I'll give you 11K cash if you deliver to me.

No is an answer.
No is a complete sentence.

This is the most reasonable suggestion I have seen. If the guy is legit buying a 14 game Zac collection then just charge a non-refundable deposit that covers the cost of you getting the games to him and then some (for your time). If for some reason he flakes out, you can keep the deposit. Just don't take it as a PP payment as charges can be reversed. Then he pays the balance in full when you arrive and he has a chance to inspect the games. I imagine that collection is worth upwards of 50-60K or more, no? I am not sure someone is going to put down that much up front even with your excellent reputation.

Have person fly out to you

Examine games, pay you in cash, and drive back with you (his responsibility to make sure a local bank branch has his cash on hand)

They are his games for the journey, so he will need to add the collection to his homeowners insurance before he flies out

Seems to me someone buying a unique 14 game collection should be known in the community. Or at least known by someone in the community. Pinside handle? IFPA? Word of mouth could be worth asking about.

Agreed with above...a buyer for this collection is likely to be well known. If you don't want to name them publicly you could ask around, especially those in FL like myself.

That said though, it still comes down to agreeable terms and a level of trust between you both. On a deal like that you both have significant risks. Ideally the buyer would come to you, do a final inspection, pay (wire or cashier's check from a bank, not cash), and have the risk of driving (or shipping) them home. That's how I've done it as a buyer in bulk deals and with cars. But if they aren't up for doing the driving, it gets a bit more complicated. You driving that distance for them is a major cost (money and time, which is more money) and risk (damage from accident, theft, etc.) that you have to weigh. No way I would do that trip for less than $3000 and I personally would want most of the money up front or placed in escrow. You would also need to have proper documentation (contract, serial numbers), insurance, etc.

Good luck!

Cashier's checks = always fake

There are several things that we can safely assume with a transaction like this. First off it is going to involve a heck of a lot of money. Secondly both parties should be taking some risk - it really isn't fair any other way. And lastly buyer must be fairly serious or he wouldn't be willing to send you $5k up front.

If you want to sell these games and are not willing to take some risk it is very unlikely you will ever find a buyer. It sounds like you have a lot of time invested in this already so I really think in the end it just boils down to finding a number that works for both of you and then finalizing the deal.

One last point I didn't add to my previous common about this is you want to make it 100% clear the price is the price once you arrive with the games and you are not going to take a penny less regardless. Keep the deal & the delivery as two separate transactions (as if you already had the money for the machines and you are just acting as the delivery service - not the seller). So let the buyer know there will be NO wiggle room as far as your bottom line price right up front.

As far as the "right number" in my eyes that would be the cost of the rental truck, cost of motels & fuel, plus value of your time at "X" dollars per hour. Assuming you are driving the truck both ways the truck cost is likely going to be around $2500, fuel cost should be around another $1000, motels maybe $500 and if you value your time at a couple hundred a day add another $1000 for your time. So that adds up to around $5000. So looking at it from that direction I would say him sending you $5000 up front is fair to both of you. But again you are the only one who can really decide if it is worth it to you or not.

One last suggestion - instead of driving home with a huge pile of cash I would deposit that cash in a bank in his area and then once you get home move the money from that bank to your bank. If you belong to a bank that is a national chain that will be easy - if not open an account in a bank that has branches near him and near you. There is very little risk carrying a lot of cash if no one knows you have it but seller and GOD knows who else will know you have that cash (since you do know who all the buyer told about the transaction) so it isn't a good idea to travel all the way home with that pile of cash. We did shows for years and we know if several people who were robbed on their way home from shows because they were followed from the shows. In two different cases the vendors were killed over a day later while on their way home. To minimize your risk deposit that money somewhere local to him and withdraw it once you get home.

With the amount of games and money on the line I'm surprised the guy wouldn't spend a little bit extra to get a flight to come up and check out the games in person and make sure both parties are interested in pursuing the deal further.

How much is the total deal ??? Agree with everyone saying ask for $10k non-refundable deposit. Suggest he fly over, buy with cash to include delivery. Then you deliver.

It doesn't really matter for the purposes of this thread.

I know but I am nosey.

I sold a Fathom to a guy in SoCal. He flew up inspected the game and paid cash. Then we put it in his rented SUV and he drove back home.

But that was only 1 game and he was only an hour flight away.

I'm not sure what the price is of 14 of your games are, but that's probably lot of cash to be carrying around...whether flying or driving that far. I couldn't possibly sleep if I had a huge wad of cash in my hotel room driving back from Florida to Wi.

I suppose that money would be put in or taken out a branch of yours or his bank. Whether he comes to you or you go to him.

Robert

Don't worry, the next owner will break it up for you when the fad wears off.

