Came across this site

Anything to do with New Zealand Classic or Vintage Computing not covered in the other forums

Came across this site

Postby WelshWizard on Sat Dec 03, 2011 8:29 pm

Came across this site, very useful advice for collecting also some good stuff on approx values on other pages of the site.

Came across this site
http://www.retrogamingcollector.com/Buyers-Advice.html

really like these statements

Be careful with any item where the seller says "It was working last time I tried it, 20 years ago."
It may have worked then, but condensation can ruin electronics, and after that length of time, there's a very good chance it doesn't work now.
Ask the seller to test it, and if they refuse, avoid the item.

Be wary of any item where the seller says "Untested, but it should work".
There's a very good chance it won't work.
You could ask them to test it, and if they refuse, the item is best avoided.

Avoid any item that doesn't include the power supply, regardless of whether the seller says it works or not.
This is a common ploy to hide the fact that the machine doesn't work.
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Re: Came across this site

Postby tezza on Sun Dec 04, 2011 2:06 pm

Yes, I always go by that rule. Untested could mean just that but I always assume broken.

I don't always avoid the item though. With some machines, I'm confident I can fix most problems. With these I'm happy to buy if I can get the machines at a very low price, and take a gamble that I can get them going. If I succeed...it's a real bargin! The recent Apples IIs I got for $10 and fixed are a case in point.
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Re: Came across this site

Postby lizardb0y on Mon Dec 05, 2011 11:21 am

That's generally sound advice. As Terry says, bargains can be had by taking a risk on an "untested" or "worked when put in storage" items, but you should always bid as though it is faulty.

The note about not buying for Eastern Europe was odd - the Sinclair range and some other English/British machines were very popular in many Eastrern European countries. There are also quite a few home grown machines from Eastern Europe which are interesting, such as the Didaktik, Scorion or Sprinter ZX Spectrum clones.

The "should be easy to fix" descriptions always make me laugh - unless they've already diagnosed the fault how on earth would they know whether it's easy to fix or not?
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Re: Came across this site

Postby Carcenomy on Mon Dec 05, 2011 12:41 pm

Yeah you see it all the time. A common example is things like Amigas. 'Amiga 500, light comes on, nothing else happens, should be an easy fix, $100'... yeah, no mate.

Honesty is always the best policy, hell I had a beat up Acer laptop that I'd bought for quite a bit of cash on TradeMe once. It was DOA. I tried repairs, no success... relisted it with a detailed analysis of what was wrong and what was still salvageable, managed to double my money. Why? Because people went into it both eyes open, no shadow of doubt. When will people learn that? :)

Stored machines are the worst too - my PowerMac 7300 had been stored for maybe five years? But the place it was stored was clearly quite damp... I managed to run it for all of maybe two hours before the monitor crapped out and the magic smoke escaped. Got another monitor sorted then got another three hours before the power supply packed up violently. On opening it up, it had vaporized a reasonably good hole through its PCB. And the cause? Incorrect storage, it'd corroded the PSU's chassis and it shorted itself.
Just the local Commodore hobo and middle-aged PC hoarder.
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