Help me out....What "things" can I buy, that are "easy appreciation?"

Who cares what a pinball machine is worth? Is it fun to play? You sold AC/DC because it was worth $1000 less a few years later? really? Even if you had a blast playing it?

You’ll be fine if you buy literally anything else that’s not Tron or maybe LOTR I guess. GOT and ST vaults had zero to affect second-hand values.

You know where you can really get killed? Those WPC games you love. Happened on my MB. Will happen with my TOM. If Indy remake happens I’m REALLY hosed!

If anyone is buying new pinball machines for profit then you are in the wrong hobby. What's the fun in that? If a new game loses $1k - $1.5k in value and you get a lot of fun out of it what does that matter? This isn't like gambling where you have nothing to show for the money you lose. Hell, could always buy a new $30k car and have it worth $15k in 3-5 years.

Pretty much every new pin, including most LE's, will lose value in the short term due to today's all time high prices and high production build counts. There's a few one offs here and there but it's rare.

I do agree with your point about Stern quality. The lower quality and high prices is not helping resale value. I played a JP Premium on location yesterday and while I did have fun I couldn't help but to think how cheap everything looked with tons of screw heads and flat plastics everywhere. This isn't the case with every modern Stern as some seem to offer a better value then others in terms of features / code support.

We as a community needs to stop buying NIB games sight unseen just to get in early on a title that might actually be good, but good for many has become can I buy it NIB and let it sit, then sell for a profit almost becoming a lottery. If you want them to stop and take a hard look at their quality issues, and develop better quality games, speak with your money, stop giving it to them so eagerly. Stop buying games just to get the next big title that could go up instantly in value. Let them feel the pain a little. Make them appreciate us collectors and hobbyist as we have kept them in business over the years.

If you want to make money in pinball shouldn’t you route your games? Last I knew pinball wasn’t meant to be a “collectible” it was meant to be a business to collect quarters. Some people just choose to put an arcade in their home for convenience

So you are mad that Stern vaults games like Ironman? Only LE's are limited with a little plaque for the collector mindset. Popular games will be produced longer than less popular games. I see no reason why Stern is not allowed to produce more games of slightly older games when demand for newer games slow. At the end of the day, Stern is not producing games for people like you to make money on the second hand market. They are producing games to make profit to pay bills, salaries, rent, etc.

"Another winner from Stern. Amazing lighting as good as past premiums. Shots are very difficult. The toybox is amazing. Art is probably best thing in past 25 years of pinball at least.

Very creative multiball rules and Stern did a great job on the animations and new LCD display.

Such a fun, challenging, and gorgeous pin." Your Aerosmith Review

Seems you liked the hobby at one point, unfortunately it's just an investment to you now.

I'm glad Bally was protective of the collector mindset when they made over 15k Twilight Zones in the 90's.

I love Stern vault releases! It drives the prices of used copies down, and it also gives me the option to buy a title brand new if I want.

Vault effect is nothing compared to the MMr, AFMr, MBr and CCr effect. Those were definitely not safe.

We shouldn't. We should check things out and buy what we like.

Woo Hoo! When is Tron coming?

If you include the enjoyment that I have had, so have I. If you count cash only, not so much.

I have been in the hobby over 10 years now and agree inflation is part of the equation but definitely not all of it. Collectors in essence drove up prices. When Stern first started making LEs you could pick up a Tron LE for $5500, the pro model went for 4200 NIB. This was roughly 9 years ago. Even if you compound inflation over those 9 years at 2.3% you are only at roughly $6800 for that same LE. Stern had to see what was happening in the pinball community as see an opportunity. Those same Tron LEs were selling for 10k in the resale market a few years later, why should a "collector" get all that profit and not them. All I am saying is if you want them to focus some of their time and development dollars on quality, we need to stop just buying a game hoping for it to be the next Tron LE. A company will not focus on quality until the customer stops buying or warranty claims start cutting into their profits.

You're right. The quality has shown. Seems everything changed since they moved into their new larger facility.
They allowed themselves to pump out more titles, different titles at once, now vaults for easy increased profits.
These vaults like IM are easy builds, good to fill in line between new titles, and most importantly make money
to stay in business.
They're all toys to be played and enjoyed. Stern doesn't care about the secondary market on who is making money
or losing money.

A matter of opinion.

I played an iron maiden standing next to an afmr.
The maiden is a nice game, but there is no way, i´d rather have maiden over afmr.

He's saying the EXACT opposite of you - that he prefers the way Sterns play.

Instead of complaining about things learn how to multi-quote and reply in a Pinside thread.

So YOUR greed is screwing over OTHER owners/players then? Or do you have some 'right' to make money on games because you were so bold to buy them brand new?

You can buy most games any day of the week, there are more or just as many WH2O and BSD pins for sale in the Market Place as there are Aerosmith Premiums (there are no pros versions currently). You already lost your perceived value on Aerosmith and your other Stern pins when you sold them, so at that point if you enjoyed them, you should have just kept them.

Well, if noting else OP, you certainly got the attention you seem to be craving with this post.

But that is exactly the point everyone, but you, is trying to make - that they have never intended to be collectables.

'kills the collectibility' [sic] is depressing that a) you see it that way, and b) you are hardly buying them to collect if, as you say, you make a profit on every machine you sell , barring Sterns.

Gee, I never would have thought of that!
50 years of Pinball collecting, and how did I miss that!

I guess I have to go back into "Business", because its easy to make money restoring and selling Pins!
(Geez, what do I know about business and pinball customers!!!)

Summary: Doesn't like Stern games because they turned out to be a bad investment for him do to re-releases.

Jurassic Park can go up or down in value, I don't care its just fun to play.

While I’m not happy with Stern quality or practices & don’t buy their games anymore, your premise reeks of entitlement. You feel entitled to buy a Stern game & profit later. You’re not owed that from any new product. Collectibles become collectible organically due to the passage of time. Time will tell if something is appreciated & desirable years later. You can’t manufacture collectibility, despite marketing and hype.

You’re comparing a hobby and a business. What you do: play games, fix up broken games and sell them for more, that’s a hobby. What Stern does is a business. Your interests are not aligned. Too often people who buy new games consider the new pinball companies part of “the hobby”. They’re not.

As for Vaults, they’re fair game. The only games promised to be limited are Limited Editions. Iron Man was never an LE, no one has a right to expect more can’t be made.

So Stern is pointing a gun at you? Have you tried calling the police?

Stern tried to kill my family.

So you just came here to troll and drive hits to your blog?

Well, I guess I better not buy a new truck as it will decrease in value. The paint will get chipped from rocks and parking lots. They will come out with a new truck next year and mine will go down in value. Cmon!!!! If you're in a hobby to make money, you're stupid. Play what you like, enjoy it, go onto the next. I recently bought a cgc pin, and while I believe it may be built better, that's it!! My 4 sterns are still running strong with little to no maintenance. Be happy, life's too short