Well said. But who are you calling a old timer? Heck I started my first real job at $2.50 an hour. And that was good money.

Works for me sometimes also. Most people at first get offended. But after getting tired of dealing with tire kickers, no shows and ridiculous lowball offers they call me and take my offer.

Idiots? If you had 10 times the net worth that I do, then every dollar you spend would be equal to me spending $10. So if we bought the same pin, its impact against your finances would be one tenth that of mine.

Seems like the idiots would be the ones without much money, or buying on credit...

Just because I don't have the money to spend on the hobby that I would like to have, does not make me a idiot. I pay cash for whatever I buy.
The price police seem to confuse us New people more than they help sometimes . You have one saying price is two high then the next saying the price is about right. Both seem to give different machine conditions. Sometimes after reading a thread you don't know if it's a fair deal or not.
The price police are needed. I think some go about it the wrong way.

You can go ahead and close the poll.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/for-sale-monster-bash-williams-1998-2007

I can personally do without them but I think it probably helps. Opinions and bumps flow because of the price police. Also you can get a good impression what certain people are like from their comments. You learn who the condescending pricks are & likewise you learn who the genuine helpful people are.

Guessing you did not expect the poll to turn out this way?

It is just another form of haggling. If someone is wasting time trying to beat you up, they are wanting what you have to sell in most cases but just not at that price. How do I deal with haggling when I sell stuff? I don't take it personally. Someone will buy it or they won't and I'll have to lower the price. Anyone who waste a lot of energy haggling, wants your item before someone else who would be willing to pay more buys it.

PP helps, but PP can sometimes be wrong. AMH did sell at $8,500.

Want to avoid the drama as a seller? Just do not allow a thread to be linked to the sale (last time I checked it was possible).
Want to get exposure? Open a thread. You'll get positive and negative feedback and a number of fair comments. One guy saying a game is overpriced means little. 3 or more stating the same thing and have documented sales to show give a clear indication.

PP has an "invisible" positive side-effect: people think twice before posting a sale add at an inflated price.

I agree with this. Most people are reasonable. People dont comment if it's a few hundred dollars. And if someone really wants it, they'll pay the price regardless of what others say.

Price Police is horseshit, if you're going to buy an item without taking the minimal time required to research the fair market value then use that and other factors, cosmetic appearence, work done on said machine etc. then be prepared to be taken for a long ride, that works both in terms of buying and selling, most of us know that a JM isn't worth 5k and that a MM is worth more than 2K so thusly PP will simply appear foolish, the whole premise that some dickhead will go and post on a market ad thread that a game is overpriced or even underpriced becomes a non issue if you have done the menial task of going into the transaction aware. If I posted a game for sale and a bunch of said dickheads want to comment on how the price is too high then who cares? I wouldn't do that anyway because it won't sell, I will say if you can get twice what you're pin is worth then by all means do so, I blame the consumer if he gets taken and not the seller. I've overpaid and only blame myself, but I wanted the game and didn't feel like waiting for it to come up again and gave the seller his asking price. I remember local pinheads telling once that I'm driving up prices by paying more than the games fair market value, but for who, them? Nope, they would never spend $500 more than the pin is worth and be content to wait possible years for it to come up again, not me, can't do that, must have it, but thats my choice.

How many posts do we get for simple, basic, game issues? Things like, the game is randomly giving out multiball, game is doing ball search, etc etc. People are lazy. It gets old, but its never going to change.

Nah, disagree. I've policed the price in person, when I have arrived and the game wasn't near the condition it was for the asking price. You can only tell so much from some photos and inaccurate text such as "game is in excellent condition", then you find it actually isn't represented well in the photos or text descriptions. I told them they were asking too much. I even tried to make a more reasonable offer. They said "this is what we see this game is worth", I respond with "no it isn't" and left with my money. When folks push the prices up with inflated asking prices that are not actually selling, then every Tom, Dick and Harry thinks their machine should be worth that price. Price police may or may not have an effect, but nothing is gained unless something is said.

Your paragraph is too long
- The Paragraph Police

lets shed a little more reality on that TWD. That to me is very different than an older game that condition is a variable and is not actively being produced in unlimited quantity.

That was a NIB game where a buyer may not have been aware that they are being rerun in a month. I chimed in as it was a $500 permium on a simple flip. I also made it clear that for someone that "wants it now" it may be entirely worth the cost. (and it apparently was since it sold on clist> maybe iggnorant buyer, maybe did not care and wanted it now)

That sort of price policing is different than even if a simple thing liek the game was no longer in production or a LE that was not available. I was commenting on price more so based on timing and the games being rerun shortly.

Either way, there are lots of lurkers and I think there are times where price policing helps (and the poll shows that the majority agree). There is also the reality that ANYONE can simply check the box to not allow forum discussion on their market ad. I ahve done that before when I dont care for comments. Other times the bumps are welcome.

who the f came up with the term price police? all I can see is a bunch of dudes who somehow feel the need to tell someone the game they are considering is too high compared to what they paid whenever. I think it's a need to boast more than eanything else. it doesn't hurt to take a few seconds and read what is written then either absorb it or dismiss is as it's been stated here on pinside over and over: Price is determined by current market conditions as well as what someone is willing to pay for it.

As stated in my previous posts... this is part of negotiating... Price police is standing there with a sign saying "THIS IS OVERPRICED"

cheers to that and happy holidays!

Well, yeah. Here's an example. Seller in this Craigslist post: Bally Star Trek on CL. Ad reads "Going on ebay for over $2900. Asking $2450 obo. Even has "carving" in the side which gives it character." Photos show condition fair at best.
cleveland.craigslist.org link

WTF? Really? Where'd they get such pricing info? The last three SOLD listings on EBay show sales at $500, $635, and $510. Average Ebay sales price history on Boston Pinball shows $819. This is a RIDICULOUS asking price for a Bally Star Trek in this condition. And it will sit there, no doubt. I'd buy it if it were in the reasonable price range of sales history, as it is close to me.

As you say, here's my sign: "THIS IS OVERPRICED"

and yet, you can quote something that is even more up to date and comprehensive like Mr. Pinball 2015 and price police still balk and want those 2003 prices....it's the internet, the wild west for opinions. And no, "most" people would not behave this way in person on a CL ad for example, they would just ignore it.

If you open a For Sale thread you are asking for it I guess.

Closing per OP Request.