best place to find pins?

[smisch]

Pins

I love the pins, but they seem to always need something. Ten times worse than a game.

 

[stevenp61]

Two suggestions: Networking and Patience.

When first bought a pin, I didn't know anyone else in the region. I also was impatient. As a result, I ended up buying a pin on eBay from Canada and paying dearly to have it shipped to Florida...

Don't do what I did. Get to know pinball owners in your region. Go to events, auctions, join local/regional groups and forums. After building your personal pinball network, opprotunities to buy will begin to arise. It'll still be difficult to locate a specific title at a specific time... you'll need to either wait patiently, or be flexible with your desires.

This has worked for me. I'm already part of a good-sized network of pinball players in the area (with lots of leagues and bar/pin-hopping activities). Had talked to several people about a few games I really liked and would like to own someday. Two of these friends contacted me about an ad they saw for a WPT--wasn't too far away, and a beautiful, fully-shopped and flawless game for under $2k. I thought it was an amazing deal. Another friend/operator let me know he actually has one of my 'want' games (SST) in storage when I mentioned it, and is willing to sell it pretty cheap--if only I had the room for it now!

 

[Meph]

Malice, your welcome to check out Gnypac.com. Its a collectors site for NY and surrounding area. We are just starting out but have about 50 members across NY and a couple outside the state. NJ isn't too far and there are a few pin collectors in the NYC area on there. We have a buy/sell forum which isn't very active yet but the members that are selling, have been posting them there. Its just another resource for you if your interested.

 

[jbk]

welcome to the obsession. Pin collecting is an obsessive hobby. The best place to find pins is to ask around and let friends know your collecting. There have been millions of pins built over the years and a lot of them are setting in grandmas basment or garage just wainting on a collector to find them. Most quit working years ago, I just bought one that the seller says it quit working when she was in high school, and she is now retired. Good Luck.