Mike,

That is basically how I came up with the my original idea of sending Robin $250 if I make the deal as a result of this post. I am still waiting to hear back from the guy that was interested but he said he would let me know either way this coming week so the waiting is not any big deal (or unexpected). He just needs to have time to decide if it is the "right fit" for him and I am good with that.

My only concern is I am starting to have sellers remorse even before I know if the deal will happen. I know in the end if it do happen it will be good for everyone but at the same time I am having a bit of a hard time thinking about "giving up my baby". Time will tell and everything happens for a reason.

Thanks,
Skip

It isn't about "stuff" to me it is about helping as many people as possible with these parts. I have a huge following with these parts - especially with International buyers and I am just worried things might not be the same for them with a new owner.

I have also developed a network of guys that use me to "off" their unwanted "junk" machines and that will be changing also.

I know in my heart selling the business is the right thing to do and I am doing it for all the right reasons I just hope me selling it doesn't impact my past customers in a bad way.

John,

The CRAZY thing is my buyer agrees I should keep listing some parts on eBay and in those listing refer people over to his new eBay user. So it will not be like getting out of it "cold turkey". But is has taken me over 10 years to accumulate a nice mix of parts machines from the late 1930's up to around 1990. Normally I don't list much SS stuff for sale because we were still working on those machines but as I exit the hobby I will not need that stuff either going forward so it will basically all go except for what I keep to advertise the transition.

Anyway - only time will tell. I am kind of excited and sad at the same time. I know those feeling will continue until either I decide to just keep listing this stuff or everything is gone. Either way I'll be OK with the results!

The biggest issue for someone too far away is going to be transportation cost. Basically we are talking about a full tractor trailer load of parts and parts machines. Unless someone has some great connections that much stuff will not be cheap to move beyond locally. If my other buyer doesn't work out I'll be posting an update on this thread. At that point feel free to reach out to me via PM and we can talk some. The way I have things figured out I really doubt it would be necessary for someone to see everything in person for a deal to make sense to them. I don't want to disclose why on a public forum but there is enough value to this deal it will pretty much be impossible for a buyer not to make great money on it. The way I see the math is if a buyer hit the ground running they could have their investment back in about 10 months to a year and still have over 80% of the parts including lots of great hard to find little items for working on their own machines.

I think my potential buyer is a perfect fit but he needs to decide that not me. Time will tell! He is suppose to get back to me tomorrow but I will not see his email until Thursday when I return home from a trip South to drop off some sold machines. I'll post an update once I get back on line Thursday or Friday. I am an "old school" guy and don't have a smart phone. I also don't log on to any of my accounts when I am on the road so I don't need to worry about wireless hackers. I'll just have to wait a few days before I know what is going on for sure.

Lloyd worked hard at making contacts & following up with things but as long as I have known him I have never really seen him as the guy to do the heavy lifting or dirty work. I can't say that I blame him but I think you are correct about Ben. I think Ben will do well on his own - it is always tough when working with family (as I know from first hand experience with both my dad and my son's).

As I kind of expected my "perfect match" buyer decided it wasn't for him at his age. He is in his early to mid 70's and his two boys thought it would be too much for him. I don't mind not selling it to the first guy who talked to me but it kind of upsets me he didn't buy it because it was a "perfect match" for him. He had the space - times & energy needed to make it very successful and that is the guy I am looking for. Hopefully there will be someone else that will be a good match but only time will tell.

Actually the "right buyer" should likely be a guy that loves pinball and collects mostly SS. That way he (or she) isn't tempted to "steal parts" from the parts business for their own use. Don't get me wrong - there is nothing wrong with that but selling EM parts and working on SS stuff just makes things easier. There are a dozen (or so) solid state machines in the mix but I mostly concentrated on woodrail & EM stuff because I tended to hoard SS parts when I got them.

The more I talk to people and the more I think about things the more I think the next thing that might happen in my life is "toying with an idea" camper for sale. And at that point just give up on traveling and focus on the parts business. I love doing both but one has to go because I just don't have time for everything.

After giving things a lot of thought and probably having the best potential buyer I will ever find pass on this deal I think I am just going to sell the camper and just keep doing the parts myself. I doubt I'll ever find the "right guy" not because it isn't a great deal for someone but because it is going to take a lot of space and most people just don't have that space. And secondly most people today are "fairy lazy" and this is not the business to be in if you are lazy.

I might still consider selling the business if someone who is a great fit comes along again but for now I am going to get back to work listing and selling parts like I had been doing for the past 7 or 8 years until I got derailed this past Spring. By the end of 2019 I will have the same $25k (or more) and still have most of my parts sitting here so it is actually kind of foolish on my part to even have considered selling the business to begin with.

