Where do you get your pinball parts?

[Hammerhead]

I've seen many different discussions over the months about this deal going bad, that supplier screwing me over, it took XX days/months/years to get my order, etc., etc.

Who would be the best supplier to get parts consistently and reliably? Where do you find the hard to get parts. Who do you stay away from at all cost?

 

[Monkeybug]

All depends what you are looking for. There are certain sellers that are better for Canadians. This includes Pinball Life, Pinball Resource and Bay Area Amusements.

Marco Amusements, on the other hand, enjoy screwing us for shipping it seems.

 

[brewmanager]

I've had an order from Marco screwed up, and they were pretty quick about fixing it. Pinball life and pinball decals .com were both fast, reasonable shipping and accurate.

 

[DRANO]

I try to circumvent the whole Canadian issue by shipping to my colleagues in the US. One will even drive stuff over from Rochester occasionally.

That being said, I go to Marcos first for the variety of parts and the ease of finding stuff on their site. After that I will price check on PBL and usually they get most of my business and have messed up the least.
I don't think I've ever done a restoration where I did not order form almost all of the different suppliers

My faves in order of preference:

1-PBL
2-Marcos
3-Action Pinball
4-BAA
5-Pinbits
6-Little Shop of Games
7-MAD

And then there's the more specialty shops. I don't even include Pinball Resource since their payment options are so antiquated and painful that I just avoid them unless I absolutely have no choice. If you're an EM guy though, not much choice.

 

[cooke]

PBR is definitely painful to deal with as far as ordering and payment options goes, but for EM and early solid state parts, they're a one-stop shop. They (usually) have everything I need and get things shipped quickly. As long as you know your part numbers and are familiar with their ordering system, there's no better seller.

 

[stiffler4444]

I use Starburst (fast shipping) or Marco.

 

[Chris Bardon]

I'll go with Pinball life if possible and I have a big enough order, or I'll just go to starburst if I need one thing quickly. I've also ordered electronics stuff from Great Plains, and bits from Marco when PBL doesn't have them. Haven't really been screwed over yet, but shipping is damn expensive all around.

 

[REVOLUTION]

I use Starburst (fast shipping) or Marco.

Everyone should keep know and keep in mind.. if you're ordering anything from MARCO, BAA or PBR you can order it directly through Starburst. You'll pay a bit of a markup on the parts, but you'll tag along on their shipping. It's a great way to save some coin.

- B

 

[Chris Bardon]

Starburst can also order from Rottendog-a great way to save a few bucks on a single part for sure.

 

[mwong168]

I order the majority of my parts from Pinball Life and usually send out a few text to a few buddies to see if they wanna tack on my order and we all split shipping. Bay Area Amusements is another good site I order parts from such as spinner decals and Mad Amusements I read is quite bad to deal with but if you are on Mike's good side you get good service and response. He sometimes has parts in stock nobody else has sometimes such as the Highwire MB switches on CV so hopefully I will be receiving those this week.

 

[stuartr7]

I would say that the US does not like to do business outside of the states
I've had issues with most of them, It's hard to believe that we are on the same continent,

one of the worst for me was little shop of games, $16.50 shipping for a single decal, 2 inches by 3 inches small. The US remains the most exorbitant for shipping that I have experienced in my long history on purchasing on the internet

And they wonder why the economy is in the shitter, IF I didn't have to pay so much for shipping, I could buy more stuff!!!

Wish there was more choice to buy parts from within Canada.

 

[luch]

and what 56 cents for a letter!!!!!!!! what a ripoff for shipping , if we stop buying they will smarten up

 

[tim.sanderson]

I can't wait for the day that I have to choose where to get parts for a pinball machine!