Amiga Technologies A4000T - RTG, 68040, ethernet, 16MB

[Themamboman]

Hello fellow Amigans,

A few months ago, I made one of my Amiga 4000T's available for sale on Ebay.
Unfortunately, I didn't realize that the buy-it-now prices was too low and it
was bought within 2 hours of posting it.  I saw a lot of complaints by other,
potential buyers that they didn't even get to see it before it was gone.

I had more than one A4000T and I don't need them all, so I decided to make
another one available for someone to give it a good home.

This time, I decided to try to avoid the massive fees that Ebay imposes by
posting it to the Amiga-dedicated forums.  Here are a few specifics about this
one:

- A3640 rev3.1, 68040/25Mhz, with a custom heatsink & fan
- Picasso II RTG using Picasso96, comes with passthrough cable
- Hydra Amiganet ethernet card with RJ45 adapter
- GVP IOExtender I/O card
- 16MB motherboard RAM
- Original Amiga keyboard and mouse
- OS 3.9 with Boing Bags 1 & 2 (plus the unofficial 3&4) installed
- AFA installed for a much nicer, more modern UI
- Genesis TCP/IP stack from OS3.9 (had to set IP manually for some reason)
- Several browsers installed, as well as Directory Opus 4.16
- This is the later Amiga Technologies A4000T, not Commodore version
- This is an NTSC system, using a powersupply made for North America
- Serial # 365317-19-00754, manufactured Jan 12, 1996

The original SCSI HDD is still installed but disconnected.  A compact Flash
4GB disk is the main harddrive on the IDE header. I'm including a CD-R drive
but I haven't had the time to set up the drive itself. CacheCDFS is installed
already, just not configured. The CD-R drive needs to be mounted on the rails
properly as well.  I will include a few rail mounts in the packaging to do this.

Here's a link to the photo's I've taken.  

http://imgur.com/a/WuuLj#0

There are a few scratches on one side of the case, and the top pinstriping
isn't 100% complete.  The front plastic had a retr0brite bath so it's much
closer to the original plastic coloring.  The keyboard was purchased
aftermarket and is a bit yellowed.

Everything works, it's a good system.  The screenmode saved is 800x600x24,
so you'll need to hook up to the VGA.  I do not include a power cable, but
it's the same kind as any PC uses, so they are plentiful and cheap.  No VGA
cable is provided, but the PicassoII passthrough is included.  Also included
are a stack of floppies that came with the system.

I'd prefer selling to a buyer in the USA due to the high costs of shipping
overseas, but if you are willing to pick up the extra costs, I'll do it.  
Shipping insurance and shipping costs are extra.  No charge for packaging
though. Shipping in the USA will depend on your ZIP code.  I'll need that
to properly calculate shipping costs using the USPS online calculator.  I prefer
USPS due to their lower costs, but if you prefer something else, such as
UPS or FedEx, the costs will probably be higher.  Last time around, I ended up
with a shipping bill $10 more than I'd specified on ebay, so I check now up
front.

If you want some indication of my reputation as a seller, you can view my Ebay
feedback profile here:

http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback2&userid=themamboman&ftab=AllFeedback&rt=nc&myworld=true

As of this writing, I have 360 Positives and 0 negatives.

Finally:  How much am I asking?  I don't know how much to ask. I know the last
one I sold on ebay, was snatched up in 2 hours for the low price I'd set:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Amiga-Technologies-4000T-A4000T-4000-AGA-RTG-ethernet-DVD-OS3-9-040-25-Nice-/261229612112

And this one is in better condition and configuration than that one.  I will
say now that Paypal is my payment system of choice.  I do have a private
reserve price, and the final bid must at least meet this. I won't say what it is
but I will say that it won't be less than the previous A4000T which I've linked
to above on ebay.

Here's what I plan to do.  Between now and Sunday, August 4th, I will take
bids sent by PM on this forum.  Just send a PM to me with your best offer.
Keep in mind this is for just the machine.  Shipping costs (and shipping
insurance, if you want it) are going to be on top of that bid.  Offers should
be made in US dollars (if you are bidding from overseas).

For those of you who are overseas and are prepared for the high cost of shipping,
keep watching this thread. I'll post the dimensions and weight of the sealed box
as well as the link to the US Postal website shipping calculator so you can
have an idea of the shipping costs you'll be facing.

In the PM, send your bid as well as the destination.  At the end of the day on
Sunday, August 4th, I'll annouce the username of the winner as well as the
winning bid.  If the reserve price isn't met, I'll announce that in this thread
and just bite the bullet and head over to Ebay.

I will NOT post any bids along the way, so as to not be accused of artificially
pushing up the costs.  Whoever is the highest has 3 days to make payment by
PayPal.  I will send my paypal email to them by PM.

If the winner cannot pay within 3 days, I'll contact the next in line.

ONE LAST NOTE:  Last time around, Paypal held the funds for a few days before
releasing them to me.  I don't know why.  I can't ship until AFTER any holds
are released, if Paypal chooses to do that again.  We should both be able to
see that via paypal's website.

