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Ebay Auctions

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Hi All... It was me who purchased the 'average' High Speed II on eBay.



If I may I'd like to put a little perspective on my purchase, maybe help justify why my 'crazy' bid won the auction; and why other tables are fetching more money than they may have done in previous years, why this shouldn't be a suprise and why these prices are just going to carry on rising.



It seems to me, the traditional pinball collector of the past may have valued the machines based upon gameplay and indeed peer opinions of which are the best pinballs to play or own, the value of these desirables was tiered accordingly and everyone was happy. Today, there is a new type of buyer of these machines out there that is interested in playing and owning THE pinball they played when they were younger - 'average' or not.



Now EBay is not the pinball scene - I dont know 'Dave the Taxman' and neither did the bidder £20 behind me in the auction. So it has to be accepted that there is a new paradigm happening when it comes to market value of these machines.



What eBay does do is to give us students of the 90s who are now lucky enough to be in a slightly more fortunate financial position to be able to buy a piece of our history at whatever the current market price is. It's a separate debate as to wether its good for the 'scene' or not, but it's undeniable and unstoppable.



Increasingly, the machines of the 80s and 90s are becoming rarer, not yet difficult to find, but certainly rarer as the collector community and now the new nostalgia hunter take them out of the market. Today, when they do appear for auction, they inevitably will temp more of the 40 something's like me and go for even more higher prices.



For me, Getaway HSII was my favourite pinball whilst I was at college. Like your first love, you never forget. The pin I collected today is equal to the condition to the one I played over twenty years ago (after a good clean), so I see no appreciable difference to the experience I had in the past, to the experience I had this afternoon.



Worth every penny... And I would have paid more.
 
Hey Man, as long as you are happy that's all that matters. It's a great game. Enjoy!
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Hope it lives up to how you remember it, and does not disappoint.

Let us know.

And have fun, that's the most important thing about this hobby.

D.
 
Thanks guys. I didn't mean for it to turn into a monologue, but just offer an alternative viewpoint.



In my defence tho, I did try the community first, but didn't want to lose the first hsii auction in six months.



Geez they're heavy.
 
Practically did the same thing as you Tigzip just two months ago and your post matches how I felt. Now I have a machine, I will be more patient buying my second one (and you will want a second one, and a third....) and will look do doing a good deal with a forum member. The long standing pinheads on here have years of experience and know their stuff, I could cry when I hear how little they paid for some lovely examples of machines us newbies would pay five times for and in far worse condition. However, in the future I expect we will be telling the current crop some stories because I can't see these 20 year old machines getting cheaper.

I am still very happy with what I bought, whilst I know there are better out there, mine plays and is getter cleaner and tidier every day. Get your head inside, give it a clean and a tweak, make it your own and enjoy it. This forum is a great place to come for questions and answers plus a bit of natter as these people know their stuff.
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You know, you're right Calamori.... and it's totally ironic how from purchasing my "baby" how it's leading me to be curious about other pins - especially the ones everyone else raves about here that I've never played. Again, this furthers my argument... there are more and more punters and therefore fewer and fewer available pins... so the price will undoubtedly rise. I certainly don’t have buyer’s remorse from my machine either... I'm just mighty please I secured one.

​

I have to be honest, Im really looking forward to getting my hands dirty with my machine, understanding how it works, avoiding the pitfalls I've read about on here (leaky batteries etc) and maybe I'll enjoy it more than if I had landed on a mint example that didn’t need some "light work". Who knows, one day I may even find a "mint" example and trade mine away.

​

It's clear there is a lot of love on these forums which is especially nice and even though Replicas didn’t know me from Adam, he tried to help - and I sincerely appreciate that. I’m never normally one to post on forums, I'm usually more of an voyeur but after engaging on this post, I suppose I've broken my Pinball Info forum virginity... and it’s a nice place - and I got a hug afterwards too... hehe.. call me
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The main thing is to enjoy the pin
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They are toys after all.



You do raise an interesting point that explains some recent price rises though. In the last few weeks an average FT for £1300, an average TOM for £2800 and two TAF's over £3000.
 
I think the reason some of the us longer term 'scenesters' express such shock at pin prices is the fact that they appear (for certain titles anyhow) to have risen an incredible amount in a remarkably short period of time. And its not just the prices , its the way the majority of pins are sold on ebay now ..... high 'Buy It Now' prices seem to be the norm instead of the auction format.



Saying that I remember when I first got into this madness, some of the old hands then telling me about how it was £400 TAFs and TZs all day long just a few years ago
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However even then - around 2003/4 there were a hell of a lot more pins around - this was the Pins Anon gold rush days with trucks of pins being brought back from Euroland
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Happy days
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Pins *are* out there at 'sensible' prices, you just have to search a bit harder, and hope for a bit of luck too.
 
i still believe that there will be another golden age for pinball - maybe not like it was, with a machine in every bar and cinema, but mainstream and popular nonetheless. i doubt i'm the only one.



i reckon it's generally accepted that the prices will continue to rise, that supply will continue to fall and demand continue to rise. all the guys who were young and first played in the 60s and 70s came into money 20 years later and bought machines to relive their youth, and now the same thing is happening again with the guys who were in their teens and 20s during the last pinball golden age of the 90s. like me, and the several posters above me in this thread.



