computer sales -- now only on e-bay???

From: Douglas H. Quebbeman <dougq_at_iglou.com>
Date: Tue May 21 09:17:11 2002

Dick wrote:
> > > --- "Douglas H. Quebbeman" <dougq_at_iglou.com> wrote:
> > > > > Doc wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > > I've also noticed tacit cooperation concerning eBay auctions. If I
> > > > > >recognise a bid as made by a list member, I don't bid against them, and
> > > > > >that seems to be the norm.
> > > > >
> > > > > Or, you soon realize that you shouldn't bother bidding
> > > > > against AEK. <grin>
> > > >
> > > > There's another guy who bids on virtually everything I want...
> > > > I "know" him, in that I've personally dealt with him from
> > > > time to time... I don't think he's a subscriber here, but
> > > > at any rate, I usually let him have the items, and just
> > > > shrug it off (like a large removable disk drive subsystem
> > > > that I honestly would have had trouble with shipping).
> > > >
> > > > But I always get a big, big wide grin when AEK bids against
> > > > the guy, and generally wins...
> > > >
> > > > BTW, the guy in question is a decent guy, didn't want to
> > > > make it seem otherwise, it's just the his collection has
> > > > no public face of any kind, and so it's like this stuff
> > > > is just being sucked into a black hole...
> > >
> > Steve wrote:
> > > Certainly, I didn't want it to seem as though this was
> > > "bad". Al Kossow has won an auction of mine and I
> > > think he does have a website with very useful stuff on
> > > it. Ebay is a fairly pure form of capitalism. It's
> > > just me crying in my beer about not having pockets as
> > > deep. Still, if one gets lucky, and finds something
> > > misclassified or I can catch someone sleeping
> > > (sometimes literally, at 2:00 AM), bargains can STILL
> > > be had on eBay.
> >
> > Oddly enough, eBay should reflect the highest prices. instead, some view it
> > as producing the lowest. I'm not sure where this logic comes from.

It just depends in the item. There will be no bargain Altairs or
IMSAIs on E-Bay. But I'm picking up 9-track magtapes for reasonable
prices, albeit slightly more expensive than Mark Tapley has been
selling them for (I'm sampling the waters, so to speak). Ditto
the more obscure stuff...

As to the view that E-Bay *should* produce the lowest prices? No
logic involved there, Dick, that's faith on the part of some
people in the open hand of Adam Smith- a view I don't share.

Comments about the failure of lassie-faire capitalism should
be directed to me personally, please...

-dq
Received on Tue May 21 2002 - 09:17:11 BST