11 Mar
2009
11 Mar
'09
9:58 p.m.
In article <alpine.DEB.2.00.0903111408460.28396 at slate.spiritone.com>,
"Zane H. Healy" <healyzh at aracnet.com> writes:
On Wed, 11 Mar 2009, Richard wrote:
I don't know why you want to make this personal, even though you
"refrain", its quite clear that comment is intended to insult me.
I would have more respect for you if you just insulted me outright
instead of trying to insult me while at the same time claiming higher
moral ground (and failing).
The subject of prices comes up on this list regularly. Routinely the
comments are made "back 20 years ago I was picking these up for free".
Well, that's a nice anecdote, but it isn't useful in determining what
people are willing to pay today. Routinely the complaint is made that
ebay has done nothing but drive up prices and so-on. Like it or not,
that is the reality. Yeah, it would be great if this stuff was all
just sitting by the curb and all you had to do was drive up and put it
in your car. It isn't. Wishing for the good ole days is irrelevant.
What I've noticed on this list is that the
people here have a tendency
to undervalue what other people are willing to pay for vintage computing
gear. Whether that's because they are just too cheap to pay a higher
price or because they are living in a past-time when vintage computing
collecting wasn't popular (I paid $100 11 years ago) or whatever, I
don't know. However, it has been consistent observation in my experience.
I'll refrain from saying what I have noticed a tendancy for... You'll note that based on what was listed, I said
that the only part on that
PDP-11/44 with any value was the Power Supply. I paid $100 11 years ago for
one that was missing the RAM (and network card but that wouldn't stop it
from working). Without a high value card or cards, and missing cards like
the one in question is there is no way it's worth $750. It is worth half of
that max.
You're talking like I have claimed the price of $750 is justified or
reasonable. I have done no such thing. I am only pointing out that
fire sale prices for PDP-11s from a decade ago are irrelevant to what
people are willing to pay today.
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