HP Forum Archive 07

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Things no one will ever buy on ebay... Message #1 Posted by Gene on 24 Feb 2002, 1:51 p.m. http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2005367412 Note the Buy-it-Now price! Wow! Don't think so. Gene

Re: Things no one will ever buy on ebay... Message #2 Posted by lowracer on 24 Feb 2002, 3:03 p.m., in response to message #1 by Gene I've always called the "buy-it-now" price the "bend-over-now" price, because if you pay it, you gonna get screwed. Although there are exceptions...

Re: Things no one will ever buy on ebay... Message #3 Posted by lowracer on 24 Feb 2002, 3:03 p.m., in response to message #1 by Gene I've always called the "buy-it-now" price the "bend-over-now" price, because if you pay it, you gonna get screwed. Although there are exceptions...

Actually, the Buy-it-now is only slightly more than the opening bid! Message #4 Posted by Gene on 24 Feb 2002, 4:59 p.m., in response to message #1 by Gene I don't know...$850 for a good lot of Commodore calculators? I just don't know if someone will drop that much $$ at one time. I have bought commodore calculators before, but not $800 worth!

Re: Things no one will ever buy on ebay... Message #5 Posted by db(martinez,california) on 24 Feb 2002, 6:21 p.m., in response to message #1 by Gene gene; thanks for pointing out that auction/opium dream. not so i can wish i was smoking what he is smoking, or to laugh at $18 commodores, but because the picture answered a question. the second non-hp calcer i ever bought (the first, and first ever was a national semiconductor factory blemish for my dad in 1973) was a whitehall wh-1. it's just like the one in the middle of the middle row. whats in a name? btw: if i ever get my mm6x working i'm going to be very happy about that particular commodore.

Re: Things no one will ever buy on ebay... Message #6 Posted by Mike McDonald on 24 Feb 2002, 7:37 p.m., in response to message #1 by Gene All things considered - Commodore Calculators tell a story much like HP does. I sold one a while back to a man in Japan who was VERY HAPPY to buy it at $20, and pleased to pay $35 (as I recall) for quick shipping. To each his own I have a closet full of Commodore 64 Stuff boutght before the bubble burst - Live, Learn, Let Live, Forgive and Forget Mike Leavenworth, KS

Re: Things no one will ever buy on ebay... Message #7 Posted by Ellis Easley on 24 Feb 2002, 11:15 p.m., in response to message #1 by Gene Since I paid that much (if dollars were pounds) for a lot of 21 HP and TI calculators at the beginning of my recent Ebay binge, I can't make any disparaging comments. I'm happy in the knowledge that I now have enough TI59's for a cat's lives. Especially since I found brand new keyboards in an Ebay store, 40 for $15. I've already fixed a 40 key calculator by cutting off the top row of one of these replacements. Clicks like new! Unfortunately, I lost the "enter" key in the process. The HP's in the lot were very satisfactory including a 41CX that still has shiny feet. I was afraid I would have to open it because it was dead but luckily there were some discussions here at the time about how to discharge a 41 and it came right up after shorting the battery terminals for a few minutes. Also 2 67's in OK shape but corroded, a 65 in very good shape with leather case, a 35 in less than great shape (a few dim segments, maybe corrosion can cause that?), two 71's in good shape except one has some iffy keys, and a 41CV in not bad shape. All working to some degree, most completely working. Also there were two 41 ROMS and various soft cases. The 65 had an accessory I hadn't heard of, a tiny coding form with a place to put a card, that fits in the pocket of the leather case. Of course I'll go through an inch or so of tubing - or a number of O-rings - before I'm done. There were also some nice TI's like an SR52 which I was unaware of - a card reader model other than the 58 and 59 - and which is in quite good shape. I'm in a mood to buy the Commodore lot because I just spent some time replacing the NiCads in my Dad's Commodore. I wonder what he would have thought of HP's. He was a slide rule guy. He worked for the Army Corps of Engineers and he ordered another calculator for work. I think they would have gotten him an HP but because of his vision he needed something with bigger digits. They got him a big boxy portable machine with either nixies or a plasma 7-segment multidigit display. It might have been a CompuCorp.

Re: Things no one will ever buy on ebay... Message #8 Posted by Frank on 25 Feb 2002, 6:31 a.m., in response to message #1 by Gene Pretty high to be sure, since it does not include any of the several (letter) series of the mid-late 70's. That series I follow as I have an M-55 bought new in '77 with manual, case, charger and box. They have sold in the 300$ range on ebay.

