I'll never understand this thinking. Props to a guy who got ripped off? The "jamoke" offering double the asking price was offering LESS than the going rate for that game, but somehow he's an asshole?

You people celebrate people getting taken. Even the Picker guys will tell a seller when they are under pricing something, because they don't want to take advantage of people.

He even said "My loss," implying that he figured out it was worth a lot more than his asking price.

As a seller, it makes zero sense to turn down more money for something I'm selling if offered. If you're telling me you'd do so and be happy about it, I don't believe you. As a buyer, if I know something is priced incredibly low that means it'll likely go fast, so I'd want to offer more than asking to increase the odds of me getting it. It is classic supply and demand.

We don't live in a magical fantasy world where NO ONE is going to offer more than the asking price, so even if you want to hold your misguided principles, all that will happen is you won't get the game, because there's plenty of people willing to offer more.

Whoever shows up first with the most cash wins.

That I will agree with - if the seller agreed to the deal, and the buyer is already on the way, then that deal is done. However, if that guy doesn't show up it's open season again.

Yes, everyone involved is fully informed, which is the most fair transaction possible. I take exception to celebrating taking advantage of the seller's ignorance and calling the people making fair offers "assholes".

So you're rich and don't care about money. Your story has nothing to do with the average Craigslist seller, who 99% of the time is trying to get cash for an object they don't want anymore, and generally would like to get the most cash in the easiest way.

if the original seller wants sell something for a price they have in mind, why do aholes come out of the woodwork and start driving the price up, up, up...

Again with calling people making FAIR MARKET VALUE OFFERS "assholes". Just admit that you're bent out of shape that someone else informed the seller of the TRUE value of what they were selling and screwed you before you could screw them. At least be honest.

I'm no saint - if someone is offering to sell me something for considerably less than market rate, I'm generally not going to correct them.

But like Levi says, "this is craigslist bro", it is 100% guaranteed that someone is going to offer them more than asking on a pinball machine because it's usually the only way to differentiate yourself from the 17 other guys calling to buy the game.

The market is just TOO HOT to ignore REALITY. I would in no way fault the seller for taking the higher offer, and I know better than to start driving until the guy says no one else is coming sooner.

Maybe that's how it works in Muskego, but here in Toronto or out in Vancouver, there's tons of "after acceptance" offers that cause a deal to fall through. Hell, they recently had to outlaw realtors re-selling people's homes a bunch of times without telling them, often for more than a million dollars over the initial price.

When demand is high, as it is in pinball, these arbitrary rules (that, by the way, seem to benefit the BUYER the most, isn't that surprising since it's all buyers expressing it) go out the window.

It's called Shadow Flipping.

http://globalnews.ca/news/2510453/what-you-need-to-know-about-shadow-flipping-in-vancouver/

If it were me, I'd be telling the buyer that whoever arrived first with the money gets the machine. If you live four hours away, why are you even looking at Craigslist listings in that area? You have to know pins are hot everywhere and any true deals are going to be gone in minutes.

Okay then, how long does the first caller have "dibs"? There seem to be complex rules involved with this whole "dibs" thing. I suspect, however, that whoever shows up first with cash wins.

will tip for holding (if the deal allows it of course).

So you're willing to pay more than the asking price?

So all of that being said I don't think four hours is out of the questions I just don't expect too much in the way of great deals.

As long as you're not expecting any deals, search as far wide as you want I say.

Once again we're back to calling people who make offers for the FULL VALUE of the game "dicks" and the people selling them BELOW MARKET VALUE are "honourable."

You guys talk a lot about "honor" and being "true to their word", but wouldn't the honourable thing be to pay a FAIR PRICE for a game instead of preying on the ignorance of a seller and calling it a "great deal"? You people frame it so you come out looking like you're doing nothing wrong, when you're actually leveraging your knowledge of the market to your OWN advantage, but somehow when someone else does the same thing (leverage their knowledge of the market by offering a higher but fair price) but instead YOU miss out, somehow THEY'RE the asshole.

Interesting how that flips over when someone else benefits.

Oh boy, cargument!

A car dealer is the absolute definition of the informed seller, so bargaining with them is playing on a level playing field. The car analogy you want is the one where the widow sells an old Corvette for $200.

On a side note of this topic, I'm looking forward to the day when more sellers are internet savvy and would take an Internet-based deposit like Paypal or whatever - then this whole argument is moot since cash has traded hands.

Well, they have your cash so they know you're at least serious enough to put money on it. I'd take a paypal deposit over your word on the phone any day.

Here in Canada we have Interac, which is instant payment from your bank account to another, no fees, and it's as good as cash - that would be the ideal way to go. I can do it from my phone.

Yes, that's basically in line with my general argument as well.