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Valuation of old hardware

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Reply 22 of 32, by feipoa

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I think knowing market value for computer items is interesting in its own right and I don't ever plan on selling any computer hardware I own. I started a topic some time ago which attempted to track the value of sold items, but there wasn't enough participation to make it viable. Market value for popular or rare classic computer hardware . Too much work for one person (me) and others are likely to [eventually] violate forum rules. The spending craze on some of this stuff has become ridiculous and makes me wonder if are at an apex.

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Reply 24 of 32, by Horun

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feipoa wrote on 2020-02-15, 09:33:

I think knowing market value for computer items is interesting in its own right and I don't ever plan on selling any computer hardware I own. I started a topic some time ago which attempted to track the value of sold items, but there wasn't enough participation to make it viable. Market value for popular or rare classic computer hardware . Too much work for one person (me) and others are likely to [eventually] violate forum rules. The spending craze on some of this stuff has become ridiculous and makes me wonder if are at an apex.

Nice but due to different areas (Europe, USA, Asia, etc) having widely different pricing on a weekly basis would be a lot of work for a small crew to keep it updated. I think in USA we have hit an all time high in prices of some retro stuff. Back about 10 years ago there was a huge price increase here for a while also but it lasted just a few years, think collectors started dumping their goodies for cash which caused the market prices to fall for a while. Now it is back up.

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Reply 25 of 32, by Brawndo

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To address the original topic, using eBay as a measure of what some vintage hardware is worth is tough. A vast majority of that stuff listed for sale is "buy it now" format only, and while much of it is indeed harder to find these days, many sellers have determined their stuff is worth an asinine amount of money. Unless it's something I REALLY want, and have only ever seen one or two listed for sale, I'll wait for an auction listing so the market will determine the value, which is usually fair. I just started looking for Plextor SCSI CD drives for some older builds, and saw a few listed for around $250 for just the drive, and the yellowing on the bezel is extreme, yet the seller thinks it's a gold mine. If you keep watching, that stuff sits for a very long time, and the seller never lowers the price, and the items never sell. I don't get it but to each their own. Either they don't really want to sell the stuff (wife said put it up for sale or else, 🤣), or they really are delusional about the actual value of some of that stuff.

Horun wrote on 2020-02-15, 17:27:

Back about 10 years ago there was a huge price increase here for a while also but it lasted just a few years, think collectors started dumping their goodies for cash which caused the market prices to fall for a while. Now it is back up.

If the US economy ends up in a downturn again soon, I'm sure prices for this stuff will come down significantly, as they're definitely considered luxury items, and when people start really needing cash, they'll dump it for what they can get for it. I'll be ready to scoop up some cheap hardware in that case.

Reply 26 of 32, by Dominus

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If you look at ebay, you need to use the advanced search and look for SOLD pieces. This tells you the prices people are actually buying at, not those the sellers hope to get 😉

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Reply 28 of 32, by Dominus

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yes, of course, it is hard when there is only one item having been sold in the search results but if there were more you can do an educated guess why some have been sold for much more 😀

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Reply 29 of 32, by Horun

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Some sales do not show in the Advanced search but it can be sort of handy. A few months ago I was looking to see what the selling of a specific board was, found one for much cheaper and bought it. Works great as was advertised and left positive feedback BUT a "sold" search for that product does not show my purchase of it at all or any sale of that product within months of my purchase date. Perhaps the seller can set it to not show their sold items ?

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Reply 30 of 32, by feipoa

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I think the Advanced Search - Sold items is only viewable for a few months. For rare items that only pop up once in two years, that feature is of little assistance. There would need to be a running log or active database for items of interest. On the contrary, such a database would probably result in prices going up faster than they would naturally.

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