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Condition-grading criteria for HP calcs? - Printable Version

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Condition-grading criteria for HP calcs? - telemachos - 06-25-2019 05:15 PM

Some years ago (probably not here) I saw a discussion of grading criteria for calculators, HP in particular as I recall.

This discussion of related matters is helpful:

<https://www.hpmuseum.org/collect.htm#diff>

... but I wonder whether anyone can connect me with the piece I saw, or any such. It will help me describe the several HPs (16C, 32sII, ...) I am about to sell.

Many thanks to the members of this forum for their help.

RE: Condition-grading criteria for HP calcs? - rprosperi - 06-26-2019 01:22 AM

There used to be an article on eBay, which has since been either removed or perhaps moved to a new address, which had a fairly good introductory section about HP calculators, which models were more collectable and why, quality ratings, etc. The article was titled "The HP vintage pocket calculator's 2008 buyer's guide 2 eBay" but it was still there until about 2 years ago, the last time I recall seeing it.

I don't know if this is the one you recall, but the odds are good.

RE: Condition-grading criteria for HP calcs? - telemachos - 06-26-2019 03:11 AM

Sounds right, Bob. I'm impressed that you remember this from 2008, and more impressed that you know when it disappeared. Thanks for the identification -- now, does anyone have a copy of that?

RE: Condition-grading criteria for HP calcs? - BartDB - 06-26-2019 08:24 AM

Someone else's opinion of what "grade" a calculator is has never bothered me and I have never used such a system to buy or sell.

A good honest description and clear photos showing the condition and any damage/defects is the best way to evaluate a possible purchase. I have found this to be the best way to evaluate when buying and the best way to attract buyers when selling.

RE: Condition-grading criteria for HP calcs? - rprosperi - 06-26-2019 01:00 PM

(06-26-2019 03:11 AM)telemachos Wrote:  Sounds right, Bob. I'm impressed that you remember this from 2008, and more impressed that you know when it disappeared. Thanks for the identification -- now, does anyone have a copy of that?

Well, don't give me too much credit, I think Dave Frederickson sent me a link around 2013-2014 when discussing some item's outrageous price on eBay (if only we knew how those would grow since then!) and then I would go back to it every now and then to look something up. I thought I had saved a local copy, but it seems not.

eBay used to have many such articles for various topics but perhaps they've eliminated all of them; some casual looking around had no luck.

RE: Condition-grading criteria for HP calcs? - [kby] - 06-26-2019 07:39 PM

(06-26-2019 01:00 PM)rprosperi Wrote:  
(06-26-2019 03:11 AM)telemachos Wrote:  Sounds right, Bob. I'm impressed that you remember this from 2008, and more impressed that you know when it disappeared. Thanks for the identification -- now, does anyone have a copy of that?

Well, don't give me too much credit, I think Dave Frederickson sent me a link around 2013-2014 when discussing some item's outrageous price on eBay (if only we knew how those would grow since then!) and then I would go back to it every now and then to look something up. I thought I had saved a local copy, but it seems not.

eBay used to have many such articles for various topics but perhaps they've eliminated all of them; some casual looking around had no luck.

Look harder for your copy…here's apparently what happened:
https://seekingalpha.com/article/4156652-ebay-deletes-500000-guides-lose-billion-page-views

If you have a static URL for the page, you might be able to find it in the Wayback Machine, but trying to get to it through the search query on the archived old guides page fails before finding the exact page.

RE: Condition-grading criteria for HP calcs? - rprosperi - 06-26-2019 09:30 PM

(06-26-2019 07:39 PM)[kby] Wrote:  If you have a static URL for the page, you might be able to find it in the Wayback Machine, but trying to get to it through the search query on the archived old guides page fails before finding the exact page.

Have at it:

http://www.ebay.com/gds/The-HP-vintage-pocket-calculators-2008-buyers-guide-2-/10000000002128024/g.html

RE: Condition-grading criteria for HP calcs? - [kby] - 06-26-2019 10:45 PM

(06-26-2019 09:30 PM)rprosperi Wrote:  
(06-26-2019 07:39 PM)[kby] Wrote:  If you have a static URL for the page, you might be able to find it in the Wayback Machine, but trying to get to it through the search query on the archived old guides page fails before finding the exact page.

