I'll tell ya a trick of the trade to entice the seller to leave the listing on until the very end. I have won apx 6 or 8 pinballs this way and scored some very good machines.Dont get me wrong, it has cost me serious $$, but  Ya gotta do, what ya gotta do, to win a machine.

I email the seller early in the listing when its say sitting on a few hundred bucks, before i bid, so as not to break the rules technically.

I email " I am interested in this pinball and would be willing to bid up to $2000 so i hope you let the listing run, cause i am sick of pinball listings being pulled.I am a genuine collector".

Then the listing usually stays, and the real amount i would have paid might be really 2500, that way, the seller cant bid it up himself past a reasonable amount that i would pay. I did this after bidding on a dozen machines with all of them being pulled, which gives ya the shits.

The owner gets a good price, i win a machine, and the price i pay is usually a bit more than the market price is anyway, so no one can complain.
Sometimes, unfortunately, ya have to pay a bit more than ya want if the pin is on your "really want list". Thats the only fair way i find to keep the auctions going.Ya know these 99cent auctions are not going to sell for that price, and that the thing is going to sell for say 2 grand, so just put a 1800 bid in early, to get rid of the not so serious timewasters and us serious pinball players/collectors can save some great pins from being parted out or sent to god knows where.

anyway, try it on ya next ebay treasure hunt. it might work for ya.the days of winning machines cheap i reckon are over, too many collectors, not enough top titles to go around. now, its become a problem of winning the machine, versus, how much for and at what saving. too far n in between with demand outstripping supply.