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Pintable Valuations.

  • Thread starter Thread starter pintableuser
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pintableuser

I can fully understand the strong emotion and shock reaction to the money being requested/paid for on any pinball machine.
IMO The true value can only be reached by appraising the pins current physical condition no matter what valuation is put on it by its current owner.

A Twilight Zone with a faded scraped cabinet, defective dot matrix, rusted pitted chrome legs, stripped bolts, broken/missing plastics, defective lighting on playfield/translite, errors on start-up and a hum on the speakers would be considered by me, but at a much reduced price to allow for service and repairs.

A Twilight Zone with new decals, new chrome, clean and fully working would still be subject to scrutiny as the skill set of the refurbisher maybe lacking ....... decals pealing bubbled or Squint, , hacked connectors, worn playfield, inserts and kickouts and warped plastics. Too much money spent with poor result...... I would walk away.

Pins with history and preferably cherished and well maintained are desireable. My preference is toward originality and that to me would get my top dollar.

Reliability and pinball are rarely used in the same sentence due to the steel ball trying to destroy everything in its path. Fine tuning. good maintenance, and regular cleaning will be beneficial giving you the game the pin was designed for.

So........ because of the amounts of money involved ........ I would strongly recommend............. ALWAYS collect in person and see what your money is buying..... otherwise.... buyer beware.... you pays your money.....you takes your chance! Out of a line of say 4 x Adams Family pins there maybe only one, if any, worth that top dollar price,,, but that won't stop the other owners looking for the same price.
 
It is worth what someone is willing to pay for it...simples, the value is determined in the mind of the customer, you see art collectors paying ridiculous money for something that looks like it has been created by a 5 year old, is it worth it? well to someone obviously but I would not hang it on my wall for free, same applies to all goods, I'm sure at some point we have all paid more than we wanted for a machine that we really had to own, what we thought was more than market value or more than what it was worth, truth be told if that is what it cost to secure it then that is what it was worth on the day although the worth aspect only applies if the goods are as described with no skeletons otherwise it's a different story altogether.
 
I can't think of another hobby where people are so hung up on prices? As Andy says, it's worth what someone is prepared to pay AT THAT TIME.

Sell your pin when there's a couple of minted collectors in the market who both want it and the skies the limit. Sell it when nobody has any money and it won't move.
During a bad patch recently I contemplated selling my 100% minty fresh AFM and asked opinions on value. Consensus was price it at £5750 and take offers. At that price I expected to get torn a new ****hole by the price police so didn't bother advertising. (Glad now as I would be kicking myself). This hobby is based around collectible machines that were produced in limited quantities. There will always be more people wanting them than there are machines available. If someone with more money than sense wants to spend 4 grand on a 2 grand machine, that's up to them. The argument is - what about the poor newbies who might get suckered in? Well, do your homework as I did. Join forums, browse pinball sites, go to shows, talk to people. That's part of the fun.

Nobody can tell me what to charge for my machines, that's up to me. You don't go in the butchers and tell him what you'll pay for that joint, he tells you. If it's too dear you walk out.

I think a useful tool might be a price guide sticky perhaps, where people can discuss values and post prices achieved for various titles? It will never be 100% accurate but it might stop some newbie spending £2000 on a Popeye.

Anyway, who wants to buy my MM, 10 grand and not a penny less!:D
 
GrizZ said:
Sgt GrizZ of the Popeye Police reporting for duty :cool:
There have been reports of Popeye once again being used as pinballs whipping boy. Investigation in progress.
Click to expand...
:D:D:D

I wondered how long before you came back Sgt!

You're right though, I should have said Baywatch!
 
Steve said:
I can't think of another hobby where people are so hung up on prices?
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Never did a statement ring more true, the problem is that it rubs off on people who did not really give a flying hoot beforehand, one minute you are bumbling along enjoying pinball and the next you start getting all wound up because someone wants £1500 for a Gilligans Island whereas before ignorance was bliss, I now fit into the same box and often feel like airing my disgust at some overpriced machine but I try to hold back and remember... what does it really matter, if someone buys it then it was fairly priced, if not then it will keep getting relisted and again so what, life is way too short to be concerned with other people’s business, don't worry about people being priced out of the hobby, it is alive, kicking and flourishing so that is lame defence for throwing stones at owners trying to get top dollar for their machines JMHO :)
 
One of the reasons many of us welcomed the creation of this forum with open arms was the increasing tedium of price discussions/arguments that seemed to be monopolising the Yahoo group at the time. It was good to hang out on a forum that seemed more concerned with the '****s and giggles' of pinball ownership.

Perhaps it would do us all good to rein in the price talk sometimes. I include myself.;)

Sod paying for em, lets just play em ! :cool:
 
GrizZ said:
the increasing tedium of price discussions/arguments that seemed to be monopolising the Yahoo group at the time
Click to expand...
Yup, I never gave overinflated prices a second thought until I became a member of the UK pinball group, prior to this there was only two simple questions, do I want it? and can I afford it? unfortunately after membership I became part of the crime and could never look at pinball prices in the same way again :(
 
Newbies will overpay, especially if they are not part of a community so don't see machines being bought as sold and only watch ebay. It is the same for any hobby that I have been part of.

The only thing that I think makes sense is that all for sales have a price on them from the start. I would appreciate know what they sold for too, just so we can keep a track of what a realistic price is and if people are not afraid/ashamed of the deal they did then this should not be a problem. Would people support this? We don't have to enforce it, just do it for the machines we buy and sell.
 
GrizZ said:
One of the reasons many of us welcomed the creation of this forum with open arms was the increasing tedium of price discussions/arguments that seemed to be monopolising the Yahoo group at the time. It was good to hang out on a forum that seemed more concerned with the '****s and giggles' of pinball ownership.

Perhaps it would do us all good to rein in the price talk sometimes. I include myself.;)

Sod paying for em, lets just play em ! :cool:
Click to expand...
Couldn't agree more.
Nuff said.
 
A positive spin on the price thing is that it is now cost effective to take an othewise beat-up parts machine, plough some TLC and coin into it and save another pin from pending doom .
 
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