6 Oct
2013
6 Oct
'13
8:56 p.m.
On Oct 6, 2013, at 3:54 PM, "Mark J. Blair" <nf6x at nf6x.net> wrote:
What's with all of the sellers on eBay in the
Vintage Computing section selling ICs and boards for "gold recovery"? Are they
just scamming ignorant folks, or do they actually believe they're selling something of
value? Do people believe that if they buy some PCB for $25 shipped, there will be more
than $25 worth of gold on it after they manage to etch away everything but the gold with
acid? Am I missing something, or are those sales about as honest as the typical 419 email
scam? TANSTAAFL...
Sorry, but I just had to rant there for a moment.
On the bright side, though, I find that you can sometimes take advantage
of the ignorance of the seller, who knows nothing about what a rare-ish
chip might ACTUALLY fetch, to get a pretty good deal. I saw some M88k
chips for about $5 each, which is pretty decent for eBay. Untested, of
course, but they're pretty robust as long as no one mangled the pins.
I didn't bite, but I feel like maybe I should have.
- Dave