Keatah Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 (edited) It is really dis-heartening to see folks selling Apple II (and I'm sure other classic computing stuff) for far more than the stuff is really worth. I will not give those fleabay sellers any visibility by posting references here in atariage, it ain't worth the time to copy and paste it! But I am seeing sealed software (common titles) selling for 169.95 .. Some stickers for $30.00, a dirt-cheap-ultra-commonplace 80-column card for like $49, RF modulator going for $40. Some reference books are going for $200, yeahh right!! And some other book is going for $1000!!! Uhh-huh!! Disk drive interface cards for anywhere from 9.95(max I'd pay), to $59.95.. Mmmmkay?? I keep looking to see what is special and different about the high-pricers, and there ain't a damn thing! No name soundboards, one offer's , selling for 250+, blank floppies for 2.95 each?? Good god! Commonplace magazines full of fluff (nothing compares to the bytes scanning project going on here!) running at $15 an issue. pffftth!! And then we got folks taking apart disk II units and selling individual parts from them, like the analog controller for $89!! Just get another drive for $10 and take it apart yourself! Duh! My all time kicker is the that book for $1000, and a MicroModem for $400.00!! Or it's bare card (minus the analog interface box) for $89.00. Dammn, ya gotta be stupid to buy at those prices. As an avid collector and connoisseur of anything and everything Apple II related, I strongly suggest staying away from ePay sellers selling this stuff. Yeh, there are good deals, like disk drives for $10.00 or 16k memory cards for 5.95 .. Box of floppies for 2.95, yeh, now we're getting someplace, individual software manuals for 2.95 - 7.95, motherboards for $19, original reference manuals for $5.00 - yeh I can get behind that. The most common thing I note is that folks see "Apple" or "somehow related to "Apple" and the $$$ buzzer goes off. And antiquity and "old" or "vintage" somehow seems to magically make the price go up. Most likely there is a fat lady antique dealer getting some of this stuff into her shop and seeing it is "technology" and "apple" and "old" that must translate into $$$, somehow. A lot of this shit up for sale is dirty and smelly too. I once got a //e for $8.00, and there were dead things in it. I just hosed the fkucker off in backyard. Then removed all the chips and ran the whole thing through the dishwasher. Much better! If you want to know if something is a fair deal, or legit and up-n-up, pm me. Edited January 9, 2011 by Keatah Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mirage Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 You are saying things like "selling for" and "going for"... do you mean they really are selling at those prices you mentioned, or those are just the starting bid or un-sold BIN prices? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Usotsuki Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 It's been my experience that Apple ][ stuff does go for insanely high prices. It's Apple, which prolly explains most of it. :/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keatah Posted January 9, 2011 Author Share Posted January 9, 2011 You are saying things like "selling for" and "going for"... do you mean they really are selling at those prices you mentioned, or those are just the starting bid or un-sold BIN prices? Ahh yes, For the most part, as an avid collector and preserver of II series hardware and software I watch a lot of these auctions and monitor several forums. Most of the stuff on fleabay is *NOT* selling, and over the years I have noted that the amount of stuff not selling is growing. Considering the economy, still, the pricing is out of line and that is the root cause. I don't see this problem with C-64 or Atari stuff as much. It also seems the more mysterious a peripheral card is, the more likely it is a soccer-mom selling it, with the associate up-scale-neighborhood-high-pricing. There is little bidding going on in the II arena, both buy-it-now, and starting bid prices are way too high. And a lot of this stuff goes by without bids. I've seen stuff listed for over a year. So I write the seller and ask for a slightly lower price, say like 60 instead of 70. And "NOPE" no deal. They say its "rare" and someone will pay for it sooner or later. Sure as hell ain't gonna be me! It should also be noted that many of the winning auctions have only 1 or 2 bids going. I don't see any bidding wars occurring. Take this auction, it is borderline as to value --eBay Auction -- Item Number: 190485385858 -- This is one of the best and most stable and reliable memory boards around, the mfg process did have extra testing above and beyond what regular vendor would do. And the chips are all soldered in, no intermittent sockets to contend with. The spec for the IC's is very very generous and conservative. Look, good simple ground and +5v rails, and extra spacing and length(when needed) for signal integrity of the data lines. And yet still it's a mixed bag as to whether I'd pay the $40.00 , I have several of these btw. Back in the day, I spent $189 for a certified version of one of these boards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mirage Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 Yeah, I figured you meant stuff not selling. So, it's not "going for" or "selling for" anything... it's high asking prices. I'm not surprised though, as people are scraping more for money, they are trying to get more out of what they have... or what they think they have. Maybe the Apple stuff being more a focus of this as opposed to the Commodore/Atari stuff is that it's still a current name that random everyday people recognize and they perceive it to be "hot" and "historical", so they think they can get more...? Anyway, most of the stuff will sit unsold, and hopefully people drop their prices eventually. It's too bad a lot of it is kept out of collector's hands in the meantime. