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Are People Crazy on Ebay???


DavidMil

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1 hour ago, TGB1718 said:

But he says it's "Very Rare" so it must be a bargain even without a power supply :) :) :) 

It's an Arabic variant, in case you didn't notice. Not saying it's worth what he's asking for, but at least it's one of the few cases in which "very rare" does apply.

 

On 7/6/2021 at 12:50 PM, Classic Pac said:

In a word "YES" I have seen boxed copies of Super Mario Bros NES going for $3,000. Believe me I understand when things are actually rare, but selling something super common for an insane price is either pure greed or insanity. 

Yes, I saw these as well. It's easy to explain, because it was not "super common". There's not just one version of Super Mario Bros. for the NES and that one sold was very hard to find especially in mint condition. This is nothing unusual. Just think of a C64 of the first batch with the silver labels. That's just a C64 like any other, but it catches lots of money, because it's a very uncommon variant.

Edited by derSammler
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When I buy, I buy because of what the item can offer me as a use, that item would give me no use whatsoever other than act like a 130XE if I could figure out the keyboard. To be honest, it would be cheaper for an Arabic person to learn English and get a normal 130XE than pay that price. The bonus for them is that they would also understand the massive number of ready-made software for it.

 

To be honest, it's only expensive if someone actually PAYS that silly price, I presume it will remain unsold until the greed factor makes the seller realise no one (bar people with too much money and not enough sense) will pay silly prices..

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It's good to see that a few of you think the prices will go down after our generation is gone. I think the opposite, as there won't be enough people to fix them as they fail, there will be less and less good working units. I'm introducing my son to this hobby and he seems kind of interested, but then again I've been trying for many years. In any case, I think the future prices will be higher than even now.

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2 hours ago, AtariNostalgia said:

It's good to see that a few of you think the prices will go down after our generation is gone. I think the opposite, as there won't be enough people to fix them as they fail, there will be less and less good working units. I'm introducing my son to this hobby and he seems kind of interested, but then again I've been trying for many years. In any case, I think the future prices will be higher than even now.

Supply and Demand, Huh.  Well, all I can say is, a person better have some troubleshooting, soldering, electronics skills to use these things these days, much less 20 or so years from now.  Something is always amiss these things; they sometimes make you wanna pull your hair out.  Atari has been pretty reliable stuff, but our Ataris do some odd stuff sometimes.  I am guessing that the generation that has no clue how to change the oil in their cars, or even how to change a flat tire with their spare, what that little Check Engine light thingy means, will not be so keen to want the frustration our little darlings (vintage computers and their accessories) bring us now.   DBM 

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20 hours ago, Crc_Error said:

Yes they are completely crazy!  Who would pay this much for a 130XE?

That eBay seller is well-known for being one who jacks his prices sky-high, and is one of a couple in Egypt who do this.

 

Najm 65XEs aren't exactly falling from the trees, but they're out there and relatively easy to come by for considerably less than he's asking.

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12 hours ago, gilsaluki said:

I am guessing that the generation that has no clue how to change the oil in their cars, or even how to change a flat tire with their spare, what that little Check Engine light thingy means, will not be so keen to want the frustration our little darlings (vintage computers and their accessories) bring us now.   DBM 

 

I saw a meme the other day that described this perfectly. It said "If you think you are smarter than the previous generation... 50 years ago the owners manual of a car showed you how to adjust the valves. Today it warns you not to drink the contents of the battery."

 

Now, I'm not 100% certain this is factual or true, but the sentiment certainly is. Today's society in general is a throw away society. Very few things, especially electronics, get repaired anymore. If it acts up, you throw it away and buy a new one.

 

I'm certain there will always be some knowledgeable enthusiasts, just like there are still Model T enthusiasts, but I think their number will continue to dwindle every year.

 

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On 7/6/2021 at 8:27 AM, bfollowell said:

Cool to see another Kentucky boy on here. I've seen a few, but not many. I've lived in Hoosier land for the past 25 years, but I grew up in Harrodsburg.

