Oh Oh, cargument!

As usual the cargument doesn’t hold water, since cars and pinball machines are different things in almost every single way.

A Godzilla pinball machine built in 2021 and Sitting in a box is literally the exact same game as a Godzilla built in 2023. Why should one be cheaper than the other?

If there are still some old “2020s” sitting “on the lot” without insider connected, you’d have a case. But why would you expect a discount on anything since? Exactly the same product in every way.

What gets me is those people who think they can flip a Bond LE for $17k. I’m like no, I passed on it for msrp so I’m certainly not paying $2-3k markup.

Stern and JJP got greedy thinking they could sell a CE for dumb money. Counting on fomo and flippers.

Exactly.

Insider connected. When overpriced pins sit idle nib, I wonder if Stern will offer “50%” off deals for limited time with proof of purchase.

Unsold NIB pins never go down in price, at least not officially. They sit at distributors for years until they eventually are sold.

Hey so just to get this straight, for historical accuracy and so we can all bookmark it, the first bona fide “the bubble will burst this year” thread happened on January 1.

Let's add it to the list, so I don't have to update this thing again until 2024. Could 2023 be the year?!

2000:
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/rec.games.pinball/high$20prices$20market$20collapse%7Csort:date/rec.games.pinball/gzU8ZAOxvUE/qII_fx4klQ0J

2001:
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/rec.games.pinball/pricing$20decrease%7Csort:date/rec.games.pinball/3XZf_itbXjY/QI04T4Qr9UkJ

2002:
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/rec.games.pinball/pinball$20price$20bubble%7Csort:date/rec.games.pinball/8CDhldb5kyw/JxQRQPIGmQwJ

2003:
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/rec.games.pinball/pinball$20market$20price$20fall%7Csort:date/rec.games.pinball/clAO0zIHHfQ/CbExiOZrldIJ

2004:
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/rec.games.pinball/pricing$20decrease%7Csort:date/rec.games.pinball/pXZDb-2V6Yk/GSPWq06-nWsJ

2005:
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/rec.games.pinball/pricing$20bubble%7Csort:date/rec.games.pinball/ACTs0HpQktA/x-C5LZAF180J

2006:
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/rec.games.pinball/pinball$20price$20bubble%7Csort:date/rec.games.pinball/dBrqPnk7mkk/nQYyh65_fewJ

2007:
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/rec.games.pinball/pinball$20prices$20fall%7Csort:date/rec.games.pinball/femnxuH8a1k/oeXzsItDbOQJ

2008:
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/rec.games.pinball/high$20prices$20market$20collapse%7Csort:date/rec.games.pinball/44iMVjwb68o/wXb8-3F9vOIJ

2009:
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/rec.games.pinball/pricing$20market%7Csort:date/rec.games.pinball/JsgTrS05pCc/8pB5t9oUqTAJ

2010:
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/rec.games.pinball/pricing$20market%7Csort:date/rec.games.pinball/hNRZGnOAZ-Y/bs8Js1M7sUAJ

2011:
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/rec.games.pinball/high$20prices$20market$20collapse%7Csort:date/rec.games.pinball/DlcZoruS0Bo/VO_cueyPCEQJ

2012:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/pinball-price-bubble-think-it-cant-happen-think-again

2013:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/pinball-price-bubble-will-pop

2014:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/this-is-not-a-rebirth-of-pinball-its-a-bubble

2015:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/we-all-want-the-ass-to-drop-out-of-pinball

2016:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/when-will-the-stern-bubble-burst

2017:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/are-we-in-a-pinball-bubble

2018:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/why-i-feel-pinball-prices-are-going-to-plummet

2019:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/will-pinball-prices-come-down-

2020:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/prices-dropping-

2021 (this year was a fuggin BANNER YEAR for price bubble threads...maybe it's something in the vaccines! here's a pathetically partial list):
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/pinball-pricing-bubble-due-to-covid-one-nine
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/similarities-with-pinball-market-amp-the-2008-housing-crash
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/next-pinball-depression-
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/how-to-feel-about-these-exorbitant-pinball-prices/page/2#post-6254131
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/pingreed-is-a-cancer-is-there-a-cure
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/prices-of-pinball-machines-today#post-6229413
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/pinflation-or-inflation
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/price-gouging
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/f-you-stern-and-your-price-increases
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/are-pinballs-the-beanie-baby-craze-of-the-2020s
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/we-have-jumped-the-shark

2022:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/it-appears-the-insanity-is-ending#post-6954499

2023:TBD?!

50% off of insider connected subscription. Not the pin itself.

Was I too quick on the trigger?!

Every pricing thread inevitably becomes a bubble burst thread, it's just a matter of time anyway. It's Pinside Law!

I ain’t paying no $7000 for a Stern pro. Ah hah hah, then you ain’t getting no Stern pro. Caddyshack.

Uh huh.

Except the games sitting in distributor warehouses were already sold from stern, and are now owned by distributors. Who is stern to think they can dictate a new price on games they don’t own? So now some distributor that is already sitting on over priced inventory has to Jack he price way up again?

If stern s concerned about competing against distributors old inventory, how about stern stops price gouging its customers and keep these things at reasonable prices? I don’t want to hear the cost of the bom has gone up that much either. We all know it cost them a few thousand dollars per game to make at most. The cost of materials isn’t that much. This is a greed move on a community that will unfortunately allow the limits to get pushed. If spooky and cgc can manufacture just as packed games(Scooby even more packed) for less, then so can stern and jjp

Our XBox gets played a hundred thousand more than my pinball, but not by me.

