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.

[weirdami]

He should sell it to me for $1.

[huronking]

And they should be thrilled to get the $400-500 since
if the drive was removed for security it likely came from a
government surplus auction for probably $50 for
a whole pallet of gear.

[Matt_H]

A little steep, but Toaster 4000s and Flyers tend to go for $200 each, plus there's an 060 board and an uncommon expansion case...

[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.

[Brian]

It alot of money but I'm unsure if I'd say it's overpriced. It sure is a bit odd not to include keyboard, mouse, drivers disks (even copies would do) etc... would probably not add to the price but interest more parties.

VideoToaster and Flyer cards aren't exactly cheap when sold on their own and here we also have some other expansions including 060, NIC and what looks as an external scandoubler so 700$ is probably what he could get if selling the parts seperatly... prices tend to be a bit lower when selling it in one lump due to less interested parties with that kind of cash to spend.

[BinoX]

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

[recidivist]

 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.
  Typically the cpu boxes are stacked on pallets,the keyboards piled into a d container(large cardboard box the size of a pallet,the mice in another container,books and disks either sent to landfill or another conainer,AND in the past few years, the hard drives either reforatted or removed ,depending on the level of security(paranoia) of the entity disposing of the systems.Goodwill now sells PCs with hard drives formatted,and so do many small shops.I have been told Microsoft threatened the small dealers reselling used computers because the OS on those computers was licensed only to the original user? and Microsoft wants another license fee if Joe Average buys the ex-Fortune 500 machine.This seems to vary as some resellers claim entire P3 systems with licensed XP available at their shops for under $100.(Tempting).
Cincinati,Ohio public schools some 10 or 12 years ago disposed of hundreds of C64 Commodores in this manner.No one could buy just a ,or even a dozen full systems,.You were stuck with bidding on huge stacks of monitors,disk drives,cpus,and power supplies seperately.Most went to the landfill unsold.And even worse,having trashed all those C monitors they bought TV/monitors so they had something to hook up the VCRs.(AAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!)
  Info courtesy of a friend on the inside of a typically clueless public school administration.

[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.