Ed's response [WAS: Ebay reaches new low]

From: Mark Gregory <mgregory_at_vantageresearch.com>
Date: Wed Nov 10 17:05:36 1999

Ed,

since I started this thread, maybe I can respond to some of your points. I
don't blame e-bay or you for running the ads (it's a free continent), but I
think you've crossed a line of common sense or fair business practice. In
short, my objections to your ads are as follows:

1) You're selling such tiny pieces that they'd be easy to fake
2) Even as collectibles, they're not very interesting, and
3) I'd prefer to preserve old computers, not cut them up for scrap.

Sorry for hurting your feelings, but consider:

There are a lot of scammers out there - in the art and antiques world,
fakes and reproductions abound. Old and historic computers are starting to
attract serious money, so the incentive to create computer fakes is
growing. To be blunt, you carve your scrap into such small pieces that I
could saw up an old file cabinet or raid my spares box and I could make
pieces indistinguishable from what you're selling. You don't even have any
pictures of the parts in place before you carved up the machine to act as a
"provenance" - the bills of sale just prove that you had a Univac at one
time. Please note, I'm not accusing you of lying or faking anything - I'm
just saying that it would be easy to produce such fakes, so "buyer beware".

And, even as collectibles, I don't feel that what you're selling is not
very interesting. Old vacuum tubes, circuit boards, and hard drive
platters/innards at least have some visual interest. If you can sell 6" x
10" pieces of painted metal as historic computer collectibles, you're a
heck of a salesman.

Most importantly, the members of this list are generally people who want to
preserve/restore old computers in working condition. We are always on the
prowl for rare or unusual computers and spare parts. Increasingly, some
older computers are being carved up to produce collectibles like the ones
you sell. A concrete example is core memory planes from PDP-8 computers;
some people rip these out of old 8s and hang them on the wall as art - most
of us would prefer to preserve the working machine.

Just my thoughts.

Mark.


-----Original Message-----
From: helicopterman_at_webtv.net <helicopterman_at_webtv.net>
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp_at_u.washington.edu>
Date: Wednesday, November 10, 1999 3:58 PM
Subject: Re: Ebay reaches new low


>gentlemen,

>the featureless panels are definitely from a Univac file 0 computer and
>even though they were commercially available in large numbers i doubt
>you have a piece of one.

>if you do not have a piece i will be glad to have your bid on my ebay
>offerings.


>how can you blame ebay for my ads? do you think the "pieces" would keep
>selling if the bidders were not satisfied?


>i am not the person who was selling the system 360 pieces, but sounds
>like he had a good deal too:))

>i do not intend to start a war with this letter, just to let you know my
>position and that you have hurt my
lings:((

>"pathetic" ed

>=====Ed
Received on Wed Nov 10 1999 - 17:05:36 GMT