The Futility of Craigslist Addiction

KidVidiot

Thread Manager
Joined
Aug 9, 2011
Messages
7,646
Reaction score
525
Location
Los Angeles, California
Do you ever feel like you're on craigslist checking it All. The. Time. for arcades and pins and only see the usual spam and overpriced junk, yet that one time you go a couple hours without checking or take an evening off is when you later find some awesome deal had popped up and now you completely missed out?

It's like every part of your brain is telling you to stop wasting your time checking so often, then when you do you lose out on something great, which makes you start checking hardcore again, wasting your time on crappy listings, and the vicious cycle repeats!
 
Do you ever feel like you're on craigslist checking it All. The. Time. for arcades and pins and only see the usual spam and overpriced junk, yet that one time you go a couple hours without checking or take an evening off is when you later find some awesome deal had popped up and now you completely missed out?

It's like every part of your brain is telling you to stop wasting your time checking so often, then when you do you lose out on something great, which makes you start checking hardcore again, wasting your time on crappy listings, and the vicious cycle repeats!

It comes and goes for me. Ill look avidly and sift through the 100 ads of a shitty 60 in 1 for the low price of 1600 dollars. Then you get the occasional game but they usually start at ebays wishing price. Pins are very few and far between and I almost completely gave up on ever finding one I would want. I look over at North GA and Alabama once in awhile and see decent items pop up more regularly but the hopes of a good local score is like winning the pick 3 lotto. It's exciting you won, but 500 dollars won't be very life changing.

I definitely wish there was more locals that I could meet up with and trade games
 
I check craigslist more times than I care to admit, damn well knowing I DO NOT have the room for any more games (except cocktails). Not to mention with my wedding coming up, I really shouldn't be spending the money.
 
I check it a ton, too, but enough that I only have to sift through the top 10 ads or less with my searches to see anything new. It's nice because you start to recognize "regular" sellers based on their ads or contact info (for example, forum-member Exidy's ads. I even have a search setup just for his stuff). My wife becomes annoyed, though, when she sees me checking craigslist. I came home a while back with a non-working pinball machine and she said, "You know we're trying to save for new furniture." I replied, "This is new furniture - look, I can set my drink right here on the playfield glass."

I've actually found a couple good deals due to sloppy ad listing. I came across a broken Arkanoid in a DK cabinet for only $80 just a few miles from my house. It ended up being just a bad power supply. The monitor needs to be recapped, but overall a great find in my eyes.

I always wonder, though, if people are really paying all that money for those 60-in-1 conversions.
 
Last edited:
I work smart :) i have an app on my phone that picks out keywords whenever they are mentioned on CL and sends me a little notice. i use words like arcade, nintendo, sega etc etc. Cuts down on the time I spent surfing CL so I can get other stuff done.
 
I work smart :) i have an app on my phone that picks out keywords whenever they are mentioned on CL and sends me a little notice. i use words like arcade, nintendo, sega etc etc. Cuts down on the time I spent surfing CL so I can get other stuff done.

I thought about this, but then my inbox would constantly be getting spammed with all kinds of junk listings that happen to use the term arcade in it
 
I use a app that searches my local CL every 5 min or so and the surrounding 8 cities. It gives me a notify when it finds something. Sucks battery but I don't sit and watch CL all day.
 
You could refine it more if you wanted with more keywords but honestly most if not all of the ads (at least not locally) are talking about arcade machines. Ive found 8 great games this year so far using it for local pickups.
 
I thought about this, but then my inbox would constantly be getting spammed with all kinds of junk listings that happen to use the term arcade in it

Plus there are a lot of people here in So Cal using the same app. It's just luck to get anything nowadays, particularly for pinball machines.
 
I don't really look any more. I used to have the phone app but the one I like isn't available on iPhone which is what I use now. Haven't found one that doesn't suck so I just disabled the phone app. But stuff still seems to find its way home with me. I need to get rid of some games before I get any more but I like all my games now.

Might be selling Omega Race and/or Black Widow soon. Maybe. And possibly Gravitar. I can't believe I am saying this.
 
I used to obsessively check it every morning before work and when I got home. Everyday I did this with no results. I thought it was stupid and stopped for about two months. And this past Sunday I thought "what the hell" and checked. There was a post Friday for something I've been searching for a few years with an incredibly cheap price and it was mislabled. I thought it was a toss up if it was already gone for not but called anyway. It was still available and they took half what they were asking. Sorry for being an enabler,guys.

Realistically I do have space left and if need be, I can live without most of the cabs I already own. But I am only looking for 2 or 3 particular cabinets and the possibility of any of them popping up on craigslist for a decent price,condition,or even at all are very slim. I'll be patient.
 
What I hate is SELLING on CL. Nobody shows up as planned. EVERYONE wants something for nothing. I am at the point where if it is under fifty bucks I would rather throw it away than list it on CL. It really is THAT bad.
 
What I hate is SELLING on CL. Nobody shows up as planned. EVERYONE wants something for nothing. I am at the point where if it is under fifty bucks I would rather throw it away than list it on CL. It really is THAT bad.

Agreed, I have had my DK Jr & Turbo on CL for about 3 weeks. About 15+ emails about condition (which is already described in detail on ad) and "I am interested and will pickup this weekend". Still sitting unsold. $350 for a working Turbo and DK Jr and getting "I will give you $100 for both.
 
I checked CL while I read this thread. Twice. Why? Because there's stuff I can not find. Pac Man? Ms. Pac Man? Galaga? Donkey Kong? Some of the most popular games EVER, yet I have over a dozen games, and none of those.

Apparently yesterday while I was picking up an Asteroids, I missed out on a duo Ms. Pac/Galaga deal....because I wasn't home watching CL. Now I'm 4x as paranoid.

And sellers are as bad as buyers! I have less than half of sellers ever respond to my email/text/phone calls.
 
I stopped checking a while back,i used to check on my phone at work and constantly at home on my pc.I used buy anything cheap,now i have space cause i sold most of my games but no desire to buy any,im down to two cabs my AD and playchoice and rarely play those. Ill hold on to what i have and maybe in the future ill get back into it but for now im happy with what i got.

Roy
 
I have a bad habit of checking it multiple times daily. I have NO extra money, and no space left. Yet I find myself constantly looking for that one good deal that might just show up close enough for the right price. I have gotten lucky thou on a few trades thou.

What I hate is SELLING on CL. Nobody shows up as planned. EVERYONE wants something for nothing. I am at the point where if it is under fifty bucks I would rather throw it away than list it on CL. It really is THAT bad.

I've recently put a few things up on CL also to sell, and it seems that in order for me to make any type of deal, I have to lower my price AND deliver the game to them. Which in some cases are 3+ hours one way drive.
 
Might be selling Omega Race and/or Black Widow soon. Maybe. And possibly Gravitar. I can't believe I am saying this.

Let me know when you are doing that, brother. And if you plan on selling your Amplifone monitor!
 
I use Craigslist Pro+ for IPhone since I can search 9 different areas Using keywords. ie Arcade or pinball. It also allows you to sort by only the newly listed items since you last ran the search. Makes CL searching quick and easy.
 
I found my mad planets just in the right place at the right time.
I found my qix.
I found many games on CL .I think I am getting close to the 30 arcade machine mark.
I would pick up more but I have some ones games are in my storefront storage.
I keep pushing his stuff into a corner.
 
I check an insane amount and get notices on my phone for the very same reasons...... I missed a few killer deals. I have scored several machines from CL, just recently scored a Gorf!!
 
Back
Top Bottom