The person with bride asked me on ebay randomly for the value of bride and black rose but as poole too far to pick up myself and I already have black rose I said 1500. as it seems he may have took my valuation their could be a good deal here!
Pinball info
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EBay auctions 2016
- Thread starter mufcmufc
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So another eBay auction finishes early.
Does anyone have experience with this seller ?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/222011323082?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT
Always seems to have pins up for sale
Does anyone have experience with this seller ?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/222011323082?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT
Always seems to have pins up for sale
This forum really needs a FAQ for this one....
Yes, he brings a lot of machines to the UK. I just wish he would stop using the same eBay format to convince the buyer that they are from his personnel collection.
Ok. Take the point. Searched by location and found my answer. Thank you!
Gets the world's biggest helping of popcorn ready :-D
If you are looking for dangerous death-trap pinball machines with bare live wires and missing earths, at top-end prices, then he is your man!
He'll tell you about his 100% positive feedback, because he sells everything off ebay so no one can leave him bad feedback.
For those not aware, I am making my second video on a different death-trap machine other than the famous TOM
In the UK the seller is legally responsible for the electrical safety of items sold, but this scumbag doesn't care as long as he makes his ££££
The ToM I bought remotely was a complete dog, but was buttered up in the description as the best he'd ever seen. Others on here know him and have bought locally with no issues I believe. Think that's the key, you need to go look over the machine yourself to see exactly what you're buying and don't believe a word of what he writes or says. He's shafted several people in the North and confessed to me a while back that he doesn't know what he's doing with pinballs. Not exactly what he states in the auctions. There you go.
If he wasn't such a bullsh**er then there wouldn't be a problem.
If he just said something like "Imported from Croatia, sold as seen, playfield looks good, but may have faults etc" then no one would care.
It's the fact that he acts like a second hand car dealer with every machine he sells, it doesn't matter what the condition is like or what faults it has, he will say its the best xxx machine ever in mint condition. He prices them way over the top and encourages people to make him offers outside of ebay.
Whether or not he know anything about pinball machines, he is flipping them for a profit and using underhand sales tactics to bump the price. All we ask for is some honesty.
And no matter what he says or does, nothing excuses the fact that he is LEGALLY responsible for the electrical safety of these machines.
I'm so mad, because when I was asked to look at the TOM, I picked up a bare live wire in the machine (not realising it was plugged in) that a**hole could have been responsible for killing me
If he just said something like "Imported from Croatia, sold as seen, playfield looks good, but may have faults etc" then no one would care.
It's the fact that he acts like a second hand car dealer with every machine he sells, it doesn't matter what the condition is like or what faults it has, he will say its the best xxx machine ever in mint condition. He prices them way over the top and encourages people to make him offers outside of ebay.
Whether or not he know anything about pinball machines, he is flipping them for a profit and using underhand sales tactics to bump the price. All we ask for is some honesty.
And no matter what he says or does, nothing excuses the fact that he is LEGALLY responsible for the electrical safety of these machines.
I'm so mad, because when I was asked to look at the TOM, I picked up a bare live wire in the machine (not realising it was plugged in) that a**hole could have been responsible for killing me
Anyone reported this kind of thing to Trading Standards?
If no-one reports it, then why would anything ever change? Admittedly TS might not do anything about it but if no-one tries we'll never know.
If no-one reports it, then why would anything ever change? Admittedly TS might not do anything about it but if no-one tries we'll never know.
I have tried with other things on eBay. They seem to have as much interest as eBay themselves. Which is really none at all. I always thought they would have been more interested as their business model depends on good selling but they are just so big now that focussing on individual sellers or indeed buyers appears not to be a priority. They just ensure their own rules don't keep them liable
The guy in Hove? Pretty sure the decent machines he's getting almost every single one from a dealer in Italy and then jacking the prices up. The 'deathtraps', no idea .. possibly the same source, but they wouldn't be selling them to him for anything other than restoration and rectification - he knows they're jacked because they're sold as such if they are from that source.
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I know of at least 8 group members that have bought machines from Tobin including myself and have been really happy with them, I have looked at loads of machines on behalf of people here and to be fair most machines are pretty good, I don't know any other seller or dealer that is importing as many games as he is at the moment, and if you want anything unusual he can usually find it ... Simple rule with games is go and look at it first if you don't then you take the gamble , happened to me loads of times then a ****ter turns up and it will happen again most likely as i am lazy 
said it before and will say it again if anyone wants me to check one over drop me a line I drive past his place most days
said it before and will say it again if anyone wants me to check one over drop me a line I drive past his place most days
I know of at least 8 group members that have bought machines from Tobin including myself and have been really happy with them, I have looked at loads of machines on behalf of people here and to be fair most machines are pretty good, I don't know any other seller or dealer that is importing as many games as he is at the moment, and if you want anything unusual he can usually find it ... Simple rule with games is go and look at it first if you don't then you take the gamble , happened to me loads of times then a ****ter turns up and it will happen again most likely as i am lazy
said it before and will say it again if anyone wants me to check one over drop me a line I drive past his place most days
Whether other people have had nice machines from him or not is not relevant to the fact that he is advertising dangerous dog machines on ebay as mint condition.
