Tuesday, March 18, 2014

trade dynamics

I traded my Street Fighter 2 and Rocky &  Bullwinkle for a Monopoly.
2 machines for 1!  Is it worth it?  Well, the easy answer is SURE, but pinball valuation is always a bit murky.

In a by-the-numbers way I got the short end of the deal.  That is, I could probably sell both of my old machines to the public for about...  $3100 or so?
I could probably sell this Monopoly for $2800.  But that is via a classified site, and probably NOT to another collector.  And that means I am getting moving assistance from people that probably don't have experience with these.

In a collector-only market, my machines would probably go for $2900, the Monopoly maybe $2600.  A nice one would be in the $3k+ zone.

So did I get ripped off?  HELL NO, I made the initial offer!  What was I thinking?  There are a number of added bonuses here that really help balance things out:
1) It is REALLY HARD to get machines out of my basement.  I need someone strong to coffin-carry them up 180 degrees of tight stairs with me.  This guy can do that.
2) I have no way of transporting pins, and this guy did the delivery and hauled away 2 machines.  That in itself is super valuable.
3) we have to remove the heads from the machines to get them up/down the stairs.  While he helped me set up Monopoly and make sure it was 100%, he just took away the heads and was going to reconnect them on his own.  For a casual buyer, or even another collector, I'd have to reattach and test them again in my garage, adding hours.
4) the deal also included credit in repair time from him, whicn I am going to use on fixing my gassing Flintstones display, as well as take care of an annying stripped screw under the playfield.  (although I guess if we are bookkeeping, this is probably equal to the spare parts I passed with the machines)
5) I knew I wanted to get rid of these 2 eventually, and really wanted space for a project EM, so doing 2-for-1 is a lucrative thing for planning my space.  And most collectors wouldn't want BOTH R+B and SF2, but an operator would, and the whole transaction just took part of an afternoon.
6) this guy knows how to fix everything, so there probably won't be many questions coming back to me.  ;)

Items #1 and #2 are really big factors for me to consider.  #5 is a big time saver, and #3 and #6 save time as well.

There are a few cracked plastics, but those are readily available for fairly cheap.  The ramps are cracked, but I already have a replacement right ramp ready to go.  The cracks in the left ramp are very very hard to see.
But my machines had cracks too.  Rocky + Bullwinkle had cracks at the ramp entrance, and those are ridiculously hard to find.  A few playfield plastics too.
SF2 didn't have any cracks, but some general wear around the holes and inserts.
The only downside for the Monopoly is that it does have 3 points of wear on the playfield.  I plan on covering them with some mylar to prevent further wear, and hope to keep the rest of the PF nicely waxed.

Player's pin traded for player's pin.  They all played perfect, so we were both happy.

So while the trade isn't balanced purely in cash value, there was so much more to consider, and it was an excellent trade.  I am very happy with my Monopoly.

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