Are machines getting more expensive?

[malcymal]

Both myself and fellow slotty Andym followed this Sega Bell on ebay
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 0298109829
It closed at £500 and i cant help thinking to myself this was over the odds. Yes, it looked in good condition but it didnt have a visible jackpot.
Im confused by its payouts, all showing 10 coins (6d play) and three 7's gave a jackpot gold award of a 5 shilling token. But 10 coin payout in 6d is 5 shillings?? So, would you say machines are going up in price, straight after christmas and credit crunches too. Or is there a new breed of investor out there, or maybe just new collectors. Even some quite horrid jubilees have been fetching nearly £300 that have been powder coated to cover up there obvious bad chrome. Sorry if this has been discussed before, Im wondering if its gonna get more difficult to find genuine machines at affordable prices??

[slotalot]

Both myself and fellow slotty Andym followed this Sega Bell on ebay http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 0298109829

Hi malcymal , Thats Ebay for you.... maybe it went to a non collector who just liked it because it looked good and not for what it it is worth ... why not save some of your cash for the next MMM auction, were you can look at the machines inside and out and talk to the owner before falling in love with it and parting with your cash..

[slotalot]

Re This Machine RELISTED DUE TO A TIMEWASTER !

[malcymal]

Re This Machine RELISTED DUE TO A TIMEWASTER !

A great movie title "One shill bid too many?"

[VintageSlots]

I run the online slot machine price guide which follows auction prices of machines in the US. I currently have information on well over 6,000 auctions.

The price of common machines (hightop, bursting cherries, etc.) has actually fallen in the last 12 months. Probably due to the economy.

It will be interesting to see how the high end machines do at the next VCA auction.

[slotalot]

Re This Machine RELISTED DUE TO A TIMEWASTER Again! & Again! & Again!

[andy-m]

Again Again

[treefrog]

This Sega has been removed a couple of times, not sure what is going on with his seller, he has been selling a lot of bandits and Allwin/Bryan machines for many months and most don't reach the end of the auction run, I am guessing they are sold through other offers or don't get to the hoped price.

Lately the quality of bandits have been thin on the ground on ebay and a few sellers putting them on at over inflated prices....seems a bit odd as with the credit crunch you would expect a flood of them.

[malcymal]

I'd agree with you tree-frog, how much does he actually think that Sega Bell is worth?? It went to £500 and then re-listed, then again.
Considering ebay's fees are 8% on average that must have hurt his pocket. How many times can you have a timewaster? Then because these prices are being set high, others are jumping on board. I'm very surprised to see a Riviera at £495 or best offer. Thing to do is to sit tight, hunt around, all part of the fun. I'd rather wait two years to get hold of Hi-Top at a good price than jump in with the bidding war. What really annoys me is the Powell's auctions. You know damn well that their machines are going to have reserves of what they are in their retail catalogue, it's just a way of advertising their collection through an auction. I have bought three machines, Jubilee mk1 with twin jackpot in very good order £75, a Sega Berkeley £50 in good order, now my Beromat conversion £110.... Its all affordable stuff. To pay these prices is beyond me. I'm not sure its a good thing to get new blood on board, it shouldn't be about the value, it should be about whether the machine floats your boat.

[markymark]

I agree with all that's been said.. but I remember a thread like this a while ago... although it annoys us collectors of slots, you can't really put a price on these machines for non-collectors. We as collectors look for condition, working/non working, original features etc... and price it mentally as we see fit AS collectors. However, a member of the general public who has no idea of availability, makes, brands, current price trends.. just sees a classic slot from years gone by, and thinks that it would be a good toy/gimmick to have in their hallway, for guests and friends to play with!!!! They will bid whatever to get this, even if in our eyes they are paying double or triple what its worth. But as I say, as long as they are prepared to pay more for it, and couldn't care less whether the reels or pay card or paintwork is genuine from the 50's, and most importantly, they are chuffed and thrilled to bits with their purchase, then good luck!
I remember this happened years ago when I ran a garage. I used to go to trade car auctions - the cars got bids for what they were worth to the trade. However, as soon as the general public were allowed to come to these car auctions, the prices shot up. I think it's the same with Ebay and slots... sadly!!!

Well, that's my two penny's worth.. going bed now..night!

[speedwell]

First posting but have been following thread. Sega and Bryans prices connected (shock horror!). Newbaby advertises variously on Mel Wrights site as a collector. He may be but deals a lot. Also deals a lot with Topgun who frequently is the under bidder. Have a look under seller for last 15 days. Topgun bid even on Mercedes van as well as many machines. Topgun has 38%-40% transactions. Many items withdrawn but presumably sold later privately. Ebay listing fees are not very expensive unless sold through ebay.

On the Bryans machines, Mel's collectors' site is dominated by dealers offering to sell but also to buy for 'collections'. Most dealers obvious and dead straight forward. Prices are high for ordinary collectors but Bryans are very popular and well known (and how much would you give me for the 2 Retreevas in perfect original working order that I have just found in in my loft?!) But the market has been ratcheted up a lot by a few. Mel's site is brilliant but I guess it gives a false idea of realistic prices and a good number go unsold at 'top dollar' as car dealers would say.

Ironically I suspect Newbaby's Bryans machines are in good order but if you must bid as always bid only what you really want to pay and not be influenced by other bids and consider not putting in your max bid as you can on ebay but bid incrementally on your own. Had hoped my first posting might be more interesting and this not too dull. Thanks Slotalot for answering my email and J P for telling me about this site. Wish I'd found it before. Just reread this and it is a bit of a ramble but next time will be more cogent (I hope!).

