All you guys are sure quick to jump to libelous bull****; quite uncool if you ask me. I’m not sure if Ellipse ever bought anything from Elecplus, but for these keyboards he claims to have his own e-recycler sources. I’m not sure how much he’s paying them, but finding stuff that would otherwise get scrapped and reselling it on public markets with a goal of maximizing return is hardly a crime. Either he’ll find a buyer or he won’t (in which case the price will probably come down after a while).
+1,
Gee whiz...
It's great to sell to your buddies at good prices and discourage blatant flipping within the community, but this is just dragging a man's name through the mud.
He has already said these are from recyclers, and otherwise they'd probably still be on a shelf or in a shredder. What exactly is wrong with rescuing and restoring boards and getting a good price?
It's great for us when someone like Cindy comes around and passes on savings, but no one is OBLIGATED to do that.
This is like a twisted, strongarm form of begging. Either sell at prices the ingroup says is "fair" (i.e., transfer value from your pocket to theirs by selling below market value) or have your reputation publicly trashed.
No one is forcing anyone to pay this price. If it's too expensive (which is not at all certain given it's a 3 of a kind) then it will not sell. Simple as that. It's not like it's an overpriced WASD that a n00b might accidentally overpay for or a scam Leopold auction. It's a truly rare item with no precedent for the price...
I think the backlash against quote-unquote "profiteering" is more rotten than the original problem. Of course I do NOT want to see keyboards turned into a mainstream target for flippers. That really messed up the retro gaming hobby and I cringe when n00bs join just to ask what their latest find is worth.
But price, and supply and demand, are not just theories you can choose to ignore. Rare/desirable items command a premium EVERYWHERE...not just in the keyboard community. We at GH are not special snowflakes, unbeholden to these realities.
So by all means positively encourage community members to avoid markup. It is commendable and a good behavior both to encourage and to do.
But this is wayward, not nice, contrary to the workings of economics, and IMO misguided anyway because it's not an unreasonable price for what's being sold.
Note that this is not meant as a personal attack against anyone inside or outside this thread, please do not take it that way.