[eBay] MEGA LOAD: 30 IBM Model M's including 5 SSKs

[fohat.digs]

People lie on the internet?

No. Everything you read on the internet is true.

Signed, Abraham Lincoln

[intelli78]

I am certain there's a method to it.

You may be right, but that still does not explain why he would let a perfectly good SSK go for $100, unless he is not paying attention to the current marketplace.

Reread post #41, sir

[fohat.digs]

Reread post #41

My reading of this is that the additional SSK came from outside the pictured lot.

I do not see where anyone said with certainty that one keyboard was removed. I had made a post that said "if" but that was only speculation.

Presumably, any rational seller would sell the desirable pieces separately for top dollar, and lump the junk together to get rid of it.

$100 is a reasonable price for a "junk" SSK but not for a good one.

[intelli78]

Reread post #41

My reading of this is that the additional SSK came from outside the pictured lot.

I do not see where anyone said with certainty that one keyboard was removed. I had made a post that said "if" but that was only speculation.

Presumably, any rational seller would sell the desirable pieces separately for top dollar, and lump the junk together to get rid of it.

$100 is a reasonable price for a "junk" SSK but not for a good one.

Eh? What happened is that HarryM told a blatant lie (like he seems to have lied about bidding on teh industrial SSK). The seller didn't actually sell him an SSK, whether a part of that lot or otherwise. No SSK has been sold at all.

[fohat.digs]

What happened is that HarryM told a blatant lie (like he seems to have lied about bidding on the industrial SSK).
The seller didn't actually sell him an SSK, whether a part of that lot or otherwise. No SSK has been sold at all.

Boy, I sure am glad that I am not harryM.

[dgreekstallion]

Me too.

[ZeDestructor]

SIgh.. Some serious lack of readin comprehension here: harryM said he got an SSK with cable for $100 shipped from the seller, and the seller is still selling the bulk. Simple conclusion assuming everything said is true: The seller has a few more boards, and sold one of them in a private sale. There. Done. No need to question anybody's honesty or start flinging insults everywhere.

Damn paranoid kids assuming everyone is a scammer.

[Photoelectric]

SIgh.. Some serious lack of readin comprehension here: harryM said he got an SSK with cable for $100 shipped from the seller, and the seller is still selling the bulk. Simple conclusion assuming everything said is true: The seller has a few more boards, and sold one of them in a private sale. There. Done. No need to question anybody's honesty or start flinging insults everywhere.

Damn paranoid kids assuming everyone is a scammer.

Have a look at the answer from the actual eBay seller--particularly the tone of the reply.  I don't think he sold anything to that guy.

[intelli78]

SIgh.. Some serious lack of readin comprehension here: harryM said he got an SSK with cable for $100 shipped from the seller, and the seller is still selling the bulk. Simple conclusion assuming everything said is true: The seller has a few more boards, and sold one of them in a private sale. There. Done. No need to question anybody's honesty or start flinging insults everywhere.

Damn paranoid kids assuming everyone is a scammer.

No man, don't think it's like that. It's possible that Harry is telling the whole truth, but a close reading of the posts in this thread + his commentary re: the recent Industrial SSK auction suggest he's probably trolling us. Given his talk w/ lack of follow-up, the seller's response, and the market price of SSKs, it's really unlikely that one was sold for $100. No insults, just analyzing the facts and calling out an apparent troll, happy to apologize to Harry if I turn out to be wrong. 

[Pacifist]

could harry post a screenshot of the seller selling him the ssk?

[fohat.digs]

Sucks to be named Harry these days.

[semyorka]

SIgh.. Some serious lack of readin comprehension here: harryM said he got an SSK with cable for $100 shipped from the seller, and the seller is still selling the bulk. Simple conclusion assuming everything said is true: The seller has a few more boards, and sold one of them in a private sale. There. Done. No need to question anybody's honesty or start flinging insults everywhere.

Damn paranoid kids assuming everyone is a scammer.

Have a look at the answer from the actual eBay seller--particularly the tone of the reply.  I don't think he sold anything to that guy.

