What I Learned About Arcade Machines from Craigslist in 2010

My favorite:


Have a bunch of games to sell



pole position garbled screen - $500
Mr. Do - $750
Arkanoid dedicated cab $600
Tempest $1000 SOLD (yeah right)
Ms. Pac Man $1800 SOLD (sure)
FRONT LINE $150 SOLD (WTF?)
Crap game slight issue $950
Polybius 99 cents -SOLD
Classic Grail - SOLD really cheap not to you
Overpriced crap - $1 billion dollars REDUCED
Classic Grail - $300 Rare unique sideart/control panel painted over to make it look nicer.
 
How bout?

Seller wants restored, mint value for the $50 basket case being offered.

Also,

While on route to pickup a game you call the seller to find out the seller has confused you with somebody else and they told the person they can come to pickup the game. This happened to me several times.


Also,

Ads that say games starting at $250 and up, which you find out that the $250 game is garbage and the rest of the good games are $500 and up.
 
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SuperBee4406 said:
Also,

Ads that say games starting at $250 and up, which you find out that the $250 game is garbage and the rest of the good games are $500 and up.
Click to expand...

I was just about to post about this same thing. Have you ever noticed how many times that $250 game is a beat up Street Fighter.
 
What about, "Game works 100%, except there is no sound and the monitor goes out sometimes."

I love it when a game works completely...except for the parts that don't work...
 
#1 thing I learned from CL this year:

That I don't need any new games badly enough to deal with CL sellers.
 
SeanMcL said:
#1 thing I learned from CL this year:

That I don't need any new games badly enough to deal with CL sellers.
Click to expand...

As much as I have shared all of these great experiences from Craigslist, I can honestly say that the majority of my games have come from Craigslist. It is what it is.... Overall it has been a net positive for me.

My favs:

The game is located in my garage and will be easy to move... oh, I meant it was in my basement and the stairway has 3 90 degree turns...

I have a cart, you don't need to bring yours... oh I meant to say, I didn't have a cart, bring yours.... I ended up putting the machine on a floor jack to move it to the back of my truck...

Seller: That picture I sent you wasn't of the actual game, but one of a game like it. Me: But I asked you to send me pictures of this game, and you sent them to me and said this is the actual game... Seller: oh, well, do you still want it..

Seller: I know I said I would help you, but I have a bad back, can't you just call some of your friends up to help you move it? Me: yes, I could have before I drove over an hour to get here..

Personal Fav: I know when we spoke on the phone and via email that we agreed on a price. Then you drove here with that much money in your hand, BUT this other guy standing here offered me $50 dollars more, can you match his offer? Me: No, and by the way I know your name, your phone number, email address and where you live...Lets save us both some trouble and you sell me this game at the original price as per our agreement.... That seemed to get his attention, I ended up with the game at the price we had agreed upon, he also seemed eager to get me out of house...
 
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hasenfang said:
Personal Fav: I know when we spoke on the phone and via email that we agreed on a price. Then you drove here with that much money in your hand, BUT this other guy standing here offered me $50 dollars more, can you match his offer? Me: No, and by the way I know your name, your phone number, email address and where you live...Lets save us both some trouble and you sell me this game at the original price as per our agreement.... That seemed to get his attention, I ended up with the game at the price we had agreed upon, he also seemed eager to get me out of house...
Click to expand...


I wouldn't try that in Texas. You might get a gun pointed in your face.
 
hasenfang said:
Personal Fav: I know when we spoke on the phone and via email that we agreed on a price. Then you drove here with that much money in your hand, BUT this other guy standing here offered me $50 dollars more, can you match his offer? Me: No, and by the way I know your name, your phone number, email address and where you live...Lets save us both some trouble and you sell me this game at the original price as per our agreement.... That seemed to get his attention, I ended up with the game at the price we had agreed upon, he also seemed eager to get me out of house...
Click to expand...

