Afternoon all!

Had a line on a pin and made the owner an offer, they are not pin people. They just happened to have one and indicated it was broken and they already spent a few hundred getting the board fixed only to have it fail again and it had been sitting for some time.

I threw an offer at them of about half market value which is realistically $3000-$4000 in good condition (one just sold down at Allentown for $3100 that was pretty sweet) and was told that they have seen them sell for $7500.

I explained my offer was based on the expected need of a replacement CPU board and of course servicing the unit that had sat for years not to mention what ever had burned out the last CPU. They were politely thanked for their time and I headed for the exit.

How do you deal with someone who gets pricing from American Picker?

They have my contact info, we had spoke on the phone and text. Maybe they will touch base, maybe not. I was flabbergasted when they told me that they saw them selling for $7500 which is.. implausible. If it was a negotiation tactic it was poorly done as I'm not prone to wasting time with unreasonable people.

I'm trying to be discrete in case the situation changes.

For a point of reference a few thousand were made and Pinside has average selling price pegged at $1800-$2100 which is on the low end of the scale based on old sales. It certainly has not sold recently for $7500. I played a VERY nice one on Friday that sold for $3100.

You cut off the rest of my statement which is disingenuous.

Its a dead machine that has been sitting for years with a CPU that has burned up twice, its not in good or very good condition.

I offered $1500 to start and was at $2000 which was the most I was going to risk on a dead machine that I just saw an excellent example sell at $3100 with clean playfield, no broken plastics and mint cab and backglass.

$4000 is top of the market in very good shopped out condition which is my guess.

$7500 is not even in the ballpark.

See post where I stated $1500-$2000

Ya'll like throwing that $4000 number around like its gospel, it best be damn close to new in the box for $4000

The last 7 ones sold on Pinside had an average price of $2700.

I offered more than half the going rate (based on real current Pinside sales in the last few weeks) for a dead machine which the owner freely admitted the cpu smoked twice.

Time to move along, there is plenty of pins in the world. I was just curious what other people thought if in the same situation.

Clearly you have reading comprehension issues.

Must be new math.

I offered $2000, Pinside average last 7 sales is $2700.

New CPU board is $500. Plus what ever smoked the board. Twice.

Bingo and yes it has happened.

So if people want to hammer on me then by all means do so.

The last four pins I purchased from Pinsiders was cash on the glass, no haggling, paid the asking price.

If you think I'm unreasonable then so be it, duly noted.

Market value as determined by this board no less based on actual sales for RUNNING PINS = $2700

First offer, $1500, second offer $2000.

Who is misrepresenting?

Clearly I was trying to be overly generous (to be fair all around) when I stated a top of the line pin should be valued at $4000 and you all jump at that like its the holy grail sitting in this guys garage which is an outside number that few will obtain. There was a grand total of 2 pins that were priced by that number on Pinside in the last 4 years and they had brand new CPR playfields, new back glass and one case a brand new NOS cabinet.

Stupid me for trying to be honest and fair, even though I think the guy has watched one reality show too many.

I asked a question at the beginning of this thread, what would do in my position? For that I'm attacked by some board members for asking a simple question. Sorry you had a bad experience with a buyer, I'm not that guy.

I want to Allentown, delivered a pin even knocking 10% off for a fellow pin guy, picked up from him sight unseen another pin, made several transactions paying what the Pinsiders wanted for their items no questions asked.

And you know what? I'm not going to let the negative wankers in this thread ruin my opinion of most Pinsiders.

Done.

Williams

I left plenty of clues if one was so inclined.

I already stated it was a Williams.

Closest so far! You are in the right decade too.

Gold Star for you sir, I even mentioned in a post I was keeping an eye out for one.

I'm not that invested in the game myself but my wife enjoyed playing the one at Allentown.

Drain it then.

It was a simple question, no further details were required. This wasn't a "what is it worth" thread, sorry you perceived it as such. I thought I was very clear in the subject line.

I have an analogy, if you will. At work 2 weeks ago I passed a lounge where something utterly ludicrous was on TV and someone was watching and I made some remark about "what a dog and pony show." Think of the most ridiculous thing you can think of that someone might give credence too like Nazis living on the moon or the Kardashians. The single person watching started ranting about it at almost the top of their lungs in defense!

I'm like "woha there!" and backed out of the room. You hear about people believing this crazy stuff but kind of shrug it off till you actually run into one and its a bit of a shock.

Losing a deal? pfft. That doesn't bother me a bit. I have made hundreds of shots on cars. Unless you take the shot you are never going to make a deal. Just like dating, unless you take the shot your going to be sitting on your ass, alone.

I was more shocked this dude thought his dead, unshopped pin was worth double what a better than new fully refurbished unit was going for.

Back out of the room and gracefully exit. Other pins are always rolling down the pike.

Already washed my hands on the matter, no thanks. My wife is already enjoying the pin I picked up for her on Monday.

If the guy thinks he can get $7500-$8000 by all means go for it.

I have dealt with this type in the car hobby; that pin will sit in his garage till the building falls down around it. Happens with cars too, watched more than one car that was "going to get fixed up one day" slowly vanish into the earth.

Which is his prerogative.

It was guessed by one of the board members, Bad Cats.

Comment away.

Nope.

I picked up a pin from the guy 2 weeks prior and he mentioned that he had a Bad Cats and it had a smoked CPU. When he got it the CPU was smoked and he spent "a few hundred" getting it repaired and then it smoked again.

Clearly what ever had smoked the first board was still present.

I didn't give it further thought till my wife (who was there when I picked up the first pin) stated it looked like a fun game so I looked up the going rate, chatted up a few system 11 owners and called and made an offer based on average price and expected repair prices (I'm not a Williams solid state guy) plus a few % extra thrown in for any unexpected surprises which I'm sure would arise.

That is when they guy stated "he had seen them go for $7500"

At that point I informed him that "I would check with some friends more familiar with Williams machines" and revise my offer accordingly. We went to Allentown where my wife played the nice $3100 Bad Cats that was there and then I contacted him and upped my offer to $2000 to which he stated it was worth much more to which I politely declined and called it a day.

If I had my truck, I would have simply purchased the one at Allentown but it rained. As it is my wife has a different machine I dragged home this week so is happy and my part is concluded as far as I'm concerned.

You have no idea how much work it needs. You have no idea if it needs ramps, displays, auxiliary boards or even what the cause of the burning up of the cpu board is.

Working Bad Cats have been sold on this board for less than my offer for a dead pin just in the last year, not in the distant past.

Feel free to keep flogging the dead horse though.