garage sales
estates sales
coin op auctions (sometimes)
friends that have pins that are looking to move out one that doesn't get played as much

Find some in the wild then see who is operating them. Sometimes they have pins for sale or know of other operators or former operators who may have some.

That would infringe on my insider trade secrets.

I often check CL and Pinside.

Agreed, something you'll want will show up on CL. Too bad there's only a HUO WPT listed on my local CL and for a good price.

Be willing to travel for the right machine, research to know what you are buying (condition and functionality), have money on hand, and patience.

Best of luck! I've made a few sales on here and I've seen plenty of deals made here as well.
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Why aren't you jumping on that? You have been saying you wanted a second pin for months now.

sandiego.craigslist.org link

Never played WPT before, and I'd hate to back out of a deal just because I didn't like a pin for sale.

PCSW:

One thing I do when I know the title I want is go to the Collector's Registry on mrpinball.com and search my state and close surrounding ones for owners of the title I want to buy. Many will list as interested in buying, selling or trading games. I cold call such owners to see whether they are interested in selling.

This is the unadvertised market.

Dan

Search the Harrisburg Pa CL for 'pin ball' theres a T2 on there that looks pretty nice although id ask for detail pics of the playfield because he told me theres touch ups and a home clear job. You might get it for $1000 or if youre like me just pass haha

$1000 bones for a T2 is pretty sweet.

Go play it! I think almost everyone says its under-rated. Its Steve Richie, its got an upper playfield, and is a pretty unique game. Give it a shot.

Make lots of local pin-buddies.
There are plenty of pinsiders in Ohio. Find out who they are and introduce yourself. See if there is a league or something that you can join.
It's not a short term strategy, but making new friends that are already in the hobby will open a lot of doors towards building your lineup.

Yes, get the wife interested. Very important at this stage in the game. If she's included and excited your pin collecting days will go much smoother. Estate sales.org/.net, allofcraigs.com, Mr pinball, pin forums. CL is something that needs to be checked often. I mean very often. When I have cash burning a pinball sized hole in my pocket I search cl every 15 min or so. Good deals are gone in minutes so if you check every hour a deal can come and go with out you ever knowing it was there. Do you have a smart phone? If so get the cl pro app. Get the good app that you have to buy. The notification is junk. It will let you know when its to late. But the ease of saved searches in multiple areas is worth every penny.

Yes sadly TOM and CV tend to be very expensive but Red and Ted or Roadshow as it's often called is a fun game and still can be found usually for not too expensive. But it is a wide bodied game, which I mentioned just in case you have limited space.

If you can't find anything by the end of February, you can usually find some deals at the Ohio Pinball show in Cuyahoga Falls.

No joke. ShopGoodwill.com Occasionally you will see a pin (also arcades and vending machines) here.
The Goodwill in Santa Ana California had n Eight-ball back in march. It had a perfect backglass, and only slightly worn play-feild. Wasn't working, but appeared to be complete It went for $250.00.
I would have bought it myself if I had had room for it at the time.
A few months later they had a Stern Trident, but it wasn't in as good of shape. I've also seen other pins listed online. I also bought a new Coffee Inns changer there, and a buddy of mine got two Video games for $28.00 (a working merit Pit Boss kit in a Stern Tutankhamun cabinet, and a Stern Amidar).
A while back there was a SS Mata Hari in Indiana. From the pictures it looked almost new.

Just a note - if you look solely at the backbox dimensions, the B/W widebodies take up the exact same space as a standard machine. I say that because when I personally look at space, I just look at how much wall area is used.

There are vendors that sell all kinds of pinball related stuff including games, but people bring their own pins for others to play. Some of those pins are for sale and some are not, but a lot of them are for sale from private owners.

These days I let the games come to me (and the Iowa Pinball Club Members too). I've set up multiple ways for the public to sell to all of us at the Iowa Pinball Club.

From the sell us your pinball machine to sell us your jukebox and even sell us your coin-op video arcade game. We are also looking for others games too. But who isn't!

Some times we get no games submitted to the site for weeks. Then there is a flood of them. It all depends.

-Aaron
Full list of amusement devices and arcade games wanted by the Iowa Pinball Club members.

that happens all the time. other people that have the same ads as you will flag them so you don't get the calls. childish, but that is the reality of the "scum" of craigslist. these are also the same people that will see a great deal, flag it, then call the lister and offer them less, then flip it and put it back up for twice what they paid for it.

i watch craigslist, but rarely get anything but a laugh out of it.

Develop your network of pin friends!

Lots of my best pin acquisitions have been from getting to know people in the hobby and developing friendships with them. You get first shot at their pins (and they get first shot at yours) when it comes time to sell, so the pin never even gets listed for sale.

Besides the CL and pinside listings, if I'm looking for a particular title I will go over to http://www.pinballowners.com/ to see who has the desired machine available for sale.

Friends, operators, retailers (yeah I know), and mr. pinball.

Big message to the OP - if you're going to get one at the Ohio Pinball Show - I have spoken to a decent number of people that have gone to that show. Be there EARLY if you want a good machine at a fair price. People go there extra early JUST for that purpose and then head home. Just want to clue you in if you're going to go that avenue - don't be there as the doors open - be there BEFORE the doors open.