VOGONS


Retro Hardware Collecting rants

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Reply 60 of 934, by Caluser2000

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Katmai500 wrote on 2020-06-11, 21:42:

I don't love the crazy pricing for retro items, but it does make for an extra special day when I score a part I've been searching for at a great price. It adds to the thrill of the hunt for me.

Yip. Some times an item will just pop up out of the blue at a good price. Bonus if it is local.

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Reply 61 of 934, by SodaSuccubus

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I guess my only real big pet peeve is people hording games, putting them under a glass case and then never touching them. I get that's more a console issue since with PCs you can just buy your games easily online and skip using real installation disks but, the basic premise of it still applies

Otherwise, it's mostly just people pricing things outrageously. I buy alot on eBay and if it fits in my budget, there's a bit of overpricing I can take.

But then there's people trying to pull crap like charging $400 for a VLB Tseng Labs et4000. (Yes, that was a real listing I sought a few days ago)

Like..i get price and value is subjective and rants regarding it might be down to entitlement but..

Idk what bubble you live in but no Tseng Labs VLB is worth 400CAD.

There are some prices that are just, so bad it's not even funny.
...it's mildly concerning!

Reply 62 of 934, by Miphee

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Katmai500 wrote on 2020-06-11, 21:42:

I don't love the crazy pricing for retro items, but it does make for an extra special day when I score a part I've been searching for at a great price. It adds to the thrill of the hunt for me.

Agreed. Anyone can buy hardware with nearly unlimited funds but it's much more fun when you have to wait for the opportunity to get something you really want for a lower price.
We talked about winning the lottery with the wife and I told her that if we won it would be the end of this hobby for me. I would just buy everything off Ebay and get bored of it in a month. Part of this experience is indeed the chase and the bidding against others. It can be addictive.
Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.

Reply 63 of 934, by imi

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even if I won the lottery, I'd still be a cheap bastard and hunt the best deals and scrap lots 😁

(but yes, I'd finally buy a voodoo 5 and GUS probably :p, I'd also open up an actual museum)

Reply 64 of 934, by Mister Xiado

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Deksor wrote on 2020-06-11, 16:58:

I saw it !
Sells an item for way too much on a local auction site or a flea market (places with few to no waranties if something go bad) because "I saw it selling at that price on the internet".
Some even sell that item in a lesser condition than the one on ebay (boxed game -> loose game, mint computer -> rough shape computer, etc).

You see those those types at flea markets. They go by the highest current Buy It Now prices they can find, rather than undercutting the average Sold prices a little, and wonder why the Atari XE GS they've been sitting on for 4 years hasn't been sold. Then they have a heart attack and all of their goods end up in a dumpster, if the owners of the flea market don't loot it first.

The very best packing I've experienced was when I won someone's Nintendo Power collection. The package was delivered during a thunderstorm, and instead of putting the box on my dry front porch, the United States Package Smashers put it under the downspout on the corner of the house. I came home to find water gushing all over the box, so I yanked it out of the torrent, and got it into the kitchen. Strangely, the box only had a couple wet spots, on the corners. It turned out that the seller had completely sealed the box in packing tape. I opened it up, and found that the contents were sealed in plastic wrap, and under this was a shell of bubble wrap. The magazines were bone dry, without so much as a kinked spine or up-turned corner.

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Reply 65 of 934, by piatd

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I didn't see this one mentioned yet:

Sellers who raise prices after receiving offers.

Yes, by using your Make Offer button, I've shown interest in your item. However, I've also demonstrated that I'm not willing to buy it for the asking price. Why, then, would I pay even more?

I'm not talking about insulting, low-ball offers. For example, I once offered $75 for a $100 computer case that had been relisted at the same price for months. The seller rejected my bid and immediately raised the price to $125.

The only thing this buyer did was convince me never to buy from them. If they do this, what other irrational behavior might I look forward to with the sale? Perhaps they'll eschew shipping in a box, on the grounds that the case is already shaped like a box.

