On Mon, Aug 28, 2023 at 2:24 PM Brad H via cctalk <cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:
> Sometimes. But a lot of times it's just simply trying to get as much as > possible, which I guess is rational economic behavior. And the fault for > the high prices is us collectors - ye who bid thousands for old Apple IIs > or $3500 for a Microswitch keyboard. > This topic is at least as old as the list itself :D > I've been hunting for a Sanyo MBC-16 like the ones we had in our > highschool.. there's one on ebay right now.. but despite another previously > selling for less than $300 the seller is absolutely locked to $999. And he > might be right, someone more motivated than me and to whom $1000 is no big > deal might reward his patience. There's one in Germany that's in much nicer shape. You probably can't do anything about the $154 shipping but you can probably negotiate the $323 asking price as it's open to offers. > I've seen that happen with items that sat literally for years on ebay > before selling pretty close to asking. > I finally sold a MITS Altair 8800 1K Static Mem board last month. I had it listed for $1,200 (accepted $1,100). What made it special were the (8) Intel C8101 static RAM chips, each of which is worth a small fortune. I was willing to sit on it until the right buyer came along, and he did. Guilty as charged :) > It's too bad the various collecting communities can't have the disarmament > equivalent of SALT talks and maybe agree to not keep feeding the beast. > Although I suppose on the upside, the high values mean stuff that might > otherwise get discarded survives. > I think I've come up with a nice way to get that accomplished through good old market dynamics (i.e. voluntarily) with a subtle twist. Sellam