So, are you saying Kingpin, Marco, Game Exchange, Nitro, Tilt Amusements, Automated Services and Game Room Guys are all good guys?

By the way, I wrote the guy on eBay asking if it sell it to me for the suggested price of $999.

how’d that work out?

I got screwed over on my first game buying from a distributor (my first two, I bought direct from the manufactures or their partner PPS).

Bought a game that just went into production. Just assumed all distributors sold at relatively the same price. Bought a GOT LE for 900
(showroom unit) more than MSRP, no I'm not including tax. I put him on my list and haven't looked back. Also no it wasn't his last one. Not sure if anyone remembers but GOT LE remained unsold from 99% of distributors for at least 3 years.

I understand if a game/item isn't being made anymore but a brand new game... WTF.
He even gave me something called the "good guy discount".
Seems it's better practice to just sell at MSRP, yeah you loose a couple hundred but you gain repeat business.

It is impossible to "price gouge" on a luxury item.

What you are describing is profiteering, a more general term.

Guy is looking to drop a G on a topper for a coin op game for home use and he is whining about being gouged?

Let me shit some hundred dollar bills and think about it for a sec...

I won't buy another JJP without just going direct. No point in going through a distributor when you can buy it for the same price direct from JJP and receive it arguably faster. I ordered a GNR LE day one from a distributor, and paid the balance in full in January when requested, never received the machine and yet others that ordered direct from JJP had already received theirs by Christmas in some cases.

with toppers I'm a little more forgiving, but it all seems shady. I'd prolly steer clear of those vendors given a choice. It'd be like walmart selling a PS5 for 1k or something, leave that for the scalpers. Or if your are gonna do it, do it on a personal account.

Heres a novel thought:

Maybe if people stopped paying stupid prices, these prices would halt.

dude you are talking about pinside!

I overpaid for a chicken burrito the other day. Didn’t feel so bad because it came with rice and beans on the side.

It was delicious.

I will play devil's advocate for a minute... Distributors don't get to cherry pick what games they get. How many toppers would you have to make a profit on to pay for a Dale Junior you had to take as part of being a distributor.

Granted, pinball is scorching hot right now, but I can't imagine being a distributor is a big money making venture on its own.

Especially if they have games stocked up in inventory that no one wants and they can't sell them below MSRP.

LTG : )

I wrote the guy on eBay and he responded pretty quickly. He’s a distributor near Chicago and says he has a couple toppers and will sell to those who ordered EHOR from him. The couple extras he has are listed on eBay. He mentioned the fees on eBay.

Capitalism is messy. If the price is too high it won't sell.

This is pure capitalism. The Vendors need to make money. Times are hard right now. Gonna get much worse.

pinball sales are hot right not. the biggest problem vendors have is not being able to get enough to sale.

This is why you see this type of behavior more often with smaller dealers. Most don't have money to sit on 50 pins for 5+ years. Everything will sell eventually... but it takes time. WWE, Kiss LE's and Hobbit's all lived in dealers warehouses, but all those are gone now. They made room for beatles platinum and primus.

Either you sell less at higher prices or sell more at lower. Seems the more successful one choose the latter. There isn't anything wrong with dealers taking advantage of a hot market. All I'm saying is it feels shady, and people like the OP and me will try to avoid dealers who do that. Like I wrote before, I wouldn't have an issue buying it from the dealer if he/she sold it personally and not through their store front.

My first dealer took advantage and made 900 extra dollars on the sale. Since then I've purchased 24 NIB pin, he could of had some/all of those sales if he wasn't shady.

I can help u here. Don't buy toppers. For me anyway they just make the game look cheese. If u like cheese go crazy but u can't get mad at people for gouging, especially in a hobby where some people have to have certain hard to find games, toppers, mods. I gave up adding anything other than personal lighting effects and don't miss it at all.

If u really want it then yes. I mean if its available for 1K and u spend 1.5 then it might be time for a stay in the local looney bin but.............

Vendors are part of the problem, yup, rhis is similar to jjp and stern raising prices on their games, is ti not?

Let's say this is not a topper but just simply a need or desire to be fulfilled like maybe alcohol, thc or botox.. ur gonna go to the channel that will have it when you want it bad enough and they are gonna charge you what they want...

I have a brand new never played or setup tmnt premium for sale at 6800 if anyone wants to feel good about getting a new pin at an incredible price, not having to overpay . Just sayin..shameless, sorry. It is a good deal though

ding ding, we have damn winner.

vendors = Distributors. been saying this for years

and now a word from our sponsor...

K Y Jelly (resized).jpg

Buy what makes you happy. I personally love toppers, but only buy from my distributor at retail or slightly under. They are overpriced but what isn't these days? And ,you won't lose any money on them , if that's a concern. It beats paying $400 a night on a beach somewhere ,my opinion

No disrespect to you but I've seen this same rallying cry for over a decade now and everybody will always up-vote it.

