This guy's smokin crack!
 

I really want this, but even the instantly declined $100 offer I shot him is just too much. What is it with people? These stupid TV shows that hyper inflate prices are really starting to irk me, like Pawn Stars? Now everyone thinks they're sitting on a goldmine. :no:

http://cgi.ebay.com/1950s-RCA-Televi...item19c15d39a7

i guess he will sit on it forever unless someone who doesn't care and can spend goes for it , what i don't get is people who list things at a certain prive more then 2 times and do not drop the price , they just keep giving money to ebay and making none in return

mike

but it comes with an incandescence bulb and those are about to be as rare as these old sets

just remember if you bought it you would find one in a yardsale next week for $5

I am not sure where Grand Blanc is in Michigan but man it must be a high dollar town I bet the box is worth a hundred itself especially if it has a shipping label I bet he can get $6.00 for the shipping label alone. I wonder if the original oxygen in the box is worth something?

Hes had six offers on it so far,who knows he may find someone with deep pockets.
I hear Tiger Woods has decided to focus his energys on collecting television and radio memorabilia since it's cheaper than taking care of 20 women!:D:D

I agree. They watch these shows, get their hands on a price guide, stumble upon some super inflated price on the internet; and, all of a sudden, they are an "expert". The ones that really irritate me are those CL sellers who think a '60's or '70's solid state particleboard and plastic console stereo is worth hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars. One woman got real PO'ed at me when I sent her an email, telling her that her CL Admiral solid state console would be worth, on a good day, $25 instead of the $1200 she was asking.

And, I also become irritated with ebay sellers who constantly relist the same item for months, or years, at the same inflated price. I've even seen some ebay sellers who would actually raise the price when their item didn't sell. There's a 16" rek-o-kut broadcast turntable on ebay right now for something like $1700. Instead of lowering the price, he just keeps relisting it. I guess he thinks some moneybags will come along and pay what he wants.

whats even funnier is the garage sale seller with a ebay printout showing what the item sold for recently and wants that.the stuff they cant pin a number on they will practicly give away.
bought a dynaco st70 for $10 right next to a 90's yamaha bpc unit they wanted $300 for.and some 20 something guy dressed like a thug drooling over the yamaha!looked at me wierd when i bought the dynaco and took it directly to the truck before shopping further.

That is so true these days - I picked up a TV-7D/U (working, I might add) from a yard sale that also had a bunch of computer stuff. I passed on the computer stuff immediately and went straight for the tube checker. The seller's wife commented that she'd better raise the price on the rest of the stuff if stuff sold so quickly...10 bucks for an old parallel port Zip drive, no thanks, but hey, great deal on my $4 TV-7....

Cheers,

Lighted TV signs have been going for good prices recently. I think he may get close to $350 for it.

I've passed on a few I wanted because they did get that high.

Maybe an nice double sided outdoor sign like this one: http://milwaukee.craigslist.org/ele/2173973476.html

But not some cheap cardboard, wood framed, 60-watt lightbulb lit sign like the one he's selling.

FWIW, here's my question to him:

Hi,

You're way out in left field with the price on this RCA sign, but I still want it. Would you be willing to make a trade+cash? I have a vintage Coca Cola metal cooler to offer. I'm thinking the cooler+$50?

And his response:

Maybe I am out in left field? I don't know that for sure unless you can show me where someone else has one that is in the same condition for a much lower price. Please direct me to their item so I can see for myself. For the time being, I'm sticking to the price. I appreciate your offer but I am going to have to pass on it.

So in other words, it's just like kc8adu said- somewhere along the line, this guy saw some highly collectable sign go for $500 and thought they were all valuable. No harm in trying to sell this one for $350 he figures. Riiiight...

It might get that if it had a clock in it.

For $350? You know, I think we in the collecting biz are partly to blame for stuff like this. After all, why blast the seller if dopes like us will shell out that kind of cash for it? I mean really, it's a cheap RCA sign! I'd offer $100 for this thing tops...

