On Fri, Apr 27, 2001 at 09:45:52AM -0500, Jeffrey S. Sharp (jss(a)ou.edu) wrote:
  Quoting "Claude.W"
<claudew(a)videotron.ca>ca>:
  Ebay or any other auction site does not
"equate" ... with the
 "true-spirit" of collecting classic computers IMO... It has not
 helped a lot the collecting hobby IMO and has driven the price of a
 lot of stuff to ridiculous levels 
 Prices get hight because *people* are willing to pay that much.  It's
 not eBay's fault, it's the people's fault.  And if people will pay
 that much (especially if it happens regularly), then that's what the
 item is *worth*.  There is nothing wrong with wanting what the item
 is worth. 
Well, no -- the value (market price) of an item isn't what *one
person* will pay, it's what *people* will pay ("what the market will
bear"). EBay has a handful of features which almost certainly are
designed to inflate prices through psychological factors, thus prices
on eBay are *not* market prices. I agree that it's not eBay's fault
and that it's the fault of at least two bidders in a particular
auction, but what the item sells for on eBay and what the item is
worth are two different things (and one is not necessarily higher than
the other).
   -Rich
--
------------------------------ Rich Lafferty ---------------------------
 Sysadmin/Programmer, Instructional and Information Technology Services
   Concordia University, Montreal, QC                 (514) 848-7625
------------------------- rich(a)alcor.concordia.ca ----------------------