I've attended maybe 200 auctions. None have ever had the details you're asking for published well in advance. Typically I have a general idea of most, solid info on a couple, and no idea on the rest.

Here's the sale order catalog from an aviation auction this weekend - over 1000 detailed lots, published several days before the auction: http://www.starmanauctions.com/images/Estate-Shaver/catalog-shaver.pdf

Just saying, it's the way its normally done.

Kudos. Auctions are business. The last thing I want is to be stuck around some drunk who can't hold his liquor and starts chunking all over me.

As someone with "no skin in the game" just putting a little logic to things this is what I would do. (Since I am over 1200 miles away there just isn't enough at this sale for me to consider the trip).

FOR THE AUCTIONEER:

Number machines BEFORE loading loading highest number item first. (Get that list published YESTERDAY) As you unload machines they would then hit the building in the "correct order". Just start lining them up "#1 first and so on" and all is well.

Post list of machines & order of sale ASAP. Post it here as well as having paper copies at the sale.

Sell machines one at a time NOT CHOICE from a group - buyers don't like buying that way and it just makes things harder to follow. (Announce how you will be selling ahead of time so bidders know how to prepare or if they even want to attend)

FOR THE SELLER:

Don't hold back the "better stuff" - that stuff is what will get people to the auction.

Finalize things with auctioneer YESTERDAY - don't keep people guessing this is going to cost you money in the end. People are not going to drive several hours to attend a sale if they don't know what is actually getting sold (COMMON SENSE!).

TO LOCAL BUYERS:

Don't miss this sale just because of last sale this auctioneer did. The way seller is handling things here (not blaming the auctioneer at this point) this has "buyers sale" written all over it.

My background: 30+ years in the antique business before getting into pinball machines. Have worked for several auctioneers & attended hundreds (if not thousands) of auctions. NOTHING to gain by making my thoughts public on this sale!

The fact that two of the machines I was most interested in are listed as Maybe included is quite disappointing. Both in that they were included originally and that we are two days away and don't actually know if they will be.

Ok..... what games are maybe? I know a few guys traveling a long way, but if there are games on the list that are not being sold...... Well... We'll all stay home.

I just looked at where these games fall in the top 100 list. Of the top 100 games on pinside, there's only:

Funhouse at 30
Eight Ball Deluxe ugly version at 68
Stargate at 78
Pinbot at 88

This isn't a dream lineup of games by any means. I like Big Hurt, Stargate, etc, but there's more games at the very bottom of the 355 games than at the top here by a wide margin. All that's missing is a Bugs Bunny Birthday Bash, lol.

Can we at least get a definitive answer on if this will be done buyers choice style?

Okay, just completed the drive in from St. Louis. The first couple of hours was in the rain, but the sun is shining, birds are singing. What became of the preview?

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http://bidloud.com/wichita_pinballs
"Preview and inspection time will begin 2 hours before auction @ 12 noon, May 20th."

1 Star on yelp. Ouch. https://www.yelp.com/biz/lost-sock-laundromat-ii-wichita

Globetrotters looks like it's in pretty good shape, though (at least as of last Summer).

Why would you even care if there is 1 Star, 4 Stars, or no Stars? That makes no sense. After tomorrow all of the pins will be gone.

Globetrotters play field has been mylared. It is in good shape and plays well. I don't like it, though, because it is always kicking my ass with those scissoring flippers.

Is there any fees the buyer has to pay? If so, what is it?

Have you read this thread? Post #23.

1 Star operation is a pretty good indicator of a 1 star operator. They don't just magically happen.

Well, so FKN what? I mentioned way back up to the top that the op could have done a better job of shopping some of these pins. So, one person gets pissed off at the op over a quarter and makes a down vote on Yelp. And you are going to make a decision based on what you read from someone that you have no clue as to who the hell they are?

The pins are routed. They will need to be shopped. They will be selling at auction. Your Yelp logic is out in La La land somewhere.

I played a bunch of these in the laundromat a few weeks ago. They all functioned as one would expect. They sucked all of the change out of my pocket as they were designed to do. I think the sleeper in the lineup was The Big Hurt. It played exceptionally well.

Talk about the wrong way to do an auction! If this sale is a flop for the seller I blame the auctioneer at this point. Pinsider's know he has an account and could have posted requested information by now. Originally I thought seller might be part of the problem but it is very apparent this auctioneer is clueless as to how to sell pinball machines.

Best of luck to all! I think seller is going to need some.

You can tell because his last one was such a complete failure. Games going for three times their market value. I don't know how an auctioneer stays in business with those kind of results.
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/massive-pinball-auction-in-tulsa-ok-021818-160-pins#post-4218447

Auctioneer was very lucky the first time around. If you read many of the post here about this auction lots of people who attended first auction will not be headed back to this one. I have bumped this post several times trying to help get attention for the seller but no one really seems very interested in this sale from post I have seen about it.