If I tried that in the town I work in I'd be shot on the spot. But I love it.

"Game worked before I moved, maybe it's a loose connection or something." really means "I moved in to this house and this POS was in the garage. When I plug it in I can hear something humming." Never mind the missing marquee, broken marquee lights, ripped open coin door and a trackball that's rusted in place.
 
hasenfang said:
... Personal Fav: I know when we spoke on the phone and via email that we agreed on a price. Then you drove here with that much money in your hand, BUT this other guy standing here offered me $50 dollars more, can you match his offer? Me: No, and by the way I know your name, your phone number, email address and where you live...Lets save us both some trouble and you sell me this game at the original price as per our agreement.... That seemed to get his attention, I ended up with the game at the price we had agreed upon, he also seemed eager to get me out of house...
Click to expand...

Brave and crazy, but awesome! :D
 
hasenfang said:
Personal Fav: I know when we spoke on the phone and via email that we agreed on a price. Then you drove here with that much money in your hand, BUT this other guy standing here offered me $50 dollars more, can you match his offer? Me: No, and by the way I know your name, your phone number, email address and where you live...Lets save us both some trouble and you sell me this game at the original price as per our agreement....
Click to expand...

I love it, too. But, around where I live, unless you were packing heat, that might have been the end of you...
 
Zoo Keeper - $100.00

Me - "I am interested in your game and would like to come look at it."
Them - "Sorry the game is sold".
Me - "But you just listed it 10 minutes ago?"

2 weeks later...Flood of Viagra and Spam ads to my inbox due to my email being harvested.
 
"NBA Jams" is much easier to find than its non-plural predecessor.

You always stand a great chance of selling your game if you don't say the name of the game in your ad, don't post any pics of it, and ask $2K. If, on the slim chance it doesn't sell: relist and change nothing in your ad.

If it's been 10 years since your game was last plugged in, you can safely assume it still works. Don't bother plugging it in to test it. The closest outlet is probably all the way on the next wall.
 
Here's one I had as a seller last week (not arcade related item):

I list something dirt cheap- well below what item normally fetches. In the ad I say "Price is a steal- so it's firm." Buyer contacts me and agrees to buy for askíng price.

Guy shows up an hour late and says "Will you take $10 less for it? The ATM would only let me pull cash in increments of $20."

Me: *lowers head slightly, raises eyes, stares down buyer for five seconds*

"I have a ten in my wallet. You could have just pulled an extra $20 and asked me for change- or you could have just kicked me an extra $10 for making me wait around for you for an hour..."
 
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If your machine is worth $2000 and up, you have to do it justice by posting stock images and flyer art instead of actual photos.
 
jawhn said:
Brave and crazy, but awesome! :D
Click to expand...

Yeah, I was pretty much beyond pissed off with this guy, and I am either too stupid or foolish to be afraid. In my mind I'm thinking, bring it on, but honestly, what do people expect? I went back and forth on this game for like a week to come to a price. After that, I thought ok, just go pickup the game, wrong, WRONG! This guy kept canceling on me on short notice and it was about a 1.5 drive, one way from my house. So after almost two weeks of canceled pickup appointments, I arrived at his home and he had some other guy "looking" at the game just in case I didn't want it. WTF!? Seriously?! Then after all that, he starts jamming me for more money? Umm, yeah, no... He would have shot me once, then I would have killed him, I was ready to put a gun in his face.. He also told me he would help me move the game, and that it was a straight shot to move the game.."should be easy." Well, it was Spy Hunter, which is really really heavy for some reason, his help was watching me try to hall up it a very narrow stair case, the worst part was at the top of the stair case the game had to be stood up (which didn't fit on the stair top, so I had to rest it on my knees) to turn it 90 degrees to get the game out.. Brutal! Probably one of the worst game moves I have ever done. But I got it, and it is a very nice spy hunter! For the record the other guy just left and did not stick around to help... Which, I guess I can't blame him..
 
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