solidus wrote on 2020-08-28, 01:39:

On the topic of prices and availability. Is the general idea that eBay is always going to be the worst in terms of pricing?

Depends on where you live.
It's priced to the wealthiest market so sellers won't care if you are from a country with less spending power.
For many of us Ebay is simply not an option.
I never understood why it's important to mention how much an item cost, it's only valid when you compare it to Ebay's inflated prices.
You can get the same items locally for the fraction of the price, you just have to wait more.
Impatience = more money spent.

Unfortunately, in many areas of the US eBay is the best place to get old stuff. For instance, in New York there aren't many places for dumpster finds, and almost no garage sales available.

What is priced how well is a really region dependent issue and a very fluid one as well. In three years I have seen local prices of retro hardware skyrocket from 1/10 of eBay to 10x eBay.

appiah4 wrote on 2020-08-28, 07:24:

What is priced how well is a really region dependent issue and a very fluid one as well. In three years I have seen local prices of retro hardware skyrocket from 1/10 of eBay to 10x eBay.

that's true. sellers either on or off line often use ebay as a guide but they miss an important point. If they are selling physically the market is the people who show up. Just because a handful of people nationally competed with each other to drive the price of an old pci graphics card up to the same price as a brand new laptop doesn't mean those people are in front of them that day. When, on rare occasion I see something and ask the price to be told "it sells for x on ebay", the correct answer is "great, you should sell that on ebay then" and sidestep the attempt at upselling

Miphee wrote on 2020-08-28, 05:43:

Depends on where you live. It's priced to the wealthiest market so sellers won't care if you are from a country with less spendi […]
Show full quote

Depends on where you live.
It's priced to the wealthiest market so sellers won't care if you are from a country with less spending power.
For many of us Ebay is simply not an option.
I never understood why it's important to mention how much an item cost, it's only valid when you compare it to Ebay's inflated prices.
You can get the same items locally for the fraction of the price, you just have to wait more.
Impatience = more money spent.

it's a double edged sword really... yes ebay is probably out of range for countries with lower incomes, but then again, those countries usually have a far greater supply of old hardware still in circulation and more often than not easy access to recyclers and the option of dumpster diving.
local sellers in wealthier nations usually go for the prices they find online i.e. ebay anyways as I said, meanwhile dumpster diving or recyclers are often not an option because everything is locked away under survaillence and they do not nor are they allowed to sell to private collectors... at least that's the way it is around here.

and there's a lot of sellers on ebay that use that as a business opportunity apparently, there's a lot of sellers from eastern european states selling a vast amount of retro hardware on ebay for "normal" market prices, trying to cash in on their local resources.

for me ebay is pretty much the easiest way to get something... there's a lot of selection and buying something is quick and easy without having to deal with people directly most of the time (which is a huge plus for me ^^)

Another collecting rant that comes to mind - when sellers aren't happy that a low bid wins an unpopular auction where they didn't set a reserve price for something they believe to have double the value. Then after the auction they try and get you to pay extra for "postage" which conveniently doubles the price to their intended figure (they had a buy it now option). They've probably not got a hope in hell of selling this item now, particularly if a potential buyer reads the feedback I left. 🤣

Horun wrote on 2020-08-28, 04:18:

🤣 checking Facebook for sales just cracks me up, sorry but that is the last place I would ever look 😀

Youd be surprised especially for old video game stuff. Its the #1 place that suburban homeowners list their garage junk. Facebook is filled with folks in the 40-60 year old range, and they often have kids who move out to college and similar scenarios, and want to offload their old 'junk'. I find stuff on there constantly.

imi wrote on 2020-08-28, 13:42:

it's a double edged sword really... yes ebay is probably out of range for countries with lower incomes, but then again, those countries usually have a far greater supply of old hardware still in circulation and more often than not easy access to recyclers and the option of dumpster diving.

I don't know. I always thought of the US as a huge country with plenty of opportunities when it comes to retro hardware.
Most of the stuff was invented and developed there, the most important computer corporations are from there (IBM for example), hundreds of millions of computers were sold there. I just can't imagine a scenario where it's difficult to find retro hardware in the US.

advertising desirable generation of hardware is fine but being specific by part ramps the cost on online stores
like the voodoo a piece of old craft now costs almost as much as a bitoin miner because everyone says voodoo
theres voodoo emulation 🤣

PTherapist wrote on 2020-08-28, 14:28:

Another collecting rant that comes to mind - when sellers aren't happy that a low bid wins an unpopular auction where they didn't set a reserve price for something they believe to have double the value. Then after the auction they try and get you to pay extra for "postage" which conveniently doubles the price to their intended figure (they had a buy it now option). They've probably not got a hope in hell of selling this item now, particularly if a potential buyer reads the feedback I left. 🤣

Yep, I'm in the middle of dealing with that exact situation. eBay has been less than helpful on that and a spate of missing item cases in the past two months, so I'm done with eBay. I've got plenty of hardware sitting around anyway.

