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.

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.