Nobody should be sharing this information publicly if we want this discount program to remain in place.

A quick email to [email protected] will get you the info you're looking for. Hint: It's a nice discount.

That would be nice.....

Agreed here. Email Josh and he will usually get back to you in a day. Make sure your profile is completed and give him your address as he quotes to your door. It's less than reg distributor prices and less than people want for used games 99% of the time.

When someone offered to let me use theirs a few years ago, it was a joke. I'd be shocked if it's any different, to the point it's more worth it than going through a distrib. you've previously had business with.

Clearly, I don't think a few hundred off of MSRP is a "nice discount" when the price comes out to be the same as our well known vendors already. Hope your experience is substantially different than mine was.

This is insanity. It's a competitive reward for competitive people, footed by a company that's trying to stay competitive. If they don't want people to talk about it, then they certainly don't want anyone to USE it. Stern has to have signed off on the whole thing, and can change the program at any time if they don't feel like it's doing what it's supposed to be doing. If you're telling me they don't want us talking about it because it frankly amounts to little more than you would get from a reliable vendor...I'LL BUY THAT!

Isn’t the entire point of a rewards program to incentivize those who wouldn’t normally spend the money...?

$tern’s reward:
Stern Rewards (resized).jpeg

Your lucky to get Vaseline. I have purchased two new machines from all father Stern and neither Deadpool LE or Elvira HOH worked out of the box. Stern did make it right but 100 failure? I'm over new pins you have to fix from day one. I can buy used pins and have to fix them all day long. Don't even start me on the unfinished code crap.(Stepping off soap box)

Wait a minute! But Icey says that Stern has totally upped their game since IMDN and that his Elvira is flawless! That he’s all in on the next title sight unseen because Stern keeps hitting it out of the park! What gives? Has anyone seen Icey lately so we can ask him? Oh, yeah, RD did!

(edited)

The Stern Rewards program clearly attempts to motivate people to play more pinball so they become eligible to participate in it. Maybe your credit card rewards program works the way you're describing, but I've gotten huge benefits from the Stern Rewards program and don't feel this kind of cynicism toward it.

It's a good discount now. When it first came out it was laughable.

You should contact the ifpa email through there page to find out, if you are eligible.

I agree.

Who do you go through for warranty work/issues if you purchase from IFPA?

You go directly to Stern.

When's the last time you looked into this? The discount is substantial. And we dont post the rate out of respect. Nobody said we cant but knowing distributors cant post $ we just do the same for rewards out of respect for Josh. To some that still means something.

This has nothing to do with rewards program. Same could happen if you bought from a reg distributor.

Why does this community have to be full of negativity all the time? Stern doesn't have to do this nor Josh. They do it to help people and to drive competitive pinball. You dont like Stern, fine but there isnt merit to bash this program.

That’s not cynicism, that’s basic market principles. Both parties are making money off the deal. That’s why it’s offered. You offer deals to sell product. That’s just the way to world is. The rewards program is trying to get competition players to buy pinball machines directly from Stern which boosts their bottom line (no middleman) and add that competitive players are usually the very savvy types so they know costs and such associated with pinball machines over the wealthy home collector. Competitive types are more likely to buy games off the secondary market since they rotate the collection often

So...it's changed then. When I looked into it, it was the first year or two of the program. If someone wants to PM me the details, I'd appreciate it. I've been looking for excuses to get back into leagues and whatnot anyways.