Re: apple ii for $2138.00 on ebay...am i missing something here?

["Michael J. Mahon" <mjmahon@aol.com>]

Paul G. wrote:
> On Jun 7, 4:28 pm, "Michael J. Mahon" <mjma...@aol.com> wrote:
>
> > A good idea--the average selling price is bound to be rising as the
> > number of collectors increases and the number of available systems
> > does not.  ;-)
>
>
> I'm always scrounging electronic/computer junk to play with, and used
> to see a lot of Apple II stuff. First it was the full size models. I
> remember seeing an 8' table piled high with them at one point. I
> remember passing up an original Apple II, I just didn't have room for
> another. I sure regret that now. Also boxes of software and peripheral
> stuff. Then it was IIc's and IIgs's. Now I rarely see anything Apple
> II-related.

The "market" was pretty much flooded in the last decade as schools
replaced Apple II's left and right with more modern machines, or
as they were clearing warehouses of previously replaced Apple IIs.

Since that "pulse" is essentially over, we're now in the "garage
sale/estate sale" era of the Apple II, which unearths machines at
a lower rate, but often with more interesting confifurations than
found in school machines.  The "supply" is at a lower, but more
constant rate, leading to moderately higher average prices.

Recent activity indicates that a third "collector trading" phase is
beginning.  As the rate of machines entering the market eventually
declines, more sales will be collectors/speculators trading among
themselves, with prices gravitating to higher average levels.

This third phase of the used Apple II market will develop quite
slowly, however, because of the still huge number of machines in
the hands of non-collectors, many of which will enter the "estate
sale" category over the next couple of decades.  ;-(

It's only when the number of systems "entering" the market drops
to a trickle that the collectors will be the predominant force in
the market.  Some rarer systems, like Apple I's, are already in
that phase, and low-serial Apple II's may be entering it.

-michael

NadaNet file server for Apple II computers!
Home page:  http://members.aol.com/MJMahon/

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