Author Topic: Why can't I find anything interesting on eBay anymore?  (Read 4193 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Online Alex Eisenhut

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 3550
  • Country: ca
  • Place text here.
Re: Why can't I find anything interesting on eBay anymore?
« Reply #25 on: July 29, 2023, 04:39:49 pm »
I think the period from ~2000-2020 had a combination of willing sellers parting with interesting things and buyers who had enough money to buy them.

So now the transfer of interesting things is basically finished. The people who had them 20 years ago sold them to the people that had the time and money to do so.

Now you have hoarders like me who have their mountains of trinkets and baubles but little to no interest in selling, until I get old enough and then we repeat the cycle.
Hoarder of 8-bit Commodore relics and 1960s Tektronix 500-series stuff. Unconventional interior decorator.
 

Offline peter-h

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 4359
  • Country: gb
  • Doing electronics since the 1960s...
Re: Why can't I find anything interesting on eBay anymore?
« Reply #26 on: July 29, 2023, 04:59:51 pm »
That is probably true for

Quote
Hoarder of 8-bit Commodore relics and 1960s Tektronix 500-series stuff.

:)

I think what you may be finding is that people are no longer interested in filling their lives and houses with junk.

But look at this
https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2499334.m570.l1313&_nkw=tektronix+digital+oscilloscope&_sacat=182415
It is no different to say 5 years ago.

I laugh when I think we paid 5k for a Le Croy 3034, it blew up after 1 year, fixed under warranty, but next time it blows up I will buy something like this
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/255986571937
(MSO2014) and laugh all the way to the bank. Or two of these
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/334742106648

Lots of good stuff still on Ebay.
Z80 Z180 Z280 Z8 S8 8031 8051 H8/300 H8/500 80x86 90S1200 32F417
 

Offline DiTBhoTopic starter

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 4367
  • Country: gb
Re: Why can't I find anything interesting on eBay anymore?
« Reply #27 on: July 29, 2023, 07:52:23 pm »
Now you have hoarders like me who have their mountains of trinkets and baubles but little to no interest in selling, until I get old enough and then we repeat the cycle.

I have two simple rules about my 2000s computer stuff
  • if there is no purpose/interest(1), sell it, take money to improve other things or other projects in the computer room
  • the computer room can be neither moved to a bigger room nor expanded, therefore having limited cubic meters, it must only host what there is real interest and purpose
(1) measured in "months of inactivity". If it stays off for more than 10 months, there is no interest

The opposite of courage is not cowardice, it is conformity. Even a dead fish can go with the flow
 

Offline DiTBhoTopic starter

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 4367
  • Country: gb
Re: Why can't I find anything interesting on eBay anymore?
« Reply #28 on: July 29, 2023, 08:05:56 pm »
Once I happened to meet in person on eBay people like David Craig, a ritired Apple/m68k developer, and Dino Paparo, an Italian Amiga m68k/ppc603 developer.

70% of my Motorola books were bought from mr.Craig, as well as my books about PPC 4xx and 6xx were bought from mr Paparo ...

I remember the pick up days, lovely chats with excellent wine ...

... now I only meet mediocre people; the other day I went in person to withdraw a 1984 water thermal bottle by Campagnolo, declared "NOS" (new old stock) ... it was an indecent stuff in which it seems the cat urinated, and a horrible salesman I met in New York two years ago whom I almost got into a physical fight with because as the batch of Microdrives he was selling me were not only obviously used but defective as well. He didn't expect me to bring me a Japanese PDA with CF2 interface and run badblocks... on a couple of random drives in the lot.


So, even *the people* I deal with have gotten worse  :-//
The opposite of courage is not cowardice, it is conformity. Even a dead fish can go with the flow
 

Offline DiTBhoTopic starter

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 4367
  • Country: gb
Re: Why can't I find anything interesting on eBay anymore?
« Reply #29 on: July 29, 2023, 08:15:55 pm »
I have two simple rules about my 2000s computer stuff

I have a second laboratory room where I keep all the electronic cards and paper books, basically MPUs and DSPs from the late 1980s and 1990s to the early 2000s.

This room has similar rules to the computer room.

The big different is that it has modern equipment. MSO, power supply, wave generator, LA ... all these things are not older than 2015, which are anyway subjected to the same rule: if not in use, they will go.
The opposite of courage is not cowardice, it is conformity. Even a dead fish can go with the flow
 

Offline AndyBeez

  • Frequent Contributor
  • **
  • Posts: 858
  • Country: nu
Re: Why can't I find anything interesting on eBay anymore?
« Reply #30 on: July 29, 2023, 08:28:06 pm »
This thread reminded me of a Fran Blanche commentary in March 2022

Quote
Ebay Tyrants!

