Help on cab "shopping"/haggling.

[Well Fed Games]

So, a local amusement rental company in my area has a bunch of cabinets in various states of disrepair they want to sell (put up an ad on Craigslist). I'd like to pick up a full-size cab (or several) for projects. Any tips on what I should spend, or how much I should haggle? In my case, they will probably become MAME type cabs, not restorations. The guy on the phone quoted $100-$150 for "empty non-working cabs, more for classic midway stuff like pac-man." Does that seem high or low? I once bought a full empty cab on ebay for $45, but I think I got a good deal. Any suggestions from folks who have made purchases in similar situations?

[leapinlew]

$100-$150 sounds good to me

If it has good marquee retainers and is solid - I'd go for it. You can haggle by bundling a few machines together, but I think you won't get them down to $45.

[Nephasth]

Depends on what "empty" means to them. Is the control panel populated? Coin door present? Coin mechs? Marquee light? Power supply? If none of that is there and it is truly EMPTY (just wood), I would feel uncomfortable paying $50 dollars for an empty cab. I've gotten 3 with pretty much everything I've mentioned still inside for free and another classic with everything but the monitor and PCBs for $25. I picked up a 25" Midway for a friend that an operator stripped completely bare (even took the unpopulated control panel) for $50 (my friend insisted). He wanted to sell me an unpopulated CP (basically just a piece of wood) for $25. When I told him I wasn't interested in either, he decided to throw in the CP for "free". If you try to get an empty cab from an operator or amusement company, they're going to try to milk you out of every dime they can. If you can find one from a fellow collector/enthusiast, you'll get a much better deal.

[Donkbaca]

Yeah, I think that is a bit much for just wood.  Find out what comes with it and do the math in your head.  I have seen local working machines go for 250 ish on CL.  BUT each market is different.  That being said I would pay less than 100 for a gutted machine without a monitor.  You gotta figure that these guys probably want to get rid of them worse than you want to buy one.  Not many operators around, you don't see many games in the wild anymore. 

[Well Fed Games]

Lots of good info, thanks all.  I get the feeling the various cabs have a wide range of "stuff" in them, and they want to get rid of them, so I am hoping they will go down in price. With the cost of materials and my poor woodworking skills, any deal on an existing cab will probably be a good one. If anyone else has thoughts, love to hear them.

[Dervacumen]

The price does seem high.  My suggestion is to offer him $25 if it's truly empty, no more than $100 fully populated with CRT, Coin Door, back door, marquee hardware.  I wouldn't worry about the control panel since you'll probably need to build your own anyway.  Let him know you're looking, and if he gets back to you before you find another one you'll take it off his hands.  Then give him your contact info and look for something else.
Chances are he would rather get rid of it for a few bucks than to take it to the dump and pay someone for something he doesn't want.  You do need to be patient for this to work though.  I scored my first empty cabinet for free.  It had one small metal bracket in it.  Took me 3 months to find it.

[leapinlew]

There you go thefearsome, a few different opinions on what the value should be but at least everyone agrees that overpaying is bad. A few things to keep in mind:

1. Your location plays a lot on how much a cab should be valued. If you are in a part of the country where arcade cabinets are plentiful, you can look to spend less money.
2. How much you value your time is an important factor. Some people have more money than time and buying a mostly complete cabinet is a time saver.
3. The type of cabinet matters. If he has a Star Wars standup/sitdown with no monitor or coindoor for $150 solid - buy it. If it's a generic dynamo cab with no bezel, retainers, brackets, coin door, or control panel it may not be worth hauling it home for free.

Good luck.

[nitz]

1. Your location plays a lot on how much a cab should be valued.

This is probably the biggest factor in how much a cab is worth IMO. I get jealous when I hear about people buying a Ms. Pac/Donkey Kong/some other classic game for $200-$300 because those things go for $600-$800 where I live because there is such a short supply of them.

A few people are saying $100-$150 is too much for an empty cab, and I'm sure it is where they live. But where I live, cabs don't show up extremely often, and the wood and other materials to build one would easily run me $150+, not to mention the time and work. So if I were wanting an empty cab for a project, I would jump on one in decent condition for $100, and may even go as high as $150 if it was in great condition and a cab I really wanted. I'd probably draw the line at $150 though.

Bottom line: If cabs for sale is a fairly common thing in your area, Dervacumen has given you some good advice. But if you rarely see good project cabs coming up for sale and/or wood and such is expensive where you live, there is no shame in paying $100 for a good cab shell.

Good luck!

[Dervacumen]

I don't want to rub salt in your wound, but I have two cabinets I would let go for $100-$150 each.  One is a complete working game, the other needs a marquee.  Both have working monitors, coin doors, power supplies, everything.

[JohnEDollar]

I don't want to rub salt in your wound, but I have two cabinets I would let go for $100-$150 each.  One is a complete working game, the other needs a marquee.  Both have working monitors, coin doors, power supplies, everything.

Dervacumen:

What are the games you are selling?

[Well Fed Games]

Thanks again for all the info, extremely helpful. I'm in NW Indiana, so I know there has to be a lot around (Chicago is nearby, still a bit of a drive though). The place that posted on Craigslist is Star Amusements in Gary: http://chicago.craigslist.org/nwi/vgm/2230241177.html... nobody take anything good before I get there... 

[Dervacumen]

I don't want to rub salt in your wound, but I have two cabinets I would let go for $100-$150 each.  One is a complete working game, the other needs a marquee.  Both have working monitors, coin doors, power supplies, everything.

Dervacumen:

What are the games you are selling?

PM sent.  Don't want to jack this thread.

[Well Fed Games]

Well, I checked the place out, had LOTS of cabinets... a whole row of galagas, some pacs, a very nice (not working) xevious, some neo-geo, sit-down drivers, even an ancient Space Invaders. Bad part is, although the guy was nice and eager to "make some room," he wanted too much for everything, in my opinion. For instance, I think the Xevious he wanted like $400 for. Tried to haggle but was unsuccessful. I ended up paying $80 for a fairly abused MS Pac Man shell (will post pics later). It was hard, seeing so many sweet old cabs but knowing I shouldn't over-pay. Oh, well. Strangest thing I saw there- a Raiden DX in an old repainted burger time cab.

Place is only 20 minutes from my home, maybe I will give them some time and see if the cabs sitting there for a while motivates them to move them out. Until then, I have an old Ms. Pac cab to re-purpose...

[Dervacumen]

I've wanted a good condition DK junior for a long time.  I know of one for sale less than a mile from my house for $800. 
The guy used to operate about 8 machines and refuses to budge on the price because of "how much these machines rake in, and all the upkeep".
Well, he still has the machine and it's at his house now, and he's not "raking it in."  I have his number and will keep in touch in case he has a change in heart.  I would suggest you do the same.  You'll find cabinets now that you're looking.

[deadmeat]

$80  doesn't sound bad.  i dropped about $300 on wood, screws and plywood blades for my MAME cab and about 4 nights making noise and pissing off the wife .
Theres a guy selling a pole position missing the monitor and board for $25 that I'm thinking of picking up,  Damn this hobby is addicting.

[Well Fed Games]

Yeah, I guess I came out ahead, with most of the wood I need bought for $80, marquee light holder, etc. Hard to let the nice Xevious machine go. But, I guess if I had got something too nice, I would have been tempted to do a restoration, when in this case it will probably be a console-based multigame.