Well...I kind of consider my laptop craziness of the last several years a bit of a testament to how much a nobody can influence the prices. Right now I'm seeing NEC Versas being posted at over $100 when I bought all mine for $75 or less, ditto the NanTan Laptops - I paid $25 for my FMA3500C and $25 for the FMAK9200. Here's what we have now...
RARE NEC Versa V/75 Laptop - $225.99
https://www.ebay.com/itm/394757721473?hash=it … ABk9SR5bdxZOxYg
NEC Versa V/50C - $249.99 - The Versa V/50C I had was in mint condition, I paid $15 for it BIN in 2021
https://www.ebay.com/itm/166224852567?hash=it … ABk9SR5jdxZOxYg
NEC Versa 40EC PC-440-1531 - $200.00 - it's got a cracked hinge even worse than the one I had, to the point the Screen Bezel is damaged - mine cost me $35 in 2019
https://www.ebay.com/itm/115698062716?hash=it … %3ABFBM8oHmk7Fi
I see the same now is happening with NanTan stuff too. Thing is, it'll never sell at the price they are asking, Eventually, some do get wise - like the NCR Safari 3180 I still see there almost 2 years later (NEC UltraLIte Versa 33C rebadged as an NCR) - it was $99 until this year, now it's $55.
That said, the rising prices do have a good side affect of keeping some of us longtimers like myself from going nuts and buying every friggin pre-Pentium x86 machine we see. It's all too easy in this hobby to fall into the trap of constant accumulation when stuff was cheap, and then you end up with a lot of sub-par, quickly thrown together "retro PCs" rather than some premium, fine-tuned, machines that truly get some full appreciation, and a storage locker full of stuff with some real potential that you never actually get to see. It was a fun "cheap" hobby in our twenties, but when you're pushing middle age with a family and a career, you have to start setting some boundaries. You can't take em' with you.