Cashman Auctions at Betson West, April 30th, 2005 Cashman Auctions had their first arcade video game and pinball machine auction at Betson West on May 1st 2005. I was looking forward to this since it was some new competition for Super Auctions which had an auction coming up the following weekend.(See the Super Auctions review here) Upon arrival I was slightly disappointed at the selection. mostly newer games, only about 15 classics. Maybe 30 Pinball machines, but they had a really nice "Fish Tales" that I had been looking for in the past few months. Attendance could be considered light to moderate. Ther was a 13% buyers fee as well as 7.75% sales tax, so you had to add an additional 21% to your winning bid to get the real cost of anything won. Super Auctions does the same thing. Game Selection Most of the arcade video games offered up at Cashman Auctions were newer. There were at least 10 NFL Blitz 99 or 2K, 8 Revolution-X's, assorted other shooter games like Point Blank and Lethal Enforcers. They had 9 really nice showcase cabinets for sale and lots of large games like 2 player Indy 500's, Daytona 500's, San Francisco Rush's, etc. I have some really crude cameraphone video of the game selection at the bottom of this article. The Pinball selection was decent, most of them were in nice shape. There was a real nice Jack Bot someone picked up at a great price. I was interested in a Fish Tales (which I won!) and a road Show (which I didn't win). I also picked up a project Hurricane to fix up and resell. Opinion of Cashman Auctions Overall Cashman Auctions is amateurish at best. The auctioneer consistently forgot where he was with the bid, bad mouthed his competition (Super Auctions) repeatedly, and at one point threatened the crowd because they were getting upset at how the auction was being run. The main problem was Cashman Auctions would lay out a game plan for the order in which items were being auctioned off, then not stick to it. this made it difficult to plan the day. For example, Cashman Auctions claimed we would finish up a row of video games, then go inside to start on the pinballs, only to not follow through and started auctioning off other items outside. This happened at least 3 times, by the second time people voiced their opinion, at which point the auctioneer said he could take any of the bidders in a fight if they were so upset. That was totally uncalled for. Maybe the auctioneers for Cashman Auctions need to learn to turn their mics off if they want to make snide comments. Bad mouthing the other auction company over the course of the day only resulted in cashman Auctions looking like they can't compete in the market and have to resort to tactless mudslinging. Another point of contention was that Cashman Auctions claimed all items were working and tested. I bought a Stryder JAMMA game in a converted Millipede cab that they never turned on. The game was locked up front and back. I won that auction only to get it home and find out the JAMMA game board was missing. So chalk up another scam to Cashman Auctions. They do not test every piece of equipment as they claim. My final complaint is personal. I had won a very nice Revenge From Mars, the auctioneer called it sold, asked for my number, then went back and started bidding again because his buddy signalled it was too low. If I understand California Law, ending an auction is a binding contract and they couldn't restart it again. I voiced my opinion and of course was ignored. However when i was winning any further auction that day they made sure to keep pressing up after my bid for a good 45 seconds trying to drag mine out. I didn't see this happening with others and actually timed it. There were some good points to the Cashman Auctions though. Prices were pretty good to great. A Joust in nice condition sold for $250, which is an excellent price. A very clean dedicated Rally-X sold for $125. There is a list of games and prices below. Cashman Auctions also had free water, soda, coffee, and donuts for everyone which was a nice touch. They also brought in a "roach coach" truck in case people got hungry. Unfortunately I had to eat this since Cashman Auctions couldn't manage their game plan and I couldn't leave to get a decent meal somewhere. Overall I would rate Cashman Auctions with a C- Partial Price List (Pinballs only) at Cashman Auctions FT (No Topper) 1475 |
RFM (Clean Cab) 1875 Images
Videos Video 1 |
