Have you been in this hobby longer than your pinside membership? Most people who've been around awhile don't solely use ebay or CL to find projects. They have connections with others.

Still many deals around these parts. A couple of weeks ago I looked at 10 or more project early SSs stacked on end at a couple hundred a piece.

buying and hording pinball machines right now is equivalent to putting money in the stock market. It's over valued BIG TIME! Prices go as the economy goes and it's all price and demand. I see garbage pinball machines advertised for double what they are actually worth similar to stocks that aren't worth anywhere near what their current market value is. Just sit tight it's all timing. I predict 2017 will be a buyers market as prices will recede back to levels they were at several years ago and fall in line with a slowing economy. If you look around now there's alot of ads on CL and so forth but they aren't selling....the market is getting flooded. Flippers will be the ones who get burned in the year ahead as they simply won't be able to afford taking the loss and they aren't in the business of pinball collecting...they are only looking for a quick buck. It's coming OH YES it's Coming!

people have been saying that for the last 5+ years. prices only keep going up.

Talk to the saps who were hoarding MM'S before the repro happened...

It needs to even out. The prices these days are crazy,and everyone is a flipper. Old wedge heads are being advertised for 2,500 on up. I was thinking about adding to my collection with early 80's games, but I am late to the party and all the flippers have gobbled them up. Oh well, just going to sit back for now. Even though it is quite difficult not to keep adding. Yes I have a pinball addiction bad

Well, here in Sweden you get working EM's for 100-200 USD.

It's all about waiting for the right deal. CL has 200ish machines all the time.

I got a $300 Earthshaker project a few weeks ago. Deals are out there. Just taunt the flippers with fake interest and be patient.

I've been thinking it's time to move my Abra Ca Dabra and while I'm not going to ask $2000+ for it it's also been repainted, has a brand new set of plastics, and a super nice Ron Webb repro backglass. Frankly that stuff costs money, and it's not like useless action figure mods, there's real value in those parts.

Not a project machine for people looking for a project machine. Not an original "unmolested" machine for people who want patina over nice.

Yet if you aren't stuck on a desirable title like Abra Ca Dabra and you're willing to do some work I still see plenty of cheaper games.

If someone wanted cheap EMs, my Magnotron with an amateur repainted cabinet (doesn't look horrible OR great, but it's better than a horribly yellow cabinet..) and a nice backglass and decent playfield would've sold in the last week for the 200 bucks I'm asking for it. But hey, it's probably going to get parted out because I don't have room to keep it and need things gone ASAP. So cabinet will likely get demolished, I'll keep the backglass, and then part everything else.

Half the problem with the EM market is the pickiness of the buyers. Like SO MANY more games than in solid state that just don't sell because the EM community has taken it upon themselves to declare so many games crap, and so many games "awesome", and anything that's crap basically has to be free to be worth owning. At least, that's been my take.

EM prices are skyrocketing? Not in the KC area, I regularly turn them down, I wouldn't even take one for free, not worth the $100 to $200 I'd get out of it after cleaning.

Lazy. Easier to sit around and complain than get on craigslist late at night for freshly listed games, maybe look during a holiday weekend when most people won't. Make a flyer and post it on the corkboard at the supermarket, ask your buddy the plumber to keep an eye out when he's crawling around basements, contact a local realtor and tell them you'll haul games out for them when they're listing a house full of crap. There's plenty of cheap even free games out there if you're willing to get up off your arse and go look for them. This convesation is stale. I just picked up a free game yesterday, sure needs a backglass and some plastics but the price was right. By the way I have ZERO search alerts, they don't work, I consistently grab stuff before my buddies with alerts even hear about them. Stop complaining and go find a game, actually I take that back...keep complaining, more for me!m

For the people that say ''it's coming it's coming'' Good, let it come.

If you list a good condition Fishtales for $1300-1500, it won't last more than an hour. Same can be said for many WPC games like FT.

Basically, what it comes down to is, you have a lot of people with money to spend that have entered the hobby in the last several years. They played a SHADOW back in the day or somewhere, and they love the game and they spent whatever it was to get it, clean it up some more, mod it, etc, and then when they go to sell it, they ask more and many don't care to budge.

There are not many collectors that just keep every game that they buy, even the die hard collectors cycle games out for others because of space or wanting to change up a stale pin. I think some titles will go backwards and some will rise and continue to. It's when I see Last Action Heroes for $2400 that I say GTFO of here.

Knowledge and patience is key.

greenville.craigslist.org link

I found this post with little effort on NC CL. Project Big Game, Hotdoggin, Future Spa.

Any game with a fair price is gone within a day, you're not going to find anything except the scalpers if you just do a search around once. There are tons of games at good or great prices even on CL, but if you don't see them go up you're not getting them.

It sucks, but knowing people is the best way to get deals.

Estate and garage sales are not a bad place to look either. I am pretty new to pins but picked up a 1950 Spot Bowler, that needed lots of tlc at an estate sale. They wanted $1,295, I gave them a written bid for $250 and the next day got a call to come get my machine.

Time to get a container of pins shipped from Sweden!!

