Twoer

[Jack Crenshaw]

Well, I guess it's time I got my twoer cents in.  As I sit here typing this, I have
behind me a three-voltage power supply in the last stages of construction. I bought it
unbuilt, and am having a ball assembling it. I also have an unbuilt capacitor
substitution box waiting for me to replace the missing hookup wire, before building it.

It seems to me apparent that there are two kinds of people who buy unbuilt kits:  The
folks who see them as collector's items, and the folks who just want to build them.

Now, for those who are collectors, the kits seem to me a pretty solid investment.  After
all, they ain't makin' any more Heathkits, so I think it safe to say that unbuilt
Heathkits are going to get more and more rare, and therefore more and more valuable.
Finding one is no different, IMO, than finding, say, a zero-mileage Shelby Cobra.  The
only difference is the price.

For collectors of any items, be they cars, Barbie dolls, coins, or unbuilt Heathkits (or
built ones, for that matter), a fair price is easy to determine: It's whatever price a
collector is willing to pay.  It is not up to us to decide whether that price is
reasonable or not.  Personally, I would never pay $1,000,000 for a van Gogh, either, but
other people do, and then turn around and sell it for $2,000,000.  That's the business of
art collection, and the price has nothing whatever to do with the value as a usable
object.  It's strictly a matter of what the traffic will bear.

The other group are guys like me, who buy unbuilt kits for the joy of building them.
What we hope to get is (a) a usable electronic device, (b) the fun of building a kit
again, and (c) the nostalgia value of owning a brand-new, good-as-new Heathkit.  For
those three values, we are prepared to pay more than what someone else might think a
power supply, for example, is worth. There are intangibles associated with the item, that
can't be easily priced.  Here again, whose business is it, but ours, what price we pay?

Those of us in group #2, who buy unbuilt kits for the pleasure of building them, are
fully aware that we are competing for the items with those in group #1.  We are also
aware that the time may come, not so far in the future, where the prices set by the
collectors make it infeasible for us to buy the kits to build them.   The value of the
kit clearly goes down once it's built, but we are prepared to take that hit in dollar
value, for the intangible benefits that accrue.

Perhaps the problem is that someone in group #2 is unhappy because they feel that the
price paid for this Twofer makes the price out of reach for them.  In my opinion, that's
tough.  The price is what the price is.  No use crying about it.

Each of us has the option to buy an item, or not buy it.  Personally, I watch eBay for
Heathkits, built and unbuilt, and I am always delighted to have the chance to bid on an
unbuilt kit.  No keeping in the box for me; if I get it, the sucker will get built and
used with pleasure.  I will bid on the item. If the price is too high, I will walk away
and wait for the next one.  Anyone who has bid on auction items knows very well that some
items of identical value bring high prices, some don't.  I shop for the bargains.  I
would advise anyone else to do the same. But if someone doesn't want to wait for the next
bargain, and/or he has enough spare cash to pay for the privilege of winning the item, so
what?  Isn't that the way auctions are supposed to work?  People bid on the items, those
who think the price is too high walk away, and the last man left standing gets it?  Why
is this coming as a surprise to anyone?

Jack

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