High cost of ATARI on ebay..

[+tf_hh]

A lot of things already said here.

 

IMHO it makes a huge difference in the way the seller offer his items. Some people offer dirty, dusty and nasty looking goods for superlunary prices, I call them fools. But some other tested the goods, clean it, make good arrangements and - absolute important - offer COMPLETE systems. The main unit, all needed cables, power supplies, maybe a bunch of software titles and joystick(s). Such proposals will end in high prices sometimes. What´s wrong with that? I didn´t see any reason to be angry about that. A good seller has used hours and maybe days to clean up, repair, test, complete, ... the items and make a fine compilation.

 

The other big point is.. don´t forget the emotional facts. As already some wrote here, most buyers (as users here, too) are aged 40 years or above. It´s a "get the youth back" thing. The "good old times", whatever you call it. The same reason why people in these ages buy a 25 or 30 year old car with simple (or no) electronics, easy to repair and fixable at home without expensive and hard-to-get tools or extremly technical knowledge.

 

Maybe also a lot of people are "back to retro" for the same reasons like myself: Slow-motion of time. Deceleration of all. The ability to understand exactly what´s happening in the machine, in the chip. Understanding programming, coding with success - without the need of installation tons of tools, reading 10 books and trying out for months. Everybody can learn Basic in a week or 6502 in a few. I´m a technician, a nerd, having often the newest gadgets, working with enterprise stuff equipped with petabytes of storage, hundreds of machines, power as much you want. But I´m only a user anymore - I didn´t really understand what´s going on there, I use it. I can administrate some things, some not. Most times it´s just a "black box".

 

The wish to use something understandable, something slowed down, not always at the current social highspeed, something emotional with good reminders of the own youth... that´s the result why some people pay 200 bucks and more for an Atari 800XL.

 

IMHO!

 

[SS]

 

Somehow that RF cable doesn't look familiar (fami-LIAR?)

I think that the strange hocky puck RF cable came with the earliest XL shipments and were replaced fairly soon thereafter. I see them pictured in auction listings from time to time but have never actually seen one in person.

 

I also think that you might find them from time to time in the "84 Olympics" boxes because it seems like those boxes were often used to use up old stock.

Edited September 17, 2018 by SS

[Timothy Kline]

A lot of things already said here.

 

IMHO it makes a huge difference in the way the seller offer his items. Some people offer dirty, dusty and nasty looking goods for superlunary prices, I call them fools. But some other tested the goods, clean it, make good arrangements and - absolute important - offer COMPLETE systems. The main unit, all needed cables, power supplies, maybe a bunch of software titles and joystick(s). Such proposals will end in high prices sometimes. What´s wrong with that? I didn´t see any reason to be angry about that. A good seller has used hours and maybe days to clean up, repair, test, complete, ... the items and make a fine compilation.

 

The other big point is.. don´t forget the emotional facts. As already some wrote here, most buyers (as users here, too) are aged 40 years or above. It´s a "get the youth back" thing. The "good old times", whatever you call it. The same reason why people in these ages buy a 25 or 30 year old car with simple (or no) electronics, easy to repair and fixable at home without expensive and hard-to-get tools or extremly technical knowledge.

 

Maybe also a lot of people are "back to retro" for the same reasons like myself: Slow-motion of time. Deceleration of all. The ability to understand exactly what´s happening in the machine, in the chip. Understanding programming, coding with success - without the need of installation tons of tools, reading 10 books and trying out for months. Everybody can learn Basic in a week or 6502 in a few. I´m a technician, a nerd, having often the newest gadgets, working with enterprise stuff equipped with petabytes of storage, hundreds of machines, power as much you want. But I´m only a user anymore - I didn´t really understand what´s going on there, I use it. I can administrate some things, some not. Most times it´s just a "black box".

 

The wish to use something understandable, something slowed down, not always at the current social highspeed, something emotional with good reminders of the own youth... that´s the result why some people pay 200 bucks and more for an Atari 800XL.

 

IMHO!