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atarian63 Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 It is really dis-heartening to see folks selling Apple II (and I'm sure other classic computing stuff) for far more than the stuff is really worth. I will not give those fleabay sellers any visibility by posting references here in atariage, it ain't worth the time to copy and paste it! But I am seeing sealed software (common titles) selling for 169.95 .. Some stickers for $30.00, a dirt-cheap-ultra-commonplace 80-column card for like $49, RF modulator going for $40. Some reference books are going for $200, yeahh right!! And some other book is going for $1000!!! Uhh-huh!! Disk drive interface cards for anywhere from 9.95(max I'd pay), to $59.95.. Mmmmkay?? I keep looking to see what is special and different about the high-pricers, and there ain't a damn thing! No name soundboards, one offer's , selling for 250+, blank floppies for 2.95 each?? Good god! Commonplace magazines full of fluff (nothing compares to the bytes scanning project going on here!) running at $15 an issue. pffftth!! And then we got folks taking apart disk II units and selling individual parts from them, like the analog controller for $89!! Just get another drive for $10 and take it apart yourself! Duh! My all time kicker is the that book for $1000, and a MicroModem for $400.00!! Or it's bare card (minus the analog interface box) for $89.00. Dammn, ya gotta be stupid to buy at those prices. As an avid collector and connoisseur of anything and everything Apple II related, I strongly suggest staying away from ePay sellers selling this stuff. Yeh, there are good deals, like disk drives for $10.00 or 16k memory cards for 5.95 .. Box of floppies for 2.95, yeh, now we're getting someplace, individual software manuals for 2.95 - 7.95, motherboards for $19, original reference manuals for $5.00 - yeh I can get behind that. The most common thing I note is that folks see "Apple" or "somehow related to "Apple" and the $$$ buzzer goes off. And antiquity and "old" or "vintage" somehow seems to magically make the price go up. Most likely there is a fat lady antique dealer getting some of this stuff into her shop and seeing it is "technology" and "apple" and "old" that must translate into $$$, somehow. A lot of this shit up for sale is dirty and smelly too. I once got a //e for $8.00, and there were dead things in it. I just hosed the fkucker off in backyard. Then removed all the chips and ran the whole thing through the dishwasher. Much better! If you want to know if something is a fair deal, or legit and up-n-up, pm me. Thats odd, Apple II stuff sold so low the last couple years we just scrap all of it when it comes in. Atari stuff is worth much more and c64 sells but not for much unless it's a rare item Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keatah Posted January 9, 2011 Author Share Posted January 9, 2011 Like Mirage said, it is the high asking prices discouraging sales. There was a recent time when I helped clean out some school inventories, the amount of computer garbage was unreal. We had vans and vans with all sorts of Apple II and IBM 5150 boxes. I would guess over 300 computers and associated peripherals for each. I kept some of the more interesting items, which isn't saying much because schools had just the basics. No juicy Saybrook 68000 boards or A.E. Transwarp cards. Anyhow, the bulk of it got compacted and e-cycled. A few mfg. plants in the same area were getting rid of a gazillion ibm 5100's, I didn't have the opportunity to get any of those since I wasn't running the show for that pickup. Much of the value in the Apple stuff, I guess, will be realized once more of the said items are disposed of, making them genuinely rare. Or once folks realize that it is more trouble than it's worth to keep futilely posting on ebay with high prices; they may just toss the stuff or try the garage-sale estate-sale route. Till then.. who knows?? But in the near (15 years) future, I bet all the Apple II stuff will be worth a lot more than what we think it should be. Just like the S-100 bus stuff. I hear that aspect of classic computing is a gold-mine! I don't personally know much about S-100, Just the Apple II stuff. And to think of the crates and crates of that stuff getting e-cycled. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+wood_jl Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 When you do an Ebay search, click on "Advanced" right next to the "Search" button. Scroll down and check "search completed listings." Then you get an idea of what stuff is really worth....or at least **SELLING** for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesD Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 Ya gotta remember that a lot of Apple II people migrated to the Mac and they are used to overpaying. But seriously... anything even slightly rare on the Apple II seems to draw a much higher price than on other platforms. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamesk Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 It's insane in general. There's a few sellers on there like vintagecomputingmuseum that always have insane prices. They must sell something every once in a while. I just looked over some IIgs prices. Prices must still be crazy from the holidays. Complete IIgs systems were going for ~25 plus shipping in OCT. