Are People Crazy on Ebay???

[Mclaneinc]

To be honest, I read the news RSS feeds in the morning and people are crazy everywhere, 11 people dead in India taking selfies in a lightning storm while it's raining on top of a tower and on and on the crazy stuff goes..

 

Silly prices on Ebay seem to be the least of our worries

 

Crazy is as crazy does...

[Keatah]

Must be that 6G raydeeayshunnn or something..

[TGB1718]

Not a crazy price, but still a bit over the top, probably worth £5 tops (or maybe only worth the postage fee  )

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/383405894709?hash=item5944c5ac35:g:u1kAAOSwOEJdt2Y8

 

and this, shame it's the price it is, looks like a nice clean unit, if it was 1/2 that price I would go for it.

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/324491623124?hash=item4b8d353ad4:g:u7oAAOSwz5JgL56k

Edited July 12, 2021 by TGB1718

[AtariNostalgia]

Somebody must be buying these. I still don't see the point of these sellers placing them for sale at crazy prices, what are they getting out of it?

[Mclaneinc]

A little while back I sold a small briefcase set of tapes, I think there was around 20 to 30 tapes and I got less than those 5 tapes, but I was happy that they sold and went to a new home... Silly little games on Ebay, as for the 800XL, madness...The box does nothing for me, I know collectors like a unit in a box but I'd rather use the damn item and enjoy it for the machine it is, if I want an item in a box on the shelf , I'll stick to cornflakes..

[AtariNostalgia]

You know what those crazy $800,000 cartridge sales might be? Money laundering. Maybe people are money laundering through crazy auction sales, I just can't think of anything else. An $800,000 cartridge.

[TGB1718]

26 minutes ago, Mclaneinc said:

The box does nothing for me, I know collectors like a unit in a box but I'd rather use the damn item and enjoy it for the machine it is,

That's exactly my opinion, all I want is an XL so I have one of each type of 8 bit, then the upgrade fun begins

the only bonus of the box is the PSU will be in it's slot in the foam and unlikely so smash the XL to pieces in the post.

[+x=usr(1536)]

1 hour ago, AtariNostalgia said:

You know what those crazy $800,000 cartridge sales might be? Money laundering. Maybe people are money laundering through crazy auction sales, I just can't think of anything else. An $800,000 cartridge.

Strange as it may sound, it's entirely possible that there may be some truth to this.  Not necessarily in the two auctions that took place recently, but maybe at a higher volume with lower-value items.

 

Three years ago, we passed laws here authorizing the growth and sale of medical marijuana.  Dispensaries generally work on a cash-only basis, and still can't always (read: usually) get bank accounts.  I'm not even going to try to explain why; it's a total mess.

 

In any event, this led to things like property values being driven up in certain parts of the state: since the dispensaries couldn't deposit their incomes directly with the banks, they'd buy property for cash, sit on it for a year or so, then resell the property.  At that point, the money was clean and could be deposited without issue - but the property would generally turn a profit, thus driving values in the immediate area up.

 

Personally, if I were going to be looking at ways of laundering money, I wouldn't use auctions: there's no guarantee that the market value of the item that was just purchased reflects what others would be willing to pay for it.

Edited July 12, 2021 by x=usr(1536)

[DavidMil]

3 hours ago, Mclaneinc said:

Crazy is as crazy does...

In that case, I'm doomed!

 

David

[DavidMil]

On 7/10/2021 at 12:22 AM, x=usr(1536) said:

220VAC, 50Hz, PAL TV standard.

Thanks for the info!

 

David

[Mclaneinc]

2 hours ago, TGB1718 said:

the only bonus of the box is the PSU will be in it's slot in the foam and unlikely so smash the XL to pieces in the post.

Yes, good point...Other than that, I'd bin the box after it arrived.... Got more than enough clutter as it is...

 

To the collectors / resellers, yes I can see why you want the box... I'm just basing this on my POV..

Edited July 12, 2021 by Mclaneinc

[Mclaneinc]

27 minutes ago, DavidMil said:

In that case, I'm doomed!

