Matthews, NC
Quoted from CrazyLevi:"significantly" is a loaded word.
How much do you stand to lose on your average LE game? $500? $1000 at the most?
For most of the time I've been in pinball - before the rush of free-spending newbies - you'd lose that exact amount just by opening the box on ANY NIB game. It's only a recent phenomenon that buyers expect their NIB games to "hold their value," or even APPRECIATE.
If you don't want to lose any of that "new car" money, stop buying new games. I don't think losing $500 on a year old GOTLE constitutes a "significant" loss, but at this point we are seeing the bizarre phenomenon of people taking natural depreciation personally, as if it's some kind of insult. My toaster is worth less than when I bought it new, why wouldn't the same be true for your pinball machine?
Couldn't agree more! I think the tide has already started to roll out....look at second hand prices for every version of GOTG, Aerosmith, Dialed In, etc - all are trending downward, no NIB games are appreciating at this point. Iron Maiden LE may be holding for the most part at NIB cost but NOT appreciating. It will only be a matter of time (probably not more than a month or two) before Iron Maiden LE is selling for a few hundred below NIB costs.
The free-spending newbies you are referring to are sort of stuck though. Most are too excited to get into the hobby to realize the financial mistakes they are making and really weren't prepared to absorb a loss to continue to feed the pinball addiction. I went through this phase myself personally earlier on. If you are impulsive or impatient, you WILL lose money...period.
