Unknown_K wrote:

awgamer wrote:

SETBLASTER wrote:

pentium Pro motherboard + pentium pro 200 cpu (just motherboard with cpu) $100 dollars

To be fair, pentium pros have $42 worth of gold in them, so $100 for a pro + board isn't so unreasonable.

From what the gold refiners say you will get .3 grams of gold from a PPro CPU so at the current $39 a gram that is $11.70.

Minus the cost of acid, peroxide, sodium bisulfate, borosilicate labware, and other items like buckets, a fume hood, acid-safe gloves, a respirator, etc that will all be ruined by the process (except maybe the glassware, which could be re-used once cleaned) and only usable for more gold extraction.

Miphee wrote:

I have to ask because it has been bothering me for a while: are the prices for IBM PS/2 parts real (shipping & customs fees not […]
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I have to ask because it has been bothering me for a while: are the prices for IBM PS/2 parts real (shipping & customs fees not included) on Ebay? Do people really pay these prices somewhere?
I only ask because I needed some parts for my PS/2 model 57 and these prices are insane.
[...]
Most of these parts cost more than a complete IBM PS/2 computer. Why?

Yep, PS/2 prices have gone through the roof lately. Sellers know, that PS/2 systems are iconic and are receiving more and more love these days. There simply is demand for it. Like already mentioned you should consider the sold auctions and their prices to determine the real market value.

The situation is very similar to turntables/record players. Over the past few years prices for old vinyl-related stuff went through the roof as vinyl soared in popularity. Nowadays everyone with a BPC (Black Plastic Crap) turntable from the 80s thinks they have a VPI or an SME and charges crazy prices. The same applies here: retro gaming is in vogue, and the prices have reflected this development.

I don't think it has much to do with retro gaming being "in vogue". Problem with ebay is that it slowly turned into a market place like Amazon during the last decade. With all the merchants and wannabe-merchants (using private accounts), who all just want to make quick money, the times where you could get stuff cheap sold by private sellers as ordinary auctions are long gone. Auctions are getting less common constantly and have gradually superseded by buy-it-now offers. ebay is not the platform it once was, and will never return to that. But sadly, people with no knowledge about prices still use it as a reference, which is why most think even the most common cheap stuff is made of gold...

derSammler wrote:

I don't think it has much to do with retro gaming being "in vogue". Problem with ebay is that it slowly turned into a market place like Amazon during the last decade. With all the merchants and wannabe-merchants (using private accounts), who all just want to make quick money, the times where you could get stuff cheap sold by private sellers as ordinary auctions are long gone. Auctions are getting less common constantly and have gradually superseded by buy-it-now offers. ebay is not the platform it once was, and will never return to that. But sadly, people with no knowledge about prices still use it as a reference, which is why most think even the most common cheap stuff is made of gold...

Everybody on ebay wants to make quick money.

Most sellers don't know if an item is collectable or not so they just browse the listing for things that look like what they have and list it for a little less. Either it sells or it doesn't and that is what sets the price.

Vintage gear prices are rising because the quantity and quality of what is still around has dropped. Stuff has either been recycled or in somebodies collection so you will have to pay more then shipping for it these days.

And places like Goodwill have their own auction sites so you can't just visit a local store and find an old Pentium anymore. And yeah the horders have a bad effect on pricing too 🤣

Goodwill does you double dirty by making you pay for the shipping from their drop-off centers to the warehouse, in addition to the regular shipping costs. Oh, a Nintendo Entertainment System that isn't beat to ████, and it's only $35! Oh wait, $45 in shipping and handling costs. Never mind.

I checked out the sold IBM PS/2 listings and it's cheaper to buy a complete computer than buying the missing parts. Sad.

yup, that's generally true for any part, I've been looking for the old drawer style 1x mitsumi cd rom for example, and most sellers ask in the range of €100+ for it, looking at the sold listings they occassionally go for €50 if you're lucky.

meanwhile I bought two complete systems for way less than €100 that each contained one of those drives... and a bunch of hardware and AT case on top of that.

if you really just want one specific part, you can buy a complete system and sell or trade the other parts to other people who might be in need for reasonable prices.

