What the bleedin' 'ell has happened to pricing?!?!?!

[ubermick]

A few years ago, I did a very silly thing - I sold my A1200.

DON'T JUDGE. The missus and I had a kid on the way, bills had to be paid, and sacrifices were made. (Though looking back, all those financial sacrifices were made on my side. Hmmm...)

Anyways. After the usual hiatus, I'd bought said A1200 in 2012. A lovely PAL machine via Amibay, the cost of which was $160 or so in American money, and that included shipping from Germany, and he even had a US 110v power supply! A year later, I picked up an 030 accelerator for about the same price.

Sold it in 2015 for $500. That included a CF hard drive, external floppy, joysticks, monitor, and scandoubler/flicker fixer. I didn't make money on it, I didn't want to - it went to a fellow user, who openly wept when he saw it, and gave me a hug that went on a weeee bit too long.

That was then, this is now. My daughter's almost four, medical nonsense is in the past, and I have oft thought of that A1200. (Ironically, the fella who sold it put it up for sale six months later, saying he didn't use it.) So last week I thought "I've got a few quid in the Paypal account the wife doesn't know about, maybe I'll have a sniff around and see what's what."

AND I SORT OF WISH I DIDN'T!!! A1200s seem to be thin on the ground, but the ones I do see have people asking for £250+/€300. And that's before shipping which seems to whack another 50% on top of that! I realize people don't have control over what freight companies and the post office charges, but... all told I'm looking at $400 or more to get an Amiga of questionable quality. (Most seem to be "had it in the attic for the last 15 years, plugged it in and the light came on, so I assume it's fine!") On top of that I have to go hunting for a power supply that works over in America which is another $100 according to @#$@# ebay.

What's happened?!?!? Has shipping truly gone to the dogs? Has the supply of A1200s completely dried up to the point where they're now a rare commodity? I even thought about going for an Rev6 or 8 A500, but even they seem to be loopy (at least ones that have been plugged in and tested properly). Is it just a naff time of year to be looking? Or did I get a ridiculous deal 6 (!) years ago that has me out of touch with reality?

[ajk]

Well, the number of A1200 systems out there probably hasn't diminished by much in three years but it certainly hasn't grown, either. There are simply more people looking for one now, the "retro scene" keeps growing.

Instead of $100-$200 for a basic system you may indeed be looking at $200-$300 if you want one right now. But there are still often better deals to be had on less popular sales platforms, or if you are patient.

A power supply can be made out of standard industry parts - it's just +5/+12/-12 volts - unless you want an original one for cosmetic reasons.

[nexus]

retro is hot this is happening across the board
all retro computers/consoles etc have gone up a lot
many collectors and users gamers its a supply demand issue increasing prices
youtubers also helped spread the word and made everything sky rocket

eg a youtuber shows off some old forgotten tech etc then right after all the viewers go hunting
how a lot make money cause they watch them then increase there prices

also when like you said your friend sold it 6 months later thats what a lot do but thing is none sell it for less they always mark up the price from the last price on ebay sold etc
rinse repeat and its ridiculous
eg phase 5 cyberstorm ppc has went up about $1k just in a year
they sell over $2k now and ofc no warranty always as is

[ubermick]

Yeah, understand that things go up I suppose, and people don't want to lose money. Just flabbergasted at the rate, though especially the sharks on places like ebay. There's an A1200 on there now, no power supply, mouse, anything beyond an "I plugged it in with another power supply and it worked, but can't guarantee it" and he wants $550 with shipping. And it's yellower than a canary in a sunflower field.

(That said, if anyone can get a PAL A1200 to me for about $250...)

[Amiga4000]

Well, about 6 years ago that's about what one would expect to pay for those items... 3 years ago you sold them at a reasonable price considering it was a friend.

Even from 3 years ago I have watched the prices go up steadily and I would guess that for a couple of years I could see that this trend was not going to level off as all models and even parts became more scarce and increased in price.

