Stranger Things... Another Run

[Pinpickle]

Ah…. I’m not sure price was for a package deal. Then he sold the STH off. I’m guessing it was in the area of $18

 

[Pinpickle]

Actually he had Houdini listed for $8500 and then a package deal of $27k for both.

That didn’t last long as a package as he sold the STH quick. So probably north of $18,500

 

[kool1]

I think this is definitely a short term gain that will result in huge long term losses for Stern.
From my understanding (and talking to distributors across North America) the majority of NIB pins sold are to home collectors, not for commercial use. My guess would be around 75%. Which means their products have become collectibles. As someone who has been in the collectibles and gaming business for over 30 years, what Stern seems to be doing is corporate suicide.
Once a business starts remaking older "collectible" products to try to cash in on the secondary market, it immediately kills their "primary buyer" market. Like overnight. If a primary buyer can retain most of their investment, or even make money on his investment, he is more willing to buy a new product at a higher price. If a primary buyer realizes that the second he buys it, it will continue to drop in value, he will not buy it, but rather wait for the reduced price on the secondary market. I have seen this happen over and over again without a single exception.
If Stern ignores the collectors (primary buyers) and continues to remanufacture older titles (like they have done with Elvira 40th, JP 30th, Stranger Things Premium etc.), I think this will trigger a drop in NIB sales that will be catastrophically bad for Stern, because the primary buyer will not purchase NIB and the secondary market will essentially vanish as there won't be any primary buyers with pins to sell.
This is why Honda Civics depreciate like crazy and Ferraris can go up in value.
Now one might say; but Honda sells more Civics than Ferrari's, but I would say (in terms of "toy price point") Stern makes Ferraris, NOT Hondas.

More relevant examples of this would be;
-Stern trying to cash in on the Elvira secondary market price point by making a 40th edition; which essentially bombed
-Stern trying to cash in on the collector market price point by making the Bond 60th, which couldn't even move 500 units at MSRP

I would even go so far as to say; at this point in time, there is virtually no demand for NIB pins, as the secondary market is flooded with current titles available at a discount and you can see distributors are stocking up and unable to sell them.

I 100% agree with you on LEs, the JP30 and Elvira re-issues as examples were bad moves.

On the other hand... More Prem/Pro STh models totally fair game. Those are very much the Honda Civics of pinball.

 

[MoPin]

Seems high regardless now that 9800 USD is a possibility again.

 

[GUARD]

Nothing sold as a "collectable " will ever be a "collectable". .....and one is stupid to think they will be.
Collectables come from things that no one think will be collectable, so one day there are only a few left.

 

[luch]

like all the hockey cards we threw against the wall , and put into our bike spokes for engine noise , we made those mint cards worth way more !

 

[pinballjah]

I heard the new Pros are at $6,999US and Premiums $9,699US.

 

[dr.nybble]

Price on Nitro is $9499 for the premium

 

[Pinpickle]

Allegedly but from a good source... Projector is updated, TK lock is redone and there are "other" fixes.

 

[kool1]

Allegedly but from a good source... Projector is updated, TK lock is redone and there are "other" fixes.

Was apparently confirmed by Stern customer service

 

[Pinpickle]

Was apparently confirmed by Stern customer service

Nice

 

[roar]

I think this is definitely a short term gain that will result in huge long term losses for Stern.
From my understanding (and talking to distributors across North America) the majority of NIB pins sold are to home collectors, not for commercial use. My guess would be around 75%. Which means their products have become collectibles. As someone who has been in the collectibles and gaming business for over 30 years, what Stern seems to be doing is corporate suicide.
Once a business starts remaking older "collectible" products to try to cash in on the secondary market, it immediately kills their "primary buyer" market. Like overnight. If a primary buyer can retain most of their investment, or even make money on his investment, he is more willing to buy a new product at a higher price. If a primary buyer realizes that the second he buys it, it will continue to drop in value, he will not buy it, but rather wait for the reduced price on the secondary market. I have seen this happen over and over again without a single exception.
If Stern ignores the collectors (primary buyers) and continues to remanufacture older titles (like they have done with Elvira 40th, JP 30th, Stranger Things Premium etc.), I think this will trigger a drop in NIB sales that will be catastrophically bad for Stern, because the primary buyer will not purchase NIB and the secondary market will essentially vanish as there won't be any primary buyers with pins to sell.
This is why Honda Civics depreciate like crazy and Ferraris can go up in value.
Now one might say; but Honda sells more Civics than Ferrari's, but I would say (in terms of "toy price point") Stern makes Ferraris, NOT Hondas.

More relevant examples of this would be;
-Stern trying to cash in on the Elvira secondary market price point by making a 40th edition; which essentially bombed
-Stern trying to cash in on the collector market price point by making the Bond 60th, which couldn't even move 500 units at MSRP

I would even go so far as to say; at this point in time, there is virtually no demand for NIB pins, as the secondary market is flooded with current titles available at a discount and you can see distributors are stocking up and unable to sell them.

Interesting analogy, as the largest producer of pinball machines by orders of magnitude I assume... I'd really consider the Stern the Civic of pinball, maybe their LE's are the Ferrari's?

In general I'm not too worried about Stern, they have the actual data to make the decisions they have been making, anything we have is pure speculation and if they've made a catastrophic error they will know before we will and they will adjust... or they won't... and they'll die... and everyone will get to write their "I told you so" messages. Personally I see distributors dying long before Stern... and I see Stern selling direct before they die... but that's just more baseless speculation.

 

[roar]

Actually he had Houdini listed for $8500 and then a package deal of $27k for both.

That didn’t last long as a package as he sold the STH quick. So probably north of $18,500

At first blush it doesn't look good for the buyer but I took a closer look at it and if they buyer had planned on adding the mods that it came with he hasn't done too bad at all. It was a pretty packed game, stern UV kit and shooter rod, other smaller things like art blades and shaker motor, but one of the more expensive mods at around $1K was on it. After taxes and exchange on the new premium you're sitting at $14.5K... add in the UV Kit to get level with what was bought you're north of $15K. So if it had north of $2K in mods you wanted to add to it yourself... not too bad of a premium... that said you haven't lost a thing until you sell it, right?

 

[Pinpickle]

Yeah that’s better when your break it out like that. The newer projector is an unknown and who else knows what improvements it will have.

 

[ALJO]

It was actually a healthy market when pins were appreciating. Let's see what happens when people stop buying NIB.
Corporate greed will kill the golden goose.

Exactly my thoughts........ They have killed the "used pins" market with their NIB games and now the market is getting saturated at a point where they will also kill the NIB market, which is themselves.