IIfx ROMS

I'm selling my stash of ROMs ...

One at a time? Will more follow soon? And will you relent about international sales?

de (aka interested party)

I have a bunch of ROM simms for sale as well. Everything from the ROM simm of the SE/30 and Quadra 840, right on up to the Performa 6200 and PowerMac 4400.

Got a sinking boatload of 30 pin simms for sale. Selling these in quantities of 20 for $5.00.

Also have brand new power actuators for the following machines: 7200, 7300, beige G3, etc. These are brand new Apple service parts.

Got brand new nameplates for Apple 5x0 series Powerbooks. These are brand new Apple service parts. Plates available for 520, 540, 520C, and 540C.

Have brand new Apple PCI 90 degree adpater for sale. Have brand new hard drive/CD ROM adapter for slide mount drives like found in the Color Classic, LC 575, Performa 5200, etc.

Brand new Apple Service part battery. Part number 922-0786.
"O" ring kit for Stylewriter II. Part number 076-0487
Drum Drive assembly for Personal Laserwriter. Part number 890-0609
Miscelaneous Apple ribbon cables for floppy drives, hard drives, etc.

Various PowerBook parts including floppy drives, memory, keyboards, hard drives, etc.

Macintosh 512K logic board for sale.
PowerMac 7100 logic board for sale. (No RAM, Cache, or ROM simm)
PowerMac 7100 power supply unit.

Several LocalTalk phonenet connectors.
Various lengths of Localtalk cable.

Asante Etherprint device (No PSU)
Asante EtherTalk device (No PSU)

I'm up to my ying-yang in Macintosh parts. New & Used. If you need it, I probably have it.

I do not have a IIfx ROM for sale. Actually, I do not have any IIfx parts to speak of. Anybody wishing to acquire a IIfx ROM should contact Catmistake.

I do have an actual SE/30 ROM available, but it will not provide the additional functionality that the IIfx ROM provides.

I can't accept payment from international buyers.

PayPal?

TOM

just not from a credit card to paypal... it has to be paypal from your bank account.

... which, regrettably, again rules out most international sales if one does not have a US bank account.

de

just not from a credit card to paypal... it has to be paypal from your bank account.

Um why not? As long as the buyer has a PayPal account it doesn't matter where the funds are coming from (credit card, bank account or from the PayPal balance), the seller just sees it as a PayPal payment. You probably aren't able to accept DIRECT credit card payments (i.e. from people who don't have a PayPal account, just a credit card), but you should be able to accept them through a PayPal account.

TOM

If you want to accept PayPal payments that are funded with a credit card, then you have to upgrade from a "personal" PayPal account to a "premier" PayPal account (or whatever it's called).

After you "upgrade" your account, PayPal takes a cut of all payments you receive - 2.9 percent of the payment, plus a flat 30 cents. PayPal takes this cut even if the payer paid from his or her bank account, or from his or her PayPal balance.

The only way to avoid PayPal fees as a seller is to remain under the "personal" PayPal account category - which prevents buyers from using credit cards as the source of their PayPal payments to you.

So let's say a buyer owes you $50 but only has $20 in his PayPal account. The buyer has to do an instant transfer of $30 to his PayPal account, in order to be able to send you the full $50. If you, the seller, have a "personal" - i.e. no-fee - PayPal account, then the seller has to do that instant transfer from his bank account. He cannot do it from his credit card.

If you have a "premier" PayPal account, then the buyer can do an instant transfer of that $30 from his credit card to his PayPal balance and pay you with it. But then you will only actually receive $48.25 of that $50 payment, because PayPal will take 2.9% plus 30 cents, or in this case $1.75. Even if he does the transfer from his bank account - or even if he already had the necessary $50 sitting in his PayPal balance - you will still only get $48.25, because you have a "premier" account which has the ability to accept CC-funded payments.

