The wasted time is the worst. If I tell a seller I'm coming and I indicate it's a bit of drive, I expect the courtesy of having them wait for me to get there before having someone else come over to have a look. I've never had the exact situation you faced as I normally bow out once I hear things like "first come, first served" or anything else that makes me think it's going to turn into an on-site bidding war, especially if it's more than a few minutes a way.

I did have a seller tell me that he'd contact me about a game if the first guy that responded didn't want it. He called and said I should head his way and gave me his address. I told him that he was about an hour away, and that I was leaving immediately. About 45 minutes into the drive I get a call from the seller. He proceeds to tell me that someone just came and bought the game. I asked what was going on as he knew I was on the way. He told me he scheduled someone else to come "just in case" I didn't show up. Obviously, that guy got there before me. I asked him what would have happened if we would have arrived at the same time. I think he said something like "we'd have figured it out". I gave the guy a piece of my mind and then turned around and went home. For a second, I was really tempted to drive to his house so I could meet this jag-bag in person and to see the condition of the game. I chose not to. I then went back to my mantra "no deal is better than a bad deal" While that game may not have ended up being a bad deal, I feel like it was probably better that I didn't get that game. There have been plenty of games since then, so always remember, there will be other games.

OP, considering you didn't crap on his lawn or run his mailbox over, you might want to send the seller your contact info and ask him to forward it to the buyer, just in case the buyer wants to get out of the bad situation he's going to find himself in. Worst thing that could happen is that the seller doesn't forward it on as he already has your number.

Note to self: always carry a trick coin with you.

Crazy story! Thanks for sharing.

I was first in line for my bad cats at the listed $2100 last year (yes, a steal).

I rushed there to buy and in the interim, the seller told me another buyer stated he'd come right away (he was local) and pay $2500.

The seller ended up telling me that he was a man of his word and sold to me to for his stated $2100 dollar asking price.

There are good sellers out there.

Kind of all on the seller in my opinion and a bit on the buyer. As soon as he said First one would get it, I would have never made the trip. As for the other buyer, my guess is he was played the same as you new or not so not really his fault granted if someone pushed a hard FUD negative sale on me I for sure would not budge personally with that tactic.

LMAO ... nothing wrong with a bit of passive aggressive behaviour

My worst was going over a guys house who's house was filthy and had enough guns to start an army...

Guns were strewn about the house, on top of pins, in every corner etc etc.

He was clearly not right in the head so I made up some excuse and got out there before he ate my liver with fava beans.

Must be the week for wonky sellers.

Anxiously awaiting a Flash Gordon Tech help thread in approx 3-4 weeks out on how to repair an MPU, rusted lock, battery leak damage, playfield swap, how to trace out a short, and so on...

I made an offer by PM to another Pinsider for an aftermarket mod (not for a whole game) which he accepted by PM.
I PM'd him back asking for instructions on how I should pay for the item (by PayPal or whatever).
He later PM'd me that someone else had since offered him more money and he had agreed to sell it to him.
I raised my offer quite a bit and reminded him that he had already accepted my initial offer.
He replied that he was now losing $60 by not taking my raised offer, but he would not go back on his word to the other guy.
I then reminded him that that was exactly what he was doing to me by going back on agreeing to my original offer.
He replied that I was correct and apologized to me for not giving me the chance to raise my offer, but still sold it to the other guy.
I felt his apology did not make things right (and I really wanted the mod), but there was nothing I could do about it.

I am not naming the Pinsider or identifying the mod, since he did apologize at least.

Yikes!,
I've been lucky all my classic games have come from friends, or friends of friends.

At least it wasn't a Stargazer, you'll find another Flash Gordon.

Should have given the buyer your # and you could be the one he calls when he realizes he is screwed. Make some $$$

Totally stinks. Something similar happened to me with unrelated to pinball. Since then I vowed to walk as soon as a seller started playing games. The vow was very rational until I REALLY wanted a JJP POTC. Then I learned the same lesson again! Ok, now I know better.

