...any extra card must be installed horizontally, as with the DayStar adapter.
Per this comment, I've added extra comments today under two of my photos to make it clear that the Daystar SE/30 adapter mounts accelerators "vertically" whereas the TS Adapter mounts them "horizontally." Thank you for mentioning this, Equill.
Nor was any scam involved. The buyer had hazarded that much on the outcome of the auction.
While my post above was pounding on "sellers" mostly, my "Are people that stupid?" question was directed at buyers who keep such sellers in business. It takes two to tango, and both types trouble me. But that is why I explained my experience with a Daystar IIsi adapter. I sold it outside EBAY, not because I am incompetent or afraid of EBAY, but because I felt no need to drive up the price by inducing competition into a situation when one man came to me wanting to buy the card. I also refused the sale at the beginning, due to the fact that the Daystar IIsi adapter is not made to simply plug right into the SE/30.
My problem, as expressed above, with many auctions is they are not specific enough. And in my experience, I have sent emails to many sellers during the listing of various auctions, and I have found that many of these sellers know what they are selling, but they
deliberately hide certain facts so as to drive up the price to unwitting buyers. Are buyers stupid for bidding in such a case? Sure. But many EBAY newbies fall into that category, as I myself did when I first started out. So I cannot be overly harsh on buyers, even though I will admit they bear a large responsibility here.
In the case of the listing posted in this thread, the buyer was stupid if they did not read the Q&A at the bottom of the listing. But the Q&A proves my point about sellers deliberately hiding things. You can see that the seller didn't want to come out and say the truth in his listing. And he only did so when confronted with a direct question about it. No, I don't think the seller was just "busy" and "forgot to mention that point." He knew full well what device he was selling and he knew full well it wouldn't fit into the SE/30 without major frame modification. But he also knows that Daystar branded adapters made for the SE/30 will fetch a high price. That's why he emphasized the SE/30 over the IIsi despite the fact this adapter is made for the IIsi!!! But this seller didn't stop there! No! He went on to emphasize that a competing adapter FOR THE SE/30, made in Japan (i.e., the TS Adapter), costs $200. He said that to drive up his listing price evening though the Daystar IIsi adapter he was selling was in no way comparable to the TS Adapter. Not only does the IIsi Adapter not fit into the SE/30 without major modification, the IIsi adapter also does not accommodate more than one PDS card like the TS Adapter! One would be hard pressed to be MORE misleading than this auction was!!!!
What would I have done if I were the EBAY seller listing that IIsi on EBAY? I would have been truthful. I would have mentioned that the adapter is "electrically compatible with the SE/30" but that "it won't fit without severe modification of the SE/30 chassis." I would not have mentioned the TS Adapter at all. And what would the result have been if the seller had said that? I don't know exactly, but I can say that I would have far greater respect for the seller, as I am sure would most classic Mac buyers on EBAY. And you know what? Buyers often bid higher when an honest and open seller is pitching a given item on EBAY. So honesty does bring financial rewards.
And that is my entire point here. No, I am not trying to single-handedly destroy EBAY or capitalism, for crying out loud. Nor do I think my words can usher in a Utopian society where are all men start doing what is right in business. I am more conservative than most of you out there and a realist too. But I believe in honesty and the presenting of "all the facts," and I am not ashamed of shouting it from the highest hill. Simply grabbing an old computing device, shooting a photo and labeling it as "RARE" and "Vintage" is not my idea of "honesty and integrity" on the part of a seller -- especially if that device won't fit inside another device you mentioned in your listing title!
As a business owner myself, I have made it a point to have the highest standard of ethical integrity in my own business. I therefore cannot agree with or become excited over lower standards of sales integrity.
