Opinions on 'untested' hardware (and sales transparency in general).

[Bods]

Yeah, look at the Virtua Fighter cab I had years ago, got it really cheap and working, monitor was great, I had all the control panel apart, cleaned sticks and buttons, was going to give it to a friend of mine, told him it was all ready, had a good play on it that night with nice great working controls, switched it off
Next day I switched on and blank screen, I gave up trying to repair it due to not having anything setup to test the monitor out of the cab so sold it on ebay as it was £75
Guy bought it, was confident his mate in the trade could get it working, I seem to remember it was back on ebay a few months later being sold with monitor still faulty, I think I messaged him and asked how come they hadn't fixed it, impression from reply I got was like I'd lied to them about the fault like I never had the machine working, probably still got pics of it working but couldn't be any more honest when I sold it, sure it still had sound so pcbs were working, would of shown that when collecting

Wish I'd still got the Monitor

 

[Bods]

Don't you know if you add the word 'genuinely' before the untested part it means there's a good chance it works?.. Seriously though if its someone who you knowbhas cabs and they can't be arsed to test a board given it doubles the value then you can be at least then 99.9% sure it's broken. No one is going to say iam going to sell this 200 quid board for 35 quid cause iam not bothered to put it in one of my cabs or make up an adapter

I bought a genuinely untested Darius PCB from USA on ebay, I didn't expect it too work but when it arrived I tried it in my cab and was fully working
wish I'd never sold that either, bought an Outrun pcb off guy on ebay who said it worked last time he tested it but hadn't got a cab now to test it in, 3 weeks later he had working Outrun machine on ebay, obviously the pcb I bought didn't work

I've also bought untested boards from members here that worked when tested

I sold an untested 32x for megadrive, I don't like selling like that but hadn't got the cables, guy left feedback saying it fully works, was pleased I have to say, he gets a bargain and I made money so its a win for both of us

 

[ExZX]

Years ago it was likely 'untested' stuff was genuinely untested.
These days there's a number of sellers on ebay who flip stuff they've bought as non-working and they are listed as 'untested' even though they have tested working boards for sale too. Then there are the ones who have multiple ebay accounts and are just plain scammers...... then the ones who bought every board they could get their hands on no matter the game and now they are stuck with them as every board has a ceiling price which has been reached. Not scammers just idiots. £100 for a Pit Fighter? pmsl!
I tend to look at the seller / feedback and what they sell in general as well of the condition of the listing. 97 out of 100 it'll be non working. Almost not worth looking on ebay.
As for buying on forums, small community and word gets around. Enough said.

 

[Vamino]

I posted this to try and spin this into something more positive and useful:

Possible sticky for the sales thread

I wanted to put a more positive spin on a thread I made earlier about making buyers better informed, and thought that maybe a kind of buyers' FAQ might help. FAQs tend to be quite regulatory in nature, especially in marketplace forums, but I think something informative has the potential to...

www.ukvac.com

I agree with pretty much all that you've written on that post.
Rereading what I've written, my tone may have come across as abrupt due to how your message came across but I stand by what I said.

As a buyer, a lot of research is required.
Ask questions before jumping in head first, understand what ownership consists of. We all had to go through the pains that this hobby can dish out and many people on this forum can and will share their experiences if asked nicely. And bear in mind that most people in this hobby are gamers first and foremost, some people only play games on their cabs and have never had the need or urge to tinker with anything.

Be prepared to have a go at fixing something when a fault appears.
The more things you own, the more of a chance something is going to develop a fault. If that puts someone off then it's best to buy a flatpack cab. There are people who turn their noses up at those cabs but I personally think if the owner gets enjoyment then that's all that counts, sod what anyone else thinks.

If you want perfect geometry and vibrant colours, then it's best to learn how to do it yourself.
Servicing the chassis is recommended, but it's not always necessary to replace every single capacitor. You can get away with just replacing a couple, or send it off to someone Like Grant to service it. But you'll still need to learn how to remove a chassis which can be a nerve wracking experience due to there being some dangers associated with removing it.

Some owners are not too bothered about minor geometry issues, nor do they want to go through the rigmarole of spending many hours tinkering and adjusting to sort out something that doesn't really bother them. Unfortunately it's not really viable to remove the chassis and send it to someone for them to do it on a different tube, the chassis has to be adjusted to a specific tube to get the best results.

If you are crazy enough to still want a cab, set a budget and work out what your expectations are. If and when you get what you dream of, your first cab, if it's already working why not play it for a bit before embarking on the mission of taking it to bits. Soak testing a cab is one of the more enjoyable aspects of cab ownership, as that's what the majority of people buy them for in the first place.

 

[Vamino]

I bought a genuinely untested Darius PCB from USA on ebay, I didn't expect it too work but when it arrived I tried it in my cab and was fully working
wish I'd never sold that either, bought an Outrun pcb off guy on ebay who said it worked last time he tested it but hadn't got a cab now to test it in, 3 weeks later he had working Outrun machine on ebay, obviously the pcb I bought didn't work

I've also bought untested boards from members here that worked when tested

I sold an untested 32x for megadrive, I don't like selling like that but hadn't got the cables, guy left feedback saying it fully works, was pleased I have to say, he gets a bargain and I made money so its a win for both of us

The last 2 PCB's I've bought off this forum have both had issues.
Both sellers sold them as working and I trust them that they sold them in good faith so both PCB's have gone into the box of despair.

One of the PCB's was a bootleg and luckily I managed to find an original PCB at great expense, so I'll be giving that bootleg to one of the great people who have helped me get a few of my other faulty boards up and running.

