Ebay Heartbreak (was: ebay shenanigans) - test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

21 Apr 2004

Every once in a while you win, though...

I was at a 2-day hamfest last year and ran across
a gentleman selling vacuum tubes, old test gear, etc. for what I
considered outrageous prices.  Under the table, he had a complete
PDP-11/05 sitting with some other stuff.  I kinda figured it would
be also be overpriced, but when I asked him, his reply
(as well as I can remember it) went like this...

"Oh that?  Thats part of an antique computer... If I had
the whole thing, I'd want around $1,200 for it. it's RARE ;-)

At this point, I was kind of curious, so I asked if I could
look inside.  It appeared to be a complete 11/05 with core
memory, so I asked what he thought was missing.

"It's just the _control head_", he said, "The REAL computer
computer itself was MUCH larger that that!" At this point
he proceeded to inform me that all computers of this vintage
had to take up at least a full equipment rack. (all his companions
sitting on the tailgate of his truck nodded and mumbled things
like "Trust him, he's an EXPERT").

"Well, how much for just the _control head_?" I asked.

"I'll take $35.00, but understand that all sales are final!

And that's how I got a fully functional 11/05 for $35.00! 8-)

Yep, sometimes the hunt, and the satisfaction of getting
a good deal from a greedy self-appointed clueless expert
can be worth as much as the find itself!

-al-

-----Original Message-----
From: Joe R. [mailto:rigdonj@cfl.rr.com]
Sent: Wednesday, April 21, 2004 10:46 AM
To: dancohoe(a)oxford.net; General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic
Posts
Subject: RE: Ebay Heartbreak (was: ebay shenanigans)

At 08:31 AM 4/21/04 -0400, you wrote:
...
 Yesterday I ran across three PDP11/84's in parts at
a scrappers (one day too
...
 late). I sorted through the pile of boards and made up
a collection
including a lot of heavy backplane sections. The chief arrived back from
lunch and immediately found me to announce that his was prime material and
I'd have to pay at least $5.00 lb.

I re-organized my collection throwing back what turned out to be PMI memory
boards :-( and a lot of unidentifiable third party items (made by Megadata,
Bohemia NY) to reduce the hit but held onto the somewhat strange 11/84
backplane with the combination Qbus / Unibus sections.

When I got to the scales, he saw the backplanes and said they were full of
palladium and for a little he'd take $5 lb, but for a larger quantity,
they'd be more money per lb. I abandoned all of the backplanes at that
point.

He then pointed out two 11/44's that I'd missed in my search. "What's
your
offer", he said, "I was going to list them on Ebay and I expect $400
each".

I suggested that probably wouldn't happen and offered that I'd bid if he
did
...
 put them up for auction rather than make an offer here
that was far from his
...
 dream. His response was that he'd scrap them for
not much less than that.
I'm not sure what will happen because there's clearly some serious
bargaining going on, however, he's quite adamant about the scrap value and
prepared to throw stuff in the scrap that I won't pay this price for. His
claim is that he actually sends stuff out for custom refining and gets the
recovery value of what he sends. 

   I found that most scrappers are real BS artists!  I recently found a big
stack of Nova core memory boards. The scrapper swore that they were full of
gold and wanted $6/lb for them. The only gold on them was a trace in the
card edge connectors. Needless to say I passed on them. They're still
sitting there two years later (but they've been in the weather so they're
probably ruined by now).

   Joe

...

These valuations really scare me because it'll put the value beyond what
I'm
...
 interested in except for a few exceptional pieces.

Dan