Quoted from pinstyle:

Your personal experience and people joining here are not and acurate measure. Nor is the "people just didnt buy pins for their home years ago." that is a false statment also. My family bought our Sinbad probably around 1981, and my family was not a well to do family, money was tight. Its possible collectors has grown, but you cant say for sure without hard evidence, real numbers, not "well 20 people joined pinside in the last four months." dont forget there are people leaving the hobby also for one reason or another, getting old, lost interest, need the money, etc..

Quoted from HighSpeed1:

I think it's only just begun!!!!
Ebay link
Ebay link
I know that Ebay is not the Holy Grail for value, and the old repeated adage still applies, "it's only worth what someone will pay". But every time I need something, or want something be it collectable or otherwise, it always shows up on Ebay. I have been watching High Speed 1 games listed for upwards of 2-3 thousand, Taxi games even higher. And TAF, well even higher. When I bought my very decent High Speed 3 years ago, I paid 1,200.00 cash, and I thought that was high. A few weeks ago I bought a NOS system 11b MPU that I needed, a NOS plastic set, well I'd be a fool not pass it up, so I payed the price. I'm sure it's those actions on my part and others, that only help to keep the perceived value/inflation going.

Quoted from WannaTheater:

One thing I may have missed in this thread is the impact of the "flipper". This would be the person that trolls for every pin in the area, puts $30 of rubber on it and a little novus, then lists it for $1500 more than what they paid for it. They dont give a shit about the hobby, just the profit. These are the same "get-rich-quick" types of folks that helped artificially inflate the housing market. When the bubble burst, they were the ones stuck getting forclosed on their 500k house that was worth 175k two years prior, crying for help. I wonder how much the flipper has contributed to this pin price madness.
I am not one to judge, but perhaps a reality check is in order. Not looking to draw flames, but at the end of the day us folks are paying outrageous amounts of money for....lets face it.....toys. Until we buyers take a step back and do this, I think the upward trend will continue.