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PC Museum on eBay

Thats mind boggling! I can't even concieve of what shipping would be.

katey
 
He did several passes with this auction with an astoundingly high reserve several months ago.

He's since cherry-picked many of the best items (Scelbi, Altair, etc.) for a museum somewhere (I'm not sure of the details) and he's selling what's left.

There are still some very nice machines in there, but nothing worth even the moving expense I'd expect from the collection.

If he's serious, he's going to have to part this collection out.

Erik
 
Yes, the complete Freeman collection was listed at least thrice before on eBay. First time, the starting bid was $99,000. On the two following occassions, the starting price was $49,000.

Now, after removing some of the most collectable items, they start at $1 but yet have not reached reserve price at $7,500. Kind of cute to mention that some of the machines are not included, but the information about those in the website that goes with the collection will remain. If I remember correctly, the Freeman website only mentioned computers that were physically part of the collection/museum.

Let's see what the bid will end at, and whether it will be accepted if it is below reserve, whatever that amount is this time - $20,000 or more?
 
Most of those machines are very common (and there are dupes too). How many people here would even add most of them to their collection anyway? From what I see most people who are serious collectors tend to pick a few types of machines and concentrate on those (while the packrats take anything they can get their hands on for free).

$7500 is too high even if you live down the street and happen to have a semi truck and a dozen freinds with nothing better to do then move computers for free.
 
Unknown_K said:
From what I see most people who are serious collectors tend to pick a few types of machines and concentrate on those (while the packrats take anything they can get their hands on for free).
Click to expand...

I guess I qualify as a little of both...I hardly ever turn down a computer if it's free, even if it's just to play with for awhile before finding it a good home (usually with one of my packrat friends). For my" permanent" collection tho, I do tend to specialize in a few types of machines that I might be interested in at any given moment.

--T
 
To be honest nothing is FREE. If I take a machine in that I did not want I suspect I would tinker with it and then start upgrading it, get some manuals, and dig up software (all of which cost some money and take up space). At the very least I will spend time cleaning the thing up to look like new inside and out.

I limit my collecting to Nubus era 68k Macs, DOS and early Windows era gaming machines, vintage analog video capture equipment, Amigas, C64/128, and dabble with Atari ST and Apple IIgs's. Even within those areas I am picky on machine, much less picky with addons and software which I have a decent amount of. Its hard sometimes when somebody is clearing out a whole mess of equipment to not turn into a packrat and take it all.
 
Now $8100, from someone with an eBay rating of zero. :lol:

Even if some items were removed, there is still well over 800 computers and video games, not counting the calculators, peripherals, books and magazines in the lot. That is roughly $10 per computer, and I think even the most common C64 could on its own sell for $10 if it is a quick deal. But shipping and housing the collection will be a great deal for anyone ending up to buy it.
 
I've never hired a moving company before, but the cost must be reasonable, as people use them every day to haul thier entire household from one side of the country to the other.

--T
 
Terry Yager said:
I've never hired a moving company before, but the cost must be reasonable, as people use them every day to haul thier entire household from one side of the country to the other.

--T
Click to expand...

The company they work for is paying for the relocation costs which were in the many thousands back in the 1990's when my friends relocated for work and costs more now with gas 3x 1990's prices.
 
moving

moving

I've moved across North America several times in the past 8 years...

When I've used movers (before the recent surge in gas prices) movers were about $1 US per pound. Usualy a 1000 pound minimum.

I've decided next time to give my stuff away and buy new.

-m
 
If you are moving a whole house with alot of heavy furniture it adds up quite fast. It is cheaper if you have an apartment to just rent a U-Haul and have a few freidns load it up. Like I said the company that hired my friends paid the tab so they didn't pick the cheapest movers.

As far as moving a computer collection have all your printed material and software shipped media mail to the new location its probably much cheaper. The shipping boxes and packing material (needed to keep things intact since mover are not too gentle) add up too.
 
true

true

very true on all counts.


If you are moving a whole house with alot of heavy furniture it adds up quite fast. It is cheaper if you have an apartment to just rent a U-Haul and have a few freidns load it up. Like I said the company that hired my friends paid the tab so they didn't pick the cheapest movers.

As far as moving a computer collection have all your printed material and software shipped media mail to the new location its probably much cheaper. The shipping boxes and packing material (needed to keep things intact since mover are not too gentle) add up too.
Click to expand...
 
Bidding has ended for this item. Final bid: $20,100, which still was below reserve price. Question is whether this collection will be sold or re-listed again. If the seller is expecting even more, he may find himself stuck with the Freeman collection or, as someone else pointed out, start to sell it part by part.
 
Well most collections are worth more parted out then they are sold as a lot. What I want to know is if this guy did part it out (would take a while to do) how would he dispose of the unwanted items and would it cost him money to recycle them?
 
I never did understand reserve price auctions. Could someone possibly explain to me, if someone wants a certain minimum price for something, why not just open the bidding at that price? With a reserve price, the bidder never even knows if his maximum bid was high enough unless someone else outbids him.

--T
 
Terry Yager said:
I never did understand reserve price auctions. Could someone possibly explain to me, if someone wants a certain minimum price for something, why not just open the bidding at that price? With a reserve price, the bidder never even knows if his maximum bid was high enough unless someone else outbids him.
Click to expand...

The bidder will know that he didn't hit reserve when he bids.

The point behind a reserve is to protect the value of the item you are selling.

The point of a low starting bid is to get more people interested in your item and, hopefully, start some kind of bidding war.

The two aren't mutually exclusive. Sometimes they work together nicely - even if it makes little sense! :)

Erik
 
But in this particular case, the item(s) have been listed at least four or five times. Here is a list of starting bid, number of bids and highest bid:

Starting $99,000 - 0 bids - $0 (complete collection)
Starting $49,000 - 0 bids - $0 (complete collection)
Starting $1 - 48 bids - $20,100 (some items removed)
Starting $100 - 28 bids - $22,099 (two hours earlier: $21,599)

Next time, will the seller raise the starting bid to $1000 to receive slightly fewer, but higher bids?
 
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