Yeah, this smelled like a classic "try to cast doubt on the value of the auction in order to snap it up for cheaper".

[iAmAhab]

Sucks to be named Harry these days.

Sucks to be named Harry always, unless your last name is Potter.

[jdcarpe]

Sucks to be named Harry these days.

Sucks to be named Harry always, unless your last name is Potter.

Or Windsor.

[dorkvader]

Sucks to be named Harry these days.

Sucks to be named Harry always, unless your last name is Potter.

Or Windsor.

Show Image

im partial to dresden.

everyone loves you fohat.digs. it is immediately obvious that you are pretty much awesome.

i wonder how many people have snipes ready on this? it's only at $200 now.

[HPE1000]

Sucks to be named Harry these days.

Sucks to be named Harry always, unless your last name is Potter.

Or Windsor.

Show Image

im partial to dresden.

everyone loves you fohat.digs. it is immediately obvious that you are pretty much awesome.

i wonder how many people have snipes ready on this? it's only at $200 now.

I don't know, I honestly don't think it's going to be worth what it goes for. Pictures aren't amazing, a ton of them are terminal, lots of missing keycaps and that one SSK is practically destroyed in my eyes, that is a huge chunk out of it. It's worth something obviously, but I just fear someone is going to get a bit too excited and spend more than they should have.

Also random, why is there a cherry mx keycap in that pile of keycaps in the one picture? lol

[berserkfan]

The behavior of this seller is bizarre and not in his own best interest.

If he is determined to sell the lot as a whole, out of laziness, why let another SSK go "too cheap"?

By now I am getting a bit concerned.

If seller is not 'selling too cheap', I suspect he is 'pretending to be lazy'.

IE he's selling stuff that needs a lot of repairs in a pile and hoping that the usual irrational ghers bid prices to sky high levels.

[fohat.digs]

Just taking this as a quick estimate, it looks like:

330 = 11 decent Ms in good condition @ $30 each
180 =  9  Ms in need of repair @ $20  each
400 =  2  SSKs in good repair @ $200  each
450 =  3  SSKs in need of repair @ $150 each
 50 =   2  terminals in good condition @ $25 each
 45 =   3  terminals in need of repair @ $15 each
--------------
1455  is the realistic maximum value of this lot delivered to you

And you will spend quite a bit of time for cleaning and repair, and likely a $50-100 keycap order from Unicomp.

Since you will be doing this work plus a lot of packing and shipping, there will not be much money to be made in profit if you spend over $1K here.

Just my assessment of the situation, and I am not in this at all.

[berserkfan]

This is more than what I would pay, but I am also not in the race. No point shipping this monster load to where I am.

I wonder if ghers can restrain themselves, or whether despite your assessment of value, fohat, they will insist on a $1.5k bid all the same.

[EverythingIBM]

Well someone could always buy the lot, refurbish all of the boards, and probably make a decent profit... depending on how this goes for...

[dorkvader]

Well someone could always buy the lot, refurbish all of the boards, and probably make a decent profit... depending on how this goes for...

it would have to be a labor of love: something you enjoy doing for fun for it to be worthwhile for a person.

[ninjadoc]

Just taking this as a quick estimate, it looks like:

330 = 11 decent Ms in good condition @ $30 each
180 =  9  Ms in need of repair @ $20  each
400 =  2  SSKs in good repair @ $200  each
450 =  3  SSKs in need of repair @ $150 each
 50 =   2  terminals in good condition @ $25 each
 45 =   3  terminals in need of repair @ $15 each
--------------
1455  is the realistic maximum value of this lot delivered to you

And you will spend quite a bit of time for cleaning and repair, and likely a $50-100 keycap order from Unicomp.

Since you will be doing this work plus a lot of packing and shipping, there will not be much money to be made in profit if you spend over $1K here.

Just my assessment of the situation, and I am not in this at all.

I misread this at first. If you have the time and don't count it when you assume bolt modding alot of this I would agree with your value. I'm not quite sure what I would pay for this lot. I don't believe I would pay $1000 including shipping. Still considering the value. Issue is the boards aren't clean and the buyer has sold these before so I suspect he has a good feel of the value and is not being "lazy".