Ebay is just like social media - in the early days it was a free and open place to exchange interesting things...  But now it's a place where people love to display their hoards of precious bounty - with no desire to actually sell any of it.  But hey - they'd sure love for you to be the sucker!!



 
The following users thanked this post: DiTBho

Offline DiTBhoTopic starter

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 4367
  • Country: gb
Re: Why can't I find anything interesting on eBay anymore?
« Reply #31 on: July 29, 2023, 08:52:05 pm »
with no desire to actually sell any of it.  But hey - they'd sure love for you to be the sucker!!

She reminds me of a very cold and snowy December 24th, on Christmas Eve, I was sitting in a pub chatting with a guy on eBay, and I invited him over for a drink. He was not far away from the airport area, which is directly linked to central london. So I met him in person, then I had to add a Microsoft Surface laptop in its prestigious Tucano bag, the equipment I carried with me, for an already very high price to have in exchange the second-hand Apple PowerBook-G3 modded with an original Dyna PPC7410@500Mhz accelerator and 1Gbyte of ram that was listing on eBay.

Good deal for the person I had across the table. He had said "No way, I'm not willing to sell the G3 powerbook I have for sale on eBay", which sounded like contradiction", so I asked "why did you list it?" and he replied something like "it's so insane amount that no one will ever want to make an offer, but it's good for me because I can list it for free, to attract people to visit my shop"

As he did with me, since we formally met in a pub to buy other items.
But then he accepted.


Talking about vintage bicycle, there are people who do the same with the Campagnolo derailleurs of the Rally G3 series (80s): they put them up for sale for 900 UKP!!!, an insane amount, so insane that no one will ever want to make an offer.

But some do it to attract attention, and to make people visit their shop, where they actually have things to sell.
(in fact the last time I bought a bag for the wheels of the racing bike, 20 UKP)
« Last Edit: July 29, 2023, 08:53:53 pm by DiTBho »
The opposite of courage is not cowardice, it is conformity. Even a dead fish can go with the flow
 

Offline rsjsouza

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 6106
  • Country: us
  • Eternally curious
    • Vbe - vídeo blog eletrônico
Re: Why can't I find anything interesting on eBay anymore?
« Reply #32 on: July 30, 2023, 02:18:26 am »
In my experience as a user of eBay US is that it is still a good place to find the occasional oddball and "out-of-print" equipment, but the really unconventional stuff is found in various closed special interest groups on facebook. Just today I got some people selling an ancient Motorola evaluation board and a Commodore CBM - priced accordingly, though.
Vbe - vídeo blog eletrônico http://videos.vbeletronico.com

Oh, the "whys" of the datasheets... The information is there not to be an axiomatic truth, but instead each speck of data must be slowly inhaled while carefully performing a deep search inside oneself to find the true metaphysical sense...
 

Offline DiTBhoTopic starter

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 4367
  • Country: gb
Re: Why can't I find anything interesting on eBay anymore?
« Reply #33 on: July 30, 2023, 09:51:48 am »
special interest groups on facebook

I never thought about Facebook as "occasional marketplace", very interesting

Just today I got some people selling an ancient Motorola evaluation board

m68k? 68xx? Coldire? PPC? m88k? DSP56xxx?
The opposite of courage is not cowardice, it is conformity. Even a dead fish can go with the flow
 

Offline rsjsouza

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 6106
  • Country: us
  • Eternally curious
    • Vbe - vídeo blog eletrônico
Re: Why can't I find anything interesting on eBay anymore?
« Reply #34 on: July 30, 2023, 10:42:02 am »
special interest groups on facebook

I never thought about Facebook as "occasional marketplace", very interesting

Just today I got some people selling an ancient Motorola evaluation board

m68k? 68xx? Coldire? PPC? m88k? DSP56xxx?
The board was a 6802 processor: Motorola Mek6802D5 Micro Computer - as-is and priced quite high IMO ($265, although perhaps in CAD not USD). Just like with anything in this platform, I am pretty sure it is negotiable but warranty is non-existent.
« Last Edit: July 30, 2023, 10:45:19 am by rsjsouza »
Vbe - vídeo blog eletrônico http://videos.vbeletronico.com

Oh, the "whys" of the datasheets... The information is there not to be an axiomatic truth, but instead each speck of data must be slowly inhaled while carefully performing a deep search inside oneself to find the true metaphysical sense...
 
