Well people, I have tried my best. I have officially tried to restore my cocktail Tempest machine to at least look original... I have recently purchased 2 control panels to replace the trashed ones I have on the machine, and now only needed a nice top glass... I was going to MAME the cab, but leave it all original looking.

Well, I found one glass with nice graphics on Ebay, and was getting ready to bid aggressively on it. Battlezoneman told me it would go for max 130$US, and I must say that this is one rare occasion where I knew he would be wrong...

Just for the hell of it, I started bidding 1 hour early, in incriments of 10$ (the minimum...). I know for a fact that 99% of experienced Ebayers never bid a flat amount... they always bid a few cents off of a flat number... So I knew that there was a good chance that I could reach the other bidders max bid without surpassing it... I predicted 200$... I was WAY off.

Everytime I bid, the amount went up 10$...until I reached 300$... At that point, instead of the minimum bid being 310$, it was now 301.99$US... BINGO! At this point, I had originally not intended to pay more than 200$, so I decided to have fun!

Well, I stopped at 300$ at 11pm. Funny thing is, I guess the bidder got scared and raised his max bid again...so I raised him again up to 315$US (377$CDN), just to see how desperate this guy was.

http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=6203227750

Funny thing is, I can probably get a nice scan and make my own glass for about 250$ ...

NOW do you see why sometimes it just isn't worth it to restore a game? 180$ for 2 nice CPs, 450$ for the glass, 500$ minimum for a vector monitor, 100$ for the boards...

Screw that... I am gonna hack that cab...

...Maybe I should ask the seller for a commission...  

A very dissappointed Sparky

OK... final price came in at 334.99$US (400.28$CDN)

...Christ, you can get a nice working game for the same price...

I'll agree that the cost of parts is getting WAY out of hand these days, Ebay or not!  The worst part is normally you have an idea of what the part SHOULD sell for, but now this hobby is getting more popular people are going crazy buying everyting they can and they don't seem to care what it costs.  

I've been watching a bunch of Ebay items for over 6 months, and 9 times out of 10 the price goes way beyond where it should.  Just the other day I watched a used (very used) early style WPC coin door go for alomst the cost of a brand spankin' new WPC coin door (late style).  All I can ask is why?  Maybe I ask this question because I really wanted that coin door?  Getting frustrating that's for sure.

Doug

You have to keep an eye on RGP and RGVAC and you have to be patient..  Not everybody lists on Ebay.  I needed a coin door for my Pinbot and I didn't want a newer style door.  I ended up getting one (complete incl switches & coin mechs) for about 40$US but it took about 5 weeks of watching the auctions and not bidding on the ones that the price was going too high..  Then the next day someone on RGP posted a FREE WPC coin door!  I got that one too so now I have a spare..

Same thing happened when I needed Data East complete flipper assemblies..  I posted on RGP and got a much better deal than Ebay.

Also, if you want to avoid driving up the price on Ebay you HAVE to snipe..  It's not an option..  Or else you'll never get what you want or you'll always pay waaaay too much..


Mike

Yikes ! Burn all those vids !!!  

400$ for a glass, COME ON !

Quoted from ssimard

Yikes ! Burn all those vids !!!  

400$ for a glass, COME ON !

Why would you burn all the vids when you can get $334US for just a glass top  

Ya I think it has gone crazy too. At first I thought the glass top might go for $130 (when the auction started 7 days ago), but near the end, I had a feeling it was going for a lot more, but $334US!!?? Someone was smoking pot while bidding on that auction (no not you Sparky )

I should put up the original glass top from my Warlords cocktail. It is very rare and is in perfect shape with no flaking. I should be able to get at lest $200-300US if the tempest went for that price  

Today you make more money parting out a machine than keeping it together.....very sad.

Now that i think about it, its probably burning em all that caused that  

Yes very sad indeed, keeps me away from projects, games are usually cheaper but not that much less ,if you count the cost of the new parts its usually cheaper to buy a fully working one.

It's not just vid parts that are getting out of hand. Same deal with pin parts. Prices were getting reasonable with all the repro stuff available and now alot of that stuff is gone (at least til all the new agreements get worked out). I have noticed alot of "original" parts going for crazy prices on eBay.

I learned a long time ago that it is better to buy a nice machine that is complete (working or not) than to buy a project -- unless you enjoy throwing money away and, if you do, throw some my way  

Glad you didn't get stuck with a $300 glass!!! Ouch!

Duane

Hey Mike,

Seeing as you've got an extra early WPC door.....  Would you be willing to part with it?  I still need one to replace the drilled one on my FH.  If you really wanted I'd offer the drilled one as a partial trade (if you didn't mind a couple small holes in the door)?

Unless you're looking to get Tempest glass $$ for it though?!

Doug

I'll have a look at it tonight and will let you know if it has holes.  It's bare though..  Just the metal door + frame and NOTHING else...  What the heck, it was free (+ about 20$US to ship it to me)...

Mike

That's the only part I need.  The door I've got is complete so I can transfer everything over, just want to make sure the door is straight and doesn't have any holes in it.

Thanks!
Doug