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Best way to shrink my collection

F

framer

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 27, 2008
Messages
583
Location
Murrell's Inlet SC
I'm looking at relocating to the south within the year. I know that whatever we buy down south it will be smaller and w/o my climate controlled basement. Has anyone had a successful vintage computer yard sale? My main issue is these are my pets for the last 10-15 years. I want them to go to a good home and not some chop shop. At least 5 vintage IBM 5150 and 5160 need to go. I also have many spare 8-bit cards and 5.25 inch floppy drives that need to find a home but being smaller fleabay might work. Everything I have works and is checked out several times per month.

So,

1. Craigslist to yardsale?

2. Ebay what I can. Shipping getting really pricey on those big boxes.

3. Donate to someone? Who.

Ideas please.


framer
 
Personally, I'd suggest #2. Yes, it's a PITA, but you're more likely to find someone who'd take care of the machine. Most decent bidders on there are pretty knowledgeable about what a machine really is and probably less likely to chop it up. Can't say that for craigslist/yardsale individuals. Donations to others are likely to just sit (and likely deteriorate), if they're not eventually dumped at the local landfill receptacles.
 
If you do have a yard sale in Portsmouth, RI I know that myself (South Kingstown) and and a friend in Westport, MA would definitely stop by.

The Rhode Island Computer Museum in North Kingstown also takes donations and has a learning lab where they put machines on display and do restorations.
 
Depending on where you live Craigslist or similar local listing sites would seem like a the lowest friction option since you can do without shipping. Some people seem to live in amazing areas for CL and old computers, but if you live somewhere that doesn't have a vibrant local scene of collectors(like me, sadly), you may have some issues. While I hate the UI and the fact that I need a Facebook account, if looks like my local sellers, as few as they are, have moved to Facebook Marketplace in a big way, so you may want to check your local computers sections there. Maybe check to see if you have any local retro computer groups, even if they've stopped meeting in person over the past year, they may have a Facebook group or mailing list you can reach out to. But at the end of the day Ebay probably gets you the best chance to get the most money out of it, and because of the rising cost of these old machines on eBay, it probably bodes well for it going to someone who really wants it, but yeah shipping these old large computers can be quite a hassle.
 
It got worse for me today. I opened up my best extra XT and it had stuff I could not part with ST-412 my only one and duel YE-580 floppies I have no other HH black floppies if I need another in the future. I might also need the PS in the future for another system. See where this is going... Putting it back together and it will be used for parts if needed in the future.

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