Answering the question in the context of "dealers" and not private sellers ;
Dealers do take high risks in bringing in machines. When the local machines dried out, the Dealers filled the demand. For that, we should all be grateful.
Pinballs were VERY cheap overseas 5-10 years ago. Profits could be made with very little effort. Reconditioning standards were abysmal. Five years ago, hobbyists became involved with importing and stupidly increased supply prices which annoyed dealers that thought they had a monopoly on the industry. We even have arcade people rumored to have imported over a dozen containers - only one or two actually landed - but ALL these guys realize how much work is involved, and the fact that there is a lot of competition. All these guys have disappeared. To succeed you need understand the product and the industry. Only a small percentage do both. Then you need to have a higher standard than your competitors.
So this leads into selling methods. What used to happen is price fixing. Behind the scenes, dealers would ensure they had a "standard" price for games. An example that actually happened - A dealer sold an Twilight Zone for $3000. A COMPETING dealer called up the selling dealer and went nuts that the game was sold "too cheap". What happened was the owner went overseas and left a Tech in charge for 2 weeks. He sold the game too cheap, and the chatter started. Some dealers are obviously not involved and would price their TZ for $8,000 - but they never sold anything anyway !
Today, we have the internet. We have eBay, which is simply an advertising tool for dealers. You will see the SAME game listed for YEARS in some cases. We have forums, like this one, that educate newbies. If a newbie finds the forum before impulse buying, then they save their money. This HURTS dealers. The fact that the supplier prices have in some case TRIPLED since 2008 (read above for that reason), then sales price locally reflect that. So profits decrease. To make up for the decreased profits, something had to give - the parts used and the quality of the reconditioning work. We have very quickly gone back to "abysmal" ! Keep cost down and profits increase again.
Right now, the industry is hanging by a thread. I can easily be considered a dealer, and I would not argue with that. I think I'm more of a broker than a dealer, because I don't care what prices are "industry" prices. I sold my last two restored Addams Family games for $6200 and $5800. What I see today is JUNK compared to my standards, and asking prices is the "industry standard" of $6500. I see at least one dealer game a week that should be covered with some sort of warranty, but the standards are crap. The "new" standard is to claim that "flipper kits are installed" - but why do I see tumbler media stuck in the pawls ? They are recycled in most cases.
Education is the key. It is not a case of "don't buy from (insert dealer name here)". It is a case of asking the right questions, and looking around. Ebay ads with fixed prices, or BIN prices are advertisements. Fishing for the newbies - and that's it. What VALUE are you getting with the price ?
EBay is a selling tool to reel in the newbies that don't do their homework. Inflated prices attract the impulse buyers. One of these days I'll write a book. But in conclusion, if it was not for the dealers, our hobby would be a lot smaller. So we should all be grateful, but a little more educated these days.
