The name of the game for these container importers is turnover. It makes no sense to trade dollars for dollars with the seller spending $600 on a machine with parts and labour, to only get an extra $600 back. If the sellers did this on every machine, there would be a backlog for months, and everyone would be waiting for their machine to be ready. Plus the fact that most people want their machines prepared a certain way. Its hard enough for these sellers to cashflow so many machines to strat with, let alone adding an extra $600 per machine to have sitting on the floor. That would add up to alot of money for the amount of games they are holding.
Also, most buyers dont want to pay someone a minimum of 25 hrs labour @$25 per hour ($600 plus) to clean a machine, rerubber n reglobe when we can do it ourselves.
Mark C for example, always provides a honest report card for every machine. All machines are plugged in, powered up, fault tested via the games own menu on start up, a realistic deskription of the playfield with photos is provided etc, and within 5 minutes u can tell if its a real good machine or not. I ask for real good examples to add to my collection as keepers. Therefore, I know exactly what I am getting before it even arrives. No luck involved, its just good management by both seller n buyer.
Most sellers are happy to move them out the door without even having to touch a bulb. The hardest thing for them to do is to plug it in, do a report card, and determine a fair price for the machine "as is". Its really the best deal for both seller and buyer. Its worked for me alot.
Very rare to see DMD project pins, so my comments are relevent to SS machines.
Project pins are usually "sweetners" in any container. They are often used to literally "fill" the container. They can also be a requirement of any given deal. If you want 5 Medievel Madness', 5 CV's and 5 AFM's, you HAVE to take the project pins. It ensures the SUPPLIER moves on their stock. Sometimes an importer can buy an ENTIRE container of project pins - for peanuts. The overhead is a MASSIVE amount of labour and parts lays ahead. It makes sense for importers to "move on" the projects for numerous reasons - labour cost (already covered in the thread), too many parts or "hard to find parts" that the imported would find hard to replace and the fact that importers don't have the technical skillset to recondition the machines and they often don't know the value of the older games. Just take a look on eBay and you will see the same machines relisted week after week. They don't sell and they won't sell.
Hobbyists should be VERY grateful for the numerous importers of project games, there are plenty out there and "backyarders" like us will always benefit from buying them. They will also be restored to original condition, or be used for a newbie to learn the craft. Better to be in our "backyard shed" than a mouldy rat infested warehouse in France.
