Ebay Altair

From: foo <foo_at_siconic.com>
Date: Tue May 9 22:44:19 2000

On Tue, 9 May 2000, Mike Ford wrote:

> >This makes no sense. eBay prices as a rule are always much more than once
> >can expect to find in the "real world". In fact, "real world" prices have
>
> Which "real world" would this be?
>
> Ebay is much higher than scrap yards, and much lower than legacy support.

Oh bother. Not this assanine argument again.

> >As I have always maintained in the past, eBay has done nothing but
> >artifically inflate the prices for old computers to the detriment of this
> >hobby (and others as well).
>
> Define artificial?

Go back into the archives and read all my messages concerning this. I
don't want to start a sequel.

> Simple test, what items do you have that eBay prices are now too high on,
> such that you are willing to sell? Or is it just that eBay prices are too
> high for you to buy at, yet still far too low for you to sell at.

Aside from the fact that I'm having trouble comprehending this statement,
suffice it to say I like niether to buy nor sell on eBay. I sold an IMSAI
on eBay for $3,500 once because I needed it to fund VCF 3.0 and knew I
would get a ridiculous price for it (don't tell the guy who bought it
though :)

Did I feel good about it? Not particularly. But did I feel bad about it?
No. I sold a very nice system and the person who bought it felt they got
a great deal.

But the fact is *I* don't feel it was worth $3,500. And that he may have
does not mean it's actually worth $3,500. It just means that particular
person was willing to pay that amount.

The problem is with trying to assign monetary value to something that
intrinsically has more historical value. At least that's how I see this
stuff. If I was in this for the money I could sell my entire collection
and realistically bring in at least EBAY$200K with what I have. But
fortunately I'm not in this for the money. The history is much more
interesting.

Sellam
Received on Tue May 09 2000 - 22:44:19 BST