One of the biggest problems with most pins listed on ebay, is that almost all of the pinball auctions are seen as rigged. I would find it difficult for anyone to say that the general consensus of most people out in thepinball world wouldnt agree.
99 cent auctions are usually bidded up by "friendly bidders" to around the $1300 amount etc. Does anyone honestly think, that a machine worth around the 2 grand amount isnt going to sell between say $1700 and $2200. A ten day auction is 9 days teasing, with 1 x day of reality.
I want to share some recent experiences with you.
I had a friend who wanted to sell some machines (lets say over a dozen). He had all the problems Oscar was having, for arguments sake.
I told my mate, to list the machine at $2500 with a "Make an Offer" part. I said to do this with all his pinballs. I said it will sort out the wankers and time wasters, and only reasonably serious buyers will start offering around the $1700 to $1800 mark upwards.
The results, he had, of the dozen listings done this way, three quarters of the machines snapped up within a 2 or 3 day period, all offers were around the $2 grand mark to $2200 if he had a buy it now price of $2500. In some cases, people offered the full amount provided he shipped the item "as included".
What did all this prove, dont waste 10 days with 99 cent auctions, which wont sell for 99 cents obviously. Show people you are willing to sell the item "today", when people think they might miss out with someone else hitting the "buy it now" button, or the "make an offer" button with a realistic and close offer.
List machines which are missing major unavailable parts as a parts only machine, not a pinball machine, cause a machine missing major, un available parts is not a pinball machine anymore, it is only a batch of parts. Thats my take on why so many pinball listings are failures. People dont trust any seller who meaningly leaves out information that a buyer "would have liked to have been told".
The pinball industry needs a big clean up in my opinion.