 

Sorry for thread hijack, and I never lived in Kentucky, but for some reason Cincinnati/then from there into Kentucky is like Number 1 on my list of places to do a road trip to if I can ever convince the wife to go with me.  I have for some reason always really wanted to see Cincinnati and from there kind of tour Kentucky.

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3 hours ago, bfollowell said:

 

I saw a meme the other day that described this perfectly. It said "If you think you are smarter than the previous generation... 50 years ago the owners manual of a car showed you how to adjust the valves. Today it warns you not to drink the contents of the battery."

 

Now, I'm not 100% certain this is factual or true, but the sentiment certainly is. Today's society in general is a throw away society. Very few things, especially electronics, get repaired anymore. If it acts up, you throw it away and buy a new one.

 

I'm certain there will always be some knowledgeable enthusiasts, just like there are still Model T enthusiasts, but I think their number will continue to dwindle every year.

 

That's funny!  I don't know if it is exactly true either, and I tend to think that oldheads like myself (I'm going to be 43 in a month so I guess I am just now qualifying as an oldhead haha) can tend to get a little overheated in the dumping on the younger generations, but the disposability of everything doe bother me.  I was the sort of kid who always paid attention to grades and did very well in K-12, but what I have principally learned, I feel, as I have gotten older, is that knowing things is nice, but knowing how to do things is much better.  My father had no handiness to him at all, he was mostly intellectual, I suppose, by inclination (but he drifted into being not especially good at that even as he got hooked more and more on junk television in his old age), and so he could never teach me how to do anything, and between that and the fact that, when I was in high school, going to "tech school" instead of staying in regular high school and getting yourself on track for college was treated like something for kids who couldn't add two and two and were lucky to muster the brain power necessary to breathe, I never really learned to do anythingOne thing about the old computer hobby I like is that it has forced me to at least learn some basic stuff.  With my son I am actually considering getting him lessons from an early age in things like carpentry or electrical work or anything practical he can do with his hands so he doesn't feel helpless, like I often do.  I hate that about myself but at my age half the time I just feel like, "if I try this and wreck it or half finish it and then make it worse it will just be worse."  It's a sucky feeling.  And the thing is, because of the rising cost of college, I think adult attitudes towards things like trade schools have improved considerably since when I was in school, and thus it is also less stigmatized among kids.  Hopefully I am right about that.

Edited by mozartpc27
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5 hours ago, bfollowell said:

I saw a meme the other day that described this perfectly. It said "If you think you are smarter than the previous generation... 50 years ago the owners manual of a car showed you how to adjust the valves. Today it warns you not to drink the contents of the battery."

The trouble is, without that warning, someone probably would drink the battery contents, then sue the ass off the

car manufacturer for putting dangerous liquids in a car :)

 

But you are right, my father was technical, he encouraged me to take things apart and put them back together i.e. my bicycle

when it needed fixing, I ended up being able to repair anything around the house, was even competent at doing almost

any repair on my cars, I have 2 sons and not a technical brain cell between them. 

 

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2 minutes ago, ClausB said:

I once put my computer skills to work coaching my son's school robotics team. Now he builds BattleBots. Better builder than I ever was.

 

That's good to hear. They're still out there. They're just in much shorter supply. He'll be a king after the zombie apocalypse!

 

My boys are all technical to a small degree, but not to the same degree as their old man. They build and setup their own gaming rigs, and one's an at-home tech for Apple, but that's about the extent of it. They can't do much with their cars and they can't take care of much of anything around the house. My daughter is awesome on her cell phone, but I really don't think that counts.

 

I was raised in a farming family and my dad was an industrial maintenance mechanic for 40 years. He gave me a good basic mechanical understanding of the world. I never picked up much about vehicles, but I can change the oil, any filters, rotate my tires and replace an alternator. I took residential electricity in vocational school the last two years of high school, which led to college with an A.S. in Computer/Industrial Electronics, a B.S. in Industrial Technology, a minor in Computer Science and a minor in Physics. I've worked in maintenance at two different Toyota manufacturing plants for 29 years, five swinging a wrench, and 24 flying a desk and watching over other wrench swingers. I can honestly say that my kids didn't follow much in my footsteps when it comes to being techies.