If you want to see how pinball machines should be sold look at Morphy Auctions in Denver, PA They sold Silverman's Collection (The National Pinball Museum Collection) with great results on machines that were worth buying.

Not providing list of order machines will be sold, how they will be sold, etc is just plan STUPID - especially with a smaller sale like this one. I am hoping seller does OK but I have my doubts. The only thing he has going for him at this point is how popular machines are right now and how crazy prices have been lately.

http://bidloud.com
Give Jay a call and let us know how that goes. Obviously he needs an internet expert to explain how he should run his business.

If you look at the thread about his last sale there were almost 600 post (13 pages) about it here on Pinside. This sale has less than 80 post about it and 10% of those were by me. I don't think expecting the same results at this sale as happened last time is very realistic. I hope for the sellers sake I am wrong but I honestly think there will be a good many of us that are going to be sorry we missed this sale.

13 post here were by the auctioneer and he never did answer even one question and another dozen or more post were from people saying they would likely not go because of the way the last auction was run. Maybe the last auction was a huge success but I really have my doubts about this one.

If anyone here does make it to the sale it would be great to see results posted. For the most part I have to assume prices will be OK but I wouldn't expect crazy high prices like that last sale this time around. I am 1200 miles away and don't know the pinball market in that area but these days anything decent tends to bring decent money in our area.

Jay did well with the Tulsa auction. I got two great machines at good prices and he made a lot of money for his client.

Frankly, if I had a warehouse full of games to sell, I’d probably call him first. Several went higher than any craigslist ad would have.

I mean... c’mon... I love getting deals, but business is business.

I just came back from Walmart. Lost Sock is on the way so I stopped for a look around.

Inside the laundry mat are 4 pins only remaining. They are: Genesis, (1) Tee'd Off, (1) Super Mario Brothers, and Spyhunter. I would assume that all of the others are in the other building nearby being readied for sale.

All of the other pins that I can think of off the top of my head: Cueball Wizard, Silverball Mania, Stargate, Cyclone, EBD LE, Funhouse, Harlem Globetrotters, Big Hurt, Breakshot, etc. I will assume are in the sale.

The fallacy in your reasoning is assuming this auction will only be seen by pinsiders. I talked to 2-3 people in Tulsa who heard about that auction from somewhere other than pinside.

You were not there. I was. When the doors opened for preview, you could walk in, look around, and take notes if you needed to. The auctioneer passed out fliers with a list of the machines in alphabetical order, and (I think but do not recall completely) a list that matched the order the pins were laid out on the floor.

The auctioneer told us where he was going to start the selling at and there was an order you could follow. If it was a pin you were interested in it was not hard to make a bid. If you wanted to bid, you were not going to get shut out.

Some auctions I have been to, the auctioneer is rattling his tongue in the auctioneer sing-song so fast you did not know what he was saying. This guy was patient and if you wanted to bid you were not going to be cheated out of a chance to bid. He milked some of the pins for $5.00 increments.
Which leads to the other point so many of you are bitching about; The high prices. He got the high prices because he took his time and worked the bidders.

As always in any event with multiple people, there were a few walking around with their head up their ass. There are always some who think the rules don't apply to them. The auctioneer spoke plainly and clearly. You could play the pin all you wanted during preview. But once auction started then it was no more playing. As I said, there were a few who thought the no playing rule did not apply to them.

I hope someone takes time to post a list of what the machines go for. I'm curious about the prices but can't be there.

I hope the opportunity to play machines is given. I took mine last night and this morning. I did not play them all as I do not care for all of them. I am not here to bash the seller or the auctioneer. I am here to give what info I can to the community my limited knowledge of the machines. Yes I am local and yes I will be at the auction. My only comments will be ones that were on the floor playable. There were others in the backroom that are multiples that could not be played. I believe if I was the operator I would have my best playing machines out to make the best return. Breakshot- Fun game and pretty clean launching extra balls which when played ended your current ball. Funhouse a fairly new game to the lineup in Lost Sock maybe three months has had an issue since being placed with a switch not realizing a ball was stuck and freezing your game play. Jokerz 1 on the floor which won't even launch the ball to the top. Comet which is one of my favorites was pulled 6 months ago and has never came back. Cyclone is a great game which has been playable but recent flipper coil replacements which are too strong make comet shots harder as ball shoots above ramp into ferris wheel or top of machine. X-Files unplugged not playable. Hardbody a fairly recent addition I had not played until last night was actually a fun machine until a chunk of wood came sliding out of the left ramp blocking the playfield. Teed off plays well but numerous plastics are loose. Barb Wire can not get the skill shot. Super Mario plays good again Loose plastics. Stargate off and not playable.

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I'm still on the fence about going tomorrow. At the Tulsa auction buyers had a week to load out the machines (I ended up going home empty handed). Does anyone know what the load out schedule is this time?

