17 replies to this topic

[barnieg]

Hi all,

I've just sold an STE on ebay for £5.00 which needs some work on it, a bit less than I hoped but I actually don't mind as hopefully what is happening is Atari stuff is becoming more reasonable and hopefully the STE is going to someone who will get some good use out of it. Doe's anyone else think prices are lower at the moment? I'm hoping to replace the STE maybe with a Mega STE when I have a bit more cash (and space) what chances are there of getting one at a reasonable value?

Barnie

[wood_jl]

It's hard to judge overall value by one auction. Of course, it depends on who saw the auction, tons of variables.

However, STes (and STs) were so much more common "over there" than they were "here" (U.S.) that if you were selling the STe here, it would likely have brought significantly more. The STe in particular is much more rare here, because by the later part of the ST-line's life, Atari was completely ignoring the market here, and few STe (and above) shipped.

What kind of condition your machine was in, and how clear, detailed, and well-lit the pictures were to prove it - probably had as much to do with the value of your auction, than anything else.

Edited by wood_jl, Sun Sep 11, 2011 5:08 PM.

[mimo]

Standard st stuff is worth peanuts and had been for the last couple of years.
When u get into the realms of the mega st , unfortunately it still gets big money

[barnieg]

At the moment space & cash at home is at a premium, I'd bought the STE on ebay a while back and shortly after I got it the floppy died. At the moment I've got enough other retro stuff to play with. A Mega STE would be nice because it would be an easier fit (in theory) when I've cleared some decent space to set-up all my "toys". Might be a nice present to myself when I've got rid of enough clutter - only about 15 boxes of comics & various computer cr*p to go!

Barnie

[Rybags]

STs and STe seems to fluctuate here.

I landed my STe fairly cheap, something like $60 about 18 months ago. It's not been uncommon for them to get anything from a little over that to near $200 for one with extras like monitor and accessories.

STs tend to be less, but recently it's been as if the market's been flooded and both types have gone fairly cheaply.

But you still get the dreamers that put an ST + mono monitor and BIN @ $200, and even mono monitors on their own around $80-$130.

I think the trick with selling them is to monitor the situation for a week or two and slip yours in when there's nothing else competing for the buyer, and put a realistic start price.

The trick as a buyer is to get in when there's at least a few going, and rely on the thin demand to keep the price low.

The market has never really been as strong as Amigas. Plain 500s seem to be nearing the $100 mark.

But on the other hand, a Falcon sold for $670 a couple of weeks back. That's near double what a 1200 generally goes for, but the deadset rarity of Falcons seems to guarantee they'll get a good price regardless of what's bundled in with them.

[svenski]

barnieg, on Sun Sep 11, 2011 3:49 PM, said:

Hi all,

I've just sold an STE on ebay for £5.00 which needs some work on it, a bit less than I hoped but I actually don't mind as hopefully what is happening is Atari stuff is becoming more reasonable and hopefully the STE is going to someone who will get some good use out of it. Doe's anyone else think prices are lower at the moment? I'm hoping to replace the STE maybe with a Mega STE when I have a bit more cash (and space) what chances are there of getting one at a reasonable value?

Barnie

There was an increase in prices earlier this year but prices are heading down again (for the normal ST/STE models). I've picked up working ST machines for between £5 to £10. My 1040 STE was I think £15. Most came with odds and ends too.

[31336haxx0r]

Here in Germany, ST stuff usually sold for little money. Prices seem to have increased, though. If you can get STs and peripherals for cheap, I'd buy a few to refurbish and sell later on. Or keep them for their WD1772s, which I could use for replicating an XF551.

[Shredder11]

I recently bought a Mega STE 4MB + 68881 FPU for £52, which is a lot cheaper than they normally sell for; a usual price is £100 to £150. Also two of my three 4160 STE came as a whole lot with IDE interface, VGA + SCART cables, external floppy drives and software etc for a mere £72 back in 2008. Most of what I have cost a fair price or was a bargain, although my two Falcon 030 were £200+.

[Tickled_Pink]

Like mimo said, STs tend to go for peanuts although it is possible to get up to £70 for one if you're willing to wait for the right buyer. Like everything else, set a price that's not too ridiculous and you will usually find a buyer eventually.

There is a Mega ST on eBay at the minute. Asking price? £300. The seller does set his prices high and doesn't sell that much stuff but eventually he does find a buyer for most things.

[oky2000]

Mega ST <> £300 for me, nothing special about them hardware wise. Mega STE with 16mhz CPU now that's different.

I guess it's like the Amiga market, the low end base stuff isn't worth much ergo A500/A600 etc but the ones with expansion potential/much rarer like 4000/3000s command 100s etc.

Guess it's the same for an ST/FM etc.