But the clueless guy who bought it though, LOL. He’ll have a pinball machine for his arcade, but it will be a static display. I’d bet that he will never get it actually working.

I had the same thing happen when I was looking to buy a vw bus. Drove 3 hours one way, looked at the bus and when I pulled out cash he notified me about another guy coming to take a look. Long story short I didn't get that bus. Really sucked but I found another one later that year

My wife says you would've lost.

I guess it's worth taking the risk but I agree with others that there is just nothing but headaches dealing with people like that.

I had a similar experience buying a neon sign in Florida when I lived there. The wife was with me and I told her to leave the car running. The house was right out of Scooby Doo, complete with rickety outside stairs to an upper level, where every floor was sloping a different direction. He had the neon in a small bathroom. I figured that's where I would be killed, in the bathtub. I hurried the sale and got the hejj out of there.

I had a similar experience. I had a verbal agreement with a guy for his listed price. He calls back saying someone else was interested. He acted coy, trying to get me to offer more than his listed price. I didn't want to get into a bidding war so I just let it go. I was hoping the other guy would've done the same, but he probably bought it. I wasn't going to participate in an auction.

But consider yourself lucky. The worst buying experience for me occurred when I actually bought a game.

I had driven too far and saw the game needed a lot of work. I figured it was cheap enough and I could fix it, so I handed over the money. The seller was not a pinball guy, and very shady. As I started to break down the game, more undisclosed problems were discovered. With each discovery, I became more convinced that I'm making a mistake. I told the guy, I can't take this game, and I'd like my money back. The asshole said too late for refunds, and said he wasn't giving my money back.

I ended up feeling fortunate that I at least brought home the piece of shit game rather than just getting straight-up robbed. It was my lesson that it's better to go home without a game than buy a piece of shit because you drove an hour for it.

You don't know how shitty the game will be for the guy who won the coin toss. You came out ahead.

As soon as someone is mandating that "another buyer" needs to be there, always assume it is an acquaintance of the seller who is there to start a fake bidding war. The way your story reads, especially with that last plea from the seller for you not to leave, I'd bet dollars to donuts it was bid-war scam.

Great story! Sucks for you overall, but this was a fun read. I wonder if you had given your number to the other guy and said "if you give up on it, give me a call" if you would have gotten a call in a few days or weeks.

You were gracious to both parties. Kudos to you. You did your due diligence, offered over asking, showed up first... you did all the right things. That should have been your pin, you and I know that. Everyone here reading this knows that. I'm sorry the seller turned out to be incompetent, and the buyer didn't see it the same way you did.

Everything evens out in the end. You deserve something great. I hope it happens sooner than later. gl.

If that'd happened to me that seller would have had a dozen just right games listed on CL for the next week.

Had a similar situation a couple years ago. A Taxi out in Boone, about an hour an a half from me. I agreed to buy it for $600-800, I can't remember. It was a good deal. Drove up there, some other guy is there looking at it. It is really awkward. The machine needed a lot of love and had some corrosion damage. So, I already knew I wasn't going much higher for it. They basically wanted a bidding war on the spot. I think I said $1200 was my top offer, but I wasn't bidding and was a little annoyed at driving a 3 hour round for a deal to end up in this type of situation. I think the other guy bought it for $1300-1400 or something. I don't know, didn't care. Was upset to waste my afternoon.

Reading all these responses reminds me of a situation I thought was going to go sour a couple weeks ago. It was late at night when I saw the ad but I sent a message anyways, and to my surprise he responded quickly after. We had a good conversation through messenger and he had agreed to sell to me a couple days later.

Plans changed the next day so I messaged him and told him I could come out, which he responded he had several other people interested and higher offers, but luckily he kept to his word and his original listed price.

Got out there and guy ended up being one of the coolest people I’ve met in the hobby, used to restore old coin op equipment. While I was there I spotted a Star Wars control panel and was told he had all the guts to make a Star Wars cab, including a cab to put it all in.

We dig everything out and the cab was some sort of Atari prototype cab... after some research and reaching out it looks like it is a prototype 720. Score!

