It looks like 2 people voted that , i voted STOP THE THREAD and sell one at a time.

skip;

in addition to pinball, I recently starting hunting the classic arcade games I grew up with in the 80's. I know pinside is all about the pinball, but I now have a ms. pac man and a galaga machine. I want to add more. so I know the video games are way down your list, but before you leave them to whoever that other guy is, I would love to add some of your find to my collection. I know you have a crap ton of stuff to do with all of this, and that arcade games aren't high on the list, but just letting you know there are a few of us here that cross back and forth from pinball to vids.

I have subscribed to the thread as well. enjoy the holiday and the family time as much as possible brother.

Nothing wrong with buying something and selling it for more. Isn't this essentially what the OP's doing as well? At 50 or 60 machines, I'm guessing he'll be sick of it all by the end.

I understand this. I don't like to try to beat other people to a deal. Maybe I'll just wait till things are less hectic and get one of the leftover games at the end.

Sounds like a good idea to me.

If I were in your shoes, my mouth would have been sealed until what I wanted was securely in my basement. After that, pictures, prices or auctions. No drama.

But hey, enjoy sifting through the mess of emails and deal hounds.

I have one suggestion: Make an announcement of what time and what date you are going to put up your list. Then everybody can be ready. Like a wild animal waiting for dinner to die, we can sit and can be logged into Pinside, have an email window open and already addressed to you. And as soon as your post comes if we see that pin we want we can have an email on the way in 10 seconds or less.

I know it sounds hokey, but everybody that is interested will get to peek at the same time.

Good lord... as much as I get where the OP is coming from, and respect his position, and am thankful for his willingness to do right by the community at large... and of course, I want to politely "queue up" as it were...

Man, this whole thread seems like one pending dumpster fire. Is it Black Friday? Feeding time at Jurassic Park? Did someone flick the Blue-Light Special light in the garment district? Did an armored truck tip over? The tripping and scheming and begging and salivating and such is not fortelling anything other than "no good can come from this", despite the noblest of intents.

I mean you have people trying to camp out to flood the inbox when the list is posted. Others trying to get group buys across the country. Others speculating the list to be unveiled. Others playing the local angle. Others advocating "first with the cash / highest offer / quickest take...." And so many can't help themselves, on the off chance that the friendly ask or PM or public post might get them a lucky "in".

GadZeus man, this is madness!! People are going to get burned and cry foul no matter what.

So why not try and equalize it to random but equal chance? Everyone understands a lottery. So post your list of machines and asking prices. People can pick their top 3 or whatever number machines and submit that over some timeframe. Say you post the list on Wednesday and close the entry on Saturday. That gets rid of the campout factor to give more people a reasonable shot.

Prices are set fixed at a price you deem reasonable enough to make you whole. That cuts down on bidding and scheming.

Folks then enter up to "X limit" drawings of what they can afford. Popular titles will of course draw more entries and have lower odds of winning, less popular titles will have better odds. So folks might enter accordingly.

You pick a random-draw winner for each machine.

Same person cannot win more than once per round of listed machines.

Winners have a time frame of _____ to pay for and collect their machine. If they do not meet this arrangement, the machine goes up for grabs again in the next round.

Seems simple to me and hopefully fair as it keeps prices flat, keeps people on a level playing field, gives everyone a chance to see and prioritize what they want, keeps any one person from hogging the loot, and indulges a bit of competitive spirit and chance, which is natural to pinball.

Just a thought...

Thanks for offering the opportunity though, in whatever format it takes!

Wow...

At first this was looking like it might be a fun and interesting thread... Until the Piranha feeding frenzy... I feel sorry for the OP..

I'll caravan with ya. My big guns will still be there. Haha

A quick plug for the seller. Skip has been good to me as a seller over the years, he sold me the 3rd and 4th pins I ever owned. I had planned on only buying one pin from him, but his prices were fair and the second machine played well. As a seller he was honest and straight forward with any issues that he knew about the machines.

In hindsight, I am sad I let both of those early pins I bought from him go. Though they were cosmetically worn, they both played well and the repairs/shop job Skip had done to them was excellent. Those two machines need no major repairs the entire time I owned them. Now after owning over 40 pins, many of which seemed to chronically break, I can appreciate what a nice job he had done finding and fixing the problems in those two machines

Skip, I wish you the best with the sale. I hope you and the family have a great Christmas and New Years.

In situations like these it is really a case of damned if you do and damned if you don't and having been in a similar position as yourself after coming into possession through importation of a large bulk lot of machines I thought the same as you and decided to offload the surplus at close to cost price locally.

