Sure, it's great to save on shipping, but the actual cost of the parts themselves is super painful right now... and not likely to get better anytime soon.
I've only been on the "scene" myself a few weeks, but I've already seen there's a lot of "collectors" who are actually just "resellers" looking to make large profits. It will be shame when we loose machines to the US, maybe reversing the trend of when the $CAS was at par and machines were imported.
This is an old topic of debate... but suffice it to say that pinball was (and still is) a business. This was the case long before it became a hobby and so there will always be people who are in for profit. And yeah, some of them may themselves be collectors of sorts, but business first. Just a reality that must be accepted. There's nothing wrong with that as far as I'm concerned. As long as it is up front and honest, the market will decide if these guys remain in business or not.
What bothers me more is the hypocrisy of those "collectors" that lament about the pricing in the old days and how we should strive to keep pricing down by selling games for what we have into them (or even less) and ignore inflation and market changes... just to be good citizens. I've noticed those same guys that expect the "buddy pricing" will eventually be the same ones that turn around and quietly sell the game elsewhere for top dollar. It's kind of funny how the hypocrites that complain about pricing are always the first to cash in
I believe in one thing. What I paid for my machine is irrelevant to its value. Pay me what it's worth today. I expect no more or no less.
If someone wants to cash out and wants to do the extra work of doing it in the US for more money, more power to them. It's their property and their time and effort.
That being said, yes, it is a shame to lose games to the US when our market is already very small and certain titles very hard to find.
We can only hope that greed doesn't win out completely. Now... what should I bring down to Allentown this year?
