You have got to be kidding me - c64 on ebay

[zack4mac]

Speaking of thrown away expensive stuff, today I saw at the dump a NOS 80s Peugeot race bike. Shimano 600 gears, truly sparkling, no sign of ever been used. Before I gave the chance to get it in the car, my friend "helpfully" tells the workers I want it... who then make sure to tell us thieves will be prosecuted, invisible CCTV cameras, blah blah...

So 150 euros goes to heaven. I am annoyed.

I have seen people throw items that are less than a year old and look better than what I have in my home! But should I be surprised, when I have known people who did not know that there is a fuse in a mains plug!

I had a neighbour who asked me to call because his light was not working? I was not being clever and I know its a silly question but without thinking, I asked him have you changed the light bulb? needles to say I dread to think how many brand new looking dysons or other equipment dumped! that could be of use to someone.

Crazy world

[exxos]

I've seen some cool stuff at the tip over the years... They say not even the workers are allowed to take stuff out of the skips.. I took a load of nice wood down which could have been useful to someone.. but nope, law says no... and yet government are trying to encourage recycling.. always a contradiction with law somewhere..

[KyleB]

that's why I don't ever ask. I just take it when they aren't looking, and I feel entirely justified in doing it. The sheer amount of waste going on there is a massive economic and environmental crime that's yet to be recognized by law. that versus the 50p of scrap metal I deprive them, well I sleep great at night. The kringloopwinkel 100m down the road gets loads from my skip diving exploits, and it all sells.

But I swear to god, I'm livid my mate grassed me up, even if by accident. In this world you get nothing from trying to ask jobsworths to bend the rules.

I actually used to work in a charity shop where a massive amount of stuff got chucked immediately for stupid reasons. I remember a Big fully loaded hi-fi system, nothing wrong with it, was chucked because the tester didn't know how to turn it from "tape" to "phono". I basically furnished my flat with stuff that I humpty dumptied back together again after those muppets had launched into a skip out of ignorance. The only donations to the BHF that actually see shop floor is settees.

If people had a brain and respected their possessions I suppose 90% of manufacturing would collapse overnight.

[mrbombermillzy]

I used to be a hardcore carbooter up to about 5 years ago. I picked up some great bargains over that time.

Once bloody ebay took off and we started getting this crazy bidding stupidity I stopped going, as it wasnt fun any more.

Along with everyone checking the boot sale stuff from their smartphones to buy something only to sell on ebay for profit, it got ridiculous and you now get house clearance vans with the sellers trying to get £80 for a VIC20 thats been sat on the grass in the morning dew for hours, having not a clue as to wether it originally worked or not.

And the next time I have someone tell me a C64 is worth a fortune as its old and rare (yeah, and STILL holding a record for the highest selling home computer of all time, so not really!) Im going to freak out.

Although to be fair, like in Africa where unscrupulous hunters shoot elephants for their ivory tusks, there are people pulling SID chips from perfectly working C64's to sell on.. guess where.

Hmm... that ebay is the root of all evil :/

Well, back to that slimed C64..
If someone can get £150 for a dead F030 mainboard, or £350 for a dead battery damaged Amiga 4000 board then £20-30 is ok for a grim flat C64!

[exxos]

Hmm... that ebay is the root of all evil :/

Agree 100%, they put me out of business 4 times! Ebay while it has been good in some respects, its caused chaos in its wake Online sales took off and put high-street stores out of business. Some shops moved onto ebay only to go out of business anyway, ebay soaks up all the profits. Ebay back in the day was flooded with deals, now its hyper inflated prices on everything. Not many sellers anymore..

While we can fall back to carboot sales, its pointless, as you say, people looking up prices on ebay as a reference. Sure people want to get as much money for their items, but no good deals anymore, so why bother going. Just something else ebay destroyed

[mrbombermillzy]

@Chris: Yep. We are nearly going out of business because of them a***holes

Well, only 3 more hours to go... Its already jumped to £26.

Someone must really love the 'skidded over' looks.

[mikro]

If someone can get £150 for a dead F030 mainboard

Actually, if you have a keen eye, you can make a very nice deal out of offers like this. I got a Falcon and Centurbo II for $200 CAD only because it was advertised as not functional, for parts only (and IIRC I got the link from facebook, so heaps of attention!)

To this day it's one of the most stable and professionally done CT2s I have ever seen (had to clean it up a little, yes but...) All I had to to was to solder one wire.

[mrbombermillzy]

@Mikro: Unfortunately, Im not great at soldering/mainboard repair.
I sometimes get bits like that and try to coerce my work colleague to fix them for me!
(Lucky I work in a place with reflow and SMT repair facilities).

Anyhow, shall we start some bets as to how much that C64 will end up selling for?

[PeteW]

Anyhow, shall we start some bets as to how much that C64 will end up selling for?

And the answer (that I can't quite believe) is £46 plus £6 postage!

[mrbombermillzy]

What the bloody hell happened there?!

I guess the world loves ripped jeans and Battlefield edition scuffed up XBoxes, so what the heck.