Most collectors buy from other collectors, not ebay. He is targeting general public who don't know better. You can't expect someone buying their first pinball machine to know how to lift the playfield and inspect the wiring or check the boards in the backbox. They just want a pinball machine to play. He can turn it on and show it working, and it could look perfectly fine to them.
I honestly don't understand why you feel the need to defend his reprehensible actions. Just because some of the machines you are aware of were good deals, you cannot use that as an excuse to cover up the bad and or dangerous deals.
I'll say it again. He is LEGALLY responsible in the UK for the electrical safety of the machines he is selling and no number of people that are friends with him or like his machines is going to change the fact that he is for an absolute fact (and I have plenty of photos and video evidence) that he is selling ILLEGAL DEATH TRAPS to people who don't know about these sorts of things. I honestly don't understand how you can even try to defend that for a second
I don't think I've ever seen Northerners defending Pinball Paradise
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Deleted member 181
Chill out....
I just felt it was unfair to slag Tobin down to the ground when a lot of people have had ok deals , we have all bought **** machines I bought the worlds worst dog of a game of a well know group member here , not gonna here from me who it was as it was my fault I didn't go and see it myself , and that's life and we move on.
I just don't like seeing anyone get slagged to the ground and if I think it's a bit unfair I will say something.
Don't know about legalities and all that and to be honest I personally don't give a rats ass, I do however feel your pain buying a munter of a game , and hope you one day draw closure on it .
I just felt it was unfair to slag Tobin down to the ground when a lot of people have had ok deals , we have all bought **** machines I bought the worlds worst dog of a game of a well know group member here , not gonna here from me who it was as it was my fault I didn't go and see it myself , and that's life and we move on.
I just don't like seeing anyone get slagged to the ground and if I think it's a bit unfair I will say something.
Don't know about legalities and all that and to be honest I personally don't give a rats ass, I do however feel your pain buying a munter of a game , and hope you one day draw closure on it .
Thankfully I have never bought a machine from him, but as one of only a small number of people that do full pinball repairs in the country, I get to fix the machines after his unsuspecting ebay victims get stung. I bet he's never offered to re-reimburse them for their repair bills.
Asside from repairing pins for people I don't know, 2 good personal friends of mine have been stung by his machines now, so I take it personally, it is not fair on them at all.
While you will have to wait a bit longer for my new videos on deathtrap pinballs from hell, I will leave you with the videos from the famous Theatre of Magic "The best Theatre of Magic I have ever seen" <- the words of a blind man or a 1970's used car dealer?
6 evenings of pro bono electrical work, a week of restoration work, and several hundreds of pounds spent on parts (ramps, platics, entire playfield mechanisms etc) to put it right
Asside from repairing pins for people I don't know, 2 good personal friends of mine have been stung by his machines now, so I take it personally, it is not fair on them at all.
While you will have to wait a bit longer for my new videos on deathtrap pinballs from hell, I will leave you with the videos from the famous Theatre of Magic "The best Theatre of Magic I have ever seen" <- the words of a blind man or a 1970's used car dealer?
6 evenings of pro bono electrical work, a week of restoration work, and several hundreds of pounds spent on parts (ramps, platics, entire playfield mechanisms etc) to put it right
I am with Luke on this one. The point is not about whether some of his machines are good or rubbish. The point is that he sells them all as if they are top notch - when really he doesn't know. And it matters to people like me who know little about the working of the machines.
Anyway to answer the original thread on this matter, Will has offered to go and check out whichever machine might be of interest, so thank you Will for this.
And thanks Luke for sharing the videos, they actually made me want to learn more about fixing machines properly as I recognise the dodgy wiring of the TOM in one of my own pinball machines.
Anyway to answer the original thread on this matter, Will has offered to go and check out whichever machine might be of interest, so thank you Will for this.
And thanks Luke for sharing the videos, they actually made me want to learn more about fixing machines properly as I recognise the dodgy wiring of the TOM in one of my own pinball machines.
I can see both sides of this one. I bought my wpt from the south coast seller. But alerted to potential issues by this forum, I made the drive and checked it out. It has been fine.
But regardless of the rights and wrongs, you are always taking a huge risk if you buy a pinball machine from anybody without playing it for a while and looking at it thoroughly with your your own eyes first.
