How can I find out about Arcade Auctions?

[shaolindrunkard]

So I'm from the New England area and I have seen several youtube videos from the past few years of Arcade auctions where machines were being sold so low I could cry that I wasn't there.

Anyway How does one find out about these things? I've done plenty of google searching for Arcade auctions in my state as well as all of New England but I haven't come up with anything.

Thanks

[ark_ader]

If it was me, I would go and check out all the arcade operators, and do some investigative work.  Also some operators lease out games to stores and malls.  They will have a sticker with a telephone number.  Why wait for an auction when you could snag a good deal before someone else does?

[keilmillerjr]

One in my state (ct) advertises on craigslist. I always want to go, but I am always poor.

[shaolindrunkard]

Are they doing one this year? Because I will drive. I'm in Mass.

[keilmillerjr]

Are they doing one this year? Because I will drive. I'm in Mass.

I assume so. I believe it's in new haven, so check the Hartford ct craigslist when it gets warmer out. No one does anything in the winter here. For real. It's boring.

[paigeoliver]

Find your local/regional arcade group on facebook and join it. Someone will always mention any auction well before it comes along.

However the auction scene isn't a fraction of what it used to be. They have always been largely fueled by operators getting rid of obsolete equipment, and warehouses being completely liquidated. These days there aren't a whole lot of traditional operators left and when they do get rid of something it is usually the gutted shell to some 15 year old driving game .Everybody just runs everything forever these days, since new games are so few and so expensive, that traditional model of replacing the equipment every few years has completely broken down. Meanwhile most of those old warehouses have already been cleared out. While large warehouses of old games still exist, they are largely in the hands of those who make their living directly from those old games (and not traditional operators who are bad at math).

When I started in the hobby there would be 2-3 regular consignment auctions locally a year and at least one non-recurring one (location closing, etc). The last time there was a consignment auction within 100 miles was in 2012 and there hasn't been a location closing auction locally since 2013.

Also, I must mention that most of the recurring auctions have now been ruined by online bidding being added.

[pbj]

Is Super Auctions even still around?  I never quite understood all the drama, but there sure as hell were a lot of collectors spending countless hours trying to shut them down.

[paigeoliver]

Is Super Auctions even still around?  I never quite understood all the drama, but there sure as hell were a lot of collectors spending countless hours trying to shut them down.

They are, but they are not full time like they used to be, and they rarely do the consignment auctions anymore. It looks like they only did one consignment auction all year last year, otherwise only doing location closings.

And not being full-time also means that their auctions can't be as good as they used to, same with the other outfits that used to have frequent auctions. What most people never understood is that any given auction back in the old days the auction company itself would own a good portion of the games, and do a lot of buying at each auction as well. That meant that even if no one put a thing in the auction that there would still be 50 games there, and sellers got more money because if a GOOD piece of equipment was going too low then the auction house itself would end up bidding on the thing and just dragging it along to the next auction to sell.

[pbj]

Yes, that's how all travelling auctions work.