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Thoughts on the current price of pinball.

Y

yyyyyikes

Registered
5Years
Joined
Jul 18, 2017
Messages
3
Location
UK
I just wanted to get people's thoughts on something that's bugging me.

I was doing up my LOTR the other day and just thought i'd swiftly check eBay for pins (something I don't do any more as a rule).

First up in my face: "Lord of the RIngs" "£9000". Well clearly this is ridiculous (especially if you look at the pics) but is it still a problem?

I personally think it is - the near-scam level prices just inflate ALL prices. A game listed just 3 years ago for 2k is now flipped up for 6 even 7, 8 or Ali 18k stones/addams 10k
(when I think of some of the games I turned down.......no......forget........)

The problem I personally have is that I'm slowly doing up all of my machines with the intent to move quite a few of them on - probably just for what I paid originally, or what I think they are worth.
But then where does that leave someone like me? For example, say I sell a nice-ish Whitewater for 2 grand which is fine but then if I ever want to own one again, i'm faced with 5k on the web, 4 someone will therefore want
(i'm speaking round-a-bouts) and possibly more in the future. It makes me not want to sell any of them (which providence and guilt know is a very bad idea).
The real value of pinball machines is having them used, yes look beautiful, but have someone play them.
my favourite pins are the ones I got fairly cheap - not particulary wanted but thought it was a fair price and then found out how good the game is.

I'm not saying there's a solution, but should there be something done about it? It's the same in other industries, e.g. books where online sellers, even private ones would just google the book and list it
at the highest price on the net to match it, or 1 pence less because "that is what it is worth", sometimes hundreds of pounds for something worth 50p. Do sites such as eBay have a responsibility to
monitor ludicrous pricing? Probably these are all old thoughts and questions, but the steep Covid-like curve of pin-pricing is getting stupid.

i know (only too well) how expensive a hobby pinball is, but where is this going to end. a couple of years back a NIB Stern was expensive at 5 thousand, now 8 seems sort of ok.
f**k it, i'll have the premium at 10 and it'll be worth 12 in 6 months.

Sorry, long rant. Back to skinning a cab.
 
Yeah, fair point, just think it acts as a way for people to ask for more in the first place. Sure you're right.
 
I have a solution. Sell me your Whitewater for £2k and I promise that when I am fed up with it i'll sell it back to you at £2k. If you don't want it then, we will sell it to someone else, at £2k and he enters our little circle. The circle grows. It relies on trust.
 
I think what people need to realise is that there is no fixed price for how much a particular pin is worth.

There is a collector's matket value, which most of us here base decisions on, and the there's an inflated ebay/"dealer" price.

I put dealer in quotes because often theyre not and give genuine dealers a bad rep to newbies.

Just because someone gets stung by an inflated price, doesn't mean a 2k pin is suddenly worth 5k. It means they were naive and paid too much.

If they're lucky enough to be able to subsequently move it on for the same money, great for them. But again, poor buyer #2.

But the price war between the two camps is firey. Just not not compatible.

My advice to people... pick a side and stick to it. Don't try buy/sell between the camps, one or the other will end up loosing.

Tim
 
The completed items is a good start but bear in mind some of that stuff never gets "really paid for". Shilling sellers & deadbeat bidders. There are still the occasional gem which you can land on for the right price but it's all mostly overpriced stuff that's been for sale for years on eBay.

As the machines 90's & 2000's are too old to be put on a route they'll only go in Barcades or we collectors have them. The next few years are going to be interesting for retro Arcades & barcades with the Covid malarky.

So is the 90's & 2000's stuff over priced, yes. But if someone with more money than sense wants it, as expensive as it is, it'll still sell. Your money is going to be worth less and less with banks charging for your account in the near future so people could put that money in a pin, but long term that will mean more stagnation of the pin market. When the shnit really hits then you'll see the pins come to a more realistic price in my opinion.
 
Very positive responses.

I like the idea of a 2k gang. Always have pins to play always well maintained!
Thanks folks, you just made me feel better - that future 2k whitewater is a way off yet though.
 
yyyyyikes said:
Very positive responses.

