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Ebay Newbie Made Life Tougher for Ebayer

Ebay Item number: 7542264595

Looks like a newbie (only 5 feedbacks) and another Ebayer got into a bidding war, ended up over $22 when you include the shipping. I bid on and bought the same manual a year ago to replace the tattered one I already had, and I think I paid less than half that, postage included.

I bought a few unusual and unique old germanium transistors on Ebay and figured they were worth a couple bucks apiece max, so I bid a bit high, because at the time I didn't know if there would be another opportunity to get them (later it turned out that the seller did have several more auctions of the same). Some idiot luser with zero feedbacks bid up the price almost to my max, so I ended up paying a lot more than the later auctions. This luser later had a negative 3 feedbacks, the SOB won a few bids, then NPB'd the sellers. I'm beginning to think that he might have been a shill for some seller.

Yeah, yeah, I know. Like Jimmy Buffet said, "..but I know, it's my own damn fault." Parrot head!

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###Got a Question about ELECTRONICS?   Check HERE First:### 
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goes directly to the trash unless you add NOSPAM in the 
Subject: line with other stuff.  alondra101  hotmail.com 
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that will give you a choice and save you money(up to half). 
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Reply to
Watson A.Name - "Watt Sun, the Dark Remover"
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Reply to
Watson A.Name - "Watt Sun, the Dark Remover"

Both made it to Earthlink's news servers.

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Michael A. Terrell 
Central Florida
Reply to
Michael A. Terrell

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Well, then, I guess no one cares if they become a victim of a shill on Ebay. Wait until it happens to them.

Speaking of parrot heads.. I was behind an SUV that had stickers that said,

{ WWJBD } --------- What would Jimmy Buffett Do?

{ SEARCHiNG FOR MY LONG LOST SHAKER OF SALT }

{ CHANGES IN LATITUDES } { CHANGES IN ATTITUDES }

Must be a real parrothead!

Reply to
Watson A.Name - "Watt Sun, the Dark Remover"

I only go to E-bay when I need a good laugh. I get so sidetracked by the fraudulent ads and stupid sellers that I never do find anything that I need.

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Michael A. Terrell 
Central Florida
Reply to
Michael A. Terrell

If you really want an item, don't bid on it. Use eSnipe. They charge 1% or $0.25, whichever is greater only on items actually won. Their computer will enter a bid usually 6 seconds before the end (you can change the time).

As for eBay, 3 motherboards, 4 video cards, some RAM, 5 trackballs, CF cards, digital cameras. Its really good for out of print books, CDs, old electronics. GG

Reply to
Glenn Gundlach

Glen, I really don't see much of anything on E-bay that I can use. My shop is so full right now that it will take me a couple years to put it back into a useable condition after last year's hurricanes. The benches are still covered with plastic, boxes of stuff are piled on skids and covered with plastic as well. I have to replace the old roof before I can do anything else, and I don't have the $5,000 I need to hire someone to do it. Five years ago I would have done it myself, but I still haven't figure out how to replace a roof while walking with a cane.

These days I fill my time with collecting and repairing old computers for the disabled veterans in my area. It gives me something to do for the couple hours a day that I can work and helps others who can't afford to buy a computer.

If I don't manage to get the roof fixed, I will just start selling things, or have a dumpster delivered and dump everything. After all, there is only 1848 square feet of workshop full of tools, parts, manuals and test equipment, not counting the thousands of manuals and data books in my library in the house. It should take more than two or three construction dumpsters to get rid of everything. :(

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Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida
Reply to
Michael A. Terrell

Don't you dare! Freecycle it first:

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many happy geeks will show up to tote away all the useful stuff, than you gan get rid of the rest (and save on disposal costs).

-Mike Matthews

Reply to
m1ke dot m477hewz at gmail dot

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True, but that's just a microcosm of the real world. I went to Microcenter the other day to buy some USB accesories. I wasl ooking at some cables and another customer said he could get that 6 foot USB cable on Ebay for four dollars, and they were charging $22.99. I said yeah, and Radio Shaft or Best Buy or Circuit City or Office Depot want $25 to $30 (gold plated), and you can drive over to Fry's and buy the samer cable for $6.99.

Funny part is that I was looking thru the 3 footers for en even shorter USB cable (for my laptop), and came across a one footer for only $2.99. Perfect! But I had to double check at the checkout to make sure that wasn't a typo (it wasn't). So if this very same store can sell a 1 footer for $3 and still make a profit, and it costs only a fraction of a dollar more for the extra cable to make a 6 footer, then what's the profit margin on a 6 footer for $23? Must be more than 90 percent!

I think I have it figured out. Everything is going to USB, all the keyboards, mouses, printers, and other peripherals. So the retail marketers have all jumped on the 'gouge the customer' bandwagon, to take advantage of the huge demand. I'm wondering what they are gonna do when their cash cow dries up when the demand slacks off.

So Ebay, at $6 for a 6 footer ($4 and a couple bucks shipping), looks like a bargain to the consumer. No doubt about it!

Reply to
Watson A.Name - "Watt Sun, th

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We had a lengthy discussion about sniping in the newsgroups in the last year or so. Everyone has their opinion on whether it's worth it or not. My opinion is that if you already know what the item is worth, how great your need is, and bid appropriately, then sniping is not going to get you any advantage. And it takes the fun away. You don't get to know until the last second whether or not you're going to win. For items that are buy it now or have a reserve it's kind of pointless. So I don't see any real advantage, and I'm satisfied without it. But hey, to each his own..