The following users thanked this post: DiTBho

Offline DiTBhoTopic starter

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 4367
  • Country: gb
Re: Why can't I find anything interesting on eBay anymore?
« Reply #35 on: July 30, 2023, 11:37:56 am »
@rsjsouza
I just created my first Facebook account, specifically made to subscribe to the "m68k assembly programming" user group. :D
The opposite of courage is not cowardice, it is conformity. Even a dead fish can go with the flow
 

Offline rsjsouza

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 6106
  • Country: us
  • Eternally curious
    • Vbe - vídeo blog eletrônico
Re: Why can't I find anything interesting on eBay anymore?
« Reply #36 on: July 30, 2023, 06:14:04 pm »
I am glad you found something of interest there*. Just like any platform, it has its ups and downs but I get some interesting posts in the CRT repair and the Tek Scopes, as well as some vintage computing groups. The Tek Scopes group was booed a few years ago here at EEV at the time of its launch but it turned out to be reasonably interesting over the years.

Facebook was villanized around '16 due to the Cambridge Analytica brouhaha but people can coalesce if the will is there. (Not to mention the real end goal for the media coverage was revealed years later, so people slowly came back to it after the dust settled)

*Disclaimer: I am not a FB or a Si valley digital media employee :)
Vbe - vídeo blog eletrônico http://videos.vbeletronico.com

Oh, the "whys" of the datasheets... The information is there not to be an axiomatic truth, but instead each speck of data must be slowly inhaled while carefully performing a deep search inside oneself to find the true metaphysical sense...
 
The following users thanked this post: DiTBho

Online Alex Eisenhut

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 3550
  • Country: ca
  • Place text here.
Re: Why can't I find anything interesting on eBay anymore?
« Reply #37 on: July 30, 2023, 07:52:32 pm »
I think what you may be finding is that people are no longer interested in filling their lives and houses with junk.

Do you realize how cute two Commodore 1581s stacked on top of each other are?? Especially on a foundation of a FD-2000 and 1570?

Sigh... I know it's all trinkets...
Hoarder of 8-bit Commodore relics and 1960s Tektronix 500-series stuff. Unconventional interior decorator.
 

Online SiliconWizard

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 15800
  • Country: fr
Re: Why can't I find anything interesting on eBay anymore?
« Reply #38 on: July 30, 2023, 08:58:06 pm »
Haha, the 1581 FDDs were awfully slow. No doubt many people still have fond memories though.
 

Online Alex Eisenhut

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 3550
  • Country: ca
  • Place text here.
Re: Why can't I find anything interesting on eBay anymore?
« Reply #39 on: July 31, 2023, 02:53:35 am »
Haha, the 1581 FDDs were awfully slow. No doubt many people still have fond memories though.

Surely you are thinking of the 1541?

https://www.c64-wiki.com/wiki/Commodore_1581
Hoarder of 8-bit Commodore relics and 1960s Tektronix 500-series stuff. Unconventional interior decorator.
 

Online SiliconWizard

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 15800
  • Country: fr
Re: Why can't I find anything interesting on eBay anymore?
« Reply #40 on: July 31, 2023, 08:36:17 pm »
Haha, the 1581 FDDs were awfully slow. No doubt many people still have fond memories though.

Surely you are thinking of the 1541?

https://www.c64-wiki.com/wiki/Commodore_1581

Yes true, the 1541 was much worse. The main one I had in mind.

That said, even the 1581 was not particularly fast compared to what could be achieved with a 3.5" FDD of the same era, essentially due to the fact the interface was still serial. It had the capability of using a parallel interface but the latter was never actually used AFAIK. The "burst" transfer was a whopping 9KB/s. Much faster than the 1541, but the Apple II FDDs could achieve almost twice that years earlier.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_1581
 

Online Alex Eisenhut

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 3550
  • Country: ca
  • Place text here.
Re: Why can't I find anything interesting on eBay anymore?
« Reply #41 on: July 31, 2023, 10:31:12 pm »
We know.
Legend has it he's still waiting.

https://steemit.com/retrocomputing/@darth-azrael/epyx-fast-load-commodore-64

Jiffy DOS and various fast loaders got up to 19K per second.
Hoarder of 8-bit Commodore relics and 1960s Tektronix 500-series stuff. Unconventional interior decorator.
 


Share me

Digg  Facebook  SlashDot  Delicious  Technorati  Twitter  Google  Yahoo
Smf