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Selling a collection - what would you do?

W

WimWalther

Experienced Member
Joined
Jan 12, 2019
Messages
449
Location
St. Paul, MN
Folks,

My life is changing and I feel it's time to lighten my load. I've been a collector for over 25 years, a hobby that I've truly enjoyed. And while I sold almost half of what was here five years ago, there's still a fair sized pile remaining.

By "fair size", I estimate almost 50 machines remain, plus peripherals, accessories and documentation. It's a mixed bag of Apple, Commodore, Epson, IBM, Altair, Osborne and various others.

I'll publish a more inclusive list in the "For Sale" forum.

So what would you do? What's the best place to market this stuff? What are my options, other than eBay (ouch!) and possibly craigslist (yech). Ideally I'd like to sell it all to one buyer, in one go.

Thanks for your thoughts.
 
You could try letgo and OfferUp. Since they're predominantly local you would have a better chance of getting it sold to one person who would pick it up and not require shipping.
 
You will get pennies on the dollar selling it as a collection locally , if that is not a problem then do it that way.

If it was me and I actually wanted to get rid of my collection today I would do the following:
List the high end stuff on ebay maybe 5 auctions a week.
List the mid level stuff on forums about 5 a week so it is a manageable amount to ship.
List the low end common junk on craigslist cheap.
Repeat till all you have just a few items you can't bear to scrap but didn't sell and give them away locally, let the scrappers have the rest.

I have been collecting 18 years and it would take ages to get rid of all my stuff.
 
Just face the reality that you wont get any where near what you think a one-shot price for your entire collection is worth. People have different tastes. While someone might want the Osborne they might not want the Epson (eg), etc. And no one will have more value attachment to the machines than you.

Selling it piece-by-piece will always fetch a higher price, but it will take time to sell, have to box up everything individually and mail it, deal with shipping issues and finicky buyers who can't read 'as-is', etc.

As far as the best place to market it, here is a pretty good start. I'm sure the more desirable things will go quickly, for a fair price, and most importantly wind up in the hands of a fellow AA member browsing this forum like me.
 
You might get more action if you would refrain from referring to people as a "pig-dog" :sad:
 
I'm local, and in touch with a few other like-minded individuals. I've PM'd the seller and see if we can work something out. There's stuff there I want, but wouldn't/couldn't keep all of it ;)
 
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