Actually it was going to be him and his two boys using some additional help from there construction business during their slow times. He had the right mindset, plenty of energy, and lots of space so it would have likely worked out well for them. But in many ways I am glad it didn't sell. I just don't know if I am 100% ready to walk away from it yet.

My main issue right now is space with "phase 2" of my warehouse deal right around the corner. But if necessary I can always rent a few more mini storage units short term to make that deal happen. Time will tell!

Since my last post I have received three new PM's from potential buyers and all of them seem super interested. So instead of getting less confused I am now more confused. I really need to decide one way or another and get to listing parts. Either listing them for the buyer or listing them for my eBay store as long as something is getting listed I am fine either way.

I know you can't rush things like this but I am really hoping to have something finalized either way before the end of the year. I don't sit still well!

Regardless of what happens with the sale of this business I will be sure everyone knows where the parts went. I have several major concerns when trying to find the "right buyer" -- the guy I am looking for needs to be someone who will keep getting these parts up for sale to help others, the guy I am looking for needs to have the space & time to do it right (at this point I don't have either and that is one of my main reasons for putting the business up for sale), and lastly the guy I sell it to needs to be doing it for the love of the hobby.

If I didin't have so much other stuff going on there is no way I would even consider selling the business - I love doing it and intended to do it until the day I died. My issue right now is time & space and without those two things these parts have just been sitting way to long for my liking. If I can't keep stuff moving I need to find someone who can. It is the only logical thing to do! Otherwise you are just another hoarder and hoarders are bad for the hobby.

Some people consider "flippers" bad guys but at least their stuff keeps moving - the guy hoarding parts or machines is the guy that isn't good for the hobby and I don't want to become one of those guys. So one way or another I need to get parts moving to people who need them or I am no better than anyone else sitting on piles of parts and dozens of machines.

Over the next couple weeks I intend to totally reorganize my storage & processing areas in the basement. Once that is done I'll be back to listing a ton of parts either for myself or for the buyer of the business. I don't care who it is for I just need to make some of this stuff available again before it drives me crazy.

Over the past couple days I have been contacted by several people that are 400 to 750 miles away and are interested in knowing more about the business. Just to put this on the table - I would consider delivering everything but it would take me 4 or 5 loads with my van and a 7x16 trailer. I would do that delivery AT COST if a buyer would cover my fuel, tolls, motel, and food.

I am still hoping for a local sale and still have a couple local people to meet with after the Holidays but one way or another I need to get this stuff sold or start getting some new listings up.

When I researched rental trucks to move warehouse deals in the past it was more cost efficient for me to do smaller loads with my van & trailer. But more importantly some buyers might not be able to handle a tractor trailer load of machines & parts all at once. Typically when using a freight company for something like this they want that trailer unloaded in 4 hours or less. That is a tall order for one or two guys especially without a loading dock - etc.

For me the advantages of smaller loads far outweighed any cost saving you might find by using a freight company but that is something that would be 100% up to a buyer. All I can do is offer my services if it helps someone but beyond that everyone's needs are different.

One thing I know for sure is a local buyer would be the logical choice but I am willing to do what ever it takes to get these parts back up for sale instead of them just sitting in my storage units & trailers for another couple years. If all had gone as planned most of this stuff would have been listed and sold by now but several things outside of my control derailed those plans. Now I really just want to see these parts available to people who need them.

As far as shipping method - what ever a buyer wants to do is fine with me. All I know is from my past experiences moving machines & parts is I can do it cheaper than any service I have found. But shipping method is totally up to a buyer.

My main goal is to get these parts to someone who will do something with them right away. I just don't have time to be listing parts right now and that is driving me totally crazy. If necessary this stuff can just sit until later in 2019 or sometime in 2020 but I would really prefer it going to someone who can get it listed & sold sooner.

I wish I could but family obligations will keep me from doing the parts thing effectively for at least most of 2019 and storage rent is killing me. When I am actively selling my $500 a month storage rent is just part of the cost of doing business but when I am not selling it is eating me alive.

But that isn't the worse part - Phase 2 of my warehouse deal is about to happen and I'll need another 400 sq ft of storage space for that at an additional cost of almost $250 a month. Since that is already a deal I committed to and I never go back on my word something has to give or my wife & son are going to kill me.

I am still trying to figure out what is my "best move" but one way or another I need to lighten the load. Thankfully most of our collection & project stash is now sold and that helps but it still doesn't give me near the space I need.

It is looking more & more like I will be continuing to do the parts thing myself. For my plan to have worked out I would need a buyer before about the second week in January and that is looking highly unlikely at this point. I have gotten over a dozen emails about the business but most people are looking to do something with me in the future. By then I'll have the time again to do it myself and at that point all I did was give away most of my profits by wholesaling my parts inventory to someone else.