I suspect there are buyers out there enabling this behavior. Otherwise, I'm at a loss to explain it.

Reply 66 of 934, by imi

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oh I've seen plenty of that, also people who keep increasing the price with every relisting of an item that doesn't sell in general...
I have no idea what kind of reverse psychology move they're trying to pull off but it's not working on me x3

Reply 67 of 934, by Unknown_K

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imi wrote on 2020-06-12, 00:09:

oh I've seen plenty of that, also people who keep increasing the price with every relisting of an item that doesn't sell in general...
I have no idea what kind of reverse psychology move they're trying to pull off but it's not working on me x3

If you really wanted that $100 and somebody offered you $75 then jacking the price to $125 might get you a $100 offer. They know they are getting close to their price because they actually got an offer.

Collector of old computers, hardware, and software

Reply 68 of 934, by Unknown_K

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EvieSigma wrote on 2020-06-09, 20:57:

I forgot a big one actually: sellers who show pictures of a vintage laptop running but refuse to sell you the power adapter. It's not necessarily against the rules but it rubs me the wrong way.

Well I have dozens of IBM Thinkpads but not enough power bricks to go around so if I decided to sell one I would show it working but I am keeping the brick. Sooner or later some of the proprietary bricks are going to be worth more then the laptop they go to (assuming they still work).

Sellers make more money parting units out or selling the pieces in separate auctions.

Collector of old computers, hardware, and software

Reply 69 of 934, by Unknown_K

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I hate people canceling auctions after I win them for bullshit reasons.

People who pack items hoping they break.

The lack of quantity and quality of the items I like to collect.

Collector of old computers, hardware, and software

Reply 70 of 934, by Ozzuneoj

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cyclone3d wrote on 2020-06-11, 16:59:
Dreamhardware is one of them. They claim to be working on a system to have pictures posted but I'll believe it when I see it. […]
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Anonymous Coward wrote on 2020-06-11, 13:04:

It's probably been talked about before. There are one or two sellers on eBay who ask really obscene prices for their items, yet can't even be bothered to take a photo or make a decent item description. They look like something from eBay in 1995. Obviously I don't bother with these, but they're always getting in my way and making it hard to find what I want. Some of them are the same item listed 10 times.

Dreamhardware is one of them. They claim to be working on a system to have pictures posted but I'll believe it when I see it.

They will post pictures if you ask about specific items.

The really bad thing about them right now is that the listing titles are generally horrible and you have to go into the listing to look at the mfg part number.

I put in an offer a few days ago for a Logitech Soundman Wave that they were selling and they accepted.

It came quickly and was packaged well so I have no complaint about them in that regard. They also don't overcharge for shipping.

This is also a big pet peeve of mine. I had the same experience with Dreamhardware. It is incredibly hard to get solid info out of them in a timely manner.

Amongst the hundreds of items they listed a month or so ago I managed to locate one of those super hard to find Crystalake MIDI-only ISA cards going by nothing but a model number, with no item descriptions and no picture. Thank goodness I asked for a picture of the item before they shipped it. They had it mislabeled and were going to ship me one of the Crystalake audio output boards from some OEM PC (basically a useless PCB with audio jacks on it). After 2 business days of searching (with a 3 day weekend between them, so 5 full days after they accepted my offer) they finally found the card I wanted. When it arrived it was exactly as described and packed well, but... wow. How on earth are these guys making any money? They don't know anything about this stuff and they are sitting on thousands of items that they can't sell because they just won't apply themselves to selling them... and they list on Newegg, Amazon... even Wal-Mart.com!

Anyway, here it is in all it's glory. 😀

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I found another seller that has a similar business model but is far far worse... tons of items, no information, but they won't even reply to you unless you BUY something. I wanted to buy two of something that is absolutely useless to 99.9999% of the population, because they were the only two of these items on the entire internet. The item has sat in their inventory for years. They charged something like $25 with "free shipping" for each one. I finally just bought one and before they shipped it I tried contacting them for the 3rd or 4th time asking if they'd take a combined offer for both just to finally sell the stupid things and because the shipping would obviously be cheaper for them if they shipped them together... they wouldn't budge. They have like 5 sales a month with tens of thousands of items listed, and yet they won't sell things to people that want them.

