Wundercade

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I ask because I just had an exchange with a CL seller and it went like this (ya I know - he can't count):

First the ad:
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Arcade Games - $450

I have three Stand Up arcade games. They are Centipede, Asteroids, Kangaroo and Hang On. All in great shape and work great. I am having a problem putting the pics on this site so I will e-mail upon request. Please call if you have any questions.

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Me: How much do you want for just the Asteroids and the Kangaroo?

Seller: I'll take 800 for both...

Me: Oh, thanks...but I'm a collector and I don't pay 400 for arcade games. Too many great deals I guess. Good luck though.

Seller: Sorry, if you were trying to get them for nothing. I know what they are worth.....

LOL...I think he thinks I am a smart ass, but I was just being honest.






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Well, I might pay $400 for a nice and working Asteroids, but about half that for the Kangaroo.

I'd just ask him how he knows what they are worth, and link him to e-bay ads with completed sales near what you expect. Then be prepared to see his examples of listings near the prices he's asking....
 
i wouldn't necessarily say something like that... it comes off rather snotty. $400+ certainly isn't out of line for some of those games if they're in nice shape and there isn't a price guide out there to tell him [or any of us] different. to somebody they may be worth his asking price.

i'd probably respond with something more along the lines of "sorry but that's more than i was looking to pay." i've had good luck with that a few times as the sellers then came back with a counter offer and we haggled until the prices dropped to something i was willing to pay.
 
Reply with something like "apparently not" or "if you did you wouldn't be asking for $800". Then perhaps he will reply indignantly and this thread can truly deliver.
 
I usually don't talk price on the phone. After I see it, then we talk price. If it's too much I tell them it's not worth that much to me, but I never tell them it's not worth that much because then they get offended and pissed off.

Lately everything I look at is junk. The last machine the guy tells me it has 1 scratch in the cabinet. Upon arrival it has that big scratch, plus chunks gone, lots of chipping, coin mechs not wired, carriage bolts holding the monitor not seated, and it didn't power up the first 3 times to boot, oh and the wiring was totally hacked. Oh and the best part, he wasn't there when I arrived. His son showed it to me like I was just gonna pony up the dough and go. Oh well at least he held it for me so I could look at it, I just wish he'd told me more about it instead of wasting his time and mine. Rant over - Barry
 
Reply with something like "apparently not" or "if you did you wouldn't be asking for $800". Then perhaps he will reply indignantly and this thread can truly deliver.

I'm bored, so I will.... stay tuned.
 
Well,
I consider myself a collector as well, but I have and will pay over $400 for a game if its something I want or is in nice shape. So yah, it does sound a bit "snobbish" to say because your a collector you wont pay more than "x" amount for a game. IMO at least.
I agree with what has already been posted. Maybe a more subtle approach to declining his asking price. On CL you dont know who your dealing with - may be a fellow Member here, and you may have potentially burnt a bridge for a future good deal.
Its nice to find and get the good deals though, dont get me wrong. Just take it in stride when someone has a set amount they wont go below.
Again, JMO.
 
That dude has had those listed on and off for probably six months (or more) now. I talked to him about the Centipede several months ago and got the same story "I know what they're worth", lol. They looked okay in the pics he sent me, nothing outstanding though. There was a DK jr. in the pics, and when I asked about that he initially said he no longer had it, then about a week later he emailed me and said it was for sale for $500!?!
 
Its amazing that he "knows what they are worth" because, really, only the market will indicate that...especially these days. I guess CL posters get alot of low-ball offers and immediately get defensive with anyone who challanges their prices and they refuse to negotiate. As a result we end up seeing the same games for the same price for a long time. Anyway...its not like they have a Moonwalker or something....lol
 
Let me ask this question:

Let's say that you have a game listed on Craigslist and it is listed as being "working".

Now, let's also say that this seller is a member well-known to our community, but we don't know it.

Would the particular member change the price you'd pay?

Would you pay more for a game restored by Phet (who has posted some awesome restores) than you might from Noice (who has a notorious Crystal Castles conversion - sorry, Noice).

Would you pay more for a game shopped out by Ken Layton (well-known awesome guru) than Jowseph (who just recently accomplished his first cap kit - sorry, Jow).

I'm not saying that my two "lesser" sellers couldn't do a quality job worth the price, but I think that those with already well-established reputations could command better prices. And I'm sure most people would have less qualms about paying more knowing who actually did the work.

