Buying Pin Need Cutoms & Price Help Please

[quarter grabber]

I found a LOTR (FINALLY) in the states. HUO 2003 non LE, perfect condition. I can pick it up for $5,500 USD. Now if I didn't need to worry about customs I would do it in a second but when you add 13% to that it becomes $6,215 USD which is way too much!

Is there a way I can get it up here and avoid paying the extra 13% tax? I never bought from the states before.

 

[Luckydogg420]

Re: Buying Pin Need Cutoms

find a private boat to take you across the lake.

 

[quarter grabber]

Re: Buying Pin Need Cutoms

find a private boat to take you across the lake.

Well I guess that means there's no way, so I'll have to pass on the deal.

 

[brewmanager]

I've got a friend in buffalo who would be happy to let you store it there and visit it once in a while.

Otherwise, you're paying the tax. Not worth it to lie at the border.

I don't know how many times I can say this, but here's one more.

Patience, grasshopper. Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither is an awesome pin collection.

 

[quarter grabber]

I've got a friend in buffalo who would be happy to let you store it there and visit it once in a while.

Otherwise, you're paying the tax. Not worth it to lie at the border.

I don't know how many times I can say this, but here's one more.

Patience, grasshopper. Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither is an awesome pin collection.

Thank you brewmanager.
Have you ever had one of those titles that you just have to have? LOTR is that title for me. As much as I try to put it out of my mind I just can't stop thinking about it. It's not that I'm not listening to the excellent advice I'm getting from you guys, I am, I just can't stop myself. If there was one around I could play it would probably help shake it from my mind, but there's none around me to play. You know you're addicted when.

 

[brewmanager]

I do understand. For me it was Road Show. First dmd I had to have. Took me months to find one. Had to orchestrate a package deal to get it with Bish. My aforementioned Buffalo friend Craig drove to Albany to pick up our pins for us (win-win, as he was between jobs at the time). Bish and I had a great time on our road trip to grab them. We paid similar tax to the number you were talking about.

In fact, the only flaw in the ointment was a slight misrepresentation of both machines, but what, I'm gonna drive back to Albany? Mine wasn't too bad, but the other machine still sits in Santiago's repair queue.

Oh, and while we loved Lanovas pizza on the trip, apparently we should have gone to the suburban store, not the one right near the Peace Bridge. I took my wife back there this year, and....well, lets just say its a bit of a rough area that at night we didn't notice.

 

[g-man]

I never get used to the rhythms of this hobby. It seems like only a year or two ago that LOTRs were changing hands frequently. Now...not so much.

Like the neighbourhood pub, it depends what's on tap. I find it hard to believe that people are just discovering that LOTR is a good pin. They will come out of hiding eventually. They always do.

 

[brewmanager]

Indeed - what I meant to add to my post is that a year ago I couldn't find a Roadshow anywhere, and had to go to great lengths. Now? I know of one for sure, possibly two.

But sorry dude, my Lotr isn't going anywhere.

Plus it broke...need to pick up new optos.

 

[Beafraid]

More like 6384$ Canadian using today's exchange rate. I know what you are going through. I want a NGG bad and I know where there are 2 HUO and another very nice one but alas, no one wants my money. :cry:

You can always come back and grab my HUlk or Shrek until you find one.

 

[DRANO]

I find that, whenever I really want a pin, I eventually find it and then, within a week or two, a better and less expensive example pops up :FP:

Patience is a hard thing to learn. I think it just seems like whatever you're currently looking for is impossible to find. In reality, they are everywhere. Good connections and some solid groundwork go a long way.

I like my LOTR, but no way I'd pay over $5K for one. They made plenty of them.
I reserve dipping into the US market for really hard to find stuff. I'm sure one will pop up locally within the next few weeks.
The problem is that most games sell privately and never make it to forums or kijiji.
You need to get a few friends looking on your behalf.

 

[quarter grabber]

The problem is that most games sell privately and never make it to forums or kijiji.
You need to get a few friends looking on your behalf.

This alas is my problem. They sell before I even know about them. Although Mike Wong has been pretty good at letting me know which ones are up for grabs. Thanks Mike.

