www.GameRoomAntiques.comThe Experts SpeakARE PRICING GUIDES ANY GOOD?The Experts for this Issue:
Dick Bueschel Speaks:Absolutely. They're the best. But not for their prices.A price guide without pictures is virtually useless. What collector really knows all the machines just by name? Say you want to know the value of a GEM. What GEM? Over thirty were made by as many makers. With pictures you learn mchines, and the value relationships from one to another. And that's the true value. Prices fluctuate, but the relationships between machines rarely do, except for fad jumps. Good price guides with color pictures will make you smart in a hurry. Then you can pay whatever you feel you can afford to get what you want.
Ken Durham Speaks:I believe you should take pricing guide with a grain of salt. Not all people do.I've seen some people purchase a machine just because it was lower than the pricing guide. (In that specific case, I believe they overpaid.) I've also seen other people refuse to buy a machine that they were dying to own because it was more expensive than the pricing guide. (In that case, I believe they may have passed up a bargain.) There is a slot machine pricing guide that came out at the peak of the slot machine craze. Now everyone uses it to show customers how reasonable their high prices are. A machine priced higher than a pricing guide may just reflect a rising market. If you pass the machine now, it may be even higher in six months time. You also have to assess the rarity of the machine. If you pass a machine now, you may not see it again for several years. Well. . . how then should you use a pricing guide? Use it primarily for comparative purposes. Is one machine more valuable than another machine. How much more valuable is it. Then use this information to help you determine whether or not the machine is properly priced in today's market place. Do I use pricing guides? Yes, all the time. I get them all, compare them to each other, and use them to refine my own estimates of what an item should cost. I even use my ten year old price guides if that is the only place the machine I'm interested in is located.
Bernie Nagel Speaks:
I read your opinion on price guides and I agree with you mostly it seems
to depend on if your a buyer or seller ; the seller wants the high price
from the guide and the buyers wants the low one. now what about auction
prices these prices are actual amounts that items have changed hands for
these prices are more realistic because unless you know what the piece
actually sold for not the price they were asking you can be mislead
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