Best,
Matt

Weeeeellll, if the choice is a sale or no sale, many of us choose to go with a sale and eat the PayPal surcharge. Believe it or not, merchants accepting CCs are happy (alright, not happy, but accept the reality) to pay a little to move merchandise. Is it worth it for a private individual? Up to the individual of course, but it seems to me to be a tad short-sighted to preclude a sale because you won't pay for CC handling.

Heck, if it's really an issue, just state as part of your sale terms you'll accept PayPal CC if the buyer covers the fees.

dan k

If you want to accept PayPal payments that are funded with a credit card, then you have to upgrade from a "personal" PayPal account to a "premier" PayPal account (or whatever it's called).

After you "upgrade" your account, PayPal takes a cut of all payments you receive - 2.9 percent of the payment, plus a flat 30 cents. PayPal takes this cut even if the payer paid from his or her bank account, or from his or her PayPal balance.

The only way to avoid PayPal fees as a seller is to remain under the "personal" PayPal account category - which prevents buyers from using credit cards as the source of their PayPal payments to you.

So let's say a buyer owes you $50 but only has $20 in his PayPal account. The buyer has to do an instant transfer of $30 to his PayPal account, in order to be able to send you the full $50. If you, the seller, have a "personal" - i.e. no-fee - PayPal account, then the seller has to do that instant transfer from his bank account. He cannot do it from his credit card.

If you have a "premier" PayPal account, then the buyer can do an instant transfer of that $30 from his credit card to his PayPal balance and pay you with it. But then you will only actually receive $48.25 of that $50 payment, because PayPal will take 2.9% plus 30 cents, or in this case $1.75. Even if he does the transfer from his bank account - or even if he already had the necessary $50 sitting in his PayPal balance - you will still only get $48.25, because you have a "premier" account which has the ability to accept CC-funded payments.

Best,
Matt

A Premier account is only needed to accept CC payments from members who DO NOT have PayPal accounts. I can send money from my CC to members with Personal accounts, and they are not charged for it. I send $50 they receive $50. The same works the other way around, people with PayPal accounts can send me money and source it from their CC at no charge.

However if I wanted to allow people to pay by CC without having to have a PayPal account (i.e. just present them with a card details page and take payment with that), then I'd need a Premier account and would be charged the 2.9%.

TOM

No, catmistake is correct. I have run up against this problem many times trying to pay US members from my .au "non-verified, non-US" account. Only commercial grade accounts can accept payments from me. It's a definite PITA and just some internal eBay rule.

... I have run up against this problem many times trying to pay US members from my .au "non-verified, non-US" account ... It's a definite PITA ...

To be reasonable, PayPal deserves credit for enabling non-commercial trading through personal accounts. Premier accounts enable greater flexibility for commercial (volume and value) traders in the sources of payment, certainly, and any savvy trader factors the PayPal costs into starting prices. Private-account traders are spared the concern of these 'brokerage' costs. The greatest inconvenience accrues to non-US buyers, for whom PayPal is incomparably the best channel of payment, far and away better than any of the 'black-hole' methods such as wire transfer, bank draft, and electronic cheque (to name no names). However, after 352 (at least) PayPal transactions, I, having also a .au 'non-verified, non-US' account, would willingly pick up the piffling PayPal levies for a private-account seller if there were a mechanism for doing so. However, PayPal actively discourages any statement from a seller to that effect, in line with the 'savvy trader' bit above.

de

No, catmistake is correct. I have run up against this problem many times trying to pay US members from my .au "non-verified, non-US" account. Only commercial grade accounts can accept payments from me. It's a definite PITA and just some internal eBay rule.

Hmm I've never had a problem with it, I've got a verified non-US (UK) account.

TOM

I just sent $1 from my Visa card to a friend in the US with a personal account, and he sent it back (though from the credit in his PayPal account). Maybe I'm over looking something here... but it seemed to work fine.

