Kai Kaltenbach &lt;kaikal(a)MICROSOFT.com&gt; wrote: Yes, absolutely. For the first 30 seconds, it seemed like online auctions would be a great way to pick up discontinued items at a good price, but the high quality of information and easy availability drove prices up. Good for sellers, bad for cheapskate buyers. I find the online "auctions" drive prices for conventional PC stuff exactly to the average retail price, or sometimes even above that. As I wrote on 2/23: I was in contact with the guy who sold these before he submitted them to ebay. For a moment, I thought I had a line on a good deal: a well-off surgeon / ham / computer junk had died and his family didn't know what to do with the multiple garages of stuff. For the computers, they turned to the one computer-head nephew, who was smart enough to know the value of the machines as well as how to get the highest price - which I wholeheartedly but sadly supported. :-) Van Burnham &lt;van(a)wired.com&gt; wrote: Oh, no. Now we know we're cool, if Wired is watching. :-) That'll do wonders for prices if we get on the "Wired/Tired" list. As for list fragmentation, I'm tempted to reconfigure my extranet news server to support a prototype handful of classic computer news groups, just to see what happens. Private news servers make so much more sense than mailing lists. How many people are on this mailing list? Greg Troutman &lt;mor(a)crl.com&gt; wrote: After thousands of UPS shipments, I say the opposite: the Sloth Office drives me crazy. They don't crush, they simple *lose*. Damage is most often a function of packaging materials. Don't re-use boxes unless they're in great shape. Be sure the box and packing materials match the mass and CG of the item inside. Yes, both UPS and USPS toss the box to the back of the truck and pile other boxes on top. Be prepared. - John Jefferson Computer Museum <http://www.threedee.com/jcm>