The TV is way over. What irritates me is the flat rate shipping rip off!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=3638&item=6119311787&rd=1

They may be trying to discourage having the item shipped with this price...and if someone wants to have it shipped, then the auction house makes a profit on it.
I don't understand the high reserve...what people run the bidding up to on ebay is usually indicative of its real value (or even more than its real value). If this seller is an auction house they should understand that. You can't make something valuable, just by putting a high price on it (although this strategy is often tried, I personally have never seen it work).

I agree the price is high for this set. Seems to be a clean '59-'60 RCA. The seller does offer several shipping options and a local buyer could just pick it up.

Originally posted by Steve D.
I agree the price is high for this set.

So do I. This was a good set in its day (my aunt had a similar model that worked very well for many years), but I doubt if it sold for anywhere near $200 when it was new. The shipping charges are indeed far too high as well.

The BIN amount is ridiculous. It seems to me that the seller is just trying to get as much as possible from the sale. There is a fair price at which to start any auction (or to use as a BIN), but $200 for a TV set that's not especially rare is nowhere near that (fair, that is). I could see it if this were a one-of-a-kind set, but this model RCA isn't that rare--yet, anyhow. Maybe the seller is basing the BIN amount on the fact that this is a "real" RCA Victor television, made decades before a company called Thomson started putting its sets into cabinets bearing the modern stylized RCA logo, which was introduced, IIRC, in the late '60s. Heck, this model even has RCA's once-famous "RCA Victor" script logotype on the front panel.

However, I noticed something else that doesn't seem right. If this does not sell at its current BIN price, the seller will relist it at an even higher BIN! (I hate to think how high it might go.)

Good grief. One would think the set was made of solid gold. (Even Zenith's b&w TVs with Gold Video Guard tuners, which in fact had 24-karat-gold contact points on the channel strips, weren't that expensive new, and certainly not used--I don't think, though their color sets probably were.)

Personally, I wouldn't pay anywhere near $200 for a 17" television set (VHF only, not cable ready) which is old enough to vote, and then some, even if it were working and in excellent condition--unless it was extremely rare. This seller is probably, even likely, just trying to get as much money as he/she legally can from this sale, as I mentioned above.

The seller at least cautions that the TV may not work for the winning bidder. That's being honest, and I give the seller credit for being so, but I wouldn't spend even half of this set's BIN on repairs if anything went wrong with it. The CRT alone could cost an arm and a leg to replace. In this model it is a 17DKP4, which could be difficult or impossible to find. One can get a brand-new color TV for less than this set's BIN--one that will work right out of the box. Bidders on the RCA 17" portable on ebay would be wise to consider that. Caveat emptor--let the buyer beware.

Originally posted by Jeffhs
So do I. This was a good set in its day (my aunt had a similar model that worked very well for many years), but I doubt if it sold for anywhere near $200 when it was new. The shipping charges are indeed far too high as well. The total cost of this thing (the BIN plus shipping charges) will be as much as one would have paid for a new color set 35+ years ago. :yikes:

The BIN amount is ridiculous. It seems to me that the seller is just trying to get as much as possible from the sale. There is a fair price at which to start any auction (or to use as a BIN), but $200 for a TV set that's not especially rare is nowhere near that (fair, that is). I could see it if this were a one-of-a-kind set, but this model RCA isn't that rare--yet, anyhow. Maybe the seller is basing the BIN amount on the fact that this is a "real" RCA Victor television, made decades before a company called Thomson started putting its sets into cabinets bearing the modern stylized RCA logo, which was introduced, IIRC, in the late '60s. Heck, this model even has RCA's once-famous "RCA Victor" script logotype on the front panel. :dunno:


However, I noticed something else that doesn't seem right. If this does not sell at its current BIN price, the seller will relist it at an even higher BIN! (I hate to think how high it might go.)

Good grief. One would think the set was made of solid gold. (Even Zenith's b&w TVs with Gold Video Guard tuners, which in fact had 24-karat-gold contact points on the channel strips, weren't that expensive new, and certainly not used--I don't think, though their color sets probably were.)

Personally, I wouldn't pay anywhere near $200 for a 17" television set (VHF only, not cable ready) which is old enough to vote, and then some, even if it were working and in excellent condition--unless it was extremely rare. This seller is probably, even likely, just trying to get as much money as he/she legally can from this sale, as I mentioned above.

The seller at least cautions that the TV may not work for the winning bidder. That's being honest, and I give the seller credit for being so, but I wouldn't spend even half of this set's BIN on repairs if anything went wrong with it. The CRT alone could cost an arm and a leg to replace. In this model it is a 17DKP4, which could be difficult or impossible to find. One can get a brand-new color TV for less than this set's BIN--one that will work right out of the box. Bidders on the RCA 17" portable on ebay would be wise to consider that. Caveat emptor--let the buyer beware.

If this set came up at a "live" auction the bidding would go like this"

"Do I hear $200? $180? $150? $100? Come on folks, $50? You're not looking at what you're getting here, folks, $25? $10? $5? Give me a dollar bill..."

People using ebay to buy and sell need to know the rules. If you pay too much for an item, whose fault is it? The nature of most businesses is to make as much money as possible, not merely satisfy a few AK participants. I paid more dearly for some items I really wanted and needed. I had to bid higher to get the item. Let the buyer beware, that's all.

Mike

I even remember bidding a "half" dollar on a Zenith System 3 console and a Pilot console phono at a farm auction! I started bidding at auctions when I was about 13 yrs. old. I bid $50 for a Dukane rack mount PA system w/ 6CD6 outputs and there was no other bidders...could have got it for a dollar or maybe a half. I then learned better auction bidding strategy.