I do feel bad for you, because money is tight for a lot of people and purchasing something that costs thousands of dollars is difficult for a majority of people. Besides a house or car, it might be the most expensive purchase for most people. If the machine was going to an operator, the imperfections you have wouldn't have been that big of a deal. Since most pinballs are going into homes, quality control needs to be adjusted to their new market.

I do agree about not buying NIB for simple reasons.

1.99% of all machines depreciate so you are getting a better price on something that is slightly used. The pulling it out of a box excitement doesn't equal the amount of money you save by getting HUO for me. You can literally save hundreds of dollars.

2. There is a possibility you might get to play it first at a convention, on route or at a friends house first. You might like the theme, but not how something plays. Try before you buy. There are a lot of games that I love the theme, but the game play kept it off my must have list.

3. You get to examine it person before you take it home. If there is some sort of defect or blemish, you get to decide if it is something you can live with and not be at the mercy of a warranty. No need to really haggle over a price, I'm sure the seller is aware of the defect and has factored it into the sale.

4. You get to see if the game is fully supported. When I got my XMLE NIB, I was on pins and needles waiting to see which direction the software would go. I was lucky and the software ended up being great, beyond what I hoped. Before that, I do remember the Christmas software update that broke it. I didn't know which direction they were going to end up with it, and for a little while I had a sick feeling in my stomach until the next update came out putting the game of track again.

5. Some machines come with cool mods that you also get at a fraction of the price for by buying used. Colordmd, topper, protectors, etc..., if you don't like them you might be able to negotiate them from the price by having it removed, or sell them after you purchase the machine for an even better bargain.

Interesting analogy. What if the scratch was on the bezel and was noticeable especially when the tv was off? If somebody paid 8k for a top of the line 80 inch tv and there was ANYTHING they did not care for, most would take it back. Returning a tv is a lot easier than returning a pinball machine. Look at Best Buy reviews, people have returned televisions for minute things and just pick up another brand.

When I heard Gary do one of his speeches, talking about the 3 legged stool, and charging thousands of dollars for limited edition machines, I knew that these types of things would happen. Many people that collect things want pristine, perfect things. Pinball machines are the antithesis of that. You have a steel ball banging on plastic and more wiring than a Ford Taurus.

Reality is, the more you charge, the more people are going to be picky as pinballs are now becoming part of home furnishings. Operators weren't as picky, because collecting money from the coin box was their biggest concern. Williams would slap different decals over cabinets without removing the old decals. Collectors would go ballistic over some of Williams practices today.

It is just a different clientele today, that was created by Stern. They did this by raising prices, making limited editions, and marketing to the home market.

Ask the restorers how picky their clients are. Heck, if the market hadn't changed from operators to the home market, you wouldn't even see restorers.

The reason the tv analogy does not hold up, is you can take a tv back to the place of purchase and it can be 100% blemish free. It doesn't even have to have any scratch at all. You can claim you don't like the picture and actually have buyer's remorse. Watch the tv for a week and turn it back in for a refund. Some places have restocking fees, some places like Costco don't. Some give a store credit 1 to 1. Read the online reviews and see how common this is. Audio/videophiles are anal, and probably take their hobby to a whole new level of being picky compared to pinball collectors.

Try putting 200 plays on a machine then going back to a distributor and asking for a refund because you don't care for the flow.

Just pointing out the analogy is flawed as you don't need any reason, valid or not, to return a tv.

Proving my point, I see more and more comparisons to home furnishings, like tvs and refrigerators versus commercial equipment like air hockey tables, kiosks, or vending machines. As more machines go into the homes, for better or worse, you will see more threads like this.

Exactly. I remember a picture of Addams Family pins coming from Williams that had the side art facing the wrong way. A lot of those went to the operators. I don't know how many went out that way, but it was not an anomaly. (Example below: Most Addam's had the thing hand flicking the ball the other direction. I believe they used two right sides for these cabinets)

The good ole days weren't so perfect.

wrong_way_addams_(resized).jpg

My point was that if that were to happen now, if Ghostbusters had reversed art on some of their pins, for whatever reason, there would be a 500 page thread. Justifiable or not, I just wanted people to remember that there has always been manufacturing issues with pins and that it is not a recent thing. With social media, higher prices, and a new targeted customer base, it seems like quality control is a new problem, when it is not.