Anyone in Moscow?

[Harald]

Im interested in buying a calculator in Moscow. Unfortunately it is collection only. Is anyone based in Moscow and willing to collect and ship? You will get a compensation for your efforts.

Cheers,
Harald

[jebem]

I was under the impression that was at least one forum member based in Moscow region.

Moscow presents a serious challenge to travel around, not only because it is a very large city and surroundings, but mainly due to the time spent when commuting/driving around the city due to huge traffic jams.

Can you post the street and district address of the seller?

I have family relatively close to the big city, but I can't promise anything.
Last time I asked them to buy a Russian calculator for me in one of the many street markets, I got a T-shirt saying "I love Russia" instead.

[Harald]

(05-18-2018 01:27 PM)jebem Wrote:  I was under the impression that was at least one forum member based in Moscow region.

Moscow presents a serious challenge to travel around, not only because it is a very large city and surroundings, but mainly due to the time spent when commuting/driving around the city due to huge traffic jams.

Can you post the street and district address of the seller?

I have family relatively close to the big city, but I can't promise anything.
Last time I asked them to buy a Russian calculator for me in one of the many street markets, I got a T-shirt saying "I love Russia" instead.

I don't think we'll make it on time. The auction ends very soon. Maybe he relists...

Elektronika B3-19M

Thanks for trying to help!

Cheers,
Harald

[Michael de Estrada]

I own that calculator and it is the Soviet equivalent of the HP-35, much better quality than the later Elektronikas. The actual case color is almost white, not the orange as shown in the listing. Although the listing states that it is not in working condition, it might just be that the “land mine” batteries are dead, and it will still work if connected to the charger. It’s definitely worth trying to get it.

[Harald]

(05-18-2018 07:44 PM)Michael de Estrada Wrote:  I own that calculator and it is the Soviet equivalent of the HP-35, much better quality than the later Elektronikas. The actual case color is almost white, not the orange as shown in the listing. Although the listing states that it is not in working condition, it might just be that the “land mine” batteries are dead, and it will still work if connected to the charger. It’s definitely worth trying to get it.

It is the Elektronika equivalent to the Konkret 600. It uses Russian chips, but is made in GDR. I have an Elektronika B3-19M with a broken case that I have transplanted into the case of a konkret 100, wich is easy to get and cheap. The konkret 100 is the same orange as the B3-19M in the link.



It is a nice calculator, but nowhere near as good as the HP35.

It has a 3 level stack.
It requires a clear all after power up as it is not in adefined state. More often than not the display remains blank until it is cleared.
It is possible to crash it, requiring a power down.
And the calculator forensic test result is 36.58348.

But I still want one in nice condition
Cheers Harald

[Zaphod]

Jebem Wrote:Last time I asked them to buy a Russian calculator for me in one of the many street markets, I got a T-shirt saying "I love Russia" instead.

Maybe if you ask for a t-shirt a calculator might be forthcoming >......

[jebem]

Halo, Harald,
Did you contact the seller?
I understand this is required especially for new bidders on that auction site, otherwise the seller states that he/she will not consider the bid.
Also a phone number would be essential to call the seller and clarify the selling conditions.
I will ask my mother in law to call her sister in Moscow most probably tomorrow as it is too late ti call now.

[Harald]

(05-18-2018 08:48 PM)jebem Wrote:  Halo, Harald,
Did you contact the seller?
I understand this is required especially for new bidders on that auction site, otherwise the seller states that he/she will not consider the bid.
Also a phone number would be essential to call the seller and clarify the selling conditions.
I will ask my mother in law to call her sister in Moscow most probably tomorrow as it is too late ti call now.

No, I did not contact him. He seems very specific about not selling outside Moscow. So I thought there was no point in trying if I can't pick it up. Also I am not sure how he will react to a request in English.

Let's wait what she says.

Thanks,
Harald

[jebem]

(05-18-2018 09:13 PM)Harald Wrote:  

(05-18-2018 08:48 PM)jebem Wrote:  Halo, Harald,
Did you contact the seller?
I understand this is required especially for new bidders on that auction site, otherwise the seller states that he/she will not consider the bid.
Also a phone number would be essential to call the seller and clarify the selling conditions.
I will ask my mother in law to call her sister in Moscow most probably tomorrow as it is too late ti call now.