[ninjadoc]

Well someone could always buy the lot, refurbish all of the boards, and probably make a decent profit... depending on how this goes for...

it would have to be a labor of love: something you enjoy doing for fun for it to be worthwhile for a person.

If you consider it "work" don't do it. If it is fun you'll be fine if you aren't stupid with your bidding.

[dustinhxc]

Arg I want just one of those SSKs.. 

[berserkfan]

[/quote]

I misread this at first. If you have the time and don't count it when you assume bolt modding alot of this I would agree with your value. I'm not quite sure what I would pay for this lot. I don't believe I would pay $1000 including shipping. Still considering the value. Issue is the boards aren't clean and the buyer has sold these before so I suspect he has a good feel of the value and is not being "lazy".
[/quote]

Ninjadoc, I have my suspicions. If Snoopy (a knowledgeable guy with several SSKs) says this seller guy knows stuff, then he must know stuff.

He can't be so stupid and lazy that he doesn't know even a dirty SSK will fetch $200 nowadays. Do it 5x, and he gets $1k. Then he can sell the rest at a batch for 200 BIN if he is genuinely lazy.

Experience with other 'lazy' sellers in the past, who don't want to describe something properly, or take blur photos and are loathe to take them again, says that someone is 'lazy' when he wants an excuse not to do something that will reveal something. For instance, taking a big photo of 30 keyboards means he has an excuse not to take close ups of the 5 most valuable.

I don't have a good feeling about this. I hope everyone will bid wisely.

In a worst case scenario, the stuff goes for $2k, buyer discovers they are not worth 2k, and in the next few months we get lots of 'as is' auctions and the price of 'as is' SSKs that need a lot of work rocket to $350 each because geekhackers go crazy in bidding.

[E TwentyNine]

In late 2012 he was selling them for around $200 BIN:  http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=36839.0

For some reason the ebay link in that thread is dead, but this one is another SSK he sold:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/150886084965

Note the "relisted item" link on that page is the same item as the one linked in the above GH thread - item 150932774819.  Same seller

The guy knows what he has.  The shipping price seems outrageous to me, I could ship each of those boards individually for less than that.

[berserkfan]

In late 2012 he was selling them for around $200 BIN:  http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=36839.0

For some reason the ebay link in that thread is dead, but this one is another SSK he sold:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/150886084965

Note the "relisted item" link on that page is the same item as the one linked in the above GH thread - item 150932774819.  Same seller

The guy knows what he has.  The shipping price seems outrageous to me, I could ship each of those boards individually for less than that.

My suspicions are thus confirmed. He's not doing his 250-300 BIN because he can't.

It's not that hard to do basic cleaning. But selling individually would open the door to questions, and it is very difficult to refuse to test something that uses a standard ps2 connection. He won't be able to fudge the quality when taking individual photos.

Now let's move to the next step. Identify the winning bidder in a few hours time.

Whoever who wins it, is taking a big risk. If he repairs and cleans things up and sells them with good photos and descriptions at a fat profit, it's his right. However, what I don't want to see is some geekhacker selling 'as is, untested' SSKs from this purchase at a fat profit. That is sleazy. In a month if somebody should start listing 'as is, untested' SSKs one after another, I would be concerned that they did this buy, discovered the SSKs were crap, and decided to dump them on gh knowing that ghers are irrational when it comes to SSKs.

[E TwentyNine]

His old sales had 14 day return policy.  These have none.

Take that as you will.

[kishy]

Remember to account for at least one of the "SSK" being for a terminal.
It's too hard to see embedded numpad legends in the pics, but I see what looks like a straight fixed cable on one of them.

Still perfectly usable, but won't fetch the same sky high resale prices. Overall I'd say this has the potential to be a good value for someone willing to put in the effort and resell at modest prices, based on the current bid of $255, but if it goes much higher there will be no way to recoup costs without selling for way too much.

