Re: For everybody who hates ebay...

Hey MK, I can't imagine that there was any offense taken by members of this
list. I have to admit that I have a love/hate relationship with eBay. I
hate when someone bids an item I want (or need) well beyond what it *used*
to be worth, just because they have deep pockets and a small brain, thus
establishing the new "market price" for that item. However, every now and
then I find an item that I was unable to attain locally or through an want
ad on r.g.v.a.c. and that's a nice treat.

Furthermore, I love being able to sell things there. This can be an
expensive hobby (part of the cause explained above, and in your post, of
course) and we need to find ways to offset the expense. Say I pay x amount
of dollars for a stack of Williams boards, untested and with pieces
scattered, from an operator. He knows they're worth a decent amount, and
charges accordingly. I spend hours troubleshooting and repairing them so I
can finish a couple of personal projects. With the leftovers, if I put a
for sale ad on r.g.v.a.c., I'll get offers of $50 for a complete working
Defender set that would have cost me $150 if I bought it from one of the
"dealers" on the group. So, I stick it on eBay - and it gets an amount
that makes it worth my time.

It's tough to find a side of the fence to sit on. It's been suggested
before that the increasing popularity of classic arcade games is more of a
benefit to the hobby, than anything else - consider the feasibility of
manufacturing all the reproduction items that we otherwise wouldn't be able
to get. At some point, NOS and like-new items do run out, and if there
wasn't a market for repro - we'd just have to settle with rotten
looking/functioning machines because we're not even enough people to call a
"niche" market.

Waxing philosophical, or my truck if I have spare time,
Richard

At 01:21 AM 8/9/00 -0400, you wrote:
>Hello,
>
> OK, I'll admit it, I really don't like e-bay ( I'll be pollitically
>corrupt, uhh, I mean correct for once, and once ONLY). I'm sorry if my
>renaming the internet idiot auction site offended anybody. True, I do bid on
>(and occasionally buy) items listed there, but I liked things better when the
>average idiots were oblivious to our hobby.
> When I wrote the Amplifone HV faq, I was told by some long time vector
>phreaks that:
> "It isn't allways benificial to educate ignorant masses on something
>that will become increasingly rare. Watch what your little "guide" does to
>the average price of Amplifone HV boards, working or not..." (I hate to
>paraphrase one person; but I didn't mention the author's name, though I'm
>sure he'll be reading this...)
> Well, he was right. The price of Amplifone HV boards has really gone
>up. So has the price of about everything else we're interested in. E-bay,
>IMHO, has brought more new people into older arcade stuff than anything else.
> My problem is that virtually NONE of these people are interested in
>contributing or LEARNING anything, most just want to know these things, (not
>necessarilly in order):
>
>1. Where can I find________
>2. Where (or how) did you get_______
>3. What is ________ worth
>4. Can YOU fix _________
>5. Will you sell _________
>6. Why won't you sell ______
>
> Maybe I'm getting old (at the age of 33), but am I the only one who
>feels this way? I'm sorry if this seemed a bit off topic, and if I offended
>anyone on the list with my previous renaming of the internet idiot auction
>site. However, I've allways looked at Vectolist as a forum to help fellow
>Vector phreaks out, to share ideas, and to LEARN. It seems to me that this
>happened alot more (on both RGVAC and Vectolist) before e-bay was around...
>
>getting off my soapbox (again),
>
>MK
>---------------------------------------------------------------------------
>** To UNSUBSCRIBE from vectorlist, send a message with "UNSUBSCRIBE" in the
>** message body to vectorlist-request@synthcom.com. Please direct other
>** questions, comments, or problems to neil@synthcom.com.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
** To UNSUBSCRIBE from vectorlist, send a message with "UNSUBSCRIBE" in the
** message body to vectorlist-request@synthcom.com. Please direct other
** questions, comments, or problems to neil@synthcom.com.
Received on Wed Aug 9 10:57:10 2000