 

[jimmerd]

In my experience, Untested JAMMA games are almost guaranteed to be broken, especially if the seller has other JAMMA games for sale tested working!

Non JAMMA games it's a 50/50 chance I would say as not everybody has the skills or is willing to spend the time making up a harness - especially if they just want to move a game on. Here I found it's common for the game to actually work but have a few faults.

I'm much more inclined to by a pcb if the seller has given a true description , eg "completely dead' , 'resets after 5 minutes' etc.

I have in the past sold a game untested at a low price, but on agreement with a buyer - if it's found to be tested and fully working then he would pay a bit more back.

 

[Bods]

Your probably right on that now, being as there worth far more money, years back ebay was completely different, people just listing old stuff they had and didn't want you could win things cheap, now you can't even buy CD Singles on there cheap unless it's ya common pop shite as most sellers don't bother, most music is sold on sites like Discogs so then can avoid complaints of people selling crap, I bought a few records and cds off there a few years back, horrendous experience from a few sellers, saying records in near mint condition, arrive and absolutely appalling condition, another never arrived, seller states he sends everything recorded with PO but couldnt provide a tracking number

The days of most people selling things untested that are genuine are probably long gone because of the prices, I don't buy much anymore because I've no space so it's just selling things for me for a good while

 

[thegreathopper]

I wouldn’t buy anything of any value untested, it’s simple to test a pcb or monitor just plug it in.


I agree with others it’s a shady way of saying it doesn’t work.

 

[Levington]

As someone who's always on the lookout for a good chassis, it's fairly routine to discover people - often reputable people, in forum terms - selling 'untested' Nanaos and the like. But tbh I'm losing patience with this attitude that it's okay to price these at hypothetical rates where a) the chassis works anywhere near its desired spec, and b) the chassis works at all. I totally understand that precious few people have the hardware on hand to test a lot of this stuff, but only in arcade la-la land is it apparently okay to charge hundreds of pounds for what would commonly default to 'spares and repairs'. I've a Nanao here that's just been refurbed by AK Amusements and I still wouldn't dare sell it for more than £150 because I have no proof that it works, which is why I'm not selling it at all.

I'd actually extend this to most cabs. It's alarming how seldom people provide good photos of all important aspects of a cab before charging often £1000+ for these things. Grids, geometry, convergence, physical chassis condition, burn: if the thing turns on then chances are you've got a camera capable of showing all this in great detail, which together provides a decent health check for a monitor, especially.

I know it's not an ideal world but I'd have thought an enthusiast collector's market would demand more than just a blurry picture of the screen and a couple of angles on the cab, followed by the asking price of a small car. But that's often what we get and I'm not convinced there's an excuse for it. Sure, you can tell people to inspect in person, but you know what's cheaper and easier than driving a small van halfway across the country just to drive it back empty again? Taking some more pictures! Writing some more words! This isn't antique furniture; these machines age like vinegar, not wine. I'm not sure people should accept this status quo of gambling huge money 'because arcades' - at least not on anywhere not called Facebook Marketplace.

Or am I mad?

It might seem like its just this area where people do this but I can assure you its all over.
I have worked in music repair and retail all my life and that is full of exactly the same "untested" meaning its broken attitude backed up by a "well theres some at £3000 on a popular auction site so its worth that" attitude. At the end of the day all you can really do is take an educated guess based on the seller if they are likely to be honest or not. As people have said these things are all well beyond there lifespan so there are always likely to be more issues than not. Personally I always read untested as "broken possibly unfixable" then you are never in for a bad experience.

I do agree I never understand why some people give 1 or 2 pics of anything especially when its an expensive item. Maybe if its something you dont know anything about and have no interest in say you found a cab in a house you bought and literally just want it gone then yes maybe its acceptable. But you are right if you have the ability to list something for sale you have the ability to flood a listing with pictures. Descriptions are more tricky as that comes with knowldge I would say.

I always go with, if I am interested ask some questions ask for more pictures of information. If they arent willing to give it then theres likely to be an issue or at least if there is an issue they are likely to ignore you after the fact. If they try and help you as much as seems resonable then they are likely being more honest.

 

[neo-geo-mvs]

I bought 5 untested pcbs years back on ebay for about £20. Unfortunately none worked but was able to sell as none working for about the same amount of money.

I have bought loads of MVS carts and mobo's untested years back and they all worked. Just checking to see what the buyer usually sells and seeing these ones are one offs (probably selling for a friend/relative), sometimes its worth the risk. Only paid untested prices and fortunately worked out.

 

[deadendthrills]

Only paid untested prices and fortunately worked out.

...which is the issue nowadays: where have those prices gone? I don't browse for PCBs so don't have any insight there, but when it comes to a chassis or a monitor there seem to be only two price points: working (fabulously expensive) and untested (almost fabulously expensive). Nothing is ever just 'broken' anymore, and tbh I'm not surprised because I certainly wouldn't want to go putting a duff board's components anywhere near a working tube. But then I wouldn't be so sore about my duff hardware that I'd try to scheme onto some poor sap either.

There's a guy on eBay - maybe he's active around here - selling MS9s (iirc) for about £500 each. High though that is, he also supplies a very clear photo of a test grid for each one and says they've all been serviced by AK, which is something you could easily check. His definition of 'almost perfect' is hard to dispute, too, even it means some familiar issues. So yeah, the collectors' prices don't bother me so much when you actually know what you're getting - as opposed to, y'know, suspected scrap metal.

 

[kingtreelo]

there is a cab for sale on the FB group of this forum, it has a plug on it and is being sold as untested

plug it in and turn it on, then its not untested, its either working or not...i dont get it