eBay bargains - what's your latest conquest?

[TheShortTimer]

But I do own alot of electronics like radios, amplifiers so something like this is handy for diagnosis. My dad who is a HAM radio operator had one similar in his shack for decades, so there's that too. I remember playing with it (wasnt supposed to of course lol) and pretend I was reanimating things (a la Frankenstein) when I was a little kid.

That's a grand piece of kit and you got it for a steal! I've been recommended to pick up an oscilloscope and a logic probe to assist me with fault-finding issues with my retro gear and at some point this year I'll sort that out.

Speaking of retro gear. I waded into the deep end of eBay and took a risk on an untested item:

The Sega Master System - although technically superior to the NES/Famicom, it underperformed in the U.S. market but did very well over here in the UK and across Europe, plus Brazil - where a version of the hardware still remains available for sale! It was described by the seller as powering up but they were unable to test any further because they don't have a compatible TV.

Hmmmm… Well, the fact that it at least turns on tempted me to try my luck because that indicates some level of functionality and the possibility that I can fix any potential issues. It had been added to the watchlists of countless buyers and that signalled to me large levels of interest tempered by hesitation because of its status. I offered £47 GBP and rationalised that it was worth it at that price for the controllers alone because working units are fetching crazy sums of money.

Usually, I prefer NTSC machines but the PAL Master System is an exception to the rule because there are EU/UK titles that pull off tricks that are not possible in other regions.

The offer was accepted and it arrived with the PSU, two controllers, a broken RF cable and an RGB SCART/PERITEL/Euroconnector lead. I went straight to the RGB SCART option and hooked up everything. Time for the moment of truth. Does it do anything beyond powering up?

Yep! The console powers up with correctly functioning audio and video. I didn't have any games on hand but this Master System model features a hidden maze game that you can access by simultaneously pressing both fire buttons and pulling up, which allowed me to test that it responds properly to controller activity. So far, so good but does it read cartridges?

Ordinarily, I'm loathe to buy anything from CEX - I know that many other Brits like shopping there but whenever I've visited their branches, everything I've seen has been ridiculously overpriced but I managed to find a relative bargain at my local one in the form of a £3 cartridge. Ironically, the minimum price for the same game on eBay is £4.50 and that doesn't even include the additional cost for the shipping. Miracles do happen!

Let's see whether it detects a cartridge…

As you can see, the game is detected and runs perfectly. I don't like it so I'll be looking for stuff that I actually enjoy playing! A bare bones Master System 1 fetches much more than this, so I've done really well here to get all of these goodies for £47. This is a case where an eBay seller really was telling the truth that they couldn't test it completely (but it wouldn't have been that difficult to find a flat panel TV with SCART.)

The power socket needs re-soldering but that's a ten-minute job for me and inevitable for a machine that's almost 40 years old. They who dares, sometimes wins. 😀

 

[Herbert123]

I purchased a Timex Sinclair 1500 from eBay a few weeks ago, and the shipment arrived today at home.

The parcel seemed to have been ripped open and awkwardly plastered over with blue eBay tape. Filler material was sort-of spilling out as well. That didn't bode well.

I opened it and hoped to find this:

Instead this is what was inside:

That's the first time my eBay bought warez got stolen! Must have happened during transit (the seller is a non-profit international charitable organisation).

Disappointed of course. I looked forever for a nice looking Timex Sinclair 1500.

The good news is that this was sent via eBay's International Shipping, and I can return it for a full refund.

 

[TheShortTimer]

Instead this is what was inside:

View attachment 2604311

The wrecked item shown in the photo, what is/was that?

That's the first time my eBay bought warez got stolen! Must have happened during transit (the seller is a non-profit international charitable organisation).

I'm really sorry that this happened to you and I bet the thief doesn't even understand what they've stolen and likely discarded it, which is all the more jarring. Through the years I've routinely experienced this with items simply vanishing into thin air during transit. On the subject of 8-bit computers, a few years ago I had a collection of C64 gear fail to arrive. In the UK there's no end of scandals with corrupt postal workers being jailed for theft.

Disappointed of course. I looked forever for a nice looking Timex Sinclair 1500.

