Imsai on eBay

[Sharkonwheels]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=330211259678&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=014

$4250? with 14+ hrs left?
Are you KIDDING me? Isn't that nearly double what the average Altair picks up?


T

[Mardy]

Actually an Altair went last friday for $6700.00!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=160206992990&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=006

Oh yeh, there's an Altair 680 that's currently at $5100.00!

http://cgi.ebay.com/MITS-ALTAIR-680-Computer_W0QQitemZ150215464822QQihZ005QQcategoryZ1 40075QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

But still, an Imsai with just a CPU and a memory card that sorta works. That just doesn't make sense. I guess there's some sort of buying frenzy going on right now. It'll be interesting to see if it is just a blip or is it time to sell everything!

-Mardy

[Sharkonwheels]

The Altair 8800 you mentioned, though, came with 20 manuals, a keyboard, a video board, a 64K RAM board, etc... I don't see it justifying near $7K, but...

And the Altair 680, well, those are really rare, from what I understand...
At a place I worked at in 1997, my boss bought one for $400!

Not a bad return, if'n he sells it! It was in impeccable condition, too.
There was some guy out in the midwest, selling I think military vehicle surplus, and he had a few of them, and sold them for between $350-500 or so.

Of course, this was near 11-12 years ago...


T

[chuckcmagee]

That original post machine is just your standard bidding war between 2 guys, both of which "want THAT one". I was dumb like that at one time.

[barythrin]

I was wondering if someone besides myself was trying to figure that out. I have no idea what happened recently but all the Altairs I've seen have gone for over $5000 all of a sudden. Several months ago I lost an IMSAI for $1700, and an Altair for $2600 both of which I thought were enough to pull them in. I have no idea what or why they are going so high all of a sudden. Honestly, I want one, but they aren't worth that much even to me.

- John

[gmh]

Why did these machines disappear from eBay after they sold? If you search for the Imsai in the original post or the Altair 680, they both say "This listing has been removed or is no longer available". The $6700 Altair from a week ago is still there. What was the final selling price for them?

Geoff.

[gmh]

Aha! David has put the Imsai back up in a new auction with the comment "Note: this is the same computer I had up for auction last week. It's being relisted because the winning bidder's account was used without permission.". That's probably what happened to the Altair 680 too.

Geoff.

[Sharkonwheels]

It's being relisted because the winning bidder's account was used without permission."
Geoff.

I read that as "Buyer's Remorse"

T

[Ksarul]

Prices for other rare machines have gone through the ceiling in the last couple of years too. TI-99/8 machines have been available for years in the $900 to $1,500 range, but the last few that sold on eBay went for well over $3,000 each. It wasn't a fluke bid war either--four of them in a row sold for those prices, all to different people. Considering that there were only about 150 of them ever produced, understandable prices. I'm just glad I got mine before the market climbed to current levels.

I always wanted an IMSAI too--I just never got around to buying one. At current prices, buying an IMSAI Series Two clone would be more cost effective than buying an original, assuming you want to use it and aren't too concerned about everything being original hardware.

http://imsai.net/products/imsai_series_two.htm

[Dwight Elvey]

I read that as "Buyer's Remorse"

T

Hi
According to David, they were illegal bidding. I'm told that there
is a ring stealing passwords with phishing. They take items like
this that they can bid up and then contact other bidders with
lower off ebay sales. Of course, they don't even have the item.
If you'd have checked the previous purchases of the high bidders,
you'd have found that they had never even bought vintage computers.
Dwight

[Mardy]

It looks like they've struck again.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=370024129286&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=024

This is becoming quite serious. Legitimate buyers and sellers are truly stuck. I know everyone's been talking about other alternatives, but they simply don't have the market reach that eBay has. Of course, it's a double edged sward. Due to there market reach, they attract the crooks.

