Another ebay bargain 😂

[doity]

In my experience some Craigslist sellers are and some aren’t aware of the value. Some don’t want the hassle of shipping and spending the next week hoping that the item arrives undamaged. And then there are the hassles of PayPal, etc.

If fact, a few weeks back I spied a ad on Craigslist for a almost brand new looking Weltron 2010 that was listed as ‘display’ for $100 or offer. It had been her parents and literally the thing looked right out of the box from 1978. It didn’t work though, just the lights. We haggled it down from $100 eventually agreeing on the bizarre price of $86. I brought it home and opened it up and first thing I saw was a blown fuse. $1 later and I had a completely mint working unit that could sell for $500 on EBay. She knew what they go for on EBay but didn’t want the hassle.

If some of us ‘old-timers’ can in some way tell the younger members on here about just being patient and that the bargain will come around eventually I don’t think that is a waste of time but a service. I can see the other side of the argument though as a lot of these sellers are just playing the game. But it is always fun to poke fun at them though

 

[Coast Steve]

It's also much easier to not get frustrated with any e-bay prices while you already own and listen to a nice box.

But if you DON"T own one, it's not fun to see you can't afford anything being offered.

 

[Superduper]

......I see very little value in this type of thread to be honest.
........Collectors will more likely be thrilled to read about the devilish commitment and gumption of getting out and about and raising your chances of finding something instead of complaining about a price.

Totally Agree. Except I guess whiners needs some place to complain and gather.

Ebay can't be compared to Craigslist, boot sales, estate sales, OfferUp, etc.

Ebay sellers know what they've got. And they have the world's biggest audience. Stuff gets bid up like crazy, from buyers all over the world. So why not take advantage of that and set the price high?

Craigslist sellers are often very clueless about what they sell, and they're usually not willing to ship. So you can find stuff cheap if you're local.

........In my experience some Craigslist sellers are and some aren’t aware of the value.
....... But it is always fun to poke fun at them though

Like I said, CL is hit/miss. In my location and experience, mostly miss. Yup, deals do pop up but even when they do, it's not a sure thing to be able to snag it, because it's the deals that breaks the sellers phone and the deals might not even be the exact thing you were looking for. So as I said, if you're looking for something specific, are not patient (like years, maybe decades), then go eBay and be prepared to pay market price.

It's also much easier to not get frustrated with any e-bay prices while you already own and listen to a nice box.
But if you DON"T own one, it's not fun to see you can't afford anything being offered.

Well, virtually all of us collectors are ordinary folks of normal means, I don't know any rich collectors and we've all been frustrated before. Some have been in search for that specific box in their wish list for years, and some, forever without success. Complaining about it and calling sellers greedy names isn't going to get you anywhere. Some of the boomboxes out of your reach might actually be being sold by members here. Not like these things are manufactured anymore. But I'll tell you something, if you search for months with many examples being offered for sale (and maybe trading hands) and none of those sales involves you..... I'd say that you are a bargain seeker (nothing wrong with that) and either need to have the patience I mentioned in seeking deals, or increase the amount you are willing to pay. Like it or not, that's just the reality.

.............but won't give my hard earned money away to greed.
Someone honest and helpful will show up I'm sure. .......

It's not only YOUR money that is hard earned. I guess all the rest of us unmotivated to sell you a box for the price you want is greedy or dishonest.

 

[Hisrudeness]

......I see very little value in this type of thread to be honest.
........Collectors will more likely be thrilled to read about the devilish commitment and gumption of getting out and about and raising your chances of finding something instead of complaining about a price.

Totally Agree. Except I guess whiners needs some place to complain and gather.

Including you.

Ebay can't be compared to Craigslist, boot sales, estate sales, OfferUp, etc.

Ebay sellers know what they've got. And they have the world's biggest audience. Stuff gets bid up like crazy, from buyers all over the world. So why not take advantage of that and set the price high?

Craigslist sellers are often very clueless about what they sell, and they're usually not willing to ship. So you can find stuff cheap if you're local.

........In my experience some Craigslist sellers are and some aren’t aware of the value.
....... But it is always fun to poke fun at them though

Like I said, CL is hit/miss. In my location and experience, mostly miss. Yup, deals do pop up but even when they do, it's not a sure thing to be able to snag it, because it's the deals that breaks the sellers phone and the deals might not even be the exact thing you were looking for. So as I said, if you're looking for something specific, are not patient (like years, maybe decades), then go eBay and be prepared to pay market price.

It's also much easier to not get frustrated with any e-bay prices while you already own and listen to a nice box.
But if you DON"T own one, it's not fun to see you can't afford anything being offered.

