gotcha. I'm not angry about not getting any AC/DC LE. Saved me bunch of money. and once they stop running them. If the game is good. Premiums will be just as sought after if the demand it there. Most people don't care about what stickers are on the cabinet and what rails it has. Seems the path things are going, everyone just customizes it out to their liking anyway.

The proper acronyms are:
MET Pro
MET Prem
MET MOPLE or just MOPLE (like ACDC BIBLE or just BIBLE).
Learn it. Live it. Know it.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

brad_ridgemont_high.jpg

right. of course.

What do you mean many waited until the last second to order? Quite the opposite! The ordering frenzy took place within the first 24 hours after the official announcement by Stern. How is that waiting until "the last second"?

That is funny

Deposits were being taken for MoP preorders well in advance. Just like they are for ST now. Most of the ordering took place after the pictures and videos were released.

And once again, some distributors don't seem to be learning. Taking preorders for a game assuming that they will get a certain allotment that will not be confirmed until the game is released.

If it makes you feel better to blame someone than so be it. Nobody seen this coming. Metallica was not a hot topic for the longest time and distributors didn't have any reason to believe orders would be tough to fill. Low number of deposits plus everyone assumed that the Premium would be just as popular as the LE. Instead at the last minute it was a mad dash for one model... the LE.

Not sure where you are going with this - if anything, your post is proving my point. My post wasn't about assigning blame for Metallica, it was about learning from the experience. Even if it was 100% Stern's fault (which it wasn't 100% and that's a fact - some distributors on here have already said they screwed up), it doesn't mean they can just repeat the same errors and hope Stern fixes it the next time. You'd think distributors instead would say, "Wait a minute - we aren't going to take any preorders for Star Trek until we know what's going on this time."

Metallica was not a hot topic for the longest time, and look what happened. Now look at Star Trek - hugely popular 6+ months out - and they are taking preorder deposits? If Metallica did what it did, what do you think Star Trek is going to do? Why would they take preorders this early with the sh$%storm that happened with Metallica? Why not wait for it to get closer and to hear from Stern how the allotments for Star Trek are going to be handled?

The ST preordering was intertwined with Metallica. They've been taking deposits for both for sometime now so it may be too late to undue the possible problems with ST. I'm expecting ST will be a problem as well. I would hope distributors have stopped the preorders for ST at this point. Hopefully its a learning process for everyone but we probably won't see the affects of what was learned and hopefully corrected until after ST. Just a guess...

This is exactly the way I feel about it. I'm glad the mania that kicked in when the game instantly became unavailable and sold out has subsided with me.

Although, on the whole this was an interesting experience for me. I talked to a lot of distributors and actually learned a lot through this whole train crash.

I thought Automated might have pulled listing, but in the completed auctions it went as sold at $8995. Someone was desperate.

May be a bit difficult - hope you can find someone, though. I've had upwards of $9k offered for mine after my FT trade was posted (still looking for the trade!), so demand seems to be pretty high.

Don't be part of the hype.

I actually had an AC/DC LE on order and I back out! I wanted to make sure that I liked the pin after playing it. I did. Bought a Premium. I'm perfectly happy.

Yes that's why SM Black and SM pretty much sell for the same price right? I mean SM is out of production so its "Limited" correct?

Pinball mike that is so freaking cool of you and not your fault. I would consider you for my purchases after reading this post. I did not get bumped yet but I expect I may I am 8th down on the list. So will see but at this point I am not sure I will receive my game. If so I will get a premium and smile because I can afford to buy either..

If I do get the LE and like I would imagine I would sell it when I can not play pinball anymore. I really want this to be a keeper because I just know the sound package is just going god hate to say this "rock". Cannot wait to bang my head while playing tallica pinball.

Wow, I hope the buyer plans to never let the game leave his collection because I think he'll be hard pressed to get that out of it as a used machines in a two or three months. Maybe I'm wrong and all the hype the speculators are doing will drive it to being a 10k pin by Christmas.

Some still just buy to play.

That is what everyone should do. Hobby's historically are not good places to invest money; eventually most crash.

That is what everyone should do. Hobby's historically are not good places to invest money; eventually most crash.

Na... yer crazy... I gotta go dust my beanie baby display case...

...

Where do you think we are on this graph?

040313-pm-img-01.jpg

Awesome graph (I just saved that to my hard drive). Mania phase and somewhere around the greed area is my guess.

somewhere between greed and delusion, although still highly biased towards greed...

well here's a little schooling for you.

How much Was SM new back in the day. $3400. How much is it worth now?

How much was SMB new back in the day. (lot mroe than 3400) how much is worth now. The gap is the same.

BS.....Black Suit SM was not that much more over the normal Red SM (which was around 4k give or take a couple hundred. Id love to see a receipt where someone paid 3400 for SM back in 07'). They are atleast 3k apart now if not more.

Pinball mike is the first distributor that I have heard admit that stern was just sold out prior to him trying to add to his order. Even if mike is to blame why is he just finding out yesterday? Why did stern not tell him when he actually called them?

Sounds like their is a big communication breakdown between the stern reps and the distributors. Normally a game doesn't sell out in a day so this probably was never an issue before Metallica.

My distributor told me he confirmed his order with stern on 4/9 and a week later they told stern he was getting less. If I had known a week ago I could have made different plans. A weeks ago you could still actually find games if you looked. Prices were a tad higher but not unreasonable.

I personally think the game sold really fast and distributors just placed orders like they normally do and after stern added up all the orders they realized there was a problem and took too much time straightening it out.

