More wretched Ebay excess

[Ami_GFX]

In my nightly Ebay prowl of all things Amiga, the following item just came up:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Comomodore-Amiga-4000-Video-Toaster_W0QQitemZ200119258125QQihZ010QQcategoryZ1484QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

The price is way too high imho considering the condition and lack of accessories such as manuals, software disks, keyboard, mouse, monitor,hard drive etc. If the seller put it at auction, I think he would get around $400-500 and more if he was really lucky. I sent the seller the seller a message with my opinion and suggested he post a link to his Toaster/Flyer 4000 here at Amiga.org to get some feedback from the Amiga community about what it's really worth.

[Ami_GFX]

It is a nice setup. This particular expansion chassis is kind of like a mini A4000T. It's just that the seller doesn't really know what he's selling--he has and idea but that's it. The Toaster/Flyer systems that go for this kind of money are usually complete systems sold by the original owner with all documentation and accessories.

And I did get a reply to my message. The seller said that he would refund the money if the buyer wasn't satisified and pointed out his 100% positive feedback so it looks like he's no Doomy. Still, I recently saw an A4000T with a Toaster,TBC IV,Picasso II, Par card and manuals go unsold for minumum bid of $800--relisted with original minumum bid of $900-- so I'd say his chances of getting his price on the first listing are pretty slim.

[Ami_GFX]

That's quite a nice price IMO... If I had the cash I'd buy it!

At the current pound to dollar exchange rate you get it for half price. 400 is a much nicer figure than 800.

keyboard, mouse, drivers disks (even copies would do) etc... would probably not add to the price but interest more parties.

The manuals, disks, paperwork etc add greatly to the value. They also give it a history, a provenance which will greatly add to it's future value. And just checking something out and making sure something works adds greatly to what you can sell it for. Not everyone is techically adept. A lot of potential buyers want a working system, not a project. And more interested parties usually means more money on Ebay in any case. And missing keyboards and mice mean more money and more time looking for them on Ebay or elsewhere.

The usual reason keyboards,mice and disks aren't include is that the computers were bought at auction from a school,government or large corporation.

True, although this doesn't always happen. My A4000D Toaster came from a school in Pennsylvania through a seller who bought it at a surplus auction. It came with almost everything including the course workbook in linear video editing and loads of BNC cables. The hard drives were intact too.