It's true but it kinda defeats my purpose of repairing an otherwise fine computer. My model 57 is missing the power supply, a SCSI hard drive, the switch assembly and the rear panel cover. They are so expensive that repairing it will cost more than a complete&tested model 57 sold for ~$175. I wanted to get my hands dirty and make the repairs myself but it's impossible. Even the shipping prices are too high. Well, that's business.

that's true unfortunately for specific systems like that 🙁

While I don't expect hardware from the post Pentium era to get any rarer or dearer I think Socket 5 and earlier hardware will become increasingly more expensive in a short while. Don't be surprised if 486 hardware prices double in a year or two.

appiah4 wrote:

Don't be surprised if 486 hardware prices double in a year or two.

It must be an Ebay phenomenon due to the international nature of the site. If people in wealthier countries buy things for more money the prices will reflect that. It still doesn't explain the greed behind the high prices of the parts. People probably won't buy a used PS/2 power supply for $160 if they can get the whole machine for $175.

I chock this up to sellers not knowing what they have, they see anther person asking batshit crazy prices and they in turn ask a crazy price.

The Voodoo5 PCI is not as rare as some may say, that price is high, if the box was mint and the card was sealed I can see someone paying that much. but not any time soon.
300ish sound like a better price.
pentium Pro motherboard + pentium pro 200 cpu. Seem fair for both sides of the deal.
radeon 9800XT for 200$ that is a rip off and then some.
Media vidion PAS16 with box.
Seems on the high side. if the box was mint and sealed maybe.
soundblaster awe32.
Seems a tad high, but if the box is mint and its a sought after model then maybe someone would bay for it. If its a run of the mill card then hell no.

dan86 wrote:

The Voodoo5 PCI is not as rare as some may say, that price is high, if the box was mint and the card was sealed I can see someone paying that much. but not any time soon.
300ish sound like a better price.

They're fairly rare. For every V5 PCI on ebay, there are 6 AGPs.
Only 4 V5 PCIs have sold on ebay in the past year and every one has gone for $350+. One went for $550+ shipping and was in like new boxed condition.

The price is on the upper end, but not ridiculous, if it were being listed on ebay. That said, the PCI version is more desirable, since it'll work in just about any motherboard, and you can pair it with a higher powered AGP card.

Assuming the seller isn't one of those "I KNOW WHAT I HAVE!" jerks, I'm sure he'd be willing to negotiate. The 10% ebay final value fee argument has always worked for me.

I think sellers don't know what to charge because there really is no standard.

I'm into at least four different "hobbies": tech, cars, guitars, and classic gaming....out of all of those vintage computing is the most lacking in standards or decisions on what things are worth. This has been a boon and a bane because on one hand, cheap deals are possible, but on the other hand, some people have an overinflated sense of worth about this stuff.

In guitars we have a blue book that's updated to fit the current market.

Same with vintage cars.

Vintage Games and Consoles have had rarity lists and price guidelines as early as 1996....yes I've been "in it" that long.

But computers it seems have a very fragmented pricing base due to issues dating back to when they were new.

A fine example....my experiences recently at a local computer recycler regarding Model M keyboards......

I come in, there's a guy aware of retro computing, asks $40.00 for a blue label Lexmark made IBM Model M with removable keycaps. I'm ok with the price, that's still cheaper than eBay, but the shop already closed, so he put it on hold.

I come back 2 weeks later when I finally have time and grab the same Model M and a serial cable. - $4.00 for everything, different clerk. The clerk "let me have" the Model "m" for "free" because they are "not allowed to sell oooold PS/2 stuff". Because it's "Obsolete".