Well, virtually all of us collectors are ordinary folks of normal means, I don't know any rich collectors and we've all been frustrated before. Some have been in search for that specific box in their wish list for years, and some, forever without success. Complaining about it and calling sellers greedy names isn't going to get you anywhere. Some of the boomboxes out of your reach might actually be being sold by members here. Not like these things are manufactured anymore. But I'll tell you something, if you search for months with many examples being offered for sale (and maybe trading hands) and none of those sales involves you..... I'd say that you are a bargain seeker (nothing wrong with that) and either need to have the patience I mentioned in seeking deals, or increase the amount you are willing to pay. Like it or not, that's just the reality.

.............but won't give my hard earned money away to greed.
Someone honest and helpful will show up I'm sure. .......

It's not only YOUR money that is hard earned. I guess all the rest of us unmotivated to sell you a box for the price you want is greedy or dishonest.

 

[Coast Steve]

I'm not about to waste any more time here having a "computer contest" with anyone.
That's not why I joined.

And I'm also not calling collectors greedy.
If anyone thinks a seller that's asking these prices upwards of 10K for a boom box isn't GREEDY? ....Well sorry I don't agree.

Like I said earlier, I have NO problem paying a decent dollar.

 

[doity]

Let’s be honest here shall we folks. His offer of $900 for a mediocre but nice looking Sharp Boombox is not him trying to get over on someone. That is a lot of jack and like he said earlier he should get a darn near pristine example for that kind of money. I think for anything above $1000 there are only a couple boxes at the most that warrant that kind of price in the best of circumstances. Remember, this is supposed to be a fun hobby and we all should approach it as one.

 

[Coast Steve]

Thank you for that doity, I also assumed near $900 was fair.
I might pay more, but like anyone, It's nice to see a deal sometimes.


But, Like you say, keeping it fun should be the plan.
I thought that's why I joined up here.

 

[Superduper]

Never said your $900 offer wasn't fair, READ the response to your post carefully. I said it could go either way. But as a reminder, in that same post, it was YOUR own words that immediately stated the seller was on glue. Why? Because he regarded his box as worth more than the $900 you were willing to pay? How do you know he wouldn't have accepted $950 and does that make it no longer reasonable and make him greedy? Nobody is twisting your words around. Remember, you played that offer game yourself then got ticked off because another buyer out gamed you by scoring that same box for $745. As for the $10k gold plated lasonic, I never even bothered to discuss that because that auction isn't even worth discussing and I certainly didn't defend it. You did say that $10k seller was on glue, but to be clear, you also separately said that also about the 777 you offered on as well.

As for what's reasonable and what is not, the 777 that you offered on looks to be a straight auction form a zero feedback seller. You wanted him to give you a BIN price, but he has no idea what it would go for, so of course he's going to shoot for the moon. Then you basically didn't even bother to participate in the bidding because if you didn't win it, and was willing to go higher, then you obviously didn't bid your best shot. That's a buyer strategy problem, not a seller problem. But that's from a zero feedback seller. It's for sure going to sell for less than something from a seller with decent sales history.

By comparison, one just sold a couple weeks ago with BIN for around $1k, and it NO it was not minty. Had a non-original knob and had a HOLE in the back cover. Would you have purchased that one? No?

How about the $1150 one that sold 3 weeks ago from a seller with 83% fb rating. It did get 14 bids and the bidders all look legitimate since every bid above $720 had FB in the hundreds, not zero or near zero. If you bid on and won this one, you could've gotten it delivered in USA for about $1300 with shipping. Probably a few more dollars to Canada even. No, it was not mint.

Bottom line, you might be close in price and maybe just need some better strategy, or perhaps come up just a little bit more. But one thing is for certain, complaining about sellers and pricing isn't going to get you the boombox you want, and being runner up or close in the bidding process, is well, still not going to get you the box you want. I'm not for buyers and I'm not for sellers. But if a seller could get $999 or $1150 (or more) from a willing buyer, and you are only willing to go $909, I think I'm gonna take the $999 or $1150.

@doity: You think that anything above $1000 should be pristine. Ok, fair enough, but do you have any examples you can share of recent mainstream sales to support that opinion?

 

[doity]

Superduper, truthfully I don’t follow a lot on EBay. I really have enough A/V equipment to last the rest of my life but I do occasionally look at the auctions yes. I see some boomers go for probably a lot less than they should and a lot more go for crazy money and shake my head. I guess if people are crazy enough to pay that on occasion that is fine, but we who know better shouldn’t feel that equates to the real value of the box. Maybe in the case of Coast Steve the seller could had made a counter offer. God knows that there is no shortage of those GF-777’s out there.