a while ago it was considered terrible form to discuss this subject, people even said to me 'ssshhhh, discussing prices makes them go up' which i never believed, so i'm happy that the community has matured enough to talk about it. nobody wants to be priced out of a market, but when you compare pins with property, at least a cheap pin is still good fun. who wants a crap property in a warzone full of asbo teens and thugs, in the hope it gets redeveloped one day and beomes nice to live in? whereas even a cheap pin like Lethal Weapon 3 or Swords of Fury or Laser War or Rollergames can still bring an immense amount of enjoyment
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strange thing is, there's the same amount of flippers and solenoids and switches and coils and bolts and rubbers and slingshots and music and soundbites and magnets and scoops and rollovers, upkickers, modes, multiballs, lightshows etc etc etc in RG when it shouts out "Don't Flip! Flip!" as there is in MM when it shouts out "Trolls!" - and both games sold about 4000 units, i think .... so why is one of them £500 and the other one £5000? defies all logic. and it's not a case of Renoir vs Rolfharris either.



i am in Leiderdorp this evening. I got a couple of replays on a CC in a nearby coffeeshop, which can't be bad, now i'm steadily getting ****ed ......
 
D-Type' date=' post: 1693857 said:
Great game, but rare? Nothing like it in my experience, I'd say it's probably one of the top 5 common DMDs on my pinball travels.
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Used to be common, like one on ebay every week, how often do you see one listed on ebay now?? when was the last time you saw one go the distance on ebay??, catch my drift, these have now become a rare beast unless you know otherwise?
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Hang on..... Are you 2 talking about different games? I though Dreads was talking about Funhouse? (Which is not a DMD pin.)



If you are talking Funhouse I would have to agree with Dreads. They do not come up for sale very often these days. It took me ages to find one for sale. It's one of those games people tend to hang on to.
 
Tigzip' date=' post: 1693896 said:
Worth every penny... And I would have paid more.
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Enjoy buddy, at the end of the day we ain't gonna live forever and you got to grab what floats your boat when it flashes by, I know a few buyers including myself who hummed and hared at pin prices in the past, waiting for a good deal only to watch as prices climb and finally caputulating (MM in my case) although I did turn one down recently:D
 
Fintan Stack' date=' post: 1693926 said:
Hang on..... Are you 2 talking about different games? I though Dreads was talking about Funhouse? (Which is not a DMD pin.)



If you are talking Funhouse I would have to agree with Dreads. They do not come up for sale very often these days. It took me ages to find one for sale. It's one of those games people tend to hang on to.
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Hi Dean, I was referring to the WH20, that is one of the machines IMO that has catapulted the most from being entry level, common as a 10 bob street worker to being rarely listed and highly sought after, common to me translates to readily available, the WH20 is certainly not that anymore.



Just realised that 10 bob street workers are a rare beast now also
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Judge Dreads' date=' post: 1693928 said:
Hi Dean, I was referring to the WH20, that is one of the machines IMO that has catapulted the most from being entry level, common as a 10 bob street worker to being rarely listed and highly sought after, common to me translates to readily available, the WH20 is certainly not that anymore.
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Ah yeah, just read the thread in the correct order!!! D'oh! :eek:



WH20 is definately climbing the ranks. It's another game I would love. Was watching the one on eBay as it was close by but, alas, another one that vanished before the end. It's certainly a tricky title to get hold of these days.
 
I was offered the recent one that vanished on ebay for £750. I'm still holding on for a TZ
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I was offered the recent one that vanished on ebay for £750. I'm still holding on for a TZ
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tyke' date=' post: 1693935 said:
I was offered the recent one that vanished on ebay for £750. I'm still holding on for a TZ
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750?? Would have ripped his hand off accepting that deal!



Oh and yes, *cough cough*, will reply to our PM. Mind like a sieve.... :oops:
 
WH20 has been getting more and more popular in the states especially. I was lucky enough to get one - favour from a friend:D I think it might now be my all time favourite game.



BSD is another game that has got very popular in the states but not sure if the love exists over here? It is one addictive, kick ass pin for sure;)
 
jonathan' date=' post: 1693931 said:
I managed to pick one up a couple of years ago for £600 luckily. Good machine
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The WH20 raffled at the 2011 South Coast Slam was bought at auction on ebay for £600 . It was in nice shape too with topper . This was less than 18 months ago - hard to imagine that happening now .....which is exactly the point I was making earlier, the speed of the price increase and the sheer number of new people wanting games is what is staggering :confused:
 
In the last 3 years Ive had a £350 LW3, a £600 WH2O, a £900 TAF, a £1900 SM and a £2800 TAFG.



Bargains still exist, they are just harder to find now.



Pinballs are the in thing atm, everyone wants one for their 'man cave'. Their popularity will fall again, the same happened with MAME cabs not so long since, people were paying thousands for them and now you cant give them away.
 
tyke' date=' post: 1693935 said:
I was offered the recent one that vanished on ebay for £750. I'm still holding on for a TZ
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Should have grabbed it and ran, more fun than a TZ IMO and a bargain to boot.
 
Judge Dreads' date=' post: 1693959 said:
Should have grabbed it and ran, more fun than a TZ IMO and a bargain to boot.
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I agree it was a bargain but think of all those nice mods I can buy for the TZ
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I think people modded the TZ to death as it was depressing and needed all them add-ons to make it bearable
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, it is an awesome game don’t get me wrong, but awesome and fun are different things
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One will turn up soon I'm sure, it's not as scarce as the WH20 so that is a plus for ya.
 
When i mentioned i picked up a wh2o last year for £50 at the recent northern league meet, i was told i would probably recieve death threats if i mentioned it on here. Please be kind it was a lucky find and will prob never happen to me again. But just shows they are out there. Keep looking.
 
£50!!!!!

Wow that was a lucky find!



Looks like you got ripped off Ive with your £200 WH20
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