Those Russians

[lilo777]

I noticed one Russian dude on ebay who is selling quite a few high priced boomboxes which are in good shape and some are new (as in "not used"). Here is one example - Victor RC-525.

He also sells huge number of exotic cassettes at what looks to me like ridiculous prices. This one (admittedly, the most expensive one) costs $395 which is more than most boomboxes . I wonder who buys these cassettes and why? Are these special collector editions?

 

[Reli]

They have the advantage of getting stuff from Yahoo Japan at lower prices than we could get.

I'm not sure why he doesn't have a Best Offer option. Seems odd.

I wonder if there's a big Russian meet? They have some boxes we never see over here.

 

[caution]

$395 for a type-I cassette... sounds legit

 

[lilo777]

They have the advantage of getting stuff from Yahoo Japan at lower prices than we could get.

I'm not sure why he doesn't have a Best Offer option. Seems odd.

I wonder if there's a big Russian meet? They have some boxes we never see over here.

Some items might be from Japan indeed but some boomboxes are probably native to Russia (as in special models made for Russia) because they have 220V voltage and Russian FM range.

 

[stereomad]

The answer It's pure and simple.......GREED!

 

[ralrein1]

Yep,GREED! They are still relatively new to capitalism over there. As far as boxes being made for Russia,I'm not so sure about that. See back in the 70's & 80's Russia was the Soviet Union. A communist country and from what I understand they didn't allow their citizens the right to own capitalist,decadent items. So such things were not allowed from outside the iron curtain. They had their own state owned electronics factories in the workers paradise. I have heard of stories of sailors in the soviet Navy that would visit other countries while out on deployment. These sailors would purchase a Sony,National Panasonic or other western boombox. Then upon returning to mother Russia they had x number of days to give up to the "state" their "bugewagh" evil capitalist boombox and get a soviet made one. The power ratings you see are for or from other foreign nations. Most likely all of the countries around their southern border region. Like Singapore,Thailand,Japan and South Korea. Plus others like China,a different kind of communist nation,that believes in capitalism but not the rights of the individual,but I digress. Once the cassette tape and later on the CD fell out of vogue. These boomboxes that we all love so much were gathered up by the ten of thousands and sold in large batches(literally by the pallet)and sold to Russia and other emerging markets. Amongst all those boomers there were(are) sure to be some mint examples left over from the good old days................end of line.

 

[lilo777]

OK, good. I am not the only one who is puzzled by that. BTW, this guy is not alone in selling rare tapes at these prices. Here is another example (from Portugal). Price - $180 and three people watching this item. It must be for some sort of collections (and not for recording).

 

[Reli]

OK, good. I am not the only one who is puzzled by that. BTW, this guy is not alone in selling rare tapes at these prices. Here is another example (from Portugal). Price - $180 and three people watching this item. It must be for some sort of collections (and not for recording).

That tape is very collectible. But usually only sells for half that much.

 

[toshik]

By the time you pay shipping and risk the damage in transit it's not worth it. Got one RX-7200 from Russia a few years back - broken case and nobody to blame...

 

[lilo777]

Yep,GREED! They are still relatively new to capitalism over there. As far as boxes being made for Russia,I'm not so sure about that. See back in the 70's & 80's Russia was the Soviet Union. A communist country and from what I understand they didn't allow their citizens the right to own capitalist,decadent items. So such things were not allowed from outside the iron curtain. They had their own state owned electronics factories in the workers paradise. I have heard of stories of sailors in the soviet Navy that would visit other countries while out on deployment. These sailors would purchase a Sony,National Panasonic or other western boombox. Then upon returning to mother Russia they had x number of days to give up to the "state" their "bugewagh" evil capitalist boombox and get a soviet made one. The power ratings you see are for or from other foreign nations. Most likely all of the countries around their southern border region. Like Singapore,Thailand,Japan and South Korea. Plus others like China,a different kind of communist nation,that believes in capitalism but not the rights of the individual,but I digress. Once the cassette tape and later on the CD fell out of vogue. These boomboxes that we all love so much were gathered up by the ten of thousands and sold in large batches(literally by the pallet)and sold to Russia and other emerging markets. Amongst all those boomers there were(are) sure to be some mint examples left over from the good old days................end of line.

As someone who grew up in USSR, I can assure you that this is not correct. In the 80s, I had Sharp 777z. This was not normal though. USSR was short on foreign currency and spent it on critical things (equipment, medicine etc.) But sailors and those who traveled abroad could and did bring electronics. Nobody took it away from them. Because foreign electronics was rare and expensive those who had it took very good care of it. So I am not surprised to see quite a few boomboxes on eBay in good condition offered from former USSR (not just by this particular seller) but these rare cassettes is something different. They might be a resale from Japan.

