That's a huge red flag ....
When do 2 pinheads get together and not geek out for at least a few minutes

Man I hate dealing with sketchy people. I'm glad everything worked out. An excellent cautionary tale

When trying to scam you! Definitely check those bills.

I use these to check bills and always explain to the buyer that it’s not them I’m necessarily worried about, but where those bills may have come from. Everyone seems to understand.

Money Marker (5 Counterfeit Pens) - Counterfeit Bill Detector Pen with Upgraded Chisel Tip - Detect Fake Counterfit Bills, Universal False Currency Pen Detector Pack https://a.co/d/9ZLJIyA

Yup... me too!. If this has to happen, said person is first introduced to Bruno, my 90 lb. German Shepard dog . Typically, the first thing out of Bruno's mouth is "Who the F%$# are you, and why are you in MY house?

This tends to mitigate potential future problems.

Nobody fills an envelope with small bills unless they are looking to scam you. Envelopes are for hundred dollar bills.

Further to this:

"The best way to determine whether a note is genuine is to rely on the security features, such as the watermark and security thread. Counterfeit detection pens are not always accurate and may give you false results."

https://www.federalreserve.gov/faqs/currency_12597.htm#:~:text=The%20best%20way%20to%20determine,may%20give%20you%20false%20results.

Currency pens will catch the local teenager trying to pass a bill or two. It will catch the majority of bad bills. It may not detect *high end* conterfits.

Glad to hear you avoided getting shorted!

It's a pretty common scam even on lower priced items. Some of them are pretty brazen and will say something like "I was only able to bring $X, will you take that instead?", assuming you will just to get the deal done.

I think Lloyd was a black belt .No BS .

As far as the topic , I had 1 weird ordeal buying a video game off craigslist .I was working out a lot then and went to the door and there was a group of 5 20ish year olds all got up at the door .I just said “I’m here for the game , do you always greet at the door all together? “ . Grabbed the game kid asked if I wanted to try it out and said “No if it doesn’t work I know where to find you “.I laughed and left but not going to stand here and say I wasn’t scared a second there .My advice is you don’t need to travel outside Pinside to sell a game .It might take longer but I’ve always felt comfortable seeing the reviews of people that have had dealings with the individual .

The pens can be unreliable. This type of checker just uses a blacklight to illuminate the security strip in the bill. You could also just use a blacklight in your gameroom. Each denomination will glow with a different color, or you can see the shadow of the strip by holding the note up to any regular light source. Otherwise, the printing colors and feel will also be slightly off with most fakes and there's microprinting and small red and blue fibers embedded in real notes, which you can see.

I know nobody really gives a shit about my "but actually" but here it is anyway: 20+ years into this hobby and thousands of miles driven, hundreds of games bought and sold, and hundreds of hours wasted I'm usually ready to just pick up my shit and move on to the next pickup, the diner, or on my way back home. I've seen every game on the planet, don't need to play your games or examine your game room, and not particularly interested in the story of how you got that rare $2,000 topper.

I'm polite and friendly but generally the quicker I can pay, pack my shit up, and hit the road again the better!

rockford is a rough place nowadays. sad.

Same here. I prefer it when people don't want to stick around. I've got stuff to do, and I'm sure they do too.

When I sold my first game, I was a little worried about a stranger coming into my home. Growing up in NYC during the 70s and 80s you tend not to trust anyone, but when he said, him and his WIFE would be coming to pick up the machine, I felt more at ease.

Yeah I definitely always have them count the cash in front of me when I buy games as well. I'd prefer not to go to jail for someone leaving the room to count the cash(which I've triple checked at minimum already) only to come back and say I was short, haha! I like to prevent any of those situations if possible

I don’t see how any of the above entities can pinpoint a specific person based on the flow of tracking bill serial numbers.