 

[quarter grabber]

More like 6384$ Canadian using today's exchange rate. I know what you are going through. I want a NGG bad and I know where there are 2 HUO and another very nice one but alas, no one wants my money. :cry:

You can always come back and grab my HUlk or Shrek until you find one.

Haha, the funny thing is I did consider the Shrek for awhile before I started on LOTR again.

 

[g-man]

LOTR has certainly suffered a big jump in price over the last year or two ( thanks Pinside ).

Just curious, did you contact the guy who was selling the $4500 LOTR in Etobicoke just a few weeks ago ? Did you see pics ? Was it not minty enough ? :mrgreen:

 

[mwong168]

Just curious, did you contact the guy who was selling the $4500 LOTR in Etobicoke just a few weeks ago ? Did you see pics ? Was it not minty enough ? :mrgreen:

I've seen the game in Etobicoke and know who owns it now. It was a decent example with the typical flipper button wear from being on route and an LED disaster (in my opinion) as I think this game looks best with incandescent bulbs. Both of these are minor issues and easily fixed.

 

[quarter grabber]

LOTR has certainly suffered a big jump in price over the last year or two ( thanks Pinside ).

Just curious, did you contact the guy who was selling the $4500 LOTR in Etobicoke just a few weeks ago ? Did you see pics ? Was it not minty enough ? :mrgreen:

I contacted him before he posted on Kijiji. At the time his price was $5000 and he wasn't going any lower no matter what. I offered him $4,500, he said no then posted it on Kijiji the next day for the $4,500 I offered him. It was a slap in the face so as a matter of principle I didn't buy it when it was posted on Kijiji. I did offer the seller $4500 for it though before hand.

 

[mwong168]

It was a slap in the face so as a matter of principle I didn't buy it when it was posted on Kijiji.

You made an offer via email, PM or text and he declined. No need to take things so personal, its not like you drove all the way from Ottawa to Etobicoke with the expectation that there was around $400-500 wiggle room from the seller's $5000 asking price and went back empty handed. Sellers sometimes think they can get more for their machine only to find out weeks or even months later nobody is biting. In this case the seller must have needed to raise cash for another pin and just reduced the price, took a small loss just to get it out or maybe an unexpected expense came up like a car repair but knowing the history of this seller it is more likely the first guess

Look at all these Hulk LE's that are on the market now, most of them I had serious buyer's lined up for $7000-7200 but they were firm at $7300-7400 because they had invested money in "mods", look at what they are asking for them now and still no sale. Anyways, Stern LE's seem to be suffering this fate lately with the exception of maybe ACDC BIBLE/LTBR. Even MOPLE is starting to show a decline in resale price too on pinside --> FS. NIB Metallica LE #46 $7880usd

Anyways lesson to be learned here... next time swallow your pride and you will have a LOTR.

 

[g-man]

At a recent estate sale in NJ, some pinsider got a CC for $1900 !

http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/ ... dgewood-nj

There is another estate sale in NJ next week with an LOTR. Drive down, camp outside and get in line at midnight. A few hours later, you might end up with one helluva deal ~ or at least, one helluva story.

http://www.estatesales.net/estate-sales ... es+machine

 

[quarter grabber]

At a recent estate sale in NJ, some pinsider got a CC for $1900 !

http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/ ... dgewood-nj

There is another estate sale in NJ next week with an LOTR. Drive down, camp outside and get in line at midnight. A few hours later, you might end up with one helluva deal ~ or at least, one helluva story.

http://www.estatesales.net/estate-sales ... es+machine

Dude_Sweet

 

[meegis]

Re: Buying Pin Need Cutoms

Speaking of customs/taxes

What if you own the game in say a vacation home? For example, if you have own a home in Florida, and you have a pin there for the last 4 years, and finally decided to just bring it home?

What happens in that case?

 

[mwong168]

Re: Buying Pin Need Cutoms

Speaking of customs/taxes

What if you own the game in say a vacation home? For example, if you have own a home in Florida, and you have a pin there for the last 4 years, and finally decided to just bring it home?

What happens in that case?

I would guess you better have your paperwork to support your claim like a bill of sale from where you bought it from. If you bought it from a US vendor you would probably have to pay the 13% taxes on it with some possible depreciation to bring it back to Canada?