Off on a bit of a tangent, I bought my 1394946 in a lot of two as untested/broken for parts, missing a couple keycaps and a little dirty. They were listed that way because the guy only had Macs (no PS/2) and no PS/2 converters handy. After shipping they worked out to 70ish a piece and was able to resell one for half of my total cost on them plus shipping, which worked well. Of course I cleaned it up and completed the set of keys first.

Someone willing to put in the effort and be transparent about costs (no mysterious huge markup being a big part of that) will find buyers for the examples here that can be salvaged, and I suspect that would be most of them.

[vivalarevolución]

His old sales had 14 day return policy.  These have none.

Take that as you will.

If I sold 30 keyboards, I would not want the darn things back, regardless of whether I thought they were a good product.  Just get them out the door.

[HPE1000]

Remember to account for at least one of the "SSK" being for a terminal.
It's too hard to see embedded numpad legends in the pics, but I see what looks like a straight fixed cable on one of them.

Still perfectly usable, but won't fetch the same sky high resale prices. Overall I'd say this has the potential to be a good value for someone willing to put in the effort and resell at modest prices, based on the current bid of $255, but if it goes much higher there will be no way to recoup costs without selling for way too much.

Off on a bit of a tangent, I bought my 1394946 in a lot of two as untested/broken for parts, missing a couple keycaps and a little dirty. They were listed that way because the guy only had Macs (no PS/2) and no PS/2 converters handy. After shipping they worked out to 70ish a piece and was able to resell one for half of my total cost on them plus shipping, which worked well. Of course I cleaned it up and completed the set of keys first.

Someone willing to put in the effort and be transparent about costs (no mysterious huge markup being a big part of that) will find buyers for the examples here that can be salvaged, and I suspect that would be most of them.

I think if you pay above 600 dollars before shipping you are pretty much SOL on this, there is really too much risk imo.

fohat could be correct on his appraisal but I just don't think so.

If you get them and try to flip them on ebay, a ton of profit is going to be lost on ebay fees.

[fohat.digs]

fohat could be correct on his appraisal but I just don't think so.

My estimate was "maximum" based on best-case scenario. Personally, I think that $800 including shipping would be a reasonable price and would allow somebody to get a free SSK and make a couple of hundred dollars profit after the smoke had cleared.

And I disagree with Kishy about "transparent about costs" - if you are selling a clean, complete, tested, working Model M keyboard for "X" amount of dollars, where you got it and how much you paid for it is irrelevant.

[kishy]

And I disagree with Kishy about "transparent about costs" - if you are selling a clean, complete, tested, working Model M keyboard for "X" amount of dollars, where you got it and how much you paid for it is irrelevant.

On the open marketplace, sure.

In a community, attitudes like that are what destroy the personal nature of dealing within a community.

Since these cannot fetch the same amount of money if they're dinged up or converted terminal keyboards (due to some illogical stigma?) and the buyer is rather likely a member here, I see it very likely that they'd be sold to the community first.

[fohat.digs]

attitudes like that are what destroy the personal nature of dealing within a community.

Maybe. But it has been my personal impression that what this community does not particularly value is work and knowledge.

When lovingly restored items such as bolt-modded Model Ms turn up for sale here, at some few tens of dollars above the current random ebay pricing, there is usually a torrent of derision from non-buyers about how some profit-monger is attempting to charge premium prices for "damaged goods" and otherwise disparaging both the item for sale and the audacity of the person attempting to make a few bucks on the restoration.

If I bought this lot (which I will not) and tried to work it for a couple of free keyboards and some profit, I see likely dozens of hours of restoration work, replacement key cap orders, individually arranging transactions, packaging keyboards and taking them to the Post Office, paying shipping fees almost 30 times, generally a sizable amount of aggravation for possibly a few hundred dollars clear, at best.

In my eyes, items "in need of repair" are worth considerably less than items "complete and working" which are in turn worth considerably less than items "refurbished throughout and immaculately clean" but every time I look at a used IBM keyboard my mind instantly makes the calculation of what it will take to make it pristine. And I have done enough of them to know that I am tired of giving away my skilled time and effort at minimum wage levels.