Even if you do view the game, when you get it home you will always find more stuff. And it coukd well be safety related
The 240v lines on my funhouse and fathom were both dangerous when I bought the games, something that is now sorted.
A few months into ownership, my paragon gave me electric shocks when I touched the under cab on-off switch. A replacement switch cured this.
My vector did not have earth braiding leading to the metal on-off switch. Replacement braiding cured this
My banzai run had no earth connection to the head when i bought it, the braid had snapped and not been re-connected
But regardless of the rights and wrongs, you are always taking a huge risk if you buy a pinball machine from anybody without playing it for a while and looking at it thoroughly with your your own eyes first.
Even if you do view the game, when you get it home you will always find more stuff. And it coukd well be safety related
The 240v lines on my funhouse and fathom were both dangerous when I bought the games, something that is now sorted.
A few months into ownership, my paragon gave me electric shocks when I touched the under cab on-off switch. A replacement switch cured this.
My vector did not have earth braiding leading to the metal on-off switch. Replacement braiding cured this
My banzai run had no earth connection to the head when i bought it, the braid had snapped and not been re-connected
It's the blatent dishonesty David. Tobin sold a guy in Burnley his first pin, an Indy 500 in good working condition blah blah and when it turned up, ALL the LED flag targets (extremely hard to find and cost me £90 once in components to replace one) had been replaced with standard switch targets. How can anyone not mention that? The light up LED's are crucial to the game to register hits. There were other issues too that I can't recall now.....
No-one expects machines to be like new or even fully working after transporting etc. Repeat offences of obvious dishonesty start to grind on you after a while. Luke faces the worst of it as he gets the aftermath to sort.
Saying all this, I can obviously see how he's looked upon as an avenue to obtaining unusual machines, some of which I hear are good and is why others on here may defend or just lie low on the matter...
No-one expects machines to be like new or even fully working after transporting etc. Repeat offences of obvious dishonesty start to grind on you after a while. Luke faces the worst of it as he gets the aftermath to sort.
Saying all this, I can obviously see how he's looked upon as an avenue to obtaining unusual machines, some of which I hear are good and is why others on here may defend or just lie low on the matter...
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The ebay descriptions do need adjusting to reflect the reality
Imported from europe with a few others
Given it a quick look over, seems to work
Seller has not been through it rigorously
Pinball trader, not an engineer. Bringing some unusual and sought after games into the uk
All pinball machines need regular maintenance
Imported from europe with a few others
Given it a quick look over, seems to work
Seller has not been through it rigorously
Pinball trader, not an engineer. Bringing some unusual and sought after games into the uk
All pinball machines need regular maintenance
I agree ! But that will mean he misses out on maximum coin and so unlikely ever to happen. As Luke said, it's the fresh faced Ebay buyer that will lose out the most and that's who he is targeting.
Personally I don't think you should be buying machines that are 25 years old if you don't understand the basics of electrical safety, or at least get someone who does to check it over first. You can blame the seller, but would you buy and drive a 25 year old car from a private seller if you weren't sure whether or not it was roadworthy?
I assume he is a private seller, not operating as a business? In which case it's a case of buyer beware. If in doubt, buy from a reputable seller like Pinball Heaven and there will be no problems.
I assume he is a private seller, not operating as a business? In which case it's a case of buyer beware. If in doubt, buy from a reputable seller like Pinball Heaven and there will be no problems.
And this would fix the problem! If he could be honest, then what would there be to complain about?
If people knew that the machines were not super mint "best I have ever seen" and instead that they might need a bit of work, then they would bid/offer accordingly and there would be no comeback.
Is it really so painful to him to be honest?
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That's a bit unfair really isn't it? How does someone on ebay get a machine inspected?
They've been to a show and played some pinball and want one for their house, how do they know what needs inspecting? How do they know that they can't trust the seller that is lying to them and boasting about their 100% feedback (again because he does 90% of his sales outside of ebay)
I don't know why we should blame the victims and not the person causing the problem. If the seller lies, the seller is the problem, not the buyer.
I don't see why this seller is so special, again, why was no one lining up to defend Pinball Paradise? They f**ked a whole load of people about, but then they also had some buyers that were happy, so that means the people on here who were f**cked about by Pinball Paradise, it was the buyers fault, not Pinball Paradise?
Really strange way of looking at it
I don't think it's a strange view at all. Buyers are paying thousands for equipment that is decades old from a website notorious for scammers and they don't think there is any risk?
Ebay's motto used to be caveat emptor, although they don't seem to promote that nowadays.
And no, I am not defending Tobin, there's no way I would buy from him without viewing first, which is also David's view. I agree, he is a liar, but I wish people would be more careful when they make obviously risky purchases.
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