What I think we're lacking here is a standard or guidelines that are solid enough to say xx is worth this much and yy is worth this much and actually be able to justify the pricing. That and a lack of awareness of what we are doing, how, and why.

To the layperson we seem like a bunch of bottom dwellers who can't afford new computers, because all they know is BlueKeep, Wannacry, old computers are baaaad because they host viruses like that (even though none of them work on windows pre-XP) and the new iPhone 12 and how much bragging they can do when they get one.

Next are people who are tech savvy but don't get it because they are lazy. To them, anything requiring a keyboard is "too much work" and "cheaper/more efficient to upgrade to a newer model". Basically, new school IT people who don't know a memory address or IRQ from a hole in the ground but think they know everything because "college" or "CompTIA".

Some of these people get wind of what we're all doing though and then anything old becomes $$ regardless of what it is. I think that's where a lot of the ridiculous pricing comes from. While others would let the entirety of Computer Reset pre-LGR go for $1 if you drag it all away yourself - every last PC and part.

Then we're split as a group as well....just like any collective of enthusiasts....Some down to the individual. We're a mix of collectors, tinkerers, gamers, historians, old tech people with nostalgia, young curious tech people. Some prefer XTs, some prefer 486s, some PII, some P4. Some collect to play, some to make money later, and they're all valid and reasonable.

ITLDR think the real issue here is guidelines, standards, and mainstream awareness. To some people, it's just E-Waste, to others "hey, you can have my "problem"", and then some see it as a golden moneymaking opportunity with little regard to people who actually use these things

I don't think you can assign any definitive "market value" to any of this and imho you shouldn't, as the worth is very different to each and everyone like you say, to some it might be scrap and to some it's the best memory from their childhood, there is so much to choose from that you can build a retro computer for cheap in most cases... it's really only when you want that one particular special part that's not that common that one would even consider to pay more, I don't want pay ridiculous amounts for single parts, that's why I mostly purchase (scrap) lots or whole machines, I'm happy with just having a large collection of old parts, I won't buy a voodoo 5 for €250+ ever, not even for €150... I'm not in this to make money. To me a voodoo 5 has less sentimental value than some abundant and cheap cards that I used to own, to me a voodoo 5 would be worth 50-100€ at best, just to have one for it's historical significance and to play around with, and by that I mean that that's a price I'd be willing to pay for it to keep it, not resell it later, I don't usually sell stuff anyways.

for example I paid like €70 for a random XT/AT keyboard just because it was the first keyboard I ever had, meanwhile I don't even have a model M yet because I'm not willing to pay the prices that get asked for it.

and yet as you say there's people out there that see an ISA gpu and think "oh vintage!" and try to sell it for €100+ on ebay, which of course in turn attracts others to do the same.

DNSDies wrote:

dan86 wrote:

The Voodoo5 PCI is not as rare as some may say, that price is high, if the box was mint and the card was sealed I can see someone paying that much. but not any time soon.
300ish sound like a better price.

They're fairly rare. For every V5 PCI on ebay, there are 6 AGPs.

Rare and certainly for sale on eBay are two different things. Yes the PCI 5500 cards are much less common then a AGP card. And yes the PCI 5500 is on the rare side, but its not some super rare card that some people make it out to be.

Rarity is also regional. Lots of stuff that didn't sell well in the US might have been dumped in Eastern Europe making it easy to find there and rare in the US.

Unknown_K wrote:

Rarity is also regional. Lots of stuff that didn't sell well in the US might have been dumped in Eastern Europe making it easy to find there and rare in the US.

True. I got a lot of my retro parts from an Italian seller on eBay that seems to have everything for a reasonable price.

I agree that eBay is a sh*thole now, though. As a seller, I can't even leave a negative review anymore when one of my buyers doesn't pay. I can only leave a positive review. And even if I file a claim, nothing will be shown on the buyers profile. That opens the door for people to make the whole platform worse.