Reply 20 of 120, by FeedingDragon
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TheAbandonwareGuy: The exact numbers I gave are soft 🙁 But they aren't off by an extreme amount. If I had to give a accurate numbers then the original price was between $20 & $40 and the new price between $200 & $400, probably between a 5x to 10x markup. It's been a while, and my memory isn't what it used to be. This happened back in the early 2000's (2001-2003.) It was a couple of years after my income had taken a dramatic drop (1999.) I was a little more sensitive to prices at the time. I've always looked for good deals, but was comforted in the knowledge that if a reasonable price didn't come along, I could pay a higher price if I decided to. That didn't hold true any more, and when I saw cases with strong indications of someone buying up all the reasonably priced items to force a price inflation, I tended to be a little more observant towards them.
So, I can't tell you exactly what it was. During that period, I was mostly concentrating on vintage games (board, card, & computer,) and Amiga hardware. So if fell into one of those categories. You can find cases now, though the collectable hoarders are more common forms. Look for an item that usually sells for lower prices appearing suddenly for much higher prices, usually more than one at a time. Then pull up the history. I tend to set up saved searches, so when I'm in the mood to observe one of the cases, I just add it to my saved searches & check it on a daily basis. I see what's being offered, then click a couple of buttons to check the recent sales. Usually, for a short period, more reasonably priced items will appear, only to sell quickly. Once this pattern is spotted, you know you've found one. Though, recently, I haven't seen anything with more than a 2-3x markup ($50 to $100 or $150.) It's usually a low priced item that "could" actually be more. A card or MB that's been selling for $25, but there usually isn't more that 5-10 available at any given time, but they do sell fairly regularly. Those seem to be the types of items targeted.
Others: I very rarely take advantage of "second chance" offers. There were a couple of times, though, when I did go ahead and get it. I don't think I'll ever sell on eBay again 🙁 Been burned twice by what appears to be a "the customer never lies," policy they've taken recently. Well, technically, my sister was burned the second time, but it was through my account. Since then, I've only sold on forums that allow it.
Feeding Dragon