East Coast arcade/game auctions?

[RollerGirl]

Anyone have any idea of any upcoming auctions on the EC? pref. near Philly?

 

...also, hi! i'm new.

[Bill Brasky]

http://www.superauctions.com/

[Cassidy Nolen]

There are several auctions in sourthern Jersey each year, big fairground indoor things. The equipment is questionable condition on some, I just don't see why folks beat the crap out of stuff.....

 

Best time of year to buy IMHO (this is after running a number of years) is the fall after Labor day. The beach arcades are pulled, camp grounds are closed, theme parks are done, etc and there is a ton of good stuff. Supply exceeds demand often and people don't want to pay to store, move and then resell the stuff again. In other words, a 2K piece will go 1200 because its cheaper to take the 800 hit than to buy it back, deal with moving and then storage.

 

Avoid the holiday auctions if you can. Too expensive. The spring auctions are great deals on non-operator pieces, in other words pre-Cruizin USA type stuff. If you can run it on location, its being bought to run in the summer money making season.

 

Check on Rec.games.video.arcade.collecting and post your question too. Its been a few years for me so I don't have the auction info sent to me anymore. If you really cant find the dates, let me know and I will call around for you.

 

If you want to drive to VA/DC, I have a number of folks for you to talk to for some arcade purchases

 

Welcome aboard!

 

Cassidy

[Bill Brasky]

The one auction I attended it was 300 tards all in bidding wars over common stuff like Ms. Pac Man, Galagas, Defenders, bidding it up to dealer prices and no one bidding on lesser known pieces. I mean good cond Carnivals, Kickmans, things like that going for $25 opening bids. Everyone just sat around saving their money for the Frogger/pac man/galaga auctions.

[RollerGirl]

Best time of year to buy IMHO (this is after running a number of years) is the fall after Labor day. The beach arcades are pulled, camp grounds are closed, theme parks are done, etc and there is a ton of good stuff.

 

yeah...that totally makes sense! thanks for the tip!!

[tta583]

Auctions, as stated can be a total mess. Like eBay but in person. Shill bidders, non-auction affiliated idiots off the street driving the price of junk into the stratosphere, limited inspections (games are typically to close together to see the sides, some auctions prevent access to the back of the cab let alone seeing in the back door), and on and on. Don't get me wrong, deals can be found but I almost wonder if, at times, its worth the hassle. Most of the deals I cross are projects (read as dead or missing parts) or just off the wall games I like for which no others care.

 

Have you hit the Message Boards over at http://www.klov.com? There are several folks there up your way. The vast majority of people there, as a whole, don't subscribe to the "everything is rare and, thus, high dollar" mentality. Good place to go for games, references, repair help, parts, etc.

 

Looking for anything in particular, BTW?

[TheBman80]

I have been going to one in Cherry Hill for a few years but it has got really bad lately not really anything worth getting but occasionally something good surfaces but everything always needs a complete overhaul.

[DanBoris]

US Amusements just scheduled an auction in Cherry Hill for October 6th.

 

Dan

[yuppicide]

I liked the auction in Cherry Hill. They had a lot. Word of advice when you go, bring a long extension cord if you plan to test stuff out. Either that or just sit back and watch other people test things like I did.

 

I wanted to pick up a MegaForce.. one of them touch screen systems, but I got outbid. They had about 20 or 30 of them in decent condition. Some were really nice. As for the arcades they had a nice multigame cabinet with a bunch of games in it, but I had no way of getting it home so I didn't stick around.

 

They also had a bunch of micellaneous things that would have been great to hang some around my apartment.