Exactly what is going on over there?

[RuneRider]

Okay, I admit that I get why collectors and Amiga lovers want to buy these machines... I'm one of those people. However, something is beginning to bother me.

Since it's difficult to acquire an A1200 in North America I have resorted to bidding on machines overseas.

What I'm finding is that even if at any given moment there are two dozen A1200s for sale, the bids go high and there is no shortage of people bidding. Perhaps someone here can tell me who these people are that constantly outbid me. Why are so many interested in these machines? Surely they cannot all be collectors! I don't get it.

In a normal market having many of something drives the price down. Where is the demand coming from? !

 

[khimru]

In a normal market having many of something drives the price down. Where is the demand coming from? !

I've bought one recently thus I have pretty decent idea. I've stationed in Germany (as could be seen in my profile) thus I've tried to buy one from German sellers. The one I've actually bought [relatively] cheap was "IBAN only, delivery to Germany only". All others went out at 2x-3x prices. Conclusion: supply of Amigas is limited to US (big boxes) and EU (small Amigas) while buyers come from all around the world. Many buyers mean prices go higher.

I don't know what suddenly changed (some new large country have gotten access to eBay or PayPal?) but if my theory is correct then prices should go down once buyers who had no access to eBay previously will be satisfied.

 

[Harrison]

It could equally be that as the Amiga and other retro systems continue to age it becomes harder to obtain a good one. Although with a few available at any one time I can see why you would be questioning rising prices. As working examples age they do tend to rise in price regardless of what it is.

Just remember Amibay has a policy of no price discussions. I don't mind if it remains general with no actual prices or percentages mentioned, but as soon as anything is this thread will be closed.

 

[RuneRider]

It could equally be that as the Amiga and other retro systems continue to age it becomes harder to obtain a good one. Although with a few available at any one time I can see why you would be questioning rising prices. As working examples age they do tend to rise in price regardless of what it is.

I'd agree except that there are always many of them for sale at any given time and I'm really wondering what drives the purchases. Does everyone in Europe want an Amiga because they never had one as a kid?

Maybe it's just all you guys buying them up.

 

[CrazyC]

There are also one or two eBay sellers of Amiga stuff, one in particular, who will almost always bid on a1200s and so it stops there being many cheap bargains unless you find a collection only one near you. Even then he bids sometimes. A1200 prices have indeed risen in general over the last couple of years. You can see from the feedback count of the bidder and work it out.

 

[khimru]

You can not see the actual feedback of the bidders only feedback count which does not mean anything at all: buy 1000 cheap screws from Chinese sellers (about 1€ each including shipping and handling), get 1000+ 100% positive feedback. Could be done in a couple of weeks for a brand new account.

 

[CrazyC]

You can see the exact count - say 33,929 for example. Whilst not 100% conclusive you can see when he is bidding. Or you can see that someone with an exactly identical feedback count at a high level is bidding on most of the a1200s (usually within the last day of the auction assuming they have not already risen to silly money by then). Do a search on completed transactions and have a look - its not all, but most that meet the criteria above)

 

[DojoDan]

Put a wanted thread up on here? Postage would probably be a killer from the UK

 

[RuneRider]

Put a wanted thread up on here? Postage would probably be a killer from the UK

I'm hoping to get lucky. :tumbleweed: