Savage, MN
I was down in Mankato, MN and I walked by a place that had about 10 pinballs for sale! I walked into a store called Lucky's run by a man named Jason. I walked in real friendly and enthusiastic as you don't see this many pins in one place in the wild very often. He has a small retail shop where he tries to make money off his hobbies. As it turns out, Jason is the guy who is spamming the Mankato and Twin Cities CL with pinball WTB and For Sale ads. I'd describe it as a pawn shop where he specializes in his hobbies (video games, RC gas powered cars, and pinballs)
The guy was nice enough at first. Within 45 seconds of our conversation, I said 'oh, I think I saw one of your ads on Craigslist.' He immediately showed his true colors going off on how he doesn't understand why someone has it out for him and keeps flagging his ads. I just smiled and nodded because I'm pretty non-confrontational. I did not take the time to explain that it takes MULTIPLE flaggings to get your ads removed and that several people must consider his ads as spam ... but that's another story. He went on to say how if he could get the IP of who has been flagging his ads, he would make their life a living hell.
Anyway, after that, he was nice enough to flip on a few games and add some credits to a couple games for me to play. The games were mostly functional with fresh rubbers. Most had considerable playfield wear, which is par for the course for the late 70s and 80s games that he has. I know he claims that the games are all gone over by a pro and whatnot, but all but one of the games that I played had switches that were not registering. I played his Lethal Weapon 3 most, and it had several switches that were not registering.
While I played, he told me the history of a few games in the shop and how a couple of them are already sold, but not picked up yet. He then went into how they are paid for, but he hasn't shipped them yet because the BUYER won't respond to his emails ... hmmm. Again, I just smiled and nodded. he said if he didn't hear back from the buyer, he was just going to sell the games again and keep the money!! So, he's telling me (a potential customer) how he is going to keep someones money and not deliver them the game. Crazy man. I'm sure there's more to the story and I don't want to accuse the guy of anything, but that just blew my mind.
Then we got to talking about games he had that weren't in the shop. He said he's been driving all around picking up games and his friend works on them and he cleans them. He mentioned that he has a Skateball (a game on my want list). I perked up and asked him how much he was asking for it: he said $600 once he gets the boards back from his friend. He said there are 2 spots near the orbit that have a little bit of wear, otherwise it's perfect. Cool- I said I'll be in touch. Got a business card and went on my way.
A couple days later, I followed up with an email about a possible trade and asked for pictures of the Skateball. I got 5 or six cell phone pictures, mostly of the sides of the cabinet. I got exactly ONE picture of the playfield. I would say that there was wear on just about every insert and the game was in really rough condition. He said he would take a look and get back to me. After 2 weeks of follow-up, I have not rec'd any responses to my inquiries and he has increased his price on Skateball to $750.
I'm not starting this thread to argue about what business practices are fair and what people can and cannot do. I just wanted to provide a small service to the community and let them know my dealings with this retailer.
Links to flagged posts on the other hand...
