Re: Bumper "Action " ( withh high reserves on everything ) Melbourne Australia Auction

On Mar 30, 12:07 pm, "oz-pinball-parlour" <pinball.parl...@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
On Mar 30, 10:44 am, "David Stein" <d...@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:





Thank you for the fair support which is all I ask.

Look you are correct, we cater for a different market. A market that wants
to come in to an airconditioned carpeted showroom and be taken by the hand
and shown around different models and be able to get parts and service all
under the one roof and feel comfortable with a large staff to help them. Of
course you can get parts much cheaper direct, but not everyone wishes to
take on their own projects so we offer an arm for these folks that gets them
a pinball in their home and spare parts when they need them without any
panic. Every type of business has an upmarket and down market supplier.
There are restaurants that are way too dear for me but they have a market
that love going there. As I have said before I have tried never to let
anyone down and look after people the best I can and have never tried to say
we are the cheapest, but to support ten people how can you be rock bottom in
price and find that sort of income to pay wages each week? I have a lot of
time for Vegimite Nick and would give him my right arm because he had the
intestinal fortitude to come down and visit so he could make a fair
judgement on Bumper and its reasons for how we operate. That is behind my
dissapointment at earlier posts who are happy to bash each time but will
never call or come in to get to know us before passing judgement.

I would not be here if our aim was to be some type of rip off business.
Quite the opposite. I would love to be the cheapest in town but we have to
work within our limits. There are however many times that we do have really
cheap items by the way. We have sold a lot of pins on e-bay for 1400-1800
and have genuinely wore some serious losses on some pins that have cost
more. Just the luck of the draw. At auction there are some very cheap pins
that go and the auctioneer is very honest passing in only the very high end
stuff that does not meet reserve.

By the way Family guy was passed in so was always giong to be on floor. All
were told by myself it would not sell unless a high price was reached so
no-one was under any illusions. It surprises me that you can try to be the
best you can in life (and I hate sleazy salesmen more than anyone) and yet
find us painted with this brush at any opportunity.<PinballMachineRepa...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message

news:1175164394.643925.320020@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

On Mar 29, 7:42 pm, "buzz66" <b...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I think you should give the "bumper" a break. He has a lot of
overheads and staff to support.

You really can't expect the price of the pins he sells/auctions or
whatever to be at ebay or USA rates.

You need to look at the big picture. Who are David's clients.

He's the average Joe Blogg's off the street that knows diddly squat
about a pinball machine. This average Joe wants a nice looking machine
with a decent warranty, and he is willing to pay for it.

Not all of us has the know how to fix machines.

Look at it this way, would you buy a flipper coil from_________ in
Australia for $38 AUD when you can buy one from the states for less
than $10 AUD (pinball life)

Of course not you make a bulk buy get flipper kits,spare
display,rubbers ETC and make the freight worth while.

There's a market for that $38 flipper coil, otherwise it wouldn't be
at that price. Once again it's Joe Bloggs having his first go at
fixing his pin, now his warranty has run out. Poor farking ***!

Different business's cater to different needs!

What a business want's to charge for a product is their business. If
one doesn't like the prices, simple, don't buy! People coming on here
to bash businesses for some personal grudge is pretty weak. If
Bumper's auctions get some worked up in a frenzy, perhaps they should
avoid their site and then we can live without the bash.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

G'day David. After having a think about what you said, I can see your
point of view. You are geared up more for the home (novice) person who
wants a game for the family rather than for the hardcore hobbyist who
can do everything themselves. Fair point.

However, why do you paint the picture for each auction as being
"everything must sell, closing down, getting divorced etc. etc." when
that is clearly not the case. This only contributes to the bad image
that people here are trying to paint of your business. Surely you
could do without this or do you just want people talking about the
business, whether they are kind words or bad? Why not just advertise
your auctions as "Once a year Bumper auction, great savings to be
had"?

Anyway, you say the Family Guy was passed in so why on the unsold lots
*** is it listed as "SOLD". So which is it?- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Oz, you actually hit the nail on the head perfectly - hobbiests learn
how to do things themselves and with the skill acquired are able to
know what to order and from whom to get the right price for things
they need. David knows all too well that the chances of me buying a
machine from Bumper are zip unless its something rare or special. In
fact the other day I asked him about a particular machine and he put
me onto one (at a competitor!) that was more likely to appeal to me as
someone who likes to get dirty than theirs which will present
beautifully and be worth what they ask to the guy who wants the
gamesroom single pin, a supply of all things needed, and service when
a flipper stops working. I took a while to warm to them (in fact, I
was one of the worst "bashers") but on David's invitation I took a
look around, saw what they were doing and how they did it, and decided
they had a service that the non-hobbiest really needs.

I remember the dim dark past when I struggled to work out what to do
with a specific problem, and buying half a dozen "try it and see if it
fits" options from the cheapest supplier is never going to be cheaper
than paying a bit of a premium for the exact part and the ability to
return it if its wrong. Sure, next time I'll order the specific part
from Marco or Bay Area or Pinballlife or whoever and save some
dollars, but if I need help it'll be cheaper to pay a bit more and not
be stuck with unusable parts. The market Bumper serves needs to be
able to call them and ask for "that red thing with wires that makes
the flipper go" - try that at PBR and see how you go!

Personally, I really hate the "Everything Must Go, Closing Down" type
ads, and David knows it. But I understand that it is theatrics to grab
attention. Right or wrong (and its wrong by my standards) it doesn't
hurt anyone in my opinion.

Cheers,
Nick


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