What kinds of things are of interest

[pregen]

New to this forum and will be trying to find time to read all posts - but wanted to get a poll for what kind of things people collect.

We've been in the IT world way too long, starting at the Mainframe days. There is a ton of stuff in my attic that needs a new home. We have software, components, books, gosh, you name it. Lots of old working serial cards, memory chips, early PCI and ISA bus cards, some old monitors, computer cases (those sizes that nothing new fits in anymore) and now a couple of recent RS6000 (model 7043-150). From what I can gather, people collect and need a lot of things. eBay used to be a good place to put things, but I'm guessing this site and the Marketplace is better. Agree?

So, would a good start be to post what we have and see who is interested? Don't want to bog down the forum with unwanted posts.

Thanks in advance for the advice.

 

[PeterNY]

1: Create a spreadsheet with your entire inventory. Include part #s as you find then on PCBs, boxes et cetera.
2: When possible test each item.
3: Then list a link to the file here.
Whether or not something has value is hard to say. Some general pointers:
Books = really hard, most outdated books are just old paper
Software = really hard to determine, some software fetches hundreds, most nothing
CRTs = generally no value unless high end (Sony Trinitron, Eizo) and big size (20"+): local pick-up, should fetch $ 5 to 50 each when in 100% condition
ISA cards = I/O, certain sound cards (see separate topic elsewhere here on the forum), certain video cards have $ 5 to $ 200 value
PCI cards = very few have a $ 5 to $ 100 value
RAM = very hard to sell
Cases = when Taiwanese clones: local pick-up, should fetch $ 5 to 10
RS/6000 = really tough: perhaps through eBay or other tertiary market reseller

Easy to sell items can always be listed on www.vintage-computer.com/marketplace.

In brief = the more time you put in, the more $ you could make (no guarantee though).

 

[barythrin]

There are so many things that are collectible to the right age group or crowd it's hard to narrow it down. Most of that will find a healthy interest, loose disks are difficult sells unless they're originals for a useful application or OS but just copies of loose disks are often hard to sell outside of a lot. Computer cases are also usually hard to get rid of since the shipping is often more than the value or difficulty to find.

But like I said, it's hard to pin point what and why folks like the things they do Also depending on your location as Peter pointed out fokls within driving distance have more interest in heavy items. I wouldn't worry much about unwanted posts though, you're offering equipment to computer enthusiasts and collectors, about the only pickiness is if it's too new it would be in the off topic market place.

Great job on finding us and thanks for looking for a home for the parts and helping others enjoy the technology they may have missed or have been wanting to get back to!

 

[Maverick1978]

My $0.02 on the software, especially...

If it's games, it has value. If it's not games, but is original/complete, and in particular from a major manufacturer, it has value (though exactly what is to be determined). If copies, best to sell as blanks in a lot.

As for the cases, best to list what you have. Some people would kill for an IBM 5150/5160 Expansion chassis with back-plane, even if the cards and cables were missing. Some would also kill for that empty/badged IBM PC-XT 5162 case

Memory is (typically) a hard sell unless it's in dip packaging. Most of us have a cache of 30 and 72-pin ram lying around. If these are what you have, I'd toss in a lot and see what you get. ZIP ram sells well. Populated memory boards sell well.

Monitors/CRTs. They won't move unless you've something collectible/valuable, i.e. a true CGA/EGA/multisync monitor for PCs, perhaps a branded Apple/Next/Commodore monitor (especially the more rarely-seen C= monitors)

Books... some have value for preservation purposes (some people love to scan them). They're hit or miss.

 

[Unknown_K]

Take plenty of digital pictures and dump them online (use a free Picasa service from google), also list your general location since somebody might be close by and can stop in to look around and help.

 

[Shadow Lord]

In case it wasn't clear from every body elses posts: document, document, document and then list what you have. An attic full means nothing. An attic full of NIB IBM 5170s means Cha Ching. Like anything else the more work you put into the better your return. At thte same time though you will hit diminishing returns so you need to determine the right balance that works for you. But seriously if you got soemthing good and worthwhile someone here will pay you a fair price. I myself like the manuals and references for systems I own. PeterNY though routinely dumps those because it is hard to find someone like me. If you want to minimize your work try searching the WTB forum and see what people are looking for and then you can contact them directly with what you got. I usually have a running list in my signature and posts, for example, as do others.

And if we seem harsh about it I am sorry. We really are a friendly bunch! But you are the third person in two weeks with an attic/garage/trailer/silo/etc. full of valuable vintage computers who deosn't want to sell on ebay and is ready to give it all away on this forum. In fact we just went through this in this thread last week.

 

[RetroHacker_]

Also important is location. Fill in your location field, let people know where you are - lots of this stuff is heavy and hard to ship, much better to sell to local collectors.

As to what's collectable? It varies wildly on the person. Lots of people here seem to be interested in old PC's, but then people like me could care less. I'm more interested in mainframe/minicomputer stuff, UNIX systems, dumb terminals, etc.

And, because of these differing tastes in collecting, what some people would consider worthless/uninteresting, other people want. At least list what you've got here before throwing it out. You never know. Again, the location thing. Things like large monitors are hard to move unless someone can come pick them up.

Documenting an entire stash of hardware is difficult too - you could start off with some good pictures of what you have - maybe do it in sections - give people an idea what all you have.

Post some of your stuff here - you'd be suprised what we'll be interested in...

-Ian

 

[PeterNY]

PeterNY though routinely dumps those because it is hard to find someone like me.

Unfortunately houses on LI are relatively small so I have limited space to retain items. And renting a storage unit is not an option either.

 

[Shadow Lord]

Unfortunately houses on LI are relatively small so I have limited space to retain items. And renting a storage unit is not an option either.

Exactly. Add to the fact that buyers are hard to find and its no surprisse they get dumped...

 

[dracos]

Unfortunately houses on LI are relatively small so I have limited space to retain items. And renting a storage unit is not an option either.

I hear there is a house over in Amityville that doesn't get used much...

Seriously need to know the OP location.

 

[g4ugm]

Sadly though interesting stuff is big. I passed on a small (1x 19" rack) IBM Mainframe as I just had no where to put it and keeping it running was probably beyond my skills. Now discussing with wife what I can do with my A1 Roland Plotter. I suspect If I hadn't bought it it would have been skipped and its a lovely thing. Mind I would swap it for an original Calcomp 565...

 

[Chuck(G)]

If it's uncommon enough, it can be interesting.

On my quest for a Durango Poppy, for example, I received an email from an old Durango dealer in Australia who said that he'd binned a couple a few years ago, but didn't have any leads on any others.

I keep hoping...

 

[donutty]

And where is this IBM now? I am North and have the space but I guess it's too late. Anyway, sorry tp hijack.