//e units going up in price!?!?

[Newsdee]

 

A tip of the hat to the legendary documentation for sure!

 

Not long ago I went through some of my older manuals and man I regret not getting into assembly programming back then. I was doing BASIC and Pascal ("proper programming language" according to grown-ups) but in hindsight assembly would have been a lot of fun!

 

I get the sentimental value for machines; it' s just different when it's your own hardware from back then. I just got a CFFA 3000 to put my trusty //e back in operation.

Edited March 24, 2016 by Newsdee

[Iamgroot]

Stealthing a broken //e? I dunno, but I'd sure do it.

 

 

The stealth IIe had a different case. It had the correct holes in the back for the ADB and ports, and did not have the slot openings. I know I have a picture of it here somewhere. The case sold for $400 US, but this was a about 4 years ago.

 

And the motherboard had the extra pins for a IIe power supply and joystick. And more than likely will be more valuable with the original ROM 00 as well.

I have the original motherboard with ROM 00, but am still kicking myself to this day for not forking out for the case.

[Keatah]

My parents were cool (and yet idiots) back in the day. They thought I'd hurt myself by playing around with assembly language. They thought the numbers and letters would confuse me and do something to my brain. Not saying that that didn't happen!

[Keatah]

One of the reasons why I cut back on purchasing vintage things is the principle of the matter. The other reason being is my collection is rather complete.

 

Some of these sellers acquire the material for next to nothing or for free. From estates and recycling centers and other low-cost sources. Then they mark it up thousands of percents - so to speak - and wait for a flunky to buy it. No loss to them.

 

You can usually tell these sellers based on the non-tech description and their username and the volume of sales.

[+OLD CS1]

One of the reasons why I cut back on purchasing vintage things is the principle of the matter. The other reason being is my collection is rather complete.

 

Some of these sellers acquire the material for next to nothing or for free. From estates and recycling centers and other low-cost sources. Then they mark it up thousands of percents - so to speak - and wait for a flunky to buy it. No loss to them.

 

You can usually tell these sellers based on the non-tech description and their username and the volume of sales.

 

Now if someone with community ties could get involved in this then vintage/retro-computing could be saved. Would have to be someone who had resources to spend the time and not be concerned about the money. I know from a recent purchase of mine that just getting it was a third of the over-all cost, which makes me think twice (or thrice) on purchases thereafter. I tried watching for estate sales in my spare time... what a bust that was.

[Keatah]

How were estate sales a bust? How does one get into these things? Never been to one ma'self.

[desiv]

At least around here, most "Estate Sales" that we'd see turned out to not really be Estate Sales, but just regular garage sales with marketing..

 

desiv

[Keatah]

An ebay seller told me, directly and clearly, that they have better luck seriously overpricing some items because it draws a different and more elite crowd as opposed to the bottom feeders.

 

This seller said a high price creates the illusion that something is better and higher quality than the lower-priced item. And some sellers claim that higher priced items get more "watches" on ebay, too. But it's not what they think, people are watching not to buy but to see if their collection is really worth an absurd amount. Or they watch it for amusement.

 

And of course there's always the overpriced item that if it sells it sells, great for the seller. But the seller is always willing to drop it to a more reasonable price.

 

Seems like all this marketing psychology 101 all over again.

[Gentlegamer]

The "elite crowd" referenced are otherwise known as collectards.

 

All the more reason to "circle the wagons" when it comes to the various collecting/restoring/documenting communities.

[Retro-Z]

Legit "estate sales" generally occur after someone passes away, however there are "living estate sales" which are more like "moving sales". With a proper estate sale, the family gets together, everyone decides what they want to keep from the passed away relative's house, then the family contacts an estate sale company to liquidate the rest of the home's contents. This way, the house can be cleared out so the real estate can be listed and sold as well. It's possible to find some great things at an estate sale, but it's also possible to find nothing but a bunch of canned food, unused but fairly old bathroom toiletries, worn out furniture, etc. However, in my experience, any old computer equipment is generally thrown out as trash before the sale even begins, to make room in the home for "the stuff that actually sells" (that's basically a direct quote from one of the local estate sale companies). I've found maybe a dozen computer systems at estate sales in over 10 years of going to them, none of which I'd consider notable. The last time I saw an Apple computer at an estate sale was probably about 8 years ago. I've had MUCH better luck at local flea markets and buying old computer systems on Craigslist directly from the original owners.

 

How do you get into one? Easy... look for the ad (online, on Craigslist, or in the local newspaper) and show up when they are open. However, if you REALLY want to get anything good, show up a few hours before it starts on the first day so you can be at the head of the line and snag the good stuff within the first 5 minutes. Then again, this sometimes turns into "be at the head of the line so you can be one of the first ones to see how obscenely overpriced everything is!"

