A fever for Yashica Lynx 14?

alex ph · Joined: 16 Mar 2013 Posts: 1680

Looking through sold items info at ebay, I ascertain an unusual gold rush effect targeting Yashica Lynx 14. It is not global and seems to only cover European zone.

While in the US ebay there are more than one or two Lynxs sold at 40-50$, and a professionally checked copy from Australia was traded at an equivalent of 250 euros, a modest "Idunno" copy from Germany, with non working shutter, got the final bid of at 351 euros. I the last day of the auction the price lifted tenfold. When I saw that, I was pretty much confused. A couple more copies are sold by European ebay sellers at 165 and 219 euros, which is more than the usual selling rate turning around 100 euros.

I wonder if it is a special moment or a kind of trend?

cooltouch · Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 9096 Location: Houston, Texas

Hopefully a hiccup. Maybe there will be an upside, though, and prices on the Canon QL17 will drop.

alex ph · Joined: 16 Mar 2013 Posts: 1680

Ha, Michael, that could be a nice upside! Tell us please if you see this in Canon pricing.

Meanwhile I discover another oddly priced item. A Minolta MD 2.8/35 labelled as "rare" (and which seems perfectly regular) was sold for 599 euros by a German seller. What is happening in the European second hand market?

cooltouch · Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 9096 Location: Houston, Texas

I wonder if there might be a basic principle at work here, especially if the supply of used gear begins to change from steady to intermittent. Psychologists have come up with a term, called the Law of Intermittent Gratification, which turns out to be the most powerful form of gratification. Studies of lab animals, like mice or pigeons, were conducted, where first they had a steady supply of food, and they took it for granted, eating only when they felt hungry. Then their food source became intermittent and appeared randomly after this occurred. The animals feeding behavior completely changed. As soon as food appeared, they would eat all that was available, but not only that, they were constantly observing the dispenser for any evidence of more food. So the lab animals went from being bored about their food supply to being obsessed with it in very short order.

alex ph · Joined: 16 Mar 2013 Posts: 1680

The lack of the desired material could explain buyers' compulsive consumption, especially for longly awaited items. The problem with this hypothesis is that there are cheaper Lynxs 14 and Minoltas MD accessible at the market right now!