Hi Michael,
I'm afraid you are right. There are scammers everywhere. When I see words
like "I don't know how to use it", I assume its broken and bid accordingly.
I sell a LOT of stuff on eBay, some of it I can't test and sell as is.
Sometimes all I can do is plug it in and look for smoke and report that it
did not smoke, if that is all I know about it . . . In the case of a recent
CB radio I sold, I didn't even power it up . . . and said so. I did say that
I had no reason to believe it did not work and that it came from an estate
sale. I saw no obviously smoked or burned parts and described any physical
damage and took several pictures. After that, it is buyer beware . . . I
also priced it cheap . . . $4.
In another case, I was selling an HP-01 1975 vintage digital calculator
watch. This one worked great and had an extra watch band, the book, original
box, etc. It went for $2300 . . . ! ! Before I put it up for sale, I
looked at previous HP-01 auctions and noted one that eventually sold for
about $400. The seller claimed he did not know if it worked or not and said
the battery was dead so he could not test it . . . I investigated further
and found that that very seller had just a few weeks before that purchased a
known dead HP-01 for about $200. I further found out that he had purchased a
couple of known working HP-01's for about $1200-$1500. I can't believe he
could not install a battery and see if it worked or not . . . he had
batteries in the other two HP-01's and they are available where ever watch
batteries are sold . . . He certainly knew how much a "good" HP-01 was worth
. . . My opinion: he was fraudulant in his presentation and knew EXACTLY
what he was doing . . . The buyer was Japanese . . . with little or no
recourse . . . I notified eBay of my observations and never heard a word
about it from anyone . . . including eBay.
Buyer beware . . .
Stan
w7ni@...
More comments below . . .
Michael Dunn wrote:
Is anyone else suspicious of some of the auctions on eBay. In one
auction, the seller says he doesn't know how to use it, so therefore
can't guarantee it (a 5L14 analyzer), yet has pictures of it in full
operation. Another of his auctions for a storage mainframe - he says
he doesn't know how to use the storage... Gimme a break.
In the case of the 5L14N, it is one of the hardest instruments to use that I
have ever encountered . . . and I used to sell them as a Tektronix Sales
Engineer from 1979-1989, specializing in Tek Spectrum Analyzers . . .
I expect some people might do this to cover up a non-working
function, instead of just coming out and saying (e.g.) "Storage
doesn't work"!
Comments?
p.s., Are 5000 and 7000 plug ins compatible?
NO.
For example, my 7S14
has a sticker on it that says 5S14 too.
I wonder what that is all about . . . ?? Just a quick look will tell you
that a 5000 Series plugin will not fit a 7000 series mainframe and vice-versa
and they are not electrically compatible, either.
Stan
w7ni@...