One more observation about boomboxes in Russia. Timing wise, boomboxes became a "thing" in 70s and 80s. Those who were in their teen age (and early 20s) at this time happened to be in their most active business/career years when USSR broke up. This is the generation that produced most of the Russian oligarchs.
Unlike most of the western businessmen these people grew up poor and most could not afford a decent electronics. Some of them are compensating for this now. Collecting boomboxes has become popular in Russia and some folks managed to build very impressive collections.

 

[ralrein1]

Right everybody had Sharp GF-777's,a boombox that cost between $600.00 and $700.00 some odd U.S. dollars. Back in the Soviet Union. I don't know what I'm talking about. Perhaps things started to mellow behind the iron curtain when M.Gorbachev became the Soviet Premiere. Prior to him though things were not easy to get(various unsundry item)for the average Russian. I know this because I had a school teacher in 1982 who had family in St.Petersburg and he traveled there regularly.Western items were very hard to get and these things were frowned upon by the communist government. For instance you couldn't get Levis jeans there. So when he went to visit he would bring in a half dozen or so pairs of Levis 501's. With him and sell them for a tidy profit to his friends there,because they could not get such things like western(esp.American)clothes and radios for that matter.Also had friends of friends in eastern Germany before the wall fell. The Soviets wouldn't allow western radios there because then the locals could hear of real freedom and western decadence. When you look at Soviet made boomboxes their radio don't receive or run on our frequencies for that very reason. Don't believe me go on eBay,there are several Soviet factory boomboxes,you'll see. Now with regards to the overpriced cassette. These are very rare,most haven't been manufactured now for like what?Fifteen or so years now? Rare things that are few and far between become very expencise,for that very reason,because there ain't many left on the planet. Now with regards to greedy Russians, yeah there are greedy Russians. Just like there are greedy Americans or Canadians or any other human being on the planet. There are greedy people and there are not greedy people. The ones that aren't usually put an "or best offer" on their sales add.................end of line.☺☺☺☺☺

 

[lilo777]

Right everybody had Sharp GF-777's,a boombox that cost between $600.00 and $700.00 some odd U.S. dollars. Back in the Soviet Union. I don't know what I'm talking about. Perhaps things started to mellow behind the iron curtain when M.Gorbachev became the Soviet Premiere. Prior to him though things were not easy to get(various unsundry item)for the average Russian. I know this because I had a school teacher in 1982 who had family in St.Petersburg and he traveled there regularly.Western items were very hard to get and these things were frowned upon by the communist government. For instance you couldn't get Levis jeans there. So when he went to visit he would bring in a half dozen or so pairs of Levis 501's. With him and sell them for a tidy profit to his friends there,because they could not get such things like western(esp.American)clothes and radios for that matter.Also had friends of friends in eastern Germany before the wall fell. The Soviets wouldn't allow western radios there because then the locals could hear of real freedom and western decadence. When you look at Soviet made boomboxes their radio don't receive or run on our frequencies for that very reason. Don't believe me go on eBay,there are several Soviet factory boomboxes,you'll see. Now with regards to the overpriced cassette. These are very rare,most haven't been manufactured now for like what?Fifteen or so years now? Rare things that are few and far between become very expencise,for that very reason,because there ain't many left on the planet. Now with regards to greedy Russians, yeah there are greedy Russians. Just like there are greedy Americans or Canadians or any other human being on the planet. There are greedy people and there are not greedy people. The ones that aren't usually put an "or best offer" on their sales add.................end of line.☺☺☺☺☺

As I said, owning a thing like Sharp 777z was very rare in USSR. But thi specific unit was brought to USSR quite officially as a result of barter trade between Russian timber company and some Japan partners. It cost my parents a lot (about a typical annual income for an engineer). But this was not as bad as it sounds because of the deficits. People generally had more money than they could spend on quality goods.

And yes in general western consumer goods were hard to come by. But they were not confiscated at the border. USSR had different FM range but that's not something that was ever used for cross-border propaganda anyways. Russian short wave radios were able to receive station like Voice Of America (very few listened to it though). The easier way to deal with this for the government was to run radio interference against specific stations (which they did).

 

[toshik]

In general I'd stay away from the Soviet examples. They were just ran to the ground due to absence of normal service and no original parts supply. Those poor devices were often repaired using Soviet parts which did not fit or meet any other requirements.

 

[ralrein1]

I see sir. Well I guess I learn something new everyday.☺