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Huge sale of vintage computers in the US on Ebay - nothing to do with me

He's known

He's known

And ignored.

FWIW, he's also trying to buy Sellam's collection from Tri Valley Recycling.
 
So .. we've talked about him here before and I hear he's a member here as well. FWIW there's nothing wrong with him. You can see his feedback and gauge for yourself. Buying stuff from Tri-Valley Recycling (Sellam's repo'd collection) is certainly nothing I would support nor pursue but I consider Sellam a friend so it's mostly personal morals about the situation but popular to avoid buying a fellow collectors stuff due to bad circumstances. Anyway regarding VintageComputerMuseum the only comments regarding his/their gear is that it's generally over priced or on the high side. Not always but a lot of the time it's collector prices for average gear. That's about it though. I do think I've actually bought something from him in the past also and it was all fine. I think it was probably a Columbia Data Products computer as I was seeking some firsts (IBM clones). They definitely have some insane gear though. They could be a museum in their own right if it was on display.
 
Nope. He's a legit seller. No scams just high prices. I do appreciate the announcement by Al though regarding buying up Sellam's gear. I personally stay away from sellers with his stuff.
 
Al Kossow said:
And ignored.
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VintageComputerMuseum may be a member here, but his main motive is to acquire computers and sell them for a profit. He purchases computers at low prices and then tries to sell them at 4 to 5 times the going rate(or even higher). He targets potential buyers outside of the US. There are few sellers that are willing to ship outside the US due to scams and other problems. With so few computers available to non-US buyers, they don't have much choice but to due business with him or other sellers like him. If the systems he sells were in top notch working order, then maybe the price may be worth it, but most of his auctions are untested.
Most sellers don't have the patience he has either. I have seen auctions of his on eBay they are listed and re-listed and go for 5 years or more without selling.

Earlier this month someone was offering an IBM 5160 system free to a good home. He was one of the first responders to the offer. The owner probably had no idea that he wasn't acquiring it for his personal use, but to "flip" it for a profit.
 
Chuckster_in_Jax said:
...Earlier this month someone was offering an IBM 5160 system free to a good home. He was one of the first responders to the offer. The owner probably had no idea that he wasn't acquiring it for his personal use, but to "flip" it for a profit.
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Morally, I find that very troubling. The intent was clear that it go to a good home for use, not for profit.
 
Paralel said:
Morally, I find that very troubling. The intent was clear that it go to a good home for use, not for profit.
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There are laws that prohibit people from committing illegal acts under penalty of incarceration and that doesn't stop some of them. If you believe that a disclaimer like the one above is going to prevent some people from turning a profit on legally obtained and legally sold merchandise you're quite naive. Just because most of us here tend to take the moral high road with regard to our hobby doesn't mean that the rest of the world is going to follow suit. And by rest of the world I mean 99.99999999999999%!
 
Stone said:
There are laws that prohibit people from committing illegal acts under penalty of incarceration and that doesn't stop some of them. If you believe that a disclaimer like the one above is going to prevent some people from turning a profit on legally obtained and legally sold merchandise you're quite naive. Just because most of us here tend to take the moral high road with regard to our hobby doesn't mean that the rest of the world is going to follow suit. And by rest of the world I mean 99.99999999999999%!
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I don't believe it will prevent anything, I just find it disappointing.
 
Great Hierophant said:
As long as those prices remain so high and nonnegotiable, the original owner need not fear the total loss of his collection if he ever is able to legally reclaim it.
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GH,

You got to remember that Tri Valley is selling the collection at fire sale prices. VCM is over charging but that is after he has gotten a hold of a piece in the collection (i.e. piece is lost already). As for the morals of the situation: to some people this is a business so as long as it isn't illegal Heck as Stone pointed out even illegal doesn't stop some guys. There was a seller here a few weeks back talking about how he knew a buyer was "bad" based on his ethnicity. It takes all types. Just remember what goes around comes around.
 
I recently tried to message VCM to ask a question about one of their more reasonably priced items and got an automated message through ebay saying that this seller doesn't accept questions. Was a bit of a WTF moment for me. How many people would deal with someone that doesn't take questions?
 
kingchops said:
I recently tried to message VCM to ask a question about one of their more reasonably priced items and got an automated message through ebay saying that this seller doesn't accept questions. Was a bit of a WTF moment for me. How many people would deal with someone that doesn't take questions?
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Sorry my friend but you got bamboozled by the eBay useless automatic BS error generator. VCM accepts questions (never answers though in my experience) but for whatever reason you are being blocked. It could be your location. It could be some anonymous BS complaint filed by another seller on your account because they did not like your feedback. But for whatever reason you are tripping the automated blocks.
 
Shadow Lord said:
Sorry my friend but you got bamboozled by the eBay useless automatic BS error generator. VCM accepts questions (never answers though in my experience) but for whatever reason you are being blocked. It could be your location. It could be some anonymous BS complaint filed by another seller on your account because they did not like your feedback. But for whatever reason you are tripping the automated blocks.
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It may have been a one off, but it seems very odd. I buy lots of stuff from the U.S and I've even bought one thing from VCM in the past. I've got a perfect record on ebay, including my dealings with VCM.
 
kingchops said:
I've got a perfect record on ebay, including my dealings with VCM.
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That is why its BS. You think you have a perfect record because eBay won't tell you about the bogus false reports being filed. This is so they don't have to give you a chance to dispute them or defend yourself. It could also be a one off thing, but the only time I have seen it is for BS like this. Good luck with it!
 
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