TOM

It seems it was taken from an instant bank transfer not from my card. My mistake... but it still seems that it is possible to send any amount to anyone, anywhere, this way.

TOM

Heck, if it's really an issue, just state as part of your sale terms you'll accept PayPal CC if the buyer covers the fees.

PayPal's terms of service state that you can't do that. I doubt they pay attention to what, say, LEM Swap Listers say in their terms of sale, but they might give you trouble if you start setting those kinds of terms of sale in eBay auction descriptions.

Best,
Matt

Now that eBay owns PayPal, they get you coming and going.

Totally.

Matt

Now that eBay owns PayPal, they get you coming and going.

Buggers, eh?

How many of these do you have up for sale?

TOM

$48 for ROM simm for a computer that's worth maybe 1/4 that. Very nicely done! And the prices keep getting generally higher over the six sold so far.

dan k

$48 for ROM simm for a computer that's worth maybe 1/4 that. Very nicely done!

Your definition of 'worth' is perhaps geared to resale. Mine is geared, when it comes to older/elderly/ancient Macs, to the entertainment value of using them. Cheaper, in the long run, and still with more resale value, than getting skinned, plastered or laid as entertainment?

de

Your definition of 'worth' is perhaps geared to resale. Mine is geared, when it comes to older/elderly/ancient Macs, to the entertainment value of using them. Cheaper, in the long run, and still with more resale value, than getting skinned, plastered or laid as entertainment?

I don't understand your response to Dankephoto. I'm going to disect your message and see if I can understand what you're saying.

Dankephoto replied to messages posted by Catmistake about the sales he/she was making on his/her IIfx ROMs. Dankephoto wrote:

$48 for ROM simm for a computer that's worth maybe 1/4 that. Very nicely done!

To which grannysmith responded with this:

Your definition of 'worth' is perhaps geared to resale. Mine is geared, when it comes to older/elderly/ancient Macs, to the entertainment value of using them. Cheaper, in the long run, and still with more resale value, than getting skinned, plastered or laid as entertainment?

I'd like to get an assumption out of the way first. Should I assume that Grannysmith purchased one of these IIfx ROMs and is defending his/her purchase?

Grannysmith begins his/her response with the following sentence:

Your definition of 'worth' is perhaps geared to resale.

This sentence appears to be very straightforward. Grannysmith is suggesting that Dankephoto's definition of 'worth' is consistent with the monetary value one could expect to receive in exchange for merchandise. Presumably, in the context of the thread, Grannysmith is agreeing that the SE/30 may have a resale value of only 25% of the sale price of the IIfx ROM, by Dankephoto's implied use of the word 'worth'.

Grannysmith's next sentence was:

Mine is geared, when it comes to older/elderly/ancient Macs, to the entertainment value of using them.

In this sentence, Grannysmith is suggesting that there is intrinsic value in the SE/30 and/or other older Macintoshes that cannot be measured in terms of dollars and cents. Grannysmith suggests that the entertainment value alone could be equal to or well in excess of the purchase price of the machine.

Grannysmith closes his/her response with the following question:

Cheaper, in the long run, and still with more resale value, than getting skinned, plastered or laid as entertainment?

This is where I may be a little confused. Grannysmith, are you suggesting that a IIfx ROM sold for forty-some odd dollars is cheaper in the long run than getting skinned, plastered, or laid? Or are you suggesting that the forty-some odd dollars would have been better spent on getting skinned, plastered, or laid?

Anyway, I agree wholeheartedly with you, Grannysmith, on your position that older computers can have significantly more value than their resale prices would suggest. I also agree that this intrinsic value allows for prices to fluctuate and vary with availability and demand.

On the last part, I agree with you if you were suggesting the former, an old Mac offers better value than booze or sex, but disagree totally if you were suggesting the latter. I'd put my money into old computers long before I would ever entertain the thought of investing in booze or sex! Personally, I think booze and sex are very bad investments, but that's another story...

