At 11:03 PM 5/14/98 -0500, Doug Yowza wrote:
>
>eBay and other online auctions are probably the best gauges of prices
>there are, because they represent fairly efficient markets. In fact, some
>online auctions that move their own inventory do regression analysis that
>tells them more or less what price they can expect to get for any given item.
These net auctions cause a great deal of thought in my brain, which
is driven by a pure-gold capitalist heart. At first I thought they'd
be a great place to pick up bargains on trailing-edge contemporary PC
and consumer stuff, but whoa... look at those prices! Sure, they start
at $9.00, but you can watch them zoom right up to conventional Best Buy
or CDW retail prices *or more*. The question "Yeah, but who pays retail?"
is answered "Lots, and many pay more." Someone did their homework when
they developed this online auction concept. Or perhaps it exposed its
true nature once someone implemented it, and let the market drive it.
(Although I wonder if we don't know important details such as the
rate at which the auction house successfully collects its percent, or
whether auctions have been rigged by shills working for the seller, etc.)
So when the historical computer sells for what we (the dumpster-diving
cheapskates) see as inflated prices, we may instead me seeing the evolution
of a "retail" price for our old junk, and perhaps the anecdotal reports can
provide a "dealer" or "wholesale" price, or at least provide the mean.
We grimy collectors know that much computer equipment is tossed in
the trash, fed to scrap collectors, or is still sitting in warehouse corners.
That alone fuels a desire to pick up collectibles for no cost.
Just yesterday I introduced myself to a local junk dealer. I missed
some kind of mainframe from a local business by a month... but now he
knows he can sell me junk for higher than the scrap value, so perhaps
he'll remember me for next time.
- John
Jefferson Computer Museum <
http://www.threedee.com/jcm>
Received on Fri May 15 1998 - 09:27:06 BST