Yeah, kinda took a lil advantage IMO. You obviously feel remorse otherwise you wouldn't be asking for others opinions.

Well, obviously taking advantage of someone to such an extent earned you a bad rep with him and contributes to the overall sentiment ops have of getting ripped off by buyers. Whether you care or not is up to you.

Personally I think flippers and quick-buck-makers hurt the actual pinball consumer by driving up overall prices while adding minimal value (just like in housing), but IMO making money off of pinball and being a pinball hobbyist are two separate concepts that just happen to have some overlap. So again, the people making money at the expense of other hobbyists may or may not care what anyone else thinks.

It could be argued that flippers do the hobby a service by digging up machines that are just sitting around and flipping them into the market to increase circulation, and this may be true if the guy who owned them would not have ever let them go except in a huge package deal (probably not many people would be interested in dealing with dropping a couple hundred thousand on 100 machines) but if some other end consumers could have gotten in on the action and bought some machines for themselves then basically you enriched yourself at the expense of everyone else. Of course that's how economics works. Obviously there's high enough demand to pay high prices, and you're not required to be altruistic (but some people may not want to deal with a known flipper).

Well, that's kind of a tuff one... considering he's in the "know" he shouldn't have a problem with it... the hard side of that is that if you knew they were worth a lot more than what he was selling them for and just let him do it... but, is it really your place to point that out, you as a buyer from someone like that, you would think he knew what they were worth and was just looking to unload them... kind of like if I buy something from someone who just has a machine, say mm and I say I'll give you 2 thousand dollars (dr evil style) and he sells it, then I turn around and sell it for 10k... I should go to hell for it... I don't think in your case you should feel bad about anything... he sold, you sold... you just happened to make a little more at it... welcome to America

Dude - CONGRATS!

Yeah, I'm with others on this.

I love going to swap meets and garage sales and like looking for neon beer signs, etc. On more then one occasion, I have educated someone on their asking price and paid much more then they were asking.

It's a Karmic thing and I feel I keep finding gems because of it, but who knows? It feels good to pay a price that is fair to both parties.

Just my two cents.

If joeblow says to me, "I got this Twighlight Zone pinball I would like to sell for 1K", I damn sure ain't gonna offer more. Sorry. I have limited pin funds like alot of folks and if I can snag some of the A listers at bargains or steals, I will jump at the chance. On the same side of the coin, if the title that joeblow had was one that I did not personally want, but I knew I could make some money or trade it for a game I did want, I would still grab it at rock bottom prices. Great find on those warehouses. I went to a warehouse raid and every POS pin was 2K or more. We're talking routed into the ground getaways and other low end titles. Some insiders did score TAF and TZ for 2K each. Sorry for rambling.

Like I said, if I went to a distributor and bought 1000 neon signs for x amount, and then turned around and sold them individually and made a profit am I wrong?

I don't know what you have to gain from asking. Did you take advantage of the guy? Yeah. Should he have done some research? Yeah. Would most people find it hard to turn a good deal down? Yeah.

How you wanna feel about it is up to you. There are worse people doing worse things and nicer people doing nicer things.

BTW... I'll take 1 tz and 1 mm for 1600.
ooh and I'll pay the shipping...

Bobby, this has happened to you..how did you feel about it?

My opinion....... it's business not personal...but those who live in a glass house......

The only way you can make this right is to let those "savings account" pins go to the pinside community at cost. PM me for shipping info

+1600 "wink"

seriously? twilight zone $600? medieval madness 1000? attack from mars 1000? If you sold those at current market prices, I estimate you profited $18k just on those 3 pins.

While he did set the prices, perhaps you shouldn't have resold them in lots.. you basically titled yourself as a middleman, and it sounds like you did it in a short time period. It would have been one thing to slowly shop them out, and sell them off one at a time (so your selling them at higher prices because you put work/money into them), but doing what you did sounds like you either:
a. did it for quick profit
b. sold off the ones you didn't want to keep (because you couldn't afford to keep them all), and kept the ones you did want.

