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disclosing the price ur willing to pay is one of the best way to get things u want around here, from my experience. it lets potential sellers know you are serious and entices them with an upfront number to work on. for most items i think tagging someone who may have one isnt a bad idea mostly, but when it comes to stuff like an e2 or a cave board, its not a good idea to go @'ing or PMing everyone u know who has it. not saying this because i think u dont know that already @thomas3184 (and i commend you for not doing so), but for the newer members out there who arent quite familiar with the way things run here and have that newbie thirst which brings with it a certain lack of judgement when it comes to forum etiquette.
 
Good lord. 🤦🏻 When you’re less than a year into the hobby, and lecturing people on forum etiquette…
He's literally spot on with everything though.

99% of the time "WTB [insert rare item here]" that has no dollar amount listed is a waste of time and PM from a potential seller, because it's almost invariably "expected a bro price" or "I didn't realize it was so expensive". And while some people in the hobby don't mind it, cold PM'ing folks asking them to sell stuff out of their collection because you saw a post about it is usually a good way to end up on "do not deal with" lists.
 
some people just remember days when it was typical for inter-community sales to be "bro priced" by default and there was some pride in keeping prices somewhat sane.

e: to expand, back in the day "be very new and flash a lot of cash to get that thing you want" actually was bad etiquette in this hobby.

e2: to be fair, I don't think that has ever been the case on this particular forum. very much so on shmups, n-g, and other places though.
 
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some people just remember days when it was typical for inter-community sales to be "bro priced" by default and there was some pride in keeping prices somewhat sane.

e: to expand, back in the day "be very new and flash a lot of cash to get that thing you want" actually was bad etiquette in this hobby.
For me personally, it still is, but that just seems to be the way everything is going.
 
Personally I think his advice is godawful and just opens people up to be fleeced. You are giving yourself no opportunity to strike a deal. Maybe some people don’t like to negotiate on price, that’s fine, but then in that case just go pay eBay prices.

And yes, I equate someone who has been in the hobby for a while as someone to take more seriously in opinion. It’s called experience. It’s a no-brainer.

Of course, it’s his money, he can do whatever he wants with it. But when someone is flaunting it around like a merit badge, as if getting fleeced on price is some right of passage for clout, then propagating that to other new people in the hobby as something to do to get what you want “now, now, now!”, not only is that just bad advice for new people, but also you’re generating an artificial bump in “price hype” causing others to inflate the market values.
“so and so paid this much for it, so I should sell it for that!”

Maybe I am too old for this community now, but I remember a time when we used to try to protect value prices in the hobby so they didn’t get out of hand and was accessible to everyone. Now you have people coming out of the woodwork looking at this stuff as a financial investment. Like this shit is crypto or something. Creating a vast division of “class” in the hobby.
It’s become pretty gross because of bad advice like this.
 
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Maybe I am too old for this community now, but I remember a time when we used to try to protect value prices in the hobby so they didn’t get out of hand and was accessible to everyone. Now you have people coming out of the woodwork looking at this stuff as a financial investment. Like this shit is crypto or something. Creating a vast division of “class” in the hobby.
word
 
If only there was something we could do about this, like choosing who to sell stuff to and not just taking the high cash offer. Those accepting these crazy offers are also to blame for the rise, not just the idiots offering it (although it's really hard to blame them). I do wish every hobby wasn't monetized to hell and back now though.
 
but I remember a time when we used to try to protect value prices in the hobby so they didn’t get out of hand and was accessible to everyone.
Everything was cherry until we worried about "thread poisoning" and "price policing". The hobby was affordable and fun for everyone whether you were a doctor or a garbageman. I miss the old days.
 
If only there was something we could do about this, like choosing who to sell stuff to and not just taking the high cash offer. Those accepting these crazy offers are also to blame for the rise, not just the idiots offering it (although it's really hard to blame them). I do wish every hobby wasn't monetized to hell and back now though.

