Author Topic: A really tough call and info needed (Read 4400 times)

dreamakuma · « **on:** April 17, 2009, 11:26:42 am »

I'm staring down at what could be my first pin....BUT it's an antique. A havanna from 1947(flipperless). Now I want to know do these old games fair well in price, do they raise in value, or am I buying junk? I understand It will get boring, but I like the idea of having a piece of gaming history. It's in good shape, runs fine, even a good paint job. I just can't find a price to compare it to. all I ever see is newer games.

ChadTower · « **Reply #1 on:** April 17, 2009, 11:49:55 am »

It's a pretty good bet the price on a game from 1947 is stabilized.

Don't get into pinball if you're mostly concerned with value. It's a losing battle unless you want to flip beaters with jury rigged repairs.

Flake · « **Reply #2 on:** April 17, 2009, 11:57:34 am »

So your going to buy that pin off STL CL huh? I was wondering if anyone would bite on it. I think he only wants $50 OBO for it so its not like its much of an investment. Offer him $40 and take home a piece of gaming history!

dreamakuma · « **Reply #3 on:** April 17, 2009, 12:07:16 pm »

Quote from: Flake on April 17, 2009, 11:57:34 am

So your going to buy that pin off STL CL huh? I was wondering if anyone would bite on it. I think he only wants $50 OBO for it so its not like its much of an investment. Offer him $40 and take home a piece of gaming history!

That's the one! I'm thinking about it. I really want it. And even if it's not worth alot, I just want to know if This is something special. But $50 Is a bit of an investment. I only make $700/month at the moment. And I have to buy some tempered glass. I'll have to wait till tommorrow. good thing I use a van for my pickups!

*100th post woo*

ChadTower · « **Reply #4 on:** April 17, 2009, 12:35:29 pm »

Quote from: dreamakuma on April 17, 2009, 12:07:16 pm

But $50 Is a bit of an investment.

$50 is a paper cup in the restaurant of pinball ownership. If you're worried about $50 being too much money then you're not going to be able to do anything at all in pinball. I'm not trying to be a dick here, honestly. If that machine is complete and in reasonable shape it is worth a lot more than $50... but take heed that this guy is having trouble finding a buyer so you will too.

Flake · « **Reply #5 on:** April 17, 2009, 12:45:36 pm »

Yea I would agree if you are fretting over a $50 investment I would forgo the world of pinball ownership.

OTTOgd · « **Reply #6 on:** April 17, 2009, 12:47:17 pm »

Neat looking machine. If you get it, be sure to rate it on IPDB; no ratings yet!
http://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=1134

dreamakuma · « **Reply #7 on:** April 17, 2009, 01:42:25 pm »

I'm not fretting, just laid off. If I still made 2,000/month I wouldn'tworry

ChadTower · « **Reply #8 on:** April 17, 2009, 02:03:02 pm »

The market is different now and you know that. People are no longer paying $700 for a rigged beater.

Flake · « **Reply #9 on:** April 17, 2009, 02:06:06 pm »

Quote from: pinballjim on April 17, 2009, 01:59:28 pm

Oh please, guys, I was fixing and flipping beaters for years and never spent more than ~$250 each on a machine and parts.

Wasn't getting rich but it was more than self-sustaining, and I got to enjoy a game for a few months and push it on down the line.

Guy here in town doing the same thing now. He's tracking all his costs and sales and he's got 20 games with an average of $90 sunk into each.

Whatever.......those must really have been super beaters and you also must have lived right next door to a williams junkyard.

You seem to forget that whatever "network" your apparently plugged into isnt accessible to most and certainly not to beginners such as myself and Dreamakuma. I would love to tap into your seemingly bottomless pit of unbelievably cheap pinball machines.

shardian · « **Reply #10 on:** April 17, 2009, 02:12:59 pm »

Quote from: Flake on April 17, 2009, 02:06:06 pm

You seem to forget that whatever "network" your apparently plugged into isnt accessible to most and certainly not to beginners such as myself and Dreamakuma. I would love to tap into your seemingly bottomless pit of unbelievably cheap pinball machines.

SECONDED!!!

ChadTower · « **Reply #11 on:** April 17, 2009, 02:25:23 pm »

I don't have a real problem picking up true beaters either. In order to make them reliable and playing well, though, it does take time and parts, so for jim's math to work in today's market you have to value your labor at almost nothing. Either that or you're selling games with garbage flipper mechs and boardsets working "for the moment".

shardian · « **Reply #12 on:** April 17, 2009, 02:34:44 pm »

Quote from: pinballjim on April 17, 2009, 02:31:55 pm

Yeah, cause Craig's List and E-bay are top secret sites.

Naw, I never thought to create a saved search for anything arcade or coin op related on ebay and craigslist. That's way above me.

The best deals I've ever seen have never seen the light of advertised day. And even those are few/far between around here.

Flake · « **Reply #13 on:** April 17, 2009, 02:45:38 pm »

STL CL pins arent $100-$200 beaters. I have tried negotiating people down to $500 for pins around here and they dont bite. I have NEVER seen a listed ad in the last 6 months I have been actively searching CL for pinball machines that had one for less than $500. And some of these are even advertised as "not-working" or "needs minor fix" - and they still dont go below $500. E-bay is the same way - at least within 250-500 miles of the STL. BTW - I look at CL and E-bay probably 2-3 times per day. Here are some sample ads currently in STL CL right now and they are very representative of what you'll find on a continuing basis.

http://stlouis.craigslist.org/tag/1123683645.html

http://stlouis.craigslist.org/clt/1122904403.html

http://stlouis.craigslist.org/tag/1126646858.html - This is one is the cheapest post in awhile and really is about as cheap as they come around here.

http://stlouis.craigslist.org/for/1124451825.html

http://stlouis.craigslist.org/tag/1121204256.html - Personal favorite of mine - OK this one is actually less than $500.

http://stlouis.craigslist.org/ele/1119286576.html - another personal favorite of mine

http://stlouis.craigslist.org/tag/1117381921.html - at least this looks to be in awesome condition

http://stlouis.craigslist.org/tag/1117380574.html

Seen enough?

