Why U60's arent worth as much as people think was RE: [SunRescue] What should I pay for this U60

[Christopher Byrne]

I'm going to have the seller pull out the Fibre HBA, and offer them $5,000.

I sent them this explanation on why U60's aren't worth asmuch as their
owners usually think they are <long>


<------------------------------------>

I am going to make you an offer that I'm guessing is lower than what you
expected, but that I think is fair. I say this because I see that you tried
to sell the same combo before and no one met the reserve then either, and I
think I can tell you why.

Unfortunately the U60 is WAY overpriced by Sun. The new list price of a U60
can reach near $20k. But since the introduction of the SunBlade 1000, Sun
has basically sold 0 U60's. The 1000 is the same price (or cheaper), and at
least twice as capable. Of course this also makes the used prices on U60's
drop dramatically.

In general a U60 on auction won't get any bids if it's much over 5k, and for
that it has to be a 2450 with at least 512 megs of ram. Since Sun dumped a
bunch of 450's on the market the 360's have lost about 40% of their value.
You rarely see a 360 hit much more than $3500 these days.

Also people generally don't purchase U60's with displays since they can
usually get a display locally for less because of the added shipping costs.
In general, displays on auction don't sell for mutch because of that.

I understand that you payed a hell of a lot for these items, and that you
would like to recoup as much value as possible, but because of their
inflated initial retail price they just aren't worth as much as Sun would
have you believe, and because of the dumping of machines on the auction
market, the resale value is even lower.

Let me show you what I'm talking about here.

A brand new (direct from sun at retail price) U60 2450 with a gig of ram, a
36 gig drive, Creator3D, and the flat screen display is $18,795.00

New 450 processor modules are $5500 and 360 modules are $3000, a $2500
difference per module for a total of $5000. So I calculate that for a brand
new machine like the one you describe, the price would be around $13,795.00
That would include the sun warranty etc.

Sun also sell remanufactured machines at retail, typically for about 35%
less than the new price (also with warranty). I looked on Suns Site, and
sure enough they list U60 2360's  with 512 megs and a 21" for around $8k.
The reman prices fluctuate a lot, and they can be different hour to hour
depending on stock. These remans include factory warranty, and are eligible
for Sun service plans.

These are probably the numbers you thought of when you set your price for
the item. Unfortunately as I said, Sun sets unrealistcally high retail
prices on the U60, and the SB1000 has chopped the market for U60's. These
days most U60's are sold as part of a package deal in large purchases, or
they are sold through EBay by Sun.

Once again, these are brand new, in the box, full warranty machines.

If someone has a purchasing agreement with Sun, or one of their major
resellers, they can get up to 40% off that retail price, and the auction
price is typically 50% or more off retail (this includes reman machines as
well)

I can get a new U60 2450, with elite 3dm6, 512 megs ram, and a 21" glass
monitor at auction from Sun for $7500
The exact same machine retails for $16,500.00 on store.sun.com, a difference
of 55%.

A 1450 with the same config but no display goes for about $4500 and with a
gig of ram goes for about $5500, basically adding $1000 for the extra 512
megs of RAM.

The machines without the 21" display sells for about $625 less. Basically
sun cuts the retail price of their monitors in half when they include them
in an auction configuration. The 21" retails for $1250 and they cut $625 off
the price for no display. If we apply that same logic to the flat screen
which retails for $2500 they would charge $1250 at acution. This matches up
with  what I have seen the diplays for seperately on auction.

BTW, Sun never gets many bidders at these prices. They repost the same
machines in a few weeks for $500 to $1000 less and then they usually get
sold. In fact I was planning on buying one of these 2450's when they dropped
a grand from the price, until I saw your auction.

Okay so lets calculate what Sun would charge for this machine at auction.
1. Brand new U60 2450 with Elite3dm6, 512megs, and a 21" is $7500

total: $7500

2. A new 450 cpu module sells for $5500, and a new 360 sells for $3000. On
auction cut those prices in half, and the difference between the two is
still $1250 per CPU, $2500 for both.

total: $5000

3. A brand new Elite 3D m6 is $3k and a brand new Creator3D is $800. Once
again cut those in half for auction prices, for $1500 and $400, an $1100
difference.

total $3900

4. Pull the 21" off and get $625 back, then add $1250 for the flat panel,
for a $625 increase

total $4525

5. Add $1000 for the extra RAM

total $5525

I figure that's what sun would auction these machines off for. I'm
discounting the difference in disk price. You have 2 9's and they are
selling them with one 36, the price difference is probably negligible. As I
said, these machines are new, in the box, with Sun warranty.

The last few U60 2360's to sell on ebay by private sellers went for between
3k and 3500 depending on disk and video card. All of the machines I was
looking at had 512 megs of RAM and no monitor. If you add in the extra for
the RAM and display at Sun auction prices it still comes out to around $5000
<------------------------------------------------->


-----Original Message-----
From: rescue-admin at sunhelp.org [mailto:rescue-admin at sunhelp.org]On
Behalf Of Eric Ozrelic
Sent: Saturday, March 03, 2001 13:26
To: rescue at sunhelp.org
Subject: RE: [SunRescue] What should I pay for this U60


Around $5,750 for it would be fair. Although he may think you're trying to
lowball him. Especially if he was the original owner/buyer of this
workstation. He paid much more for it if he bought it from sun.

Regards,

Eric Ozrelic
Computer/Network Consultant

1532 NW West Hills Ave
Bend OR 97701-1043

http://www.sunhelp.org/mailman/listinfo/rescue