I think in the culture of this forum that doesn't really fly. Not saying it's good or bad, just very different. In other places you had a combination of people asking ridiculous prices on sale threads getting mercilessly trolled (which is not only cathartic but also a signal to noobs that hey, don't pay these prices), and the same sort of reaction to people who recently joined and start making baller WTB threads, or only post in marketplaces, etc. I understand that that's not the kind of atmosphere the site owners want and respect that, but this is what it leads to. Of course it is very hard to turn down what may be to you an enormous amount of money and to the offerer, pocket change. People know it's a tough spot so they consciously worked to prevent it from happening in the first place. Yes, it resulted in lots of flame wars and hurt feelings, so I understand why a forum admin would want to avoid it, particularly if to the admin the arcade scene is not just a hobby or a side thing but a full time public facing business.
 
Maybe I am too old for this community now, but I remember a time when we used to try to protect value prices in the hobby so they didn’t get out of hand and was accessible to everyone. Now you have people coming out of the woodwork looking at this stuff as a financial investment. Like this shit is crypto or something. Creating a vast division of “class” in the hobby.
It’s become pretty gross because of bad advice like this.
This died when ppl expected and took advantage of "Bro Prices" and then flipped them months later. They are on every forum, nothing new in the hobby, and have preyed on the waves of new blood for over a decade.

Everything was cherry until we worried about "thread poisoning" and "price policing". The hobby was affordable and fun for everyone whether you were a doctor or a garbageman. I miss the old days.
^ This as well
 
This died when ppl expected and took advantage of "Bro Prices" and then flipped them months later. They are on every forum, nothing new in the hobby, and have preyed on the waves of new blood for over a decade.

There have always been flippers and they were dealt with by particular rules that controlled marketplace access, and lots of free time on the part of people who discovered them.
 
There have always been flippers and they were dealt with by particular rules that controlled marketplace access, and lots of free time on the part of people who discovered them.
Let's not forget the flipper guised as a dude making a "Price Guide" whose prices were nice and low on things the creator didn't own, and suddenly spiked up after the owner acquired something... Conveniently leaving out previous sales that didn't fit the narrative...
 
There have always been flippers and they were dealt with by particular rules that controlled marketplace access, and lots of free time on the part of people who discovered them.

Let's not forget the flipper guised as a dude making a "Price Guide" whose prices were nice and low on things the creator didn't own, and suddenly spiked up after the owner acquired something... Conveniently leaving out previous sales that didn't fit the narrative...

Gotta hide them serial #s.
 
it is what it is. i dont need to defend my actions.
Certainly wasn't trying to call you out or anything re:paying a bunch (in fact very much agreeing with your post about how to act as a buyer). Just babbling about the change of nature of the hobby mostly. Things change. It's certainly not you.
 
Certainly wasn't trying to call you out or anything re:paying a bunch (in fact very much agreeing with your post about how to act as a buyer). Just babbling about the change of nature of the hobby mostly. Things change. It's certainly not you.
oh i know that. opt2not has had it out for me since day 1 over a simple misunderstanding. i have been super polite towards him yet he still continues to follow in my shadow hating on everything i do. i would very much like to shake hands with the guy and turn a new leaf, and have tried to do so before, but he just wants to hate on me. i hate drama so i dont bring it up, especially on other peoples threads, but its starting to get out of hand. if i am doing something wrong, please let me know, but provide a constructive criticism. i just wanna continue to enjoy the hobby within my means. i dont want clout, i dont wanna scam ppl, i just wanna play real pcbs on real arcade cabs and talk about it with my friends and learn and grow together. i want nothing more and nothing less.
 
Cold hard constructive criticism: Stop making posts like these:

Ur all wrong... it's 6000 usd. Sorry for fucking up the market :D

I think I've seen something like this from you in a few threads now almost bragging about how high you paid for a cab. You're supposed to do that when you got a deal. Also do the people you're sharing a community with with the courtesy of spelling out the words instead of abbreviating down to single letters.
 
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