Quoted from PinballBeerGuy:Rather than compete with us on the open market, why don't you do like others have suggested and make friends with people in the pinball community in the area. Let people know what you are looking for and eventually someone will come back to you and say that they know someone who could use the money and would be willing to sell you the machine you are looking for a fair price.
The same thing happened to the retro video game collecting scene over the past couple years as more people got into it. Games became harder to find and prices went up. On occasion you still find a deal in the wild if you are lucky, but good deals can still found by working with collectors.
As you know the pin and vid scene is a mixed bag, many people already have their clique's, others are anti socialites, others are straight whackadoo's, others are cool but have too many friends already. I can sympathize because I am in a densely populated collectors area and can count my peer friends on one hand... which is depressing because I am an extrovert non whacko... lol
Best tip would be maybe find a local pin or vid 'club'.