Have at it:

http://www.ebay.com/gds/The-HP-vintage-pocket-calculators-2008-buyers-guide-2-/10000000002128024/g.html

*Sigh* It isn't there. But thanks for looking up the URL!-kby

RE: Condition-grading criteria for HP calcs? - Dave Frederickson - 06-27-2019 12:33 AM

(06-26-2019 09:30 PM)rprosperi Wrote:  Have at it:

http://www.ebay.com/gds/The-HP-vintage-pocket-calculators-2008-buyers-guide-2-/10000000002128024/g.html

I get "about:blank#blocked". Sad

Here's the original URL: http://reviews.ebay.com/The-HP-vintage-pocket-calculator-apos-s-2008-buyer-apos-s-guide-2_W0QQugidZ10000000002128024?ssPageName=BUYGD:CAT:-1:LISTINGS:1

But I'm afraid, "It's dead, Jim."

As I recall, the guide did not contain any information on grading calculators. It did provide an "average" sales price, but similar condition calculators can sell for a significant difference in price depending on whether or not the calculator includes a case, manual, QRG, or box.

What the guide did provide was a list of all the variations for a given model including battery type, key color, bezel type, and number of feet.

When assessing the value of a calculator on eBay, I look at the physical condition, including the battery compartment, what accessories are included, and what similar calculators have sold for which is not necessarily the BIN price.

Dave

RE: Condition-grading criteria for HP calcs? - [kby] - 06-27-2019 12:52 AM

[attachment=7398]
(06-27-2019 12:33 AM)Dave Frederickson Wrote:  
(06-26-2019 09:30 PM)rprosperi Wrote:  Have at it:

http://www.ebay.com/gds/The-HP-vintage-pocket-calculators-2008-buyers-guide-2-/10000000002128024/g.html

I get "about:blank#blocked". Sad

Here's the original URL: http://reviews.ebay.com/The-HP-vintage-pocket-calculator-apos-s-2008-buyer-apos-s-guide-2_W0QQugidZ10000000002128024?ssPageName=BUYGD:CAT:-1:LISTINGS:1

But I'm afraid, "It's dead, Jim."

As I recall, the guide did not contain any information on grading calculators. It did provide an "average" sales price, but similar condition calculators can sell for a significant difference in price depending on whether or not the calculator includes a case, manual, QRG, or box.

What the guide did provide was a list of all the variations for a given model including battery type, key color, bezel type, and number of feet.

When assessing the value of a calculator on eBay, I look at the physical condition, including the battery compartment, what accessories are included, and what similar calculators have sold for which is not necessarily the BIN price.

Dave
Got it (sort of). Here is the page you referenced. It implies there is a 2006 page that was part 1 and it is not in Wayback Machine, unfortunately.

RE: Condition-grading criteria for HP calcs? - Dave Frederickson - 06-27-2019 01:05 AM

(06-27-2019 12:52 AM)[kby] Wrote:  https://www.hpmuseum.org/forum/attachment.php?aid=7398

Got it (sort of). Here is the page you referenced. It implies there is a 2006 page that was part 1 and it is not in Wayback Machine, unfortunately.

I don't recall Part 1 containing anything of interest, especially with respect to grading criteria.

RE: Condition-grading criteria for HP calcs? - [kby] - 06-27-2019 03:46 AM

As a -65 afficianado, it has gotten me curious about what the difference is between the v1 and v2 -65s are…haven't seen a mention of that before, although the price differential mentioned there; even though it's old I do find v1s relatively common and v2s relatively uncommon. I have a number of v1s or parts thereof and only one v2 and there is no obvious difference (other than the rev #s on the CPU board and big hybrid IC, but I think I see more than 2 versions of both of those).