This is my ZX81, upon which the TS 1500 is based.

I much prefer the 1500's keyboard to that of the ZX81!

The good news is that this was sent via eBay's International Shipping, and I can return it for a full refund.

Good, at least that's some consolation in this horrible situation. I hope that you manage to secure another one.

 

[Herbert123]

This is my ZX81, upon which the TS 1500 is based.

Indeed! The TS 1500 was ZX81 with 16Kb on-board. But the mainboard was a complete redesign by Timex Portugal.

In a silver somewhat adjusted Classic ZX Spectrum case.

The wrecked item shown in the photo, what is/was that?

A display and button panel taken from industrial equipment of some kind. I didn't bother taking a closer look.

This is my ZX81, upon which the TS 1500 is based.

Nice! I have one in my collection as well (in box).

 

[Rainman1915]

I bought a Ipad 11" M4 and it included a Apple Pencil Pro and a cover for $586 Canadian. The battery life is 100% and it still has AppleCare until the end of March. That was a good deal, it's in new condition.

 

[TheShortTimer]

Nice! I have one in my collection as well (in box).

Snap! Mine is also boxed. 🙂

A couple of games have arrived for me to play on my recent acquisition:

I paid £11 GBP for the pair - which I regard as pretty good going because they usually sell for that price individually. RoboCod is one of the UK/EU titles that I'd referred to in my earlier post that pull off hardware tricks which are exclusive to PAL machines. (In this case, background effects - like snow shown in the bottom left image and also parallax scrolling. On NTSC machines both of these features are disabled.)

These will tide me over till a flash cart with 1400 games arrives from China. 😀

 

[MarkC426]

These will tide me over till a flash cart with 1400 games arrives from China. 😀

That should keep you occupied for a while….. 😆

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

Snap! Mine is also boxed. 🙂

A couple of games have arrived for me to play on my recent acquisition:

I paid £11 GBP for the pair - which I regard as pretty good going because they usually sell for that price individually. RoboCod is one of the UK/EU titles that I'd referred to in my earlier post that pull off hardware tricks which are exclusive to PAL machines. (In this case, background effects - like snow shown in the bottom left image and also parallax scrolling. On NTSC machines both of these features are disabled.)

These will tide me over till a flash cart with 1400 games arrives from China. 😀

I’ve always wanted a master system. My friend decades ago had one and yes, everything about them was superior to the NES - really wonderful systems but they’re fetching some crazy prices nowadays. Great piece of retro gaming kit though. Very nice score 🙂

 

[DCBassman]

2x fully functional 2010 Macbook 7,1s, total 60 squids.

 

[TheShortTimer]

That should keep you occupied for a while….. 😆

For a while and then once I've ploughed through the entire library, there's the option to add new stuff to the SD card. 😉

I’ve always wanted a master system. My friend decades ago had one and yes, everything about them was superior to the NES - really wonderful systems but they’re fetching some crazy prices nowadays. Great piece of retro gaming kit though.

Quite. When it comes to eBay, prices in the West for most retro-gear have gone through the roof and I think it'll reach the point where enthusiasts just give up on having real machines if it involves paying through the nose. From my experience, buying consoles from Japan is a much better option - and that includes factoring in the tax/import/shipping costs.

Very nice score 🙂

Thanks. 🙂

 

[Nightphase]

I picked up another iBook G3 (PowerBook4,3), it's the 700MHz model with 192MB of RAM and the 20GB HDD.

I originally installed OS 9.2.2 using Target Disk Mode (the CD laser is weak and only reads Audio CDs), but drivers are missing for this model (no sleep, no audio, no high colors).
So i will reinstall Jaguar 10.2 using my Japanese iBook.

 

[rampancy]

I originally installed OS 9.2.2 using Target Disk Mode (the CD laser is weak and only reads Audio CDs), but drivers are missing for this model (no sleep, no audio, no high colors).
So i will reinstall Jaguar 10.2 using my Japanese iBook.

