we should all strive to have a pin leave our collection better than when it came into it.

My first pin was a hurricane, and I had no experience repairing pins before that. I enjoyed it for a year, fixing the little stuff here and there, tearing down the playfield cleaning and waxing it in preparation to sell it on craigslist.

Right before I was going to sell it I found out that all of the GI wires were soldered directly to the board, much like this buyer experienced. The GI still worked so I was hesitant to do anything.

I came on here and asked everyone's opinion, do I fix this even though its working? Would a new pin buyer even notice this? Everyone told me, yes you need to fix this, it was the ethical thing to do.

So even though I was hot to sell and get a new pin, I put on my big boy pants, ordered all of the parts and tools, paid a local pinsider to come over and show me how to make the repairs, and a month later it was done and I could sell it with a good conscience.

We should all strive to act this way.

In the end, that Pinsider that came over is now a good friend, and sold me two pins at great prices because we became friends and we respect each other.

How much for the TZ?

Thanks.

It really bothers me when people charge premium prices when they don't actually do anything to a pin, other than get to it first and get it for cheap. I understand when someone new or has the cash wants to pay above average prices for a game they think someone has gone through and is in already good condition, I get that. But as a seller when you aren't doing your due diligence it is not helping anyone and is in fact bad business.

If you are constantly moving pins in and out of your home and buying and reselling, you give the impression to newcomers and everyone else that you are knowledgable and know what you are doing and that its not really a hobby at this point, its a business.

I think if you want to be a respected "flipper" this is the MINIMUM you need to do to a pin before you can ask for premium prices. This isn't high end restore, this is just due diligence.

-Full top down teardown. All visible star posts replaced, all rubbers replaced, thorough cleaning and waxing. All plastics, ramps etc cleaned thoroughly. Any broken plastics readily available should be bought and replaced.
-All bulbs either washed, replaced or upgraded to LEDS (if thats your jam)
-Cabinet vacuumed, cleaned, and deoderized
-Legs cleaned of rust and if too far gone replaced.
-All leg levelers replaced
-All flippers completely rebuilt.
-replace slingshot switches if they look old
-new balls
-all boards thoroughly inspected, if you do board work all solder should be reflowed on back of boards.
-Test menu should be gone through thoroughly and every single test should pass, that includes every bulb and flasher, and if any fail and you don't fix them, you point them out.

I am sure I am forgetting stuff here, but people want to treat this like a business then they should act like it is.

Before this is locked let's all REALLY think about what clay said as I think it's the most important thing to take away, on my phone so quote function does not work, copied and pasted:

"So if the Mousing was like the BK2000 (which is probably a good assumption), i could see a buyer thinking the game was fine, or not. Depends on the buyer. That said, if the BK2000 was $1500 or $2000, these things aren't issues really. There's enough room in the price to take care of any problems. (I always tell people when they buy a game to figure that they will spend $200 to get it "right".) But when you're selling a $2500 or $3000 BK2000, the thing should be damn near functionally perfect. The long dollar dictates this."