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Has this ever happened to you ? :) - Printable Version

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Has this ever happened to you ? :) - Michael de Estrada - 09-04-2011

Have you ever been just randomly searching on TAS, and suddenly you find a rare calc that normally sells in a regular auction for a princely sum for much much less in a BIN auction? Anyway, tonight I found a clean working APF Mark 55, a very rare non-HP RPN calc that included its charger and slip case for $19.99 + $4.99 shipping. Normally, this calc would sell for well over $100 in a regular auction. It had apparently just been listed, because there were over 29 days to go, so not many other bidders if any had seen it yet. The listing title omitted "RPN", so I only found it by searching for "APF calculator". Also, the seller specifically stated that shipping would only be to the USA, limiting the number of potential buyers. I wonder how many great deals like this have quietly slipped away shortly after they were listed, and I was never aware of them because they were gone so quickly.


Re: Has this ever happened to you ? :) - Lincoln R. - 09-04-2011

I think I once found a 16C that sold for an $9.99 buy it now in the TAS completed listings section. IIRC the seller was a pawn shop or estate sale guy or some other entity likely to think "oh, it's a worthless old 80s calculator with dead batteries, can't possibly be worth more than a pack of smokes."


Re: Has this ever happened to you ? :) - Paul Dale - 09-04-2011

I missed an 11C for about A$25 once. Did a search and by the time I got it (maybe 5 minutes), it was sold. At the time the exchange rate with the US$ would have been A$3 = US$2 roughly.


- Pauli


Re: Has this ever happened to you ? :) - Michael de Estrada - 09-04-2011

That would definitely be quite the find. Actually I once found a lot of 5 non-working calcs for $25, which included a Novus Scientist PR (4525) RPN calc, made by National Semiconductor in the 1970s. I was able to get 4 of them working, including the Novus.


Re: Has this ever happened to you ? :) - Lincoln R. - 09-04-2011

I did get lucky with a buy it now for calculator-related stuff once: Some tool listed an 82240B infrared printer as a cash register receipt printer, $15 buy it now with free shipping, even came in the original box.


Re: Has this ever happened to you ? :) - Michael de Estrada - 09-04-2011

That is a great deal. I paid $47.90 for mine in a regular auction nearly 4 years ago.


Re: Has this ever happened to you ? :) - Cristian Arezzini - 09-04-2011

There is a "certain seller" in TAS... the one who sells lots of HP stuff at outrageous BIN prices... try looking at his past auctions; not the things he sold, but the things he *bought*... I found some big surprises there. I suppose he developed a way to find stuff with not-so-clear titles... *and* he spends all of his time looking on TAS for deals...

Cristian


Re: Has this ever happened to you ? :) - Maximilian Hohmann - 09-04-2011

Hello!

Quote:
Have you ever been just randomly searching on TAS, and suddenly you find a rare calc that normally sells in a regular auction for a princely sum for much much less in a BIN auction?

Occasionally, yes. Like my near-mint HP-15C with leather pouch for 25 Euros. It was even listed in the correct category, I just happened to be there at the right time and press the mouse button fast enough. Or the 41CX with card-reader and other accessories that was contained in a large box of PC remains (ethernet hubs, cables, power supplies, sound cards, books, ...) listed under "household goods". I can't remember the BIN price, but it was low compared to the shipping cost. I tried to persuade the seller to send me only the calculator and keep the rest, but he insisted on "all or nothing" as he wanted to get rid of his junk. In the description it said "HP calculator" but the type could only be guessed from the photos.

But generally I think, as has been said in another thread a few days ago, that the prices for old calculators are steadily coming down anyway. The market seems to be saturated and there are not many new collectors/enthusiasts emerging. I do not know what young collectors collect today, but obviuosly not calculators.

Yesterday I received a nicely working stainless steel HP-01 in the mail, complete with all accessories except the box (even the battery changing tool full of spare batteries is there) for three-hundred-and something Euros. The times when these would fetch in excess of 1000 Euros are over, really.

Regards,
max


Re: Has this ever happened to you ? :) - Bart (UK) - 09-04-2011

That seller bid on one of my auctions, his highest bid was 1/10th of his list price for the same models (he didn't get it though). So that's the strategy, making 10x the purchase price, so no wonder that having only occasional sales still pays off.


Re: Has this ever happened to you ? :) - Bart (UK) - 09-04-2011

Quote:
The market seems to be saturated and there are not many new collectors/enthusiasts emerging. I do not know what young collectors collect today, but obviuosly not calculators.

or the economic downturn is starting to affect the calculator collector market too.


Re: Has this ever happened to you ? :) - Michael de Estrada - 09-04-2011

IDK. Many if not most of his items have been listed on TAS for many years, so it seems more like sheer greed than anything else to me. He's put in bottom feeder bids on my auctions too, which were a tiny fraction of the final sale price and has never come even close to winning one of my auctions. He also seems to have a personal performance problem as well, to put it delicately.


Re: Has this ever happened to you ? :) - Michael de Estrada - 09-04-2011

IDK. Seems like prices are all over the place for some items. In the last year or so I've seen an HP-70 sell for between a little shy of $1000, to a little over $100. It takes at least two aggressive bidders to drive the price up, but if there is only one, the sale price can be very low.


Re: Has this ever happened to you ? :) - Maximilian Hohmann - 09-04-2011

Hello!

Quote:
or the economic downturn is starting to affect the calculator collector market too.

There is no economic downturn here (in Germany). A few days ago, newspapers reported that never before in history germans have put so much money aside than in the first half of 2011. With a lot of money around and with unstable stock markets and currencies, I would expect it to be natural that people invest more money in hardware like gold and collectibles and drive the prices up. As the gold price clearly shows.

Regards,
max


Re: Has this ever happened to you ? :) - Mike Morrow - 09-05-2011

Two years ago I found my most recently acquired HP-15C in its box with manual and slip cover at an amateur radio "hamfest" fleamarket. Even the rubber feet were in good condition. It cost me $10.

Fifteen years ago I got a non-working but complete in almost mint condition HP-9820A at a hamfest. It cost me $20.

I've found other vintage HP and TI machines (several TI-59s for $5) at similar prices at such hamfests, including an HP-19C (with dead battery, and no accessories).

Amateur radio fleamarkets are often good places to search for old electronics.