Yet the KISS pinball is not worth as much O/S !

Now why is this?.
Back in 1979/80 the popularity of KISS in the US was fading fast.  But over here it was just beginning to take off!

I remember hearing or reading back in the mid 90's when they came back for the conventions, that they had wanted to tour Australia during the 80's but were told by the Australian promoters that there wasn't any interest here.

I think the going rate for KISS over here reflects a couple of things. Firstly the huge number of fans in this country, and secondly the price for working generic titled games over here is over the odds compared to other countries anyway.  So if decent working EM's or early SS sold on eBay in Australia every day of the week for $300 - $500, You'd imagine most Kiss machines here wouldn't crack $3k tops.