The 700 Mhz iBook G3s are well known for being vulnerable to GPU failure, so any kind of issues you may have with the display will most likely be hardware-related, as opposed to being due to the use of an unsanctioned build of OS 9. (And if you used a disc image of OS 9.2.2 taken from a retail release it should work without issue, as all retail disks have "universal" installers. )

 

[weckart]

I picked up another iBook G3 (PowerBook4,3), it's the 700MHz model with 192MB of RAM and the 20GB HDD.

I originally installed OS 9.2.2 using Target Disk Mode (the CD laser is weak and only reads Audio CDs), but drivers are missing for this model (no sleep, no audio, no high colors).
So i will reinstall Jaguar 10.2 using my Japanese iBook.

I would check that 9.2.2 installation. I have the 14" 700Mhz model and it runs 9.2.2 just fine. Mine also has the gpu issue as rampancy alludes to, which manifests itself as instability and freezing after the notebook has warmed up somewhat. I have shimmed it as much as I can but it would really need a gpu reflow or replacement.

 

[ToniCH]

I've made few purchases on vintage stuff during last couple of weeks.

1. Amiga 500 rev 6A with a Gotek-drive and a rebuil psu. This is in very good condition. Already upgraded it with Pistorm accelerator and now it is about 1160x faster than the original. 😎

2. Amiga 600 empty case with keyboard and leds. Will build this into Amiga emulator machine with Raspberry Pi 4B inside and it will run the Dr Chris' Pimiga 5 -software package. 🤓

3. and today I bought a PowerComputing PowerTower Pro 225. I had one of these when they were new and I used to work for the company importing them. I also visited PowerComputing factory in Houston back in the day. So, it has a soft spot for me. Have been on the lookout for one of these for 15+ years but no luck until today. And all these years I knew I should not throw away that PowerLogix G4 450MHz CPU upgrade that has been in my parts box for 25 years. 🥰

 

[DCBassman]

My latest eBay score was not vintage, or PowerPC, but it was a good score, nonetheless: Macbook Air 11" 2015 8GB Ram - £30.

 

[beach_cruiser]

Picked up a second G4 Cube for $200 - felt pretty good about that.

I found a PowerMac G4 Quicksilver with dual 800mhz processors and a GF3 Card on Marketplace for $200. Shipping killed me but still felt pretty good knowing the card alone is probably worth what I paid for everything.

 

[weckart]

My latest eBay score was not vintage, or PowerPC, but it was a good score, nonetheless: Macbook Air 11" 2015 8GB Ram - £30.

Well done. Cex is asking about 5x that. Was yours the i7 or i5?

 

[DCBassman]

Was yours the i7 or i5?

Oh, the i5, I'm not *that* lucky! 😀

 

[weckart]

Oh, the i5, I'm not *that* lucky! 😀

I have the i7 and to be honest, you'd be better off with the i5 unless you love the sound of fans cranking up and temps hitting over 100ºC just booting up. The 11" is too small a chassis for that furnace.

 

[Nightphase]

The 700 Mhz iBook G3s are well known for being vulnerable to GPU failure, so any kind of issues you may have with the display will most likely be hardware-related, as opposed to being due to the use of an unsanctioned build of OS 9. (And if you used a disc image of OS 9.2.2 taken from a retail release it should work without issue, as all retail disks have "universal" installers. )

I would check that 9.2.2 installation. I have the 14" 700Mhz model and it runs 9.2.2 just fine. Mine also has the gpu issue as rampancy alludes to, which manifests itself as instability and freezing after the notebook has warmed up somewhat. I have shimmed it as much as I can but it would really need a gpu reflow or replacement.

I decided to install 10.2.8 using my other iBook with Target Disk Mode, now it works just fine.
I noticed that my 9.2.2 Install didn't recognize it correctly until i put an updated Mac OS ROM and installed the ATI drivers, but sleep and other things were still broken, i just decided that i will run classic Mac OS applications in the Classic Environment.

 

[DCBassman]

Mine is still kicking at 5,288 days in, speakers are shot, battery down to 43% of capacity. Runs like a toaster, but that's the nature of the 2011. Has to be said doesn't throttle, runs hot, very hot used to it...

Disabled the dGPU over a decade ago as seemed prudent to do so. Despite the odds it's seen off many newer Mac's and gives me no reason to replace it.