Now for some blitting from the back buffer.

Reply 71 of 934, by cyclone3d

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Ozzuneoj wrote on 2020-06-12, 01:49:
This is also a big pet peeve of mine. I had the same experience with Dreamhardware. It is incredibly hard to get solid info out […]
Show full quote
cyclone3d wrote on 2020-06-11, 16:59:
Dreamhardware is one of them. They claim to be working on a system to have pictures posted but I'll believe it when I see it. […]
Show full quote
Anonymous Coward wrote on 2020-06-11, 13:04:

It's probably been talked about before. There are one or two sellers on eBay who ask really obscene prices for their items, yet can't even be bothered to take a photo or make a decent item description. They look like something from eBay in 1995. Obviously I don't bother with these, but they're always getting in my way and making it hard to find what I want. Some of them are the same item listed 10 times.

Dreamhardware is one of them. They claim to be working on a system to have pictures posted but I'll believe it when I see it.

They will post pictures if you ask about specific items.

The really bad thing about them right now is that the listing titles are generally horrible and you have to go into the listing to look at the mfg part number.

I put in an offer a few days ago for a Logitech Soundman Wave that they were selling and they accepted.

It came quickly and was packaged well so I have no complaint about them in that regard. They also don't overcharge for shipping.

This is also a big pet peeve of mine. I had the same experience with Dreamhardware. It is incredibly hard to get solid info out of them in a timely manner.

Amongst the hundreds of items they listed a month or so ago I managed to locate one of those super hard to find Crystalake MIDI-only ISA cards going by nothing but a model number, with no item descriptions and no picture. Thank goodness I asked for a picture of the item before they shipped it. They had it mislabeled and were going to ship me one of the Crystalake audio output boards from some OEM PC (basically a useless PCB with audio jacks on it). After 2 business days of searching (with a 3 day weekend between them, so 5 full days after they accepted my offer) they finally found the card I wanted. When it arrived it was exactly as described and packed well, but... wow. How on earth are these guys making any money? They don't know anything about this stuff and they are sitting on thousands of items that they can't sell because they just won't apply themselves to selling them... and they list on Newegg, Amazon... even Wal-Mart.com!

Anyway, here it is in all it's glory. 😀

crystalake2.jpg

I found another seller that has a similar business model but is far far worse... tons of items, no information, but they won't even reply to you unless you BUY something. I wanted to buy two of something that is absolutely useless to 99.9999% of the population, because they were the only two of these items on the entire internet. The item has sat in their inventory for years. They charged something like $25 with "free shipping" for each one. I finally just bought one and before they shipped it I tried contacting them for the 3rd or 4th time asking if they'd take a combined offer for both just to finally sell the stupid things and because the shipping would obviously be cheaper for them if they shipped them together... they wouldn't budge. They have like 5 sales a month with tens of thousands of items listed, and yet they won't sell things to people that want them.

Very nice. I have been wanting one of those. Did they have more than one?

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Reply 72 of 934, by Ozzuneoj

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cyclone3d wrote on 2020-06-12, 01:55:
Ozzuneoj wrote on 2020-06-12, 01:49:
This is also a big pet peeve of mine. I had the same experience with Dreamhardware. It is incredibly hard to get solid info out […]
Show full quote
cyclone3d wrote on 2020-06-11, 16:59:
Dreamhardware is one of them. They claim to be working on a system to have pictures posted but I'll believe it when I see it. […]
Show full quote

Dreamhardware is one of them. They claim to be working on a system to have pictures posted but I'll believe it when I see it.

They will post pictures if you ask about specific items.

The really bad thing about them right now is that the listing titles are generally horrible and you have to go into the listing to look at the mfg part number.

