, that becomes even a better deal. Add the 10% buyers premium and then 8.25% sales tax and that price swells to $5477.45. Again, if it's a really nice clean TAF that works perfectly, that's not a terrible price either. But clearly the reserve wasn't met.
The other issue is that in general, machines at most any pinball auction tend to have some issue, either mechanically, cosmetically, or both. Very rarely have they been torn down and thoroughly cleaned, properly repaired, etc. The TPF auction was no different for the small sub section of auction pins I played prior to the auction. I certainly didn't play every game in the auction and I'm sure there were several that were clean and played great. But the few I did play had issues.
I know at least one of the WOZ had several, if not all, feature lights out. I'm not sure if that was the prototype one that Jared said sold for $6100 or the other that listed at 6500. Both show they were "on site" so it appears neither sold at auction. The cheapest was $5350, which after buyers premium and sales tax comes to $6370.51, so I'm not sure where the 6100 number came from. I also played the Red and Teds Roadshow and couldn't make a single ramp shot because the flippers were so weak. It sorely needed flipper rebuilds. That really saddened me, as the flippers are the heart of the pinball and if you buy in bulk, it's really cheap to rebuild a set of flippers on a W/B game. $40 is about all it takes when buying in bulk and that includes new flipper coils. It apparently sold for $2200 hammer price or $2619.65 after fees and taxes. With a faded cabinet, playfield wear, and needing flipper rebuilds at the very least, even 2200 wasn't a deal.
Having been in the industry a long time and having been to many, many auctions, I expect that. I know that 99% of machines I buy at auction will need attention and so I set my self imposed limit accordingly. So I say to anyone interested in seeing an auction....go and see what happens, just be disciplined. Set your limits and stick to them.....that's the biggest mistake auction bidders make is getting caught up in a bidding war. I went and sat for a little while, which was a nice little rest for my feet. I didn't choose to stay through the entire auction, as there were only a few titles I was even interested in and once they passed for far above my self imposed limit, I wanted to go enjoy more pinball.
There is one thing that has rubbed me the wrong way a little about this auction....but maybe Jared can clear this up. Fun! is the auction company correct? He owns the auction company and is auctioning his own equipment in general right? I realize there might be some consignments, but in general it's all his stuff? I'm sure he's got a consignment fee set up with those customers too anyway. If that's the case.....why the buyers premium at all? It's not a required fee from what I understand. I understand why auction companies charge a buyers premium, insertion fees, or sellers premium, but those auctioneers don't usually own the equipment and they have far more overhead, such as renting the auction venue. For example Superauctions from years past. They had to rent the venue in Mesquite, so they have that overhead plus the travel expenses to come to Texas. I know some of their guys brought some of their own games to auction, but in general, most stuff there is not owned by the auctioneer. The only way the auctioneer generates any income is from the insertion fees, buyers, and sellers premiums.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but Fun! isn't having to rent the venue to sell at TPF and while he does have some costs of transporting all the pins to the venue and conducting the auction, he is located in the same city. He's already wanting retail prices, which carry a large profit margin.......just seems like adding a 10% buyers premium to his already high markups at an essentially free venue with thousands of potential buyers heavily interested in the products he deals in is unnecessary. I'm sure dropping that 10% buyers premium, at least to bidders on site, might entice a bit higher bids and hence more sales.
