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Complete IBM PC @ low price on Ebay

An hour and 20 or so minutes from here. Is that a mono monitor or a color in mono mode? Not sure I want to go treck out there and back for it, but gas is $2 atleast.
 
Unknown_K said:
An hour and 20 or so minutes from here. Is that a mono monitor or a color in mono mode? Not sure I want to go treck out there and back for it, but gas is $2 atleast.
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That's for sure a MDA monochrome monitor... With the brightnes turned way to much up. It doesn't damadge the monitor, but it's more difficult to see what's on the screen then.
 
I can sympathize with Per! Down here in this part of the world collectible business computers like this rarely appear for sale, and if they did the physical condition would likely be very poor and I would have to compete with numerous others willing to spend big $$$. Mostly the only way is get a good machine is from personal connections.

The only reason I'm able to have a decent collection is from living in the US in a past life, and being willing to spend 2 grand to get them here!
 
wmmullaney said:
Ya, no thirty dollar shipping here.
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Yup, that's a lot of shipping costs there, especially since you have to package it with twice the actual necessary padding to make sure it survives the people that you are paying to get it there, thus raising the price even higher.

And that is precisely why I'm going to slant my site away from Vintage collectors and towards corporate legacy equipment supply and servicing.

If a company wants something, they'll buy it. If they want it fast, they'll pay for courier service. If they have something that's broken, they won't even blink about shipping the thing to you, paying for the repair and the shipping back.

When I started the site, I wanted to get lovingly repaired and fully tested equipment into the hands of people who would appreciate it. However, it seems that few individuals want to pay for a piece of hardware that has been repaired and/or tested to original specs and would rather pay 10 bucks less for a pig-in-a-poke from Fleabay that probably isn't going to work when they get it. I can no longer justify the sentiment expressed in the first sentence of this paragraph.

The Vintage (read 'stuff that no company would EVER have a use for') equipment will be fleabay'd off to whomever bids the most and that'll get it out of the way,

The early PC stuff will go on the site since I have places like the Pam-Am flight training complex buying 30 MB MFM HDs for their legacy flight simulators and ice companies in Ireland buying 16 bit ISA Multi-I/O cards and having them couriered for who knows what.

I mean, I doubt that companies care how much time and effort goes into fixing and testing this stuff either, but, they'll pay what it costs because they need it.

Maybe this should go into the Rants section, but, it's just business.
 
I don't blame ya! But does this mean that I can't unload my crap^H^H^H^H vintage gear on you any longer?

What I find amusing is that lots of folks will pay $50 +$10S&H, but not $10 +$50S&H for the same item...
 
paul said:
I can sympathize with Per! Down here in this part of the world collectible business computers like this rarely appear for sale, and if they did the physical condition would likely be very poor and I would have to compete with numerous others willing to spend big $$$. Mostly the only way is get a good machine is from personal connections.

The only reason I'm able to have a decent collection is from living in the US in a past life, and being willing to spend 2 grand to get them here!
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Exactly right Paul. I look with envy at your AT and I don't have high hopes of an equivalent appearing around here any time soon if ever.

I've got a good condition 5150 thanks to the generousity of Frozenfire75i on this forum but shipping cost an arm and a leg. It's just a fact of life and once I've got enough spare cash I'll probably look to source an AT external to New Zealand. It will cost, but that's just the way it is.

Tez
 
MikeS said:
I don't blame ya! But does this mean that I can't unload my crap^H^H^H^H vintage gear on you any longer?

What I find amusing is that lots of folks will pay $50 +$10S&H, but not $10 +$50S&H for the same item...
Click to expand...


Because people feel the $10 + $50 shipping should be $10 + $10 shipping (only worth $20 total).

The problem with vintage machines is that very few people are willing to pay a premium for anything to add to their collection at any one time, so you have to sit on a HUGE pile of stuff for decades to sell much, all your profits end up going to pay for the warehouse. The only way to make any money is to find a good deal on something highly collectable and sell it asap. This is great for a quick but, but cannot sustain a company.
 
Druid6900 said:
Yup, that's a lot of shipping costs there, especially since you have to package it with twice the actual necessary padding to make sure it survives the people that you are paying to get it there, thus raising the price even higher.

And that is precisely why I'm going to slant my site away from Vintage collectors and towards corporate legacy equipment supply and servicing.

If a company wants something, they'll buy it. If they want it fast, they'll pay for courier service. If they have something that's broken, they won't even blink about shipping the thing to you, paying for the repair and the shipping back.

When I started the site, I wanted to get lovingly repaired and fully tested equipment into the hands of people who would appreciate it. However, it seems that few individuals want to pay for a piece of hardware that has been repaired and/or tested to original specs and would rather pay 10 bucks less for a pig-in-a-poke from Fleabay that probably isn't going to work when they get it. I can no longer justify the sentiment expressed in the first sentence of this paragraph.

The Vintage (read 'stuff that no company would EVER have a use for') equipment will be fleabay'd off to whomever bids the most and that'll get it out of the way,

The early PC stuff will go on the site since I have places like the Pam-Am flight training complex buying 30 MB MFM HDs for their legacy flight simulators and ice companies in Ireland buying 16 bit ISA Multi-I/O cards and having them couriered for who knows what.

I mean, I doubt that companies care how much time and effort goes into fixing and testing this stuff either, but, they'll pay what it costs because they need it.

