Seems that usually lots of pins go on sale spring/summer and less for sale start of winter. As for me, I feel I have paid fair prices.

Prices falling???? Not in europe...

I have overspent compared to what some people would pay. I live in an area where there is limited public playing, and a limited number of machines available for sale and trade. Having the cash, I figure screw it. Only go around on this big blue/green marble once. I'd rather have the machines in my house and playing them than constipate myself about a couple hundred bucks here or there.

A couple months ago I over paid about $200 for a Firepower but the guy did a bunch of electronic work on it that I would of had to seek advice about on RGP. Not that I'm affraid to dive in there and work on stuff, but it was nice to bring the game home, set it up and play... He also did a commendable shop job it too. Flippers rebuilt, cleaned, waxed, rubbered, etc. ... Worth the $200 extra to me.

-Steve Ridge
Louisville, KY

Didn't we do this last week?

I paid no more than I had to to get the tables I wanted.

Yep i overspent on an huo family guy,in nib state. in Belgium.. (living in the netherlands) It was at least 345 euro's too expensive... But that was only 10% ...

And where do you find A an huo FGY, and B in that particular NIB condition ? (yes absolute NIB state) Well i wanted the game,found it and YES i bought it a little to expensive... Wel it was an 3,5 hour trip, and a 4hours back.... I even had to rent an bigger car for it, so there came an additional 150 euro's add up for gas an rental car and visit at the local Belgium Mc Donalds...

As my wel lovely wife then said to me:
Better an little overspent and having the "you so wanted pinball", then to listen to your moaning and complants that you COULD have own, an overspended FGU in NIB state...

(she like Family Guy (the cartoon series) too, so that was not an problem, the 2 other pins a had have in the past, where an RFM, and an TFTC, ans she hated them both.)

There are more entering this great hobby, than leaving. The economy is somewhat stable, who knows for how long. Weather related events, ect, reduces every year a portion of the older supply. NIB pins are increasing in cost. All of these tend to stabilize prices. However, the new generation buyer wants a pin that reflects their life experiences , which is why there is such an increased demand for new. Technology improvements in pins ( see WOZ 1.8 video) illustrates new capabilities of this technology , and it's not yet complete. Whether you are a fan or not, it's a huge leap compared to anything that I own(38 pins) , or have owned (35 others). Stern will no doubt meet the challenge . I own 15 Sterns 2004- 2013, and like everyone of them. I have paid for WOZLE , and eagerly await every new code change before it arrives. I plan on ordering both from JJP and Stern as new games are released . I recently passed on several great examples of about 5 top 20 games that I don't own because they have experienced expodential increases. Fun VS price, new age demographics wanting generational games , aging of existing owners, will likely result in these correcting with regard to price.

speculations.

I've overpaid by more than $1,000 on more than one occasion. I wish I could say it was because I was a newbie, but the last time I overpaid I should have known better.

I have paid mostly fair value on most of my games. I have not sold any for a loss. I have taken a bath on the arcades I have sold. The pins have either held value or appreciated for me.

Am I willing to pay for a scarce and local resource? Yes.

Of the 8 machines I have bought in the last 6 months, I have not found 1 come up for a better price in better quality in my area. (whew!)

(I didn't buy a T2. If I had bought a T2, I would be questioning myself every month wondering if the new T2 for sale is better than my T2. hehehe)

Do I think I overpaid on a few of them? Yes. Do I think I underpaid on a few of them? Yes. In general, do I think I am paying a high price for a scarce resource? Yes. Am I ok with that? Yes. I feel like I paid a nice "finders fee" on a few of my machines. I am perfectly happy with that. Someone did the work for me of finding a junker and making it awesome. Cool. Appreciated.

[Whirlwind, Diner, Taxi, Grand Lizard, Black Knight, Space Station, Cyclone, Space Shuttle.]

I am truly thankful to have found these babies for a good price, and to have the opportunity to learn the art of pinball (and pinball maintenance) on them.

I think it's more fun to have 8 Williams machines than 1 new Stern LE.

