10 May
2000
10 May
'00
7:49 a.m.
At 06:04 PM 5/9/00 -0700, you wrote:
This makes no sense. eBay prices as a rule are always
much more than once
can expect to find in the "real world".
On one hand people think the Net is everything, on the other some
people want to declare sections of it to be out of this world.
As I have always maintained in the past, eBay has done
nothing but
artifically inflate the prices for old computers to the detriment of this
hobby (and others as well).
It makes just as much sense to claim that classic computer
prices were artificially low. Price is set between buyer and
seller. It will swing with the wind - as well as with the flow
of information and an increase in perceived value or other
forms of desirability. Prices would double again if Bill Gates
announced he was snatching up classic computers to create
a dozen museums of computing history around the country.
I was reading an article the other day that talked about the
author's son selling a rare Beanie Baby on eBay. Did you know that
high-ticket Beanie sales are often arbitrated by a third-party
expert who serves as an authenticator? They receive $30 for
their service. This was for a $250 Beanie.
- John