Give us a link to the post?

How long have you waited? Sometimes it takes me a couple days to wade through all that stuff when I put something up for sale

A for sale ad is not an open contract - just because you see one, and reply, doesn't mean you now own the game.

I'm thinking you are new at this - deals fall apart all the time, but they also happen. The problem is getting emotionally attached to a game you don't own yet.

Keep your expectations low and throw a lot of chum in the waters and you'll eventually get something you want. Just remember you can't force anybody to sell you something, or buy something from you, and you should be able to stay relatively sane.

Here's some homework

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/or-best-offer-what-s-the-point

Never had a problem buying, selling, or trading with Pinsiders. Maybe I'm just lucky. But I've met some pretty great people in the process, even when deals fell through. Some people respond right away and it may take days for others. But realize some Pinsiders are eager to sell or have more time to check Pinside while others may only check once a week or be just putting an offer out there without any real need to sell. If it hasnt' been more than a week without a reply, I suggest you hold tight. If it has, then send another PM (and maybe one directly to the Pinsider, not a reply to an add). Either way, there are more good folks here than bad. And I think even some of the "louder" and more annoying Pinsiders are probably pretty cool folks in real life. This is the internet after all.

God we're not going to go there again are we

To be fair, I live in an area where there is always chum in the water, and I haven't been into pins for THAT long, but so far I have never succeeded in buying a pin from a "For Sale" ad. I've been in second position by replying within 10 minutes of the ad being posted, and way off the back of the pack by replying within an hour.

By far my best luck has been with "wanted" ads, or by just letting my non-game friends know that I'm always looking.

It's definitely a seller's market right now.

If they don't get back to you within a couple days, then move on. There's always another machine. I've had guys say the machine is still available. I offer to head out to see it as soon as THEY are available, and they don't bother to respond one way or another. Some guys are really good at saying you're first in line, I'll have you get first dibs. Others are like, first person that shows up at my door with cash takes it. It's all very dependent on who you deal with.

Mileage may vary. I've bought and sold dozens of games here, and many times that on Mr. Pinball (more so in the old days).

If the question here is "do sales happen on pinside," of course they do.

which game?

I had people try to knock price down just because they had to drive 3 hours!!

Yeah, that always annoyed me. $40 in gas versus shipping. Sorry I didn’t live next door, etc. I usually have tons of extras; you know, mods never added, extra parts, even nos boards sometimes. They don’t lame out the sale, I give them to them. Heck, one guy got a box of nos $300 worth of parts.

As long as I've got cash, they are usually selling.

As long as they don't try to dick around with paypal, personal check, or some other form of hassle payment, I am usually selling.

It's a sellers market, pins are hot right now!

People try to buy with paypal...seriously?

Oh dude, you don't even want to know how some people don't even know who Benjamin Franklin is any more.

Umm yeah, that's recock.

I sometimes think people are just too lazy to take the ad down, and let it lapse. Then they don't feel guilty not contributing as well. But yes, it is a sellers market if the game is priced right. I've sold a few via Pinside. Most of the time when I list on here, it either sells the first day, or it doesn't sell at all.

I've bought a couple machines partially with Paypal...

"Hey, I have 4500 cash, it is Sunday and the bank is closed, can I paypal F&F you the last $300?".

Its happened to me a few times....

My response is "Buddy, if you had a better deal closer to home, we wouldn't be having this conversation."

paypal is good for deposits if you're out of area, lets buyer know you are serious. there sure is a lot of flakes wanting to buy pinballs with no cash.

Holy smokes, all I ask of someone within 6 hours of me is that they hold the game until I get there!

I have gotten this as well and it doesn't matter. That said I *usually* factor gas into the cost of a purchase. If the money doesn't make sense it just doesn't but I factor into what I offer or if I try and buy it at all.

I have been buying a few projects lately and chad knows this lol, but as a buyer its risk vs reward. Currently it is the notion that some machines are just worth more as parts over as a whole (or whatever is there in its current state). Parting out takes time. Taking it apart, cataloguing, listing, talking with buyers, packing, shipping, and waiting for them to acknowledge that it got there ok. There is also the risk of not finding a buyer for some parts, shipping, payment, and that the part works when it arrives. So the seller has to decide if the risk and effort are worth the extra money. As a buyer though, I just don't care if it is worth more as parts. If I am buying it as a whole with the intent to fix what is the cost to get what it needs, how much time will it take, and in the end is it worth the effort?

That said, I hate when machines get parted out. They won't make more whole machines. they might make more parts if enough machines still exist. Might explain why I restored a 200 dollar former rat house street fighter 2 from a junkyard.

