Wow. Multiple messages to type here. First, to my Pinside family:

I visited these guys yesterday and we spoke there and worked out a fair trade on a machine plus cash (they ponied up the cash to add to the trade). They asked about places to get the word out about their machines. I told them about pinside and that they could place ads here. I told them that they needed to donate to the site (suggested a recurring donation as they are primarily sellers) and that they should ease into the site, and contribute to the community by adding their experience regarding pinball repair, operating locations etc. I told them in person that many of their prices were way out of line and would only work on the uninformed buyer. These first few posts were obviously a BAD way to jump into the site and I hope that these guys can apologize where necessary and become a positive part of the pinball community. Make no mistake, this is our community, our house if you will, and they DID NOT wipe their feet before stepping inside. Period. As it currently stands, I am sad to have informed these guys about Pinside.

Now, to Family Amusements:

Guys, come on! You do realize that you now have the audience of a VERY LARGE portion of the pinball community right? And what you are doing is essentially telling them to #%! off. Not smart at all. You have some nice machines there. For the record to Pinside members, not all of their machines are beat, routed clunkers. Their EATPM was really a very nice machine from what I saw. I didn't get into it too much to check it out, but it is nice. For the price they are asking? No possible way. But who knows if they'd come down at all on the price. Back to Family Amusements...

If you know what is good for you, you will take a serious pause and reenter this forum. Apologize for being harsh and abrasive, let everyone know that you are reasonable people with some good product to offer, perhaps reevaluate some of your pricing, and make friends here, not enemies. We will accept that you are selling machines at a retail price, and you need to understand who you are talking to here. First and foremost, they are potential customers!!! Don't be so dense or proud that you miss that fact. You need to offer up a bunch of pictures of each machine. Offer up some explanation regarding how you have acquired them. I know that not all of your machines are from your route, but how the @%#! is anyone else supposed to know that? Let people know if/that you are flexible on the price. Say please and thank you and the like. And be ready for opinions and appropriate pricing info. Otherwise, you need to get out of our house as you will be an uninvited guest who people will run to assault instead of accepting, or even helping or buying from you.

One last HUGE part of your being accepted here will be to contribute. If you want to list machines in the forum and not just the market place, spend some time each day looking through the forum to see how you can help its members. Technical questions you can help answer, questions about opening or running an arcade (you have a GREAT space there in LA), just any sort of question to which you might have an answer. It will go a long way to be a CONTRIBUTING member of this forum rather than some retail joint trying to move their machines.

I wish you luck and hope you can figure out a way to save face here. You are not off to a great start.

Jason

Lastly, you guys should get to know pinball pricing resources such as:

http://bostonpinball.biz/ebay0513.htm

This site keeps track of selling prices for pinballs on...eBay!!! Below you will see an accurate lsiting of what the eBay prices YOU reffered to earlier in your post actually are. You are WAY off on many of your prices. Keep in mind too that condition matters and many of the eBay listings were likely for much nicer, non routed machines. I would strongly urge you to price more in line with what these machines are selling for. You are retail and they may be a bit higher, but not nearly the extent to which you have taken these prices. See the comparison below:

FAMILY AMUSEMENT --------------------- BOSTON PINBALL (eBay)

Pirates of the Caribbean $4799 ------------------- $5662

STERN spiderman $6699 -------------------------- $9500 but, that was almost definitely BLACK SM, not the same machine here, overall average was $4097

Jack Bot $2299 ------------------------------------- $2062

EARTHSHAKER $1999 ----------------------------- $____ no year to date sales, overall average is $1205 which is low in my opinion. $1999 at a retail price wouldn't be absurd.

No Fear $2499 -------------------------------------- $2223

Addams Family (very nice) $7999 (HUO) -------- $5518

Monopoly $2999 ------------------------------------ $____ no year to date sales, overall average is $2543

INDIAN JONES (WMS wide body) $5499 (HUO) -- $5553

PLAYBOY (Stern) $3499 ---------------------------- $2250

SOPRANOS $4299 ---------------------------------- $3644

South Park $1899 ---------------------------------- $____ no year to date, overall average is $2200

Lord of the Rings $4799 --------------------------- $5028

World Poker Tour $2799 -------------------------- $2310

Terminator 2 $2699 ------------------------------- $1534

Space Shuttle $1599 ------------------------------ $____ no year to date sales, overall average was $230

SlugFest $1899 ------------------------------------ $1776

Wheel of Fortune $6599 -------------------------- $____ no year to date sales, overall average was $3387

Hurricane $2400 ---------------------------------- $1364

The Simpsons Pinball Party $4999 -------------- $4204

COMET $1500 ------------------------------------- $800 more or less...

Elvira PARTY MONSTER $4599 (HUO) ----------- $2395

Stern Batman PINBALL $6199 ------------------- $____ no year to date sale, aveerage is $4014

Ding ding ding!!! Frankly, they should put out more effort. It is their business to sell these machines. Why on earth wouldn't they take pics to show just how nice their EATPM or AF is? Show that sucker off and drum up some interest. Drives me crazy as they could move some stuf if they just did it right. I think they should hire a pinsider to market and sell their machines Frustrating to see a business handled this way.

Nah. It has already been said that there are plenty of retailers and businesses on this site that are readily welcome to sell and be a part of this family. These guys were a nice bunch of people in person. No reason to keep them in the dark about pinside. Now, what they do once they get here is an entirely different story. So far, no good impressions made. They didn't screw anyone over or do too much name calling and such, so they could still turn it around. Frankly, it is better that we get an idea who these guys from craigslist are rather than always just wonder what is going on with those machines. I just hope they can man up and apologize and play a bit nicer. We'll see how it goes.

Now that I think of it, pinside came up because I told them that I had never heard of them and there was nothing written in the pinball groups about Family Amusements which was surprising to me. Now, when somebody searches these guys, this thread will come up. See, I did pinside a service

BTW, this should be added incentive for y'all at Family Amusements to clean up your act and take a softer approach. You are visible through Google searches here now...

I didn't. They had a nice space and some nice machines. Some were obviously routed pretty hard, others were in fantastic shape. They are a bit clueless about pricing on some, but I think you could talk a bit around what their listed prices are. It is really sad that they didn't come in here with an introduction and a bit about themselves. Some folks might have been inclined to drive over and have a look. That seems a whole lot less likely for them now.

Softer guys, come on! Any apology followed by "but..." is not really an apology. Good luck to you though.