eBay and online auctions

Wonderful things, but.... I was looking around on eBay, and found several things that cought my eye. Hey, there's a Mac IIx 2/40 for $2! But pay another $20-50 more for shipping? I could probably find it for the same price or cheaper locally. Well, it will take some time... The most recent IIx I've seen for sale(although much more RAM/HD) is $175. But I HAVE seen them around(before I got interested in collecting computers) for anywhere from $10-500. It's a crazy world... Everyone always asks me why I don't have a C64 or TRS-80 or any of those type of computers. Well, I was offered a TRS-80 Model 4, I offered $5 for it, he responded that he didn't even sell it when he was offered $75 a few months earlier. I either run into people trashing or giving away their computers(Series/1, Apple IIe, PS/2 Model 50Z) or they want to sell them as antiques(and at prices much worse than any antique store I'VE ever seen...). Would someone hurry up and invent a time machine? Zip back about 5-10 years ago when people didn't really care either way and pick up some collectors pieces for $5 and come back to the future where people sell them for $500... <sigh> -JR http://members.tripod.com/~jrollins/index.html http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Lair/1681/