Wish I was joking. Guy lived 30 minutes away, wanted $20 off a $6k pin. My wife, son and I packed it in his truck while he watched ( he was my age and healthy). I mentioned a hand would be nice and he just stood there.

Fucking concierge service while you wait MFer.

THEN... he forgets one of the mods on a table and wants it mailed to him. About $20 bucks to mail it iirc.

One and only Jackass I ever sold to. Banned him here on PS, he pissed me off so much.

Everyone else without exception was fantastic to deal with. Even kept up communications with quite a few years later.

I don't understand why everybody so against PayPal I bought and sold stuff a lot on this site with PayPal no problems

I'll say it right here and now for everyone on Pinside to see: you ever try to lower my price on the amount of gas you're going to spend, dont even contact me . Unless youre coming from Maine, Wisconsin, Washington, California or something more than a days drive. Didn't do that when I drove 8 hours each way for CFTBL, so I sure as fuck wont even entertain it if I'm the seller.

Dont waste your time or mine.

Have sold one machine to a guy i knew personally on paypal, but I try to avoid it. I have purchased two machines using friends and family, but it is very stressful buying a machine over distance. Take that back my dinosaur eggs I am picking up was paid for with paypal, but its a cheap project and i am not going to sweat the money if i lost it.

All forms of payment carry a risk vs. reward ratio. Many people feel as a mostly unregulated entity with a poor record of handling disputes Paypal carries more risk without a corresponding increase in reward.

I think we're probably heading back down that way

All the time. Toll money too.....

John

Because they don't even follow their own written policies when it comes to your money.

I guess some questions just don't have answers, or at least not the ones we want.

I thought everyone loved electronic money. Hell what do you think a credit card is?? I still rather pay with cash if I can.

Apparently you don't know everyone.

As a buyer, I sure as hell feel a reward in not having to carry thousands in cash to meet a stranger in person.

Most of the time it is already gone. No big deal, just on to the next game.

They will follow their policies up to the point they are going to get stuck with the bill. At that point everything goes out the window and you are the one holding the bag no matter what their "Buyer/Seller Protection" policies state. Not unlike many of you, I have discovered this personally.

Thankfully due to another community (gun forum) I was made whole. Not so surprisingly there are quite a few peace officers on gun forums and they don't take too kindly to a forum member taking advantage of another member. Didn't take long before a cashiers check showed up in my mail box out of the blue. I count myself very lucky and as Mr. Bush would say; "I won't get fooled again".

Electronic transfer or personal check is often the easiest form of payment, especially spur of the moment on the weekend or at a show.

Trusting people is risky and I have been burned a couple of times but still prefer that over the alternative.

I follow the rule that I need to have been in the bathroom at your house before I will accept a check for a pinball machine from you.

Friend of friend is okay or someone known in the community. Though I prefer to be trusting, I also try to pay attention to anything that doesn't add up. Sometimes you can wait for a check to clear as an alternative.

They will not follow their own policies in regards to holding onto somebody elses money that has already been cleared and is in that person's account.

They did it to me to the tune of over $4000 when I took it when selling a machine. NEVER AGAIN!

I do agree if you sell a game then post sold. If you put up an ad respond. Also along the same lines only different I hate it when there is a tech thread and a bunch of people are trying to help but the OP dissapears. Probably fixed it then just blows off the thread. Post the solution and give us closure. Sell the game then let us know darn it all!

Same motives apply, it's to protect them and not the buyer/seller. The same thing happened when I purchased a pin and paid via Paypal friends and family for almost 10K. They called me a week or so later asking if I received what I purchased and everything was ok before they would release it to the seller. Even though it was friends and family and not listed as a purchase.

I went over their policies and spent hours on the phone asking why I could not gift out the money that was in MY paypal account.

They said "it should be working" and "try it again" instead of the real bullshit reason they were holding MY money. I ended up having to give them personal information that again was not in their written policies to finally get MY money out.

Like I said NEVER AGAIN!

It happens, there are 2 pins and 1 jukebox on LetGo all separate deals, I have messaged all 3 of them and only heard back from 1 as soon as he messaged me a sent a follow up question (does it work) and haven't heard back from him and never a response from the other 2.

And on the Gas I wish I could pick something up for $40 in gas, by the time I gas up and take a grandson or father-in-law just wants to ride for the road trip and feed everyone it seems more like $100 is the norm for making a run. I have tried to work prices down but it never has anything to do with my trip cost that's just the price I pay if I want something.