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Help on cab "shopping"/haggling.
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:
--- Quote from: leapinlew on February 26, 2011, 11:15:44 am ---1. Your location plays a lot on how much a cab should be valued.
--- End quote ---
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:
--- Quote from: Dervacumen on February 26, 2011, 02:10:48 pm ---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.
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Dervacumen:
What are the games you are selling?