10 Jun
1998
10 Jun
'98
2:15 p.m.
On Wed, 10 Jun 1998, John Higginbotham wrote:
I still maintain that eBay, apparently being the premier site for
auctioning off one's vintage computer stock, does not produce the exemplar
of classic computer "values". The prices people pay there are without
argument on the high end of what anyone would normally pay in any other
venue, and if anything only serve to move the average price paid higher.
The prices paid there do NOT represent scarcity, nor do they in a lot of
cases even represent true demand. What I mean is that it seems anything
that's advertised as a "classic" or "collector's item" will be
converged
upon like hyenas on a bloated yak corpse. There is a distinct group of
bidders on eBay who wait for the next "collectible" computer to be posted
and then stampede over one another to be the one to get it, seemingly
regardless of the price it takes to "win". I wonder what the age of some
of these bidders are, since it would seem ignorance plays a big part in
the eventual selling price of an item.
I don't know how many of you have ever been in a real auction, but its
very easy to get carried away and bid too high for something, higher than
even retail market value in fact! I know, because I've seen it. And I've
also gotten caught up in the adrenaline rush that comes in a fierce
bidding war. Its not pretty. If you're an amateur at auctions then it
can happen very easily. I think a lot of what goes on at eBay is a matter
of a bunch of amateurs who know little to nothing about what they are
bidding on but simply want to build a collection of old computers, just
because they think may be worth a lot of money someday. I guess they've
been reading the occasional articles on collecting computers that come
along and get the impression that this is some hot fad, perhaps not
realizing that this too will pass.
I and others have said in the past that there's no wrong reason for
wanting to collect computers, but this craze I see going on at eBay is in
the very least stupid.
Sam Alternate e-mail: dastar(a)siconic.com
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auctions.
I'd suggest that the exact opposite is true. Whenever somebody
asks this list "how much is this thing worth", the answer is invariably
"whatever somebody is willing to pay". Basically, valuation of
collectibles is a democratic process not an analytical one belonging to
some exclusive domain of experts.
Exactly, hence the value of an auction environment. That is what "whatever
someone is willing to pay" means, isn't it?