Loosing respect for e-waste recyclers/computer surplus ebayers

[AKIMbO]

You have to love how e-waste recyclers/computer surplus ebayers refuse to take a picture of a keyboard with a keycap removed.  I've spent the last week requesting several ebayers who only list vintage computer surplus items to take a picture of a keyboard with a keycap removed.  They always come back with the excuse...I won't remove a keycap because I fear I might damage the keyboard.  Give me a freaking break.  You make a living selling vintage computer parts on ebay....learn about your products and how to list them.  That's like a used car dealership saying...I haven't test driven this used, old car yet for fear that I may break it.  I'm not talking about the little old lady who finds a keyboard in her attic and lists it on ebay for some extra bingo money either.  I'm talking about ebayers with 40+ sales a month...all of which are vintage computer related items. 

The last ebayer who responded to me said it would cost him money to have an employee take a picture with the keycap removed....on top of the "I don't want to damage the keyboard" excuse.  Maybe I'm being a prima donna, but seriously....get your stuff together people.  I'm not asking you to completely rip apart the board or spend 3 hours telling it to strike a pose in a light box as you snap glamour shots of the keyboard. 

/RANT.

[SmallFry]

*eats my fries* I feel you. I can't get any of the stuff on Ebay that I've been bidding on...

[demik]

well, tighten it!

[486]

 In Australia, we don't have as much large scale computer recycling as in US, most sellers are people who have found stuff at estate sales garage sales etc. Most are willing to take a cap. I don't ask to take a cap in some cases in fear that it may attract attention to the item and more people will bid on it. This happened with a Wang 724 with Pink Alps, I asked if the keyboard was for sale seperate from the 286 it was sold with (more of an 8088 guy myself) and if he could pull a cap, and  then the guy  picked up on that an put WANG 724 in all caps in the title. And guess what, a day later, bids started to flow in. I consider myself an oppertunist , taking advantage of keyboards that have been wrongly described and listed incorrectly, but not removing a cap in fear that it will  break, pfff. There has only been one time when I broke a keycap. I had a Unisys Metal Back keyboard with awesome doubleshots. I was cleaning and the ALT key was stuck hard in place so I had to prise it out and it snapped in half. I ended up junking the board as I kept breaking the stepped caps. The caps were so brittle because the keyboard was lying in a shed where it was really hot during the day and really cold at night for about 20 years so what could I expect. I only payed $5 for it anyways. Gotta take a breath and stop ranting.

[IvanIvanovich]

I pretty much only buy Cherry stuff anymore. I know what it is and don't have to waste a bunch of time with them. Sometimes I have to ask for the full model number but that is about it.
But I totally know what you are talking about. There are a few of them that are just ludicrous and always post the worst pictures possible too. Don't bother to put full model numbers so we can even attempt to look it up elsewhere... are rude and seem annoyed that they have to answer questions from potential buyers. It's like they don't want to sell things.

[Halverson]

Yea some people will just use any excuse to not be useful and save time. Especially if it's more of a company than a single person. I've lucked out and had a guy who had no idea about a board, successfully take a cap off and describe the colour of the switch to me. Turned out to be browns and not clears, but I feel in the future, by learning to do these things, it will only help in their sales.

[Input Nirvana]

It is what it is....

[fohat.digs]

Skating around the edges has its ups and downs.

Realistically, anybody who knows what he has, and sells it accordingly, is likely to ask a full fair price.

You will rarely get a bargain on a sure thing.

If you buy an item that looks promising, but with no guarantee, then you may get lucky and you may not.

It is probably unrealistic to expect more than half of your speculative risks on ebay to work out positively.

[AKIMbO]

I have no problem paying a full, fair price on an item when I know what it is I'm buying.  It just perplexes me that ebayers, whose majority of sales are vintage keyboard, are "afraid" to remove a keycap because it might break the keyboard.  One would think that they would become curious at some point in their ebay selling as to what exactly it is they are selling and how to maximize their profit from the item.  Take a Focus keyboard for instance, if you remove a keycap and find blue alps, as opposed to white alps, then your selling price/profit can increase substantially. 

Maybe it's just that I'm not lazy and take the time to find out what exactly it is I'm getting into when I sell something.  A little research can go a long way.  I know nothing of Swarovski figurines, but if I started selling a ton of them on ebay you bet your ass I would do some research and figure out what it is that makes one more valuable than the other and list them accordingly.