I put in an offer a few days ago for a Logitech Soundman Wave that they were selling and they accepted.

It came quickly and was packaged well so I have no complaint about them in that regard. They also don't overcharge for shipping.

This is also a big pet peeve of mine. I had the same experience with Dreamhardware. It is incredibly hard to get solid info out of them in a timely manner.

Amongst the hundreds of items they listed a month or so ago I managed to locate one of those super hard to find Crystalake MIDI-only ISA cards going by nothing but a model number, with no item descriptions and no picture. Thank goodness I asked for a picture of the item before they shipped it. They had it mislabeled and were going to ship me one of the Crystalake audio output boards from some OEM PC (basically a useless PCB with audio jacks on it). After 2 business days of searching (with a 3 day weekend between them, so 5 full days after they accepted my offer) they finally found the card I wanted. When it arrived it was exactly as described and packed well, but... wow. How on earth are these guys making any money? They don't know anything about this stuff and they are sitting on thousands of items that they can't sell because they just won't apply themselves to selling them... and they list on Newegg, Amazon... even Wal-Mart.com!

Anyway, here it is in all it's glory. 😀

crystalake2.jpg

I found another seller that has a similar business model but is far far worse... tons of items, no information, but they won't even reply to you unless you BUY something. I wanted to buy two of something that is absolutely useless to 99.9999% of the population, because they were the only two of these items on the entire internet. The item has sat in their inventory for years. They charged something like $25 with "free shipping" for each one. I finally just bought one and before they shipped it I tried contacting them for the 3rd or 4th time asking if they'd take a combined offer for both just to finally sell the stupid things and because the shipping would obviously be cheaper for them if they shipped them together... they wouldn't budge. They have like 5 sales a month with tens of thousands of items listed, and yet they won't sell things to people that want them.

Very nice. I have been wanting one of those. Did they have more than one?

Seemed to be the only one. I haven't had a chance to play with it yet, but I'm curious to see if the connector on it can be adapted to connect to a wavetable header. Such an odd device!

Now for some blitting from the back buffer.

Reply 73 of 934, by piatd

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Unknown_K wrote on 2020-06-12, 00:36:
imi wrote on 2020-06-12, 00:09:

oh I've seen plenty of that, also people who keep increasing the price with every relisting of an item that doesn't sell in general...
I have no idea what kind of reverse psychology move they're trying to pull off but it's not working on me x3

If you really wanted that $100 and somebody offered you $75 then jacking the price to $125 might get you a $100 offer. They know they are getting close to their price because they actually got an offer.

This doesn't make sense. If they were actually hoping for $100 in a Best Offer transaction, they should have started higher, e.g. at $125. I've haggled on both coasts of the United States, in addition to street markets in London, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia, and I've never experienced someone raising their initial price.

There may be a culture that does not expect the seller to start high and the buyer to start low, but I'm not aware of it. The only time I've seen someone raise their initial price is in a display of punitive dominance: 'You dare to negotiate with me? The price just went up. Still negotiating? The price just went up again.' Come to think of it, I've only seen this in movies and at family gatherings (in jest).

Reply 74 of 934, by darry

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piatd wrote on 2020-06-12, 04:44:
Unknown_K wrote on 2020-06-12, 00:36:
imi wrote on 2020-06-12, 00:09:

oh I've seen plenty of that, also people who keep increasing the price with every relisting of an item that doesn't sell in general...
I have no idea what kind of reverse psychology move they're trying to pull off but it's not working on me x3

If you really wanted that $100 and somebody offered you $75 then jacking the price to $125 might get you a $100 offer. They know they are getting close to their price because they actually got an offer.

This doesn't make sense. If they were actually hoping for $100 in a Best Offer transaction, they should have started higher, e.g. at $125. I've haggled on both coasts of the United States, in addition to street markets in London, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia, and I've never experienced someone raising their initial price.