For the last 2 years I kind of went on a buying binge scooping up what was left of the quality stuff (still boxed and mint condish) of only what I needed to put all my units in perfect order. It took time to get the good stuff without sacrificing a gonad. I'm talking quit a lot of stuff. And I still need just one more A500 keyboard and proper trap door ram expansion - A501 and I can't get them! Yea, I know there's the homemade stuff and DIY.

But for the love of pumpkins! In the last 6 months parts and units have dried up completely and what's out there is dog poop. I mean these sellers won't even wipe the poop off for a picture anymore! And sell "as is" - broken, burnt, cracked crap! There was one guy left that had/sold a lot of quality units and parts at great prices named "Space Invaders" in the UK. Now, he's got nothin! You can't even get anything from Airy36 anymore either! And when he has a keyboard (or A1200 MB) for ANY unit it's bought in a second! Someone(s) out there is buying up everything and it's not even the quality stuff.

All I can say is "Man, am I ever glad I saw the this coming!" I have nearly anything and everything a guy could want for any model Amiga. Accelerators, RAM, RTG cards, etc... It all wasn't cheap but a lot cheaper than today! I have enough stuff to keep me busy having Amiga fun for about 10 years! LOL And I don't even have that much! I am NO hoarder!

I would say that your best bet anymore is to get on board with the "NEW" MB's, Cases, Accelerators that are being produced these days. Or play the waiting game! It's CRAZY out there in Amiga land!

BTW, "ALL" retro is going for mad money these days. I have nearly everything I bought even from 30 years ago, all maintained. DOS, WIN, 68K Macs, 6502, 486, 1st gen Pentium stuff.. software all mint in the box - the GOOD STUFF. Peeps are paying a fortune this stuff now! I'm not greedy but, I don't dare give anything away as it will just end up on GreedBay!

Good luck my friend!

[nobody]

This is what i was discussing the other day with a friend. That before 10 years i remember seeing A500s for 50 euros and A1200s for around 150 due to being whdload capable. I bought a spare kb for A500 for 10 euros or so, and now IF it exists it goes 50?

Now the prices are A500 150-180 euros and A1200 300 minimum. We don't want to discuss the prices of phase5 (real) accelerators.

[Jope]

Peak commdore is peaking! But it will go down again after everyone gets theirs.

[nobody]

Just to give an idea, i bought an Atari 1040 STE with 4 mb RAM (rare) in 2008 for 80 euros or so. Sold long ago for about the same price due to being inferior to the A500 i already had and no space. Too bad i didn't keep it to sell 300 now. Sold a Spectrum 48k+ for pocket money too lol.

[Bruce Abbott]

Originally Posted by ubermick

A few years ago, I did a very silly thing - I sold my A1200.

Yes that was very silly, but you are not the only one. 4 years ago I had to declutter while moving house. I threw away two CD32s and an A600 with 68030 accelerator, because "the Amiga scene is dead and nobody wants this old junk". Previously I had thrown away my CPC664 and Sega SC3000, both of which are now rare and collectable.

all told I'm looking at $400 or more to get an Amiga of questionable quality. (Most seem to be "had it in the attic for the last 15 years, plugged it in and the light came on, so I assume it's fine!")

Questionable perhaps, but almost all the retro computers I bought off eBay worked fine, and the couple that didn't were repairable. Even dead machines are worth money, either to those who can fix them or just for spare parts. Never throw away retro computing stuff! It will only get more valuable in the future.

What's happened?!?!? Has shipping truly gone to the dogs? Has the supply of A1200s completely dried up to the point where they're now a rare commodity?

International shipping is expensive, but charges can vary widely depending on the carrier, country of origin etc. (USA is the worst for me).

There are currently several A1200s going on eBay for ~200GBP. If you think that's too expensive then think about how much you would have to pay for a new A1200 if they were still available. I consider the price they were back in the 1990's, and am happy to pay less than that now. But yes, A1200s are getting rarer and prices are going up - so get in now before it's too late.

I even thought about going for an Rev6 or 8 A500, but even they seem to be loopy (at least ones that have been plugged in and tested properly). Is it just a naff time of year to be looking? Or did I get a ridiculous deal 6 (!) years ago that has me out of touch with reality?

