Thanks for your suggestions. Now to go shopping! New or used?
Where is the best place to find a machine? Ebay? Craig's List?
Online stores? I came across Monkey Arcades which seemed to have good prices with free shipping.
Where do you buy your machines?
Traditionally collector communities are the best place to buy machines. If you have a local one, it's even better, but worldwide communities like KLOV and RGP offer good deals. Plus, most sellers there will give you the straight scoop on any issues or problems before hand.
Next up would be Craigslist -- although finding what you want when you want it is an issue. Very flaky sellers and you really have to do your homework before buying (in addition to being quick), but you'll get some great deals sometimes.
Ebay is hit or miss. It's more of the "retail" online market where prices are inflated.
Online stores are probably the last option in my opinion. I'm not familiar with Monkey Arcades, but I just looked at some of their prices and they're easily 2x to 3x what I've seen games go for in community sales. For instance, BoP is listed at nearly $3k where I've seen them sold for $800 to $1200 and Pinside has the price listed at $1200-$1400.
The best way to find and buy machines is warehouse raiding. This takes a lot of legwork and you can't be afraid to get dirty (and make sure your tetanus shots are up to date). I've pulled some tremendous deals out of old operator's warehouses. My most recent was a $600 fully working T2 pin in great shape with no fade. I've gotten $50 EM's in working condition as well. Warehouse raiding completely depends on your location and building relationships with the people and opps around you. Treat one opp nice, buy some stuff, get friendly and then he'll forward you one to another one. So on and so forth. It's a lot of work, but so much fun because you never know what's hidden in the next building.
Networking. Other people might hear about deals that aren't necessarily advertised. Also check the Top 100 value pins for a good idea of which ones you may want to target.
Quoted from GoneFishinLvMsg:Networking. Other people might hear about deals that aren't necessarily advertised.
I agree this is probably the best way to get one at a very good price.
Quoted from psyched123:Online stores? I came across Monkey Arcades which seemed to have good prices with free shipping.
From doing a little research, Monkey prices their pins and then through connections gets the pins for you they do not have in stock. So you are probably going to get a middle-mans price. Never have dealt with them, so cannot comment on their service, and maybe they have changed how they acquire pins. Here is an old link from RGP that talks about them:
If you are going to the retailer route, I would suggest Little Shop of Games. IMO, he has nice prices and his machines are nice players. Easy to deal with. I've bought a pin from him and my buddy has bought 2.
As mentioned before, networking is by far the best way to get pins. I'm constantly passing on info from other pinheads about things they want to change out. Remember retailers have overhead, (mortgage, employees, utilities, etc...)
Ebay is usually higher as people use it to draw customers to their off website, or use the "Best Offer" to sell off of Ebay. The best way to get a good deal off of Ebay is to contact the seller and ask how much would it take to end the auction early. That is why you see a lot of auctions ended early with "item is no longer for sale" at the top.
What part of the country are you from? Shipping can play a big part in pricing as getting a pin from the East to West coast can run close to 500 extra. Flip side, you don't have sales tax a lot of times if out of state.
Other places where I have gotten deals, or seen deals: (compared to retail online sites)
Pinball Classified (Mr. Pinball), Pynball.com, posting WTB on websites like Pinside, RGP, The Bash, Klov,.
Go to a pinball show. In California, PAGG, CAX, and PPE are great ways of meeting people and getting games. Go early and bring cash. I did not see this mentioned yet. People bring games not only to support the show, but to trade and sell. I've also meet a lot of people there that grown to become pinball friends.
Best deals will be on craigslist as there are occasional sellers that underestimate the value of the pin. Not a good strategy for getting a specific title unless you are really patient. Most importantly, you have to be FAST, as a good deal will often be gone within minutes of the post.
Shawn
Quoted from Raikus:The best way to find and buy machines is warehouse raiding.
Riakus, What is that? How do you get involved? Ive never heard of it.
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Moody, TX
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