Cheap Amigas

[CLXIV]

@aeberbach really jealous of that free A1200! I think Aussie schools may have been cooler than British schools because we never had Amigas - we had crappy BBC Micros and then Acorn Archimedes.

I was so impressed in my final year of primary school (so age 10-11) when our school got actual Windows 95 PCs :-D Computers that would actually display the letters you type as fast as you could type them!

Good advice though, appreciate it. I'll keep a really close eye on Gumtree, Preloved, Friday Ad, Shpock and maybe put out some wanted ads in Amiga forums.

[Marchie]

Originally Posted by CLXIV

@aeberbach really jealous of that free A1200! I think Aussie schools may have been cooler than British schools because we never had Amigas - we had crappy BBC Micros and then Acorn Archimedes.

Nah, we had BBC and Acorns at Aussie schools too. Boring garbage.

My high school did have one single A2000 in the art department though. They sold it soon after I started. I bought it, and still have it

[DamienD]

Born and bred in Caringbah / Dolans Bay / Lilli Pilli, Sydney... yup, don't actually remember seeing any Amigas whilst at school.

[sneckburger]

Originally Posted by CLXIV

@sneckburger Really good eBay advice here - appreciate it! The A1200 is an incredible machine and easily my most desired model (why do you own two by the way?), but the A500s are great too and will play most of what I want for a far lower price.

Why is the Escom one more sought after? Isn't it just lacking the C= and has a PC floppy drive instead of the proper one? I think I'd far prefer a Commodore personally.

I bought 2 because I've modified the first one to make it more useable (new A1200.net case etc..) and I wanted to keep one as standard untouched also the second one came with an original box. Good investment so far as it appears to be worth almost £100 more now than what I paid for it only a year ago.


The Escom ones (without the Commodore logo) are usually more expensive. These are newer machines and also seem to suffer less from yellowing also a fair bit rarer than the commodore ones.




Go for the A500 for the cheapest option. It won't be able to play the AGA games (maybe with a vampire card??) but there's plenty of other upgrades available for it.

[trixster]

People on here saying stuff on eBay is ‘overpriced’ - it’s not overpriced if it sells. Amiga’s and retro are popular, so sadly for someone wanting to buy one the price is rarely as low as they’d like.

[gimbal]

Indeed. eBay is not a shop, it's an auction house. There is no concept of a fair price.

[sneckburger]

Keep an eye out for new listings for buy it now, as mentioned already you need to check daily. Some people just want a quick no hassle sale and I got a working boxed A500 for £50 only a year ago this way.

[nogginthenog]

You can add a watch list on eBay. Might be an idea to add misspellings also! e.g. Amigo 1200.

[arcanist]

I got my A1200 in USA with the eBay watch list finding a Buy Now. It wasn't a great deal - $400 shipped with a 68030/40 - but about as good as expected nowadays.

If this one becomes irreparable I'd probably just stick to emulation and maybe Vampire standalone in the future. Perhaps a A1200 Reloaded if that project materializes.

[trixster]

The best prices come from Collection Only auctions. Filter for those and set a range limit.

[CLXIV]

Thanks to everyone for all the advice, much obliged!

Sure I'll be back here eventually when I get my hands on one and need some Retrobrite advice :-)

[alexh]

It really depends how long you can wait. Try new market places with less competition. Facebook market place for example, lots of older users (grandparents) selling items their kids left when they moved out they are now finding in their loft when they downsize with no ability to use eBay or other sites. Bid them rather than offer asking price. Have a chat to the attendants at your local dump. Leave them your number and a photo of the computer you're looking for.