i have not sold any pinball machines, but i have moved quite a few pieces of high end a/v equipment...

my attitude is the same as yours... low ball me once, you are on the "don't sell to list" for eternity... low ballers are nothing but trouble...

6k is prob the going rate for a solid playable clean afm in the current market. I would try to get her to throw out the first price but if she's still not sure when u talk to her in 2 weeks I would throw out 4k and let her sit on that. 4k is a lot of money for a person that doesn't play/collect pinball and hard to turn down. Doubt she would take that as a lowball offer and still leaves you room to go higher if you have to. I would prob not want to go over 5k though. It's expensive to pay someone to restore a game for you. If the scoop hole damage is really bad I would just get one of those badass clearcoated repos that I saw at the Allentown show. They were like $800 ish if I remember correctly, cheaper than having someone restore the stock one.

Sounds like she will sell it to you eventually as long as she knows its going to a good home. To some (very few) people that is more important than the money. Offer to show it to her when its completely redone.

I hope when I die my pins go to someone that will appreciate them rather than gathering dust in storage or ruined by my family.

I agree with my fellow CNY resident here, 4k is what I would start with in your shoes. Not that I have a lot of experience in this type of deal, but I would think should be enough that there wouldn't be any chance of her being offended and you'd still be getting a good deal.

The oldest line in the book, only to be flipped at twice the price the next day.

most peopLE who say " I DONT KNOW WHAT ITS WORTH"..ACTUALLY DO HAVE AN IDEA BUT ARE HOPING YOU offer MORE THAN "WHAT ITS WORTH". or, EVERYONE WITHOUT REAL HANDS ON PINBALL KNOWLEDGE GOES ON EPAY OR RETAIL STORE WEBSITES AND SEES THE REDICULOUS START OUT PRICES ON SOME RETAIL PRICED MACHINES AND ASSUMES "THATS WHAT THEY SELL FOR".
ASK HER PLAIN AND SIMPLE, WHATS YOUR BOTTOM DOLLAR GONNA BE. SHE OWNS THE MACHINE, AND TRUST ME, SHE HAS A NUMBER IN HER HEAD. DON'T PLAY AROUND. GET TO THE POINT. THE MORE YOU WAIT, SOMEONE ELSE WILL SNAG IT.
TELL HER YOU ARE SHOWING UP WITH CASH AND NEED TO KNOW HOW MUCH TO BRING BCUZ U DONT WANT TO SHOW UP WITH TOO LESS CASH AS U WILL BUY ON THE SPOT.
I SEE PEOPLE ALL THE TIME LIST PINS ON C LIST FOR SALE AND ALWAYS REFERENCE "THERE IS ONE ON EPAY FOR 3 GRAND, I ONLY WANT 2 GRAND FOR MINE..." USING THAT OVER INFLATED EPAY RETAIL STARTING POINT AS A REFERENCE TO TRY TO TRICK POTENTIAL BUYERS.
YOU KNOW, THE PRICE NO ONE EVER PAYS.

Just offer $4k and be done with it. At that price, you can pay a pro to restore it and break even or you can do a few repairs, make it playable and maybe make a few hundred if you decide to get rid of if. Paying $6K for a players game that will require a full boogie resto is silly unless this is a grail for you.

Your keyboard seems to have an issue of some sort.....

If a seller forces the buyer to name the price, a lowball is perfectly acceptable. It is then the sellers responsibility to come back with a price that when split will be acceptable to both parties. If the seller says go to hell on an initial lowball, you don't have a negotiating partner and should walk away.

It is always the selling party's responsibility to throw out the first number. If they won't, the item is not really for sale. I call this situation the inverted tire kick. It happened to me a couple weeks ago when I offered $600 for a pretty nice tee'd off. She said, "Go to hell." Then she never came back with a price. She said she'd call me in a couple of days, which she never did.

Again let me restate... if the seller won't name a price, they really don't want to sell. If they really don't want to sell, you really don't want to buy. I know some of you will disagree. That's only because you don't follow proper etiquette. When a seller forces the buyer to name the price, it's really just a case of bad manners. I generally repay the disrespect with a extreme lowball followed by a "what did you have in mind?" Anyone who is offended by this is just a fool who doesn't understand manners of commerce.

That's the thing, this one wasn't listed for sale. The original poster is trying to buy a game that's currently on route.

You sound like a weak negotiator. Why is a lowballer trouble if you stick to your price? If you give in then I can see where there could be a problem, but if you stick to your price and then you can tell them all sales final!

I actually enjoy finding out a buyer is a dick before the deal consummates. Then I can be a bigger dick for my own benefit. If it runs of the buyer, good riddance.

experience has proven to me that i am comfortable with my statement...

i have no desire to prove to anyone that i can be a bigger dick than they are... that's rather pointless, imo...

Major scoop wear on AFM is common. If it's blown out too far, you need a new PF or a complete restoration as putting a Cliffy over a big hole will just get the Cliffy mangled pretty quick with balls hitting it.

People here are advising you all over the place on price. I use a much simpler method.

Figure out what you consider to be the top price for this title if it has a new PF, new cab art, new plastics, fully tricked out (might as well include a Color DMD). Once you settle on what *that* AFM should cost, start working your way backwards on cost to figure out what it would take to get her AFM up to that point. If that puts you at $2,000, then so be it. *TELL* her that same reasoning. Every person I've ever talked price on a pin with, once they see how much it costs to get their pin up to the top price range, understands that their pin is NOT worth as much as a perfect, CQ version.

After explaining it to her, feel free to offer *more* than the baseline and explain that you're offering that extra to her as you would really like to get this title and it's worth that much more than the going rate to you.

This seems like a very fair approach to me and will also help you gauge if you're going to end up way upside down on a title after restoring it.

Oh and since you said "major scoop wear" on an AFM, I have to add this nasty pic. badafmscoop.jpg

After another review of the Original Post, I have determined that this thread is a complete waste of everyone's time because the machine is not for sale and the owner is simply trying to find out what she can get for the machine if she were to sell it to Volunteer.

Since it's my week to be Master of the Universe. I declare this thread closed.

http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/fs-attack-from-mars-4

6k sold very fast .

Do we know it actually sold for 6k? confirmation?

Not that I saw. However, at that price, I doubt the buyer wanted to test his luck trying to get it for less. Someone else would probably swoop in at that price and grab it with no questions asked.

Purely speculation of course.

EDIT: The seller posted that it sold for well under $6k to a repeat customer, so that's why I shouldn't speculate on things. lol. My bad! And congrats to one very lucky buyer!

Great looking for one myself (close) just wanted a gauge on pricing

If you should decide to pass on it feel free to pm me some details on it.