Ebay Altair

From: Dwight Elvey <elvey_at_hal.com>
Date: Wed May 10 11:56:22 2000

Craig Smith <ip500_at_roanoke.infi.net> wrote:
> That was the first thing I looked for. The seller did in fact add to
> the buyers feedback profile [with a "glowing" comment], which would seem
> to indicate that the sale was indeed consummated.
> And I thought 3-4K was a bit pricey!
> Craig


Hi
 I think everyone is avoiding the word "shill". On an item
like this, it might pay to way over bid the item and buy
it back. This sets a price in peoples minds as to how much
they should pay for an item. Two months later, you put the
same item up for bid with a different seller name. No
one knows any different. If someone actually over bids
your high price, let him have it.
 I do think that as Sellam has said, it makes it hard to
find good deals on old machines. Still, I've bought a number
of items at what I consider a fair price. I don't think
I've under payed for anything and in a few cases, I have
over payed.
 There have been items that may have been scrapped, if
it were not for eBay. I think it is doing more to save
old machines than those that are wherehousing them.
Not that I have anything against that type of collection
either. It is just that so much was ending up at the dump.
 The only thing I find disturbing about eBay is that
75% of the items are missing the documentation that they
originally had. It is not just the machine that has value.
The original manuals and schematics are part of the history.
Much of the old software is being lost as well.
 Any thing that helps to keep these things alive is
OK with me. I'd rather over pay a little than find the
last 'what ever' at the dump after the crawler has
run over it.
 At least if it is bought by someone on eBay, it has a
chance of not being trashed. It has value to someone
because it is obsolete. It won't get any less obsolete
so it will continue to have value and be saved.
IMHO
Dwight
Received on Wed May 10 2000 - 11:56:22 BST