Looking into Candy Cabs, don't know where to start

[Bashi]

Hello, I am a fairly new collector and I am curious what the buying process is for a Candy Cabinet in Canada (more specifically Ontario). Its one of those things where I see people have them, yet I never see them getting put up for sale. What should I be researching? Where should I buy them? Where can I find what the going rate is in my area? These are all questions I want to be able to answer for future use. Any help is appreciated, thank you for your time!

[c0nn0r]

I bought a SEGA New Astro City on this forum in 2016 after participating in the community for a number of years. I made a name for myself and also some friendships. An old member here had a candy cab and I asked him to consider selling it to me if he ever wanted to get rid of it. A few years later I got a message from him stating that I had first right of refusal. I immediately gave him a generous offer and quickly organized a time to pick it up.

I consider myself to be very lucky to have had this opportunity as it does not appear very often.

To answer your questions specifically:

What should I be researching?
Get to know the types of cabinets - as when one pops up it may not be exactly the one you have in mind. If you can be flexible you can know if the available cab is going to be acceptable.

Also you should have an understanding of basic electronics. These cabs are like old cars - often in need of maintenance, either today or tomorrow. Understand JAMMA/JVS/MVS, CRT monitors, Getting soldering skills will be useful, as will knowing how to use a multi-meter, and an oscilloscope if you are keen.

Where should I buy them?
There is no single place to buy them. They are rare in North America. If you have a larger budget you could import one from a known seller like RKLOK in the Netherlands, but it will be costly. You can also keep your eye out for "group buys" where someone organizes a shipping container of cabs to be shipped from abroad. This is how a lot of candy cabs get here, but from my experience over the past 10 years 9 out of 10 group buys are shitshows that either fail to get off the ground, or fail to deliver good value (eg. cabs are shitty)

Where can I find what the going rate is in my area?
There is no going rate in an area. These are unique items and it's up to the seller to set a price that buyers will be into.

eg. My NAC is currently for sale and the price is 2 bitcoin. Will I get any sales at that price? doubtful. Am I motivated to sell? no.

[c0nn0r]

Twice over the past 5 years I found candies on Kajiji. One was a Neo Geo - maybe was a Super Neo 29 - was in Quebec. Another local to GTA in Ontario was a Blast City.

The Super Neo 29 was pounced on in a matter of days. I do not know the price it went for. The Blast City was listed at $2k and had a visibly cracked housing near the top marquee. It took much longer to sell. Was stuck at $2k for quite a while so maybe it took time for the seller to find someone to bite at that price...

[ask]

The Blast City was listed at $2k and had a visibly cracked housing near the top marquee. It took much longer to sell. Was stuck at $2k for quite a while so maybe it took time for the seller to find someone to bite at that price...

That was me It did eventually sell for $1250. The initial price was high since everyone tries to haggle with you no matter what you list something at. My real "want" was $1500, so I felt like it was a good compromise and the buyer picked it up himself, saving me from moving it.

[jasonec]

The Blast City was listed at $2k and had a visibly cracked housing near the top marquee. It took much longer to sell. Was stuck at $2k for quite a while so maybe it took time for the seller to find someone to bite at that price...

That was me It did eventually sell for $1250. The initial price was high since everyone tries to haggle with you no matter what you list something at. My real "want" was $1500, so I felt like it was a good compromise and the buyer picked it up himself, saving me from moving it.

People interested in vintage arcades are worse than musicians when it comes to haggling
As a result, I find the best strategy is to price something at the lowest price you're OK parting it with (not too low to prevent flipping, but low enough to let people know that if they don't jump on it right now, someone else will), and then be firm on the price.
That way - it's gone in a day or two, and you don't have to deal with the hagglers and tire kickers
As a result, I bet that if you had originally priced it at $1250 and stayed firm on it, it would have been gone in a week!

[c0nn0r]

As a result, I bet that if you had originally priced it at $1250 and stayed firm on it, it would have been gone in a week!

Hard agree.

[decapattack]

For sure Candycabs are hard to come by around the Ontario area, if we were like in California it would be a different story. These things can be quite a lot of work with quite the demand and supply is getting lower so it makes sense group buys getting containers full are not that common, plus the fright/imports costs to canada can be a killer, so i'd expect not many ever make it here to go up for second hand sale.

I hope to come across one at a price I can afford some day (which is around the 2k range) even finding a vewlix/chewlix locally has been tough. The dream is to have one of these kitted out to be able to play fightcade online, want to get some real use out of it than have it be a centerpeice that might get some play when friends are over (but this is a motivation too, best way to get people to try fighting games is having an arcade machine to perk their interest!)