^This.

Too many people expect these deals to just fall into their lap whilst surfing through ebay/craigslist/gumtree for the Aussies on here or are happy to continue to pay jacked up prices in their own limited online clique driven circle.

Get to know ops that don't have a connection with any of the pinball forums and you'll find plenty of great deals out there still.

Bringing in a container from Europe logistically isn't as hard as people with pecuniary interests in the subject make it out to be. For most it is the ability to come up with a lump sum of cash all at once. The first one is the most onerous financially, but then you restore and sell off a few from that container which then helps fund the next container and so on. Fast forward to a few years later and you have reached 60 plus with a backlog of restoration work for a one man operation that will take years to complete.

It's an addiction.....

There are so many native European pins I would love to have. Plus some Brazilian Taitos and some Japanese Segas. Probably won't happen but a man can dream though. Oh Yes. A man can dream.

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Check CL Michigan if you want overpriced games. There's pins all over that seem 50-100% overpriced. Occasionally I see ok deals, but it's getting less frequent. And don't even bother trying to talk or haggle. I was surprised when I got my JP in Holland. Nice guy and fair price. I still check a few times a day but it's more out of habit.
Like I've said before, if people see the value they'll buy, if not they'll sit until the price drops. Simple market forces.

The past several machines I went to look at, the buyer has always said, "these go for big bucks when restored". The people that acquire old machines, automatically think they hit the lottery when it's time to sell.

bah. you just have to have connections or wait for the right deal.
I scored a T2 for $1k a couple weeks ago. needed quite a bit of work, but still.
Deals take legwork and a lot of dead ends. you will win sometimes, though.

I really think it's a good thing the community is so healthy. Think about back when machines were cheap you would just scrap a machine if you needed parts. Today so many parts and decals and stencils are readily available you can make a machine from scratch and people have done it. A lot of machines are being saved. For every flipper trying to make a $1000 bucks there's still a $300 Baywatch or $60 Super Spin or $150 Stars.

Don't get me wrong, I haven't given up. Knowing fellow collectors and having lots of patience matters more than ever.

I almost jumped on a bally Atlantis by me that was fairly priced from what I could tell. And it sold in a day. I'm holding out for other pins at this time.

I wonder if this one falls beneath the ops spending limit.
ebay.com link: Williams Sea Wolf 1959 Pinball Machine Woodrail RARE

I wish I could jump on that!!

It was posted here on the forum. I'm keeping it close to my chest but if you ask nicely I can PM you the details. Tennessee area if you're willing to go that far.

Not knowing any collectors or operators really makes it hard to purchase at a good deal. I have been struggling with this for some time now. I contacted the only operator in my area hoping to see if they had anything they were trying to get rid of. I got the impression that I was not welcome and that they thought I was out to screw them. It make it hard to try and make allies in the community with this type of reaction.
I bought one pin from a pinside member with a great experience. Maybe i'll meet a collector one day so I can at least catch a deal, until then I have to deal with all the sellers trying to make a killing on every pin they sale.

Someone on here gave me this advice. I try to work pinball into any conversation I have with strangers. Today I stopped to talk to a guy with a Jeep (I drive an old Jeepster) and after talking about his mini Jeep lawnmower I mentioned how I collect vids and pins. He wanted to show me something and I got excited. It ended up just being a pachinko that I may end up trading for a lawnmower or something with a small engine but you never know which stranger has some kind of treasure tucked away.

When I'm at shows I talk to strangers about their pins or dealers who are there selling parts. It just pays off to make those connections. I've never put a want ad up but I think they would work. I've mentioned in threads before about wanting a certain pin and had guys PM me that they would sell theirs cheap.

Last month I bought a project Williams Rancho on eBay for $100 (an honest price) and looked at the seller's other listings but didn't think much of it, but when he called me to discuss he mentioned if I wanted anything else so I mentioned a project Williams Triple Strike (no backglass) he had just listed, 0 bids, starting bid of $80. He said if you wanted it for $80, it's yours. So I said sure. All of this was after he already offered to meet me at an NJ rest stop driving from his home in Connecticut because he was heading 15-20 minutes from my house to pick up some video games from the Newark docks. $180, a 15-20 minute drive, and some generosity later, I have two games in the back of my truck.

I had never ever met this guy, heard of this guy, or dealt with this guy before this. Total stranger. There are still honest sales out there but it sure is getting hard to find them.

I got them home and discovered the entirety of the backbox lighting of the Triple Strike was filled with original working GE 455's. Those bulbs are discontinued and worth like $20-$50 a bulb now to pinball collectors, and I have at least 15-20 of them. (Although I'll be using them, not selling) The Triple Strike, although still in the same state waiting to be taken on, actually ended up to have a MINT perfect condition cabinet and mint playfield, just (still) dirt covered, but you can see through it - it ended up being the better buy of the deal by a landslide.

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zacaj also has a game waiting for me, not at a steal price, but a fair price for both of us (which is important when dealing with friends) for the condition of the machine, it's a balance kind of thing - he's not getting ripped off, and I'm not getting ripped off, neither of us are getting a "steal" but we're both getting something we can utilize and use, money for him and a project that I could very happily breathe life into that he would rather pass on to somebody who could/wants to. It definitely helps to know people and make friends, especially here on Pinside.

