The adventure of your first pinball purchase.

[swinks]

I thought I would start a new thread of something that I find interesting and hopefully others can share there story - for a laugh, for a lesson for others and just a good read. I wouldn't say my first pinball purchase is anything worthy of a laugh, but then you might, as I was green as, very naive and totally rushed into it, but hey 1 year and a bit on and 3 more purchases and I am finally starting to learn what to do and consider.

My first purchase was a 1976 Gottlieb Surf Champ EM.

My wife told me to go get a pinball for my 40th and I had a month to go before it was going to come around. So with that said I wanted a surf themed pinball (because I love the beach), not much choice out there so I focused on just two - Surfer or Surf Champ. I checked out Aus including alot of the local dealers and shocked of the prices of pinballs - didn't help that these dealers charge top dollar. Within 2 weeks I found 2 surf champs going on Ebay in the States selling for under $1000. I made a few calls and discovered no one really wanted to commit to freight quotes here in Aus etc (this is where I should have listened to the silent message - don't do it). A third Surf Champ came up in Chicago and I emailed the guy and he said he had a great contact for exporting and the price all up would be around the $1250 for crate and freight. I thought a little over $2200 altogether was awesome - SUCKER. I bit the bullet and won it 2 days before my birthday and was happy for a few days then the ebay guy went silent for a week, his freight contact went silent and I wasn't game to tell my wife that I just threw $1000 away.

I then found a crating expert in Chicago who was really helpful though had me wrapped around his finger. I wanted a quote which he gave, but without approval he decided to pick up the pinball and start crating before I knew it. But within 2 weeks he had it ready to travel by rail to LA to a ship. His charge to pickup, crate and freight to Sydney was $1200 so I was feeling very much relieved. That is 6 weeks later it hit the docks and then the Customs had a field day with me charging me another $1000 for god knows what, with 1 particular thing - $200 gambling tax as it was a coin operated machine WTF. It didn't matter that it was 34 years old and needed a service etc. Then another freight truck to Newcastle as I wasn't allowed to go to the depot to pickup. I must say the guy in Chicago did a awesome job to crating - it took me over an hour to have the sides off it and nothing broken.

All up 3 months, $3500 for a pinball that isn't worth that much and didn't work after the trip half way around the world. So it is going to be restored and just be a keeper. I got some sympathy from my wife so she said go get another pinball locally but make sure it works - CFTBL was up next and still runs and having fun with it.

So that's my experience - I wouldn't buy and ship myself - very expensive. If any one is considering you can PM me for some costs so you can learn from my experience.

Cheers, hope some others share there stories.

[Caveoftreasures]

A great read.  In the end u got there, and thats what matters.   Also good u had a wife who worked with you, thats very important.   The lesson here is to visit customs house, seek advice from a freight broker and dont rely on anyone from the USA. Without the correct paperwork, in hand, before the item arrives, you are screwed. If u had of had the right paperwork, things would have been totally different, but no one said lessons come cheap.  You persisted and won in the end.  


My first pinball was ordered for my 10 year old daughter. It was a fully refurbished/restored Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I paid $2400 3 yrs ago and purchased from Kenny Priest in Logan, QLD. The machine has been faultless from day one, and i love the simplicity of the game and the playfield and cabinet colours. Its a 1991 model Data East ofcourse, and the best fun is the audio. NINJA NINJA. Anyone who has played it will know what i mean. Whilst this is the first pinball i purchased and ordered, a Star Trek Next Generation actually turned up to the house first, because it was shopped and ready to go. I paid $3500 for the Next Gen. So, although Turtles was the first game ordered technically, Star Trek arrived on Xmas day for me in 2009. Turtles came a week or so later.

Since then, alot more machines have made their way into my house. The simplicity of Turtles, the depth of Next Gen made me addicted.
I have purchased machines from every seller out there, and have no horror stories. But I have done my homework bigtime so i didnt get screwed.

I think buying the first two machines from professionals like Kenny Priest QLD and Jason from Ozpinball QLD did alot to calm my nerves on this great hobby. Aussie Pinball forum has also been a wealth of knowledge and have made alot of great mates.  

[pinnies4me]

Great story swinks (well not the $ side of it) but a valuable lesson for other members on the pitfalls of importing single games.

My first pin story is nothing like that for interest. I was playing around with pinmame ten years ago, and one day it occurred to me how much I had loved pinball back in the day, and in particular Time Warp which two mates and I would skip uni to play.

The internet was nothing like the resource it is today, so it took a year to find one - and I kid you not - within two weeks I had five to choose from from five different states!

The easiest to check out was one in Brisbane at a dealer near where my brother was living. He called me from the venue with a thumps up on its cosmetic condition, and played it for an hour with no issues. Shipped it was $1900 to my door, so while at the top end for pricing then, not too bad as it turned up and was (and is) in really nice condition.

.. .. .. then it started breeding.. .. .. 

[ajlaird]

Here's my adventure - not overly adventurous apart from forking out the cash for a substantial purpose.

