Art requests and preorder rant from Phoenix Arcade

darinjacobs

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I welcome your feedback, even if it's negative but not personal.

As you know the majority if not all of the mass produced items have been made. Going back a few years or so and forward we are doing fill projects or custom art (multicade, our upright versions still in the works and delayed because I'm moving). Because of this the risk factor is greatly enhanced. The qtys are smaller so the price is higher and there's a lot less demand. This is the reason preorders are so commonplace today. Heck, when was the last time you seen Arcadeshop put out a new repro art project. 6-7 years ago?

Now I try not to do preorders that often. I really don't like them to be honest. Too many details to manage. But it's become a necessary evil. When doing preorders I usually offer a discount as an additional incentive to getting more fence sitters in on it.

Within the last year or so I've taken on some risky projects without preorders and so far have taken a bath. I don't want to bore you with each one, but the most recent I'm taking issue with is AD mini side art. It's been talked about on here for awhile. I have a list of 17 KLOV'ers who said they would buy it. It's here and only sold 2 sets. One to Michael Lenardon (who was on the list) and to someone I don't think is in here at all. He just wanted to hang it on his wall because it's so cool (Rich did a wonderful job with Scotts films). I really don't think anyone else would've screened this and it's not offered anywhere else and for this old timer I've never seen it on a machine before.

I got a recent batch of films from Scott and more on the way. It seems many of these are gonna be preorder projects. I'm still refusing to inkjet these projects but if you guys don't start stepping up that will be the wave of the future and the price may not even be lower.

I hope I didn't offend anyone but wanted to rant a little as I was shuffling around some inventory as new stuff has arrived and seeing these full shelves of recently printed art not moving got me irritated.

What say you?
 
I'll cop to committing to a set and not following through. I apologize for that. No excuses. I will be ordering the set plus a spare overlay this weekend or next week.
 
I understand where you're coming from on the pre-orders for sure. I dont like them either. It is alot to manage and keep straight plus I hate holding all the money. However, like you said it is a necessary evil. Some project would not get done if it were not for pre-orders. Some are just too risky. Im not sure about you or any other peeps on here, but I can not afford to have $5k+ wrapped up in metal parts and hope people will follow through. I know unexpected things can happen in peoples lives that do not allow them to spend extra money on a hobby making them back out. At least with the presale, you know what you have up front and if its not gonna fly, you can refund everyone...no harm no foul. Ya tried.

Im sure Scott has a ton of cool game films that would be awsome to reproduce. Maybe make a list of whats available, have people vote...winning project gets a pre-sale...repeat :)

I hope he finds Rampart 3 player CPO films :)


Edit: for those that said they would take a set and bailed, post the list. Maybe they'll reply....
 
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I had to go to pay first on cabinets. I just can't come out of pocket 3000+ for materials and wait for someone to come pickup/pay for cabinets. I tried it, it just didn't work. I do that on signs still, since i need to package it when done, and charge actual shipping. Now i get where a sign gets asked for, i make it, then they don't log back into klov for a month ???????

I understand where your coming from Darin, i know EACH art you do costs a ton in quantity, and you have to sell X amount just to recoup your initial money before you make a dime. Preorder seems like the way to go, especially if it's an uncommon title where you won't sell too many to begin with!
 
I see no issues with pre-orders. This seems to be the only community that seems to have an issue with it. It would be one thing if you weren't already established or something, but I think your reputation precedes itself. My only belief is that if people do a pre-order, that there's communication as to the status of the project. I don't mind waiting a few months for a project, but I don't think it's that big of a deal to get a bi-weekly update on its status.
 
Go to pre-orders dude. There's no reason to lose money on this stuff. If people don't like it, they can buy it from... oh wait.
 
I wish I had an Asteroids Deluxe cabaret, I'd buy a set. I do however have a Dig Dug cabaret, so if you find the films for that, I'm in.
 
I've shown up to buy something from craigslist and had sellers thank me repeatedly for actually showing up as they've had several to a half dozen or more buyers set up times and then vanish entirely. When I used to buy a lot of stuff a few years ago a couple people here as well as a couple locals would simply ask me first about stuff since they knew I didn't play the games so many in the hobby seem too :\. It's understandable that things happen and sometimes you just have to back out of something, but Darin's example of 17 pre-orders vs 2 actual orders really says something about the community on some level. It really is puzzling to be honest... FWIW I've sold other items from other hobbies on CL and I've never had the issues that arcarde game/parts sellers seem to have.

Long story short I think everyone here understands that pre-orders are a necessary evil at this point.
 
No issues with pre-order here as well. You do brilliant work. Whatever keeps your business going, you're an amazing resource for the collecting community.
 
Price it where you want, and make money doing it. Don't worry about offending anybody. The only feelings you will hurt will be the people who keep backing out on you and want everything for cheap.
 
+1 for preorders. If you ever have anything for the cabs I have I wouldn't hesitate a bit. Preorders just make sense in this scenario, I don't know any other community or hobby that doesn't do the same thing.
 
I have no problem with preorders from reputable guys like Darrin and Rich.
I hope Gravitar art gets done some day.:)
 
Another vote for preorders. It is way too easy to say "I'm in" on an interest thread and then never end up buying the completed product.
 
Maybe you should put up the "Wall of Shame" listing the names of those who said they would buy it if you made it but have not done so. If someone had a serious issue come up that absolutely made it impossible to do so then I could understand.

If YOU are one of those people he's talking about then YOU need to step up and follow through!

Preorders are obviously time consuming for the seller but aparently needed to weed out those who don't follow through with purchases they swear to make when the project is ready to be shipped.

A "Wall of Shame" might help identify anyone who consistently pulls this sort of stuff.
 
I wasn't on the interest list, but I just ordered the AD cabaret art.

When it was still in the interst stage I couldn't decide whether to buy it since I've only got about $250 into my cabaret, including the repro CPO. You being stuck with the art was enough to change my mind.

We need to support people like Darin and Rich!
 
+1

Do the preorders if you feel its risky. If collectors want the product they will have to reduce your risk through a preorder.
If I didn't do a pre order on the burgertime bezels I'd still be in the red on that project. I'm taking a risk on berzerk and
galaxian marquees right now because I know there is a decent amount of interest out there. Everyone one of these
Repros costs a TON of money to produce. If the repro doesn't sell thats money sitting on a shelf that can't be used
for a new repro project.

I'd rather see more pre orders and more art make it to the market then less.
 
Pre-orders all the way. Money talks. The quality of your work and history speaks for itself. No one is getting rich off these projects, it's for the love of the hobby in most cases and you shouldn't have to put yourself at risk if people are not going to follow through.
 
pre order/prepay is the way to go because anyone can say there interested, sign up and then when the project goes forward they may back out for some reason. if it's something someone really wants they won't mind to prepay.
 
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