RE: Condition-grading criteria for HP calcs? - [kby] - 06-27-2019 04:31 AM

I noticed the pdf file I created earlier misses some information due to the Wayback Machine's headers. I've downloaded the page and its files as a complete HTML page and that seems to work better. Here is an zip archive with the files; clicking on the html page should load all of the rest of the files into your browser.
[attachment=7399]

RE: Condition-grading criteria for HP calcs? - [kby] - 06-27-2019 05:33 AM

(06-27-2019 03:46 AM)[kby] Wrote:  As a -65 afficianado, it has gotten me curious about what the difference is between the v1 and v2 -65s are…haven't seen a mention of that before, although the price differential mentioned there; even though it's old I do find v1s relatively common and v2s relatively uncommon. I have a number of v1s or parts thereof and only one v2 and there is no obvious difference (other than the rev #s on the CPU board and big hybrid IC, but I think I see more than 2 versions of both of those).

Partially (?) answering my own question, although I am not totally certain I agree with the serial # cutoff: I believe V1 has a smaller font for the printed keypad labels.

RE: Condition-grading criteria for HP calcs? - Archilog - 06-29-2019 01:50 AM

Greetings,

I've had a contact with the publisher of this famous guide to get his advice about a rare calculator I purchased at that time.
I'll try to find him in a few days.

Regards

RE: Condition-grading criteria for HP calcs? - Dave Frederickson - 06-30-2019 07:28 PM

(06-27-2019 12:52 AM)[kby] Wrote:  Got it (sort of). Here is the page you referenced. It implies there is a 2006 page that was part 1 and it is not in Wayback Machine, unfortunately.

Here it is.

eBay Guides - The HP vintage pocket calculator's 2008 buyer's guide 1

RE: Condition-grading criteria for HP calcs? - rprosperi - 06-30-2019 11:28 PM

(06-30-2019 07:28 PM)Dave Frederickson Wrote:  Here it is.

eBay Guides - The HP vintage pocket calculator's 2008 buyer's guide 1

Thanks Dave, good detective work as usual.

This guide appears to have evolved a bit over the years; this content seems right, but the format seems quite different, though I guess that could be because the look of eBay evolved a lot between 2008 and a couple years ago.

pier4r is right - if you like it, save it; you never know when it may go away.

RE: Condition-grading criteria for HP calcs? - telemachos - 06-30-2019 11:55 PM

This guide (part 1, at least) is much more than I had remembered, and very helpful indeed.

The link to part 2 accesses Wayback, but not part 2. That should be of interest as well.

Many thanks to everyone who participated in the hunt for this valuable resource.

RE: Condition-grading criteria for HP calcs? - rprosperi - 07-01-2019 12:45 AM

For those not playing along at home, here are the 2 urls for Parts 1 & 2:

https://web.archive.org/web/20081010203333/http://reviews.ebay.com/The-HP-vintage-pocket-calculator-apos-s-2008-buyer-apos-s-guide-1_W0QQugidZ10000000001899375QQ_trksidZp3286.c0.m17

and

https://web.archive.org/web/20061026115051/http://reviews.ebay.com:80/The-HP-vintage-pocket-calculator-apos-s-2006-buyer-apos-s-guide-2_W0QQugidZ10000000002128024?ssPageName=BUYGD:CAT:-1:LISTINGS:3

RE: Condition-grading criteria for HP calcs? - [kby] - 07-01-2019 07:53 AM

(07-01-2019 12:45 AM)rprosperi Wrote:  For those not playing along at home, here are the 2 urls for Parts 1 & 2:

https://web.archive.org/web/20081010203333/http://reviews.ebay.com/The-HP-vintage-pocket-calculator-apos-s-2008-buyer-apos-s-guide-1_W0QQugidZ10000000001899375QQ_trksidZp3286.c0.m17

and

https://web.archive.org/web/20061026115051/http://reviews.ebay.com:80/The-HP-vintage-pocket-calculator-apos-s-2006-buyer-apos-s-guide-2_W0QQugidZ10000000002128024?ssPageName=BUYGD:CAT:-1:LISTINGS:3

Note that the latter is for the original 2006 version of part 2; other links for part 2 are for the 2008 update. Both are useful in terms of gauging rates of price change.