First OP Raid

Jason1413

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So I finally have my chance for my first Op warehouse raid. I'll be looking not only for things for myself, but items to sell so that games can be rescued. No clue as to what I'm going to find, but he's told me before to keep in touch with him as he frequently just throws stuff away as he doesn't feel like taking the time to sell it.

Now, I've got good people skills and I able to negotiate pretty well, but what have you found works best to get the most for my money? I don't have a ton of cash but I'm looking at taking $1K to $1500 with me. My hope is that I can score at least one pinball, but we'll see.
 
With any luck, he won't think his stuff is made of gold. Some places, $1500 won't touch a pinball with other people, you might get 2 or 3 for that much.
 
Take as much money as you are comfortable spending. One OP raid I went on a while back, every pin was for sale and a different one none of the pins were for sale. Always ask about parts. Some of the best scores I have ever made was buying what the OP called trash. Usually classic parts are worthless to an OP and they can be thrown in for nothing on other deals.
 
Luckily, I don't think he's unreasonable. It's actually a guy that we work for and have for a few years now. He and his brother have multiple businesses and are very well off. He likes me and my wife and always stops to talk to us whenever he sees us. So hopefully, he'll be ready to dump some stuff just to get rid of it.

Interestingly enough, I bought a scratchoff ticket this morning. I scratched it after I posted this. Looks like I'm taking an extra $500 with me on the trip!
 
My advice to you would be to not take too long, these guys think their time is worth a fortune... so if you're hunting around digging through everything, asking prices on everything, etc. he won't remember it as a good experience and won't want to deal with you in the future.

If you make it fairly hassle free and are in and out in a short amount of time, he's much more likely to call you next time he's ready to sell some stuff. Think long term!

With that said, though, get the best stuff you can possibly get the first time. You may not ever get back in there.
 
Good advice so far.

Meeting with an op is a great chance to get hard to find/ship stuff like coin doors, control panels, etc, and a lot of time they have dozens of these lying around or squirreled away.

I'd add to bring along a 'wish list' of all the parts/components that you and your close friends are looking for. Sometimes it helps just to show this to the Op, you might be surprised what they have if you let them know... 'Yeah, I've got some of those old Atari sticks in this box back here...' and 'Hey, we parted out one of those old Nintendo Playchoice games a while back, all the stuff us up in the loft.' But go in looking for stuff you really want, not stuff to flip, most of the times these guys have a good idea what stuff is worth.
 
Congrats on being able to get a look at stuff like that. You should be able to find some cool stuff that is worthless to an OP. Good luck on your quest neighbor. If you need any help hauling, PM me. I have a truck and a trailer.
 
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