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mirage Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 Complete known-working IIgs systems for $25? I'd be all over that if I ever saw one at that price. I usually stay away from stuff where they say "they can't test it" etc, because I have a feeling that's usually tested and known bad, they just don't want to say that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keatah Posted January 9, 2011 Author Share Posted January 9, 2011 It's insane in general. There's a few sellers on there like vintagecomputingmuseum that always have insane prices. They must sell something every once in a while. I just looked over some IIgs prices. Prices must still be crazy from the holidays. Complete IIgs systems were going for ~25 plus shipping in OCT. Yeh vintagemuseumcomputingshamuting was selling an apple ///+ for 895 a while back. I never thought twice once I found an office upgrading to 5150's. I picked up 2 of those beauties costing only my time and gas! I've seen //gs'es remain unsold, even with a price of 29.95! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desiv Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 One of the issues with something like the IIGS is size/weight... I wouldn't mind adding a IIGS sometime, but even at $30, it's going to be another $20 to ship, much more if that includes a monitor. For complete systems, local (craigslist or ?) is much better, just because those beasts are expensive to ship.. I do agree about the prices.. My //e has a Kensington System Saver on it, but the plastic tabs have cracked, so it's just "propped" up against the side. I pop out from time to time to see if I can pick up another one, and they have been (when I check) priced way above my range. I know when I got my //e, it took me quite a while to get a SSC at a reasonable price.. And the Apple prices bounce up and down like crazy... I remember someone was selling an Apple II (+ I think) system with various stuff with it... It sold for well over a thousand dollars (I can't remember how much exactly). I was watching it too, but not for the system. One of the games in the pic was in a plastic baggie and yes, it was Akalabeth.. But, the funny part was, after that, it seemed like every Apple II system posted for a month or so started at something like $250. :-) desiv Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamesk Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 Complete known-working IIgs systems for $25? I'd be all over that if I ever saw one at that price. I usually stay away from stuff where they say "they can't test it" etc, because I have a feeling that's usually tested and known bad, they just don't want to say that. There was a seller on ebay that was selling them as working last fall, therecyclequeen. It cost me 24.99 plus 38.06 shipping. It was well packed, Color Monitor, 03 ROM, 1MB expansion card, 2 drives, keyboard and mouse. It's yellowed but that can be fixed. Working on a 4MB card for it at the moment, got half the address lines soldered. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 I wouldn't mind an Apple III+ just for the sheer oddness of it. I remember seeing one in an office a long time ago and thinking that it was a more advanced Apple II. I guess I was sort of right, but mostly wrong on that one. Of course to make it useful you'd also need the IIe compatibility card (Saturn something or another) which are impossible to find. Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keatah Posted January 10, 2011 Author Share Posted January 10, 2011 (edited) I wouldn't mind an Apple III+ just for the sheer oddness of it. I remember seeing one in an office a long time ago and thinking that it was a more advanced Apple II. I guess I was sort of right, but mostly wrong on that one. Of course to make it useful you'd also need the IIe compatibility card (Saturn something or another) which are impossible to find. Tempest Both of my ///+ units have some sort "compatibility card" I would tend to guess these are those! I have them all safely packed away so I can only go on memory. And because these are ///+ units, so I am not totally familiar with their finer nuances like I am with the // series! And as a side project I'm currently trying to find a way to make my /// reliable by buffing the socket pins and using some dielectric compound to keep them shiny! Edited January 10, 2011 by Keatah Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prodos8 Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 My dad had an Apple ///+ that he used to run ///ez pieces on -- the forerunner to AppleWorks. Anyway you could boot an Apple //+ 'emulation' disk that would let you use the system as a 48K Apple //+. Which kinda sucked since the system had 256K and really should've been able to run 128K Apple //e & //c stuff. I think Sun Remarketing made a card for it that allowed it to function as a 128K //e but we didn't have one of those. Sorry for all the /'s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 Yeah there was a card that allowed it to run as a 128K Apple II (not sure if it was Enhanced or not or if it could Double Hi-Res). That's the only way it would be useful as Apple III native software is limited to business apps. If you have such a card that would be neat to see in action. The Apple III is ugly, but it has a certain charm. Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prodos8 Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 Anyone know where to get a print head for the Silentype printer? I have three of them but the ceramic print heads on all of them are broken. I suspect they work otherwise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keatah Posted January 14, 2011 Author Share Posted January 14, 2011 Anyone know where to get a print head for the Silentype printer? I have three of them but the ceramic print heads on all of them are broken. I suspect they work otherwise. I assume you mean the head is cracked? If so, I can sometimes repair those depending on where the crack is. I have the chemicals and tools to replate the traces and what not. Can you post a picture? Otherwise I believe it will have to be fleabay for used parts. Doing a little research, I bet the Trendcom 200 printer has the same heads as the 100. And the Silentype printer is a Trendcom 200 minus the microprocessor. I am researching into that right now. If you buy them from the auction would you want to split the cost and quantity? Because I only need one or two myself. eBay Auction -- Item Number: 140494460883 http://www.vectronicsappleworld.com/collection/silentype.