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I picked up a Toshiba ER-886BT microwave at an estate sale

 
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  • Answered by:John
  • restaurant equipment technician
  • Positive Feedback: 96.9 %
  • Accepted Answers: 1760
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Customer Question

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I picked up a Toshiba ER-886BT microwave at an estate sale that seems to have been especially well cared for. It still had the probe, operating instructions, and even came with a 100+ page cookbook specific to this model. It came with a 10-year warranty; since it applied only to the original purchaser it's a moot point as to whether the registration card was sent in: It's not still under any kind of warranty, but (I believe that) the fact that it was made with a 10-year warranty says something about the quality. It's much bigger than I need (1.6 cu.ft.) and I need to sell it (with a 30-day money back) but don't have any idea what a fair price would be. None listed on eBay or "completed sales" and I don't know of any other price-research engine. Any personal thoughts about a price range that would be fair?

Thanks much!

 

Optional Information:
Make: Toshiba
Model: ER-886BT or ER-876BT

Already Tried:
It never occurred to me to try any other site, as justanswer has always done so well in the past. In the interest of fairness to the expert, the answer I seek is just an "educated guess" with no technical research required. Since I would be satisfied to SELL it for the top-end opinion fee, I don't want to waste a skilled technician's time if he is interested only in questions that require advanced knowledge and experience. I know that $5 sounds cheap, but considering that I'm just asking for a top-of-the-head opinion, I think it's nevertheless reasonable--and it's better that I be up-front with you here.

Submitted: 1006 days and 15 hours ago.
Category: Appliance
Value: $5
Status: CLOSED

Accepted Answer

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Expert:  John replied 1006 days and 8 hours ago.

A good price to start would be $100 to $150. Keep in mind that the price of microwave ovens has diminished over the years, so it will require a buyer who's looking for the larger oven with all the accessories. A good place to advertize the oven is Craiglist.com.

If my answer helps you, please click the 'accept' button.

Thank you for choosing justanswer.

Expert Typerestaurant equipment technician
Category: Appliance
Pos. Feedback: 96.9 %
Accepts: 1760
Answered: 7/19/2010

Experience: 25+ years experience. I'm now employed by a commercial cooking equipment service company

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Customer replied 1006 days and 3 hours ago.

This is the first time I've used JustAnswer for this purpose, and as I explained on the front end, for a shoot-from-the-hip quick opinion if our roles were reversed I'd think $5 would be fair. Your price sounds quite a bit higher than what I'm used to seeing on craigslist, so in an effort to reward effort and acknowledge expertise, how about I prepare a craigslist ad today, priced at $150 OBO w/ free delivery w/in metro area (since you arguably have a stake in this any input you want to suggest for the ad would be welcome) and if the unit sells for $100 I happily pay the $18. More than $100, then proportionally higher than $18. No sale or <$50, then $5 because an opinion in the $100 to $150 range for something that I can't get $50 for despite diligent effort is of minimum usefulness.

 

You have a dissenting viewpoint? If not, I'll send you the URL of the ad when it runs.

 

Mac

 

 

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Expert:  John replied 1006 days and 2 hours ago.

OK. It sounds like you have a lot more experience with Craigslist than I do.

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Customer replied 1006 days and 1 hours ago.

 

It's a side-benefit (said with tongue in cheek) of having a medical condition which the august assemblage of the best diagnosticians in the country (including The Mayo Clinic which, after a week of the same tests I'd had time after time, for $12,000 gave me a six-word diagnosis: "You need to see a neurologist"; it was a neurologist which referred me to the Mayo) that has played some role in this no-longer-vigorously-pursued quest still has not, after over seven years and $119,000 in tests and referrals, bouncing me like a pinball in a machine that's rigged to never TILT, devised an answer, assessment, assumption, belief, conclusion, conjecture, educated guess, estimation, gut feeling, hunch, idea, intuition, opinion, observation, speculation,, thought, theory, view or post hoc ergo prompter hoc association regarding a diagnosis of the symptoms presented: "Peripheral neuropathy with lymphadema & venous stasis of unknown etiology". Those are the symptoms, not the cause; "etiology" is used instead of "cause" because it has three more letters.

 

One of the eight medications I have to take to be "functional" costs $519/month, and because I've worked for 50 years (as of 2005) my SSDI income check "is so high" that I will NEVER qualify for Medicaid. Which is why I've just completed filing for bankruptcy and am trying to nickel-and-dime myself from day to day until I get that Publisher's Clearing House Sweepstakes check.

 

Don't read any anger at you or at being asked in the above; my rage at "this is not what I was promised" when I deferred one gratification after another; and the every-waking-moment pain that takes 10 Methadone and 12 Oxycodone a day to keep in check. But we'll all have a Judgment Day....

 

Yeah, it probably is time for some happy pills....

 

I'm a night owl, so craigslist probably after midnight.

 

Mac

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Customer replied 1003 days and 23 hours ago.

John:

 

In case you actually did try to find my Craigslist listing, one was not placed because listing mine I wanted to see what comparables were selling for--and it's a good thing I did! I found six that were comparable in condition (one was brand new!); features (that was the hardest, because some, such as a rotating platter to assure even cooking, are so common that s seller might feel that since the amount of time a prospective buyer will spend reading an ad is limited, the ad needs to mention the things this one has that others wouldn't, such as a probe and a 100-page cookbook); size (a VERY important consideration, but obviously not one well understood: Mine is large--1.6 cu ft.; others were listed from "4/5 c**t" to one that MUST have been an error: 7.0 c**t); and, finally, the power in watts. Most freezer-to-microwave cooking instructions note that "they were developed for !,000-watt ovens; if yours is lower, increase cooking time accordingly..."

 

So although the comparisons were more apples-and-pears than I would have liked, the recommended price range of $100-!50 OBO was so far off from the $20, $25, $30, $40, and $50 price range from the craigslist prices--and even Amazon was selling brand new units for $39--that I am going to request a $13 refund of the $18 deposit, as indicated at the very beginning. If there's no way to get a partial, I'll request the full $18 & when it is received I'll send you the $5.00.

 

Mac

 

 

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Expert:  John replied 1003 days and 22 hours ago.

I now realize I was completely off in my estimate of value. For that reason I will opt out, and close the question. My apologies.

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Customer replied 1003 days and 14 hours ago.

It's your call--and a very "stand-up guy"/"walk the walk" call it is, that has earned my respect; perhaps again in the future.

 

 

Completely off the subject, JustAnswer's spell checker needs to get its metaphysical/ electronic "potty mind" out of the gutter! The situation reminds me of an event when I was answering "where can I find a ___" for another site, and through sheer coincidence I frequently found myself wanting to recommend a place named "Out water Plastics with the space between [Out] and [water] removed, to make one word"--because if I didn't, the spell checker, diligently protecting the sensitive virtue of those readers born in the 19th Century, would print it "Ou****er Plastics". Kinda hard to "Google" that one.

 

What brought it to mind was my references to the sizes of the microwave ovens in "cubic feet", abbreviated as cu. ft., or, to make it even shorter, cu ft. Spell check let the version where there was a period after [cu] pass on through, but raised the drawbridge if there wasn't a period; in those cases what got printed was "1.6 c**t was obviously much larger than the 0.8 c**t model...."

 

Speaking for myself, I'm greatly relieved to know that I'm not--unknowingly, of course--contributing to the moral turpitude of someone whose knowledge of smut was--before I came along--nil.

 

Mac

 
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