Took some time off and went into NYC to check out the Millman & Amodeo auction that was advertised on CL. There was supposed to be an AFM along with a MSF to be auctioned. Of course, when I get there the AFM is nowhere to be seen. Four other games (non-pins) are also no longer there. Seems that there where outstanding "liens" on these and they were removed. Of course these guys couldn't be bothered to update their listing. But since I'm there I'll check out the Frankenstein. Thing is beat. Shooter doesn't work. Two out of 3 upkickers don't work. Upper flipper is flakey. A drywall screw is holding in the translite. Significant damage around scoops. Can't even run the diagnostics because the buttons are broken so have no idea if the monster works. Even so the thing goes for $700. WTF. I get it that some of these guys are already there with a truck so might as well buy something but $700 is insane. Just pissed to spend the time and money to go into the city and the games advertised aren't there. (Should be able to sue the auctioneer for bait and switch)

#2 12 years ago

SunKing

Pinside member

Houston, TX

13y 130K 3,983 5 21

...that does suck. I've been tempted to hit a few...but yours is not the first bad auction story I've heard.

#3 12 years ago

DAD

Kane

Pinside member

Monmouth County, NJ

12y 48,900 395 18 6

I think I'm going to stick with pins in basements, garages and warehouses.

#4 12 years ago

BKB

the96stang

Bushey Bro's

Enfield, CT

12y 110K 2,938 16 13

Non-Arcade Pin Auctions are great. Alienstar = 65 dollars at a furniture consignment auction. Hulk = 250 (cuz I was killing for the game) at a granite warehouse clear out auction.

#5 12 years ago

LAW

dung

Pinside member

12y 86,050 5,578 6 30

Most of the issues on the frank didn't sound too bad, but 700 was a bit high. If the DMD is good though it was probably worth it in parts though. The psb, sound card, and dmd driver are all specific to the 4 large dmd segas. They are tough to come by and aren't too cheap.

#6 12 years ago

DAD

Kane

Pinside member

Monmouth County, NJ

12y 48,900 395 18 6

I thought about that but then I hate parting out a good game and have two other projects to work on, a BSD and a Cyclone playfield swap from CPR. My plate is full

#7 12 years ago

robertmee

Pinside member

Raleigh, NC

12y 82,800 6,430 15 9

If the playfield wasn't beat and $700 was out the door and the DMD worked I would have done it. The other stuff is fairly easy to fix. But $700 is about tops. Add buyer's fees and/or sales tax and you're right...not worth it.

#8 12 years ago

DAD

Kane

Pinside member

Monmouth County, NJ

12y 48,900 395 18 6

Yeah, forgot about the 15% buyers premium. Actually cost the guy $805. Crazy.

#9 12 years ago

robertmee

Pinside member

Raleigh, NC

12y 82,800 6,430 15 9

Well, if the DMD works, those are scarce and sell for $400 to $500. The boardset, probably $250. So assuming you can squeak another $200 out of plastic parts, translite, misc, it's not unheard of. But that's alot of IF's and alot of work for not much margin. So, I think you made the right call.

#10 12 years ago

DAD

Pinballdad

Frozen

Unknown

12y 0k 1,137

OP
Quoted from Kane:
I think I'm going to stick with pins in basements, garages and warehouses.

Couldn't have said it better!

#11 12 years ago

DEB

Deaconblooze

Pinside member

12y 155K 8,688

OP
Quoted from Kane:
I think I'm going to stick with pins in basements, garages and warehouses.

Where do I find warehouses with pins? I apparently have very few connections.

#12 12 years ago

SPZ

dieseldogpi

Pinside member

Mount Sinai, NY

12y 35,400 501 1 12

I was thinking about checking this auction out as well. I was wondering what the AFM went for, figures it wasn't even there. Glad you posted. Sorry you wasted your time though, that always sucks.

#13 12 years ago

DAD

Kane

Pinside member

Monmouth County, NJ

12y 48,900 395 18 6

Quoted from the96stang:
Non-Arcade Pin Auctions are great. Alienstar = 65 dollars at a furniture consignment auction. Hulk = 250 (cuz I was killing for the game) at a granite warehouse clear out auction.

Funny you should mention that. I was in a vending co's warehouse the other day, guy had a pin covered up with a tarp. Was an older EM, can't remember which one. Wonder how many of those there are?

#14 12 years ago

BKB

the96stang

Bushey Bro's

Enfield, CT

12y 110K 2,938 16 13

There must be thousands, upon thousands of pins in basements, back storage rooms, warehouses, and the likes. I know of 7...... now if I could only get my hands on them....

#15 12 years ago

JWS

JWS64

Inactive member

12y 20,400 659

Kane, could be that you're just in the wrong state for a decent auction.

The world famous BR seems to have no problems at the NC area auctions.

You can show up the day before and take a look at all the pins, they're all powered on
and there to be test played.

I'd be pissed too if I showed up to an auction and all they had there was garbage pins.

Reply

Wanna join the discussion? Please sign in to reply to this topic.

Hey there! Welcome to Pinside!

Donate to Pinside

Great to see you're enjoying Pinside! Did you know Pinside is able to run without any 3rd-party banners or ads, thanks to the support from our visitors? Please consider a donation to Pinside and get anext to your username to show for it! Or better yet, subscribe to Pinside+!

This page was printed from https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/why-i-hate-auctions and we tried optimising it for printing. Some page elements may have been deliberately hidden.

Scan the QR code on the left to jump to the URL this document was printed from.