HP35 Price on ebay - what am I missing?

[Harald]

Found this nice looking 35 on ebay. But I am surprised where bidding finished on it. Am I missing something? Why is this 35 so special?

[Chr Yoko]

Nothing IMHO !!!

Better buy some new and modern machines such as the ones from SwissMicro, or even a 35S.
... at a fraction of that price. You can even buy several different ones.

[Namir]

Agree with Yoko! Save your money for the upcoming Siwss Micros DM41X. Even the DM42 is worth it. I used one to test generating 1000 random numbers and see what mean and std deviation I get. The DM42 returned the retults very quickly!!!

Namir

[Harald]

Had it been a red dot 35 I could understand from a collectors point of view, but this seems to be a regular Singapur made unit. So is it just the good condition that lead to this price, or am I missing something?

[Martin Hepperle]

(07-21-2020 09:55 AM)Harald Wrote:  Found this nice looking 35 on ebay. But I am surprised where bidding finished on it. Am I missing something? Why is this 35 so special?

The name of the seller is "provinzler_kaufen_alles", which loosely translated reads "naive country boys buy everything" and he seems to be right...

[Trond]

What did it go for? I'm not surprised by anything anymore, especially not the prices of such collector's items. I always find that if someone says in a discussion that you can find a certain calculator for a certain price, the real price for one in decent condition is usually double that. Many people cite prices of years ago, or of items that they had to repair, or they got exceptionally lucky etc.

[Maximilian Hohmann]

Hello!

(07-21-2020 01:33 PM)Trond Wrote:  What did it go for?

457 Euros. Crazy.

(07-21-2020 01:33 PM)Trond Wrote:  I'm not surprised by anything anymore, especially not the prices of such collector's items.

Usually not, but I think this price surprises almost eveybody here. That is an HP-35 Version 3, so nothing really special. The condition is excellent, but not 457 Euros excellent.

And mind you, the same calculator collectors who bid on this one let me get a very good HP-67 (which is offered rarely compared to the HP-35) für 1/7 of that price...

Regards
Max

[Harald]

(07-21-2020 02:28 PM)Maximilian Hohmann Wrote:  And mind you, the same calculator collectors who bid on this one let me get a very good HP-67 (which is offered rarely compared to the HP-35) für 1/7 of that price...

Regards
Max

I did see that and thought about bidding. But although I bought my 67s at higher prices, I decided I have enough of them already and let the opportunity pass.

[Trond]

(07-21-2020 02:28 PM)Maximilian Hohmann Wrote:  .......

And mind you, the same calculator collectors who bid on this one let me get a very good HP-67 (which is offered rarely compared to the HP-35) für 1/7 of that price...

Regards
Max

OK I'll put that in the "exceptionally lucky" category

[Maximilian Hohmann]

Hello!

(07-21-2020 03:51 PM)Trond Wrote:  OK I'll put that in the "exceptionally lucky" category

No, a little lucky maybe, but not exceptionally. With patience a good HP-67 can still be found in the region of 100 Euros. And an HP-35 for less than 30 Euros. Maybe not in the pristine condition as in this auction but in good condition and working.

Regards
Max

[Didier Lachieze]

I would consider that the HP-35 Red Dot that I got last year for £49 fits in the "exceptionally lucky" category.

But 457 Euros for a regular version 3 HP-35, even in pristine condition, is crazy. Sometime this happens when a few buyers compete on the same item and are ready to pay a lot just to win the auction.

[Don Shepherd]

We haven't roasted coburlin lately, that used to be fun. I think he is still doing business but under another name.

[AndiGer]

(07-21-2020 05:19 PM)Don Shepherd Wrote:  We haven't roasted coburlin lately, that used to be fun. I think he is still doing business but under another name.

You are "looking" for kobel-co I guess

[Sylvain Cote]

(07-21-2020 07:05 PM)AndiGer Wrote:  

(07-21-2020 05:19 PM)Don Shepherd Wrote:  We haven't roasted coburlin lately, that used to be fun. I think he is still doing business but under another name.

You are "looking" for kobel-co I guess

Yep! that's his new name.

[rprosperi]

(07-21-2020 08:36 PM)Sylvain Cote Wrote:  

(07-21-2020 07:05 PM)AndiGer Wrote:  You are "looking" for kobel-co I guess

Yep! that's his new name.

The COVID-19 lock-down has been very good for kobel-co. He now has just under 1000 items listed, all HP Calculator related. All over-priced.

How stupid can buyers be?? I guess 457 Euros proves the answer is: extremely stupid!

[toml_12953]

(07-21-2020 09:55 AM)Harald Wrote:  Found this nice looking 35 on ebay. But I am surprised where bidding finished on it. Am I missing something? Why is this 35 so special?

I'd only pay $300.00 for a working one in excellent cosmetic condition with the hard case and manual but it's obviously worth it to someone.

[toml_12953]

(07-21-2020 09:01 PM)rprosperi Wrote:  

(07-21-2020 08:36 PM)Sylvain Cote Wrote:  Yep! that's his new name.

The COVID-19 lock-down has been very good for kobel-co. He now has just under 1000 items listed, all HP Calculator related. All over-priced.

How stupid can buyers be?? I guess 457 Euros proves the answer is: extremely stupid!

Why do you call them stupid? If they have the money to spend why do people care how they spend it? It's obviously worth it to that person. Someone may say, "You could get it for so much less!" Well time is worth a lot to many people, too. If another one in that condition isn't available now, then that one is the one to buy without having to wait.

[rprosperi]

(07-21-2020 10:45 PM)toml_12953 Wrote:  Why do you call them stupid? If they have the money to spend why do people care how they spend it? It's obviously worth it to that person. Someone may say, "You could get it for so much less!" Well time is worth a lot to many people, too. If another one in that condition isn't available now, then that one is the one to buy without having to wait.

At any given moment, there are at least 5-10 HP-35s for sale for between $50-300, in various states of use and wear. I agree that unit looked to be as close to mint/unused as one will ever find on eBay, and all accessories are complete, and I'd guess that the manual and rear label being in German was very desirable as well. So it appears these characteristics are highly desired by at least 2 of the bidders. Does this make them stupid? Well either stupid or really impatient, at least from my viewpoint.

That said, I'm absolutely certain I've paid 'stupid' amounts for some rare or highly unusual, or emotionally motivated items, at least as seen by others.

Fortunately, my labeling him/her stupid, or others labeling me the same, really has no bearing on anything; beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

But I really was commenting more about the apparently large number of buyers of commonly available items, for overly inflated prices, purchased from kobel-co. Try this: review his listings and then tell us which ones you think are good values, and not available for less, even staying only on eBay.

[grsbanks]

There's one guy on eBay selling a pack of 4 "replacement batteries for HP 49G" (translation: bog standard Duracell AAA batteries) for over $100.

If anyone does buy that, they really do need their head looking at.

[isanchez]

Hi,

I am very respectful how people use their money. In this case, many people concurred to the auction and they are not stupid.

should be good or bad news for us?

Good: if you already have a good collection. It increases in value with each passing day. It is a fact each time it gets more difficult to find these models in such an excelent state. They are getting rare and valuable. In this case is pure market rules. I respect that.

Bad: I you still have to find the last item for your collection ;-D

Enjoy what you already have!

Regards