The prices at auctions with fees are just too stupid as a buyer. I think the shock of that California auction still looms. The last three auctions I went to were a few years ago and they were pulling stupid money for crappy machines. I stopped going or looking at auctions for that reason. It seems I am not alone.

I agree 10%-13% buyers premium, plus 6% tax, uneducated buyers who just want a game. Sellers shrill bidding. I'll wait till York next week, no premiums, no tax and you can talk to the owners about issues the game has/had.

I got caught a couple weeks ago, bid on a game, knew it was in rough shape, figured what the hell, someone else will bid on it....lol..

I now own an EBD project!

It wasn't crazy bad for EBD though, 2k plus $300 fee. Next summer maybe re-stencil the cabinet, next winter a pf swap. I'm just glad there were boards in the thing.

Its a great place for sellers though. If you are consignor and bring something to sell, then its only a handling charge if you buy something. There were always good buys on other arcade junk.

The shill bidding at Winston Salem auctions was very bad. I started to pay attention to the groups. If the owner did not shill bid they would bid on each others games to help each other out. Thats not an auction. I went to a pa auction and bid on a star trek next generation machine. I was the high bidder at $2750. It went to fair warning and a guy then bid $3750.. it was the operator. He did that to the indiana jones stern machine as well. That stalled at 2800 and just like before, fair warning and $3750 was bid again.
Another auction I was bidding on a south park in NJ. . It was at $1400 I raised my hand and he said I bid $2000 and was looking for $2100. I stopped the auction and said I did not bid $2000. That same auction company got me for a $300 bid increase at another auction. I was the only one left on a monopoly. My bid was $1800. When it came time to pay it was $2100. He said there was another bidder and I did not see it. If you go as a buyer pay attention to everything. Its nuts.

Auctions are horrible and I have zero interest as a buyer.

Dragging a few games there to sell doesn’t seem like a bad idea though.

So what were the prices like?

IIRC, Twilight zone went for 9100. Add in fees and taxes and you are looking at $10k+. Fish tales and No good gofers went for about $4300 each. Both overpriced based on their condition, IMO.

One guy was that was bidding on Wizard of Oz, bid 8900, but said 9100 was too much? When you get into that much money, 200 is a dealbreaker?

On the arcade side, NARC went for 950. I was going to put a bid in on it until it just got too high. Sorry, it’s not a borderline $1000 game. Crime fighters with monitor issue went for 6-650. Millipede (played blind) went for 9-950. Arkanoid cabaret went for about 850. The Robotron had a damaged bottom corner, CPO with terrible cigarette burns, and the marquee was flaking.

Way too many shooting, Pac-Man/Ms/Galaga, and driving games. Pinball auction prices still high just as they were a few years ago.

Any idea what the sitdown Batman driving game went for? That's a fun one...

The TZ was my buddies and went for 7900, you are wrong.

Also, many of the buyers there consign to avoid the premium. If you bring anything to consign, you avoid the buyers prem…you just pay a handling charge of $15/item. For example, my Buddy bought a megatouch…paid $400 for it so his premium should have been $40 bucks but because he consigned something, it was only $15. Someone consigned a tredmill and trash bags of plush. It’s easy to avoid the buyer prem, just bring something.

People complain about shill and yes it sucks but is no diff then a reserve price.

I think 2100.

I think around 2000

Fair enough. I didn’t write the price down.
It’s still a 9200 game with premium and tax thrown in

I didn't write it down so I just made up a price. lol

hello wondering what Stern Stars went for ?

Anybody see what the n/w Bally Paragon went for? They dicked around with $10 cranes so long, I had to leave and wasn't able to bid on it.

I've been to lots of these auctions. If you are going hoping to find a nice AF or Stern Premium for $2250, forget it. Everybody else there also knows what these are worth so there will be lots of bidding competition, right up to true value. Also, the owner will be there and he will very likely "protect" his item by bidding it up until it gets to a price he can live with. If it doesn't get there, he buys it back. It is what it is and nobody is going to change it.

Your best hope at an auction like this is to find a somewhat unloved diamond in the rough that you can grab while everyone else is worrying about the big name games. Something like a CBW maybe. Even then, you may not get it because other collectors see the same thing as you and will be bidders. But every once in a while, you might also find a grail game that you don't mind paying top dollar for and that makes the trip worthwhile. If nothing else, I get to see some friends that I haven't seem for a few weeks so the social aspect is enjoyable.

I posted a full walkthrough video on our PinballSTAR facebook page... Fun time - interesting... I had to leave early - but nice to see and hang out with a few pinball buddies - Bruce Christian, Pinfest Ivan, Rob Butch, Bill Lindley, Jason Knapp, etc...

Ivan bought the treadmill for $ 100 - easily worth $ 2500 new. He said he's going to have a six pack at next Pinfest !

https://www.facebook.com/PinballSTAR/

Joe

"Ivan bought the treadmill for $ 100 - easily worth $ 2500 new. He said he's going to have a six pack at next Pinfest ! "

Now that's funny. Sorry Ivan, but that's funny.

I was hoping that everyone would be focused on Twilight Zone and the new pins that they would have blown all of their funds and not have anything left for the other pins.

IMO, the whole idea of any auction is to get goods for a price that is less than what you would normally otherwise pay. I won a skee-ball many years ago at auction for a good price. But those days are becoming rarer and rarer.

I was going to bid on the No good gofers until it was just too much. I really wanted to like that game but couldn’t.

Not necessarily, if a consignor bought it they paid $15 handling charge, no buyers prem.