 

 

I can definitely relate to what you wrote, tf_hh, because I was drawn back to the Atari 8-bit for the same reasons you laid out, as well as some unfinished business as to some projects I left off from when I moved on from the A8 scene, swept along by the Microsoft Windows / PC rat-race of ever-updating softwares and advances in tech that amounts to doing the same stuff faster, but with more dependence upon the operating system and system than ever! None of which has given me the freed-up time that keeps getting promised with the faster-faster-fastest claims: I'm just seeing my workload increase, and I'm NOT getting any younger— not to mention that my own shelf life is diminishing. Working on the Atari 8-bit is a welcome reprieve, almost relaxing, by comparison.

 

Having said that, I, too, have been rather surprised at the jump in prices over the past year on eBay-- the most-noticeable shift being with the 1200XLs that pop up on the radar. I'll admit to being glad I was able to land my 1200XL family BEFORE that all began, because I wouldn't be willing to pay going prices at the level they currently run. Missing keys? The unit will only cost you $180, instead of the going $225+. Dirty? Yellow? That seems to justify "vintage" in some weird way, and a price to match. o.O Insane!

 

Still, someone's snapping them up from there (and no, it's not me, lol), because they all seem to sell (well, not the $800+ unit) at the $200+ price range.

 

--Timothy Kline

[GlowingGhoul]

BS pharmo bro proves you wrong, want an epi pen?

 

ebay is a joke, it's shot... you have to be careful and talk to people... you can get a deal... you have a cabal of sharks and folks who have been working the system for years and the scams are written about. Buying a used shoe on ebay for twice what a new one in a store or online doesn't seem like a person would do so... think about it...

 

I've shown and provided links proving what gets done how and why.. Not going to re hash post and do it all again... You have to deal with folks in the message/mail section, if they are a d-bag they won't deal. If they are a good person and didn't realize how the system is manipulated and skewed, you can show them how the pricing aids and listings conflate new used and pristine or even Charity auction prices as the going rate... Someone buys a widget for 5000 dollars as a charitible act, the widget is worth 40 dollars... ebay now says the going rate is 5000, or an average of 2000 trending upward etc... many many examples of all sorts of things like this.

 

anyway it is what it is... NICE SHARKY NICE Shark... eeeeeeee

With all due respect, you don't have the slightest clue as to how markets work. At the end of the day, these goods are worth what people are willing to pay. If the sellers ask too much, they won't sell. If they were being valued objectively, they'd be worthless. It's easy to see with reasoning like this why there are people who think the government should just step in and dictate prices to make them 'fair'. As far as the epi-pen goes, pharma research is extremely risky, and most results in lost money, often to the tune of tens of millions of dollars. However, miraculous drugs have come as a result of all this speculation and risk taking, and the only way to encourage that, for the good of all, it to reward success if it's achieved. I don't see you willing to step in and cover the losses of failed projects. Unless of course your preferred Soviet style command economy can just "order" its scientists to make a breakthrough...

Edited September 23, 2018 by GlowingGhoul

[_The Doctor__]

Using the same diligence and insight as you used to condemn me I can conclude your an idiot or just plain ignorant, the pharma bro didn't have to do research at all, I am glad he is in jail. There is a difference between taking advantage of a situation, as opposed to out right rape.... but when a shark speaks we should run instead? Don't equip or arm yourself, just get eaten? You have no idea what a person knows or doesn't. But you will educate them before you have enough clues about their knowledge or experience.. of course you don't have to be a meal! If you read you will see I have time and time again explained how to talk directly with a seller and work a deal. You won't read or work with that. So fight the sharks with fists and spears. Work a deal or find it somewhere else. Call a shark a shark... punch it in the nose or the eye and don't become a victim. If making the buyers aware, and letting the buyers beware got that response from you then you don't sir don't know how it works. Nice sharkey!

 

You also show you do not understand how venture capitalism works, nor the how research and development is factored in on the balance sheet with a cursory look at that post of yours.

 

Taking a charity auction price to set a normal selling price is not exactly how one sets a value on a object, If you can not understand that well... you must have less of an understanding of markets than I do.. I must say you gave me a good chuckle.

Edited September 23, 2018 by _The Doctor__