Why is it that people with massive amounts of pins in storage sell them in a lot? Why don't they let an auction house sell them off one at at time?

If the guy had all these A titles he surely should have known what they are worth. Im assuming he bought them NIB & should have known they werent cheap even back then. Congrats on the Score, If youre feeling the slightest bit guilty you could always pass along a lil of your good fortune to some fellow pinsiders... (=

The op had had these games obroute and had made his money off them
He was happy to accept $1000 for them

The only problem I see is that you did not offer then up to your fellow pinsideds for a bargain price :p

Kinda funny. A few years ago my business partner asked my what we'd take for our MM. I told him $5k - no less! Someone came in a few months ago and asked himwhat he wants for it. His answer? Of course, $5k. Sold. Gone. Mint. Now offered at $16.5k. Shucks. Live and learn. Of course, Im heartbroken, but other than a little internal teeth gnashing, its all good. True story or strike me down.

They were out there on Ebay for a good deal. Some pinsiders were talking about them a while ago.

Don't feel bad for 1 second.

He set the price, you didn't. I'm sure he knew that a warehouse bulk price is not the same as a retail store price. On the other hand, if you feel bad about it just call him and tell him you will donate all your profits to charity if he will join with you and match the same in cash and donate as well.

... not for 1 second Dude.

Then why ask?

If he set the prices, who is responsible for what you bought them for? He is. Once you bought them, you were free to do what you wanted with them. If you sold them at a profit, (and at those prices it did not seem hard to do,) then more power to you. If I had a Monster Bash and I listed it on this forum for 1K people would be killing themselves to try and get it at that price. Even if they did not want/need it. I find it hard to believe that people would say," Hey, do you know that you should be selling that machine for X amount of dollars? I don't want to pay 1k I want to give you 10K." If the seller set the price and sold too low, that is not your problem that is his for not being informed of what the value is on what he had. If you OUTRIGHT LIED to him on the value, then that would be a lousy thing for you to do. Every retail and wholesale business sells for more then what they pay for their merchandise. Should Wal Mart feel bad for what they do? How about Burger King who probably makes about $6.50 on a $7.00 value meal? Plus it sounds like you bought a ton of stuff from him. It does not seem like it was something that he would want to sell piece by piece. You obviously had the funds to buy in bulk. Not many people would. Would you rather have had someone else get that deal? I am willing to bet that if you sold in lots, the games that you sold will make a nice profit for the new buyer, who will probably sleep just fine at night and not feel even the slightest guilt over it.

+1 Yeah the karma gods will get you unless you sell me some pins at cost
Seriously tho - HE SET THE PRICE -YOU PAID = deal done

I have no idea why you would post this on a public forum;

At best you come off looking like someone who would glady rip someone off if they are uninformed. Its bad enough to be that guy, why did you just go put on his nametag and uniform and run to the front of the room shouting about it?

How can that be good for business?

Honestly, the right thing to do would have been to alert the guy to the current pin renaissance before asking prices (or shortly after hearing how low they were). He likely would have still given up the merch for a fair price and it would have prevented hard feelings.

If you feel bad about it, let him in on it. Offer to show him how to direct sell his remaining pins to collectors, or to post them for him on consignment. He'll recoup the money he "lost" on this deal and you might make a couple bucks yourself.

Uh, no. If youre trying to make Bene look bad, dont get the saying polar-opposite and innocently wrong. The correct wording is, "At WORST, you come off looking. . .like a thief". At best, he paid what the seller wanted. . . Just offering a correction

The real issue is that sour grapes bastard that would have tried to bargain him down further if he had the chance. What did he really accomplish but to try and piss you both off as much as he was that he missed the deal. Happens all the time.