I don't advertise who I am when I sell a game, but each game gets shopped out just as if we were selling it at my work (a retail arcade sales place) - and sometimes I do a better job on my own games because my boss sometimes decides to only spend so much money on a game before selling it. I also sell for quite a bit less than we do at work, but I'm also closer to what others consider "too much", even though you get a game completely shopped out and rebuilt, just not something gathering dust in a garage or storage unit for the past two years.

I just roll my eyes every time I see a thread about someone complaining about prices that aren't that outrageous. He was asking $800 for TWO games, not $800 for one game. Maybe a little high for one, but not really that high for the other....
 
I agree, $400 isnt too out of line depending on condition. I wouldnt pay $400 for a kangaroo but did recently pay $250 for one in perfect condition. I spent a little more to rebuild the ARII and new big blue and its sitting in my collection now. You can dump alot of time and money into a game to get it in good (reliable) working condition and even more for cosmetic restore. Price is very dependant on condition when looking at games.
 
I don't understand the "I'm a collector, I don't pay $400 for a game, too many good deals I guess."

If there were that many good deals, wouldn't you already have these machines?

Also, in most hobbies, "collectors" will pay good prices to get "collector" pieces. In most hobbies, there is competition among collectors to get good pieces for their collections.

I will concede that usually, "collectors" know where they can find some good deals. However, most "collectors" of things are willing to pay to get something in fantastic shape, or are willing to pay top dollar to get it before the other "collectors" snag it.

"Collectors" should recognize a "collector" piece, and be willing to snag it at significant expense, as they understand the rarity of a game.

Is Asteroids or Kangaroo rare games? Not even close.

But I've seen plenty so-called "collectors" around here pass up beautiful machines at fair prices because they are "collectors" and they know better. I think its funny to watch "collectors" buy turds for $150 less than they can get a perfect machine and get all smug about it.

I just don't get it sometimes.

- M1A
 
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you can tell that the guy selling this is already going to have issues, because he list that he has 3 stand up arcade games, and list 4 different names.
 
I ask because I just had an exchange with a CL seller and it went like this (ya I know - he can't count):

First the ad:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Arcade Games - $450

I have three Stand Up arcade games. They are Centipede, Asteroids, Kangaroo and Hang On. All in great shape and work great. I am having a problem putting the pics on this site so I will e-mail upon request. Please call if you have any questions.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Me: How much do you want for just the Asteroids and the Kangaroo?

Seller: I'll take 800 for both...

Me: Oh, thanks...but I'm a collector and I don't pay 400 for arcade games. Too many great deals I guess. Good luck though.

Seller: Sorry, if you were trying to get them for nothing. I know what they are worth.....

LOL...I think he thinks I am a smart ass, but I was just being honest.


.


I can understand not wanting to spend money on games. I can understand if you say I have budget of $400 for games. But to flat out say, I don't pay $400 for games is a pretty insane concept. No allowance for condition or what the game is?

I wonder if you would pay more than $400 for a star wars, tron, quantum, major havoc, tapper, or tempest?

Now if you were to say a kangaroo is worth only $250, hang on is worth only $200, Asteroids is worth only $400, and centipede is only worth $450, then I would agree with you. But just coming out and saying no game is worth $400 makes you look sort of uninformed. If I was the seller, I would show you the error of your ways or show you the door..
 
These aren't collector pieces, those are few and far in between. Also....yes, anything someone like Phet or some of the other awesome restorers sell would be well worth a mint, because...well - he makes them minty.

But aside from those instances, I honestly can't see paying more than a couple hundred for your run of the mill, common titled - arcade game. I don't view my games as investments, maybe that's were my perspective differs. They are just items I have that I'll probably never get rid of. I also don't have to have a perfect machine, I'm fine with a complete and playable machine that's in halfway decent condition.

I understand that there are some of you that resell these games and get your panties in a bunch when someone suggests the market value is in the toilet. But look, it is what it is....why buy a game at higher price point when the economy (and therefore) the price is heading on a downward glide path?

I'm a patient collector, I don't have to have a game right this instant, there for I'm willing to wait for the bargain. They eventually come.

Perhaps that's what I really meant by "I'm a collector, I don't pay 400 for arcade games." - Because you learn to hunt out the deals when you're a collector, IMHO.

I always view retailers and their prices as targeting the "non-collectors" - unsuspecting people who will pay top dollar for a game on impulse. That was the distinction I was after.




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