Miphee wrote on 2020-08-28, 17:32:

I don't know. I always thought of the US as a huge country with plenty of opportunities when it comes to retro hardware.
Most of the stuff was invented and developed there, the most important computer corporations are from there (IBM for example), hundreds of millions of computers were sold there. I just can't imagine a scenario where it's difficult to find retro hardware in the US.

I was speaking purely from a european perspective... the US is a whole different beast with sheds, barns and whole warehouses still filled to the brim with old computers, hardware, and full IBM mainframe systems and the like.
but yeah a lot of computing history and companies were based in the US so I guess pieces were kept there more often because of historical relevance.

Current rant.... looking up some obscure part to see if I can get it for a good price and then coming across some other obscure part I never even knew existed for a good/great price.... then having to make sure I don't already have one I didn't know about and then going and buying said obscure part.

imi wrote on 2020-08-29, 09:17:

I was speaking purely from a european perspective... the US is a whole different beast with sheds, barns and whole warehouses still filled to the brim with old computers, hardware, and full IBM mainframe systems and the like.
but yeah a lot of computing history and companies were based in the US so I guess pieces were kept there more often because of historical relevance.

Yes but most americants are of the greedy liberal way of thinking and think their stuff is worth way more than same stuff from Europe or Asia (which you would think be other way around due to VAT, taxing, rarity, etc). Ok that is my current rant ! And yes am from the USA so I know 😒

cyclone3d wrote on 2020-08-29, 21:54:

Current rant.... looking up some obscure part to see if I can get it for a good price and then coming across some other obscure part I never even knew existed for a good/great price.... then having to make sure I don't already have one I didn't know about and then going and buying said obscure part.

Oh like ordering a specific part because you think you are out of them, and just before the ordered parts arrive you discover you have a few already 😀

Yeah, kinda like that. Though if I find a good part for super cheap I generally don't care if I have it already or not.

Actually have another BFG AGP 7800GS OC on the way because it was super cheap. Not even sure I will even use it.

I have ended up with multiples of other things before though that I kinda felt dumb for ordering once I realized I already had one.

Horun wrote on 2020-08-30, 01:13:

Oh like ordering a specific part because you think you are out of them, and just before the ordered parts arrive you discover you have a few already 😀

Oh, I feel pretty annoyed when there is inefficiency like that. Like when my wife went and bought MS Word at full price, without consulting me (I could have gotten a completely legal copy at a significant discount). Or when she bought a charger for the digital keyboard, forgetting that we already had one, which came with it originally. Or when I went and ordered a new coffee portafilter, only to find out that there was nothing wrong with the old one (it just needed cleaning in a place I didn't know existed). Or when I replaced a cracked microwave turntable and then learned that my parents had a compatible spare one, completely unused. 😁

Horun wrote on 2020-08-30, 01:13:

Oh like ordering a specific part because you think you are out of them, and just before the ordered parts arrive you discover you have a few already 😀

An Excel spreadsheet helps a lot but you have to update it religiously. 😀

I started doing this for my parts and big box games, Pivot Tables are quite nifty to show stats too. Though my bin is pretty small. I found it easier to use Sheets to quickly jot down stuff I would forget or lose later 😜

Miphee wrote on 2020-08-30, 08:45:

Horun wrote on 2020-08-30, 01:13:

Oh like ordering a specific part because you think you are out of them, and just before the ordered parts arrive you discover you have a few already 😀

An Excel spreadsheet helps a lot but you have to update it religiously. 😀

svfn wrote on 2020-08-30, 08:55:

I found it easier to use Sheets to quickly jot down stuff I would forget or lose later 😜

And if you have hundreds or thousands of stuff then it's an absolute must.
It's not easy though when your inventory changes often.

Sellers asking an arm and a leg for untested software. I don't care if you don't have the means to test that old floppy disk, price appropriately if that's the case.

Miphee wrote on 2020-08-30, 08:45:

but you have to update it religiously. 😀

yeah I started a list, but I'm still failing at this step ^^