Q-6

I have the i7 and to be honest, you'd be better off with the i5 unless you love the sound of fans cranking up and temps hitting over 100ºC just booting up. The 11" is too small a chassis for that furnace.

Excellent, that makes me happy! I do have a 4GB 2011 with the i7, and that does get warmer, for sure.

 

[DisraeliGears]

Came across an iMac G5 (original model, 20") for $50 locally and said, eh what the hell, it'll be something fun to try and recap right?

Brought it home, opened it up, and it is sterling inside. Every cap looks rock solid to my eyes.

Also already upgraded to 2GB of RAM, so not a big project anymore (I'll still drop an SSD in just for funsies). It does complete my iMac lineup, now I've got a trayload G3, slotload G3, G4, eMac, G5, and white early Intel (plus monitor converted 2017 5K).

 

[ToniCH]

3. and today I bought a PowerComputing PowerTower Pro 225. I had one of these when they were new and I used to work for the company importing them. I also visited PowerComputing factory in Houston back in the day. So, it has a soft spot for me. Have been on the lookout for one of these for 15+ years but no luck until today. And all these years I knew I should not throw away that PowerLogix G4 450MHz CPU upgrade that has been in my parts box for 25 years. 🥰

Quite a decent looking unit. Need to source a graphics card to verify if the MB works. If not then it might end up being a cool Intel Mac with internal eGPU etc. 😉

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

I found a NIB 120gb SSD+ free S&H that wasn't over $30 bucks on ebay LOL. 120gb Raoyi ssd for 22.50 shipped on sale through tomorrow.

*not my auction*

https://www.ebay.com/itm/405335987004?_skw=128gb+2.5+ssd&itmmeta=01KN0Z9728GFQ7BP4WMXMQ5VAB&hash=item5e5fe8533c:g:BV0AAOSwKiJm19kg&itmprp=enc:AQALAAAA0GfYFPkwiKCW4ZNSs2u11xDlZOvYpo9I5fM4NTZTNb8qdECH2ZRtWn9RNOh7EuwHnSAOh7LFcUnZOXFizNehVPttnYkoiDsOgtBOPWqevD1WkyKGsn/+CZxcqYpL2siEsBjpDVoDd/35dKsOVH4voc2nJ4gIKacCZN8FIgDTdM1GNiBQBjHI+uDlPiKV1gYHCgxSM+RAbVf/YiGbuD0ixzVgxzaLewdWVXXmFA0w20S3JXNrGS2270NbauBehESzKK8nzX5oCnQr/3xmuizKBj0=|tkp:Bk9SR6zxpJ-oZws

I miss the days of $17 Netacs 😀

 

[weckart]

I found a NIB 120gb SSD+ free S&H that wasn't under $30 bucks on ebay LOL. 120gb Raoyi ssd for 22.50 shipped on sale through tomorrow.

*not my auction*

https://www.ebay.com/itm/405335987004?_skw=128gb+2.5+ssd&itmmeta=01KN0Z9728GFQ7BP4WMXMQ5VAB&hash=item5e5fe8533c:g:BV0AAOSwKiJm19kg&itmprp=enc:AQALAAAA0GfYFPkwiKCW4ZNSs2u11xDlZOvYpo9I5fM4NTZTNb8qdECH2ZRtWn9RNOh7EuwHnSAOh7LFcUnZOXFizNehVPttnYkoiDsOgtBOPWqevD1WkyKGsn/+CZxcqYpL2siEsBjpDVoDd/35dKsOVH4voc2nJ4gIKacCZN8FIgDTdM1GNiBQBjHI+uDlPiKV1gYHCgxSM+RAbVf/YiGbuD0ixzVgxzaLewdWVXXmFA0w20S3JXNrGS2270NbauBehESzKK8nzX5oCnQr/3xmuizKBj0=|tkp:Bk9SR6zxpJ-oZws

I miss the days of $17 Netacs 😀

$17? I paid a lowly £7 for my 120GB and it wasn't that long ago. How things change. I thought that 120GB drives were going to be phased out as they were getting too cheap to bother with.