I don't, it's now cold season....let's wait until summer for them to dip like they do every year

Why don't you give us your opinion, then we can see if we all agree with you or not.

Depends how you define 'pinball crash'?

I don't see a 'crash' coming. That sounds pretty harsh. More like a correction which is happening right now and will definitely continue into 2014. It will be a buyers market for a good long while compared to what we've seen over the last 5 years or so.

It could spiral into a 'crash' but I will stick with correction for now... stiff correction.

Will JJP survive this? How bad will Stern get hurt? How low will prices actually go? Nothing is immune...

I do not. With the resurgence of interest pinball seems to be enjoying, I don't think we'll see more than the usual dip early in the spring, and mabe, just mabe, a small increase in pin ownership later in the year.

All I can say is its the classic supply and demand. Everyone seems to be. Making pinball machines now and the market is over saturated. You cant judge right now, if nothing is selling at tax return time then you will know the end is near. Also as we all get older who in their 50s or 60s wants to move a 15 game collection. I'm pretty sure that's what happened to the em market. I feel everything was overpriced and the market is finally correcting its selfs gain. Over the last twelve years of collecting there has been multiple peaks and valleys.

Why don't you have options for.............................

Oh, never mind.

I don't see a crash coming. Still lots of interested collectors.

Yes, I believe there will be a crash.....

Purely on the dream of getting a tspp, lor, or woz. For under $2000. Hey a guy can dream

yes, it will coincide with the real crash . we are printing $85,000,000,000 A MONTH! the new fed chair says "keep printing". when the piper has to get paid, watch out. your WOZ will be worth about 2K. of course, my LOTR will rise in price ,as it is by far the best game evah!

Not a very good poll, where's the option for no?
All depends on the economy of whatever country everyone is in.

awful poll

by printing cash, the price of everything will INCREASE. I think this already has a lot to do with current new pin prices. the cost of everything is more.
why would only pinballs go down? They won't. true, people might not be buying pinballs and trying to get a loaf of bread with that $2k, but people will still want life to go on and will sacrifice to own pins just like we do now!!!

I'm very happy with where my collection is right now and don't see myself selling ANY of them in the near future. SO whatever happens, happens. Mine will still play the same as long as I can afford the electricity!

With the feds printing all that cash that means his WOZ will be worth 20,000.00. That will be the cost of a loaf of bread also.

I would have voted but you can only vote yes, +1 no!

My impression is that prices have already dropped a bit and with so many NIB machines on the market, the price of less desirable machines will fall the most. There will be no more "runs" on old pins like White Water that occurred a few years back that ran the price up. The market is now much more saturated and buyers are now picking and choosing more selectively.

Deflation is a beitch. Prices start to sink and buyers refuse to buy because they think prices will move lower which causes inventory to build. Pin makers lower prices to spur spending...and the cycle repeats. Tough to cure. Sort of seeing this play out now in the overall economy. I don't think the 8-9k new pin is a sustainable model. Pin manufacturers need to lower their prices and find a way to make money off of us after the sale. I think that the lowering of new pin prices will then pressure used pin market. You could say that JJP is holding up the market right now and when they saturate the market for 8k pins, where will the buyers be? It would be interesting to see Stern's historical margin average and compare that to where we are now. Stern makes money on a new 5k pro pin right? JJP might make the same amount but needs to charge 8k. Rambling...

Op......don't you know that we are not allowed to mention "prices going down".......so I have officially changed my view that I think prices will continue to go up for many years just to "keep the peace". This hobby is suppose to make people money while they have fun.......everybody knows that. In this hobby you get paid to have FUN and remember "no rockin the boat" as that is just the way it is suppose to be !!!! Prices will probably go up 5-10 percent next year and the following year and the following year like they always do. Let me vote as you weren't suppose to have a down category because they can't go down !!!

Next thing you will be considered a TROLL for even mentioning prices are coming down and might continue. So just keep your views to yourself.....just some helpful advice as I now try to ignore this subject on here as it is "taboo" to even mention prices are declining and pins aren't selling like they used to as it is just our imagination.

it depends upon what "worth" means. if we inflate, and carry zimbabwe money around, you are correct that the 'price' might be 20k, but it will be 'worth' the same as a loaf of bread . if we have deflation, save the led's for lighting your house.