"NOT for sale!"
-mof

I just bought my first table and got an AC/DC Premium nib for $6050 plus $250 shipping right before the flew up to $7700 on Stern so no, I personally and feeling pretty good about that. When I get more room to have more tables, I will certainly look for my old favorites and will try to get a good price, but if they're there and for sale, it's hard to say what it will take for me to pull the trigger. Just like car collectors, would I pay $35,000 for a Chevy Nova - nope, but someone will.

I feel like my TAF was too much, but I don't regret it. It cleaned up nicely and is a good player - by no means a showpiece but pretty good. The rest, I got very nice deals on. In some cases almost criminal hehe!

The way prices are going, overspending today will seem like a fair deal in 6 months to a year.

Last year I bought a documented HUO LOTR for 3,700, back then it was a fair deal, today it would be a steal.

Everybody online tells me I got a good deal on mine, but then none have seen it in person to really tell me truthfully. In my gut, I think I paid $100 too much. Firepower for $500 seemed like a great deal, but having the wrong sound board (no voice for me) is gonna cost me $100+ to replace, hence my gut feeling. Everything else I need to put into the table seems about right for the purchase price.

I tell ya what though, had I not bought the table, I wouldn't have my first pin sitting here at home with me anytime in the near future. One of those instances where timing and money perfectly aligned. It was a Craigslist sale, there was another buyer coming half hour after me, and the guy wasn't negotiating. Had I walked, someone else would have gotten it. Since then, I've checked Craigslist regularly and haven't seen another system 6 or beyond for anything less than $1200.

Regardless of what I spent, the real trick is to now not overspend trying to fix it up. Hopefully I'll do better on that end, but who knows. First time pin owner, I'm bound to make many first time mistakes.

I over paid on my first 3 pin deal. Other than that, I've done pretty good.

Don't forget about the boost competitive pinball is giving this hobby. The PAPA TV Livestreaming kickstarter set a goal of 20K to stream events... they got 58K in pledges and are going full blast with a much-expanded program.

I believe prices are stagnant for two reasons. First, five very popular current or planned machines (tron pro, acdc premium, woz, hobbit and metallica) have sucked a *lot* of cash from the used game market, while at the same time put many used games ON the market, as people trade up to those new machines. Second, it's springtime across some of the bigger markets (MN, IL, MI, OH, PA, NY) and interest in pinball is going through a seasonal ebb. Just wait til October...

i'm saving up for Star Trek. So to answer the question ... if I haven't overpayed yet, I will soon

I tend to keep my pins for a long time. My TZ I paid under 2000,TAF 900,FT 1600,CFBL bought NIB,
TOM bought NIB. If you hold on to them and enjoy them, you will some day get your money back or even make money . It sure beats leaving your money in the bank and earning one tenth of one percent.Do I think I over spent? Not at all when I consider the enjoyment me and my family have on a good night of playing.

Nah. They are taking longer to sell because now everyone is jumping on the bandwagon and trying to get top dollar for junk machines. If I get 4k for a mint BSD that doesn't make a beater BSD is worth 4k. So when that beater goes up for sale it sits... And eventually that person will lower their price. It's just people trying to capitalize on the increases.

This pretty much sums it up

I wish there was a shred of evidence to support this opinion.

I paid $2250 for a working TZ back in September. It was pretty dirty when I bought it, but it cleaned up nicely.

Unfortunately, it will probably leave my collection. So I probably won't make out like a bandit in this case.

I paid market value on my Rollergames. It's a Diamond Plate version in beautiful shape. Paid $900 for it.

I feel I overspent on my comet, I paid what I wanted for a good condition comet and what I got wasn't up to the standard I hoped. Cosmetically it's great, the playfields nice except for some mylar bubble, but it's had a few issues I've had to fix and one I'm still sorting out. Some days I regret it but usually I'm happy because it plays really nice now and is one of my favourites. Other than that I'm happy with what I paid for my other ones. I will say that NIB prices here are absoloutly insane though.

I sent you a pm.

I don't even own a pin yet, and won't for at least half a decde, but when I do, I'll buy one of the pins I've wanted for many years now. It's very likely that no matter how much I "overspend", it'll be money well spent in my mind.

And for those who want to PM me after reading that, I said "for at least half a decade." Hang on, and I'll overpay then.

