A referral network for pinball dealers
The league player who let them play it. The bar where they got hooked. The reviewer they trusted. PinballReferral lets dealers pay those people for helping close the sale, out of a pool the dealer controls.
How it works
Every sale still goes through an authorized dealer, and no money moves between dealers. Dealers opt in, and the dealer decides how much to share.
A flat amount or a percentage of each sale, up to the manufacturer's cap. The dealer's margin is never part of the math.
League players, collectors, location operators and creators join that dealer's network and register the buyers they're working with.
At purchase the buyer completes the Official Buy Form and confirms who helped them decide.
The pool is split by published rules and paid once the machine is delivered. Anything unpaid goes back to the dealer.
Why dealers opt in
Right now the hobby's best salespeople send buyers to whoever is cheapest or closest. PinballReferral pays them only when the buyer purchases from their own dealer.
No salary, no draw, no fixed cost. You pay from the pool only on delivered sales, and you set the pool size.
Referrals that used to go price-shopping now come to the dealer whose network found the buyer.
League players and location operators in towns you never visit become your local storefronts.
Their home machines and location machines become demo units. Buyers play before they buy, and you hold no extra inventory.
Deal registrations show who's in the market, for which titles, and roughly when. Plan stock orders and allocations with it.
Every buy form records what drove the sale, so your marketing money goes where it works.
The break-even math. The program pays for itself when enough referred sales are sales you would otherwise have lost. With a $450 pool and a $1,500 margin, that's 3 in 10. Every one beyond that is profit.
The $1,500 margin is a made-up illustration. A pilot measures the real ratio for your store.
The split
Example: a Stern Premium sells for $8,999. Four people touched the buyer. Change the pool or the evidence and watch the split move.
Score = role weight × evidence. Top 3 scores share the pool, payouts under $25 return to the dealer, and payouts round down to the cent.
Credit rules
| Touch | Captured by | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| IntroductionBrought the buyer to this dealer | Deal registration or referral code | 3 |
| Hands-on demoLet the buyer play the title | Deal registration, QR scan at the machine | 3 |
| Location playPlayed it on a location machine | Connected scoring data, QR on the cabinet | 2 |
| AssistAnswered questions, helped close | Logged, then confirmed by buyer or dealer | 2 |
| ContentReview, stream or post | Tracked link | 1 |
| Evidence | Multiplier |
|---|---|
| Buyer confirmed on the buy form | 1.0 |
| System-verified play or scan | 1.0 |
| Tracked link only | 0.6 |
| Claimed, not confirmed | 0 |
Register a prospect with your dealer before the sale. It lasts 120 days, so nobody can show up afterward claiming credit.
Touches in the 180 days before purchase count at full weight. First touches matter in a months-long decision, so there's no decay.
Dealers can adjust a split by up to 20% with a logged reason. Sub-affiliates get 14 days to dispute before payout.
The Official Buy Form
Every opted-in dealer's sale requires a completed buy form. It's the single record behind each payout. No form, no payout, and the whole pool returns to the dealer.
Sample data for illustration
For manufacturers
For players, collectors and locations
Guardrails
One dealer, their local league and partner locations. We measure sales with a confirmed touch, payout disputes, and how many sales the dealer would otherwise have lost.
Confirmed-touch sales, payout disputes, and incremental sales the dealer would otherwise have lost.