Trading machines - successful ? Worth the hassle ?

[Ads Nems]

There’s clearly a growing trend to offer machines up for trade rather than a straight sale .

For those who have gone down that route has it worked out well and people managed to find a suitable machine they like to swap ?

I’ve got a couple machines I’m looking to move and wondering whether the trade route is a successful way to go or a bit of a damp squib

 

[Ads Nems]

Seems to me to be a much more complex way of moving machines and encourages people to hold onto theirs. But would welcome hearing some success stories from this new trend

 

[Spandangler]

For me it’s worked well. I’ve done it a few times pre crazy times anyway.
It’s a real stalemate.
First you gotta value the ****ing machine!!! Which is impossible now. Working on the logic of what a ****ty old nothing game sells for £2k then your half decent C title has to be worth £3.5k!! But it isn’t….. is it??
So say you sell said C title and are in the market for a new machine. You’ve gotta wait, days, weeks, months for something else to be advertised, then join the hordes of others also in you boat. You don’t have time to ponder it. Ask for some more pics, knock ‘em down a bit. You’ve just got to buy it on the spot before some other ****er nabs it who doesn’t care about wear and condition.

I’ve just agreed on a trade with my Dirty Harry.
I didn’t have a clue where to value it, so offered it against a Similar value machine advertised on here. We are both happy and remain on the ladder.

A lot of deals are done through mates calling dibs etc..

That’s how I got pinbot, space Station and diner.

So yeah @Ads Nems give it a whirl. It can’t make you pregnant

 

[Marvello]

I think it needs a decent amount of new games coming into the country to kick-start people selling. It's a seems most members think "I'm not selling mine as no one else is selling theirs".

I can see the benefits of a trade but also the negatives. It isn't the end of the world if you sell a Pin and have to wait a while to get another.

 

[John Beveridge]

I really would prefer just to sell on like i used to do but NO ONE wants to let anything go these days. Not quite sure why as at the end of the day it is just another game to play. Now if i put my machines up for sale tonight i`d probably sell the lot easily but i want to have something back in to continue having a bit of fun. I don`t want a vast collection just a handful to keep me amused . Trouble is they are worth ( or are they ?) so much money these days no one wants to be on the end of a deal they lose out on.

Blimey there must be SO much out there worth spending your money on rather than pinball machines and that is coming from a hopeless addict like me !

 

[russdx1]

I really would prefer just to sell on like i used to do but NO ONE wants to let anything go these days. Not quite sure why as at the end of the day it is just another game to play. Now if i put my machines up for sale tonight i`d probably sell the lot easily but i want to have something back in to continue having a bit of fun. I don`t want a vast collection just a handful to keep me amused . Trouble is they are worth ( or are they ?) so much money these days no one wants to be on the end of a deal they lose out on.

Blimey there must be SO much out there worth spending your money on rather than pinball machines and that is coming from a hopeless addict like me !

Let’s all sell up and buy hookers and coke!

 

[Gonzo]

Loan swaps is really the way to go and freshen things up whilst you wait for something you want.

 

[Jib]

Loan swaps is really the way to go and freshen things up whilst you wait for something you want.

I like the idea of loan swapping but I’d want to put a decent amount of games on a machine and I’m not sure how many people would be happy about that with a newer machine.

Do you ever agree on amount of games for a loan trade? I’m thinking more about people who put a few hundred games on a NIB and then loan trade and it coming back with 1000 more games on it than older machines that already have thousands of games played.

 

[Wayne J]

I've loan swapped (and simply loaned or been loaned) dozens of machines in the past. From less than year NIBs to much older machines. Some with people I hadn't even met before!
(My Imdn for his Kiss)

The usual agreement is that basic maintenance, such as rubbers and bulbs are replaced by the person in possession of the machine at the time, larger items such as DMDs, node boards etc are replaced by the owner of the machine (assuming failure not to abuse)

It's a great way of getting to experience different games, which you may not be able to afford, rarely come up for sale, or you don't want to let go long term. I'd have been horrified to have actually bought Hook, but glad that I got the chance to play it and put some time on it and learn the rules. Likewise I would never have been able to afford BM66, AcDc or TWD (amongst so many other titles in my signature) but got to play them at home.

It's also a great way to see other peoples full collections in situ and put up some graffiti.

Never have I asked or even looked how many games have been played.

It's much easier when you actually meet people in real life at shows, comps or league meets and get talking to them.

EVERY single machine I have borrowed has gone back to their owner in at least as good condition - cleaned ,re-rubbered, new balls etc. I've also never had a machine come back to me in a worse condition than when it left me. People tend to take better care of someone else's machine than their own.