How awesome would it be to have that entire row set up at MGC, with price tags? Make a thousand people happy instead of one lazy rich guy.

A lot of good points raised so far; I'll try not to be redundant but to summarize those that stand out to me:

- You put a lot of time and effort into acquiring that full collection over several years. I'm assuming that was figured into the sales price of the whole lot but if not it should be because:

- Who just wakes up one day and says "Zounds, I simply MUST acquire The Complete Zaccaria Gen 2 Collection AT ONCE!"? I agree with others: there must be more background to the buyer such that he should be more accommodating. Even if he's "the private type" this can't be his first pinball rodeo*.

- With that established, you have most of the leverage here. While I don't think the buyer's position is completely unreasonable, you don't *have* to sell them either. Were I in your shoes as the seller, I would not put myself through the opportunity cost of all that time, expense, and stress just to risk ending up with nothing for any number of reasons (buyer backs out, transport burns down en route, get robbed on way home, get a chargeback months later, etc etc)...

-...And if I *were* in a position where I wanted or needed to sell fast, I'd deduct the opportunity cost of the above and price accordingly. And yes, probably split the lot because selling all at once at a distance is clearly causing more grief than it's worth. And the next guy won't give a crap once the other shoe drops on him; even a museum might not assure the collection stays together. *(and if buyer IS the private type, who else is ever going to see and appreciate them?)

- So sell it locally piecemeal, at your convenience and terms. Dealing with a dozen appointments versus one or two has its own aggravation, but is it $5000+ worth of aggravation? I think you've already hinted if not outright answered no. Going local/piecemeal will create a much wider net of prospects who understand your terms.

And just like you did putting the collection together in the first place: if the remote buyer still REALLY wants and can afford them, he'll find a way to "appear local" or otherwise meet your terms.

This makes the most sense to me.Safer for both parties and inspection before payment and delivery,

I sold my complete collection of atari pins a few years back to one buyer.

Since I spent so much time and effort putting the whole line-up together (minus hercules), I really didn't feel like parting it out. There weren't too many people who had actually managed to acquire the whole line-up.

I felt the games were more valuable as a set both in terms of monetary value and collectability, even though the pool of potential buyers might be smaller since not everyone can take on that number of games all at once.

So, I was prepared to sit on them until the right buyer came along for all of them. Luckily, it worked out. Last I heard, the buyer still had them all.

Tell him to fuck off. Or conversely, do what he wants or negotiate an alternative.

You’ve been around this hobby long enough Neo. This guy could be 100% on the level, and shit could still go side wise. But more like, he’s not on the level, because pinball.

This. Mgc is not some local corner mall show anymore. I guarantee there will be national level whales there. Plus the notoriety of the collection will drive more business your way. Tell the buyer youre taking it to mgc, hes more than welcome to attend. Hell take him out for a nice dinner. But if it sells there it sells there. If not he can buy it at his terms after. Just my 2 cents.

I wouldn't go. You have all the risk. If there's an accident on route, you lose. Paypal charge back, you lose. Fake monies, you lose. You're also dealing with "48 hours 20/20 missing persons" type money. Be careful.

I'd be interested in tossing an offer your way but it's like two years too soon. I'm money poor, family rich.

Also, no deal is better than a bad deal.

I'm gonna tell you the same thing I tell the youngsters I work with. Pull out.

I’ve offered to do deliveries on some deals of all types. And I’ve always regretted it. Every. Single. Time.

Time is money. This is a lot of both.

Then again, you clearly want to sell. And not to split them up.

I can understand both sides of this deal. If I were the buyer I might not have the time to fly up to inspect. Or the interest. Maybe I am overly trusting of you.

Good communication goes a long way. If you feel the guy is legit, he will be reasonable about a deposit to cover expenses just in case. If he wants something for nothing then don’t do the deal.

My .02…

I can respect the thought there is hopefully "one right buyer for every collection and price". OTOH, that hope risks mockery at times (see the recent $6K Firepower and $7.5K Gorgar listings for example).

Not saying you or CaptNeo are/were out of line... just that sometimes things work, and sometimes it doesn't. It's a compromise. It seems Neo and his Buyer are trying to figure out where it lies. My opinion is it favors Neo for the moment... but that could change. Obviously things worked out in your situation, but if you ended up sitting on that Atari collection (which is like what, half the size and value of Zac Gen2?) for long and wanted to move it, I'm sure the terms would have changed.

There you go!

Last deal I did like this was Pinburgh after the flood. Sold those guys 15+ games and they paid for all of them upfront before delivery. After the payment I wrapped them up and dropped them off at the Papa facility.

This is too risky as the buyer may nitpick after the games are set up and delivered.