My family obligations over the next few months are what concerned me the most and I was hoping to find someone for the business before I started with those in a couple months. Once those family obligations are behind me I am the "perfect fit" to keep running the business. So instead of selling everything I might just have to spend a few thousand dollars to store it until I have time for it again.

Regardless of what happens I want to see these parts listed and available to help others as quickly as possible. If that can be accomplished better by me just keeping the stuff that is what I will have to do. Not my first choice right now but in the end it might be best anyway.

After two full days of trying to clean up the gameroom for Christmas I am finally starting to see some progress. My piles of parts are getting smaller and my boxes of parts are getting more full. I tore machines apart for months and never bagged & inventoried those parts - I just piled them under, on, and in front of our machines in the gameroom. With family coming on the 27th I needed to finally get busy cleaning up and so far I have bagged and boxed 100's of parts. Sadly I am not even close to being done.

While everyone else is enjoying Christmas Eve and Christmas Day I'll be working through some of this mess. I don't mind & it is actually nice to be making some progress with this. I just wish I could have gotten to it sooner.

For anyone that still might be interested in the business it will be "for sale" until it is sold or until the day I die. The mix of parts will constantly keep changing and the bottom line price will keep changing according to my actual inventory but at least most of these parts will be up for sale as a lot if anyone is interested. I might even consider selling something like 1/2 the stuff just to gain some space if that would be of interest to someone.

The only thing that will change will be my ability to help a buyer get off to a great start by me listing the first 600 or 800 parts for them. That can only happen if I can get a deal done in the next couple weeks. Once we hit early Spring I will not have time to do listings so the buyer would be on their own at that point.

OK - back to bagging & tagging I must go!

Still bagging & boxing up parts - four 14 hour days in and I am really starting to see some progress. Sadly it looks like I am going to run out of boxes & space for boxes long before I run out of parts. So once my backstock racks are full it will be time to start doing some listings again trying to get through this mess in the basement any way possible. What is worse yet though is even once the basement is fully cleaned up I still have stuff in the garage to sort through before Spring. Then in the Spring I need to start attacking machines in 4 trailers & 2 storage units.

One thing 100% for sure is it will be years before I run out of parts to sell and that is if I live that long. I would still love to find a buyer for at least some of this stuff but only time will tell as far as that goes! I am suppose to meet with another guy & his wife shortly - hopefully they will see something they like and we can work something out. But I will only sell the business if I find the right buyer - I don't want to see a hoarder just sitting on these parts I want to see them listed for sale ASAP.

More or less the exact path I have planned. My only issue right now is a warehouse deal that is suppose to happen fairly soon I can't pass along to someone else because seller only wants to deal with me. It is a pretty long story and I would just pass on it but I know if I do the stuff is headed into dumpsters. Sadly the family has no interest and really doesn't care what happens to the machines and parts so it is basically up to me to "save them".

I am still hoping for a "Christmas Miracle" in the form of a buyer for the parts business quickly but I also realize that is highly unlikely. The sad thing is I really don't want to give up the parts business but I just don't see how I can handle everything 2019 has in store for me without giving up something. So the parts business just seemed like the most logical place to start.

For now it is more sorting , bagging & boxing stuff up to find a gameroom. Then after that I'll figure out what is next.

I actually plan to do more or less exactly what you are talking about but even doing that will take several trips to Norfolk, Virginia (about 900 miles round trip each time) so if I spend a day in Norfolk dealing with meeting people their it will be a 3 day trip each time. The tough thing is going to be the transaction with the seller. When I was doing my "first deal" with them they were upset that I brought my adult son along? So the first trip I will not be able to get anyone else involved.

What will likely happen - if all goes as planned - is I'll buy the contents of the unit and move some pinball machines back to PA on that first trip. Then I'll likely try to wholesale all of the arcade machines and jukeboxes to Lloyd (coinopwarehouse) or to a couple other people I have talked to about the arcade machines. The biggest issue I have with the unit is the 15 or 16 1970's jukeboxes that no one will really want except for maybe Lloyd.

So my second trip down will hopefully get the rest of the pinball machines & parts into my van & trailer and hopefully I'll have a buyer secured for the balance of the unit. If not I'll have to drive down to empty the jukeboxes into a dumpster and then transport the arcade machines back to PA to sell them.

Regardless of how it plays out I figure I'll be tied up the biggest part of a month getting all of it worked out. Then as far as the pinball machines go - they will likely be headed to the Allentown Show like I did a couple years ago with phase one of this same deal. I just don't have the time, interest or space to sell these machines from the house one at a time.

