pix ?

My favorite part is how the OP went and looked at the game first for a reasonable price, walked from it, then went and looked at it for twice the price at the business and walked from it again.

Then goes on pinside and complains the guy's buying up all the deals and he doesn't have an opportunity to buy any....

A, then B, then C because A never happened

2nd favorite... favorite is this...

you complain that the guy buys every pin around at "reasonable price" and resells them for "more than you believe they are worth", yet you are also complaining that you have had a pin listed for a long time and it hasn't sold...

one would think that if the pin you are selling is "reasonably priced" (which you obviously think all pins should be priced at), you wouldn't be having so much difficulty selling it... after all, the "hoarder" should have been all over it...

To add another data point: when I lived in that area, I bought at least ten pins locally at fair prices. These were listed on pinside, craigslist, and ebay.

2.1k WW, 3k NGG, 2.6k BSD, 1.2k SST, 0.3k Sharpshooter, 2.2k Nascar, 2.5k for Space Shuttle and Diner combo, 4.2k TSPP and shiner bock neon, and a 0.3k time warp for a friend.

I was patient, never really looked for specific titles, and usually had cash on hand ready to go

this calls for government regulation... Not. We have a dealer here in rochester that snaps up a lot of games. He is a customer of mine. I had a meteor and a blackout on mr pinball. I had done a bunch of work to both both repair wise and cosmetically. Playfield touchups, legs derusted, coin doors painted, cabinets filled and touched up. He payed me 1250.00 each and he has them in his pretty impressive showroom for 2695.00 each. Someone will buy them eventually. He will continue to be a customer too because he knows I will provide him with a solid product that he can flip without too many headaches and keep his business profitable. I'm sure this happens alot. I could have gotten a few more bucks by selling to an end-user but I covered my costs and enjoyed fixing and playing these games while I had them. Turn your problem into your solution...

I know everybody loves car analogies:

Your local "Classic Car Showroom" charges 2x the price for a 1967 Mustang that someone would pay on CL.

The reason the Showroom does not go out of business, is because the kind of customer that buys from them, is a totally different customer than someone who buys from CL.

The Dealer provides handholding that a private seller can't provide. Warranty, delivery, scheduled service, CarFax, detailing, electronic ignition, hardened valve seats so it runs on normal gas.....

Is the dealer ripping people off? No way.

A busy executive or even a housewife is not going to have time to wrench around with an old car.

again, I don't think the original OP was saying people that pick up restored machines for their store or people that pick up poor condition machines and restore them to sell are the problem. meh, I'm draining this thread, far too many people that can't seem to read through the posts before casting aspersions

edit: posted before Vids comments are up, vid I agree. I'd pay a premium for a game if the dealer is reputable and there was something inherent to the value of the machine (ie warranty, restoration work ect ect)

the OP mentioned a few times that the machines were not in top working order. again, only taking his word for it (then again why post here at all if he didn't feel compelled?) but that doesn't feel like a reputable dealer that's providing a service for that additional cost. Then again to use the car analogy there's always used car dealers that buy the beat up used insurance cars that are written off, they do the bare minimum and charge a premium for them in the hopes that their customers don't notice. (Carfax has really helped with this over the years) so this isn't new. Though I'm still puzzled why anyone would defend any dealer that would offer shoddy products at a premium. How is that helping anyone in the hobby?

Personally if I knew someone was looking for a machine, I'd steer them clear of that type of person and put the word out for them then offer them to check out sites like this to get a better idea of what their getting into and make a better decision (I'd do the same thing if someone was going to purchase a hot rod or muscle car)

I know the games in the showroom worked great.

The tech that used to work there is now the arcade conservation engineer at the national museum of play.

Even "Classic Car Showrooms" have some lesser vehicles out back behind the building that they have taken in trade.

They are not Showroom quality, but they run, have a warranty and may provide a valuable price point for some customer.

We can't fault them for serving that market too. Financially, not every car is worth restoring.

Some DMDs are unobtainum.

If the customer is hung up on the DMD not being perfect, it may provide the perfect haggling point to make the sale.

"I'll tell you what. Buy the game, and I'll have my tech replace the DMD this afternoon. No extra charge. How does that sound?"

Bang! Objection overcome, sale made. Dealer looks like hero.

I thought the prices were outrageous too, but I watched the games come and go with regularity. I have still never seen a nicer space shuttle, high speed, or comet

To some people a slightly higher price might also be worth the relationship/service they get.

A couple of examples:

Everyone typically has "their mechanic" for their car. He may not be the cheapest around, but they trust him to never do them wrong.

I get gas at a more expensive station that's even a little out of my way. It's always clean, I like the people inside, and they have a car wash.

If people shopped purely for price in every transaction, Target would be out of business.

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Does this guy buy within a 200 mile radius or what? I've only bought one pin in the state I reside. The others were bought in Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin (2). I'd say you should be willing to drive a little further to get what you want or ship the pin (as someone else suggested) if you find a good deal.

I can't find cheap pin deals and when I do a flipper beats me to it.

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Anyone that goes to a retail store looking for a bargain will be sorely disappointed. People go there for the convenience not the deals.

Many people buy one pin just to have one. They aren't looking for deals as they are not hobbyists or collectors. If you are looking for a deal at a retail store is the last place I'd go.

My suggestion is to get up early, peruse the classifieds, CL, Mr. Pinball, etc before the store owner does and beat him to the cheap deals. Then you can flip them; but be sure not to mark them up so we all can buy them from you cheap.

A lot of retailers have games on their sales floor with some issues, or needing to be shopped out. But, they typically shop them out and fix the issues once they have a buyer lined up.

It appears clear that you see the retailer as a villain, and you want everyone else to agree that he is a monster that must be stopped. But the reality is that there are buyers who want to do business with retailers.

Theres hoarders in every area believe me its a shame because most just buy and sell without even touching a pin at least if I get one I completely tear it down and make it beautiful again for a new person in the hobby . Ive did this numerous times after I was done playing the pin and have many happy clients but I cant find any more pins to save my life

I recently picked up a Getaway from Rob. Pin was decent/good and price was fair/reasonable. He's a good guy. If anything, Pinmail him to ask if he has a certain pin your're looking for.

Hoarders don't sell.

Here's the thing. I've paid higher prices before from similar "man cave store" type markets. Why? I couldn't find a game to buy, and shipping a machine if I found one would have made up most of the price difference. I could see and play the game, which is a luxury I wouldn't have gotten if i'd chosen to ship.

Do I do it often? No. Have I been guilty of it? Yes. Sometimes I'm just willing to pay more to be able to go get it myself and get my impatient hands on the machine I want rather than waiting for one to surface. Not all retailers are bad people. Some are, but you find bad people in every profession.

Exactly, end of discussion!

Toronto is pretty much tapped out on cheap games from CL, but I've still managed to pick up a couple of decent deals on older machines. You just have to keep an eye out and be ready to go with cash.

The best way to compete with that guy is to beat him to the deals.

That appears to be the way IPB was....

Pretty sure you are going to offend some Chewish people with that comment.

If you are looking for low cost, fixer upper, junk in your area...
Look no further than the following seller from NJ on ebay. He has a warehouse
full of crap. Broken, missing parts and water damaged.

ebay.com link: barrywnj

But maybe give this thread a read before you bid:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/anybody-ever-dealt-with-barrywnj-on-ebay