Bidding Against NASA

From: Chad Fernandez <fernande_at_internet1.net>
Date: Mon May 13 23:57:39 2002

Russ Blakeman wrote:
> I sold a TRS-80 model 4 to Bayer (aspirin people) back in 1998
> and they couldn't get it fast enough - had me ship overnight to them and
> sniped the bid from someone that had a bid of $25 - I thought it was a shill
> but the $255 closed and they actually sent the money by Western Union (no
> Paypal then). From my understanding they weren't due to dissolve the TRS
> controllers until early 2000 and the lack of one shut one line down, laying
> people off and keeping orders from going out the door.

I had a similar situation with an XT. I bought an IBM XT that was in
pretty good original shape from a surplus shop. I had my fun with it,
but grew tired of it, and decided to Ebay it. A corporation that builds
equipment for power companies bought it from me. It didn't go too high,
unfortunetly, but they paid me to "next day" it to California! The
shipping cost was way more than the bid. Unfortunetly, it took me
awhile to get it to them because UPS dropped the check they sent me to
my apartment rental office, they knew nothing of it, so the company sent
another check by Fedex. The apartment rental office then found the
other check and I got both checks :-( I was a bit too nervous to send
the computer with out payment. I didn't want to be stuck with that
shipping bill!

I asked what the computer was for..... they had some sort of test
equipment that was run by an IBM XT.... it died, and they needed another :-)

Chad Fernandez
Michigan, USA
Received on Mon May 13 2002 - 23:57:39 BST