Date   : Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:08:29 +0200
From   : anders.carlsson@... (Anders Carlsson)
Subject: eBay Pricing Psychology Discussion - was Re:

Paul (Old Pete) wrote:

> Does anyone have any ideas how he could sell at these prices?

Perhaps it works if the computer is fully tested, possibly even refurbished 
to working condition. Mint might be hard to accomplish, but clean looking 
and dubious solder points fixed ahead of time should raise the value, also 
if those capacitors in the power supply were replaced before the old ones 
emit smoke. Some people may prefer a modded unit, e.g. if you installed 32K 
SWRAM and an EPROM with multiple ROMs.

It is a bit off-topic but an attempt to prove my saying, last week I had a 
bunch of auctions running on Tradera.com. In one auction I was selling a 
loose (*) C64C with tape recorder. Nothing fancy, just stating I had tested 
it to be 100% working as far as I know. The final bid was about 485 SEK, or 
?37. Usually I would've been happy with 1/3 of that. I strongly believe it 
was the mention that the computer is tested to be fully working that made a 
difference. I understand few sellers on eBay bother to test their equipment, 
in particular if they smell something may not be OK, but anyone with a 
starting price at ?120 should definitely have gone through the computer 
thoroughly.

(*) In the end I found some free, empty polystyrene and cardboard boxes for 
the C64C so I fitted the computer into one and managed to get the buyer a 
boxed computer with instruction manual instead of just the loose computer, 
without charging extra. I'm such a poor salesman! :-D

Best regards

-- 
Anders Carlsson