Why the bleep is eBay so expensive??

[animekenji]

Well that's wonderful. I got a quote on a 80 GBP Amstrad 6128. The shipping is 200 GBP. Somehow that gave me a pause

This is why long distance shipping is often not worth it. I made the mistake several years ago of buying a bulk lot of Mac parts from a UK seller and it ended up costing too much to ship because of the weight. He was nice about it, though, and let me cherry pick what I wanted from the lot and resold the rest in another listing. He actually ended up getting more in the end, but don't count on everyone being so nice. Many will complain to ebay about a non-paying bidder if you don't follow through.

 

[creepingnet]

I dont think very many as speaking with someone in Japan, they are non existent and he'd never seen nor heard of a PCJR

Yeah, correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems Japan's main computer market was MSX, and NEC PC98 standard up until sometime in the 1990's. I even notice when I'm digging around for NEC Ultralites and NEC Versa laptops from the early 90's I come across a lot of PC98s that look a lot like the Versa 486 units. NEC is like IBM over there or so a few different people I've heard/read saying over the past few years. I've actually toyed with picking up one of the 98's but I'd probably need to learn Japanese to get the most out of it, and the prices are insane - unlike the Versas which I pick up for much cheaper.

That is something I find kind of fun about this activity though, is that when you find a product that originated from another country you sometimes get an opportunity to learn how their computer landscape was so different in the 1980's and 1990's from your own.

 

[VERAULT]

Just like there was a division with home computers and "serious/work" computers in the US in the early 80's, I feel the same thing went on in Japan somewhat later into the early 1990s. Only the executive types would have a fujitsu or NEC IBM compatible and most people at home would have something like an MSX which would be primarily a games machine.

 

[framer]

I just confirmed my suspicions what show "sold" price is lie. I was in need of a couple of old hard drives so I started browsing the listing and put a couple on my watch list. The sellers soon emailed me an offer to sell the item for 50% less. Now the price was getting more in line with what I would consider. I then replied with a counter offer 30% less then their offer and it was excepted. The "Sold" price shown in the sold listing was the full original price. People would think that someone paid that as a market price when it fact it was 65% less.

The system to use sold prices is broken IMHO. Don't be afraid to offer a lower price, don't buy if you don't get a fair price.