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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. :notworthy: 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.