Bitcoin Forum

Can anyone tell me why these miners are selling for so much I had a load of these in the past was just wondering


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bitcoin-Miner-Antminer-USB-ver1-1-ASIC-/263099828382?hash=item3d41f8c89e:g:DYMAAOSwDd9ZccJH

Because there a LOT of idiots out there willing to spend that much on archaic and totally obsolete tech ;)

It would be more like a collectors item or like a baseball card.

The income earned will not be able to replace the money we have to spend to buy the miner tool. It may take years for the return of capital. Now there are many tools that are much more sophisticated, we can buy it build up or assemble the rig to get the performance and cost in accordance with our circumstances.

i think both these options above are correct:
- because newbies are tricked into buying a "free money machine"
- because they're a collectors item

I just wanted to add i bought one to teach myself about mining, knowing perfectly well it would never ROI. A usb miner is/was the most price/efficient way to get your hands on a very little bit of hashrate, so you learn the ropes :)

I'm missing your point here... Nobody is using anybody else's resources... The OP was asking why an ebay seller was selling an obsolete usb mining stick for so much money.

i agree more of a collectors item i remember them being $20 lol

to be honest man, if the bitcoin mining fever was not on, they would not sell it or even manufacture at all. nobody is gonna use the USB miner as people are using the GPU miners instead AFAIK. unless bitcoin is far higher in price which leads profit via USB mining (selling them for certain profit :D ), IMO your USB miners are dud.

edit: don't worry, if you have low electricity bills, mining with them are profitable

Hope people don't get victimised with this one. It's people are making money by fooling others with greed of earning money from bitcoin. It doesn't seem to be collectors item to me. It's available at even cheaper rates if someone wants to collect it. But not this one.

we're in the bitcoin mining subforum... I would probably agree with you if we talking about altcoin mining, but if you're talking about BTC mining, even an usb miner would beat GPU mining every day of the week.

Eventough the list of non specialised hardware for BTC mining hasn't been updated for a while, i think it still makes sense to do the math
If you look at https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Non-specialized_hardware_comparison#AMD_.28ATI.29
A rig with 6 x AMD 6870 produces 2.5 Gh/s while consuming 1200 Watt.
The price of one card is ~€200, the price for a PC, risers, PSU,... will likely be over €400. The sum of this rig would be €1600

ONE geccoscience compac runs at 8 Gh when underclocked, it consumes less than 6Watt. It costs €50
It can be controlled with a rPI, setting you back €50, using 3 Watt
https://www.bitshopper.de/shop/sha-256-miner-en/gekkoscience-compac/?lang=en

When we compare both, using FREE electricity:
The GPU rig: https://www.coinwarz.com/calculators/bitcoin-mining-calculator/?h=2.5&p=1200&pc=0.0&pf=0&d=860221984436.22200000&r=12.50000000&er=2764.06270000&hc=1880
at current diff, block reward and btc price, you'd ROI (pay back) your rig in: 930714 days (that's ~2500 years)

The compaq: https://www.coinwarz.com/calculators/bitcoin-mining-calculator/?h=8&p=6&pc=0.00&pf=0.00&d=860221984436.22200000&r=12.50000000&er=2764.06270000&hc=100
break even when everything stays status-quo: 15470 days (that's ~42 years)

If you add a power price of 1 cent/Kwu, things get even worse for the GPU rig.
So, to sum it up, if you GPU mine, you'll break even when all wars are over and the planet has been reduced to a barren wasteland, only in 100 generations will your investment in the rig be payed back (in case the diff doesn't rise, the price doesn't fall and the block reward would magically stay the same)/
If you mine with a recent usb miner, it depends on your age, but there's a decent chance the usbstick will have payed for itself by the time you kick the bucket ;)

there's alt coins.

beginning coins need miners.

and as the previous poster stated...it should pay for itself by the time you die should you mine pay-per-share or something.

there's also resale value(if you decide you'll die sooner than later?).

and if you use it as a lottery and it finds a block then it pays for itself pretty quickly.

Just because something is LISTED on eBay at a specific price does not mean it actually SELLS at that price.

USB miners are not worth it unless they are practically free.

These days it costs a fortune to properly invest in Bitcoin mining.

I would not pay more than $20 for such a miner as it would take years to get a return on my investment.

low cost miners are not good....  buy some antminer for better profit

The only reason people even buy these relics anymore is that they got fooled or they are just looking for a collectible like me. Some people also claim to 'learn' how to mine with these, but honestly in today's mining environment anyone with half a brain can start a miner and keep it from overheating.

I hit a ppc block with a side hack  compac miner hash rate was 11gh

payout was  33 usd for the ppc block


here are some sticks pointed at mmpool.org

Just for bragging rights if I ever hit a block

https://i.imgur.com/F9wUkaC.png

 a lack of knowledge it how lots of people make money