As far as me keeping the stuff from this second part of this deal -- if I keep anything it might be ONE machine. We are down to about 12 or 14 machines in our collection at the house and would like to sell off another 4 or 5 machines this coming year so I am really not interested in keeping anything from the warehouse deal. But there are suppose to be 4 or 5 High Speed machines in the lot and if one of them is nice I might hang on to that for a while. We have never owned a nice High Speed and I would like to add one of those to our collection short term if there is a nice one in the mix.

What would be idea is if I found a buyer for the parts business & got that sold before I need to start with the warehouse deal, then got that deal behind me before Allentown & could sell the stuff off from that deal at Allentown. Then after the Allentown Show I would be free to finish up with my two kid's houses and be ready to start on my sisters place by this coming Fall. That still doesn't give me any time to deal with the rest of my shit in 2019 but at least I wouldn't be trying to work on 3 houses at once and still be trying to sell pinball parts.

Sorry for another long post but as I always say it isn't as easy as people might think when you have your hands into way too much stuff.

Just a quick update - I have not had anyone else follow up with me about buying the business so over the next couple weeks I'll try to get back to everyone who PM'ed me about specific parts. If you had sent me a PM about something specific and you don't hear back from me by around the middle of January feel free to contact me again. As always my main goal is to get parts to people who really need them to fix up their machines. Sadly I have not had the time to do that as well as I would like to but over the next couple months I'll be working with the pinball stuff pretty much full time.

And for anyone else possibly interested in the business it is still for sale. Price will be adjusted according to what I buy and sell as time goes on but my original asking price was just a "guess" anyway. If I were to sell the business I would want to do a full inventory of what a buyer was buying to be sure I was being fair with them and adjust final price accordingly.

My last "potential buyer" dropped off the face of the earth after several emails asking questions about things so I have decided to change things up a little bit with what I might consider selling at this point. Originally my plan was to help a buyer hit the ground running by setting up their first 800 (or so listings) for them but I will not have time to do that at this point. So my "latest idea" is to just offer up something like 1/2 the business for sale for somewhere around $15,000

I would still do all I can to help a buyer get off to a good solid start but I couldn't do hundreds of listings for them at this point. Business would include me working with buyer to get cash flow moving as quickly as possible for them. I solid inventory of packing supplies, shelving & bins, and about $60,000 worth of parts & parts machines to help them get a great start.

Basically the major differences at this point would be me not doing their start up listings & them only getting about 1/2 of my total inventory. This would still give someone a good solid start but if they worked the business hard they would have to start looking for additional parts machines much sooner than if they purchased the entire parts business from me.

The right buyer could have their full investment back in less than 6 months once they had items up for sale.

My motivation is still the need for some quick space so this needs to be finalized in less than a month or it will do me no good. So if anyone has any interest please contact me as quickly as possible. (Basically at this point I am looking to sell off about a 20' box truck full of parts & parts machines to make some room).

We try to travel at least 60 to 75 days a year and have been doing that for about the last 12 to 15 years (pretty much ever since I semi retired when I was in my early 50's). I doubt I'll ever get outside the US though because I don't want to fly. I am not afraid to fly I have been up in small planes & choppers before I just can't imagine all 6'6" and 300 plus pounds of me in a small commercial airplane seat and I am too cheap to fly first class.

I know there is a ton of stuff to see and do all over the world but I am happy seeing & doing what I can just in the US. At 64 (and only a few months shy of 65) I really want to be on the road even more in 2019 and that is a big part of my reason for wanting to sell off at least some of the parts business. I have a hard time traveling & enjoying myself when I know I should be doing more with these parts. So I was really hoping to find a buyer as much as I hate to sell something I built from the ground up over the past few years. But age tells me it is time!

I always find it kind of funny when people complain about a place they are staying in for a few days. Clean with a decent bed and a place to get cleaned up is all you really need. For what it is worth that could be a tent!

My daughter-in-law spends more time each year deciding what vacation house to rent then she did on what house to buy? You are renting a vacation home for a week or two - you are buying your house to basically live in forever yet most people spend more time deciding on a car?

I am finally starting to feel a little better about things after over 10 months of not having time for the business (or to do any new listings) this past week I managed to get about 50 new listings up and sales have been insane. I am only running about 60% of my normal number of listings and yet my sales for January on on track to pass my best months last Spring. I never had any doubts the parts would do well again once I finally had a little time to get some listings up but I am totally amazed how well I am selling right now considering I am not really listing anything "high powered" yet.

I would still love to find a buyer for the business that would have the time to run it correctly but for now I am just happy to at least get some new listings up for my regular customers. Now if I could only find time to help all the people who keep emailing me from both eBay & Pinside with "special request items" I would really feel great about things. Hopefully I'll be able to get to some of those people later this month!