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Tandy 2500 lot find

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supertzar

Member
Joined
May 17, 2007
Messages
33
Location
North Augusta, SC
So I responded to a craigslist posting about a warehouse of old computers, including old Tandy machines... so today I went and looked.

There were a number of 1000s, a 3000, but most of the boxes were 2500's. I would estimate 10-15 total.

Are people looking for the 2500's at all? Should I save them? The seller said that there was someone planning to come get it all and recycle it. So whatever doesn't get saved will probably get smelted to get the gold out of it.

Looking for opinions. I'm on the fence as to what to do about all of the 2500's.. I'd probably want a couple, but more than that not really.
 
Yes and No

Yes and No

We need to know where you are located.I know that I'd like one,but it would probably cost a lot to ship,if you aren't on the West Coast.
Shipping by USPS Parcel Post is usually the least expensive.(Well,next to personally picking it up!)
cgrape2
 
More and more we see recycling claim good machines. I guess this is just the typical cycle of all electronic products being produced these days. New electronic recycling centers are popping up every day and eventually most all electronics will be recycled into oblivion. That is why those who are smart will take all they can get now and hold for the future. The Tandys might not seem valuable right now, but do you see anything new from Tandy these days in the area of computers?

I would grab them and store them for as long as possible myself. Machines on the fringe of vintage will soon be worth a good buck. I actually feel you get a better return on your money if you have to buy this stuff than if you put your money in the bank. You just need to store it. If you get it for free, which is something I strive to do, you make out very nicely in the long run.

Imo, grab them and save them all.
 
The VintageComputerMan is right. Last I heard there was grant money available here in Washington state which means registered ecycle places are getting paid for the stuff they get out of the waste stream. In exchange they take cpus, monitors, etc for free. No reason to waste time with CL when you can just drop it off at your local no hassle no ppl you don't know coming to your door ecycle place.

If nothing else get it all and try to find a good home for it in your area. If nothing else you might make connections to other vintage computer people in the area and start building a network

-Lance
 
I forgot to mention, as the recycling centers coax more people to responsibly dispose of their electronic items, it causes those remaining to increase in value do to their scarcity. Ever try looking for old radios or TV's? Very hard to find now but consider how hard they will be to find in later years when recycling has taken it's toll. This is why I am filling my 4,000 sf warehouse with as many old free or slightly paid for machines and parts as I can get.
 
I would be interested in the 3000, and am not too far from Richmond. I could even probably arrange a pickup.

Send me a PM or email to kelly at catcorner.org if you're interested in working something out on the 3000.
 
I would imagine most would be easy to get rid of after the fact. So if they're actually giving them away and you have room, if I were you I'd take as many as I could and several more than the couple you'd want (also for spare parts). See what you can get working, and then offer them out or sell them on our marketplace.

They aren't super rare but certainly worth more as a computer than scrap. Again, I know not everyone has the ability to store things or obtain large quantities of machines plus depending on the situation they may have a limit of what they want to give out if the recyclers are paying them. If not, I'd say screw the recyclers and save the machines then slowly sell or offer them out. Certainly at a minimum you can get folks to pay for shipping for a lot of them and maybe a small donation for gas (beer) money.
 
Sorry, there weren't any portables there that I could see. And I would most likely keep the 3000. There's also a ton of clones, Apples/Macs, and IBM systems. I was also thinking about saving the PS/2's, since those seem to be pretty popular with collectors.

The sellers don't really know anything about what they have, and just want to sell the whole lot if possible. I would not be getting them for free. Any ideas what fair market value is per machine?
 
supertzar said:
Sorry, there weren't any portables there that I could see. And I would most likely keep the 3000. There's also a ton of clones, Apples/Macs, and IBM systems. I was also thinking about saving the PS/2's, since those seem to be pretty popular with collectors.

The sellers don't really know anything about what they have, and just want to sell the whole lot if possible. I would not be getting them for free. Any ideas what fair market value is per machine?
Click to expand...


For scrap, with the price of gold as it is, the processors might fetch 4 to 6 dollars each. Motherboards maybe a dollar per lb so if they just want cash for scrap, I would imagine 5 to 10 dollars max, but you might want to tell these people that it takes 45 minutes to tear one down to recover the good stuff and you still have to deal with what's left over as well as the work involved in reselling any salvage, so is it really worth the time. You might make minimum wage doing this. Try to low ball them with this information. You would be doing them a favor by taking it all off their hands. Clean up the good ones, keep a few and sell the rest. What you can't sell, recycle or give away.

Also, if they mention what some of these machines sell for on ebay, remind them that those are usually tested and working units which take time. Time = $$$
 
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