My take: I would not at all be surprised to see it sell at this price. It is a very nice piece. But he would be much better off starting it off cheap, with a reserve if he had to.

Not just radio, TV or RCA collectors would want this sign...lots of folks like old advertising pieces of all sorts. Think of your local Cracker Barrel! Being NOS means a lot. The true value of this piece is whatever one guy will pay, and ebay is great for determining that. Personally I feel it should sell for well over $100.

Apparently I'm in the wrong buisness, then. So let me get this right: some of you guys wouldn't pay more than $100 for a vintage TV, but for a tv repair sign you'd plunk down $300? Like I explained to the guy on Ebay, he's selling that thing for more than I've ever paid for one of the sets it would hang behind. Something about that dosn't add up to me, but then again I am a strange one.

Just for comparison, I paid $125 for a CTC-4 not long ago- that's less than a third of what he's asking for the sign... I'll take the set. :p

I haven't purchased one because of what they're selling for. But what they sell for determines their worth. Not what we want them to sell for.

i agree that people put too high of a value on items.he does have the right to ask what he wants for it.this is a unique item and there is not anything else to compare it to.i wouldnt insult the guy though.let him list it and see what happens.chances are that he wont sell at that price and have to relist or find another venue to sell it.pawn stars,american pickers,antique roadshow do give inflated values to items.i really dont think that they can get these kind of prices.they also have to realize that if you want a quick,fast sale,you have to leave room for profit.too many look to ebay,etc, for a value.i sell everyday and generally i follow these guidelines.i long for the days when people just simply told you their price without the spiel about ebay,cl,tv,etc.

Seems like simple supply & demand to me. There are many more TVs than TV signs out there. I could fill a barn with old TVs from the local craigslist. I have never, ever seen a TV sign locally.

And, as noted, you're probably competing with sign collectors as well as TV collectors.

Phil Nelson

No, I think he's smokin ground up bakelite! :D

To me advertising collectables are always way overpriced - but - this is coming from me, someone who didn't think twice about dropping 150$ cash + 20$ for gasoline to purchase that 1960 Zenith Entertainment Center "The Frederiksburg"

Now, this one is really smokin' crack:

http://cgi.ebay.com/1950s-Hoffman-AM...item3f06ea1da6

$100 on a good day. Have fun unjamming that Glaser-Steers - I love 'em, but it's a hell of a lot of work!

The people who buy these signs up are probably not the TV collectors. They are the same morons who only collect remote controls but don't want the TV that came with it. Its all fluff and usually those people have plenty of cash to burn so who cares what the seller wants, he'll eventually get what he wants and I don't think he'll have to wait very long. Hes probably been to this site and sees everyone go insane over these "roundies" that everyone talks about too and figures if the TV's are worth it, why not some old sign to go along with it.

That RCA sign is beautiful, he may get $750.00 for it.
Must be the new fad, some metal oil company signs are trading for $1000 now.
Does any body want to buy some cabbage patch dolls new in the boxes, never used ?

I have to agree with Steve and Bryan. I think that sign is easily worth what the seller is asking. It's much older than the common outdoor sign linked earlier, and it may be the only one you will ever see for sale in that condition.

The price you paid for your CTC-4 before is irrelevent, as it was priced well below market and you got a steal.

The seller with this sign must think your a real jerk for trying to lowball him. I think you're way out in left field for whining about this. Any seller would be stupid to offer it cheaply. Only by starting with a high price can he work the market to his advantage. The fact that there have already been 6 people that made offers will clue him in that his sign is in demand. It's probably only a matter of time before someone snaps it up at the asking price. And you've certainly helped him by giving him all this free publicity.

If the sign was there with a $100 BIN price, you'd see it sold almost instantly, and a lot of people upset that someone had beat them to it.


.

OK, so I guess I'm the one who's not seeing this for what it is then in your opinion? I'm the one who's wrong for buying a CTC-9 for only $99 as well, maybe I should have tipped the girl working the counter at Goodwill. :scratch2:

Fact is: WE'RE THE ONES DOING THE PRICE INFLAMING!