Not trying to disparage Commodores as such, just the "lot" for >$800 Message #9 Posted by Gene on 25 Feb 2002, 7:51 a.m., in response to message #8 by Frank As I said, I have quite a few commodores myself, I was just shocked to see a lot offered where the BEGINNING price was >$800. That just seems somewhat "high", Lol. And, true, it does contain an N-60 and several scientifics, but also seems to have quite a few 4-banger types. I'd have bid on a couple of these myself if they were offered separately, but it seems the seller just wants to dump them in 1 lot. That's harder to do because one must come up with the entire $800 at one time, rather than 20 sales of $40 each.

Re: Not trying to disparage Commodores as such, just the "lot" for >$800 Message #10 Posted by Frank on 25 Feb 2002, 10:36 a.m., in response to message #9 by Gene Thanks, Gene, I missed seeing the N-60, though they have not been bring as much as the M-55 and the Science Model.

Re: Things no one will ever buy on ebay... Message #11 Posted by doug on 25 Feb 2002, 8:59 p.m., in response to message #1 by Gene Probably no one wants to shell out $800 for a lot of calculators at once. But that is only $19.81 each for a lot of 47 calcualtors. Some of the value is, it is a collection and people selling them expect that. Try to go out and find all of the models especially with the adapter or even with a box, and see how many you can find at all. Then see what you have to pay if someone knows you are looking to really buy. I remember in 1986 when the COMPAQ 386 - 40Meg HD, DOS, and it even included C and the assembler for the discounted price of only $18,999, each. The AT 286 in around 4 or 5 years latter without any monitor or software still at $4000. The commodore 64 at over $1200 to $1500 at introduction. It is what people learned from them that made any of them worth anything. There is no calcualtor worth over $4. That is even with really good parts that are repairable. Let me see how about one calcualtor at $1425.00 and it even had a leather case and manuals. http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1331462967 $1425.00 No price is stupid if it is what you want or need at the time. Or if it happens to be the infamous very first calculator you ever had and now someone has a new or close to new one for sale for a thousand dolloars. Big Deal!

Yeah but... Message #12 Posted by Jim L on 26 Feb 2002, 5:06 p.m., in response to message #11 by doug "http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1331462967 $1425.00" That's an HP!!! :-) "No price is stupid if it is what you want or need at the time. " I have to disagree with that. I've paid "want-based" prices several times and felt stupid about it in hindsight. As for "need", well I'm not even going to touch "need" as it relates to a bunch of old calculators. I think we need to stick with want on this one.

Re: Yeah but... Message #13 Posted by db(martinez,california) on 26 Feb 2002, 7:55 p.m., in response to message #12 by Jim L i just registered with ebay today and have done some looking around it in the past couple of months. i even bought two calculators through a friends account. funny how i keep seeing the same names bidding on stuf i click on; hollandflower, aknight, and of course our own eteemable katie for instance. it's good to know that at least three others have the same boreing taste that i do and very good to know that at least one of them will be writing "how to fix it" articles about what they outbid me on. i promised myself not to do what you call "want bidding". we will see about that. and you are right; need is not a concept here. don't be sure that there is anything that no one will ever buy on ebay. i remember seeing an auction for some x-large guy who, if you won his auction and paid his expenses, would fly in at his convenience and kick your ass. he guaranteed no broken bones and offered to add additional services for members of your family. there were 4 bids when i saw it. i think the runner up on that one just bid $1425 on for an hp 67. - d

Re: Yeah but... Message #14 Posted by Frank on 27 Feb 2002, 10:23 a.m., in response to message #13 by db(martinez,california) Wonder it that fellow also does bid snipers? ;+}

Re: Yeah but... Message #15 Posted by Spice_Man on 27 Feb 2002, 10:01 a.m., in response to message #12 by Jim L ...I have a need to feed my wants...

Re: Yeah but... Message #16 Posted by doug on 6 Mar 2002, 7:28 p.m., in response to message #12 by Jim L Don't you know anything when it comes to old calculators? READ THE EQUATION CAREFULLY: WANT=NEED=WANT=NEED=~ That equation is based upon people that want them to play with no matter how much they tell their wives or friends they really need them. What I was saying is very true. Want and need are really not the same. Some people still use some of these in production environments. Some have customers that use old calculators and software that has been around for a long long time, or specialized and customized software as well. When a customer contacts the person they depend on for customized software and to supply support hardware, they have to get the unit to them yesterday. It is their bread and butter. They usually keep one or two backups and if one is pulled and put into production they have to find a backup to the one backup left. If you have 20 customers the odds aren't to good if you don't pursue a replacement immediately.

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