Mandrew wrote on 2024-05-23, 05:08:
I didn't know that, I thought shipping rates apply to the entire country. I often see "free shipping to lower 48" so I figured that shipping costs on smaller items are universal. I was wrong.
But it doesn't mean that prices are insanely different in the general area, does it?
Sorry, not sure exactly what you mean by the general area. Most commerce here isn't separated by any kind of state or other borders these days, so things like that are highly variable depending on distance or other factors. A small item might be $7 to ship to someone fairly close or $20+ to ship across the country (could be 2000 miles or more), but it goes up significantly with weight and size. It also depends on the shipping carrier and shipping option being used.
Regarding the "free shipping to lower 48" thing, that is mainly because the price to ship goes up significantly when you have to ship to Hawaii or Alaska, and there are often limitations on what can be shipped via air so they can't always apply the same shipping options or make the same guarantees as to how long it will take. To put it in perspective, Maine is ~2400 miles from California, but ~5000 miles from Hawaii, so it definitely costs more to ship there.
Mandrew wrote on 2024-05-23, 05:08:
Agreed, it's a full time job to keep track of everything, something most people with a family don't have. I once set up alerts on Ebay and my favorite auction site and it spammed my inbox so much I had to turn it off. Local auction sites are excellent though (we have 3) for finding treasures without paying the Ebay tax.
That was the point of my original post, people need to think outside the box and look around to find those deals, especially people who live in less wealthy countries.
Sadly, there are very few options left in the US that are actually popular enough to be worth looking at regularly for retro parts. I think there are far more options for people who live near urban areas, but sites\apps like OfferUp have near-zero listings of any kind within 40 miles of me because there is just no one using things like that around here.
Craigslist was big years ago so in the rural areas where trends lag behind it is still used from time to time, but it has been years since I have found any computer stuff on there. There used to be an online classified site based specifically in my state, but it closed up a while ago.
That pretty much leaves Facebook Marketplace for local (in person) purchases, and it is so indescribably HORRIBLE trying to find anything on there that it can be challenging to even locate one item in the search results that actually fits ANY of my search criteria, let alone all of them. It is also equally bad, possibly worse, for searching the entire country to find things that could be shipped.
In general, ebay's search engine is very good compared to the algorithm based advertising garbage that passes as a search engine on most sites (Amazon, Facebook, etc.). Once in a while some weird stuff happens and an item shows up that was recently sold (clicking the listing confirms it is unavailable), or an item that was just listed may not appear right away for everyone, but overall if I type something into the search box (especially using quotes) I will find what I'm looking for if it's available, or I will find nothing if it isn't. If ebay ever changes to the Facebook\Amazon way of doing things, I'll probably be done both buying and selling there.
Anyway, it is always interesting to discuss just how different things are in different parts of the world and even different parts of the same country with regard to finding old computer stuff. I get more than a little jealous when I hear of anyone who is able to drive or walk a short distance to a place that constantly gets old electronics\computers and they are allowed to pick through and buy things. Absolutely nothing like this exists within 4-5 hours drive of where I live, and the closest ones are probably not going to let anything go without looking it up on ebay first and asking way more than I'd want to pay after driving all that way.
Now for some blitting from the back buffer.