Thanks and happy bidding!

[Themamboman]

Just a couple of clarifications:

1) If the winning offer is made by more than one person (in other words, two or three people send the same highest offer by the end of the day on Sunday, August 4th), there will NOT be another round to see who goes highest.  Instead, the first one to get that winning offer in will be the one I contact.

2) If you are overseas, please be sure to take appropriate steps to use proper electrical adapters as this machine's power supply is expecting North American standard power levels.

3) If there is a concern about privacy, and the person with the highest bid doesn't like the idea of posting their username and the bid amount, I can post either the name or the bid if they want.

4) One exception to #3 above: if there are multiple people who offer the same highest bid, then I'll not post the amount that won, just the name.

I hope this isn't getting too complicated.

[Themamboman]

Actually, I'd forgotten that Amazon has a payment system.

Let me look into that.  If it's no problem setting it up, I'll add that as a payment option.

I'd forgotten that paypal evokes such strong feelings in some.  Sorry to hear about the problems they gave you.  

Thanks for the tip!

[Themamboman]

Back in the 90's, I recall buying and selling Amiga equipment from the usenet group   comp.sys.amiga.marketplace

Everything was CoD back then (That's cash-on-delivery, not call of duty).  I doubt anyone at the post office would remember that these days, unless they were older.

Money orders work, but most people get nervous about sending something like that because they are worried about the other person getting it but claiming it never showed up.

I wouldn't turn someone away that wanted to do that.  I put my ebay profile out there in case anyone was worried about me.  You can even scroll down and see the previous Amiga 4000T I sold and the feedback the buyer left for me.

In fact, I found a couple of small pieces of that one after I'd mailed the big box to him.  I contacted him and sent another box later with the missing pieces.  He was quite happy.

Oh, as for Obamacare, we're all DOOOOMED!

[Themamboman]

Okay. Back to this thread. One really cool Amiga 4000T. You will love it regardless of your views on politics.

:-)

[Themamboman]

I plan to post the dimensions and weight of the sealed package tonight if anyone is curious about shipping costs.

[Themamboman]

danbeaver:

Pictures are here:
http://imgur.com/a/WuuLj#0

magnetic:  last time I sold a 4000T, Ebay hit me up with ENORMOUS fees, like 10% of the final price. Then paypal hits me with a percentage charge on top of their fees as well.  It was a pretty big byte.

Some suggested I use Amibay.  I thought about it.  I don't particularly like the idea of setting a price, then seeing if anyone bites.  Too low and I miss out, too high and no one takes me seriously anymore.

This was just an experimental way of taking silent bids, ones where the potential buyers aren't influenced by others.  Just look at the description and pictures (linked above), and determine what you think it is worth and then make the offer.  

I only posted my ebay feedback to show that I follow through on the deal.  I actually want this machine out of here, I need the space (and the the cash won't hurt too).

Would you feel better if it is on Ebay?  Worried about buyer protection?  Paypal does offer that.

I'm also trying to finalize the use of Amazon payments.  I do believe they offer buyer protection as well.

If you want more pictures, I can take them, although that would mean having to unpack it again.

I'll do it if you want.  

I'm taking bids until Sunday night.

All of the cash bids have surpassed my reserve, so someone is going to get it.

Feel free to ask any other questions.

[Themamboman]

Well, I saw the Commodore 4000T that bitman was trying to sell.  

He was posting highest bids on his blog and it appeared to me that it would be easy to manipulate the potential buyers by posting fake bids just to drive up the prices.

I also saw a potential problem:  what if more than one person bid the exact same amount and this was higher than all other?  2nd chance bidding?  Again, it seemed like it could be a recipe to artificially squeeze out more money, so I decided to just say whoever got that highest amount in first.

I guess the only way to make people feel better about it is to have a 3rd party consignment house.  Unfortunately, as you have said, very high fees result.  I hate to have to ask the buyer to cover those fees on top of the shipping costs and the price of the object.  

Maybe I should have done Ebay.  Too late now,  I have bids on this and someone is going to win it!

If I decide to sell any other machines (and I'm not sure about that yet), I may go back to Ebay, but I hate to give them so much cash when they only provide an auction portal for us to use.

[Themamboman]

Update on the packaged deal:

Dimensions:  25" x 25" x 14"
Weight:  49 pounds

I was surprised it was that heavy.  It does include the tower, with all the goodies inside, as well as a keyboard, mouse, converter box for the hydra ethernet card (so you can get rj45 connector), a stack of floppies and extra drive brackets.

There was a lot of packing material, lots of styrofoam, bubble wrap, etc.  It's VERY tightly packed.


Edit: Postal calculator is here:
http://postcalc.usps.com/

[Themamboman]

Update on payment methods.  Some don't like Paypal.  Understood.  I'm setting up Amazon Pay to be another method.

Unfortunately, they can't verify the account online.  They have to do it the old fashioned way (make a couple of tiny deposits during the next week and I log and tell them the amounts I saw).

