A $12.400 368AS DOORKNOB TUBE ON eBAY

[N9LCD]

I think this one beats K9VQ's post about the Heathkit SB220, by about $9,000!!!

I'm a tube collector and troll eBay for unusual specimens from the early days of radio and radar. I come across a listing for a "RARE", only 1 of (about) 270, type 368AS doorknob tube, BUY IT NOW for $12,400.00.

I have the 368AS in my collection and I emailed the seller asking him if he wanted to buy a couple for ONLY $500.00 and resell them for a fast $8,000 or $10,000 profit per tube.

The seller replied thanking me for the thought and asking for pictures of the 368AS's that I was selling!!!! It sure could have been a nice profit for me, about $475.00.

In the end, this seller didn't even get one "BEST OFFER" on his tube, muchless $12,400!!!

I think eBay deals like this one and the SB220 are probably cases of the "Greater Fool" theory - "I overpaid and maybe I can find a fool to overpay me". Alternately, they could be some type of "sell it to the insurance company" scam involving alleged damage or loss in transit.

[WA9SVD]

And I'm sure shipping is extra...

[KI4NGN]

Shipping is where he would have probably made his real profit! http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[KC9GUZ]

Its "theres a sucker born every minute." And Ebay is all about that!
I think a lot of these sellers prey on the ignorant buyers that fall for something that they see that they THINK is rare or old. I see stufff for sale all the time that has the heading "rare hard to find" or "one of a kind"and its usually something that you can find at a hamfest.

[WA9SVD]

GUZ:

It's called "impulse buying." and it's the same reason you should not go grocery shopping when you are hungry...
The infomercials on TV rely on it for a living, as do some people on ePay. Then again, if someone is willing to pay the price, and both seller and buyer are satisfied, who are we to call the fools "fools?"
But sometimes I wonder if such ePay offerings are not merely in jest to reel in what suckers are about? Sometimes they item is withdrawn before a transaction can take place, or the seller backs out; I would think there are times that happens because the whole auction item doesn't really exist, and some juveniles (at least in spirit) are just playing games. Even "pictures" of purported items can be manipulated, pieced together, massaged via PhotoShop, and made to look like what they are not, and offered at outlandish prices. Caveat emptor. (Or as Caesar would say, "My caviar's empty.")

[W4HAY]

Quote[/b] ]It's called "impulse buying."
A friend who by her own admission spends way too much time on eBay refers to it as 'compulsive shopping'!

OTOH I found a Heath VF-1 in very clean condition which came to just over $30, including shipping. The original builder had done a very shoddy job of wiring, so I spent a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon yesterday 'neatening it up'. It works beautifully. Now if I can find a like deal on an AT-1, I'll have the Novice station I dreamed of in '53!

[ka0gkt]

This way to the Grand Egress...

73 DE KAØGKT/7

--Steve

[AG3Y]

I dislike seeing the E-Bay slamming. You have to understand that no one is FORCED to buy anything on E-Bay, or any other forum, for that matter.

I could put a Collins S-Line up for sale on E-Bay for a "Buy it now" price of $10,000, and there is a possiblilty somebody would actually "buy it now". Or, I could start the price at $1000 and watch ( and pray ) for a "feeding frenzy". I could also be the fool, (rather than the buyer) and put it up for a "Buy it Now" price of $100 dollars ! "Who is the fool?" is a question of how savvy both the buyer and the seller actually are !

I have gotten some extremely good deals on E-Bay, but I have always been very careful of who I buy items from. Same thing goes for yard sales, but that is a subject for another thread!

BTW, check the feedback profile of the seller, and you will quickly learn who to stay away from!

73, Jim

[WA7KKP]

Another one of those "I thought I'd heard it all about e-bay until now" stories.

Yes, at strange times, there are peope with far more dollars than sense.

My favorite is a Motorola (Motrac/Mocom70) style speaker in steel case and gimbal. Often seen at hamfests for 5-10 clams, I saw one go for . . .

FASTEN YOUR SEATBELTS AND HANG ONTO YOUR WALLET!!!


$112.50.


At that rate I could take 8 of my speakers and trade them in for a nice new HF transceiver.

Don't think it will happen to me . . . .

Gary WA7KKP

[N9LCD]

TO AG3Y:

I'm not bashing eBay; I'm "bashing" gross greed.

This seller literally thought I was going to hand him a fast $8,000 or $10,000 profit per tube. His greed could have stuck him with a bunch of over-priced tubes!!!

There's a saying on the Street "BULLS AND BEARS MAKE MONEY, PIGS GET EATEN!"

Also "If you don't know or don't understand what you're doing, don't do it."

So be it.

N9LCD

[AG3Y]

Oh, I couldn't agree with you more, LCD ! Look at the world around us. There is evidence of gross greed every which way we turn our heads! The gasolene companies keep screwing up the price of a gallon of "black gold, Texas Tea" until their profit margins are unconscionable, and yet we continue to poor money into their money pit pockets because we are not willing to give up our SUVs and RVs.

Believe me, if people stayed away from E-Bay and BP gasolene stations, etc. in droves, the prices would come tumbling down.

Prices are set in both places, and in virtually any other example you would care to imagine, by "the highest amount the market will bear". Once upon a time "supply and demand" were taken into consideration, and there was a law of checks and balances as well as a degree of common sense that set prices in the marketplace.

Now days, the "I've gotta have it NOW" attitude seems to have usurped any kind of common sense that we were born with, and greed has taken over!

It's a sad, sad situation, and it is NOT ( as I have already stated ) limited to the gas station, and E-Bay!

73, Jim http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/sad.gif