[Coco] possibly selling white coco & mpi

[Aaron Wolfe]

On Wed, Aug 12, 2009 at 9:13 PM, Mark McDougall<msmcdoug at iinet.net.au> wrote:
> Darren A wrote:
>
>> Maybe not.  This white 64K CoCo 1 sold for $41.00 a few weeks ago:
>> A white MPI (item #260457783331) just sold for $37.00.
>
> I really don't understand how the whole retro collectors scenes work in
> terms of dollar worth for goods. It seems to me that variances are so wildly
> random that it's impossible to predict what you're going to pay or be paid
> for anything these days! :O
>
> There are numerous instances - as no doubt many of you are aware - of
> otherwise pedestrian items going for ridiculous amounts of money on the odd
> occasion. Likewise, I've been frustrated on more than one occasion to see
> completed auctions for items I've been looking for going for pittance.
>
> Explain to me how a garden-variety NES with a couple of controllers and a
> garden-varity NES zapper can have 21 bids and go for _more_ than a
> mint-in-box, never-used Ice Blue N64 (AUD$80+)??? I picked up a NES - boxed
> no less - for AUD$7 a few years back, and even then I didn't feel like I was
> getting a bargain in any way... hell, I have about 5 of the things sitting
> in my cupboard at home!
>
> A while back, somewhat notoriously a copy of a particular Amiga game went
> for something like $150 on eBay. My friend got all excited, knowing he had a
> mint-in-box copy of it. Of course in the ensuing days, more copies popped up
> on eBay and most ended with no bids at $5.
>
> It's crazy, and I've given up trying to work it out. All you can really do
> is go by what it's worth to _you_.
>

Agreed, ebay pricing can be very strange.  I can't believe I missed
that MPI for $37, been looking for one forever.

When I was studying for some Cisco certifications, I purchased a
number of routers and switches from ebay for lab work.  I found that
with careful buying and selling, I was able to rotate through all the
equipment I needed and never actually spend any money.  In the end,
after a few months and 30 some transactions, I actually kept a very
nice set of equipment that I use for my home network and still made a
little profit.

Makes you wonder if one could make a living out of it.  I'm sure my
postman thought I was crazy with all the boxes coming and going.

-Aaron