 

David

 

Ha David, I myself am crazy but in a nice and helpful way... Anyway, we are all doomed

[youxia]

Some of these very high value auctions are probably genuine: rich people often do silly things with money, though sometimes it could be considered an investment too. But I'm also pretty sure many of them are the fruit of the artificial inflating/hustling by a bunch of the usual suspects: speculectors such as WATA and its satellites. They often buy & sell in strange consortiums, perhaps even from each other, creating an illusion of high value market and driving sales for their "grading" services and possibly other items which would normally be worth much less.

 

A variant of this could also be seen at the lower end, with some singular 0-serious-feedback operators (maybe even scammers, in case of "genuine" items which were shrink wrapped or printed 2 days before) putting up crazily-priced items, which then are "bought" by their mom/cousin/gf and so help to build up their rep.

 

Then you have people who don't need an immediate cash injection and put up overpriced items on the principle that anything can happen on ebay, so who knows, maybe some loony will buy it? https://www.msn.com/en-us/entertainment/gaming/rapper-logic-just-paid-over-183-000-for-a-pokémon-charizard-card/ar-BB19Wb1W

[youxia]

Aaand.... right on cue,WATA/Heritage/etc are at it again : Super Mario 64 game sells for record-breaking $1.5m at auction

[Tempest]

I think it's all part of some money laundering scheme.  No one is rich enough to complete a NIB N64 collection 1.5m at a time. 

 

Just think, if I had never opened my NOS N64 carts I was getting on clearance from Toys R Us all those years ago I could be a multi-millionaire.  Oh well...

[Mclaneinc]

 

Yep, we were actually selling the USA and Japanese versions from a company called Planet Distribution, to think I actually had the very carts in my hands and was the person who opened them so to put the box on display for sale.

 

More of a case of thinking IN the box rather than out of it...

[+S.D.W.]

I've noticed a lot of these crazy prices are put up by the chaos-creating garage sale raiders or what I refer to as "picker idiots". The problem is that some of these people throw some crazy price up to see if it sticks and since so many of us GenX folks are hoarding huge amounts of this stuff in our garages in order to one day open our own fantasy computer museum and the obvious fact so much classic stuff ended up being discarded or recycled, there just is not enough of these items for sale at lower prices in the ebay marketplace to offset these people from setting and in many cases getting these prices. I've seen ebay go from feast to famine with regards to availability of this stuff.

 

When I started collecting 30 years ago, everything was so cheap that I was able to build up a very diverse collection. That's pretty tough to do nowadays both due to high prices and difficulty in just locating the stuff to buy. I remember balking at paying $250 for a Falcon but when I saw them routinely selling for over $500 I figured it was time to stop effing around and pick one up and yes, I was bitching and moaning about paying that much but now they go for what $1500+?

 

I hate to be the one to break the news but the days of easily picking up an Atari 1200XL for $50, on ebay are long gone. 

[_The Doctor__]

1 hour ago, 917k said:

I've noticed a lot of these crazy prices are put up by the chaos-creating garage sale raiders or what I refer to as "picker idiots". The problem is that some of these people throw some crazy price up to see if it sticks and since so many of us GenX folks are hoarding huge amounts of this stuff in our garages in order to one day open our own fantasy computer museum and the obvious fact so much classic stuff ended up being discarded or recycled, there just is not enough of these items for sale at lower prices in the ebay marketplace to offset these people from setting and in many cases getting these prices. I've seen ebay go from feast to famine with regards to availability of this stuff.

 

When I started collecting 30 years ago, everything was so cheap that I was able to build up a very diverse collection. That's pretty tough to do nowadays both due to high prices and difficulty in just locating the stuff to buy. I remember balking at paying $250 for a Falcon but when I saw them routinely selling for over $500 I figured it was time to stop effing around and pick one up and yes, I was bitching and moaning about paying that much but now they go for what $1500+?