I think tomorrow will be a success for the seller in terms of the relative sales numbers beating what is thought of here as being market value. I'm sure there will be a lot of, I can't believe that machine went for that much~! type postings. Such is the heat of the pinball market these days. Even if the greater region and national folks don't attend, the locals will be doing lots of bidding! That's my prediction.

However, I also believe that if the auction house had been a little better prepared or more forth coming with information it would have been even more successful. There's no reason not to be, collectible auctions, coins, stamps, memorabilia, furniture, books, autos, easily do it all the time. Maybe they don't see them as collectibles but rather commodities or widgets. From the website it looks like they mostly deal with real estate so it could simply be inexperience. From a market value perspective, Tulsa did pretty well, especially on the higher end items, but then again it's sales like these which tend to help boost the market. I do know that some of the lower end machines in Tulsa would have sold for more if they were sold individually. Also, some machines were not bid on because there was no set order and potential bidders were off getting pizza and beer! when they were up for bid. Hopefully, this sale will go well for the seller overall and that there are some good deals here and there for the buyers as well.

If my predication is correct maybe it'll inspire some others to sell their collections!

Well put! This is my point exactly with this Auctioneer. Just because you are successful doesn't mean you know it all so why not take the advice of people in the hobby and maybe do better for your seller? How hard would it have been for the auctioneer to say "we will be selling machines in groups of 5 with high bidder having choice from that group". How hard would it be to publish "order of the sale", etc.

Instead in my eyes he seemed to want to pick a fight saying "if I were to do that would you come to the auction" with the first person who asked those questions.

Every "professionally" run auction I have ever seen was more than happy to share as much information as they could to attract as many buyers as possible.

In any event best of luck to all involved. Someone please post prices once this is in the rear view mirror.

This is coming from the guy with the 'secret stash' Cluster-F**k sale from his garage? Talk about calling the kettle black.

My recollection of the other auction was that everyone who bought a machine was happy. The seller made a lot more money than he would have any other way. The auctioneer got paid. That sounds successful to me.

Stop bitching and play some pinball!

Yes. The last auction, many were on this forum bitching about how there would be no beer served. There was not going to be this. There is not going to be that. Auctioneer should be doing this. Be doing that. Bitch bitch bitch. After the sale, no one would stop whining about the high prices and how they went home empty handed.

Wow, this auction sure stirred up some opinions. The bottom line is that this auctioneer was the one that Dan chose to sell his machines. I’ll be attending, as I enjoy both pinball machines and auctions, it will be a great way to spend a couple of hours on a cloudy Sunday afternoon. I’d like to meet other Pinsiders, if you see an old fat guy wearing a camo ball cap, that may be me. (This is the Midwest, almost every old guy wears a camo ball cap)

Just moved here from Minnesota, spend most of my time at car auctions so this will be a welcome change of pace. Didn't realize there was this much interest in pinball in Wichita

See you guys there. Should be entertaining at the very least...

Is there a specific KS/Oklahoma/MO thread on pinside??

If not, I'll create one. Had a nice Minnesota/Wisconsin thread back home.

I'm 3 hours away and not going. I am a collector and its nice to see an auction this close but I really only interested in one or two and if they sell in groups of 5 I am not interested in attending. I don't know why with they cant just publish a list and sell down the list one at a time. I have been to all kinds of auction weather its a farm auction or a sports items or cars they sell one at a time. if its crowded sometime you can't hear which one is picked and if they add another to keep it a rolling 5 all the time. Usually the bring a what a shopped out game will bring and way I understand it they all need shopped and maybe a lot of other work. Lot of ifs when you are traveling for lower end games. just my two cents. I am sure I would buy one or two if I was there but to many unknowns especially how the auctioneer will sell them

If they do auction in groups for this it would literally be the most retarded thing I've ever seen. Like, literally chromosome deficient.

The auctioneer is reading this thread. Hope he's listening to us.

I'm making the 2.5 hour drive to bid on two specific pins. So that sort of setup defeats the purpose of such efforts.

I'm not attending due to the lack of a sale order catalog and the "choice of 5" business. But its a long drive from Dallas. If I was local I'd probably go. I bet some of the non-playable machines will go cheap. If you know what you're up against repair-wise, you could do OK.

Group auctions and how they work: 5 pins are part of a group. There are Big Hurt, Breakshot, Globetrotters, Stargate, and Cue Ball Wizard.

The auction starts and you are sweet on Cue Ball Wizard. The bidding proceeds to the point that it is you bidding against another guy. Trouble for you is you don't know which pin he is bidding on. The gets too high for you and the other guy wins the bid. However, he was sweet on Big Hurt, takes his Big Hurt and calls it a day.

Now, you have another chance for Cue Ball Wizard.

Or maybe the winning bidder takes all 5 and you are just SOL.

Thanks for the info. Hoping machines are plugged in, have to assume they are problemed if not.

The address isn't correct. Anyone know where tongo?