New Zealand Vintage Computer Forums

Ok, I know we mainly use Trade Me, but you might find this article by Wired Magazine on (in their opinion) overpriced vintage tech goods on e-Bay interesting.

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/08/ ... ewall=true

It even features an Apple Lisa for $US10,000. Perhaps I need to sell one of mine off to reduce the mortgage!

What would be interesting is knowing how many of those items actually sell for the asking price. People are free to put whatever prices they like on their items, but it doesn't mean much unless they actually find a market!

I could actually see a 5100 selling for 6K although that'd be the upper limit. There is very few, and I've never dreamed of having one becasue I'd expect costs to be in the thousands. They make fun of the screen, which I thought was rather pathetic, would've been better to mention the potentials costs if it doesn't operate. It's not about how useful it is.

I think the rest would require someone with so much money that they don't notice the price. I'm sure a few sell provided the audience is big enough. Nice to see the overpriced stuff getting a bit of media attention, because a lot of it is scam-work, hopefully deter a few potential buyers and get them to do a little more research MS DOS 3.3 for 4 grand was another one recently.

SpidersWeb wrote:It's not about how useful it is.

This is one criticism I have of the article too. There are lots of cheap shots. Collectors of vintage gear generally don't collect it "because it's useful" unless there is some legacy factor at play. There are other motivations involved which give an object value.

falco wrote:What would be interesting is knowing how many of those items actually sell for the asking price. People are free to put whatever prices they like on their items, but it doesn't mean much unless they actually find a market!

That's right. Because the sold price is harder to find than the listed price it can seem to the casual observer looking at e-Bay or Trade Me that some things are worth more than their true market value.

Like the guy that's advertising a zx81 for $800 with a composite mod. And to think I have two composite boards sitting in a bag here which only cost $35 to eventually go in a couple of ZX81's I have yet to revive.

All I can say is thank god for Amibay which seems to put a bit of perspective to the market.