On 12/21/14 8:23 AM, jim s wrote: Pricing and the quality of stuff has gone cuckoo there. The 'Vintage Computing' section is now filling up with AGP cards, VGA cables, and $100 386SX boards. One whole section now is pretty much nothing but late 90's Mac swag.

Think of what it is like for us that have been doing this for nearly 30 years. I remember passing on craploads of good vintage stuff back in the late 1980s because they did not have blinkenlights or - gasp! - was made after 1980. -- Will

But that isn't the whole story either.. Suppose I win an object for, say, $50. What you don't know is that my high bid limit was actually $200 and that I would have been happy to pay $200 for it. It's the same in second-hand shops, collector's fairs and physical auctions too, of course. The other week I saw an object I was interested in at a collectors fair. I asked the price, the seller replied, I paid and took the object. What I didn't say was that I would have paid 4 times as much for it. And nor would anyone else have said that in the same position. Then there's the issue (at auctions, physical and E-bay) of 2 people in a bidding war. An object is listed, bids start at, say, $50. 2 people want it, and bid against each other. Finally one gets it for $1000 as against the other's $990. So does that make it worth $1000? Well, if you now list another one starting at $50, you may well find only one person (the loser of the previous auction) bids, so gets it for the opening bid of $50. -tony

On Sun, 21 Dec 2014, Mark Linimon wrote: On a related note, I've mentioned this before, but there is also a serious flaw with using eBay completed searches to decide if an item should be listed for sale or junked. If a particular item hasn't been listed on eBay recently, and that is used as the deciding factor to scrap it, you can easily miss out on potential buyers. For example, I routinely search for certain models of Socket 7 Compaq PCs (as well as 386/486 and earlier Compaq desktops and laptops). The models I look for don't turn up too often because most ewaste companies seem to scrap them on sight. Those that do turn up are generally either completely trashed and/or are being listed by small/individual sellers who ask very high prices thinking that they are "rare" and "collectible" because they didn't see them in a completed listings search. [...and for those who would argue that Compaq computers were all junk/unreliable...I have a bunch of Socket 7 Compaq systems running 24/7 which have been running since ~1998-2000 with typically 2-3 reboots or so a year for kernel upgrades. The machines as currently configured are anything but stock, but the chassis, motherboards, and PSUs were pretty well engineered.]

On 12/21/2014 11:47 AM, William Donzelli wrote: I agree that ebay should be taken with a grain of salt but not ignored. This was sold just yesterday and is a great example of why. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Cromemco-System-Three-Computer-Vintage-/23142331296… Connor K.

* tony duell <ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk> [141221 11:54]: Check out the N8VEM google group and S100Computers.com for an S-100 80386 board (and more.) Todd

On Sun, 21 Dec 2014, Al Kossow wrote: But...what percentage of that stuff is from Mr. "wiredforservice" and his alt accounts? ;)