I'm with you in spirit but a decade ago NIB was $4000

Toppers have become like LE pins. The whole LE thing is a racket. Throw on some painted trim with a few extras and sell for thousands more. Complaining about dealer price gouging is silly when they are priced gouged from the start. People were complaining that toppers were $1000 and now complaining that you can't get one for $1000. There is only one solution I can see and that is don't buy.

Capitalism. Basic economics of supply and demand. Stop crying.

I can't see popping $1000 for a topper myself (or even $500 for that matter) but don't have any issues with someone else doing so.

If you have that much cash burning a hole in your pocket, spend it as you see fit.

$1000 extra spent on a topper isn't going to fundamentally change the experience I have playing the game. If you are watching the topper, you don't have your eye on the ball.

I was gouged by a Stern dealer for my Maiden topper. I also think it was the absolute last one NIB out there, unless someone is hording of course.

Normally I wouldn't pay it, but I wanted it. Shame because I had one on order at the $399 price point from Stern years ago and I cancelled it because I thought is was "too expensive".

Fun times!

I'm just over here still lost at why people want something on the top of there pin to begin with.

The only topper I've ever wanted was the Aerosmith one. Unfortunately I missed the boat. I thought they were too expensive when they were new. And now the going rate is $1000 for it. So Stern got exactly what they wished for. Though, I'm not sure it helps them. They sell less toppers for more money. It's the exact same way they price NIB games. They sell less at a higher price. Good for them.

And no, there is no way in hell I'd ever spend $1000 for an Aerosmith topper. Some of the games I've bought in the last couple years were cheaper than that.

People are for sure hoarding, I saw a skid of stern toppers in a warehouse a few weeks back.

If I were a distributor selling toppers and saw people buying them and flipping them for double I would charge more too. Supply and demand folks. Economics 101

When High Speed came out with that cop beacon on top it was way fucking cool.

And then f-14 had 3 of them!!!

It's been all downhill since then.

No such thing as price gouging on a toy lol. When you sell your house, are you going to sell below market value? Doubt it.

Supply and demand.

Ebay fees are ridiculous so I understand the markup. I bought a topper from I think the same distributor before off of ebay, no issues, transaction was smooth.

Where? Im in the valley!

I just bought a hard to find NIB game from J.J. at Game Exchange. Same good deal I always expect. I mentioned something along these lines, and he clearly stated that he's playing the long game, not the grab a "quick" buck game. Love me some J.J.

We’re not talking about upcharging for life saving pharmaceuticals here. These are the general principles of supply and demand in capitalism. Car dealers do the same things with limited editions. Try and buy a new Corvette at MSRP- good luck.

If the temp is too hot, cool off by not buying. Owning pinball machines is a hobby of privilege. OP - consider yourself fortunate if this is all you have to complain about

I like how some people on pinside are trying to stop the basic principles of supply and demand. I know for damn sure each and every one of you if you were a seller would also sell for market price.

I've been told before by price police that I should do the right thing and sell for less than market. "Because it's not healthy for pinball"
uh huh yeah sure, you go and sell your stuff under market price then. Yeah right

C'mon...if you have to move something you can make the price work. They (STERN) cannot force you to hold inventory forever of undesirable titles if you need to liquidate to raise capital.

Well it depends- I'm primarily a Data East guy and I think the topper on Last Action Hero is pretty cool being functional. With some tower led's from Comet in there you know something is going on! Same for Lethal Weapon 3, you know when multi-ball is going down as does everyone for a block.

Hook, Jurassic Park, Tales from the Crypt? Meh. So you have a topper that just repeats the games title? No thanks, I can do without that. The Vader topper from DE for Star Wars is a flipping travesty, looks like someone just purchased the carrying case for Kenner action figures and slapped it on top. Glad mine didn't come with this tasty option.

I think the "gouge" part in the topper scam is the perceived over valued worth of the topper. Toppers were originally added as marketing flair, a way to make a machine stand out and get more play. This meant they were usually a bolt on and not very complex. What people expect now is a fully animated, wowing light show and spectacle. What is that worth to the player? Not much. The collector? It means everything. Without a factory topper, your overpriced amusement collectible is not complete. So are you ready to spend $1500 on a box of blinking lights and screen printed plexiglass? I got way better things to spend it on, like maybe a used EM or SS machine... but truth in posting laws do require me to state I am guilty of paying extra for a topper on my MBrLE, but that was included in the MSRP of the machine, not tacked on after the fact.

By the way, and off topic, but slightly related to the quoted phrase: Can everyone please let me know when we're collectively done saving pinball? It's slightly exhausting. Is it popular enough now? Has the saving of pinball been centralized into one particular agency, company, or group?

Nobody likes pinball anymore. It's too popular.

Do you have to wipe your ass afterwards?

Even more OT but I liked pinball better when it was located in the back room of some seedy and sleazy bar, where you made damn sure you shit before you went there because you were NEVER going to sit on the crapper in this joint, and as a matter of fact, you only drink beer from a bottle while there because the barmaid, who looks like Earnest Borgnine, hasn't washed her cooter or the highball glasses in five years.

All of this is interesting, but now I really just want to see a pic of the barmaid...