No, I did not contact him. He seems very specific about not selling outside Moscow. So I thought there was no point in trying if I can't pick it up. Also I am not sure how he will react to a request in English.

Let's wait what she says.

Thanks,
Harald

My wife got home at 21h00 (mid-night in Moscow i think), so we could not contact anyone in Moscow, but she read the auction and you are right - The seller is very clear on that. No posting to anywhere, only collecting in South Moscow.
So there is no point in writing to him, even in Russian.

I got some details concerning a trip to the seller from my family home.

To be realistic, we are talking about a old woman living in North-East outside Moscow metropolitan area, so the only transport she could use is the bus service that takes at least 1 hour or maybe 2 hours depending on the traffic, just to reach the north blue metro line (1st station).
Then she would need to change to the green line at Revolution Square to go South to where the seller is delivering the goods. This metro trip would take at very least 55 minutes according to the metro site.
So we are talking here on a full day consumed on a trip to collect a calculator and back, and then going to the local Post Office to send it to you.

Tomorrow my wife will see if she can reach her aunt and see what she thinks about this, but don't count too much on it.
Apparently she have some heath issues and her son is busy working on weekdays and use his spare time to rebuild his house, so chances are not so good.

Meanwhile perhaps some other member living in Moscow will pop up here.
Who knows.

[jebem]

(05-18-2018 08:14 PM)Zaphod Wrote:  

Jebem Wrote:Last time I asked them to buy a Russian calculator for me in one of the many street markets, I got a T-shirt saying "I love Russia" instead.

Maybe if you ask for a t-shirt a calculator might be forthcoming >......

Only if they can find a calculator saying " I love Russia"

[Harald]

(05-18-2018 10:15 PM)jebem Wrote:  

(05-18-2018 09:13 PM)Harald Wrote:  No, I did not contact him. He seems very specific about not selling outside Moscow. So I thought there was no point in trying if I can't pick it up. Also I am not sure how he will react to a request in English.

Let's wait what she says.

Thanks,
Harald

My wife got home at 21h00 (mid-night in Moscow i think), so we could not contact anyone in Moscow, but she read the auction and you are right - The seller is very clear on that. No posting to anywhere, only collecting in South Moscow.
So there is no point in writing to him, even in Russian.

I got some details concerning a trip to the seller from my family home.

To be realistic, we are talking about a old woman living in North-East outside Moscow metropolitan area, so the only transport she could use is the bus service that takes at least 1 hour or maybe 2 hours depending on the traffic, just to reach the north blue metro line (1st station).
Then she would need to change to the green line at Revolution Square to go South to where the seller is delivering the goods. This metro trip would take at very least 55 minutes according to the metro site.
So we are talking here on a full day consumed on a trip to collect a calculator and back, and then going to the local Post Office to send it to you.

Tomorrow my wife will see if she can reach her aunt and see what she thinks about this, but don't count too much on it.
Apparently she have some heath issues and her son is busy working on weekdays and use his spare time to rebuild his house, so chances are not so good.

Meanwhile perhaps some other member living in Moscow will pop up here.
Who knows.

Hi Jose,

Thanks for your efforts, but I don't think I would want to send an old woman all across Moscow to get a calculator for me. Had she lived near by, or passed the area on a regular commute, it would have been fine.
Or maybe a teenager who had time on his hands and would like to earn some money...

Maybe someone else will come forward here on the forum.

Cheers,
Harald

[jebem]

(05-18-2018 10:26 PM)Harald Wrote:  Thanks for your efforts, but I don't think I would want to send an old woman all across Moscow to get a calculator for me. Had she lived near by, or passed the area on a regular commute, it would have been fine.
Or maybe a teenager who had time on his hands and would like to earn some money...

Maybe someone else will come forward here on the forum.

Cheers,
Harald

I guess I have to agree with you, unfortunately.
My wife called her this morning but she was not really comfortable to travel around Moscow alone. Should her son be available, it would be a different story.
Sorry to not being able to help you at this time.
I really would like to see you (or another forum member for that matter) to be able to acquire that nice calculator.