Stern is acting like everyone that wanted an LE that didn't get one is the same. A lot of people who have not had their le cut YET are acting the same way. There's a big difference between preordering and paying for it vs. having the game sell out on you before you tried to order. Well some people are going to learn exactly what it feels like as I think more people are gonna get cut the closer we get to release. Just because your distributor told you, you were safe doesnt mean anything if stern calls them on Monday and tells them they are not getting their full order. If that happens someone is going to get bad news and it might be you.

Stern appears to have no sympathy for the distributors but they should for the fans that by their games. Without us stern would be out of business. No way they could live off coin op sales alone. They should be kissing our asses to make this right. If there was just one incident with one distributor I could understand their lack of action but it appears there are a lot incidents with a lot of distributors. And maybe coincidence but only seems to be happening with small distributors? If customers aren't happy it shouldn't matter who's fault it is, they should jump in and try to resolve it. Kind of funny that Metallica is a band that would do anything to please their hard core fans, maybe stern could learn something from them?

I bought both NIB in '07. Red SM was $3450, Black SM was $4300. $900 difference. There's a lot more value in BSM than SM now. So no, the spread is not the same. Great LE's always accelerate in value which is why it's the smart move to buy them if you want the game anyhow. I debated getting a Tron Pro when pre ordering then I came to my senses and paid the extra $900 and bought the LE. Just like SM I'm glad I did.

I think you're WAY out of touch with who's dealing from a position of power here...

Yes, if EVERY Home collector boycotted Stern it would be a problem, but the reality is FAR from that. Actually, quite the opposite. Rather than giving Stern the "cold shoulder" people are tripping over themselves to scrouge more LE machines still.

And, rather than waiting for Stern to "kiss their asses" I suspect many upon many people are doubling-down and going to be trying to pre-order their Star Trek LEs ever MORE fervently....

The fact that distributors are willing to take deposits on ST LE's already proves the point that no one has learned their lesson here- or more likely- people are willing to take the risk...

Get your references right bro... it's "train wreck" or "plane crash"... you can't just invent new phrases. People are watching, Sheesh. Get your sh!t together or no BSD weekend for you next week.

Over here SM was 4000 euro and BSM was 4500 euro NIB.
Now they go for :

-SM huo : around 4000
-BSM Huo : between 6000 - 7000

All depends on the actual condition. Because Huo doesn't always equal great condition.

Jaydawg,
It's not about sympathy or Stern doing something. They are sold out. Period! You can't do anything when they are gone. It's over...
Stern did hear the premium 1 sucked and that's why folks were upset and instantly made a premium 2. That they could do and they did. Kind of cool actually.

Lowepg as for the graph question I would say we are in the mania phase greed headed quickly to delusion. Funny it is right next to the word "Public" I see a pattern here

If BSM sold for 4300 and SM for 3450, that represents a 20% premium for BSM. Lets say an HUO SM could fetch 5.5k, that would put BSM at $6600 (20% premium). All I see is retail asking prices, so no clue what they actually sell for. I think BSM would be more then 20% more expensive. Both have appreciated pretty nicely though.

Or maybe sooner, someone has a MOPLE now on Ebay for 9995 w/o shipping. Dare to dream. Gaithersburg, MD? Any retailers there. (Just the start of the hoarders coming out I'm sure)

I paid $3850 for my SM and $4250 for my BSM. Not much difference in price back then.

I paid full boat for my BSM 4800. When NIB were going for 3700-3900. More than a 30% uptick.

Mop good guy numbers 6500-7000 + 30% = 8400-9100. The "flippers" are doing what they do forever. It is people with their envious panties in a bunch that do not have the historical data to understand.

No different than people think a 1% reduction in a mortgage is the same on a 7 or a 4% loan when in fact very different.

Mk

If the code sucks it's gonna be fear and for the Automated buyer it's gonna be despair.

6k by Xmas

Schlocking your way up to 20,000 Karma points...nice job!

There was no breakdown in communication. I called Stern to increase my order. They said sales were incredible and they would get back to me and let me know for sure if I would get more machines or not. I immediately told my customers I might not be able to get them a game and suggested they try and get machines from other dealers as well.
This has never happened before. Stern usually gives a head up before a machine is sold out. They just sold out so fast this time that a warning wasn't possible. There was no reason for me to think I wouldn't be able to fill my orders. As I already said, this has never happened before. These were record breaking sales. We will learn from this and adjust in the future.

Mike
http://www.lanesandgamesarcade.com/

Bwahahaha.

Sometimes it would be a good idea for you to stop and think of whether what you post is accurate before pushing the "Send Post" button.

I don't know why people use abbreviations in the first place. Everytime I see stuff like WOF, TOM, IJ it makes me sick to my stomach.

You don't see as much of that in the arcade world. It actually makes sense . Can you imagine if people did that with arcade games?

Really? Pinball w/o abbreviations? Now that would make me sick to my stomach...

Perfect ill give you an even 5k for that BSM. A nice ill profit for ya!!!!

And what about if the code is a home run like other Lyman games of late???

Then my game will be worth $10K.

You ordered a Metallica LE?

Wow, now we are taking deposits before a project is even started that makes a lot of sense. Pinheads are a rare breed for sure.

If that's true then I wont be securing any pins in the future.

It may come to this if you want to be able to secure a pin, As long as its a fully refundable deposit if things dont look like you were expecting. I see many people going this route in the future after the Metallica LE fiasco.

OT automated services on ebay has a pro with a picture of a pro PF but has the inline drop targets on it? Or are they selling a pro with a premium PF picture attached?

Best of luck to OP in finding a game.