SOLD 1989 Data East Robocop

[fantasygoat]

Selling my fully shopped, 100% working Robocop. Special price for site members, $2,500. That's about what I have into it with all new lamps, rubber, new display glass, replacing all the GI connectors and fixing all the board issues. Plus about 12 hours of full shopping it out.

Surprisingly fun game - very fast.

See my ad for more details: http://www.kijiji.ca/v-toys-games/city-of-toronto/data-east-robocop-pinball-machine/1077733162

Located in the east end of Toronto.

 

[Slam_Tilt]

Not going to comment on your price, whether its good or not, because people can sell for whatever they want. But what has always pissed me off and I am seeing more and more of is people adding costs to the price that should not be there.

Special price for site members, $2,500. That's about what I have into it with all new lamps, rubber, new display glass, replacing all the GI connectors and fixing all the board issues. Plus about 12 hours of full shopping it out.

Sorry but your time and money spent on getting a game working does not add to the price. The worst is when people add $150 because that is what it cost them in gas when they bought the game. I see this a lot as well. If it cost someone $1000 to get a $300 (in working condition) pin working, the pin is still worth $300 not $1300. Same as spending $2000 to fix your $1000 car doesn't make it a $3000 car.

If everybody starts charging their shop job onto the price of the pin when they sell the prices will just keep increasing every time it sells.

Like I said not making a comment on your price. I just rather you say the price is $2500 and leave out the fact you want to recover the cost of your time and parts to get it working. If a working in good condition Robocop is $2500 then fine. But if its a $1500 pin and your asking another $1000 to pay for your time and money spent on parts then thats wrong.

You can add it to the price if you want but don't advertise it.

I have spent more money then I should fixing a game before and ending up spending more money than its worth but I still sold it for the going price and ate the extra cost.

Sorry for the rant but this is one of biggest pet peeves. Plus I haven't had my coffee yet so I'm in a bit of a grumpy mood.

 

[fantasygoat]

I mentioned the stuff I did and the costs because I wanted to avoid getting raked over the coals for my admittedly higher than average price by offering an explanation.

I see that, based on your rant, there's really no winning in this game - put a price with no explanation, get a rant, put an explanation, get a rant.

Anyway, I disagree that charging for shop time is wrong. That's like saying you shouldn't pay a mechanic for fixing up a car - a service was performed, the item in question was improved, and that has value. Now you can say that it's a service you can perform yourself, which is fine. You can change your own oil and save $50. But there's people who would rather spend the $50 and have someone else do it. In this case I fixed all the board problems, replaced all the troublesome GI, replaced the broken lower display, replaced the broken VUK, tuned all the bumpers and replaced a bunch of coil sleeves to get smooth action - stuff people might rather not do, perhaps, and don't mind paying someone to do it.

In the case of this game, I'm not actually charging for my time, just parts - I was $2,100 into this game when I bought it. At the time I thought that seemed okay given the US pricing on it since there's zero history of seeing this for sale in Canada that I can find. You are free to have your opinion as to what the game might actually be worth, but I find the commentary on for sale posts really off-putting.

I got a lot of shit from people on this board and Pinside for not selling Canadian games in Canada - not giving you the opportunity to keep games in Canada. So, here I am, posting it here and MAACA looking for Canadians to buy it. And yours is the first reply, giving me shit.

 

[meegis]

I think you missed the point on his rant.

Maintenance is not a value adder.

Reconditioning is very different than restoring.

It's the difference of someone selling a smashed car rebuilt and a used car that has all service records. Just because you did an oil change doesn't make the car more valuable. However if you swapped out new suspension and other issues than yes it's valuable.

You are both right but sliding by eachothers message.


Your time sadly is worth 0. It's the way the hobby is.

Slam is just saying to advertise you maintained a game and it cost money is of no value to the sale to anyone.

Imagine I sell you my car and say "I waited at the dealer while they changed my spark plugs" you'd think ok spark plugs cost money but this guy wants me to pay for the time he sat at the dealer?

 

[fantasygoat]

But it has new parts in it. New expensive parts. That has value. And I didn't charge for my time.

So, even doing the right thing I get shit on?