More power to him, though he probably thinks I'm a jerk for reporting his auction as misrepresented than any other reason. It's not 'mint in box' if you took it out of the box. :no:

Working the market is one thing, but offering this at $400 to start is to me no different than the CL people finding a split chassis Philco and 'working the market' by starting at $1000. I fhe started at like $250 I'd say OK, but 400?


I wouldn't have started at 100 either, like I said 250 wouldn't have raised so many flags for me. But now that I know the deal with the seller, I won't be back.

just bought my ctc4 nice shape for 100.00

The new trend on eBay seems to be list something with a high opening bid but have a "Make Offer" option.
I won't usually bother making an offer if the opening price is way too high.

I wouldn't pay $400 for this sign, but that doesn't mean someone else won't.

It's a bit too plain for $400, I would expect something animated or a clock at least for that money.

I assume you're talking about the outdoor sign. It's probably worth that but since he's asking $325 in the ad I'd refuse to pay more just out of principle. Of course that's easy for me to say since I'm not interested in it. :D

This "fad" has been brought on by them evil "American Pickers"

In 2007,I saw a used lighted outdoor Philips-ECG sign sell at a live auction for $420, plus the premium. The buyer was a dealer - I let him know that it a) wasn't old, and b) where to find two more for free - he would have to take them down is all. His response was "Sorry you lost the bid." I let him know I wasn't bidding and that he just lost out on the free signs. He went on to tell me that he knew "Philips wasn't in business anymore." I walked away...

The sign took a round on fleabay at 800 bucks in 2008, with no sale. Dummy never even cleaned out the dead bugs inside.

I tell ya, it's them evil "Pickers"

The wealth of ignorance out there when it comes to antiques and collectables is staggering.
I went to an estate sale several months back where there was the top half of a philco predicta tandem,just the screen part and the lens had a small hairline crack in the top corner.
I figured I would ask how much it was anyway and was told $1000 and that it was worth about $1,500 on eBay "we checked" and if I came back on Sunday it would be half price!
Who knows maybe that auction guy bought that too!

Heck right now on eBay there's a guy with a "vintage" 1988 Goldstar tv for $250! Guess we better start saving all those too! If we can get them for $10 each in thrift stores and flip them for big bucks on eBay we can all retire early and buy yachts!

NOW WE'RE TALKIN! :banana:

No, no, no! Forget saving the BPC TV sets. You need to concentrate on Sam's Photofacts!

http://cgi.ebay.com/Sams-Photofact-M...item3cb4cc5836

I swear, the ignorance does not go down over time. It just gets worse.

And that's not even the whole photofact set. Let's see now I have about 4500 complete sets. If I seperate them and get a couple hundred for each folder. Retirement hee I come again.

I wonder what the original Panasonic TR-005 manual would get? It's rarer than that Sams! I've got one, with the uber-rare 1970's coffee stain on it.....:yes:

Cheers,

I don't get it. If you look at his other items most are Photofacts. They're maybe a bit high, but reasonable considering that they include shipping. But he has quite a number of them listed at the outrageous $200 also. Most of which are the TR-005 Photofact which makes one question their rarity.

John

What I wonder is what happens to all this stuff these crack addicts cannot sell for big bucks. Do they pitch it? Once at a car show these guys selling parts and odd ball stuff would say things like " I'll smash it right here before I sell it for that much." After giving them a reasonable offer. Not sure if they were all hot air or not. They looked like the would do it tho.

They were just trying to pressure you into buying it, oldest trick in the book. If they actually did it, it would be their loss...

I've had several people tell me that they'd bust something up and/or throw it in the dump before they took my offer. I calmly tell them that it's their item and to do whatever they want with it.

And, I've told a few people the same thing. About 10 years ago, I had a BPC 19" Quasar color TV that, for some reason, no one wanted to buy. This was during a time when a 19" color TV was worth $50-$75. After I reduced the Quasar down to $25 and someone still lowballed me, I told them I'd throw it in the dump first. And, that's what eventually happened. I got tired of looking at it, I was cleaning out the shop, and that TV went right on the discard pile.