sellers market

From: John Foust <jfoust_at_threedee.com>
Date: Mon Mar 22 09:21:56 1999

At 06:43 PM 3/19/99 -0800, Sellam Ismail wrote:
> Like I said in a previous message, just
>because an idiot wants to pay $3,000 for an Altair, doesn't mean everyone
>else should too.

Ebay is your boogie-man. You say Ebay's driven up the prices of Altairs,
but where's the marketplace that's selling Altairs for $600, like in the
good old days? Who's to say that the street price of an Altair isn't $3K
or $6K? While we have plenty of aspersions on the character of the "idiots"
paying greater-than-hamfest prices, where's the discussion of quality o
the merchandise? Isn't it possible that a "cherry" Altair, known working,
lovingly cared-for, with historically accurate peripherals, docs and
software would be worth more than the $200 hamfest dust-covered Altair case?

At 10:01 AM 3/20/99 -0800, Sellam Ismail wrote:
>
>Of course they wish for a ridiculously high price. And my argument, which
>you did not address, is that ebay's auction mechanism encourages
>such ridiculously high prices.

Yes, an auction can generate high prices. From the perspective of the
seller, they're getting the best possible price. For the seller, you'd
think they'd believe they were getting what they want for the price
they're willing to pay. You're right, there are many variations of
auction-like sale mechanisms, and there isn't yet a web site for every one.
So you're going to pay for your time and bandwidth on www.sellam.com
via the sale of banner ads, or what?

>Its a free market sure, but the prices that come out of ebay auctions are
>by no measure "fair market value".

Pish-posh! Price is set between buyer and seller - that's it. Sure, you
could write a book and attempt to persuade people that your estimated
values were accurate for some place and time, but it doesn't prevent
people from selling for less, and it doesn't prevent people paying more.
So how do you derive "fair market value" for an Altair in Silicon Valley,
versus an Altair I could see and buy here in Wisconsin?

Yes, Ebay makes it easy for "lazy" people to buy Altairs. I don't
spend many spare hours searching junk shops, but does that make me
lazy or undeserving of the opportunity to own one at a price I'm
willing to pay?

- John
Received on Mon Mar 22 1999 - 09:21:56 GMT