In my case after the machines quickly had financial "dibs" allocated to them and the abusive/hostile emails started rolling in from those who missed out it does leave a somewhat sour aftertaste to what I thought should have been a positive experience. Not saying it will happen here, but the blood is already in the water now and with that the potential for a frenzy may well be the result.

My advice would be to let things settle down for a while and then conduct it all privately on your own terms rather than doing ad hoc updates on the fly and that way you can a exercise a much greater level of control of the entire process itself. If you try to please every single request that lands in your inbox in the interim you will just end up going around in circles and tearing your hair out.

Protip: Holding deposits will streamline the process and distinguish from those who just want to look at a bunch of pics.

Yeah but he also requires deposits especially from new buyers. Also his descriptions are pretty liberal with the condition of the machine which isn't a problem for the most part because his prices are so low.

Your intentions are good and your reputation sounds good but it may be best to approach this like a CL listing. Set pickup times with the buyers and hold them to those times or they lose the chance to purchase. If you try to please everyone either you or a buyer is gonna be disappointed.

If you're worried about flippers (which I'm not), set your prices a little higher. They still might buy some games but not as many.

I understand the "get away from the storage unit rent" and your thought there. I collected antique furniture years ago, went to auctions etc...In 2000 I put a bunch of things in a storage unit thinking, Ill get to it in the next year or so. Well, It's all most 2017and.........it's all still in there!!!!!! Packed to the ceiling, and I have since moved 3 states away! Now, I dread the day that I can get back there and go through it. There is some good stuff in there, but now I don't have the room or time to get to. Still paying rent though! I could have thrown everything away and been further ahead!

I get where your coming from on that part of it!!! Time flew by and someone else needs to enjoy the stuff as soon as I can get to it!

I ran into the postmaster at our local post office this morning while getting coffee. I asked him how things were going this morning and he said it's a total shit show at work.

Made me think of this thread and what it's going to be like once the pins are for sale.

Personally, once you have the pins, I'd post a for sale ad on Craigslist. First come, first served. I don't know how you could do it any other way. Otherwise, you'll get an email that says, I'll take it but can't come until tomorrow. Tomorrow will come and he won't show. Now what do you do? Or, the guy shows and thinks the game is worse than he thought and offers you less. I predict this will happen many times. This whole process will drag on for days, weeks and maybe months.

Hey, I agree with everyone that this is a catastrophe waiting to happen. You obviously like to converse, and enjoy sending texts and talking about pinball - but you should simply post for sale stuff in the classified section and do away with all of this "pomp and circumstance." It's fun to discuss your amazing find, but keep it simple - post them for sale, and let buyers buy. Keep this thread for discussion about what trips you've taken to get the pins and what happened during the trips (DON'T mention the pins by name, save that for when you put them up for sale).

Good luck!!!

Not with the offer I gave him.

Good luck at the dentist!

I know you're up to your eyeballs in pinball talk, but did the seller have any video games in the lot? Based on the era of pinball games you're getting, it's the exact era of video games I'm interested in. Just asking for down the road when you're done with the pins (which from the sound of it, could be 6-12 months). But, hey, I wanted to get my name in there first!

Joe (joemagiera at ameritech dot net)
[email protected]

God luck at the dentist Skip! Even though I didn't follow directions and pm'd him immediately Skip took the time to respond back promptly and politely. Merry Christmas to you and your family!

Yeah, the fairest method is just say "Open for Business" at a time and place. The truly motivated will be there cash in hand. First person with enough cash wins, no need to get into bidding wars.

Why is there a poll? I thought you had a price in mind for each game and on Jan 6 were going to list the 12 games and first emails have dibs. Seems pretty simple to me. I think everyone should just come back on Jan 6 and check it out.

I've been where the op is a few years ago. Me and a buddy had to sell 21 games we bought from an operator. Thankfully, our local retail guy bought 14 of them because it took us maybe 2 weeks to sell the other 7 on Craigslist.

Post a date, time, and location.... have your own little auction. If you are serious... you show up. That satisfies your locals angle.

If it doesn't sell, put up an ad and take them in order they come in.

I really think you are setting yourself up for some unnecessary pain because doing things based on timing, but no money, no photos, long distance, etc... your just going to end up with so many variations.

People who want to buy Ned to put up or shut up. You don't want to deal with everyone's excuses x 50...

Anyone else skipping a lot of the posts because TL:DR?