 

[Superduper]

Doity; well see that's the thing. In a perfect world, forget $1000, I would say $200 is what they should go for right? But in the case of Coast Steve, unless I have him mistaken with somebody else, he has stated in other threads that he does not have a lot of patience and voiced frustration at not successfully buying the box of his choice, in top condition, for the amount of money he wanted to spend. I'm just giving him the realities of where the market is. We do him no favors by telling him that fully working minty GF-777 should cost $1000 tops and anything higher than that is greed if that's not where the market is. In fact, you said yourself that there's no shortage of 777's for sale which is true. The fact that with all those for sale, that he can't find one in satisfactory condition (to him) for what he wants to pay basically confirms that his price is under current market price. He's already reached out to other members to offer him something and I think he only got one offer (needing AM radio work). Oh and this is the terms of his thread 2 weeks ago:

I think I'm a bit out of luck on this forum for finding a super clean boom box.
I've only had one offered to me.

So, this is my last try at getting something really nice.
I can't take the small box I have here in that big room anymore, It just doesn't have the power. ...And it's frustrating

I would LOVE to buy a super clean Sharp GF 777
And lastly a JVC RC-m90

I know the M90 is a better box, but I love the look of the Sharps.

I could pay how ever you like, But the unit must be SUPER clean original or restored please.
I'll give this one last try on the forum.

I kind of enjoy this forum too, and would like to stick around.
Hoping an honest longtime collector can let something go to me.

Thanks, Steve

I've already spent time to do the research, not guessing, not opinion, but simply sales facts. I didn't even bother to list the $3500 777 that was supposedly sold on 10-29-18 because of the low feedback rating of seller and it's outlier price: [ebay]142815388995[/ebay]. Bottom line is that $900 might not be a low offer but it's not necessarily a top offer either based on recent sales of complete working ones that aren't even mint. How do I tell him that a very nice (but not mint) M90 I sold 6 or 7 years ago sold for around $4500? And you know what? The guy was a really nice person, had the money, and was very happy with his purchase, even contacted me years later to tell me so. Do they all sell for that price? No, but a second M90 I sold, not as complete (carton & accessories) sold for $2600 less than a year later. So while I have no idea how much the next M90 I sell will go for since markets change all the time, I am hopeful as a seller who's invested lots of time, blood, sweat and dollars into my collection to recover as much as I possibly can. In the end, I'll probably only break even because while some boxes have appreciated, many have depreciated due to lower collecting activity of non-top boxes.

Now that doesn't mean that tomorrow someone might luck out and snag a minty one for $500 BIN, but today, these are the recent sales. And for what it's worth, the prices probably will increase even more for the next few months, especially around tax time as people are flush with tax refund cash. Happens every year.

 

[doity]

Well if in fact that was him posting that you do have a point somewhat. I mean he/they should not expect to just show up and ask for someone to sell them something in particular and give preconditions that if he couldn’t get it that he might not stick around too long. I guess my point is maybe it would be better to just encourage the person and say stick around and you never know what will pop up.

I know it is frustrating trying to find a particular piece, but really that is half the fun. I spent a good 15 years looking for a RF-9000 and another good 10 years looking for a particular Marantz cassette deck. To me they were like some kind of wild elusive beast, only available as a picture in a magazine somewhere.

And if you are still reading Steve don’t worry you will get your box somewhere down the line. In the meantime enjoy the hunt!


Update:

Superduper, OK I went back and looked at his posts and he does seem a bit in a hurry to get his grail box. Steve, in the spirit of trying to help you out this box is available in the Seattle area and looks clean. It might be a great start until you can get the Sharp?


https://seattle.craigslist.org/tac/ele/d/tacoma-classic-boombox-jvc-rc-m70/6778664791.html

 

[Coast Steve]

Thanks doity, I only have so much to spend, and want it to go to a GF-777 or M90. I am not looking to build up a big collection at this time either, so just one box is good.
Thank you for the link in Seattle though.

 

[Coast Steve]

Spent all last night looking online and E-bay for a nice box and no luck. Wow, there are some super looking boxes in Russia.
So very far away from what I could spend though.
It's amazing they have so many but always seem to have the same ones to sell.

One would think that if they're not selling the price would come down to reality a little.

 

[Mystic Traveller]

Wow, there are some super looking boxes in Russia.

Yep, there are some minty ones but prices are stupid, for me at least..

 

[Transistorized]

I'm glad this listing has a Buy it Now option. I'm sure folks are hovering their mouse pointer over that in fear of someone pulling the rug out from underneath them

 

[Norm1968]

😮 what a bargain.... 😂

 

[Transistorized]

Free shipping!

 

[Norm1968]

Free shipping.... its got to be a great deal right?
I bet the stickers add so much more value. NO. I saw these boxes for sale brand new in my teen age and there were no stikers. Flashy advertisement was on cheap boxes that didn’t have much to offer to get people’s attention.

 

[nikonfoo]

This post is a waist of time
Feeling grumpy now
Just waisted time reading it
At least some attempted to put in a laugh
Please make a place for for rants & raves
so I know not to go there

 

[Reli]

Are those decals real, or replicated?
I've seen many boxes on Ebay with replicated decals and labels......And sometimes the seller "forgets" to mention this.