Sadly, this is going to take over a week it appears.  So, if you hate Paypal but want to get this machine, you'll have a delay due to the verification of Amazon.  

I'll update as soon as it is verified.

Oh, and I'm still taking bids until Sunday 11:59PM (near midnight, EST (USA))

I've some private offers already and they were more than my reserve so someone is going to win this weekend.

Thanks!

[Themamboman]

Exactly and you  still havent revealed the current "bid" price..

Again, I was trying NOT to influence what someone might offer.  By stating the highest of the offers I've received by PM would do that.  Here are just two ways doing that would alter things:

1) I could post a false offer, thinking that one of those that did already offer something lower than that to panic and bid more than they already had

2) I could post the true high offer, and if it was lower than someone would be willing to bid, then they'd just lower their offer to that value + 1.

I've recently been trying to purchase a home and I've been running into this concept.  The seller gets multiple interested buyers. The way to resolve it is to call for the "highest and best".  Then it's simple, gather them up and pick the highest one.  

Since no one would know what others offer, it wouldn't affect theirs.  Just determine what it is worth to you (and what you can afford) and offer it.

I am certain that Themamboman is a straight up and honest bloke, however this half baked way of selling the A4000 feels shaky and dangerous. Good luck to whoever buys it.

I've been a bit disappointed that in how others have viewed this with so much mistrust.  I saw a few different ways I could do this:

1) Using something like Ebay, which would charge enormous fees, and either I had to cover that or lump that fee into the final price for the buyer

2) Stating a price on a site like this, amibay, Eab marketplace.  By stating a price, I run the risk of undercutting myself or so overshooting in what I ask for that no one takes me seriously

I've also seen more than once, when someone posts something like "How much is my Amiga worth" (includes a detailed description of the machine), followed by one or more posts saying "check your PM", then finally, the OP says "SOLD".   Meaning, the OP stated what he had, but wasn't sure what to ask, then he starts getting offers by PM until he sees one he likes, and the deal is then struck.

This is very similar to that, except that I put out a 1 week time limit to give potential buyers time to see the post before it was gone.  I sold an A4000T back in June and the biggest complaint was that it sold before most had a chance to even read about it.  

I *thought* doing something like this would give a wider audience more time to react and maybe take some time to think about what they'd be willing to pay for it, as well as not undercut or overshoot the price range, as well as avoiding huge auction site fees.

I guess if this was an item that wasn't potentially expensive then it wouldn't be such a big deal. Understood.

I've offered to take more pictures and post them to prove I have the machine (even though I've fully packaged the whole bundle up), but no one has asked.  I also put out my ebay profile link as a method of showing that I'm going to follow through and someone is going to get this ( you can look at that profile and scroll down to see the previous a4000T I sold and the buyer's feedback).

Anyway, I don't suppose I'll do anything like this again.  I've received some offers so far and will ship the Amiga out as soon as payment clears (after the Sunday deadline).

I am going to ask the winner to post a followup in this thread, stating they'd received it in order to prove that I followed through and that this as legit.  Maybe those that want an A4000T and could have had it but didn't participate in this offer will realize that they shouldn't have worried.

But, everyone has a right to be suspicious.  Can't fault anyone for that.

[Themamboman]

These are large well designed machines with well thought out layouts and durable motherboards.  They upscale well with 5 external bays, have two video slots plus have both a reliant SCSI 2 and IDE bus. There are extra cut out ports for USB, video, SCSI3, etc.; they have a reset switch and an external AT-style battery connector for those unwilling to remove their coin cell. Their only failings are weak onboard sound and an internal hard drive location above the CPU card.

You will never regret owning one.

These machines are tough!  Agreed about the harddrive location.  I had to take the front off the machine to remove that when doing some cleaning inside.  I was tempted to leave that section of bracer out but it appears to be part of the stabilization of the case.  It's like a tank compared to my PCs.

There is no daughtercard due to the room inside to lay everything out on a single board.

Having a coin style battery was very nice as well.

My only wish is that this had been an 060 machine instead of an 040.

[Themamboman]

Okay, today is the day!

Tonight at midnight, I'm going to stop taking offers on this very nice machine.

I've received multiple offers already and most have been above the reserve price so there will be a new owner of this machine announced soon.

These don't show up very often so don't let this one slip away!

[Themamboman]

And, time is up.  I'm going to contact all of those that sent bids by PM.  I should be able to post the winners name tomorrow publicly after I contact them privately.

Thanks!

[Themamboman]

Well, due to the grief I've received for this, I certainly won't use this format again.   Maybe I made it too formal.   Perhaps if I'd just posted "Hey, I have an A4000T, here are the specs, reply by PM if interested", it wouldn't have been met with such suspicion.


Well, there was a winner, he's excited, and I exceeded my minimum goal.  He asked me not to put out his name but he's a member here.


Next time (if there is a next time), I'll do something different. I'm sure I'll get complainers no matter what.