I have run up against this problem many times trying to pay US members from my .au "non-verified, non-US" account.

Hmm I've never had a problem with it, I've got a verified non-US (UK) account.

TOM

-v-e-r-i-f-i-e-d-

I'm going to disect your message and see if I can understand what you're saying.

On the whole a reasonable exegesis of my post, although a little astray in the dissection of the third line. But there must be something to be drawn from your taking 25+ lines to paraphrase my four lines?

SE/30s in fine condition have brought up to USD200 in recent times, and not only in Europe or the UK but also in North America. Perhaps the value (by whatever criterion) assigned to them by Dankephoto was a trifle contemptuous? It was certainly gratuitous if Dankephoto is not buying all of catmistakes' IIfx ROMs. And why not a hardware solution to a software shortcoming?

Cheers

Perhaps the value (by whatever criterion) assigned to them by Dankephoto was a trifle contemptuous?

Not contemptuous, just being realistic that's all. Face it, as much as we love these little critters, the market value is virtually nil. Sure, a few will sell at a premium to enthusiasts such as we, but most get dumped for a few bucks (at best!) out there in the big wide world. Frankly, by that token, a value estimate of US$12 is even a bit generous!

And don't think for a second that I'm dissing the fx ROMs mod. Done it myself and were I to come across another affordable fx ROM I'd snap it up in a second. It's just that these here ROMs have sold for more than what I consider affordable. In any case. all power to catmistake for his excellent sales' results. You see what I'm saying?

dan k

Done it myself and were I to come across another affordable fx ROM I'd snap it up in a second. It's just that these here ROMs have sold for more than what I consider affordable.

Nothing in the world (in a commercial sense, at least) is worth more than someone (else) will pay for it. ROMs, SE/30s, whatever. It's that bald. We each must make our own decisions when buying. You didn't consider the subject ROMs affordable. To those without them, it seems that they were so. The whole world of retail is founded on 'must have'. We all drop in and drop out of that mode at will. Good luck to catmistake, sez I.

de

I could use one of these.
Stn

Catmistake...
Kudos for selling these on eBay. I didn't get to bid on your last one. Do you have any more left?

Thanks,
Mike

Just to add more fuel to the flamewar... this is really just a time/money equation. If you want a IIfx ROM SIMM, either buy from this guy now or wait a few years and check every IIfx you find... you'll get one a lot cheaper than $40, but it'll probably take you a long long time.

I believe the reason is that since the IIsi and SE/30 are practically the same, using a IIsi ROM SIMM (which are VERY hard to find) requires less software hacking. Like, the gbly hacks that make the IIfx SIMM SE/30 work aren't necessary, or maybe just not as complicated, with a IIsi SIMM.

... you know, bonzai auctions that happen in the last 30 seconds...

Of course they are, whether it is seen as banzai or not. There's no future in being second-highest bidder at the fall of hammer, nor in beginning timorously with parsimonious and risible increments seven days before the fall of hammer. Auctions are won by deciding what the item is worth to you, assessing your competition, and placing your bid when others have no time left to respond. If someone else desires an item more than you do, and puts in a higher bid, you lose. Tough. On to the next auction.

de

I n the years that I have been in business 3% really is quite reasonable such institutions such as visa and the like have demanded any werer from4 to 5% per sale for a thousand dollar computer that can indeed add up.

I'm impressed with your sales. I bought a IIfx about four years ago at a church thrift store with a 21" monitor and scanner for $20. I loved that machine. Then I found two more IIfx's thrown away behind the University art department here with a couple of very nice Nubus graphic cards. There were some IISI's in the pile too, but I didn't know to bother with them. I finally had to clean house and get rid of them, so I parted out the IIfx's and sold the parts on eBay and made hundreds. The RAM got a very good price. I sold the ROM simms for $25 each off eBay and thought I was getting a good price. $48! Wow! Those SE/30's die hard, don't they?