The Price Of Tea In China (Or: The Cost of a Space Saving M)

[phosphorglow]

So... Sure, there are a lot less SSK's than extended boards, so they're perhaps a bit harder to find, maybe even "rare"(ish).

But... the current going prices of these boards is a bit excessive, isn't it?

Not that I'm entirely complaining, I mean, I do have a small stockpile of them that need a tremendous amount of love and work, and the money is really helpful, but I can't help but feel a little bad. I feel like the current prices are outside the reach of a number of people who would truly appreciate the boards for what they are, and not putting rarity in their primary rationale.

Or am I just speaking like a mad man?

I'd like some opinions. What would YOU consider to be a fair price based on the current trends that's within comfortable range for the truly appreciative user?

Though I do have a number of SSK's, the number is finite and I really want them to continue going to great homes.

[Muirium]

Born just across the river from here, a man by the name of Adam Smith investigated this problem several centuries ago. A fair price is what the market will pay.

If you want to exclude hoarders collectors, then offer your sales to people who don't already have an SSK. A little trust would still be involved, but that's just how information flow in a free market works, my dear regulator!

Anyway, as for my own SSK, I do indeed enjoy it very much and it's likely my leading keyboard in hours of use. (I try to mix them up.) The SSK lies in that vital overlap between buckling spring and compact form factor*. The irritating thing about it is that Unicomp doesn't make them, so SSKs are a strictly limited resource compared to full size Model Ms. Seeing as IBM used to sell them for the same price as their full size brothers (so I've always heard) I'd guess that the imaginary all-things-equal price would be identical. But it's not, and it isn't.

*I also have a Kishsaver, which I'm looking forward to using for real, too.

[7bit]

The funny thing is that I can get 122 key model Ms for almost free, even though they are much more useful and only few of them work with a PC out of the box.

[phosphorglow]

The funny thing is that I can get 122 key model Ms for almost free, even though they are much more useful and only few of them work with a PC out of the box.

Those things simply command your attention. I really need to dig into one of my 122's as I have a feeling one might become my daily driver...


And Muirium, thanks for that! Gives me something to chew on. Based on the conversations I've had, I know that each keyboard I've put out there has gone to a kind and awesome new owner, so that's neat.

...well, except for one. I try not to think about that one.
(it got gobbled up by one of those ebay monster accounts that buys things hundreds of times a day after the fellow decided to resell it, so it's probably just sitting boxed up in some storage facility on another planet. Probably.)

[sth]

i think the prices are absolutely ridiculous. unless the seller is charging for labor involved with bolt/floss modding, repair and/or restoration, the markup from the original seller is just greed and because of that individual's greed, the secondhand market is also affected. thanks, adam.

[Muirium]

Well, where there's a price, there's a way.

http://deskthority.net/keyboards-f2/a-p ... t6977.html

Once SSKs catch the eye of Chinese manufacturers, we could be in for some innovation once again. Because as much as I love my old SSK, it could really use a full set of mods. Classics are one thing, frozen evolution is another.

The cheeky buggers are cloning Topre already, and making improvements while they do:

http://deskthority.net/news-reviews-f4/ ... t6741.html