All of the above are true statements but mutually exclusive. How many POS bill accepters or cash drawers have SN scanning technology? How do they know whose is whose. The FRB as whole tracks all their FRNs by SN but who else is doing this? Or cares enough to lose customers like a casino. They know what’s coming through their door. Our local casino have their ATM machines programmed to change out govt subsidized income for food etc

The only shot of tracking someone with serial numbered bills is having a transaction where I go from point A to point B with two bill counters with this technology. Even at that do they know who’s in possession of said bills.

What if I buy/sell a pinball and cash comes and goes from a bank/casino and one of us is squeaky clean and another one of us has warrants and being tracked….how are going to sort all that out and what do they do with that information.

Did the person respond via Craigslist?

I'd like to know what their name was so I can avoid them also. (please PM me their name if you don't want to post it)

Edit: based on how you described his behavior I think I know who it is, would still like to know for sure...

I do not take 1, 5 or 10 dollar bills when selling a machine unless it's only few of them. Before someone asks. YES, I GLADLY TURNED DOWN A SALE OVER THIS. This stuff is not hard to sell and if someone walks because of this, so be it.

Some one "came directly from their bank up the street" to buy an $800 arcade game from me that I had listed on Craigslist some 20 odd years ago.

He handed me all 5's with rubber bands around them and said that's all the bank had. Total BS. I handed the bundle back to him and told him to go back to the bank and ask for the manager. They said they would be right back and I never saw him again.

These days I even cringe when 20's are brought to me.

Those people with the two envelopes would be on their way with no game from me. ALWAYS get all the $ before the wrench comes out to break the game down. Learned this the hard way a couple times... I once moved a game (Getaway) into my driveway and the guy waits til then to tell me he's $300 short. Well, it worked out ok that time because I still own that game. So, that was actually not horrible since I ended up restoring it. I probably would not own one today had the guy bought it. Things sometimes just end up working out when in the moment you are mad. Selling/buying days are mostly behind me now. I don't really feel the need to "maneuver the collection around" any longer to obtain "one more great game". I've owned most of the great games that I wanted to own and it turns out that none of them are really all that great.

This has indeed been a good cautionary tale.

I will let a buyer examine and play my game, before showing me any money. However, the game does not start to get broken down (which I am always happy to help with), until the money has been counted (usually my wife counts the money).

The lesson that I have learned from all of the above comments, relates to me as "the buyer."

I have had several occasions where the seller did not want to count the money and said that they "trusted" me. On those occasions, the sellers were just kind and decent people. Fortunately, I am an honest person and those deals went well. Though, it had never occurred to me that the seller might later call me back and say "Hey, you shorted me!"

Both my wife and I always count the money separately and/or together and divide it into $1,000 bundles (usually ten Ben Franklins) and whatever the remainder is (let's say I was paying $12,700, then the last bundle would have $700), and put it all into one envelope. So, the money is counted TWICE before we go to meet the seller. I also always let them know that I am bringing someone else along (usually my wife).

I have met at buyer's homes (usually for a purchase) and in Walmart parking lots (once at a Hardees, but there just wasn't much else in the small town) for trades. I do also keep extra cash available, just in case we both counted wrong. With all of this, I thought that I was doing everything right; but I wasn't. I should also insist that the money be counted before taking possession of the game, even if the seller doesn't see the need to.

I realize now that I need to POLITELY INSIST that I count it in front of them, let them know that I am not in any hurry, and offer them an opportunity to recount it in front of me. No more just saying "great, thanks!" and driving off with the pin. I have been naive and should have known better. I'm glad to have read through this post and thank the OP for sharing this story.

Also, as a buyer, I would never be offended if someone used a felt pen to check the bills. If I have a bad Ben Franklin, I got it that way from the bank.

Didn't involve a pin, but about 4 years ago, I had to sell my Brunswick pool table from my son's house after they moved (he had it because I filled our room with pins, of course). That day I had table movers there ready to start the dis-assembly.

The buyer shows up - maybe 28 - in a new $70,000 BMW, with all black clothes and gold chains on. We go to the basement, he looks it over, and then fishes in his pocket for a "wad" - not an envelope - just a wad like from the streets. So he takes off the rubber band, and on the rail, counts out 15 crisp new serial-number order, $100 bills.

