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Sale of a lifetime: Just pay 200 grand.

Customers for sellers like these tend to fall into two categories. First, there are retrocomputing enthusiasts like us who are often long on enthusiasm and short on spending money. If we see something on their listings that we must have badly enough and cannot find anywhere else, the money is somehow found. Second are institutional customers who have to replace vintage parts for their businesses. The mining company who uses some DOS program to control their drills would gladly pay inflated prices for the exotic PC hardware to run it than pay a company to design and build a new system. Many of these people could sell more by knocking down the prices of the more consumer based products.

Also, we have to consider that if one item sells, that might be one of their only sales for that month. To make a living, they need some profit margins. In this sense, you are not just buying a product, you are actually paying a substantial portion of these people's wages.

The only qualification most sellers would be looking for is a buyer who can show that he has $200K to spend.
 
You know at the time I wasn't sure what stock he still had but I did see after the sale some of the more expensive systems show up online again (5100). If he had a list of full stock it may not have been such a crazy offer accordingly. I'm still trying to figure out who it is though ;-)

Like we've said in the past though, there's pricing things to go, pricing things competitively, and then there's the I have it for a premium because I like it and don't really want to sell it. Quite possibly a mix of the few with him. How often have you said "I'd never sell this system" but say someone offers you $3000 and you may figure you can get another later.

Either way, prices aside there certainly are a lot of sales that are being made.
 
I figure this way about the guy - more power to him if he can get the asking price based on some of the items he sells (or attempts to).

I personally watched his $699.96 IBM PS/2 8580 go down to $199.95 for 2 months... his prices do fluctuate sometime. But high-priced is still high-priced.

I'm all for sellers making a killing on something that they most likely found for a song... I just hate that they do so with crazy BIN's that auto-inflate the actual auction pricings for the rest of us that try to acquire some of that junk :)
 
Some people on ebay do have sales, and if you watch an item with a BIN price for a while the sellers have been known to offer a limited time sale (20% off maybe) to get you to bite. Most BIN have OBO and they will lower the price sometimes for a quick sale.

Still most of those $200K auctions are just for the seller to get attention and for serious collectors (you know the guys with large amounts of money who spend it) to ask about his inventory and maybe sell some unlisted item on the side to avoid ebay fees).
 
Unknown_K said:
Still most of those $200K auctions are just for the seller to get attention and for serious collectors (you know the guys with large amounts of money who spend it)fees).
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It aggravates the heck out of me to see someone dangle all of those computers in front of me and have that big of a price slapped onto it.
 
mbbrutman said:
Please continue to be careful - the eBay seller that you are discussing is a semi-frequent poster here at the forums.

The community is small - you never know who is reading.
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I have no problem with this seller. I'm pointing out they are actually running their business quite well. If there was a part I really needed and they had it, I may purchase it at a higher price. Storing all that equipment for years (vs letting it go into a trash bin) in a low humidity environment takes effort. Like I said, I hope the seller makes a profit on this stuff and not a loss.
 
commodorejohn said:
Well, if he is reading, I'd like to point out that his prices are REDACTED ridiculous and he's just another of the countless sellers who think that everything they own must be priceless because why else would they have it? Good fershlugginer luck with this - I'd be surprised if he got 1/4 as much as he's asking for it.
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They seem very high at first glace, but the truth is people are paying these prices. That's what I was trying to point out. I'm pointing out it looks like it could be a lucrative business for someone.
 
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