People are spending on the Holidays, and for some reason most kids aren't asking for pinball machines and although they are completely separate I am sure many people are buying the new video game systems or other large ticket items like new ipad models etc.....it will pick back up around March. Working in restaurants for a long time we have a busy holiday season Thanksgiving - Christmas.....and then nothing until march when people's pocketbooks have recovered. That is my theory at least.

I vote no- great shape pins will continue to sell at correct pricing with some exceptions.

Worn out overpriced pins will no longer sell at prem pricing correcting the market. Meaning 1500 pins that have been selling for 2-2500 will be back under 2k.

LE pricing will stabilize or drop (hoping here) for nib at $7495 retail $6995 at our normal pinball outlets,Prem NIB will stay constant.

BW corrections will be the biggest ? mark IMO. MMr - dropped MM pricing. AFM - CC coming soon will do the same. Totan and MB would do the same. So speculation of NIB remakes will bring those sky scrapers down to NIB Stern pricing IMO.

If the next title is what I think it is I believe we will see little to no pre-orders keeping prices at or below what they are now - now the one after that will get the pot stirred up all over again.

Anyone have numbers on new pin machine production? My guess is that it has skyrocketed and will be pulling its demand from the older machines rather than finding new customers.

Until recently there weren't many options other than the older games. The biggest limit in this hobby is probably space and I see people mostly picking new over old to fill it.

Walking Dead and then Fast and Furious? What do you think.......

AH, Yes I remember the great pinball crash of 2014. Those were hard times, Did you know your mother and I couldn't drink craft beer for months. We drank miller lite!

imagesCAVN1RFP.jpg

I think your spot on

Flood of great new stern pros Metallica Star Trek , MMr ect adding to the pool of pins.

Lack of space or money , no masses of new people wanting a big expensive toy . This all adds up to a dip in used pin prices , when the dip happens is hard to say .

HMMMMM! My 2 cents, not worth much since i am still a newb, but here goes. Pinball is still a guys or gals gameroom addition and hobbie. There will always be operaters and people who just like to work on them.
Lots of people play and take their kids to play as well, ( game rooms in bowling alleys are still great baby sitters).
But people who buy HUseO pins or just collect are not as big as the market is. Most of us pinheads get a pin play it for awhile then either trade or sell to make room for the next one. I will keep my first pin as long as i can, but i doubt the next one will stay more than 5yrs.

I think we're going to see the classic pins hold their own while the newer models (that have been long overdue for a correction) drop a tad next year. The supply of older pins hasn't changed and the demand is still there from the #1 consumer group for pinball which is the 45-60 crowd. Most of the older pin collectors I know really don't have a lot of interest in buying new pins. Some do but most older guys collect the pins they enjoyed in their youth (back when pinball was relevent).

Small side not I do have a degree in economics and just like the economy as a whole there are cycles, they are unavoidable and by and large unpredictable. I'm guessing that two years ago when I bought my first pin and I had no idea what I was getting into nobody would have predicted the number of boutique pins being made, the remakes, the stern vs. jjp debates etc.....it has gone from a fringe hobby to somewhat trendy activity......everything that's old is new again....and regardless of most doomsday reports the economy is in much better shape than 4 years ago which should increase hobby budgets as well....

Just a few minor observations/opinions....most probably wrong. However I would be thrilled if prices dropped and as a teacher I could afford a bigger house with more pins.

15 or 16 of my 18 games are long term or lifetime keepers so this really means nothing to me. Pinside would be a much nicer place if the rules read no discussion of politics, religion or pinflation. So many people are so hung up on he dollar value of these games. How do they ever pay their monthly bills and taxes knowing that money is gone forever? It must be rough. Pinball was meant for playing.

Amen to that. I only have two pins but they are things that will stay in the basement for quite some time. Once I get bored I'll trade up or down, will see what I want to play then.

As for the question there is no doubt that the market is softening. You can't expect pinball prices to keep going up. Something as to give. Just don't come whining when you thought you'd make a killing when you sold a machine. Hell you played the machine..must count for something.

