Quoted from TxJay:100% agree. Stern has been making their games cheaper while increasing the price at the same time. As long as you have people that think Stern walks on water and can do no wrong then Stern will continue to stick it to them. Eventually there will be enough people that get tired of being screwed over with mono color DMDs and cheaper cabinets with power switches mounted in the head to save a couple of bucks while paying 7K + for their next pin.
I actually think the tide will finally turn against the high NIB prices because of the secondary market. We're already starting to see it happen.
Of course, there will always be a small segment of collectors that are rich enough to absorb any loss without a thought...but, if you've been watching the market over the last several months, quite a few games that would have flown out of collectors' basements in years past are sitting as their price is repeatedly dropped.
One could argue that folks are simply so enamored by all of the NIB offerings that they are simply ignoring the secondary market as they wait for a particular title to start shipping. One could also argue that the industry has sucked enough coin out of the collectors' market that there just isn't enough available money (potentially physical space?) to pay for what one would assume would be a reasonable price for an older game. That really damages the collector's notion of "paying a high price for NIB is okay because you can always get your money back with relatively little loss."
Unfortunately for Stern, as they attempt to increase profits though jacking prices and controlling the business of their distributors and the mod market...they are also diminishing customer loyalty. That's a big deal in a niche consumer market.
Fitchburg, WI
