Common myths about importing pinballs ;
Myth - Pinballs are drying up overseas. There's nothing left but euro crap.
Fact - Since the start of this year, APR has been offered in the vicinity of 300 games. A third of them is from a USA contact.
Speak to anyone locally, and they will tell you that pinball is drying up overseas, so if you want that nice TZ, you need to buy their floor stock QUICKLY. Supplier will tell you things are "drying up" - then within 3 months later, they have 200 games. Customers that have seen my recent imported TZ find it really hard to believe that it is "Euro crap" as it is in BETTER condition than most dealers "done up" games.
Myth - Pinballs overseas have doubled or tripled in price.
Fact - So has everything else.
Dealers are to blame for the price hikes. Not suppliers. Yes, pinballs were cheaper 10 years ago, and then in the last 5 years, suppliers found eBay Australia had dealer TZs listed for $8000 - $9000. Join the dots..
Myth - Buying a container to sell half the games will pay for my half of the container. Then I can do it again.. I'm going to be a multi millionaire.
Fact - Reconditioning half the container will bear one cost for sale. Then restoring your half will bear another cost. It would take years doing this process part time. PLENTY of private guys tried this and they don't do it anymore for good reason.
Myth - Dealers make HUGE profits on containers.
Fact - Not anymore.
Yes, there were times when games were cheap, and sale prices were high. Then as the supplier prices went up, profits went down. Shortcuts mitigate the profit reduction, and we have the "Nifti in one hand, rag in the other". If you put the hours into games, you can ask for a higher selling price. But recent games hitting my workshop look like hardly anything has been done to these games.
Importing is a LOT of hard work. The time put into putting one together is huge. You have to think quick, you have to know the games and understand the industry. I cater my imports around what customers want. That way, many games are already reserved. You need the available funds, and then the costs in restoring the games - a part of the romantic "Container Import" that everyone forgets about !