Personally, I never succeed in getting a single item from those Russian selling sites (the same applies to Spanish or French ones that I have tried).
Either they don't bother to reply to my written requests for information and begging, or when they do, they just say "No, thanks".
And that is why TAS is the single international trust-able (to a point) auction site that everybody sooner or later is adopting to be able to get what they need.

[Harald]

(05-19-2018 01:27 PM)jebem Wrote:  

(05-18-2018 10:26 PM)Harald Wrote:  Thanks for your efforts, but I don't think I would want to send an old woman all across Moscow to get a calculator for me. Had she lived near by, or passed the area on a regular commute, it would have been fine.
Or maybe a teenager who had time on his hands and would like to earn some money...

Maybe someone else will come forward here on the forum.

Cheers,
Harald

I guess I have to agree with you, unfortunately.
My wife called her this morning but she was not really comfortable to travel around Moscow alone. Should her son be available, it would be a different story.
Sorry to not being able to help you at this time.
I really would like to see you (or another forum member for that matter) to be able to acquire that nice calculator.

Personally, I never succeed in getting a single item from those Russian selling sites (the same applies to Spanish or French ones that I have tried).
Either they don't bother to reply to my written requests for information and begging, or when they do, they just say "No, thanks".
And that is why TAS is the single international trust-able (to a point) auction site that everybody sooner or later is adopting to be able to get what they need.

Jose,

I would like to thank you for putting thought and effort into this anyway!
We'll see, maybe someone else comes up with an idea.

It is strange how people are afraid to sell internationally. Even on eBay UK there are a lot of items that don't ship internationally. Luckily I have a friend there who just piles up the boxes until I visit him

Cheers,
Harald

[brickviking]

One of the reasons could be the cost of postage, that can often make the price not so fantastic. Certainly getting stuff from private sellers doesn't come with the same postage discounts that big organizations (Amazon) can manage.

One example (several years ago now) consisted of a plastic container. Container's cost was about $23, but the postage to get it here was $120 or so. It takes pride of place as being nearly the most expensive postage for an item we've ever bought.

(Post 227)

[Denis CAMUS]

(05-19-2018 08:45 PM)brickviking Wrote:  One of the reasons could be the cost of postage, that can often make the price not so fantastic. ....
One example (several years ago now) consisted of a plastic container. Container's cost was about $23, but the postage to get it here was $120 or so. It takes pride of place as being nearly the most expensive postage for an item we've ever bought.

(Post 227)

Have you saw on TAS cost of postage from GB ?

[Dan]

What is TAS? I've never heard of it!

[jebem]

(05-20-2018 05:53 AM)Dan Wrote:  What is TAS? I've never heard of it!

The Auction Site.

Concerning Russian/Ukraine /USSR products:
I have been buying them from TAS, incuding calculators, radios and electronics parts like germanium transistors, without any issues so far.
Fair prices for s&h and never got to pay import duties (i'm based in Europe).

[Maximilian Hohmann]

(05-20-2018 06:59 AM)jebem Wrote:  Concerning Russian/Ukraine /USSR products:
I have been buying them from TAS, incuding calculators, radios and electronics parts like germanium transistors, without any issues so far.
Fair prices for s&h and never got to pay import duties (i'm based in Europe).

Same here (but I never bought expensive stuff there). Compared to what sellers from the US usually charge for shipping, shipping cost from everywhere else in the world is a negligible factor (China sellers usually ship free!). Therefore I would rather buy small stuff from the Ukraine than from the US.

And regarding "domestic shipping only" in eBay listings, the majority of sellers I have contacted by mail instantly agreed on international shipping at buyers expenses.

[Dan]

(05-20-2018 06:59 AM)jebem Wrote:  

(05-20-2018 05:53 AM)Dan Wrote:  What is TAS? I've never heard of it!

The Auction Site.

Did a Google search, but I can't find it. Strange.

[Harald]

(05-21-2018 08:33 AM)Dan Wrote:  

(05-20-2018 06:59 AM)jebem Wrote:  The Auction Site.

Did a Google search, but I can't find it. Strange.

The Auction Site Aka eBay