amesie2 wrote:
I also found another LINK to a 4000 he has been trying to sell on Ebay for quite some time and also on Craigslist.
::sigh:: I simply cannot help myself. I read through his auction, and this type of seller is the typical twit-minded flea market, comic pricing guide reader.
Hey, dude, wake up: no one cares that you bought the item personally way back in the day or how much sentimental value it has for you, nor the individual pricing for the various components included, and so on. (Only part of this is relevant to the Doomy auction, but worth mentioning none-the-less.)
I ran into a stupid twit at the flea market in Crestview, FL, a number of years back. With 22 CollecoVision cartridges sitting in an uncovered box he could not for less than $2.75 ea.: 20 years old, no case or book, had been exposed to the elements for God knows how long, and he did not even know if they still worked. I visited six months later, same cartridges, same story. And again two years later. Eventually the flea market land was sold to build a Home Depot (IIRC.) I often wonder if the guy ever sold those carts. (FWIW, I was not angry with the guy; we both set our reserves, and neither matched. That is how it works, but still think he is a stupid twit :crazy: )
What kills me about this is how people will hold on to stuff that is "worth" much more than what they are being offered, often holding on until the point that the item has to be tossed or given away for myriad reasons. It is worth what someone will pay you for it! Ask anyone trying to sell a house today :-P
Anyway, so I decided to dissect the 4000 auction bit-by-bit:
This Amiga 4000 contains the following: ... a disk drive.
The pictures shows two disk drives. Buyer beware and be careful -- either he is showing an old picture which is not indicative of the product's current condition, a picture of different product, or he will carefully rape the second drive out before shipping and may or may not put an appropriate case blank in place. And this,
Q: Is this Amiga has some processor card? Thank you.
A: It has a Commodore 040/25 board.
Good thing this was asked, because it is not explicitly stated in the product description, and you would have been "stupid" for not reading and understanding the terms of the auction thoroughly when you received an A4000 in excellent condition minus the brain. Once again the picture is deceptive as the case bears a "4000/040" badge.
The battery was carefully removed before it had a chance to leak, and the motherboard looks great.
He always says this, and I am always suspicious of it.
The hard to find Amiga 4000 keyboard is included for FREE (a $65 value).
Almost every working 4000 auction I have seen includes a keyboard.
I have been watching many Amiga 4000 auctions here on eBay, over the past few months. I noticed that all of them sold for over $500, one sold for almost $800. Many of those Amiga 4000 computers were yellowed and they were not in the extremely nice condition that mine is in.
Irrelevant. This one sure as hell has not sold in that price range and I remember seeing the thing for auction several times for the past year at least, so there are inferences to be made about his market observations. I have seen 4000 auctions go for as low as $200 in his stated condition, so I might think that is a fair price. I have also noticed that modern buyers, including collectors, have come to terms with the yellowing situation and place a negligible difference in value between yellowed and non-yellowed kit.
If you add up the cost of the upgrades, you will discover that the low starting bid amount of only $499.95 is an awesome deal. The following is a list of what these upgrades usually sell for on eBay and the internet:
Again, irrelevant. The sum of the parts is greater than that of the whole. You will get more out of parting something out than selling it bundled. It has been true for game consoles, consumer electronics, and Taco Bell, and it is just as true for vintage computing products. Additionally, service put into an item to keep it operational is generally lost as a cost of ownership and does not add to the base-line value, although not putting in that service and leaving the item in a less-than-working condition does reduce the value because the buyer has to put into it himself (hehehe another story here, but I will spare you) but usually does not mind doing so.
Blah.
END OF LINE.