So in trying to make some very brief small talk, I ask him what he did for a living.
"I build medical marijuana grow warehouses."

So ya never know - it was fun taking that stack to the bank, LOL.

I have had the reverse happen. When I sold my AC/DC a few years ago, the buyer handed me two bank envelopes for the payment. He told me it was all there. I always count the cash no matter what and he was damn glad I counted as he gave me $600 TOO MUCH! I counted it all again on the table and yep, it was $600 too much. I handed it right back to him.

As far as what happened in this scenario, I have to agree, these guys were trying to scam full payment on the machine. I would also check those $100 bill for counterfeits.

Levi, I am 100% with you on that. Make the transaction, do your due diligence and GTFO!

No matter if it's heroin, cocaine, or hash,
You've got to carry weapons
'Cause you always carry cash.
The pinball seller's blues

lmao

It's not customer-facing. It's the commercial bill counters in the back end.

So how will they differentiate me from the rest of the people who showed up that day and pay cash?

In one day? They can't. But over time they can using pattern tracking. AI has only made that even easier. Then they can use direct surveillance to finish the job. It's not used to track grandma, but people moving large amounts of off-book money over time.

Scroll down to the features on this bill counter where it talks about capturing full size bill images with serial numbers at a rate of up to 1200 per minute:

https://web.archive.org/web/20221206004520/https://www.cranepi.com/en/products/cash-processing/note-processing/money-counters/jetscan-ifx-i100

There are other functions where it outputs just the serials to a searchable database file.

On the other hand...

I joined the hobby late, but taking some time to make a contact out of every buyer and seller I have dealt with has not only led to making some great local pinball friends, but as a network, has also been the path to how I've been able to acquire many machines locally on a budget.

Do everyone a favor...bring $100 dollar bills. lay them on the table in groups of 10. Yes you have time to take those 20's and 10's to another bank to get the 100's if your bank ran out.

I’ve been lucky in that a majority of my pinball transactions have been with fairly well known or established Pinsiders. Even some from across the country. All the rules still apply, but it’s so comforting going with a known quantity.

The weirdest scene - non pinsider- was me picking up a minty Fish Tales from the basement of a house out on Long Island, that at first blush looked a little silence of the lambsy. The house looked inherited from a grandma that hadn’t been keeping up the property for a while. A nice hippiesque David Koresh-ish dude was selling the game, and playing and broadcasting Christian rock out of said (mildly disheveled) basement on his scripture oriented Internet radio station. Felt a little odd but turned out fine, although the load out was a pretty steep set of outdoor concrete stairs.

So, hey Kim. What game are you buying me?

Story time!

Last year I brought Rick and Morty and Attack From Mars LE to Pinfest Freeplay. Had a line of people all weekend. I put up a price of $13,000 each on them and had a few trade offers, but someone asked if I'd take a check. Sorry dude, hard no. He offered $25,500 if I'd take them off of free play and he'd come back with cash tomorrow. Sorry dude, until I get cash they are yours. Sure as shit the next day he came back and wanted to meet me by the machines so I'd turn them off. I met him there and he proceeded to whip out the largest wad of $100 I've ever seen and started trying to count them out on top of the pinball machine... infront of the 30 people looking at my (former) pins. Whoa whoa whoa dude, lets go to your truck or something a minute. Turned off the machine and went to his truck. I'll admit I didn't count out 255 $100 bills, but I did spot check about a third of his envelopes. Took the cash and left early because thats way too much money to be carrying around after doing the first time pin buyer lessons and pack up help.

Selling a game at home I always insist they play test before packing up, count cash in front of them, and help with all aspects of packing. I've been to other people's houses where I've paid them and they've left the stack of cash in front of me for 5 minutes while doing something else like it is some sort of test which I thought was weird but whatever.

Glad you caught the guy.

No. Brightly lit store with big windows and traffic going by. Not worth it. I'm sure his partner would sort it out.