I like the idea of a 2k gang. Always have pins to play always well maintained!
Thanks folks, you just made me feel better - that future 2k whitewater is a way off yet though.
Click to expand...
It only takes 1 rotten apple to spoil things though, sadly.
 
So you either buy it or you don’t 🤷‍♂️
Same for most collectable things, wish I bought that Sierra RS500 20 odd years ago.
If you are lucky enough to of had one for years and the price is 5 or 6 times more good luck to you.
I bought my who2 last year from a guy who bought it in 1997 for I think he said £600, I paid a lot more than that for it.
Wish I bought a load back in the late nineties but I was skint then☹️
 
yyyyyikes said:
I'm not saying there's a solution, but should there be something done about it? It's the same in other industries, e.g. books where online sellers, even private ones would just google the book and list it
at the highest price on the net to match it, or 1 pence less because "that is what it is worth", sometimes hundreds of pounds for something worth 50p. Do sites such as eBay have a responsibility to
monitor ludicrous pricing? Probably these are all old thoughts and questions, but the steep Covid-like curve of pin-pricing is getting stupid.
Click to expand...

As a bookdealer primarily selling on eBay its a gargantuan advantage having access to book auction records to see what stuff has actually sold for - in some cases its a price where it would be subsequently sold by a dealer so not always the same as market value but it gives a realistic idea - sometimes I end up listing something for 10% (usually as an auction) of a daft price that someone has put for a fixed price. Still plenty that are scarce (odd one even rare - "rare" in book terms means 10 or fewer known copies) that are very much a stab in the grey to guess a price. Does mean every now and then I get something bid up a lot.
 
If you flog an asset there are a multitude of prices it might fetch.

Pinball machines are relatively rare. If someone really wants a centaur or a dialed-in or taxi or whatever specific title floats their boat, there may only be 1, 2, 5 chances a year in the UK to buy one.

If however someone just wants to buy any game, that is a different story

Real price of a decent Centaur might be £1,500 to £2,000. But if a wealthy guy really wants one, maybe he will pay £2,500 for it.

If a Centaur seller on eBay advertises it at £3,000 he might get lucky. Sell to a fool or a rich person. Unlikely though.

If a recognised dealer with decent website and sales patter puts the same Centaur up for £5,000 with delivery, a warranty and aftercare package he might get lucky and get over £4,000 for it from a wealthy, nervous or uninformed guy. Many first timers buy from dealers. I did. I overpaid for my Addams from a very good dealer and he sold me a very good and extremely reliable example.

Fellas do come on here who paid thousands over the odds for a title from HLD for example. That money is burnt.

On here I believe you generally get a bit under what a game might go for if it is an average or weak title. BUT you deal with predominantly decent buyers who don't mess about. Average or weak tites are often better sold on Gumtree as the pool of buyers is much wider, but so is the number of idiots offering crossbows, electric guitars and newly born kids in exchange.

I got a much better price on Gumtree for my world poker tour and vector which are not fancied games for example.

However for a desirable title you might actually get more on here than on gumtree. I sold my Flash Gordon and prototype Earthshaker very quickly on here as folk who know pinball know that these are good titles that rarely come up for sale

Right now I am trying to sell a Funhouse on here but I suspect that Gumtree is actually the right place for it. However, I dont want a crosssbow/ electric guitar/ human infant.
 
I really hope the 'temporary trade' side of things opens up to counter prices. I've done this several times with other known members and its been great. For example with @Matt Adams we temp swapped my FT for his Creech for 6 months. He was local enough to deliver but I'd have happily used Martin both ways. I don't want to sell FT but occasionally it gathers dust so to find someone who has same situation with a similar valued pin for a 6 or 12 month loan will cost £200 to use Martin both ways and you get to sample someone else's game. Only conditions obvs you repair any faults that arise when you have it. I did this with @cooldan (miss his gifs) and we ended up adding a few £ and making it permanent. This to me, as long as you can offer references or know the person is a really safe way of keeping pins and trying others without huge expense and I highly recommend it, especially as Martin is up and running and most of us aren't and the current market is all over the place!
 
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