26 Apr
2001
26 Apr
'01
9:27 a.m.
An interesting point.
At 04:47 PM 4/26/2001 -0400, you wrote:
From what I understand, the stuff offered here should
be giveaways or
trades....stuff I have done in the past and stuff that should be happenning
more here...unless most of the people here are in this to make money?
Executive Summary:
Some people here live and die by what they sell on Ebay and here
and elsewhere. Some people don't. We need both kinds of people in our
community. Some people, like myself, sell things (and buy things!) on Ebay
to support our collections.
--Chuck
---- Original rambling message I wrote:
My approach is as follows:
I am, by every definition, a "caretaker" of classic computer
gear. I have systems that span the gamut from very common
(MicroVAX II) to relatively rare (PDP 5). I don't make a
"living" off selling things either on Ebay or at a retail
establishment and my real "job" is primarily engineering
on modern networking gear.
The activity of collecting, restoring, operating, and
documenting classic computers takes time, money, energy,
and motivation. Time and energy are what everyone invests
and money is the thing that gets us more stuff to preserve.
In order to keep things "rational" I have limited my focus
to basically DEC Q-bus VAXen, PDP-8's, the -5 and a couple
of PDP-11's. This constrains my overall costs as well since
my entire collection can fit into a single garage if it isn't
all powered up at once :-)
I support my collection in three ways:
1) I invest time and energy in locating and transporting
useful items.
2) I invest money in acquiring things that I can't find elsewhere.
3) I trade or sell excess parts in order to fund 1 and 2 above.
Generally, selling things on Ebay is a PITA because there is packing and
shipping issues in addition to checks and paying and feedback etc. However,
sometimes I'll pick up something in the process of doing 1 or 2 above that
is not relevant to my collection, but by selling it I can continue to fund
things that _are_ relevant to my collection (the GRiD portables were
exactly that situation) By selling them I am able to fund the acquisition
of things that I need for my collection.
Trading things on this list is sometimes effective (I've done that too) and
I often give away things to other collectors things that might help them in
their collection because it is a win-win situation. However there aren't
many things I would trade a CBM collector for since I don't have any CBM
gear, however if I pick up a C128D on a pallet of VAXen (I recently saw an
Amiga 500 in this situation) then I might sell them the C128D to help
offset my acquisition costs or to get something else I need.
Do I advertise my auctions on this list? No. Why? Because if you're looking
for these things on Ebay then you will find my auctions. Is advertising
effective? You bet. When people other than myself have spread word about
something I'm selling to a list it has increased bids quite a bit. Is it
unethical to advertise? Hell no, its the backbone of commerce!
--Chuck