[coin-op]

Hi speedwell, and welcome to the site. I fear you are touching on issues which have been touched on before and no doubt will be re-visited again…and again! I guess as in any other area where there is ‘value’ in something, there is inevitably a conflict between the pure enthusiast at one extreme and the pure dealer at the other. Unfortunately, in the real world we are resigned to accepting the inevitable i.e. that you will encounter the whole spectrum of human nature. Perhaps the best you can wish for is that you have the occasional lucky break in finding a machine, or find a dealer who is fairly straight…and if you can’t find one of them then the next best thing is to be as savvy as you can and so hopefully avoid the worst pitfalls of such interaction. You just can’t expect grace everywhere, although there are definitely enough decent types to restore some faith in human nature!

The whole ebay issue in general has been debated somewhat and, unfortunately, it seems to have become more and more an advertising board as opposed to an auction site (certainly in the case of machines). To some extent I don’t have much sympathy for ebay due to their overall selling costs and their insistence on linking Paypal to sales, thereby raising the cost of selling considerably. Related to this is the fact that Jerry's auction provides a great alternative.

As to values on Melvyn’s site, I think some machines are on the face of it expensive, but actually amazingly cheap when you consider production numbers and their uniqueness. The issue of prices also raises the question of where you price these things relative to other collectibles. An Elevenses is probably cheaper than a Clarice Cliffe sugar shaker…but it’s a lot more fun and probably as rare, or even rarer. One definite issue is that restored or good quality machines are time, and time again, undervalued relative to poor examples.

On a final note, the Retreeva reference brings back sad memories. There was one on Melvyn’s site a few years ago and I was interested in it. I contacted the seller and it transpired that he was one of those types who bounce offers around. So, it ended up that I lost it for about £50...I would have actually paid a fair bit more than I offered, but I felt in the position that if it wasn’t genuinely for sale and the guy wasn’t prepared to play straight, then I had to bid conservatively. I didn’t want to give him a high base cost to bounce off others. I also know that another interested party took the view just to withdraw his interest. So, in that instance, the sellers tactics definitely worked against him.

[slotalot]

first posting but have been following thread. Sega and bryans prices

Hi speedwell , Nice to see you made it to the forum :thumbs:

[willborl]

TWO RETREEVA'S

[speedwell]

First I'm sorry WillBorl that my dreams of a Retreeva got the better of me - the nearest I've got is many happy hours as a boy playing them. I agree with all Coin-op says about Bryans and people buy for different reasons. But however bad ebay is (and I think it stinks) it does seem to bring out the bad in so many. Bryans are of course exceptional machines and for me the best. I'm sorry too for sad memories for Coin-op but some ideas (I suspect will have already been thought of but never mind) that I'll put elsewhere on the forum. I wonder also if there is a tendency to overvalue poor examples rather than undervalue the good ones.

[gameswat]

Coin-op - regarding your story about losing a Retreeva that you'd have paid a lot more for: At the end of the story you say that "So, in that instance, the sellers tactics definitely worked against him." Well, I'd also say that your tactics worked just as much against you too! If you were really as keen as you say you were you shouldn't have played games. Funnily enough I was in a very similar position on a Reetreeva that I literally stumbled onto while in the US in 2007. But I now own that machine. While I didn't get any super bargain I made a fair enough opening offer that the dealer was able to buy the machine from the then owner and re-sell to me, and we were all happy with the deal. I also picked up a 30s Payramid at the same time for half as much. I've bought and sold hundreds of machines over the years and each time I've had to think about the best way to pull the deal off which makes it interesting. But I don't think I've ever let a really exciting machine slip through my fingers if I wanted it badly enough. I know I've spent a few extra dollars along the way but the machines are so much more fun than hard cash!

[coin-op]

Hi Gameswat, well, in a sense, I accept what you say. However, I think you have to appreciate that the situation I found myself in was quite different from your own case. It seems that in your case, the deal was amongst a closed group of people and I will assume that they were all acting, what I would call, ‘’reasonably’’. Now, in my case, if it had been merely a case of negotiating that would have been fine for me too. Also, if I had found that it had been an auction where there was a final, defined point at which there was the fall of the hammer, that would have been okay. However, in this instance it was an ‘auction’ or ‘negotiation’ with no end time, nor any obligation to sell, and the right to keep changing who you are negotiating with, which in my view amounts to pretty close to nothing. So, on the face of it, there was never a point when your offer could not be undermined. Therefore, I bid in the ‘spirit’ of what I felt was going on. So, yes, it did sell, and yes, I could have bid more, but I think you sometimes have to try and avoid being a sap. I certainly don’t think I was playing games…only trying to buy one! But at the end of the day, we have all lost out occasionally due to a judgement call, whether it proves right or wrong with hindsight. I certainly didn’t try to steal the machine and made a respectable offer, but in view of the sellers tactics I decided not to help him get the best possible price.

[operator bell]

It will be interesting to see how the high end machines do at the next VCA auction.

I'll be attending the VCA auction this weekend, and will send in a report. I haven't got much money this time to be bidding myself, though there are a few things I'd like. This baby, for example (lot 398):



There's another one of these (lot 574) ... the last one fetched over $17,000 but I don't think this one looks so cute.



I might bid on this one (lot 988) - I already have its poker-machine brother. This machine has been jacked up with a spacer to make a lot of noise as coins fall into the bucket.



Apart from that, there's a good assortment of high-end bandits. Two major collections are up for sale this time. The full catalog is online at http://www.vcaauctions.com/.