There's a difference between selling one overpriced common game, and a complete set of something. A complete set is much more unusual and tends to stand out more. People tend to like to talk about unusual or rare things, so even though the buyer pool might be smaller, word tends to get around more than it would for just a single game.

My 2 cents is it sounds like you have had many conversations to confirm that he is not running a simple scam and deal appears legit. I would say that it seems reasonable to me to have 5K down and the rest paid before the machines leave the truck. (if you were shipping via freight company I would say all cash up front) Couple reasons:

1. You are delivering the games yourself so not any risk of delivery scamming and you never seeing them again

2. He is putting a lot of trust in you for a deal of this magnitude also. Easy to look at it from your point of view but he likely has concerns that you will not deliver the games to him and paying when he sees them does seem fair.

3. I have no idea how many buyers are out there for complete collections like this. If it is rare I would say go for it, if they are common maybe not worth driving across the country.

This is the best idea.

I mean, let's be real here. If this guy has the money to buy all those machines at once, AND he's been screwed before by people, spending the time and little but of money for a quick flight is nothing for all the peace of mind it'll provide BOTH of you. This way he'll get to see and play every machine. There'll be no worries or complaints on the condition or playability of any of the machines that way.

After he's satisfied, drive together down to his bank (he should have an account with a major bank that has branches everywhere in the country, including by you. If he doesn't, he needs to set one up) and he can withdraw all the cash and have it all counted out right in front of you both. Then, you go and deposit that cash into your bank (it'd be awesome if you had an account at the same bank).

After that, go back to your house together and load up all the machines and start the trek down to FLA.

I wouldn't do this deal any other way.

Whatever you decide, I wish you luck and hope everything works out.

Zounds?
We're not 18th century British gentlemen here.
It's more like "F-Yeah! I gotta get The Full Zac Gen 2 Set. Right F-n now!"

I love all these 1 to 2 year Pinside newbs weighing in on deal protocol and specs and who’s serious or not. This hobby has long held conventions that this buyer seemingly doesn’t respect or isn’t comfortable with. Usually a sign of trouble. Just sayin’.

I don't think most banks will let you withdraw say $75K in cash in a single transaction, and if they do both the buyer and seller will have to fill out paperwork to create a paper trail for the cash. With this large of a transaction you will also be on the hook for state sales tax which will eat into your profits.

Love the idea of a two day road-trip with a total stranger. Could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship, or the longest two days of your life. Either way, you'd have great stories at the end of it!

This was my thought too. You'd want to make it clear in the terms that the deposit covers your time/effort/cost in packing and transporting the games to him, including your lost wages and the risk of in-transit damage to the games (which you bear), and is in no case refundable.

Nothing I can add (even after having bought and sold high end collections of things in another life) since you have all the possibilities covered above except for please tell us how this resolves . Always love stories with pinball machines, deals, road trips and collections . Good luck .

Most branches don't even have $75k laying around. Last time I needed a modest mid-four figures of cash, I had to hit two branches of a big-name bank. These days brick & mortar branches function primarily as retail outlets to sign up customers.

I'll just reiterate that the cost of a plane ticket is peanuts compared to the value of the collection. Seems like a no brainer for the buyer to fly out and drive the games back himself.

He was a car dealer before? most in FLA now know who this is.

You said you won't break up the set.... But if it's THE DEALER IM THINKING OF that's exactly what they're going to do.

I get both sides of the CARgument here.

Since we are talking big money here. The buyer will need to fill out paperwork to withdraw such a large amount. Neo will have to fill out paperwork to deposit the amount. Won’t the IRS have an interest in such a deposit? Will it be enough to trigger a capital gains type audit? The buyer may need to pay Florida sales tax on his purchase. I know in Wisconsin we have to / are supposed to declare out of state purchases that we need to pay Wisconsin sales tax on.

Have buyer send full payment and then the games will be delivered.

Dammit!!! That's what she said.

The fact that you are delivering it means you can always go back home with them, so no risk of a straight up scam but this sounds like he wants to try and low ball you once you get there. Too many people try to re-negotiate once you're there because they know you're likely to just want to get it over with. I'd make sure up front that he knows the price is firm and will not be changed.

Trying to sell one game is a fucking headache half the time I cant fathom trying to sell 14 at once and then having to deliver them. I'd have lost interest about a month ago so my advice would be tell him to call you when he's ready to show up with cash and a box truck. Either you're incredibly patient or I'm incredibly lazy...maybe both...

Pick me up on the way Cap'n WE'LL SET HIM STRAIGHT

Seriously...a car dealer? No fucking way; he will nickel and dime you to death.
Payment upfront or get fucked.