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Silentype http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?icep_ff3=9&pub=5574883395&toolid=10001&campid=5336500554&customid=&icep_uq=silentype&icep_sellerId=&icep_ex_kw=&icep_sortBy=12&icep_catId=&icep_minPrice=&icep_maxPrice=&ipn=psmain&icep_vectorid=229466&kwid=902099&mtid=824&kw=lg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prodos8 Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 Anyone know where to get a print head for the Silentype printer? I have three of them but the ceramic print heads on all of them are broken. I suspect they work otherwise. I assume you mean the head is cracked? If so, I can sometimes repair those depending on where the crack is. I have the chemicals and tools to replate the traces and what not. Can you post a picture? Otherwise I believe it will have to be fleabay for used parts. Doing a little research, I bet the Trendcom 200 printer has the same heads as the 100. And the Silentype printer is a Trendcom 200 minus the microprocessor. I am researching into that right now. If you buy them from the auction would you want to split the cost and quantity? Because I only need one or two myself. eBay Auction -- Item Number: 140494460883 http://www.vectronicsappleworld.com/collection/silentype.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Silentype http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?icep_ff3=9&pub=5574883395&toolid=10001&campid=5336500554&customid=&icep_uq=silentype&icep_sellerId=&icep_ex_kw=&icep_sortBy=12&icep_catId=&icep_minPrice=&icep_maxPrice=&ipn=psmain&icep_vectorid=229466&kwid=902099&mtid=824&kw=lg Mine are missing bits and are like cracked in half. The top of the print head is missing on all of them. I broke my last working one myself when the paper jammed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keatah Posted January 14, 2011 Author Share Posted January 14, 2011 Well take a look at the auction I posted, is that what you need? I don't have my silentypes opened up so I can't check right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
82-T/A Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 It is really dis-heartening to see folks selling Apple II (and I'm sure other classic computing stuff) for far more than the stuff is really worth. I will not give those fleabay sellers any visibility by posting references here in atariage, it ain't worth the time to copy and paste it! But I am seeing sealed software (common titles) selling for 169.95 .. Some stickers for $30.00, a dirt-cheap-ultra-commonplace 80-column card for like $49, RF modulator going for $40. Some reference books are going for $200, yeahh right!! And some other book is going for $1000!!! Uhh-huh!! Disk drive interface cards for anywhere from 9.95(max I'd pay), to $59.95.. Mmmmkay?? I keep looking to see what is special and different about the high-pricers, and there ain't a damn thing! No name soundboards, one offer's , selling for 250+, blank floppies for 2.95 each?? Good god! Commonplace magazines full of fluff (nothing compares to the bytes scanning project going on here!) running at $15 an issue. pffftth!! And then we got folks taking apart disk II units and selling individual parts from them, like the analog controller for $89!! Just get another drive for $10 and take it apart yourself! Duh! My all time kicker is the that book for $1000, and a MicroModem for $400.00!! Or it's bare card (minus the analog interface box) for $89.00. Dammn, ya gotta be stupid to buy at those prices. As an avid collector and connoisseur of anything and everything Apple II related, I strongly suggest staying away from ePay sellers selling this stuff. Yeh, there are good deals, like disk drives for $10.00 or 16k memory cards for 5.95 .. Box of floppies for 2.95, yeh, now we're getting someplace, individual software manuals for 2.95 - 7.95, motherboards for $19, original reference manuals for $5.00 - yeh I can get behind that. The most common thing I note is that folks see "Apple" or "somehow related to "Apple" and the $$$ buzzer goes off. And antiquity and "old" or "vintage" somehow seems to magically make the price go up. Most likely there is a fat lady antique dealer getting some of this stuff into her shop and seeing it is "technology" and "apple" and "old" that must translate into $$$, somehow. A lot of this shit up for sale is dirty and smelly too. I once got a //e for $8.00, and there were dead things in it. I just hosed the fkucker off in backyard. Then removed all the chips and ran the whole thing through the dishwasher. Much better! If you want to know if something is a fair deal, or legit and up-n-up, pm me. There are a lot of people addicted to their collections, and they are unwilling to part with anything unless it's a really high price. I'm not suggesting that people shouldn't and can't collect their stuff, but what I am saying is that there ACTUALLY ARE people who are "addicted" to their collections. By putting the prices so ridiuclously high, they know that they'll never sell this crap. But... on the off chance that they do sell something, it because an offer they cannot refuse... heh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madmax2069 Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 just checked for Apple II items on CL some times you run into things like this http://cincinnati.craigslist.org/sys/2163161047.html then sometimes you run into things like this http://cincinnati.craigslist.org/clt/2123581561.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Usotsuki Posted January 26, 2011 Share Posted January 26, 2011 I get the feeling most of the Apple ][ community has a lot more disposable money than the rest of us... ...myself as a rare exception. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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