 

[Slam_Tilt]

Anyway, I disagree that charging for shop time is wrong. That's like saying you shouldn't pay a mechanic for fixing up a car - a service was performed, the item in question was improved, and that has value. Now you can say that it's a service you can perform yourself, which is fine. You can change your own oil and save $50. But there's people who would rather spend the $50 and have someone else do it. In this case I fixed all the board problems, replaced all the troublesome GI, replaced the broken lower display, replaced the broken VUK, tuned all the bumpers and replaced a bunch of coil sleeves to get smooth action - stuff people might rather not do, perhaps, and don't mind paying someone to do it.

Apples and oranges. If you paid a mechanic $1000 to fix up your Pinto, the Pinto is still worth $500 if you want to sell it. Doesn't matter how much you paid in maintenance or to fix it up to working. If I added all my maintenance cost to my 2008 Accord that means I could sell it today for $4000-5000 more than its worth. Sorry doesn't work that way.

And like I said I am not commenting on your price. Your price may very well be what a Robocop in that condition is worth. But every time you see "Just want to get back what I put in" or similar in an ad it is usually for justification of a high price for the item.

There is no problems with you saying that you shopped the pin out and even list the things you've done. Just leave out "Thats what I have into it" or "Just want to get back what I put in". That just reeks justification. Sell it for what you think its worth in that condition . It'll either sell or not.

Probably should have started my own thread for this rant and not post in your for sale. But like I said no coffee and a little grumpy.

 

[fantasygoat]

Probably should have started my own thread for this rant and not post in your for sale. But like I said no coffee and a little grumpy.

Trying to fluff off your rant with the excuse that you need coffee is really disingenuous. If I pulled that rant here I'd get called an asshole because I'm new to this community. I wouldn't get a pass for "being grumpy". So I don't think you should get off the hook either.

And like I said, I'm not actually charging for my time. I'm charging for fixing a broken game. A working car is worth more than a broken car, and a working pin is worth more than a broken one. A 2008 Accord with a new suspension is worth more than one with a worn-out one. I think the analogy holds.

 

[REVOLUTION]

There are four things that matter in a for sale post.

Title
Condition
Price
Location

 

[zod]

Heres the main thing, when you buy from a dealer like Starburst or TOPEC you will never get back that investment by selling with in the Pinball community, I bought many a game for twice its value as I wanted it and have no patience but lost big time when I sold it, just the way it goes. Unless you can wait for a Kijiji buyer with no clue you mine as well take it off PinRev as you will be lucky to $1500 for it. Like others have said its your choice what you want to sell it for but the reality is that your asking double what that pins worth. Good Luck

 

[Menace]

Trying to fluff off your rant with the excuse that you need coffee is really disingenuous. If I pulled that rant here I'd get called an asshole because I'm new to this community. I wouldn't get a pass for "being grumpy". So I don't think you should get off the hook either.

Jeremey, you're not "new" to this community. You've said it yourself you've been involved in the local scene a lot longer than most collectors around here, which is probably why you seem to be getting so much flak with your FS posts.

The point is, you paid $2100 for the game and that's fine and that's about what the high side of market value is for a working example of this game from what I can tell. (locally or not) If you put $400 worth of parts into it to get it playing 100%, the market value of the game is still only $2100. Using the car anaolgy again, if you bought a Honda Civic for $4500 that needed a few things to be working 100%, and the market value of a working example was $5K, if it cost you 1K in parts alone to get your $4500 civic up to working condition that does not mean your example is worth $5500... it's still only worth $5k. This is the point everyone here has been trying to make, and given how long you have been in the hobby, collectors would expect you to know this already, which is why people seem to be commenting on your sales as of late.

Just because you personally couldn't find any examples of a Robocop FS locally doesn't mean they don't exist. I had/have a line on a nice one with one broken target for $1K locally, so does that mean you grossly overpaid and the game is actually only worth 1K? C'mon man...

D

 

[movingpictures]

I got a lot of shit from people on this board and Pinside for not selling Canadian games in Canada - not giving you the opportunity to keep games in Canada. So, here I am, posting it here and MAACA looking for Canadians to buy it.

