Pioneer SX 1980 surpasses 26k in eBay bidding

It's not common to see hidden bidder names. In fact, I can't remember the last time I saw hidden names on eBay. There are also two retracted bids in the ~$27K range. Could easily have been a situation where someone who had deep pockets and really wanted the stereo, but just not to the tune of $27K. Put in a high price just to insure he gets it, and meanwhile, the shills bid the thing up bit by bit until they surpass the legitimate bidder's max. At that point, retract! I bet we'll this thing relisted and sold for a more reasonable price, in the $6-8K range.

 

Ebay's fees are pretty low if you just want to launder money???

 

Usually when that is done, the intention is to "flush out" the real underbidder's maximum which would not be known unless exceeded. They could have put in $50K or $100K for all anyone knows before retracting.

Shrewd bidders never bid until the final moments lest provide other participants the opportunity to increase their bid amounts.

In any case I strongly doubt anybody in their right mind would have it shilled into the range it is now and jeopardize losing real money on the item - especially when reserve was likely met far lower than it is now.

 

Most dont have private buyer restrictions. You typically see a scrambled bidder name with two letters and asterisks in between (a****b) and that stays consistent so you can see it's the same bidder though you dont know who particularly. This person has private buyer enabled, which doesn't even allow you to see that. I'm not accusing the seller of anything, but this is more uncommon in my experience.

 

Almost like someone is trying to artificially inflate the value of the model for some reason?

 

This very minute there is another one selling in “mint” condition (no box) for $1,300 plus $100 shipping. It’s on eBay. Who would want to pay 20 times that?
Pioneer SX-1080 Receiver. Mint condition, sounds great! | eBay

 

Not the same units. The 1080 is completely different (and inferior) to the 1980. However, 26k is ridiculous.

 

Well, that is a 1080, not a 1980. 120 vs 270 wpc. Surely you see the value in paying an additional $166 each for every one of those additional 150 watts, right? 5 minutes left to bid!

 

Oh. My mistake!

 

Eff me holy schmokes!!!!!!!

 

Those old discrete phono sections are to die for.

 

I’ve never seen one of these old receivers that can adjust capacitance.

 

Nobody obsessed over such things back then.

 

And yet this one can do it on all three phono inputs.

 

I'll have to look at the manual, now I'm curious.

 

Perhaps the buyer is just a collector with deep pockets. As a collector, I can see someone wanting a truly unused unit. And if he can afford it - who's to say nay?

 

Allow me to cast my "that's nuts" vote as well.

I love those vintage Pioneer receivers, but that really is nuts.

Jeff

 

How much of a cut does eBay get?

 

Total fa la la la. Open box means likely used. The person in question selling it says it's unused as there are no marks on speaker terminals. I can't recall marking any terminals myself on amps. The bidders are insane or rich or both.

 

Between eBay and PayPal, I usually see 10% taken from my auctions. I’ll usually net around 90% from an eBay sale when the buyer pays with PayPal.

 

For sure the happy (?) buyer will be replacing (at least) the capacitors.

 

Interesting about the $5k range -- the original 1978 retail list was $1295.00 which is $5,250 now.

 

Japanese collector.

 

Maximum value fee is $750. Local pickup specified so I'd expect the seller will try to get the buyer to pay in person. Otherwise I believe Pay Pal would charge a 3% transfer fee which would be $786. So total fees of $1,536/$26,200 = 5% fees total in this case. Not a bad price to pay if the reserve was only $10,000.

 

That actually makes a lot of sense, I hadn't thought of that. Still seems extremely excessive though.