Apologies in advance, evidently this one is needling me for some reason.
Friends and colleagues, the applicable term is fair MARKET value. There are some (A) some amazing examples of (B) some exceptionally rare and/or desirable titles. For example, prices aside, how often do you even see a Discs of Tron cab even offered for sale anymore?
Like everyone else I abhor how expensive and (sometimes) difficult acquiring games has become. Hell, to simply buy a working monitor chassis now is $200+. But the consequential fact is that there is a market. For those of us who wish to participate further in the hobby need to sell occasionally to fund more titles — also at the same significant cost — and therefore have to play by market rules on BOTH ends.
The remarks about Tapper are probably what sucked me in. When I first began participating on the forum (not even ten years ago) I had purchased three games on a lark for what then seemed like endless space in a new house (that has quickly changed) and I had no idea of how to go about repairing or maintaining them. I got the itch and within two years we had 8-10 and I looked at buying my first Tapper — LOCALLY— for $2000. I had not even seen one since I was a kid (around here at least, barcades and retro cades were not yet a thing). Feeling the need to seek wisdom, I got on here for some feedback from the body collective. I was unanimously told $2,000 was way out of line, blah, blah, blah. I passed. I didn't even see a single one for sale for another year or two and, more importantly, I couldn't find one within less than a days drive for another 4-5 years. By then the occasional project cab was 2000 and good original examples were 3500.
So now I'm again reading the exact same discussion. There are comments here, if not complaints, with a known reputable member pricing a great condition Tapper for $5000 without even considering one just sold here on the forums for $4,500. What should the market price be under those circumstances?
Probably because I got in late, unlike many of the older experienced hands here, I have never had the pleasure of buying a Tempest for a few hundred dollars. Those days were gone decades ago before I arrived — but I was buying from the people who did. Those sellers had no compunction about selling at 10x their cost or more. Naturally I would try to fairly get the best terms I could but it was simply up to me to buy or look elsewhere in the market. Did I ever have occasion to pick up a half dead Ms. Pac with screen burn from three game conversions, a hacked up wiring harness, and a water damaged cabinet for $300? Yes. Did I ever buy okay titles in dedicated cabs playing blind with mouse droppings that I dragged out of someones basement after imposing on a buddy (usually with about a minute of notice on a Friday or Saturday) only to spend dozens of hours researching and piecing together pieces and parts, repairing boards and chassis, and applying bondo to repair cab damage? Yes again. Then somewhere after 10-15 games I reached the point that I was reasonably well informed and could not feel my heart palpitate when I dropped 3-4K on really good examples—which was often my intangible investment in time and money anyway. Then, I finally bought a few pinball tables. Afterwards, In comparison to my arcade purchases, most cabs felt like looking for money in the couch cushions.
When I sell out —just like when I bought in — I will sell at or near what the market rate is. Like any manner of collectible, the market may or may not be there when I let it go. Maybe some of those games will sell at multiples of 10x what I paid. When that happens I promise I won't loose a minute of peace as it leaves. Why? Very simply, every game I bought at market price from a seller ready to shake hands and close the deal. As to every game I will have put literally dozens of hours at some point in its life finding it, researching it, safely storing it, and sourcing and replacing parts for it to make it more reliable. In every instance the guy before contributed to the hobby at least by keeping the game alive long enough that it could get to me. I'll ultimately be doing the same with every game leaving me in at least a little—and most of the time much—better shape after I cared for it. Franky most of my games have enjoyed the best part of their lives while in my hands.
Personally, I'm fine with the prices I see posted here. Are they a little higher than what we normally see? Yes of course — but the prices are only unreasonable if you ignore how rare the games are and the condition in which you're finding them. Some of you are depicting the seller like he's the guy who increased insulin costs by 600x just because he can.
Because I also own "old" cars so I know this life cycle. You fall in love with the hobby and the games for a while. You get caught up learning interesting info and meeting interesting people and tracking stuff down. Eventually it settles in and you become like old friends with the stuff for a long while. Suddenly one day you feel guilty, glutinous and silly because of the lack of use and impracticality of it all. They've become more valuable but they're just sitting often waiting for some new small repair. But you know someone somewhere would enjoy it and you accept that you can't own one of everything all the time. You wrestle with it forever because of some particular sentiment and the finality of it all leaving through the garage but eventually it's time for it to find its new place. Most of it will happen while I'm alive, but candidly, with the cars, some small amount of this stuff will likely go only after I'm gone. As that happens I intend to be fair in every transaction. I intend to be attentive as to where it's going just as much as what's in the envelope you're handing to me. I hope people evaluating my fairness and bona fides as a lover of the hobby will consider all the intangibles above and won't be measured simply with reference to 1990s prices.