6 years ago the Amiga scene was dead. But there has been a revival and things are moving fast. Now we have cheap CF drives, thousands of freely downloadable titles, and new software and hardware in development - including the Vampire, which will (hopefully) soon turn any old A500 into the ultimate AGA Amiga!

Now is a great time to get an Amiga, and you shouldn't worry about the price. Unlike the next crappy PC you have to buy, the Amiga will increase in value the older it gets!

[demolition]

The reason prices has gone up is that many people did like you and sold off their stuff cheaply because it was 'junk taking up valuable space'. Today, more people think it is no longer junk, thus the prices go up. Nothing wrong with that except that you are allowed to hit yourself over the head for selling off your old stuff.

The Amiga (and many other old machines) is probably more popular now than it has ever been since its hayday.

[plasmab]

The price of CD32s has jumped somewhere between 2 and 3 times what it was 18 months ago due to expansions now being cheaply available.

[coder76]

Old PC desktop models ranging from 286 to Pentium MMX and Pentium Pro aren't cheap either, they usually cost several hundred USD. Prices start to go down with Pentium II, which you can get for less than 100 USD. But yeah, not as expensive as some Amiga stuff and 680x0 accelerator boards.

[alexh]

Save yourself a lot of money and get a Raspberry Pi 3+ and emulate A1200 You'll get 90% the experience for 20% the price.

In the UK there are lots of A1200's for sale around the $150-200. If you find one, contact someone here and they can assist with the best value shipping to USA.

There is a Recapped NTSC A1200 motherboard for sale on eBay now for $200 shipped. You'd need a $30 USB keyboard adapter and a $10 ATX PSU adapter and make your own case?

[Hedeon]

Originally Posted by Bruce Abbott

Yes that was very silly, but you are not the only one. 4 years ago I had to declutter while moving house. I threw away two CD32s and an A600 with 68030 accelerator, because "the Amiga scene is dead and nobody wants this old junk". Previously I had thrown away my CPC664 and Sega SC3000, both of which are now rare and collectable.

Don't feel bad. It's due to guys like you that they became rare in the first place.

[ajk]

The Amiga scene certainly wasn't dead or dying 4 or 6 years ago. There was a low point for Classic interest in the late 90s and early 00s when the last users of expanded systems either turned to next gen stuff or left the Amiga entirely. I bought a Blizzard 1260 for €100 around that time But since then interest in the systems and prices have steadily been rising.

[PortuguesePilot]

Inflation. Prices will drop in the future, inevitably. Just don't ask how long will it take, though... that's really up to the market. And before the prices drop, as systems begin to fail and die due to the inexorable effects of time, prices of those that do work will sky-rocket. The Amiga was a very significant machine in the 16bit days and an important part of the history of home computers overall. They will always have value because of that, but most of the value it still has is due to nostalgia. As amigans die, the high prices will die with them. The average age of an amigan is what? 43 years of age? So we still have a few years of inflation and market speculation to endure before the prices lower down to something fair.

Wanna invest in something cheap that will inevitably value over the next few years? Buy a grey, fully-working first gen (SCPH-5930 or lower) Sony Playstation. People are practically giving them away now, sometimes even trashing them (just like they did with Amigas circa 2000 or so), but soon you'll see them become expensive collector's items. You mark my words.

[nobody]

Forget about buying an A500 for 50€ again. These babies have become rare and they are useful now with all those accelerators around. The prices will go up until reaching some maximum that an average user is willing to pay, like 4 hundred for A1200 and they will stay there.

[alexh]

Originally Posted by nobody

Forget about buying an A500 for 50€ again

I can see lots sold for less than €50 tested working this week on UK eBay.

They made millions of them, only A500+ self destruct, I can't see them going up in value too much ever.

[KONEY]

because Amiga is getting cooler with new expansions and new software, therefore more expensive

[BrooksterMax]

Some good deals for retro gaming (amiga or otherwise) can be the collection only ones. I have driven 50-100 miles to collect things and get a better price as the market is limited to those that can collect.

Of course, you have to be lucky that something is available in your radius! or like me, sometimes extend it for something special!