Reply to
Watson A.Name - "Watt Sun, th

How does that not apply to a bid placed 3 days before the auction ends?

Reply to
spaam_this

Corporate sponsors pay them to run ads, like Waste Management. In other words, they have already sold out. The local groups are run as free Yahoo groups, so it doesn't cost them anything. If you have a problem with a local Freecycle group don't bother to report it to corporate. They are too busy finding more money for themselves.

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Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida
Reply to
Michael A. Terrell

Cables is one of the last things I need to worry about. It seems like people dig out every cable they don't need when they donate a computer to the project. The thing that does bug me is almost every printer that is donated has had the cartridges pulled, and they can't find the external power supply. I have over 20 printers that I need the power supply for, and most are missing the cartridges, as well. The other thing is when they rip the hard drive out of a computer and take the mounting bracket, as well. The talking heads on the local TV news have people so paranoid that its not funny. SO, I have to take the drive from a dead computer to fix another and I end up with a huge pile of scrap steel to haul off. A lot of the dead computers need about $10 worth of new electrolytic capacitors to work again OH, well, I will keep fixing what I can and recycle the rest. Now, what to do with 30 spare working monitors?

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Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida
Reply to
Michael A. Terrell

ends?

Yeah, I could've been more explicit when I said that. It's sort of like the saying, "If it wasn't for time, everything would happen at once."

If everyone snipes, then no one knows until the last second that they've lost. If two people outbid you, and the bidding goes above your maximum long before the auction is over, then you know long before the auction is over that you've lost.

Reply to
Watson A.Name - "Watt Sun, th

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If you a list of brand and model numbers, or better yet, the info for the power adapter such as the model and serial number, I will try to find some replacements. I believe you have my email addr, if not, it's my hotmail acct alondra101. I believe you're exempt from my requirement to have NOSPAM in the subject: line, but it doesn't hurt.

[snip]

I understand that California is getting stricter about trashing monitors because of the lead content. They want you to take them to a recycling center instead.

Reply to
Watson A.Name - "Watt Sun, th

The main benefit seems to be that you keep the end cost down by not getting into a bidding fight with someone else. We only bid at the last minute, and only bid what we think it's worth. If we win, great, but if not there will always be another along soon....

We have dsl at work and at home, so no problem with keeping an eye on things, but if it looks like a couple of guys are going head to head on an item, we just walk away from it.

People get silly on what they are bidding and end up paying way over the top, and that's when it is best to drop it and wait for another one to come up.

Best regards, Peter

-- Peter A Forbes Prepair Ltd, Luton, UK snipped-for-privacy@easynet.co.uk

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Reply to
Prepair Ltd

I did not keep up with what hapened but the local group just changed their name to Rowan-rEcycling due to some kind of problems with Freecycle. It seems to be working fine with the local people.

Reply to
Ralph Mowery

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That's a good point of view, if you're in it for the money, not the item itself.

That's my philosophy, which I try to adhere to as best as I can. I try to make an intelligent decision as to the value and condition of the item and what I'm willing to pay, and bid accordingly. But there are other factors beyond one's contrl that one has to make assumptions about, and sometimes those assumptions are way off.

That's a good point of view if you're trying to buy the item for resale later at a profit, or as your name implies, you want to buy the non-working item for repair and resell it at a profit later. However if you're into the bidding for the item's collectible value, or for other purposes less vulgar and earthly[1], then it's not a valid viewpoint necessarily. And there are other points in between; it's not a black-and-white decision. When you get into this kind of bidding, sniping is kind of pointless. The price as long gone past the point which the sniper is willing to pay.

[1] I love to watch the bidding going on with the CK722 and other old transistors. Obviously they have no real functional value, and it's likely that after 50 years they barely function, if at all. The cheapest 2N3904 transistor outperforms them by a mile. But one knows that the bidders are not in it for that reason, they're in it for the collectible value, which seems to be in the $5 to $80 range (or more) depending on date code, condition, and packaging.
Reply to
Watson A.Name - "Watt Sun, th

No, we only buy for ourselves, not for resale of repair, it's just a general modus operendi.

Yes, there is always the unexpected!

We make large industrial battery chargers, we don't buy much for the company at all, mainly ceramic caps and things like that which are getting expensive as leaded devices start to become a problem.

Never got into the old semi stuff, although we have some 1960's Mullard transistors in the house somewhere. Most of my collecting is old laboratory instruments such as galvanometers, bridges etc. Love the mahogany and brass!

Peter

-- Peter & Rita Forbes Email: snipped-for-privacy@easynet.co.uk Web:

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Reply to
Peter A Forbes

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I dunno why you snipped your own stuff, but, whatever. I would say that since it's easy to find test equipment with performance that surpasses those old galvanometers and bridges, the old stuff is not as popular with the technicians for its usefullness as it is for its collectibility. And when you get into collectibles, the prices are anyone's guess and can go sky-high. And it seems the biggest influence is supply vs. demand. So it's really important that the buyer know his stuff.

About the only things I have are a Leeds & Northrup bridge and some old Weston ammeters. Not much to speak of.

Reply to
Watson A.Name - "Watt Sun, th

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