Selling an arcade game in Indianapolis

You’re searching for an arcade game, maybe it’s Pac-man, maybe it’s Centipede but you typed arcade game Indianapolis and you found this post. This post is about how you can sell your arcade game through this blog, but if you are looking to buy arcade games visit my for sale page where I usually have common games like Ms. Pac-man, Donkey Kong, etc. up for consignment.

Now onto the information.

Are you interested in buying ‘X’ arcade game

I get this question a good deal, and for good reason. As Rotheblog.com – arcade game blog grows in content so does the user base. At over 25,000 visitors a month, that is a targeted audience interested in buying and collecting arcade games. 25K worth of visitors may not be the traffic of eBay or Craigslist, but it is more targeted than Craigslist, and it’s less hassle for you than eBay in my opinion.

Like I mentioned above, this post is really about how to sell your arcade game to me personally or through Rotheblog.com. This post won’t be interesting to most, unless you want to know how I structure my simple consignment, but is good for the general Google searcher.

What I look to buy

I am not going to hide this information. Just like anyone else, I assess a game on the popularity and demand, the condition and resale value vs. my storing capabilities and time. If the game you are selling falls into these conditions, I will buy it from you.

How do I sell you my arcade games?

If it were that easy. I am interested in a specific few arcade games for my own collection. To see those, please visit my arcade “Wants” page above. That page is fairly current. I try not to live on my site so it may only be 99% up to date. Plus, there are games that are always interesting that I don’t list on that arcade wants page. Maybe you are an anomaly and have a Cosmic Chasm sitting in your garage that you want to discard. Certainly I would be interested in that.

I always tell people to contact me if they have arcade games to sell, especially locally in Indianapolis. The best course of action is to email me (rothecreations@gmail.com) directly, and not use my contact form. Why? There’s a list of what I need from you, and here is that short list.

• 3-4 photos – Photos of front, both sides, & one other detail view of each arcade game
• Asking price for each game
• Location of the arcade game

The photos of the machine are important. This shows condition of the game, and I need each view. Please don’t send a half cut off photo from your camera showing the back corner of the game. Borrow a nice digital camera and send me photos that can help me assess the machine. Zip up the photos, attach them to an email and send them off. Gmail is pretty good about attachment size, but in general the files can’t be over 10MB per zip.

I also need the asking price. Unless it is something I want, I don’t barter. Even if your starting price is padded 20% because you expect some give and take, send me the price. Without the price I can’t help you.

With today’s slow economy and high gas prices location is key. Tell me your location within the state of Indiana, or surround states. Gas is always a factor, so the closer is always the better.

Selling arcade games consignment through Rotheblog.com

I have spent a ton of time writing, researching, networking and building this arcade game blog. I have put a lot of focus on traffic and readership, and it has paid off. I get a lot of viewers at Rotheblog.com.

I offer people the option to list their games for sale on Rotheblog.com. All I charge is 10-15% of what your price is for the game when it sells. I charge this amount because of the work I have put into this great site, my time and effort, and to help fund all related arcade game projects. Usually I put 10% on a game, because I want it to sell and not price it out of the market.

So, this is where telling me your price is crucial. If you want $500 for your arcade game, I will list it for $550. If you are looking to sell your pinball for $1200, I will list it for $1350. You get the idea. You get the money you want, and for the additional viewing traffic for your game I get something too. It depends on the selling price, I may even go as low as 5% markup.

You don’t have to be local. I have sold arcade game / pinball machines through my site and contacts across the nation. It does help to be local though, my network is stronger in Indianapolis.

What you get

You get a nice, graphical, SEO rich listing on my ‘For Sale‘ page. I put the best photo of your coin-op game there, with the necessary details. I also make a photo gallery for the arcade game, labeling all of the photos with keyword rich descriptions so people searching for a game might not find the for sale page, but they may stumble across the gallery. The more information and history I have about that game the better, and more photos can only help to sell your game.

I am altruistic. I reply to every email through my website of an individual with arcade games to sell. Most of them are tire kickers. They are looking to get great money for low demand, common games. They won’t email me directly and send me any of the information above, and most won’t even justify my questions / time by replying to my help. That’s fine.

But realize, selling arcade games isn’t a huge profit making venture, unless you are selling in volume or you have an extraordinary collection of rare or in demand games. I know games, I know values. Trying to sell me a Bad Dudes for $600 helps me meet my quota for daily laughs. I don’t sell arcade games on my site that are priced out of reasonable market value. I won’t be able to sell your game if it is overpriced, and I certainly won’t have many inquiries into your $660 working Bad Dudes.

If you’re in Indianapolis, you always have the auctions

If none of my provided options work for you but you are motivated and aren’t too specific on price, you can take your game down to the USAmusements auctions that happen almost quarterly and be done with it.

You may not be in Indianapolis, but a surrounding county / city would work also. I have been in contact with arcade game dealers and collectors in some of these towns around Indy; Greenfield, Greenwood, Martinsville, Whiteland, Bloomington, Zionsville, Carmel, Beech Grove, Plainfield, Cumberland, Warren, Hamilton, Marion, Lawrence, Wannamaker, Center Grove, Johnson, Fishers, Noblesville, Avon, Geist, Fortville, McCordsville, Whitestown, Clermont, Brownsburg, Camby, Southport, Mooresville, Bargersville, Franklin, Lebanon, Westfield, Shelbyville, Columbus, Nashville, Rushville, the list goes on and on.

This is a great way to sell your game

If you have an arcade game of value, listing them through Rotheblog.com is a great way to sell them. You won’t sell your game for way less than you want which is common at USAmusements in Indianapolis, and you won’t have sellers fees for listing it on eBay. At least not exactly. You get exactly what you want for your arcade machine, and you don’t have to spend an hour effectively listing it on eBay. It’s a trade off, maybe one that is worth it for you.

You wouldn’t be out anything. If you sell the arcade game / pinball before I can on my website then just let me know, and I’ll take it down. But you’d have to look hard to find many other arcade related websites with more traffic.

Suggestions, feedback or comments? Leave them below.

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