The Used market is getting bad.

[ThinkPad560X]

Been looking up old ThinkPads and other used brand machines and everything is going for $200-$1500. Mid-Late 90s ThinkPads to T2x, R3x models even the i series. Even Parts/repair machines. Used games are starting range at $150-$2500 now (Nintendo eshop closed today 3/27/2023) And 3ds/Wii U games jumped double in price now. It is going to start getting harder to get anything for anyone that is a collector.
Hopefully this will die down and the prices will come down probably next year or so when these sellers see no one is going to buy used products at those prices.
But then again, they don't care, I seen listings on ebay of items going to $1000s that been on there for years. This one been on ebay for years from what I can remember. https://www.ebay.com/itm/183849347474

[solidpro]

Apparently a 360PE touch screen has 'amazing accuracy'. Mine doesn't.

Yeah, it's a story as old as time. People who grew up reading, watching, wanting things when they had no money, get into their 30s to 60s and have money and pay through the nose for them. Like me. In another few decades, nobody will care about this stuff and the prices will come back down. Same with virtually anything.

I went to a little village museum a few months ago and upstairs in some old barn was a whole floor of some old guy's 'life of collecting'. From board games to early sinclair computers, to sewing machines to car licence plates to whatever. Some of it still has a place and has value and some of it appears to have absolutely no value - i.e. no monetary value and not in the least bit interesting. Kinda like 'oh they had glass milk bottles in the 80s, I've seen one and I don't need to see another 50'.... I wondered how much time, money and effort he must have put into collecting a lot of stuff, and how much of that time he wasn't enjoying just being alive. Then I thought if my kids will have to deal with a barn full of crap when I'm dead and wonder why I wasn't drinking, gambling, womanising - you know, the good stuff - and playing with them.

I have tempered my purchases recently. Rather than buying loads of MOR stuff, I just try to discipline myself to one-good-item a month, and make it count. Mainly because there is so much auctioned off that looks fabulous and then you get it and it's very average. Definitely not paying $818,888 for a 360PE since I chose not to buy one on ebay last year because £300 was too much.

Shame everything comes down to money in the end.

[28CarsLater]

I wondered how much time, money and effort he must have put into collecting a lot of stuff, and how much of that time he wasn't enjoying just being alive.

Ah, but clearly this man enjoyed collecting as part of being alive - else he would not have bothered.

[solidpro]

Yeah but as someone who has taken something onto something of a crazy level, I often wish I could just send it all back and keep my money.

[Saucey]

The pandemic raised the prices of like all thinkpads and most laptops too. Sandy bridge machines went from $120 to $150, and Ivy Bridge went from $150 to $180. Then we have libreboot & coreboot and its insane how high some of these Core 2 Duo machines go. It's annoying to see a so called "rare" ThinkPad untested with a broken screen and hinge for over $150...

I wish I would have been able to get a TransNote when they were sub $300 price range, now you're paying $600 and hoping it'll work.

[TPFanatic]

Idk about you folks but when I doomscroll down eBay I see lots of functional Thinkpads from Merom to Haswell for under $60 on continental USA. Lots of cheap T450 and T460 too, if that floats anyone's boat.

[solidpro]

now you're paying $600 and hoping it'll work.

I DREAM of one for $600.....!

[RealBlackStuff]

Transnote:
#1: bought for $35.00 in 12/2010, sold for $125 in 02/2011
#2: bought for $79.66 in 02/2014, sold for $308 in 03/2014
Both had a BIOS password and both needed 2 CMOS batteries.
Haven't bothered with them since.

[ThinkPad560X]

I saw a few R30/R31 ThinkPads for Parts/repair for $200 untested and or damaged on ebay. I use to pick these machines up all the time for around $15-$20 to refurbish and resell them to keep them alive to resale to ThinkPad lovers / collectors. Even then I would resale them for $50-$80 free shipping. I can't do this anymore due to the price of everything. Even damaged untested machines are going for $100s of dollars. My ThinkPad collecting days are pretty much over. I got the machines I wanted or ones that I wanted and sold off and got to test out and use.