There may be a culture that does not expect the seller to start high and the buyer to start low, but I'm not aware of it. The only time I've seen someone raise their initial price is in a display of punitive dominance: 'You dare to negotiate with me? The price just went up. Still negotiating? The price just went up again.' Come to think of it, I've only seen this in movies and at family gatherings (in jest).

The only thing I can think of to explain such an attitude is this convoluted "logic" that all potential buyers are cheapskates and if one of them shows interest in some way, that means the "treasure" the seller has is even more valuable than he thought, so if it hasn't sold yet, now is a great time to increase price to maximise profit from an eventual other buyer (if there is one interested party, there must be others anyway). IMHO, sellers who think that way have no pressure to sell (no hurry, no space or time constraints, etc) and possibly have limited stock on which they absolutely want to maximise profit . They are likely so greed oriented that they are likely blind to the fact they could make more money faster by selling more items even if at smaller markup .

This is entirely conjecture on my part, but it was fun trying to imagine this kind of seller's psyche .

Reply 75 of 934, by devius

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One thing I have seen and experienced myself is sellers listing a certain item for X amount and "threatening" that if it doesn't sell until a certain date they will throw it in the trash. Sometimes the price is fair, but most often it's more than what I'd be willing to pay, so I make a lower offer that usually gets rejected.

Seems to be the mentality that either they make the exact amount of money they want (doesn't matter if the price is realistic or not) or no one else is going to be getting their "precious" item.

Reply 76 of 934, by kixs

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SodaSuccubus wrote on 2020-06-11, 22:03:
... […]
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...

But then there's people trying to pull crap like charging $400 for a VLB Tseng Labs et4000. (Yes, that was a real listing I sought a few days ago)

Like..i get price and value is subjective and rants regarding it might be down to entitlement but..

Idk what bubble you live in but no Tseng Labs VLB is worth 400CAD.

There are some prices that are just, so bad it's not even funny.
...it's mildly concerning!

If it's standard ET4000AX chipset, then the VLB version is pretty rare. I've only seen two in last 5-6 years on sale. Price is another matter... some just hope there is a collector out there desperate enough to go for it.

Sometimes I see items sell for insane price... then I also consider to sell a part of my collection - if someone wants it more then me, go ahead and make my day 🤣

I thought a V5 5000 is too expensive at 150€ - for a boxed one two years ago... I waited and now they go for over 300€ 🙁 I guess I'd need to put on sell my VLB ET4000AX 🤣

Requests are also possible... /msg kixs

Reply 77 of 934, by red_avatar

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piatd wrote on 2020-06-11, 23:58:
I didn't see this one mentioned yet: […]
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I didn't see this one mentioned yet:

Sellers who raise prices after receiving offers.

Yes, by using your Make Offer button, I've shown interest in your item. However, I've also demonstrated that I'm not willing to buy it for the asking price. Why, then, would I pay even more?

I'm not talking about insulting, low-ball offers. For example, I once offered $75 for a $100 computer case that had been relisted at the same price for months. The seller rejected my bid and immediately raised the price to $125.

The only thing this buyer did was convince me never to buy from them. If they do this, what other irrational behavior might I look forward to with the sale? Perhaps they'll eschew shipping in a box, on the grounds that the case is already shaped like a box.

I suspect there are buyers out there enabling this behavior. Otherwise, I'm at a loss to explain it.

This happened to me with a PS3 remote. It was on offer for €15. I offered €15 with P&P included (which was €5) and the guy was like nope, and actually raised the price to €20. I never got why he did that - if anyone thought €15 was a bargain, surely they'd have used "buy now"? Or was he banking on me wanting the item?

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Reply 79 of 934, by canthearu

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Mine is a simple rant.

Hate ebay sellers that offer best offer and then reply to any best offer request with a $3 discount (on things $50 or more) or something equally stupid.

I mean, WTF. Why even bother with best offer if you are going to make an insulting counter-offer like that. $3 is just transaction cost noise on ebay, with it's dumb international purchasing and postage costs.

If any of you can understand the mentality behind this, please let me know.