Edited April 8, 2016 by Retro-Z

[desiv]

I've had MUCH better luck at local flea markets and buying old computer systems on Craigslist directly from the original owners.

I used to see things on Craigslist, but now even there things seems to be mostly watched by the reseller.

The guy who has the ad that says something like:

----

Will pay for your old Commodore|Atari|Apple systems!

Call me!!!

----

That guy (and I'm not saying he shouldn't be allowed to do that) is gathering as much as he can..

Only good thing I suppose is that he's likely to not offer enough as he wants to turn a profit.

Although between him getting the good deals and the people wanting too much, the middle ground is getting smaller and smaller..

 

desiv

Edited April 8, 2016 by desiv

[simbalion]

That's an issue here on CL anymore. Several ads are wanted ads for people trying to grab up as much as they can as far as game systems and even arcade games and pinballs go. Yes, I post toe occasional wanted ad for something I'm looking for, but I'm not trying to grab it all. Personally, I'm tired of dealers trying to snap everything up and think they should be restricted on CL. Some of these guys spam the site with multiple versions of the same ad!

[MarkO]

An ebay seller told me, directly and clearly, that they have better luck seriously overpricing some items because it draws a different and more elite crowd as opposed to the bottom feeders.

 

This seller said a high price creates the illusion that something is better and higher quality than the lower-priced item. And some sellers claim that higher priced items get more "watches" on ebay, too. But it's not what they think, people are watching not to buy but to see if their collection is really worth an absurd amount. Or they watch it for amusement.

 

And of course there's always the overpriced item that if it sells it sells, great for the seller. But the seller is always willing to drop it to a more reasonable price.

 

Seems like all this marketing psychology 101 all over again.

 

 

You can mention to any "outrageous seller" that whenever an Outrageous Price is posted here, or at Apple Fritter on the THIS is Laughable! thread, or on FaceBook, I will "check it out" and "Watch It" to see how long they keep it on eBay or CL until it reaches a "reasonable price"... All "reasonable priced items" will ignored by me, unless I am interested in purchasing it...

 

I can bet you will find 40-50 people here that do the same thing......

 

MarkO

[SSG]

 

 

You can mention to any "outrageous seller" that whenever an Outrageous Price is posted here, or at Apple Fritter on the THIS is Laughable! thread, or on FaceBook, I will "check it out" and "Watch It" to see how long they keep it on eBay or CL until it reaches a "reasonable price"... All "reasonable priced items" will ignored by me, unless I am interested in purchasing it...

 

I can bet you will find 40-50 people here that do the same thing......

 

MarkO

 

I bet a few years ago everything was more reasonably priced...

[Keatah]

Yup. I paid..

 

50 for a SuperDrive controller

200 for a 2nd expansion chassis

Paid to decommission and recycle platinum //e consoles

170 for zipGSX

25 for a duodisk

100 for a 10mb sider, complete

20 for a 4th micromodem

20 for nib cib enhancement kit

10 for superserial card

10 for 64k/80col card

20 for a carton of 500 disks

100-something for 3 transporter cards

40 or 50 for a trackstar

50'ish for 2 II+ consoles

All the free CRTs I could ever want, taxan, amdek, 1084S, Apple color

5 or 10 for a Sup'R'Mod

100'ish for Apple-Cat II, 212, ex module, x-10 module, tone decode, firmware, dev kit

Grappler 5 or 10 bucks

Mocking board less than 30

Disk controller card lot of 5 for under 10

Platinum motherboard, 20 or 30

Vulcan HDD kit less than 50

Z80 cards essentially free

3.5 drive under 20

Complete Alpha Syntauri kit, about a hundred

Mountain music system 80 or 100

Ramworks III 50'ish

Box of power supplies for free

Free IIgs consoles seemingly unlimited

And so much more!

[+OLD CS1]

How were estate sales a bust? How does one get into these things? Never been to one ma'self.

 

I was not able to find an easy source of the right or good ones. I went to a couple which were run like yard sales and no computer items what-so-ever. However, I recently made acquaintance with a guy who is an old hand at these and received some really good tips. Maybe I can turn my luck around.

[+OLD CS1]

This seller said a high price creates the illusion that something is better and higher quality than the lower-priced item. And some sellers claim that higher priced items get more "watches" on ebay, too. But it's not what they think, people are watching not to buy but to see if their collection is really worth an absurd amount. Or they watch it for amusement.

 

I tend to watch high-priced auctions for the items to re-list at a lower price. I am actually about to snag a device which has been dropping steadily after each re-list. This time it is a reasonable price and I am in the mood.

 

I am amused by people who cannot sell items but then re-list them at higher prices. Some things will get re-listed for a year before either disappearing or experiencing a massive price drop.