I am the one that is organizing this container buy.

I just wanted to mention that the seller is is starting to get some newer , slightly used sterns in his possession for sale.
Also, a bunch of his games last time came from a couple private collectors.
He has also started providing short videos of the machines (of course, they dont show much detail, other then it plays and works).

So while I agree with most of what you are saying, there are some good stock to grab up, and not just a bunch of old run down machines.
The part I will completely agree with you on is the eyes wide open part, and the be prepared to need to clean.

A gentleman by the name of Scott Marion reserved a couple games in the Seattle container buy.
But he did not leave his valid email address.
Tracing the computer address he used when he reserved them appears to come from the Sacramento area.
So I am hoping he is on this thread.
If he is, or anyone knows him, please have him get in contact with me.

Thanks
Jon

Sparky , You are totally correct.
It is Steve and not Scott.
I combined to names for people I was trying to reach out to.
If anyone has any info on Steve, I would appreciate it.

@TheOnlyest, I completely agree, and have told him that in a couple differnt ways.

I of course I sent him messages during the buy about a few of the prices.

But the bigger way we have shown this is simply not buying them. There are a few games we have passed on 3 or 4 times over the last couple years.
Now, I will also say that 6 months ago when we did the last buy, he had a probably 40-50 games that were close to 2 years old. Over the last 6 months, as new lists have come out, the number has come down to almost none. He currently has only 9 games that he started selling before 2019. So someone has purchased them (or he did something else).

In the end of the day, I just organize the buys (and get machines also), so if he cant move the machines he has, not my issue.

I wanted to follow up, since I the "Jon" mentioned.
There were a lot of new people that reserved games in our latest overseas container buy, and I am guessing that some might have been from this group.
Didn't anyone have any questions or any interest in joining in on our container purchase?

@vicjw66, as the organizer, I want you to know that I only did that once on a Bonzia Run I really wanted .
No seriously, just a little joke.

Letting others on the list that we have up here know in advance only happens the very 1st time we start the buy, or when we add a whole bunch of games.
After that, when I add a couple games (like the 5 a day the overseas seller adds), unless I happen to be giving an update to people that have already reserved games, its fair game. The only time I tend to give a heads up to people is if for some reason they lost out on a particular game (like the seller already sold it before I could reserve it).

Getting different people (new people that come along) a fair shot at games at a good deal is something that we struggle with every time, me personally more then others. We do this to "bring in more games to our collections, the Northwest and to continue to grow our pinball scene and community." The same people buying all the best deals doesn't really do that. What I have found is that everyone is looking for a great deal, on a set of games they want. There are older EM game people, there are new Stern people, there are people looking for that one game they have been looking for years for, there are people that want more games to route, there are people like me that for some reason want projects. These buys are not for everyone, and I have even talked people out of buying if I think they are getting in over their heads (this is the first machine I am buying, ah, no its not <g>.

One last thing I wanted to add. It was mentioned that we are recruiting people to help subsidize the shipping cost. This is me being nitpicky (and not mad about it), but there is no recruiting being done. Someone that has been part of a buy in the past posted it here since he in moving to your area.

And the shipping costs. The shipping cost of a 40 foot container is roughly $7k. It will hold a max of 50 machines. Fill it all the way, and it is $140 a machine. Put 40 in, and it is $175. With only 30 games, we probably go a 20 foot container, which oddly enough only lowers the shipping costs to roughly $6400. So 30 machines makes it $213. So while I will say that bringing in extra people and machines will lower the shipping costs for everyone, if everyone is buying 2 machines, each person saves at most $75 a machine. It is savings, but not a huge savings.

I have lots of extra room to store games. My only rule, if it is a game I havnt seen before, it might just get unwrapped, setup, power converted, and tried out <g>

I leave shipping and getting the games to everyone their job. I will galdly help on my end, put game on pallet, wrap games, be here when someone wants to pick it up, etc. I just wont make arrangements for everything.

I've been known to deliver games locally to Seattle area, and even met people half way to Portland. I'm easy (my wife hates that part of me).

One way I did check on for someone in California was Amtrak. Since Seattle is a major hub for them, and has a loading doc, and they have a train that goes down the coast, they would ship as long as it was on a pallet. Sacramento and La were 2 destinations they could deliver to. And the price was scary good. I'm not sure they still do this, but might be worth checking out.