I almost didn’t go and make the drive because it was starting to sound like a highest offer/multi buyer on site situation. Luckily it wasn’t. I hope good karma lands in OPs lap soon!

I had a similar situation of "first one here" a couple years ago, but got lucky being the first one there, and the seller didn't wait for the other guy. I ended up buying it, and was loading it into my truck when the other buyer showed up. Such a shitty situation.

Right here is where I would have hung up and avoided this whole mess. "First one that shows up" is the biggest possible red flag you are about to waste your time.

I took a ride with my friend once to help him pick up a used car for his daughter on the way he said the guy sounded wacky. When we arrived the guy took a while to actually show us the car and had us follow him around his hoarder house to show us some crazy stuff. We finally said hey we need to get going here and we got out to his detached garage where the car was buried in more crap. He had some crazy carnival organ with drums & cymbals that crashed and a spinning monkey on top which he played for us before we dragged the car out which he gave up pretty cheap. We still laugh about that

I saw that ad too and assumed someone would jump on that quick.

Two hours and gas money for that experience, no thanks

Jeez I am way too kind when I sell a game. I even offered Colson a grilled cheese when he picked up my last game I sold.

I would have asked to use his bathroom on the way out and upper decked his toilet.

Potential free guns in the coinbox and you passed that up? I would have tried to buy two!

Can you say "Barrywnj".
His great equalizer was to offer credit on your next purchase... of another piece of shit.
Some folks gotta' remember.

When I first started collecting I responded to several ads for underpriced pins, and I was asked to make a bid. I bid on the first 5-6 and never won. I figured out that I would never win this auction format, and I was only driving up the price that the buyer would end up paying, so I stopped bidding in these types of situations. Then I ran into the op's scenario, "you can come look at it, but several other people are on their way." I passed on all of these scenarios.

I’ll have to add to your comment when I have my computer and not this phone. Barry was a POS

Or A relisted FG for 750 cause the other "buyer" ahem, his cousin, couldn't get more $ out of you and now they need to try and rope another sucker in.

Or my favorite, "heads I win, tails you loose."

Damn sorry for your troubles but it did make a heck of a good story, thanks for sharing.

This, you were the first one there and willing to pay $150 over asking. Unbelievable Babee!

I think your nuts to drive anything over a hour without a commitment to buy or deposit sent at minimum

I've owned about 100 machines. I've been to tweaker houses, seen rats in machines, been in falling down buildings, and picked up in sketchy neighborhoods where I thought I may get robbed...but I've never dealt with some crap like that.

There ya go. Would never have happened here in N.E. TN. Somebody would'a got shot.
Just kidding of course....

At least you didn't enter the maw of despair.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/into-the-maw-of-dispair-true-account-of-my-latest-craigslist-nightmare

That is the single longest post I have ever seen, lol.

I have never heard this phrase before, but instantly knew what it meant. Haha! Is that really a thing people do? LMAO!

I like this, along with giving my # to the other guy and walking away.

people like you are what make this hobby great. I've done the same thing for first time pinheads, I've let a couple go too cheap but at the end of the day whats a few hundred bucks.

I remember when I was new to the hobby and someone really helped me out after I overpaid for a Corvette machine tgat wasn't working properly and wasn't sold as described.. He traded me a super nice Star Trek for it plus a little cash on my end (not enough I now know), and then he came back later and helped me fix a couple other games for free that I had bought and didn't know how to troubleshoot. Honestly I don't think I would have stayed in the hobby if not for him. I believe doing the right thing always has its reward sooner or later.

OMG I almost missed that... too good to comment.

I would have quit when he wrote first one here gets it.

Some people really enjoy themself when they can force others jumping thru hopes, i"m not the one giving them that pleasure.

I've had many times over the years. Make a deal to pick up a game and when 15 minutes away seller calls and changes mind or sells to a higher bidder.

I had to look this one up ... it made me laugh, not a phrase I've heard over here.

I’ve heard of dry dock but not upper decker, funny (but gross) stuff.

Op sorry this happened to you but made for an interesting read.