Bay Area: IBM 4341 and HP3000

[js at cimmeri.com]

On 1/11/2015 4:50 AM, jim s wrote:
>
> I talked to him at length and got a little more on the story.  ...
> ... [snip]
> I'm willing to say that my impression of the guy is that he had very 
> high expectations of what he had stored...
>
No wonder.   As a buyer, the worst thing you can do with any seller is 
have a bunch of people calling up, expressing interest, and informing 
the seller that he has special items and that there are special groups 
of people out there who are interested.   Now the seller's beliefs in a 
high value are confirmed.

It's far better for a potential buyer that the seller thinks he has junk 
only a scrap dealer is interested in.  Scrap dealers don't pay diddly squat.

The more who call, the more the sellers hopes are raised.

Why people who have no actual capability of purchasing these items are 
calling the seller up and taking up their time, is beyond me.  All you 
do is raise the difficulty of negotiations for the actual guy who might 
end up buying the items.

Any actual buyer is fully capable of getting all the answers they need 
without your interference.

For the similar reasons, as a frequent buyer, it also highly annoys me 
when systems on eBay or Craiglist are found and rebroadcasted here.  
Now, my chance find has been made aware to a much wider audience, the 
competition shoots way up, and I have to pay more.

Of course, there's sellers here too who benefit from the 
rebroadcasting.  But I say, let them broadcast themselves.

- J.