 

I hate to be the one to break the news but the days of easily picking up an Atari 1200XL for $50, on ebay are long gone. 

heh, not at all, to everything there is a cycle... a shit ton of Atari is coming out of basements and attics due to retirement and sadly old hackers passing. The lower prices are on the way, give it 5 years or so. This is the way of it... my stuff will go to pre designated people who should enjoy it, you might consider the same lest a flipper/picker feast on your family's grief and your bones.

Edited July 17, 2021 by _The Doctor__

[+S.D.W.]

10 hours ago, _The Doctor__ said:

heh, not at all, to everything there is a cycle... a shit ton of Atari is coming out of basements and attics due to retirement and sadly old hackers passing. The lower prices are on the way, give it 5 years or so. This is the way of it... my stuff will go to pre designated people who should enjoy it, you might consider the same lest a flipper/picker feast on your family's grief and your bones.

A very insightful reply I think, I have thought about this as well. I think a lot of the stuff on ebay comes from picker idiots raiding storage lockers and estate sales so I think that is actually starting to happen now. Maybe when it comes time, I will dig a giant hole somewhere and bury everything and leave a riddle to its location. ?

[+slx]

19th century toys still have a market but it remains to be seen whether there will be a market for 1980s' computers in half a century, once those who coveted that stuff in the 1980s are gone. The same is probably true for most 20th century electronics.

[Keatah]

Thing with 80's electronics is they need maintenance to keep going. Electronic repair is a dying hobby and dead professional art. So that's a factor. Much of this material may end up curbside. Or in a museum where its only function is to look authentic for a static display.

 

Anyhow for the present.. It's amusing and disconcerting to watch (something) get listed at a $40.00 price. Ok. Good. Then it sells, and the next one is $45. Then it sells too. And weeks later another item pops up at $59.95. I thought $30-$40 was alright, boarderline high even. But $60? Nope.. No deal.

 

This ability to look at the history of a prices is becoming a curse this last decade. You know when you go to a garage sale or resale shop, traditionally none of this price history mattered much. None of it was available. And the item sold for what it was intrinsically worth.

 

But with "ebay sold for history" there's this mechanism to get $5 more and raise the price of something way beyond that intrinsic value. $40 and $45 look pretty much the same. But a year later $40 and $95 not so much. And it creeps up. And flunkies buy.

[+x=usr(1536)]

3 minutes ago, Keatah said:

This ability to look at the history of a prices is becoming a curse this last decade. You know when you go to a garage sale or resale shop, traditionally none of this price history mattered much. None of it was available. And the item sold for what it was intrinsically worth.

Even that's passé, unfortunately.  Garage sales, thrift stores, etc. are researching the same items in the same places that keep driving up their prices, which is how Goodwill ends up with a $10,000 Air Raid cartridge on their auction site.

 

I've had garage / yard salers (sellers?) tell me not to lowball them on <insert item here> because they've done their research and know what it's worth.  Every single time, without fail, this has resulted on me turning on my heel and leaving.  No, you don't know what it's worth.  You know what it cost at the last auction where one was sold, but cost, price, worth, and value are not the same things.

[Keatah]

 

2 minutes ago, x=usr(1536) said:

Even that's passé, unfortunately.  Garage sales, thrift stores, etc. are researching the same items in the same places that keep driving up their prices, which is how Goodwill ends up with a $10,000 Air Raid cartridge on their auction site.

Yes. I was going to re-word it to say that non-ebay sellers are researching price too, but was too lazy to go back.

[+S.D.W.]

29 minutes ago, x=usr(1536) said:

You know what it cost at the last auction where one was sold, but cost, price, worth, and value are not the same things.

We can all think what we want to about the actual worth of something but the reality is that things are worth whatever people are currently willing to pay regardless of the perceived value. 

[Keatah]

In light of that revelation (which is nothing new) we all must be vigilant and thoughtful when purchasing vintage computer stuff. If after purchase you feel bad or ripped off or whatever - that means you didn't do your due diligence.

 

And if something is too high price IYO, just set up a search/notification and move on to the next.. It'll become available again sooner or later a price you like.