At 5 08 2001 01:47 am, Claude wrote:
> 2-Ebay is crap for a buyer. The concept of the "auction" is something that
> advantages the seller...period
Well, yes and no.
eBay has become good for the seller, mainly because there are people
prepared to spend silly money on junk. It is nigh-on impossible to pick up
a "bargain" on eBay these days.
Auctions, however, are not solely for the benefit of the seller. To take a
non-computing example, property auctions in the UK typically save the buyer
a wedge compared to wandering down the local estate agent. In this case,
both vendor and purchasor win to an extent: The vendor is more likely to
sell his pile, the purchaser is more likely to get a bargain.
I confess: I'm an eBay buyer, and I will continue (probably) to get stuff
there. In the absence of suitable flea markets (unless: can anyone tell me
where there are semi-regular boot sales et al in East London?), eBay
represents the best source of old kit.
OK, sometimes I end up paying silly money, but then - what *is* money?
Maybe I'm lucky enough to have a decent income, but I'd rather have a bit
of fun AND end up with some interesting stuff (much of which I intend to
hang on to - not to make cash later, but because I'm interested in it),
than trawl around in the rain looking for a "bargain".
Looking at some of the other threads (what is a collector: depth vs.
breadth), I see a bit of both in me. I started out looking for depth, and
in the end I've gone for some breadth too. I *want* to re-build, in depth,
systems I've personally used (MZ-80K, CBM8032, BBC 'B'/Master & QL in
particular), but at the same time, I'm happy to tinker with stuff I've
never used before... I've got 2 Epson PX-8's ATM. I've *never* seen one
prior to picking them up on eBay...
I'm not above a bit of soldering to repair a system either. But then I'm
not going to make it my lifelong ambition to buy/acquire dead machines with
a view to repairing them. Life's too short, and besides, I'm a klutz with a
soldering iron...
Anyway, before this turns into a life history / rant, I leave you with
this: Some auctions are better than others... Yahoo seems to have plenty of
sellers and few buyers, so maybe you can get a cheaper bit of kit over
there? Not that there's much PDP-x kit, mind...
--
Cheers!
Ade.
Received on Sat Aug 04 2001 - 20:51:18 BST