Car Boot Bargains

[Mike Watterson]

"Vidor vhf valve portable for a pound."
Extremely rare and desirable. Few were ever sold as the market in UK didn't exist till 1970s, unlike Germany which had VHF from 1949 with different programmes to AM.

[peter scott]

A binocular microscope same as this but with heavier stand. £10.

Peter

[Valvebloke]

Refugee,
I doubt if anyone buys the double triodes at those prices ...

Some people do. This pair sold in October http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/pair-Telefunke...SwzaJX6RZj .

VB

[Sparks]

I wonder what they want them for? I know if I get my hands on valuable valves, I can't get rid of them fast enough. I prefer to work with the cheapest, commonest around so I don't have to feel bad if one fails Apart from the R valves shown above, I have found a couple of PX4s on the boot sale, a load of 6SN7s and one or two 5U4Gs. My wife came home one day with a tall jam jar full of 955 acorns for a couple of pounds, but I kept those! I did come across a KT66, but when I tested it, its filament was gone!
Bob

[Crackle]

Refugee,
I doubt if anyone buys the double triodes at those prices.    I don't know why it happens, but lots of things are advertised online for crazy prices.    A book I had published in 2006 (Nothing to do with radio) was originally marketed at £14.99 and sold out long ago, but there is a copy on Amazon for £698.97, which is absolutely  ridiculous as it is only a softback!
Bob

I have seen crazy prices for every day items on Ebay. I once contacted the seller of one, he replied and said he had run out of stock and had deliberately moved the decimal point a couple of places to put people of buying them.

Mike

[Mark Hennessy]

Yes, it saves them having to take down the listing, and re-creating it when stock arrives. And, in the meantime, well I suppose you never know

[Valvebloke]

I wonder what they want them for?

Usually to put in hi-fi amps or guitar amps.

It's been very well known for a very long time that people's appreciation of the sound of an audio system can be very strongly influenced by their beliefs about that system. If they believe that it is broken then it will sound broken to them, even if it measures fine. Likewise if they believe that it is perfect then it will sound perfect even if the audio analyser says it isn't.

Enough people believe that certain valves sound better than others (in some senses at least this can be objectively true) that the demand for them exceeds the supply. In this case the price rises until the demand is throttled back (fundamental law of economics). That's the market price, even if the 'market' is a very few wealthy enthusaists.

The example I quoted, incidentally, wasn't one of those where the seller put a silly price on an item. That really was the selling price, according to eBay (which means, at the minimum, that the seller paid them the selling fee on that price).

VB

[Refugee]

Refugee,
I doubt if anyone buys the double triodes at those prices.    I don't know why it happens, but lots of things are advertised online for crazy prices.    A book I had published in 2006 (Nothing to do with radio) was originally marketed at £14.99 and sold out long ago, but there is a copy on Amazon for £698.97, which is absolutely  ridiculous as it is only a softback!
Bob

There is the odd seller that advertises at item at a huge price in the hope that someone will get drunk and buy it by mistake.
At other times overpriced items may just become a fixtures and get passed by like a bits of street furniture.
It it just the way life is on E-bay. If all you want to do is watch then it just becomes a harmless activity that will use up loads of time. No harm done.
I mostly use E-bay for estimating prices by viewing listings that have ended and only buy the odd small item every few months.

[kalee99]

Hi all,
I have noticed one regular seller on the internet auction site selling small vintage electronic items like valve battery radios & parts. He is based in Cyprus and his starting bid is always £1000
I suspect some kind of money laundering or a scam of some sort but if someone wants to pay £1000+ for a Vidor battery valve radio than that is up to them
Paul.

[Pat Pending]

I'd better get started on the vanguard restoration straight away ££££££££.
Only joking, the day I found that set was in my top ten, they would have to pry it out of my cold dead hands!
Cheers,
Andy.