Even the game collecting is getting bad. Don't even want to mention the prices of all that. But physical is going away and prices are going up due to digital and the economy. Bootleg/Reproductions are getting bad for collectors in that as well. The only thing I don't mind in reproduction is 3d printed items you can make for you desktop/laptops such as for the old ThinkPads that are cracking and falling apart. Still would like to get a new bottom base for my 390X as the bottom back is completely gone from cracking apart.

But in the end, I'm happy with what I got. If I get out priced in everything and can only afford to get food and gas pay bills, then I guess I will just maintain my hardware I have which I do anyway.

ThinkPads I did own and sold
X3 ThinkPad 701C
ThinkPad 700T
ThinkPad 700C
ThinkPad Transnote
ThinkPad s30
ThinkPad 240X
WorkPad Z50
ThinkPad 755CD
ThinkPad 360CS
ThinkPad 310ED
ThinkPad 760E
ThinkPad 600
ThinkPad 380E
ThinkPad 560
ThinkPad 500
ThinkPad PowerPC 850
ThinkPad 550BJ
Lots of ThinkPad T20
Just a handful off my head, But regret selling them. but there in the hands of other collectors.
Lots of IBM 80s/90s desktops and towers too and DELL.
I still have damaged parts from when I use to repair for IBM such as cracked screens and bezels and palmrests. I kept all that incase ever needed a part off them. My work office still looks like a IBM tech repair room pre Lenovo. Still have newer Lenovo ThinkPads but still old IBM ones around still being used.

[600X]

All I will say is that I'm glad I collected the ThinkPads I wanted to many years ago and haven't touched them since or continued with the hobby in any way. I've looked into recreating some of the builds I've done before and the prices for many of them are too high to justify. But then most other hobbies have gotten ridiculously expensive too so I guess it's universal.

There are a couple machines I wished I had grabbed (S30) or not sold (850MHz 600X). But overall I can't complain.

[madicetea]

All I will say is that I'm glad I collected the ThinkPads I wanted to many years ago and haven't touched them since or continued with the hobby in any way. I've looked into recreating some of the builds I've done before and the prices for many of them are too high to justify. But then most other hobbies have gotten ridiculously expensive too so I guess it's universal.

There are a couple machines I wished I had grabbed (S30) or not sold (850MHz 600X). But overall I can't complain.

Haha, brings back memories. I used to have a lot more in my collection, but I'm still grateful to the many of you who took on the bulk of my collection and repurposed / upkept them well after I sold them on.

The Piano Black s30 still goes for decent prices sometimes in Japan - the issue is finding someone who will buy it domestically and go through the trouble of bringing it back to the US with them so it ends up being domestically shipped, as even EMS shipping in Japan has slowed considerably since the start of coronavirus.

[theterminator93]

I'm a bit of a hoarder; I tend to not sell anything I acquire unless I have multiples and absolutely no wish to keep it that way. I've only sold a few ThinkPads that I've had in my possession which I didn't have another of - 365XD and 380D are the two that come to mind. I just had too many Pentium 3xx systems and felt like they were better appreciated by someone who had wanted those specific models (or didn't care what they got).

A coworker asked about an early 2000s machine to play some period games on and I was going to get rid of the X23, but had no idea what it was worth since I couldn't find any recent examples of a sale to base my asking price off. Only after that did he tell me it needed a CD drive, so I'll probably "give" him the T43.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with all these old TPs. I have a few gems in the collection but despite that, I don't give them much attention these days. I'm trying to get my head around a few dozen T410/T420 I'm keeping out of the recyclers which I'll probably test/resell but there isn't much demand for those it seems.

I wouldn't mind an S30 or PC110 but I can't justify the $300+ cost they seem to command. I won a Mandarake auction which was EMS'd to me a couple months ago. It sat at Osaka airport for a weekend but once it started moving we had it in 2 days.

[solidpro]

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with all these old TPs

If you ever feel like selling the TransNote, 770Z, 760XD or 755C, please let me know! Apart from the transnote, I'm still looking for those!