Input on selling MAME machine desired

[menace]

Hey guys, I'm just about to list my machine for sale and was wondering how others have done it and what success you had.  I will be posting here as well as ebay (pickup or local delivery only) and maybe a post on alt.games.mame.  

Can you think of anywhere else that might yield positive results?  I more interested in what worked for you and what, if any, pitfalls to avoid.

thanks!

[soslo]

I sold one of mine using a local online ad place (craigslist). The response was decent (3-4 emails) in the couple of days it was listed.

I almost doubled the money that I put into it, but I guess that just pays me for the time I put into it...

[paigeoliver]

Live arcade auction is probably the BEST place to sell a Mame cabinet (unless you have over $1000 sunk into it). Last one I went to (Saturday), they averaged between $700 and $800 for 19" ones.

The reason that is the BEST place is because once it is sold it is gone, and not your problem, you won't have to provide technical support because you won't even know who bought it, and the buyer won't know who sold it.

[menace]

Thanks for the input!  I'm not sure how to even go about getting it to a live auction???  There's also the fact that it could conceivably sell for 50$ if the wrong mix of people are there    I think I'm going to go the local advertisements route as well as word of mouth--I know a bunch of people that want one--just a matter of whether they actually want to PAY for one.  

[eightbit]

Ebay can be good but then you often have to deal with shipping it or  people not paying after bidding. Some advantages are you can set the starting price, and you have a huge audience.

Local sales are good because shipping it is usually easiest but you have a limited market.

[Nailz]

I did mine on Ebay, I just made sure I stipulated that it was a local pickup only, and that if they wanted it packed/delivered they would need to set it up themselves.

Fortunately I didn't get any morons that couldn't read and it was a pretty smooth sale.  I made a bit of money off of it, just make sure you set a reserve for yourself and as hard as it is, try to price it to sell, and don't get too emotionally attached to some ridiculous price.  Unless of course you don't care if you sell it or not and are hoping to find a real sucker.

[paigeoliver]

As long as you can attend the auction and be there for the bidding then you won't have to worry about it selling for $50. Remember you can bid on your own items at arcade auctions. If you win it, then it is called a "buy back" and you are only charged a $12 buy back fee (plus your $12 entry fee), meaning the most you could be out is $24. Just remember not to abuse this to try and squeeze every last penny out of the item, just use it to make sure you aren't going to take a loss on it.

I plan on probably bringing a Ms. Pac-Mame (mini) and a maybe a Sprint One to the next auction, and I won't think twice about buying them back if they are going to go too low.

[menace]

Thanks for the info PO!  I never knew the intimicies of arcade auctions--it's good to know.

[paigeoliver]

Also, if you are looking to make a couple hundred dollars extra at any auction then just make a Ms. Pac-Mame. You can usually put one together for under $250, assuming of course that you can get the basic cabinet itself for cheap.

$50 cabinet.
$20 repro Ms. Pac marquee.
$100 19" monitor (used).
$20 old pentium 200 or better computer.
$10 cheap PC speaker
$10 start buttons and a used keyboard or joystick to hack (perfect application for a keyboard hack, as Ms. Pac never has more than one key pressed at a time.
$16 New Ms. Pac joystick.
$20 misc (plexi, light bulbs, etc, this will vary from cabinet to cabinet).
Total $246

You can also splurge and get a repro overlay as well, which will add to the sale price. If you can find a mini or a cocktail then you can reduce your costs by about $80 for a mini (only needs a used 14" display), or by $64 for a cocktail (also only needs a 14" display, but will need a second joystick).

Either set it up as just Ms. Pac-Man, or put Pac, Ms. Pac, and Junior Pac on a menu. Make it dos though, so it can be shut off easily.

Either way, you can probably expect $400-$600 for your non-original Ms. Pac. Even after auction fees it should be enough to pick up an extra game. By the way, it doesn't even need to be a Pac cabinet, any cabinet is fine for this.

Of course no real "collector" will buy it, but there are a lot of non-collectors at any given auction who just want a Ms. Pac, and they don't really care too much if it is original, and anyway, a comp based one will be more reliable anyway (better for someone who doesn't know how to make repairs).

[mattfl]

I showed a picture of my cab to a guys at my dads work and he fell in love with it. Offered me 2500$ to build him one exactly like mine...soooo...sometimes word of mouth is a good way to sell cabs

[menace]

Dam I wish my dad worked with rich people    Yah I am exploring the word of mouth already--I'm thinking 500$ for a fully operational 2 player mame cab (made from converted berzerk cab)  See pic--Sound reasonable?

[eightbit]

Dam I wish my dad worked with rich people    Yah I am exploring the word of mouth already--I'm thinking 500$ for a fully operational 2 player mame cab (made from converted berzerk cab)  See pic--Sound reasonable?

Prolly reasonable or cheap, it all depends on the quality and age of all the components especially the speed of the PC.

If your exploring building them and selling them you need to decide how much its going to cost you in materials and then decide what your time is worth. Use that as a minimum and then charge as much as what the market will bear.

Just be aware of your costs before you sell anything and try to account for things like delivery and after the sale support or being very clear up front that delivery is up to them and that their is no warranty. This will hurt how much your able to charge though.

[menace]

If your exploring building them and selling them

nah, just trying to make room in the basement for the new behemoth.  I chose $500 to cover parts and a little something for putting it all together (prolly works out to about $.02 an hour )

Does the price seem in line with others you guys have seen--too low?  too high?

[eightbit]

Seems low but it depends on what you have in it. Is that a spinner on there? Does it have a Keyboard or gamepad hack vs. a real encoder. Speed of the pc and what components it has. Does it have any side art, what condition are the sides in. PC monitor, arcade monitor, or tv, does it have any burn-in?. Problems I can see from that one picture are mismatched joysticks, wood showing above monitor, paint is ok but not great.

We can't tell you what its worth without a lot more details, then we can only guess based on your area it could flucuate wildly. I've seen worse cabs go for far more and better cabs go for less, so its a tough call.

[menace]

Well rather than get into here, I'll just post details when it goes up for sale.  As far as seeing wood--I need a bezel!!  I've been looking but shipping is usually the stopper due to its size.  I think I'll post a WTB for one and see what pops up.  Good input though--I've been looking at it so long that I don't notice these things anymore.