Fine...I'm gonna welch and backtrack on this one for now.

BUT I'M WATCHING YOU GUYS!

I just skipped to your talk about bubble on the bottom there.

Happy New Year Stern! This is where we part ways!

This is just another part of that Stern Lifestyle Brand. Selling standing inventory at a discount tarnishes the brand. Other companies that do similar things destroy product rather than sell them. Maybe they will switch to made to order...but what I'm hearing in this discussion is they simply no longer care about distros and will manipulate them. They either think that machines will continue to sell out, or they are changing their strategy.

Welcome. Rooms standing room only but I’m sure some whale will give up his seat soon.

According to some folks we’re full of stupid money.

TLTR

Hey bud I've been in the room for a little bit they had me at the last price increase!

Oh for crying out loud. I had to google TLTR. Your post is TSTR.

Good to see I'm not the only one that still struggles with all these online acronyms.

No problemo. Lots of good older pins still <$5k. Not stipped down versions either.

While it seems prices on lot of older machines have been going down some ironically. If anything the rising prices is driving me away from wanting anything new and rather pick up some old pins. Ton of great games out there that don't go for high sticker prices just cause they aren't the top faves or something brand new and the hot topic of the moment.

I'm right there with you. I bought 8 pins in 2022. 4 were EMs, 2 were projects, 1 was a very early SS, and the last one is what I would consider a very underrated/underpriced game.

I had a “perspective moment” like this years ago. My entire home theater 3D projector setup, receiver & speakers with Avatar 3D Blu Ray cost less than my Avatar LE pin….and that’s when LE’s were only like $5k shipped.

His prices have always been high, he makes a lot of money off suckers who don’t do any research. He’s been sick for months, heard he just got back recently

Yes sir, we also just upgraded our home theater instead of buying another pin (or 2). Best decision ever the family uses it almost everyday.

Wrong. I am savvy and have bought NIB from him many times. Fair prices. Good seller. No CC fees. Lots of inventory. Often times he has pins when others don't. I could not care less what he sells his used inventory for as I don't buy used from dealers.

It’s easy to have pins while others don’t when you manipulate and lie about your allotments, and then you end up sitting on old NIBs forever.

That’s how it works. Glad you’ve have good experiences, others have not. Just the name of the game

All of us have all that shit by now!

Is there anybody here who really needs a new tv or speakers?

Ok, but how about [insert dream theme here]?

Thankfully, I think I’m out of dream themes. Rush was the dreamiest of dreams, and now that I’ve got it - I can prob sit out NIB pinball forever. Huzzah!

Too funny. This won’t age well.

I need hendrix and ozzy , then I can honestly say I'm done

I don’t believe this has any bearing on the discussion of price increases of current unsold game inventory but rather on future new game price increases.
Illinois minimum wage in 2022 was $12/hr ($24,960/yr)
The minimum wage in 2023 is $13/hr ($27,040/yr)
In 2024 it’ll be $14/hr and $15/hr in 2025.
I recently looked into what an “installer” currently makes at Stern and it was damn close to the minimum wage.
They also offer medical insurance for which the cost never seems to go down.

That money has to come from somewhere.
I’m afraid we’re going to see these increases getting worse for the foreseeable future.

Where do I put my deposit down!

That kid is using my cardboard tube idea I used back in 93. I pioneered that idea on my Quaker Oats pin.

That's a JPOP Starbucks edition. Could use a couple noodle boxes as well.

I just picked up a Rush Pro from him for $6531 cash before the price increase. I'm not sure how he made lots of money from me being a sucker on this, but that's likely because I'm the sucker.

I'm gonna play the Turtles Pro in the next week. I will donate if a sale to a Pinside member, but it will have 50-60 plays unboxed. No need for any comments for not having a F.S. ad, 6200 first owner, 1 hour north of Atlanta. If I get moderated, and deleted, so be it. Just produced in the last run.

Mike is cool. He's an old school haggler. I got an EHOH for $7500 out the door which was decent before covid

I'm sure it does, and this is something that we all can agree is worth a price increase on our toys. A little mark up that we can afford vs a real living wage for someone does not even compare.

Wah wah wah Stern soooo mean, setting NIB premium prices thousands of $$$ *lower* than 30 year old “HUO” WPC games and 1 year old LE flips.

The nerve.

Flipping for profit may get a bit more difficult if y’all can’t sell your “low play” premiums/LEs that you somehow got a week after launch a year later with a cool profit. Not to mention $30k JJPPOTC and Elvira HOH 40th.

Given the price gouging on pinside used market. it’s *highly* hypocritical whining about a NIB price increase.

Nope. Not at all. Increased nib pricing dictates secondary market. Not the other way around. Used pins can ask whatever they want doesn’t mean they’ll get it.

I think the scarcity of new pins last year caused the huo pins to surpass the price of nib pins. So the manufacturers responded with higher nib prices. Once new pin supply catches up the resale price will go under new prices.

I don’t necessarily disagree with your point but it feels like I may not have gotten my point across correctly:

Pinsiders (and yes, I generalize on purpose) are hypocritical, criticizing inflated MSRP if they themselves drive prices on the used market into the *stratosphere*.

Add the pinvestor flipper phenomenon where some make it a business snagging up all LE/CEs with the sole intention of making $$$ as scalpers and I feel that MSRP should go up.