-Mardy

[Dwight Elvey]

It looks like they've struck again.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=370024129286&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=024

This is becoming quite serious. Legitimate buyers and sellers are truly stuck. I know everyone's been talking about other alternatives, but they simply don't have the market reach that eBay has. Of course, it's a double edged sward. Due to there market reach, they attract the crooks.

-Mardy

Hi
If you look at the bidding history of the top two, they look to be identical.
They seem to be bidding against each other. There was one serious buyer
at bidder #3 but the top two are obvious frauds.
Dwight

[curtis]

Just checked it out and it's no longer listed.

Possibly ebay detected a shill going on?

[Dwight Elvey]

Hi
The machine has been reposted. I wonder if the jurks will
trash the bidding again.
How can ebay consider it a fair auction. The original high
bidder has had his bid exposed. Would anyone bid against
him again? Would he bid again? The seller is screwed.
The buyers are screwed.
Dwight

[Sharkonwheels]

There ya go....$1225.....i think it's still a bit high for an Imsai, especially one with "a small problem," but to each their own.

With the comment above, I am making NO bad comment towards David - I am just saying, that it's not a 100% working unit. The bidders set the price, not him.

T

[Dwight Elvey]

There ya go....$1225.....i think it's still a bit high for an Imsai, especially one with "a small problem," but to each their own.

With the comment above, I am making NO bad comment towards David - I am just saying, that it's not a 100% working unit. The bidders set the price, not him.

T

Hi
I consider such problems on a IMSAI to be normal but many would
have difficulties in repairing. I think the price is about normal for a machine
with just a few boards.
I would buy one like he offers over a fully working machine for several
hundred dollars more. It sounds like it is just some RAM issues.
I already have a working machine so not in the market.
Dwight

[barythrin]

wow. yeah that's the auction I lost from that rediculous bidding war. I almost would have taken it for that price seeing that it really seems to just be a bad ram chip which you could get another ram card for $100 on ebay too.

It's odd that a lot of these auctions are getting pulled though (which I just noticed ebay saying if it says it's no longer a valid listing consider it canceled).

I wonder if it's just people not knowing how to use that stupid autobidder or something (took me a bit to realize all those 5 digit or whatever user names with asterisks I guess are some new autobidding feature). Can't figure out why you'd use it if you can already have it "autobid" your max anyway unless it's a here's my max and wait until the end for me.

- John

[Ksarul]

The user names with asterisks are not an eBay auto-bid feature. They are a means of protecting user identities once the bid amount exceeds a certain value. As long as the price is low, you see the whole user name, but once the threshold gets crossed, they blank everyone. It is supposed to prevent phishers from making bogus second-chance offers.

[Sharkonwheels]

The user names with asterisks are not an eBay auto-bid feature. They are a means of protecting user identities once the bid amount exceeds a certain value. As long as the price is low, you see the whole user name, but once the threshold gets crossed, they blank everyone. It is supposed to prevent phishers from making bogus second-chance offers.

You sure that's the reason? Makes no sense, as the full eBay ID is available AFTER the auction is over, which is when I would assume the phony second chances would arise...

Leave it to fleaBay to make up yet ANOTHER stupid idea...

T

[barythrin]

Hm.. I haven't looked into it much but I see it a lot although it could be me constantly watching IMSAI and Altair auctions. However I have gotten fake second chance messages seemingly from some of those auctions, although now that I think of it I think the last one was from the Windows 1.03 auction which was a "low" price end (low is relative of course).

- J

[Sharkonwheels]

"Ahhhh.... I See" said the blind man....
When the auction is over, the only name visible is the winner.
The rest have *'s in the name.... Ksarul, I stand corrected!

T

[Sharkonwheels]

Yo, Mardy!

How's that Imsai kit?

Man - if he packed your 8080 like he packed my Morrow MD3, I'm sure it arrived safe! Mine was double-boxed, peanuts and bubble-wrap in both.
Unreal.

I thought I was a pretty good packer - until I opened that box from him!


T