You must reside in the mecca of all pinball collecting.

So I say again - I wish I had access to your secret network of $100 pins.

ChadTower · « **Reply #14 on:** April 17, 2009, 02:50:31 pm »

You are absolutely not going to get $100 pins on Boston or Providence CL. Not going to happen. Too many CL scammers here. Same with Ebay, too many local collectors. Even D list garbage gets snapped up fast and parted out for profit. I can pull beaters for cheap from the local network but not $100 cheap.

Not to mention you can't sell cheap pins here either. The same CL scammers will flag your ad in 5 minutes. They don't like competition. CL is useless here for pinball.

ChadTower · « **Reply #15 on:** April 17, 2009, 03:00:30 pm »

Meanwhile here there are guys who have realtime CL monitors set up and call any ad within 2 minutes. They'll lie, berate sellers, scam them, show up physically and try to intimidate women after being told the game is sold with deposit... that EBD would have set off a little shitstorm of 5 guys after it within 10 minutes and stoogelike infighting among them.

Flake · « **Reply #16 on:** April 17, 2009, 03:04:32 pm »

If you come across a $200 cyclone in that secret network of yours I'll pay you double and then drive down to TX to come pick it up.

ChadTower · « **Reply #17 on:** April 17, 2009, 03:15:25 pm »

Well that's the point, isn't it? You can't pick your titles when grabbing opportunity buys. You buy what is out there and eventually one of them is a top title like that.

ChadTower · « **Reply #18 on:** April 17, 2009, 03:26:25 pm »

I have long since learned not to tell people what I've paid for anything, high or low. Especially if you ever want to sell the thing. I've had too many people get pissed off at me because I wouldn't give them a game for $100 more than I paid despite having put a 25 hour shop job and $75 in parts into it.

I've gotten that "must be nice" crap, too. Then the peson gets into a car worth 3x mine and drives back to a house twice the size of mine while complaining that they don't have money for things like a pinball machine.

FrizzleFried · « **Reply #19 on:** April 17, 2009, 03:30:19 pm »

Quote from: pinballjim on April 17, 2009, 02:31:55 pm

Yeah, cause Craig's List and E-bay are top secret sites.

You guys are nuts... you can get $100-200 complete pinball machines all the time. You have to be able to repair boards or know someone that can do it for you cheap. Clean it up, slap a new rubber kit on it, replace what's broken, and you're looking at maybe $300-400 invested in it. Turn it around on e-bay for $500. Done. Like I said, you're not gonna get rich but you get to play a game for awhile and move it along to someone that's thrilled to get it.

The cheapest I've seen ANY pin go for around here on CL is $400. That said, I managed to pick up a beater of a pin for $250, but I knew the guy.

Flake · « **Reply #20 on:** April 17, 2009, 03:35:59 pm »

Well my bad for assuming your stance of getting $100-$200 machines carried over to more desireable titles. I suppose I wasnt properly making that important distinction. So I guess we are not really comparing apples to apples here. I would never buy any of those pins you listed for any amount of money since they dont appeal to me at all.

Flake · « **Reply #21 on:** April 17, 2009, 03:43:45 pm »

Quote from: pinballjim on April 17, 2009, 03:41:01 pm

Quote from: Flake on April 17, 2009, 03:35:59 pm
Well my bad for assuming your stance of getting $100-$200 machines carried over to more desireable titles. I suppose I wasnt properly making that important distinction. So I guess we are not really comparing apples to apples here. I would never buy any of those pins you listed for any amount of money since they dont appeal to me at all.

Oh right, cause that Dragon you posted a link to is such an a-lister.

Uhhhhh......I think that was my point. I dont want that Dragon. My take is that pin is over priced. What is your point?

JeepMonkey · « **Reply #22 on:** April 17, 2009, 04:00:03 pm »

Flake - I see pins for $200-$400 fairly (a couple times a month?) regular on KC CL. I saw a Silvermania on there the other day for $400. You may give KC CL a look for cheaper, project type pins.

Flake · « **Reply #23 on:** April 17, 2009, 04:06:22 pm »

Please.....like your one to shy away from debating useless crap through this forum. I had pretty much conceded to you and you posted some off the wall remark about the Dragon that didnt even make sense....to me anyway.

This is getting tiresome though.

JM - I dunno, I suppose I'm more into pins with more bling. I'm not interested in being a "flipper" of sorts. I would prefer to buy more "desirable pins"......because.....well, thats what I desire.

pinballwizard79 · « **Reply #24 on:** April 17, 2009, 08:06:54 pm »

Get back to work guys!

Flake · « **Reply #25 on:** April 17, 2009, 09:46:37 pm »

Quote from: pinballwizard79 on April 17, 2009, 08:06:54 pm

Get back to work guys!

Good call....but maybe a little too late

pinballwizard79 · « **Reply #26 on:** April 17, 2009, 10:06:50 pm »

LOL, your life has been a lot easier since the 16th hasn't it?

Its going to be a while before my days cool down, seems like 60 hours is the norm nowadays.


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