A loan swap is the way forward, and always has been.

 

[Wayne J]

Let’s all sell up and buy MORE hookers and coke!

Fixed that for you

 

[Gonzo]

I like the idea of loan swapping but I’d want to put a decent amount of games on a machine and I’m not sure how many people would be happy about that with a newer machine.

Do you ever agree on amount of games for a loan trade? I’m thinking more about people who put a few hundred games on a NIB and then loan trade and it coming back with 1000 more games on it than older machines that already have thousands of games played.

Pretty much what Wayne said really..........Just look after each others machines.

I have probably played pinball for 30 mins each day this week. For me that might be 3-4 games but that might be one game for Wayne. My point is that games played is no barometer really and it's worth remembering that these machines are designed to be played on location so it's unlikely you'll play a loan machine 'too much'.

I would never have purchased Ghostbusters but it was great to have here for a few months as was Congo. Loaning also saved me a lot of money on Stranger Things which I didn't really enjoy and I'd have been gutted if I'd found that out after buying one. For three months it was perfect though.

 

[VeeMonroe]

I like the idea of loan swapping but I’d want to put a decent amount of games on a machine and I’m not sure how many people would be happy about that with a newer machine.

Same here. I love our existing collection, but our five year old is excited by new pins (he loves FG and has almost stopped playing GZ). So, I'd love to do a temporary swap - probably of LoTR - at some point in the future.

With me, it's more than racking up a load of plays. It's also that our games room is our front room, and I'm not sure how many people want a two year old running around their pin (and it would make me nervous too).

 

[DRD]

With so much demand, temp swapping does make sense

I only temp swapped my former Funhouse as there is amazing spares availability for this game.

Boards, rubbers, standard mechs - all soluble. You can easily agree up front what happens for items like these.

What about expensive stuff, like a ramp ? Or mini playfield ?

My biggest fear - which was not realised - regards game specific parts. I dreaded breaking something on the game I borrowed.

What is a sensible protocol if a game specific part fails and is unobtainium?

Plastics ?
Motors ?
Mini playfields ?

 

[Spandangler]

I should have made it clear. The trades I have done a permanent. Not long term
loans.

 

[CHRIS B PINBALLS]

I find trades are pretty much a waste of time as most people over value there machines people have payed silly money for machine as of recent
When I parted with my deadpool pro I was offered a Metallica premium my thought s where a straight swap but the seller wanted cash his way to as his way said it felt like he was losing out parting with a premium to get a pro which I said was a fair enough comment I then sold the deadpool and a month later a Metallica premium popped up with all the mods and I bought that and actually had cash my way
Loan is not a bad thing but only with trusted friends
I do think there are sales going on but are done behind closed doors
I have sold 12 pins in the last 6 week s non of which I have put on here due to it being pretty toxic on here these days

 

[taz turbo]

I very recently but up my Baywatch and Roadshow looking for trades for other machines. I got some reasonable offers, one pending on BW. The thing that surprised me (maybe not that much actually) was where some people valued their machines, some were IMO eye watering, and my machines pretty much worthless.

BW hopefully trades out soon, RS still available...

As to Chris B comment on toxicity on here selling machines, I couldn't agree more, I personally would be very reluctant to openly advertise a machine on here now, hell my TSPP has skill posts, and nobody in their right minds likes Wonka, so I would be slaughtered!

Chris.

 

[Spandangler]

I very recently but up my Baywatch and Roadshow looking for trades for other machines. I got some reasonable offers, one pending on BW. The thing that surprised me (maybe not that much actually) was where some people valued their machines, some were IMO eye watering, and my machines pretty much worthless.

BW hopefully trades out soon, RS still available...

As to Chris B comment on toxicity on here selling machines, I couldn't agree more, I personally would be very reluctant to openly advertise a machine on here now, hell my TSPP has skill posts, and nobody in their right minds likes Wonka, so I would be slaughtered!

Chris.

Whaaaat. Your TSPP has skill posts. You should probably just take yourself to the vets and get yourself put down or so some would have you think.

I’ll get those pics today dude.

 

[Marvello]

I don't agree it is toxic on here at all apart from the odd occurrence when a thread spirals out of control.

It is usually the half-****d for sale threads that get jumped on, and rightly so for the most part. Withholding information and lying are basically the same thing.

 

[Wayne J]

I currently have EHOH on loan from Electric Circus, as it needed a little bit of tinkering.
As it happened I filed off the opto on a board, my own stupid fault. I simply had to buy a replacement. Had it been that the board had failed due to 'one of those things', I probably would have purchased it anyway, but wouldn't have been obliged to.