Is this not the same game you brought to Allentown and tried to sell all weekend?

take it off PinRev as you will be lucky to $1500 for it. Like others have said its your choice what you want to sell it for but the reality is that your asking double what that pins worth. Good Luck

I don't think the seller would be lucky to get $1500 for it, that's not realistic.
I think a buyer would be lucky to get a Robocop in this condition for $1500.
I remember Dave Astill's Robocop, which was in much worse shape, and sold for more than $1500 from what I recall.

In reality, the actual worth of the game is somewhere between the two extremes, depending on the buyer.
As witnessed at Allentown, this high end extreme of the price is not an easy sell.

 

[mwong168]

Is this not the same game you brought to Allentown and tried to sell all weekend?

Yes it was brought to Allentown and back to Toronto. Even was a price drop to $1900usd and Credit Cards were welcomed

 

[brad808]

Shoo! Away you all go to maaca.

 

[meegis]

$1900 USD is $2367 CAD at this moment


Guess the price went up.


To each his own.


Good luck with sale fantasy goat.

 

[movingpictures]

Well, thanks for offering us this great "special pricing" to keep the game in Canada and sell it to a Canadian ($150-$200 higher than Allentown price)

And you are accusing Slam_Tilt of being "really disingenuous"

Trying to fluff off your rant with the excuse that you need coffee is really disingenuous. If I pulled that rant here I'd get called an asshole because I'm new to this community. I wouldn't get a pass for "being grumpy". So I don't think you should get off the hook either.

 

[meegis]

Waiting to use this pic, but I dont know how long the thread will last before it gets locked.

So....

 

[mwong168]

$1900 USD is $2367 CAD at this moment

Guess the price went up.

The price didn't go up, that was probably fuel expenses and all those coffee stops to and from A-town

 

[REVOLUTION]

Pretty sure the price is "or best offer", folks..

 

[fantasygoat]

Jeremey, you're not "new" to this community.

I'm new to this site and I'd say most of the people don't know me personally. I've been out of the hobby long enough for a new gang of collectors to form, and I have to say the new kids aren't exactly welcoming.

it's still only worth $5k.

That depends. Price is highly subjective. Clearly this game is not worth $2500 to the people on this board and they've loudly made that clear. But it might be worth it to someone who wants this game specifically, or someone who just wants to put it in the basement and not spend a week cleaning it and fixing all the problems.

So, this game falls between $2K and $2.5K, which in the grand scheme of things isn't that much - perhaps a best offer somewhere in there gets it sold. But instead the peanut gallery piles on:

$1900 USD is $2367 CAD at this moment

Guess the price went up.

Well, thanks for offering us this great "special pricing" to keep the game in Canada and sell it to a Canadian ($150-$200 higher than Allentown price)

The price didn't go up, that was probably fuel expenses and all those coffee stops to and from A-town

I find the sarcasm particularly childish, and it really makes me question why I bother with this place.

I'm amazed at how angry everyone gets at pricing. Like the price I put on the game is FINAL, NO OFFERS CONSIDERED or something. People are free to make me offers. And also, you're free to not buy it.

For the record, I put another $200 in parts into the game after Allentown repairing the damage it incurred down there (New VUK, two flipper rebuilds, new flipper bats - one cracked in half!). I didn't up the price from Allentown, I set it at what I've spent on the game minus my time and what I thought was the CDN equivalent for about $2K US. I guess I was off a bit. Sorry about that. Mea culpa.

I went back through my history on rec.games.pinball recently and I had a lot of people shitting on me a decade ago for the prices I was selling games for. Very illuminating - reminded me of an important fact: every game I've ever put up for sale eventually sold - not always for the asking price, but every one sold. For example, I ended up trading my "overpriced" Earthshaker to Nick, and we were both very happy with the trade. So, at the end of the day you guys can shit all over me as much as you like - this game *will* sell and I won't lose $1K on it.

 

[meegis]

Not here to shit on you. Just sad when you have a long trailing bad reputation and after a decade hiatus you pull the same stunts in a community of collectors.

You can certainly price your gamessage however you choose but expect to get flack when you try to appeal to us by giving us a "price break" meanwhile a few weeks ago it was cheaper.

I sincerely apologize you feel attacked but a lot of it comes as a result of your actions towards the local community and lack of care for the feedback you get.


All games eventually sell. Just don't feel like you helped the community out when you really didn't.