Needless to say, I'm excited.

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I played a Rancho at the Nashville Expo a couple of weeks ago. I really enjoyed the art and gameplay. Most times I just get games that are available but Rancho might be one I eventually pursue. The drop targets and kick back lane were neat features.

It really is a beautiful game, I love the art and the "setting" of the machine. I always thought that kind of thing was so cool in it's own way. "Feels" cool, very immersive.

I have yet to set mine up. The Triple Strike had a bunch of a cat hair inside and those projects usually materialize last because I'm seriously disgusted by it and also slightly allergic so I can't enjoy restoring and troubleshooting and getting it all out of the wiring harness and out of the billion little crevices in an EM machine is almost impossible. I figured Rancho may have the same fate, but I actually peeked inside yesterday when moving it out of the way to bring another game down into the gameroom and it didn't seem to have gotten a cat inside like the other. So now with this post and my new discovery, it may have to come down very very soon...

Oh, and it does need a new playfield probably. Lots of touchup. Pretty nice cabinet again though. Backglass is a little shot too. It's a Williams though, so although I will probably struggle a little in finding them in the first place (this goes for all manufacturers), at least it won't be overpriced when I do. Unfortunately that's what comes with the popular Gottlieb name here in the EM community... That's also why I got them so cheap, it's hilarious, I can buy like 5-10 GREAT GREAT Williams titles in great condition for like the price of an Atlantis in the same condition. It's really baffling. People talk about the outrageous prices but it's usually just the Gottlieb hype pricing. Maybe it's just me but just counted in my head (and absolutely shocked myself) and I've found and collected 8 excellent condition Williams titles under or at $250 in the past year, and they were all solid titles and not duds. Again, maybe it's just me, and the pinball gods are watching out for me or something.

That's certainly not a complaint either. I'd rather it be that way than even across the board! More for me!

Ha. EM guys, am I right? Those guys and their declarations...I'm glad the SS community is free from all that nonsense.

Again, I don't go searching for titles or EMs in particular. If they are close and cheap I'll go pick them up. I bought 5 games this year. Bought BSD from an old CL ad that I saved with a screenshot. Picked up the Gottlieb Super Spin for $60 off CL a couple of hours away. Bought Hook on a smooth transaction from a pinsider. Picked up the Williams Little Chief 15 minutes away for $72.50 at a yard sale. Picked up CGC Vacation America for $525 off CL a couple of hours away.

Super Spin and VA I was the first to call. Little Chief I actually turned down at $125 but when we did a package deal with 3 other arcades I was OK with it. If you see a deal, you have to be willing to go get it right then otherwise don't call. If you're can't get it right away then if someone swoops in to take it, it's your own fault. I told both people with the Super Spin and the VA that I would come right away if they needed me to. Super Spin waited till the weekend but VA I went to get on a Tuesday.

The rules to acquire deals...
Be patient and diligent with online searching.
Be thorough inspecting machines.
Have money and transportation ready at all times.
Have the flexibility to go get it at the drop of a hat.

I think you might be off a little on this--closer to $1 per bulb.

Yeah, maybe, it's just what I heard. Word for word. I'm admittedly probably wrong - but again, that's what I heard and I didn't mistake it. It does seem a little crazy but these are impossible to find and I have seen some pinheads go a little crazy over hard to find parts. I'm keeping all of mine anyways so I was never looking to make some kind of false profit. Can't wait to put them in a lot of my machines that look good with them. Will have to do some testing around to figure that out I'm sure.

We're having a little discussion here if you'd like to join in, I just made and posted a comparison video: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/used-ge-455s

I hear you. I see that a lot too. The way I see it anyone equating Ebay asking prices to actual value is stupid and you can't fix stupid. I don't even bother trying to tell them different anymore. And due to flippers and the aforementionted stupids, 90%+ of the pins on Craigslist are now way overpriced by 50-100%, which is too bad.

You did mention looking for projects and those are the definition of projects.

"Stock Car"?

Hi Guys. Its been a long time since I posted on Pinside. Been hanging out in the fringes for quite a while, waiting for life to let me get back involved a little more. Until then, I need your input if you have some.

Cutting to the chase, I have someone asking to buy one of my Abra Ca Dabra machines and I have no idea what a fair price is right now. It is apart and in storage and needs to be shopped. Overall good condition (normal but minimal playfield wear, BackGlass has flaking in spots, cabinet is decent) and it wont take much TLC to get it going. Mechanically it is sound.

I will offer it as is or shopped depending on the buyer needs. I know this is hard to do on description alone, but I was hoping for a rough idea on price ranges.

I appreciate any input you might have to offer.

Thanks, Dane

Weird thread to do this. Maybe start a for sale ad or thread.

100%, Go with 'Stock Car', but that photo looks more like Vintage Racing? Stockers from 1962 to 1972.

You're right. I started a new thread in the EM hangout.