E-bay, etc.

From: Charles P. Hobbs <transit_at_lerctr.org>
Date: Thu Jun 15 23:58:42 2000

I've been collecting (micro's mostly, Apple, Atari, Coco, etc.) since
1990...I'm more interested in playing around with these machines
(even if only a few minutes a year!) than hoarding them and hoping
they'll appreciate in value.

And yes, I've used E-bay (most of the other internet auction sites
really have little, if anything). I've also scoured Usenet and found
stuff, usually from people who don't want to bother with E-bay's
procedures for sellers, for whatever reason.

I occasionally go to the thrift stores, but I haven't seen a whole lot
other than bits and pieces of 286's and 386's (I'm in the LA area), and
they're often overpriced ($50 for a 286? In 2000? Gimme a break!) There's
also the TRW swap meet in El Segundo, but I haven't been there for a
while. (It used to be pretty good, but the last time I was there, Oct 99
or so, it seemed to be PC cards and motherboards, old test equipment, and
the same guys selling the same outdated ham tranceivers, for about
$200-300 more than they're probably worth. Maybe it'll be a bit better
this month...)

Has E-bay sucked the thrift stores and hamfests dry? Possibly part of the
reason, although another reason might be that there is only a finite
amount of systems and people interested in them, and neither number is
exactly growing, if you catch my drift. So a lot of stuff gets tossed out
due to ignorance.
Received on Thu Jun 15 2000 - 23:58:42 BST