LTG : )

I'm on the right.

LTG : )

55118_1568248098500_6709240_o (resized).jpg

Me personally, as soon as that scumbag did that; I'd say here is 100 bucks for coming up but I changed my mind about selling game.

Cash is cash in my opinion. I would not turn down a sale over it even if it makes counting take longer. I recently bought a machine and when I went to the bank the day before to pull out the cash they didn’t have enough $100s on hand so I got a large mix of 100s, 50s and 20s. I felt bad of course because it was a lot of bills to count but that’s all that I could muster on short notice.

You have to draw the line somehwere and as the seller, I draw it wherever I want (HIGH). My time is worth something. Would you take rolled dollar coins as payment? Or even worse, unrolled coins? How about a bar of unknown purity gold? What about casino chips or gift cards?

Not sure if anyone remembers this, but this guy paid his sales tax at the DMV for his two cars with 300,000+ pennies. This was in Virginia.

wheelbarrow.jpg

The problem with this is for a Pin, I'd want them to play it first in front of me so they can't claim issues afterward that weren't there.

I learned a lesson the last time I sold some games. A couple months ago I had 10 arcade games up for sale. I ended up selling six of them to 3 different individuals. They were all coming Saturday morning. I always try to have some cash on me in case they don't have the right change. On the third transaction I have three different wads of cash in different pockets. I'm a pretty trusting guy and after we loaded up the games, we checked out my games and chatted about pinball and arcade stuff. The guy gave me the cash and I didn't even count it because I trusted the guy. About a half hour later he calls me and says that he's got too much money in his pocket and thinks he's short-changed me. At this point in time I had no idea what wad of cash he gave me. He ended up coming back and I was short $160. That was the exact amount he had in one of his pockets. He was also buying multiple machines from multiple people that day, so he was unsure of the wads of cash in his different pockets as well. There are still a lot of good people in this hobby. When a pinball/arcade transaction involves two sellers/buyers/hoarders things can get confusing. I will count the money given to me from now on.

What's the warranty on your pins when you sell them ?

This practice makes for trouble free sales... somethings just break in transit

Yes right in the middle of his chest,to start.

Sold a games several yrs ago and I received several thousand dollars in 20s which I did count. When I went to deposit the money the bank ran the bills through a counter/scanner which picked up one forged bill. A pen would not have identified it as it was a bleach out $1 with a $20 printed over it. I’m he only reason the machine caught it was the print was slightly off at an angle.

I contacted the buyer and explained the issue and that the FBI was involved. He said he sold a game to day before buying mine and the money came from that buyer. Had no problem PayPaling me the replacement $20 and will give the feds the info from his buyer.

I agree he was trying to scam you!
The fact they were moving so quickly is probably because they were trying to distract and split quickly.I’ve met you at shows and it is easier when your larger like I am to make a person think twice about fucking with me.Between my low voice and large arms it makes them less likely.Smart for you to be armed I’m not and I hope I don’t pay the price for not being someday

im trading a large beanie baby collection this weekend for a Star Trek pro, should be interesting.

He will have to count all the animals.

Looking good Lloyd .Hope all is well with you my friend

Harbor Freight has a great Beanie Baby counter.

62323_W3 (resized).jpg

You should read these threads in preparation. Beanie babies are exactly the same as pinball machines and foretell the collapse of the hobby!

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/are-pinballs-the-beanie-baby-craze-of-the-2020s

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/perspective-on-pricing-#post-6722743

Shout out to Kim (Mr68) for his help to me in acquiring a game local to him but geographically remote from me.

When a seller requires cash and the buyer is too far away to deliver payment to the seller, options are limited. That's when the really good members of the pinball community, like Kim, come to the rescue.

For every scammer in the hobby (and there are many), there are dozens of really terrific fellow pinball enthusiasts. I've met great friends along the way, like Kim, here on Pinside, on other internet forums, and at shows.

There's lots of helpful advice in this thread to keep the dishonest characters in check so that we can all enjoy buying, selling and trading games.