Some guy pissed me off so I didn't bid on his previously unsold STM when relisted and it went for £26 all boxed and mint with boxed mint SF354 :/

[sack-c0s]

I grew up with an Archimedes and Amiga - if ST prices are down at the moment it might be a good time for me to invest in some real hardware, seeing as I'm getting my ST fix from steem

[oky2000]

sack-c0s, on Wed Sep 14, 2011 8:25 AM, said:

I grew up with an Archimedes and Amiga - if ST prices are down at the moment it might be a good time for me to invest in some real hardware, seeing as I'm getting my ST fix from steem

I just got a boxed mint A3010 (12mhz ARM not 8mhz so 50% faster wooo) but as usual for ebay it needs fixing (disk drive knackered grrrr!) and no games worth a crap like Zarch/Saloon Car pfft

[wood_jl]

sack-c0s, on Wed Sep 14, 2011 8:25 AM, said:

I grew up with an Archimedes and Amiga - if ST prices are down at the moment it might be a good time for me to invest in some real hardware, seeing as I'm getting my ST fix from steem

It probably is a good time. Looks like the stuff is cheaper on your side of the ocean. As I said before, a nice/mint STe always brings more here than it does there. None of it (save for Falcon and Mega stuff) is truly expensive, which is a boon to the retro-collector!

But before ABSOLUTE conclusions can be drawn vis-a-vis ST prices, we HAVE TO BE CLEAR ABOUT CONDITION. Yellowed, dirty shit is never going to bring very much. Nice, MINT stuff (even the most common model) will always bring more, at auction, if the pictures are LARGE, WELL-LIT, AND CLEAR enough to see what condition things are.

In other words, if someone sold a piece of hardware on Ebay and is not satisfied with the selling price to the point that they ask about it, then I find it relevant to call into question THE CONDITION of the sold hardware, and THE PICTURES that were intended (or relied upon) to convey that condition.

So, are there any pictures of this stuff? Or are we to believe that MINT, NICE ST stuff sells for £5, rather than yellowed/beat-up stuff? Somehow, this point escapes this entire thread. Funny, it should be relevant, should it not?

Edited by wood_jl, Fri Sep 16, 2011 1:35 AM.

[barnieg]

I agree Mint items fetch more, regardless of that I think there are less sellers trying to get Silly prices. As for my particular STE I bought it in apparently working condition, the floppy drive never worked properly, so after a few months of it sitting on top of a cupboard I thought it better to get rid of it for now until I can afford to repair stuff.

I listed my item as not working which again would have had an effect on prices.

There are also the differences between buyers who want to play and program retro computers and those that want to collect and or restore systems that are close to original condition

Barnie

wood_jl, on Fri Sep 16, 2011 1:31 AM, said:

So, are there any pictures of this stuff? Or are we to believe that MINT, NICE ST stuff sells for £5, rather than yellowed/beat-up stuff? Somehow, this point escapes this entire thread. Funny, it should be relevant, should it not?

[svenski]

@wood_JL: Boxed systems usually fetch more as with everything else.

My £5 520STfm would have been in great condition if the seller hadn't got upset at it only selling for £5 and not packing it properly. I got another 520STfm and a 1040STE dirt cheap, both in excellent condition and both came with extras. The main killer with STs are the disk drives , so if you go for something that is "untested" then you pays your money and you takes your chances. I have another 520STfm which I also got very cheap and that came with a dud drive.

[RodLightning]

svenski, on Fri Sep 16, 2011 5:41 PM, said:

@wood_JL: Boxed systems usually fetch more as with everything else.

My £5 520STfm would have been in great condition if the seller hadn't got upset at it only selling for £5 and not packing it properly. I got another 520STfm and a 1040STE dirt cheap, both in excellent condition and both came with extras. The main killer with STs are the disk drives , so if you go for something that is "untested" then you pays your money and you takes your chances. I have another 520STfm which I also got very cheap and that came with a dud drive.

What's the difficulty in replacing an internal floppy drive on a 520 or 1040stfm? Would any pc 3.5 floppy drive work or does it require something special? I do remember them being only 720k drives.. Everything else inside was solid state, so no moving parts to be damaged over time.

[31336haxx0r]

They can be replaced with a hot rodded PC floppy, but those won't be a great fit as the ST floppy has a unique shape.

[sack-c0s]

on the ST front I wouldn't care that much if it was the same shade of yellow as a JCB digger, so long as it was electronically and mechanically sound, and wasn't covered in the kind of crap that makes your fingers stick to the keyboard and mouse in a way that makes you deeply suspicious about what the last user was doing with it last.

oky2000, on Thu Sep 15, 2011 5:47 PM, said:

I just got a boxed mint A3010 (12mhz ARM not 8mhz so 50% faster wooo) but as usual for ebay it needs fixing (disk drive knackered grrrr!) and no games worth a crap like Zarch/Saloon Car pfft

I'm sure if you pick up another it'll be business as usual - perfectly working machine and a dead mouse, so you can cobble a good machine together.

I need to dig out my A3010+zip drive as a makeshift HDD...