I would not want to charge less for a Model M from this lot that I completely restored than I would for any other similar keyboard, because it is no different. Here the actual "original price" is blurred because it is a large lot, but I would be insulted if someone here attempted to use it to get me to negotiate my price downwards.

However, if I had this big pile of ugly stuff in my garage, and someone offered me some small profit for one of the keyboards < EXACTLY AS-IS > then I would be much more likely to turn it over, as long as I had not invested time and effort into it.

[phosphorglow]

Well... looks like this already went way past what I was willing to pay. This should be interesting. I think I'll just offer my services to the winning bidder...
All of those boards are a good 3+ hours each of restoration in my book.

[fohat.digs]

All of those boards are a good 3+ hours each of restoration in my book.

Right!

Theoretically, a Model M bolt mod should take an hour if you know what you are doing, but I would say that 3 is much more realistic.

Still, with 90% of those boards fully cleaned and restored, there could be upwards of $2K worth of merchandise there if you got lucky.

[False_Dmitry_II]

I still haven't done a bolt mod, because the most rivets my model M's have been missing is barely countable at all.

[vivalarevolución]

Went above my limit.  I hope whoever buys those boards got a good lot.  It was a bit of risk.

[fohat.digs]

Looks to be about the right price.

Somebody might do pretty well, unless you guys are right about the seller knowing his business and having dumped all the "non-starters" into this lot. If they are all duds and need controllers and such in addition to mechanical repairs and keys, then it will take some work to make this lot profitable.

[ninjadoc]

Looks to be about the right price.

Somebody might do pretty well, unless you guys are right about the seller knowing his business and having dumped all the "non-starters" into this lot. If they are all duds and need controllers and such in addition to mechanical repairs and keys, then it will take some work to make this lot profitable.

I quit at about $750 including shipping which is all I was willing to spend. I felt like the boards required more work than I wanted to perform on an unknown product. Did a geek hacker win the auction?

[riotonthebay]

Looks to be about the right price.

Somebody might do pretty well, unless you guys are right about the seller knowing his business and having dumped all the "non-starters" into this lot. If they are all duds and need controllers and such in addition to mechanical repairs and keys, then it will take some work to make this lot profitable.

I quit at about $750 including shipping which is all I was willing to spend. I felt like the boards required more work than I wanted to perform on an unknown product. Did a geek hacker win the auction?

Yes, Grr8 won the auction. (Accordion to the "it's in the mail" thread.)

[HPE1000]

Looks to be about the right price.

Somebody might do pretty well, unless you guys are right about the seller knowing his business and having dumped all the "non-starters" into this lot. If they are all duds and need controllers and such in addition to mechanical repairs and keys, then it will take some work to make this lot profitable.

I quit at about $750 including shipping which is all I was willing to spend. I felt like the boards required more work than I wanted to perform on an unknown product. Did a geek hacker win the auction?

Yes, Grr8 said he did. I really hope he starts a topic or something showing all of them and what he has to do to them. I am interested in seeing how it turns out.

[Photoelectric]

I'm curious how much shipping ended up costing.

[HPE1000]

I'm curious how much shipping ended up costing.

I had asked them and they said it should be 199.99 to NC, so I am guessing it might just be lower than that and they are going to take the difference and pocket it. Because I doubt it was really going to be spot on 200 like they insinuated.

Who knows though, if I am wrong, I apologize. 

[riotonthebay]

Yeah, that sounds like a really unlikely shipping cost. They could be factoring in shipping materials/labor though.

[HPE1000]

Yeah, that sounds like a really unlikely shipping cost. They could be factoring in shipping materials/labor though.

I know, I imagine it is going to weigh about 140 before packing materials and such.

[fohat.digs]

Yeah, that sounds like a really unlikely shipping cost. They could be factoring in shipping materials/labor though.

I would expect this to take about 4-5 large boxes at $40 each for ground delivery.

[False_Dmitry_II]

Yeah, it would be a comically large box to do all at once.

[dorkvader]

Yeah, it would be a comically large box to do all at once.

That size, it would have to go freight.

[jonathanyu]

  **** forgot to bid on this