Hah! Ain't that the truth....

we record a lot of sales daily on pinball price and I really don't see a downturn in prices. Every now and then some very nice games sell for what many would consider "under the money", but we also see games still command a price way above what was recorded in the past. Too many things affect what a game sells for, to say we are headed for a crash. Things may level off and stabilize a bit, just as most things sold in life usually do as time goes on.

Remember a game is only worth what somebody will pay you for it, You be the judge:

http://www.pinballprice.com/

I second!

This isn't a crash, only a correction. Plus, this time of year cash is otherwise allocated to other pursuits.

In the recent past, we didn't have as many options. So old loved titles increased, since the new one's werent pulling us in (stern only were only so-so). Now with Stern having some big wins, Jersey Jack, MM remake, and others; its redirecting some of the demand and cash out of the second hand market.

In general the interest and market still appears to be strong for Pinball.

If you look at pinball, it was continuing to increase in value desptie some of the tightest times in our economy. Hoepfully we have seen the peak, and things will settle back down to realistic prices. $10-15K for a machine....blah...

Somebody should really tell the sellers on craigs list and ebay that there is a price crash because I don't think they got that memo.

With the market potentially being flooded in 2014, I could see a price dip coming to the more expensive titles.

The pinside price police will contribute to fall of pinball prices

I see most pins sitting for longer on both CL and here....

You're welcome.

Another annoying price thread. Simply stated, these threads are created by people who can't afford the higher priced titles and want everything to be sold cheaper. Everyone wants pins to be cheaper but some feel the need to try and stir the pot for some reason each week.

What's funny is when I am dealing with people on trades or selling they offer me pennys for my stuff and quote 'prices are falling like a rock' then when I show interest in something they have they want super high retail prices.

A simple search of topics with 'Sold' in the title clearly explains the 'market crash' is bullsh!t

http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/search?s=1&what=topics&q=sold&pinsider=&age_days=&subforum=&sort_by=date&sort_order=DESC

I agree in 2014 everything on my wishlist is now worthless.
Contact me ASAP so I can get rid of those worthless pins in your collections like MB CC MM BBB

Upvoted to neutralize. It's messed up that you just want to have a discussion and you get down voted.

The speculators do not want anyone else speculating.
You must not admit that people do speculate to profit.
How dare you think about their bread & butter like the hobby that it is!

Let the prices crash....I don't care. They are not an investment to me but hours of fun for family and friends

Max........I agree and for most on here I believe they are not an investment. However, there are those that truly would bail from the hobby (IMHO) if they knew that prices would decline 5 percent each and every year as some on here do take them as investments and the thought of them possibly declining 50% over the next 5 years would give them serious heartache. Honestly, I believe some (not all) are selling because of downside risk (of course nobody selling or getting out will admit it is about concerns over their "investments" declining in value as the reason they are downsizing their collection or getting out altogether). Again, I am referring to a MINORITY of pinsiders not the MAJORITY but I have and always will believe that a percentage of pinsiders (10-30 percent) would bail from the hobby if they knew prices would decline each and every year.

Op......did you expect thumbs up for your thread from the masses.....LOL !!!! Pinball prices can never go down....repeat this 100 times every day and then write it 500 times each night before you go to bed. That is your punishment for starting this thread.....just teasing you OP.....LOL !!!

As a side note.....I now believe pinball prices will go up forever !!!! I have drank the KOOL AID !!! $10K TZ by 2020 !!!! $15K IM (due to lack of production) by 2020 !!!! Life is good !!! Who needs Apple or Google stock I have a collection of pinball machines !!!!

It is Nov and Dec which are holiday months. How is it weird that pins are sitting on the market longer? People are doing holiday stuff. Let's do some quick research using the search link I posted..

Took 4 days to sell at $2500 - http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/junkyard-fs-2750

4 Day old post - http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/fs-bally-elektra

8 day old post - http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/fsft-huo-bsm

http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/tz-fs

Then please explain what your reason is for posting this subject that gets posted weekly other than creating drama?

It is all the same nonsense. Past price posts, your price post, all posts regarding the sky is falling are all BS for one reason or another.

Economics 101.....supply and demand. Its the first thing they teach in that class.

you will notice that those machines are listed over and over and are still available. go to NYC craigslist and you have your choice of at least 30 machines. The market place is saturated because of the xmas rush, but it doesn't exist like in the past, now its the tax return rush.