I kinda hate all the professional "off-the-grid" flippers that are in business these days with a white-hot passion (it makes trying to be a collector a f'n nightmare in my neck of the woods), but if the seller set the prices, then there aint a damn thing to feel bad about.

In 2012, it IS NOT hard to get online and get an idea about what something might be worth. Even if someone's not an "Internet guy", they most certainly know a ton of people who can help them find information on the 'Net.

Now, if YOU had set the prices with misleading info like "Sorry, but these machines just don't bring much money anymore...$1k for MM is the best I can do", then that's a whole different story.

Umm...

I don't know what went down, I just know from the information offered if I brought Bene a collection of X, and he was an expert in it, would I trust him to pay me a fair amount after reading this? So if I sell him something for $1000 and its worth $10,000 he can soul searchingly post "should I feel bad?" about it.

Gimme a break...

Buyers and sellers beware, life's not often fair...

However I have never sought to profit off the ignorance of others, it does not make business sense in the long run if you get that sort of reputation.

On a side note. . . You asked if you should feel bad for buying too low, although at asking price. . .it may be that you have a God fearing, legit, christian internal dilemma that you wanted to ask about. If that is the case, I believe you have no moral conflict with which to deal. You did nothing wrong. In fact, it could be, as scripturally consistent, that those who are poor caretakers of God's money will lose it and those who are good caretakers will flourish.

I know. Controversial, but very real to some of us. . . .just saying.

The guy sold to you because he trusted you. "since I have bought from him for years now"
It is bad business.
It will catch up to you.

Why am I getting the vibe that you didn't start this thread to ask if you should feel bad but instead to gloat about how you got over on a clueless old man?

TAF $600? MM $1000??

Should you have said they worth more then that? I think you know the answer...

He set the price.

He knows what he paid for them, he depreciated them, he made money off of them.

He was happy to get the price.

I see no problem with it.

Yeah. We all do that. Someone selling a home too cheap? Let em know and pay more. Car too cheap? Ditto. Roofer too cheap? Tip 'em. The guy that buys 1,000 laptops from a company in bulk, but used, fully depreciated, and a company liability? Pay them more. A bankrupt business being sold due to divorce you buy at a deal? Nope, pay them more. . .the list is endless. . .

In fact (not really), when I see a pin for sale for $500 that I know is worth $1,200, i always go buy it and pay the guy $1,200. . .

image.jpg

So why did you post this thread again?

If no one had told him what you did would you have still posted this?
You got a great deal and everyone would approach it in theyre own way. Some would take the cash and not worry. Some would have told him right off the bat that they were worth more. Some would give him a gift on the back end. Its just whatever you want.. Its your choice

Well, If I asked an old man how much he wanted for his 2011 BMW and he says "A thousand dollars", I'm pretty sure I wouldn't take advantage....

You seriously don't double check when somebody's selling something at way too low a price, or offers you way too high a price?

I always do. Half the time it turns out there was something I didn't originally understand about the deal. For example, I bought a furnace that was about $1500 less than the next guy. Turns out the warranty, while for a longer period, didn't cover labor and the furnace was 10k BTUs less. Within tolerance for our existing square footage but no room to expand, heat the garage, etc.

That's what a warehouse raid is all about. You get the stuff dirt cheap, but in return, he hears no bitching about this not working, this is missing this board and so on. Plus he has one source, to move and clean everything out. That's the way it's always been. Saves him the time to deal with each pin and each person. Plus your there, with cash, clean the place out. Were they way cheaper than should have been. Probably, but that's part of the treasure hunt. It's not like he was asking for more and you sweet talked him down. I'm sure you gladly paid his asking prices. If someone has a ferrari sitting in a barn and says I can have it for $1000 to get it out of there. I'm not going to say....no no no sir...I insist you take 30k.

Hell no. I'm going to spend the next 2 months figuring out how i'm going to haul pins in a Ferrari.

Fair enough. NADA says $40,000. How much will extra will you pay over $1,000?