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Fair price for a 302??

Started by HarrySmith, March 06, 2014, 08:01:57 AM

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HarrySmith

After seeing the want ad just posted for a 302, I started thinking( no, it did not hurt ). I recently got a response to my Craigslist ad from a guy wanting an old phone. After several calls, emails and sending pictures he decided on a 302. I pulled on from my to do pile and started working on it. We agreed on a price but after looking at eBay I am beginning to think I screwed myself.
I am asking for opinions on what a fair price for a restored, working 302 should be. Not anything special, not restored to Mcmurdo standards, just a nice looking working phone.
We agreed on $125.00. Think that's too low??
Harry Smith
ATCA 4434
TCI

"There is no try,
there is only
do or do not"

dsk

I guess that may be a fair price. Living with postage for a 302 from USA to Norway at about $65, I use to be careful with buying, and would probably not buy that expensive, even with a full refund, except shipping I will feel insecure.
But in the end it is about what my metal 302 and a dial bought later from Steve Hilsz did cost me.

It is probably not my day but I would probably preferred this: http://tinyurl.com/pvmq6ht
today but rather waited to better one to that price.

Buying from a member here are another case. You will get answers, not only what you see on the picture is what you get.
And of course, easier to trust someone you "know".

It is also an important difference by what he want, I want a look like it has been there in 70 years, and used regularly, but works perfect. I love to fettle with the technical part, not get shiny.

dsk

Sargeguy

#2
When I used to sell them on Etsy that is about what I charged. They were cleaned up, the plastic was polished and buffed and new modular line cords or adapters put on them.  Metal was a little extra, $175 or so for a re-painted one.  The secret is to buy them for $20-25 from someone local to save on shipping.
Greg Sargeant
Providence, RI
TCI /ATCA #4409

Doug Rose

I sell 302s every week on eBay. $79 to $129 for working, dates matching 302s, no chips cracks or missing pieces. Good display phones.

High end are usually metal with good original paint.

Prices have come way down, but I do consistently sell them.

Harry....$125 for a 302 off of eBay to me is a great price....Doug

Kidphone

poplar1

#4
DSK,


Check out the black paint on the fingerstop on the ebay listed 302. That's not good because it indicates the phone was sloppily repainted. In this case, it was done by Bohnsack Equipment Co. of Germantown, NY, and sold wholesale to Radio Shack. RS Catalog #279-371 was sometimes stamped on the orange label. One of the techs there told me he even painted color 302s with the same black paint!
"C'est pas une restauration, c'est une rénovation."--François Martin.

BDM

poplar1 that is interesting. I seem to recall Rat Shack selling phones but didn't know they sold 302s. Interesting factoid on the fingerstop paint. I believe I have 2 or 3 5H dials with painted stops. Never knew why as the number plates never had over-spray or such. Maybe they were Rat Shack re-paints?
--Brian--

St Clair Shores, MI

Babybearjs

are you sure it was a R/S resell.... the only one I ever saw was the imported one from Europe... I think they were getting them from Holland.... BUT, it is possible that R/S bought up these phones from ma bell in the 50's when the 500's came out.... I don't ever remember seeing the 302 in any R/S store when I was a kid.... it was before my time?? or a limited quanity thing....
John

BDM

It sure appears they did as well as other styles I came across with a simple Google search of Rat Shack phones. For only $8.95 :)

--Brian--

St Clair Shores, MI

poplar1

Quote from: Babybearjs on March 20, 2014, 12:39:48 AM
are you sure it was a R/S resell.... the only one I ever saw was the imported one from Europe... I think they were getting them from Holland.... BUT, it is possible that R/S bought up these phones from ma bell in the 50's when the 500's came out.... I don't ever remember seeing the 302 in any R/S store when I was a kid.... it was before my time?? or a limited quanity thing....

I'm pretty sure that this one was rebuilt by BECO (Bohnsack Equipment Co.) because they did use the same type orange labels on the phones they sold to Radio Shack. This one they may have sold from their own catalog or wholesaled to some other company, if not Radio Shack. You could always tell a BECO phone because the paint would come off on your hands.

Radio Shack sold both US-made (279-371) and European (279-385). In the 1973 catalog, the 279-371 was $11.95 and the 279-385 was $7.95.

http://www.radioshackcatalogs.com/catalogs/1973_small/     (Page 108)

Radio Shack also bought from the company I worked for in Springfield, MA. They used to paint the phones (and the finger stops!), but by the time I was there, they had two guys to buff them.  We refurbished whatever kind of phones the independent operating companies sent us: AE 40s (and a few 80s), North -H6, Stromberg-Carlson 1243s and 1443s, WE 302s, NE 302s--but no Kellogg 1000s. (The boss didn't like them.) Any color phones (except for one rose 302 and one nile green AE 40), magneto phones, or pay phones we sold to BECO; the boss and Warren Bohnsack were friends. We made our own buzzers using one coil from a harmonic ringer and metal banding for pallets.

In a good week, we would send out 50 cases, of 8 phones each, on Friday afternoon.  Although the ad in Telephony magazine and Telephone Engineering and Management said "wanted--off the lines phones needed for our renewed overseas contract," the phones were actually going about 90 miles east to the Radio Shack warehouse in Braintree, MA.
"C'est pas une restauration, c'est une rénovation."--François Martin.

Babybearjs

does anyone know the date of that ad.... when I was in high school in the late 70's-early 80's, I found the ad for the surplus center in Nebraska and the prices were the same as that shown here.... I picked up my very first 302 for about 7.95+S/H... that's what got me hooked!, plus the design...
John