Maybe this should go into the Rants section, but, it's just business.
Click to expand...

I would think what companies need is an every changing age range as old stuff is finally retired and the items still in use get "newer" every few years. Your inventory has to change accordingly.

If people wanted to pay for repairs then TV/VCR shops would still exist. While I can apreciate the knowledge and tools needed to repair something, most times its just cheaper and easier to find a replacement from another machine. If you look around long enough you will find what you need cheap enough.

As you noted there is a big difference between what a company that makes money from a device they need fixed, and some guy that just collects things for fun.

How many people here pay ebay prices for anything?
 
Unknown_K said:
>What I find amusing is that lots of folks will pay $50 +$10S&H, but not $10 +$50S&H for the same item...

Because people feel the $10 + $50 shipping should be $10 + $10 shipping (only worth $20 total).
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Well, of course, that's the point: it's worth $60 to them and they'd gladly pay it, but they'll pass on it just because the shipping's so much more than the item (as it usually is).

I should probably say "we" instead of "they"... ;-)
 
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Unknown_K said:
I would think what companies need is an every changing age range as old stuff is finally retired and the items still in use get "newer" every few years. Your inventory has to change accordingly.

If people wanted to pay for repairs then TV/VCR shops would still exist. While I can apreciate the knowledge and tools needed to repair something, most times its just cheaper and easier to find a replacement from another machine. If you look around long enough you will find what you need cheap enough.

As you noted there is a big difference between what a company that makes money from a device they need fixed, and some guy that just collects things for fun.

How many people here pay ebay prices for anything?
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That's IF they can change it and IF there is a spare machine to steal parts from. Some companies are locked into a specific machine, running specific software that does EXACTLY what they need it to do and it's a niche.

I don't think Pam-Am Flight training is going to scrap their multi-million dollar flight simulators of a legacy level when there is still a small supply of parts that I and others can supply them with.

That's just my point. My site was aimed at the hobbyist collector and they don't NEED stuff, they WANT stuff. Therein lies the pricepoint difference and the reason that it makes sound business sense to change the focus.

The company/collector ratio on my site, at the moment is 8:1 and I can't really justify catering to that low of a level of consumers considering the time and expertise required to bring Vintage stuff back to life and back up to specs.

It's a strange business, but, you have to go with the group that's willing to pay for Tried and True stuff over Shot In The Dark stuff.
 
MikeS said:
....What I find amusing is that lots of folks will pay $50 +$10S&H, but not $10 +$50S&H for the same item...
Click to expand...

I'm not one of those people, but I do find it ugly when a seller has an item starting at 99 cents and has the shipping for a very light item at an astronomical figure. I look at the value to me and bid the item as the shipping is 'part' of that item, because it is, really. In other words - and this may seem simply - but I believe a lot of buyers don't really put enough emphasis on shipping cost. They 'want' the item and they fluff off the shipping costs when they are bidding. To me it's like those silly car leases where they tout the monthly payment is only like $200. but the 'upfront' money is 2 or 3,000 dollars! So it isn't $200. a month if you factor in the 3 grand - it's actually closer to $300. a month. But people generally don't look at it that way. Same thing when buying a house - if you go with a 20 year mortgage vs a 30 year mortgage you'll save enough in interest payments to easily buy a new car even if you do pay a little more per month. Statistically speaking I've tracked my eBay spending for the past couple of years and I've bought 95 item for my vintage computer hobby. Of those 95 items, 45 items I actually paid MORE for the shipping than the item costs, but on the overall shipping costs ran 80% of the price. That's not good, but you have to weigh all the factors. I got exactly what I wanted for prices I was willing to pay and that makes me a happy collector :) Don't think I don't envy those guys that grab that big haul of a van load of stuff for $50. or so, though!
 
Druid6900 said:
The company/collector ratio on my site, at the moment is 8:1 and I can't really justify catering to that low of a level of consumers considering the time and expertise required to bring Vintage stuff back to life and back up to specs.

It's a strange business, but, you have to go with the group that's willing to pay for Tried and True stuff over Shot In The Dark stuff.
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I asume you test/verify items when companies need it before the sale, instead of testing everything as you get it. Don't see a problem servicing both areas (AS-IS, Tested Working) at the same time. The issue is you cannot sell tested&working to people looking for as-is prices.

It all comes down to where you get the inventory, how much you pay for it, and what you want to get for your time.
 
I don't envy the people who get a van full of equipment for $50 and some gas. While you do end up with some cool stuff, I would bet you end up with things that do not work or you do not have a use for them. If you resell you can get rid of the stuff you don't like, or trade it for things you need. But what I find people doing is just going after the huge hauls and not realy collecting what they wanted in the first place. I have specific areas I collect in and I try not to snag anything that doesn't fit. The longer you collect the more duplicates of things you like you run into, it gets harder to find the missing pieces.

I am still waiting for the hobby to get to the point all the others evolve into, where a professional body grades everything by functionality, original setup/build sheet , condition, etc and get paid decent bucks to do it.
 
dear OP: good tip, my snipe bears in mind the guy has a $10.0 pickup
fee. But it's only 20 minutes to his place; for the complete XT system
($1.04--no pickup fee) we drove 2 hrs. Kbd great, HD a little noisy:)
 
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