People on ebay expecting too much?

[oldtvman]

In case you haven't noticed there is a back log of early to mid 60's sets on Ebay. Somehow these sellers are expecting too much for their sets. Espeically since this is a very select field of collecting.

Most people just look at the sets and say Oh. I don't see this segment of collecting becoming mainstream anytime soon.

[Steve McVoy]

50s sets don't sell for much, so even giving away 60s sets is difficult.

[Jon A.]

They might be coming here to check out what is most popular. The non-collecting public, if they want an old TV at all, isn't going to buy as they certainly wouldn't want something that needs restoration and/or cuts the corners off the picture.

[Jeffhs]

How true. Non-technical people would rather have a flat screen TV than an old '50s set that may work for the moment, but will need to be serviced (read restored) eventually. People who know nothing about television aren't going to buy these old sets either. Today, people buy a flat screen expecting to be able to simply plug it in, connect the antenna or cable, and enjoy it, even with oversaturated colors and the like (the result of the sets having been reset to factory defaults and left at those settings).

[rca2000]

Originally Posted by Jeffhs

How true. Non-technical people would rather have a flat screen TV than an old '50s set that may work for the moment, but will need to be serviced (read restored) eventually. People who know nothing about television aren't going to buy these old sets either. Today, people buy a flat screen expecting to be able to simply plug it in, connect the antenna or cable, and enjoy it, even with oversaturated colors and the like (the result of the sets having been reset to factory defaults and left at those settings).

Enjoy it for AWHILE...and it WILL need serviced...Working on an 011 flat panel now--that was loosing the BL--feared bad CCFL tubes...but looks like just bad connections to the balancer board.

[oldtvman]

For what it's worth at least our group keeps these living pieces of history alive. I grew up in the black and white era and for me color tv was almost magical back then. I guess that accounts for my interest in restoring these beauties.

[oldtvman]

I still think the early story of how color tv came about would make a great show from Ken Burns, afterall that's the media he works with

[andy]

...

[Jon A.]

Yeah, try getting a good isolation transformer for a decent price. Then there's the shipping cost on top, holy crap.

[Eric H]

eBay has gone to the dogs in the last few years.

Many of the sellers make your local Antique Mall seem like a Dollar Store by comparison.

I find more good deals on Craigslist these days but even there a lot of people have unrealistic expectations.

I place a lot of the blame on those stupid "reality" shows like Storage Wars, etc for giving people a false view that anything old is worth big money.

[Kevin Kuehn]

Their marketing strategy has evolved to "Sell for more, less often". An idealized way to make money with minimum effort, possibly driven by the social media generation, because they have so little time left in their day after gaming, texting and tweeting with everyone. Heaven forbid if one needs to get up each morning, go to work, or babysit a real store front.

[tvcollector]

I see alot of stuff on eBay fairly cheap and have bought a few sets on there for around $75 to $200 plus I paid for the shipping on a few roundie consoles... For the most part sets on there I see around that mark.. Though there are a few loonies on there that think sets are worth in the higher hundreds or in the thousands..

[Kevin Kuehn]

Suppose it's possible that a few resellers pay too much for their inventory, and so they hold out. Maybe it's harder to research the going rate of vintage TV's than we realize. Who know what they're thinking, mostly wishful, I suspect

[oldtvman]

Originally Posted by Kevin Kuehn

Suppose it's possible that a few resellers pay too much for their inventory, and so they hold out. Maybe it's harder to research the going rate of vintage TV's than we realize. Who know what they're thinking, mostly wishful, I suspect

I think part of the problem is what we would consider to be very collectable doesn't have that same value to the general public. I think some older people hung on to sets because they had sentimental value.

[timmy]

another big problem with ebay is that no one seems to mention how high the % is that is due to ebay after selling an item, the more you get for the item the more ebay takes , like the government, the more you make the more the government takes....