No idea why this thread was even created before the games were in hand and ready to be sold?

And doesn't Pinside require Marketplace ads for games? Seems like each game should be listed in the Marketplace first anyway and then let people PM to buy like any other for sale ad.

And totally LOL at the people from WI and other far away states begging to "come help" take away them all at once because for "the love of pinball and getting them into the hands of the impoverished pin collector".

I had to laugh at that myself.

Well...in their defense, those people do make cheese and brats for a living.

the very first post mentions pins, jukeboxes and arcade games. and there have been a couple of us that have mentioned interest in the arcade games throughout the thread.

I agree. And auction would be the quickest way to sell all of them at once.
You could hold an event on a specific day. Everyone that shows up will get a fair shot at getting games they want.

Exactly this.

Um, will there be a police detail in the street to deal with the hysteria taking place? This is turning comical. I would have waited until I had a list of "for sale" items to begin this thread.
One other option is to take offers on each machine within a certain time period. High bidder takes it. AS IS !!!

Best of luck with the sale. Too bad no EM's are included.

Id like the Quicksilver please

The only problem I see with a public auction is the original seller might feel ripped off if he sees the prices of what the games bring. It's better to keep the sales private but I think I would do first come first served. Only save a game for someone if they are on the way or put down a deposit. If someone is serious enough about the deal, they will do one of those two things.

So, I'm following this thread, but it seems that there no cohesive plan yet. Are we all waiting till Jan 6?

yes

Thanks! I think that's getting lost in the thread.

Sorry for the pm earlier. I am following this thread. Thank you for all you do for the pinball community.

Hope the dentist visit goes well. Otherwise you will have a pain in your head to go with the pain in your ass.

I voted "other" in the poll and here's my general idea for how to list and sell the games:

Compile your list of titles and the prices you think are fair and want to sell them at to keep with your original idea of being kind to the community with great prices for semi-project machines. Once you have that list, post it and tell everyone that you're accepting PM's to be put into groups based on title, i.e. there are 5 people that want one particular game, 12 people that want another, and maybe even only one person that wants one particular game. Either way, start a list of who wants what titles. Then, simply put all those names into a hat a draw one. The thing is, you have to have the people who want a particular game be willing to make the trip, regardless of distance, even if it means they only get one game. Also, with the possibility of someone getting multiple games, they need to be sure that they can afford to buy all the games they put their names behind and also to be able to haul that many games at once(some people can only do one at a time, some can only do two, etc.) if they get multiple games. Doing so will limit the number of games someone puts their name behind, potentially giving others a better shot at getting something.

Then, once you've got the titles and all the people who want each of those games, you draw for who gets the game. This way you keep to your original idea of keeping the prices reasonable so that all have a chance. If you did an auction style of any kind, best offer or otherwise, there's an excellent chance those out there that aren't as well off as others won't be able to get any game at all. Plus, the potentiality of one person buying them all exists, too. While that might make it easier for you to do just one deal, it doesn't really fit too well into your idea of getting games out into the community, into people's hands who want to fix up a game for themselves, but aren't as "liquid" as some others in the pinball community. Plus, the last thing you want is for one person to buy 20 games and put 19 of them in storage for years and years. Kinda defeats the purpose.

Well, this is just a general idea of how you might be able to get the games out there fairly and to keep the prices where you had intended originally. You can do with this info what you want. It's not really fully thought through as I just came up with it just now. I'm sure it could use some refining, but the spirit of it is to keep the prices low and to get as many games into as many truly willing hands as possible.

Shut up. I want a Quicksilver, too.

How about posting a list of all the games, or a good selection of them first. Then post your lists as you create them to sell and we will then what to hold out for if we want too.

Then they could have sold it piecemeal by themselves. The whole reason people score warehouse raids is because you 'take the lot' and free the owner from dealing with it. Be it time, effort, or whatever... the original owner is selling in bulk and knows with common sense they aren't getting optimal dollar compared to selling piecemeal.

Sounds like the owner is getting more than they normally would anyways. Warehouse junk is more junk than gems.. its why they are in the warehouse to start with.

Is there going to be a limit on how many games 1 person could buy? 3 games per loti understand that but can the same guy buy 3 games per lot every time? I appreciate you spreading the wealth with games and I appreciate everything that you are doing. This is a big task to take on and a lot of work for you on the front end. A great person on the community of pinball. Thanks for what you are doing.
Lemank

I am always looking for games to add to my collection, and would love to have the chance to buy some of these games, but I think you should do whatever is best for you.