Started looking for an Eight Ball Deluxe and ended up at a well known Melbourne northern suburbs institution that also sells bikes. The price quoted for a tired looking machine sounded a little excessive. Spoke to a couple of other dealers as well just to get an idea of prices.

Anyway later that year after some more internet research I joined AA and happened to find out about a container that was arriving soon in the western suburbs. Went and had a good look and decided to buy a pin or two while I waited for an EBD to land - had a few choices and nearly ended up with a Cue Ball Wizard but finally ended up with a Dirty Harry and a Mousin' Around! - both good buys for the money. And was able to pay them off over time which was a great service. I decided to purchase two at once as that way if one was down for repairs I could still play the other. Pretty good move as every now and then there will be a little problem on a machine that needs fixing. I was confident in being able to fix things as I have a background in hobby electronics, and computers.

[beaky]

my first pin was bought from an old mate who let me pay it off.
my second pin was bought from mark.c via an ebay auction, all went well.
my third pin was where I found about shill bidding on ebay. it was bought from a guy who joined this forum after the sale to defend his honour regarding the ebay sale and the condition of the pin.
Ebay had agreed with me and said that the bidding on the auction was very suspicious and if i did not pay for the item any negitive feed back would be removed from my ebay account.
the machine came with a piece of glass that was cut crooked at one end and was just normal glass, not tuffend. All i can say is that the guy is the biggest 

[ktm450]

About 10 years ago we visited my wifes family in Townsville, it was her uncles 60th birthday, he and one of his mates operated a few pins on site around the area and he had a Rollergames in the bottom section of his queenslander home, I had never really considered having a machine in my home, but I told my wife we had to get one. 
When we got back I was looking through the local saturday paper classified ads and found a Gottlieb Dragon for sale for $900.  I went around to check it out, it was in decent condition and all worked, so I haggled with him a bit, but he wasn't too keen to go any lower as he had had a few calls from other interested people.  Picked it up, stripped it down, cleaned up and restored had it for about 6 months or so, a little slow for my tastes sold it and doubled my money and put that towards my second pin, High speed 2: The Getaway.

[swinks]

We know you like your Getaway, great stories guys keep them coming.

[newpingirl12]

Thanks for the story. I was going to import but am totally not going to now.....

[wizo]

Great story swinks, I had also been scanning ebay in the US, ill try looking closer to home from now on! 

[Cow Corner]

I looked hard and long in Brisbane for the right pin before making my first purchase.
I checked out all the local dealers and was going to buy a top end machine from the pinball warehouse until I found out that the work done does not match the prices asked for a shopped machine, imo these prices are majorly inflated. Plus the fact I was shooed off the premisies when my pin arrived for shopping without me inspecting put the wind up me big time.
I also looked at the pinball shed, prices are better but after a mate of mine bought a getaway off them that was supposedly shopped out, well it was anything but shopped and needed major work.
My first pin was a wh20 bought from Bumper and I was confident all would well, it arrived fine but was not the condition stated by the seller. I have since sold it and bought a much beter example for a much beter price.
I then bought a pin from a fringe dealer( ap memeber) in melb that was an absolute shiter.
My overall experince with dealers is very bittersweet and I would rather buy from another collector than a dealer chasin quick $$$. I don't trust dealers.
I have also bought a couple of pins off ozpinball and they have been good but a little over-priced, also had a mate buy a pin off him that turned out to be a real over-priced turd. Buyer beware I guess.
My 2 cents.

[wizo]

excellent info on the Brisbane dealers mate, I went to pinball warehouse yesterday and was about to pay a visit to the pinball shed, looks like ill have to work hard at getting my 20 posts up so I can see the trade section here 

[Cow Corner]

For all the horror stories I am sure that there are have been many happy buyers as well but the dealers have done their dash with me, I can't shake the dodgy used car feeling that comes with the speil they dish out...ie..youll never find a better one than this, your gonna love this one etc etc. It's always best to view and play a pin in person to gauge it's true worth.Best of luck in your search mate, hope you find what you are looking for. What are you chasing?

[GORGAR 1]

Thats funny I've heard nothing but GOOD stories about the pinball shed I've bought varoius bits and Tony has always been very willing to help probally abit harsh naming him on a forum over a single dealing my 2c

Peter

[Cow Corner]

I disagree with you becuase of mine and many others experience but as I also stated, heaps of others may be happy with them and other dealers.
I wouldn 't touch em with a barge pole and if that saves soemone else from being ripped off I don't see that as harsh I see that as helping.
I have no problems with naming any person or comapny I feel are not doing exactly what they say they are going to do.
As always do your research, shop around for the best deal and get what you want not what someone says you want.

[wizo]

Past experiences both good and bad are appreciated, at least it gives a bit of a heads up on things to look out for.

Im thinking my first one should be a bit of a trip down memory lane and therefore should be either an eight ball deluxe, a Gorgar or a Joker Poker, but then again If I have trouble finding those machines Im sure if a fair deal on another machine came my way id snap it up in the meantime.

Also as I trawl through pictures of old machines long lost brain cells start to click into gear of times gone by and could affect my way of thinking aswell