Quoted from cottonm4:You sell a lot of parts and I see some good parts on this pin. I am not going to question your knowledge, but where do you see $350-$500 worth of play field parts? Educate me, please.
Pretty much ever pinball machine has a lest $350 in parts on a populated playfield (even EM machines). Going back to High Speed: used plastics $75 for set (more if you sell them one at a time), ramps $25 each, 3 flipper assemblies @$25 each = $75, pair slingshots $20 to $30, kick out assembly $20 to $25, Drop target assembly $35 (or more), 3 spinners @ $8 each, out lane kickback $20, plastic post $10, hardware $15, light sockets $5, harness $25, apron $10 to $35, rollovers with switches $15, etc.
A few dollars for some items - a little more for others - it all adds up pretty quickly. You also have wire lane guides and other little stuff. Then guys are paying $50 (or more) for stripped playfields for wall art (I typically give playfields away because I don't want to ship them).
So now for guys thinking I am making a killing on parts. An average machine takes me about 12 hours to part out and another 12 hours to list and ship the parts (including answering emails - etc). So about 24 hours of time invested.
As far as the money end of things: cost of machine, cost of storage, cost of packing supplies, eBay & Paypal fees, plus cost of fuel to go get machines all add up. Typically I can part out and list parts from two machines a week. Netting me about $1500 a week in parts sales. Cost of machines I part out and monthly overhead takes about 50% of that money, eBay & Paypal fees another 20% of that money leaving me with about 30% gross profit. So basically I make about $500 a week dealing with these parts when I am working at it more or less full time. Less than $10 per hour & hardly worth the effort. But I don't do it for the money - I do it to help people and to save "junk machines" from the landfill so all is good.