AC/DC prem is not $7,700

Patience = not overspending. I've passed up purchasing numerous pins because I knew I could find one in better condition or for less money. Saying that, it's getting tougher and tougher to do that these days. The only one I've overspent on is my SM and that was to help out a friend who needed to sell it for financial reasons.

Great prices on all of our games.

Then again, we're not into buying pimped out-top tier either.

It seems like beat versions of AFM, MM, etc are not selling as high as they once did.

You have to look at the market area, some of you guys make me laugh at the prices you complain about. It's supply and demand , here there is no supply so if a machine comes along grab it if you want it , you won't have control over the price , so if its 400 over the "market " value , you pay it or lose it to someone else. I would love to pay the price that pinsiders put on certain machines.

when the home market goes, and it will. this is all a trend, prices will go down a bit too. Stern might even go back to one version of a pin when LE isn't viable anymore. Home market have a huge impact on NIB price right now. Watch out when peoples attention goes elsewhere.

That's exactly what I was thinking. If it is, I've got a nicely modded one that I would happily sell for that price ...

''modded'' pin prices makes me shudder. I still can't beleve peoples add up the prices of mods to the pin value.

To me, it depends on the mod. Adding a color DMD, for example, adds value to the machine. Many trinkets add nothing.

So a fully modded Tron Pro should sell the exact same as a non modded Tron Pro? Not sure how that makes sense, some of those mods cost hundreds of dollars. A seller should just expect to toss them in for free? If I was selling one and the buyer didn't want to pay extra (not necessarily full retail, but at least some) for the mods, I would just pull them out and offer them the machine bare bones.

No disrespect but I see this quote or a variation of this prediction every year. Every year...
And it always comes during the spring/summer time when family's have their attention focused elsewhere. To me its an annual lull or pinball summertime blues.

Then comes the fall/winter months, especially towards Christmas and prices get moving again.

Some say a bubble will burst and others predict this a revival. I sense its neither extreme and somewhere in the middle.

- Wish I had a crystal ball.

Kim

I think that's exactly the right strategy. Here's the price with the mods, and here's the price without. You can always sell them separately.

I feel I have paid a fair market value or less on most, if not all, of my machines. My DW I maybe went a $200 or so more than I should have, but it was my first and it had to be THAT machine.

there is tons of precedent in tons of other hobbies for what mods add to the value of a thing: it's never anywhere near the sum total of cost put into it. if the mods are good mods and are done well, it can increase its value. but never equivalent to the amount of money put into it, particularly if the mod is something completely simple to install such as a color DMD or LEDs. That's a fact.

+1

If a pin has the mods you want it makes total sense. If they don't then it does not. Its that easy.

What is overpaying? Is it overpaying if it's worth it to you? What if you can sell it for the price you paid, but it might take a couple months to find a buyer? To some people, overpaying is if you don't get the game for half price or less.

It's all relative.

This is Truth.

Most pinheads are more constrained by space rather than $$$ it seems. My usual thought is the high end will stay high as people run out of room faster than they run out of money in this hobby.

Every game in my collection for I have "overpaid" for based upon prevailing prices by a few hundred dollars (those that were not bought as non-working projects that is... wait even some of those I overpaid for....).

But I have a collection of games I love, rather than a collection of stuff I was able to lowball people on. Your mileage may vary. Pins are not really available in my area, and I live on an island making chasing any "steals" not really a viable option. If I want a game, I can pay up or watch it go to another buyer. Its simple.

I'm in the situation of probably paid too much for my first pin, but with limited supply in my area and less knowledge at the time, I was happy to get it. I don't care that I overpaid, because I plan on keeping it. (Honestly, I thought that I did really good considering the circumstances and options available to me at the time, and was really proud of myself until I got on Pinside and was told how stupid I was for paying the price. )

I still haven't gotten a super duper great deal on a pin yet, but the ones that I got from a local Pinsider were fairly priced. Actually... I did get a pretty good deal on my fire damaged Spiderman, so I guess that evens out the overpaying on the JP.

yes, but its a pin that wont be leaving, so it was worth it.....

That guy have it right. Peoples here put 400$ of mods in their trons and expect a FULL cash back. That is a joke. Same with leds. If a pins have 600$ bucks of mods leds, shaker and other crazy crap I might pay a little more 100-200$ over market price but never full retail value. It dosen't make sense.