Ebay Heartbreak (was: ebay shenanigans)

From: Corda Albert J DLVA <CordaAJ_at_NSWC.NAVY.MIL>
Date: Wed Apr 21 17:03:27 2004

Every once in a while you win, though...

I was at a 2-day hamfest last year and ran across
a gentleman selling vacuum tubes, old test gear, etc. for what I
considered outrageous prices. Under the table, he had a complete
PDP-11/05 sitting with some other stuff. I kinda figured it would
be also be overpriced, but when I asked him, his reply
(as well as I can remember it) went like this...

"Oh that? Thats part of an antique computer... If I had
the whole thing, I'd want around $1,200 for it. it's RARE ;-)

At this point, I was kind of curious, so I asked if I could
look inside. It appeared to be a complete 11/05 with core
memory, so I asked what he thought was missing.

"It's just the _control head_", he said, "The REAL computer
computer itself was MUCH larger that that!" At this point
he proceeded to inform me that all computers of this vintage
had to take up at least a full equipment rack. (all his companions
sitting on the tailgate of his truck nodded and mumbled things
like "Trust him, he's an EXPERT").

"Well, how much for just the _control head_?" I asked.

"I'll take $35.00, but understand that all sales are final!

And that's how I got a fully functional 11/05 for $35.00! 8-)

Yep, sometimes the hunt, and the satisfaction of getting
a good deal from a greedy self-appointed clueless expert
can be worth as much as the find itself!


-al-



-----Original Message-----
From: Joe R. [mailto:rigdonj_at_cfl.rr.com]
Sent: Wednesday, April 21, 2004 10:46 AM
To: dancohoe_at_oxford.net; General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic
Posts
Subject: RE: Ebay Heartbreak (was: ebay shenanigans)


At 08:31 AM 4/21/04 -0400, you wrote:
>Yesterday I ran across three PDP11/84's in parts at a scrappers (one day
too
>late). I sorted through the pile of boards and made up a collection
>including a lot of heavy backplane sections. The chief arrived back from
>lunch and immediately found me to announce that his was prime material and
>I'd have to pay at least $5.00 lb.
>
>I re-organized my collection throwing back what turned out to be PMI memory
>boards :-( and a lot of unidentifiable third party items (made by Megadata,
>Bohemia NY) to reduce the hit but held onto the somewhat strange 11/84
>backplane with the combination Qbus / Unibus sections.
>
>When I got to the scales, he saw the backplanes and said they were full of
>palladium and for a little he'd take $5 lb, but for a larger quantity,
>they'd be more money per lb. I abandoned all of the backplanes at that
>point.
>
>He then pointed out two 11/44's that I'd missed in my search. "What's your
>offer", he said, "I was going to list them on Ebay and I expect $400 each".
>
>I suggested that probably wouldn't happen and offered that I'd bid if he
did
>put them up for auction rather than make an offer here that was far from
his
>dream. His response was that he'd scrap them for not much less than that.
>I'm not sure what will happen because there's clearly some serious
>bargaining going on, however, he's quite adamant about the scrap value and
>prepared to throw stuff in the scrap that I won't pay this price for. His
>claim is that he actually sends stuff out for custom refining and gets the
>recovery value of what he sends.


   I found that most scrappers are real BS artists! I recently found a big
stack of Nova core memory boards. The scrapper swore that they were full of
gold and wanted $6/lb for them. The only gold on them was a trace in the
card edge connectors. Needless to say I passed on them. They're still
sitting there two years later (but they've been in the weather so they're
probably ruined by now).

   Joe

>
>These valuations really scare me because it'll put the value beyond what
I'm
>interested in except for a few exceptional pieces.
>
>Dan
>
>
>
>
Received on Wed Apr 21 2004 - 17:03:27 BST