These later posts are kinda making my point for me in that the actual price is going up and will continue too, for both pre-50 or post-50 TV's. The problem is in the last few months on ebay whether its new policies, fewer seller, whatever, I don't know, you aren't getting the $$ you used to out of most items. You will always get $$ for rare and quality, that is a given. As a seller my viewpoint is things are just too unpredictable to think you have gotten the most you could out of any specific item. Maybe the Sentinel and Admiral would have gone for even more. Look on Ebay now, if someone wants a true Vintage TV before 1960 how many do they have to choose from? There are 350 million people in the country and another 6 Billion in the world that potentially could want it. Prices will keep going up regardless of almost any outside factor because of this basic comparison and that there will always be fewer of them to choose from.

By the way I sell Coffee Makers on Ebay, nothing related to this site. I'm not a flipper!!!

The point I was trying to make is that there have been some sets very recently that have sold for far more than normal. There was even an empty (!!!) Motorola VT71 that sold for over $300 IIRC not too long ago. The knobs were glued to the cabinet and it was covered in polyurethane.

I think that the death of analog broadcasts plus all the posts and pictures at this site and others plus youtube have driven the prices up in a very erratic manner. I bet that some bidders only care about the "look" of the set or maybe it's for some movie stidio production set. No interest in restoring the set. My concern is that there will be little distinction between properly restored sets, historically significant sets and "cool" looking sets.

It can take quite a bit of money, skill and effort to get on of these sets working properly. When a set that's clearly non-functional sell for premium $$, I have to wonder what's going on.

I don't necessarily agree that the supply vs demand model doesn't work for eBay. I think it does. Demand is down (economy, ebay sucks, whatever) so supply is fairly fat, and the prices (for the most part) are declining. That being said, eBay is difficult to forecast using economic models, primarily due to the fact that one nitwit with more money than sense can significantly skew the analysis. And this same fact is why I argue with sellers I deal with who try to use the "Well, this widget goes for $300 on eBay". I usually counter with, "Then perhaps you should sell it on eBay; me and my 50 bucks will look elsewhere."
Just because one desperate person paid an unreasonable amount for some item does not mean that all of the remaining like-items are now worth the same amount (unless that same desperate person needs many more of the same item and has money to burn).

I, too, have noticed that the amount of stuff for sale on ebay in the radio, phonograph, and TV categories seems to be going down. I think much of that has to do with sellers bailing out because of ebay's new policies. I've also noticed that much of what is listed is offered at an insane price. I think part of that is due to a bad economy and clueless sellers are desperate and are hoping that some moneybags sucker will come along and make them rich.

For me, I no longer sell on ebay due to their crazy policies that have been put into place over the last year or two. In fact, I closed my original ebay accoung when they made the "paypal only" rule and I let them know why I was closing my account. And, the fact that I could no longer leave negative feedback for a buyer didn't make me happy, either.

About 8 months ago, I opened a new ebay account for the purpose of buying and I only deal with buyers who will accept my check or MO. The ones who will not accept such payments don't need my business, anyway. I try, as much as possible, to find things locally or from other collectors, etc; but, there are still some items of interest that only seem to show up on ebay.

Hmmmm, 15 grand + for that set.... Guess my hopes for finding a TS-905 for less than six figures are getting a bit dimmer! I wonder if a kidney or a cornea would be acceptable trade?:thmbsp:

Without getting into a bunch of stories, through personal experience I suspect sellers are dropping off of eBay because they basically have no recourse against a non-paying seller and 10% of the selling price is a lot to lose or have held up for weeks on end.

Then there's the seller who pays and claims you misrepresented the item - before you know it Paypal is holding money in your bank account hostage until you "resolve" the extortion.

And what recourse have you against these types? Ever e-mailed your concerns to eBay or Paypal? I hope you like one-line form letter responses.