 

Edited by bfollowell
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4 hours ago, bfollowell said:

 

That's good to hear. They're still out there. They're just in much shorter supply. He'll be a king after the zombie apocalypse!

 

My boys are all technical to a small degree, but not to the same degree as their old man. They build and setup their own gaming rigs, and one's an at-home tech for Apple, but that's about the extent of it. They can't do much with their cars and they can't take care of much of anything around the house. My daughter is awesome on her cell phone, but I really don't think that counts.

 

I was raised in a farming family and my dad was an industrial maintenance mechanic for 40 years. He gave me a good basic mechanical understanding of the world. I never picked up much about vehicles, but I can change the oil, any filters, rotate my tires and replace an alternator. I took residential electricity in vocational school the last two years of high school, which led to college with an A.S. in Computer/Industrial Electronics, a B.S. in Industrial Technology, a minor in Computer Science and a minor in Physics. I've worked in maintenance at two different Toyota manufacturing plants for 29 years, five swinging a wrench, and 24 flying a desk and watching over other wrench swingers. I can honestly say that my kids didn't follow much in my footsteps when it comes to being techies.

 

I really would love to learn so much of this stuff, they don't know how lucky they are having someone right in the house who can do it all.

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I started collecting Sears tele-games carts (aka Atari 2600) that were numbered with black label. A local retro game shop is now selling them for $1.00 each. -lots of fond memories playing them in Sears as a kid-. Not long ago he wanted $5-10 for same carts. Also noticed the old Sears pong consoles have really dropped in price too. So, maybe, if you wait long enough prices will come down.

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Thing is, higher prices bring in a different class of buyers. All it takes is building momentum and prices go sky-high. Up up and away, through the ranks of the well-to-do.
 

I'm quite happy and beside myself at having acquired most all the Apple II material when it was still cheap and in good condition. Today there's plenty of II+ and //e consoles on ebay. Most all needing some sort of repair or fitting or cosmetic work. And they're being sold by people that really don't know anything about them. I see an Apple //e consoles described as "Apple keyboard, missing keys, plugs in and beeps, that's all we can test"..

 

And that tells me someone went hunting around, found it, and is now selling it on ebay, with a price set by previous sales + an additional 20%. Because thinking $$$. And $$$$$ because "Apple". They have no clue about what it really is. It's just something to be bought and sold. Completely impersonal. Seen disk drives called software readers. And even cartridge readers! Total opposite of how an enthusiast would describe it.

 

But. Yes. Repairing and spiffing up classic hardware is a multi-disciplinary endeavor. You need to know about paint, adhesives, electronics, mechanics, lubrication, semiconductors, magnetics, soldering, RF, analog & digital, EMF, materials sciences, tribology, physics, transistors, I.C.s, resistors, inductors, capacitors, diodes, acoustics, metallurgy, mathematics, hardware, software, and BASIC and Assembly, and so much more. Not forgetting having an understanding of the mindset of the engineers who made this stuff back in the day. Its intended usage. Its expansion capabilities. Limitations. All that! When you have a well-rounded grasp of it all, the hobby really becomes enjoyable and rewarding instead of frustrating and annoying.

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Not Atari, but thought this would make you laugh:-

I think it's when people see this sort of thing they think the sky's the limit for anything they have.

 

The pristine, sealed "Legend of Zelda" cartridge sold for over $800,000 at auction — breaking the record for the sale of a video game.

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32 minutes ago, TGB1718 said:

Not Atari, but thought this would make you laugh:-

I think it's when people see this sort of thing they think the sky's the limit for anything they have.

 

The pristine, sealed "Legend of Zelda" cartridge sold for over $800,000 at auction — breaking the record for the sale of a video game.

I think I read that on Google News or something, talk about burning money.

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1 hour ago, CommodoreDecker said:

 

Definitely a rare model, and only for the most ardent completest.  It's probably closer to $500 fair market value? 

Closer to $150-$175, tops.  They're an interesting XE variant, to be sure, but they're also a demonstration of the adage that rarity doesn't necessarily equate to higher value.

Edited by x=usr(1536)
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