While there's plenty of room for disagreement regarding the merit of classic
computer hardware as an "investment," in a nationwide market, as provided by
eBay, its value is significant. One example, is the Heathkit Microprocessor
Trainer that sat at the Denver Gateway Electronics store for over two years with
a pricetag of $40. One sold for $250 or thereabouts on eBay, and, suddenly, the
one at Gateway was gone.
There are people who value such things. There just aren't very many, as a
proportion of the population. Denver is an area somewhat over a million people.
The country is approaching 300 million. I don't think it's going to take a
rocket scientist to figure out that even if there isn't one interested party in
a particular million, there might just be a couple or three in 300 million.
While the locals may see something as junk, others, not local, disagree. I
think that's great!
What's great about eBay and the like is that it opens up that market, i.e. the
entire 300 million to those of us who have got stuff that the local million or
so might not want, but that we believe has value, though we don't want it
ourselves, so that those other 299 million can see that we have it if they do
want it.
That, also, is what's not so convenient about eBay. Now, I've gotten 256MB
DRAMs for $10 and bargains like that from time to time, and I've also missed a
few by a few (who knows?) bucks, but having to bid against the entire market is
sometimes not to my advantage. It is the way the market works, though. It
certainly beats the alternative.
Dick
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bob Shannon" <bshannon_at_tiac.net>
To: <classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org>
Sent: Saturday, August 04, 2001 9:47 AM
Subject: Re: Ebay madness
> I disagree.
>
> Collecting firearms has been greatly complicated by recent laws, yet
> it remains very popular. Getting old iron shipped does not require the
> paperwork and problems having a rifle or handgun shipped across state
> lines does.
>
> Vintage hardware is valuable, and will appreciate in value. Demand will
> rise, and supplies will only drop for the really classic stuff.
>
> What do you think people might pay for a working Imsai 8080 in 20 years?
>
> Jeff Hellige wrote:
>
> > >Take a big step back and look at us, we are half way to the loony bin for
> > >collecting this stuff. Old computers are NOT an investment opportunity, and
> > >nobody normal is going to start thinking they are from a few human interest
> > >stories.
> >
> > I'd have to agree. Most of it isn't worth enough to make
> > having to deal with how bulky it is worth while from a dealer's
> > standpoint. It's not like coins and stamps where you can toss all
> > the really common stuff into a box. This is what will keep
> > speculators zeroing in on specific machines to buy/sell vice doing as
> > they did with the various other hobbies and buying everything under
> > the sun. In that respect, due to the space requirements, this hobby
> > is more like the classic car collector. In that hobby it's still
> > possible to get some really nice cars for a reasonable amount but
> > certain specfic areas, such as 60's muscle cars or your luxury cars
> > from the 30's, are well outside the price range of most.
> >
> > This isn't to say there isn't some pretty good price gouging
> > going on with regards to some classic computer stuff, because there
> > is. The few truly high dollar machines though aren't indicative of
> > the valuation of the rest.
> >
> > Jeff
> > --
> > Home of the TRS-80 Model 2000 FAQ File
> > http://www.cchaven.com
> > http://www.geocities.com/siliconvalley/lakes/6757
>
>
Received on Sat Aug 04 2001 - 11:12:22 BST