I think you need more patience when selling a rare one-off item like your modded Model F. These things are so rare, nobody will be thinking of looking for them. When I suggested you should list it at $300 BIN, I actually had a multi-month listing in mind because I thought it may take a while to find the right buyer. Remember, what you want is to find a buyer who thinks it is a steal and rushes to snap it up.
You only need to make one sale, why worry that it may take a few months? When you have only one house and you want to sell it, do you expect to sell it within a few days after you list? Just wait until you find somebody who values it so much he is practically falling all over himself to get his checkbook out! As a guy who is often too late to buy things, I really hate it when somebody lists things too cheaply and they get snapped by snipers who don’t value these things as much as me. I will rather get something at my full personal reserve price, than stare helplessly at an already sold listing 50% off my personal reserve price.
I also have to control myself from sniping very often, when somebody lists something at a great value which I know perfectly well I don’t need or want. Made too many impetuous purchases in the past that way.
In any case I am definitely not looking for a US-ANSI mod. I like the ISO return, and always convert the key next to return (should be Europe_2 on soarer) to backspace. Don’t you think it is easier to type backspace on the home row with your fourth finger, rather than reach up to the backspace two rows higher? I make a lot of errors while typing and need backspace a lot.
Another thing I have done on my F XTs and M122s is to shift the small left shift one key right and convert the original left shift into a macro key. I am so addicted to this format now that I really don’t like having a big left shift which takes up space and prevents me having a useful macro that I can type with a little finger.
But when all that is said and done, most people like US-ANSI and won’t change for another format. So I think you are doing a fantastic job, making this format available to people who have hitherto stayed away from vintage terminal keyboards because they didn’t know how to make a soarer converter, because they were intimidated by the footprint, or because they didn’t like the non-ANSI layout.
Stay the course, fohat. Remember, you only have one keyboard and only need to make ONE sale. Why worry that it is taking some time? Is Ebay charging you for listing? Don’t worry about bids under 200; just ignore them. It’s not as if you are a factory with hundreds of products to move off your shelves.
Think about it this way: the average bidder has to spend at least $100 shipped to get a filthy Model F that might not work. He has to test it, clean it, spend another $24 shipped on a teensy with pins plus breadboard like what you have done, build that adapter, take apart that Model F for ANSI mod, order suitable keycaps from Unicomp, buy more hammers from somewhere or maybe buy another Model F to get the hammers, buy paint, scrape rust, cut metal pan, procure fabric sheet and spend a huge amount of time on floss modding, and not to mention, actually put together a working Model F that was taken apart. (Lest you have forgotten, I haven’t actually succeeded in doing that yet!)
Even if we assume you are getting McPay at $7 an hour flipping burgers when you are not working on keyboards, your labor is probably going to be another 5 hours at $35.
Add everything together and $200 shipped is truly a steal. Did I tell you that I spent $15.50 on hammerite anti-rust paint alone for the backplate on my F XTs? And my Rustoleum (for painting the casing of my M122) cost another twenty bucks.
