More collectors and less stuff to buy so prices rise.
The key to a cheap hobby is to collect stuff nobody else wants.
I was lucky enough to find freecycle back when old computers were literally junk, picked up some stuff on ebay when shipping was cheap and most sellers viewed it as a garage sale and not a money making venture. And I was lucky enough to snag items other collectors wanted gone, stuff that was not worth shipping, and a local recycler who let me buy whatever I wanted at a 2-3x scrap prices.
These days shipping is expensive, people make a living off of ebay, freecycle is pretty much dead, and most collectors have a long list of people wanting their gear for $$$ (I get PM all the time on forums from people looking to buy something I mentioned in the forum). Also sadly the local recycler went bust which is probably a good thing since I have no room for more machines anyway.
Then you have scrappers who recycled whole generations of machines.
So all this talk about why are prices going up is kind of puzzling for me. Even during my weekly trips to the recycler a decade ago most of what was there were P2/P3 machines and they tried to refurb anything P4 and newer. You have to go back 20 years to find cheap Amiga equipment.
The key to a cheap hobby is to collect stuff nobody else wants.
I was lucky enough to find freecycle back when old computers were literally junk, picked up some stuff on ebay when shipping was cheap and most sellers viewed it as a garage sale and not a money making venture. And I was lucky enough to snag items other collectors wanted gone, stuff that was not worth shipping, and a local recycler who let me buy whatever I wanted at a 2-3x scrap prices.
These days shipping is expensive, people make a living off of ebay, freecycle is pretty much dead, and most collectors have a long list of people wanting their gear for $$$ (I get PM all the time on forums from people looking to buy something I mentioned in the forum). Also sadly the local recycler went bust which is probably a good thing since I have no room for more machines anyway.
Then you have scrappers who recycled whole generations of machines.
So all this talk about why are prices going up is kind of puzzling for me. Even during my weekly trips to the recycler a decade ago most of what was there were P2/P3 machines and they tried to refurb anything P4 and newer. You have to go back 20 years to find cheap Amiga equipment.