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Selling large quanatities of systems

NeXT

NeXT

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 22, 2008
Messages
8,171
Location
Kamloops, BC, Canada
So everyone in the office came to a decision that it would be in the interest of the company to invest a few grand (I can't disclose the total) in a rather large inventory of computers.
Twelve hours of work has yielded FIFTEEN SKIDS OF COMPUTERS AND MONITORS. There is one skid alone with classic macs (plus, SE, color classic, etc.), another two skids of just Apple monitors, another skid of general macs (half being GS's), ANOTHER of IIplus and //e systems, another skid of PC's and clones, terminals, luggables and older laptops and TONS of software and peripherals and just vintage stuff.
To further define the quantity, no skid is shorter than five feet high.
In other words, there is a LOT of stuff and it's ALL for sale.
My issue as the person who has to try and sell all this, I need to break even and the make a few more grand and that means I need to attract buyers. The thing is short of youtube and an ad on our webpage, there is not much else I know of that I can do.
What exactly should I be doing to sell this stuff or at least get the word out to everyone that this is all for sale? Putting all this on ebay would be suicide. A business like this would not be able to handle listing all of this. Just managing boxing and shipping would be killer.
What do I do?
 
Good luck with that, since you are in Canada shipping to the US where most of the collectors are will be costly for anything that isn't very valuable.

GS's are Apple II's not Macs.

What you need to do is get an inventory of working machines and their specs and flog the best on ebay a few at a time. I suspect more then half is just junk, can you get any money recycling that stuff?

If you take some decent picture then the people here can give you a better idea what will sell, go from there.
 
Too bad I just missed it when I was in Vancouver. :(

How much of this do you plan to inventory? I'm thinking that people need to know what it is you have in order to become interested. My thought is that you either need to put out listings or bring people in to see it. If it was me, I would put up a simple web page and let Google do the the rest. You don't need to be detailed, the nitty gritty can be done via e-mail. Set up a sales account and check it hourly.

Other than that, the sponsoring of a Greater Vancouver vintage computer show (or faire or festival) could be a promo point of departure. It wouldn't have to be big to serve your purpose, and it could be largely done by volunteers and just anchored by your establishment. Anyway, I'm just brainstorming here. For other local market reach there are lots of free or cheap ad spaces, however it is only effective to use places where vintage folk would look. One good way to promote stuff locally (or further) is to arrange an interview. Either print or radio or TV. They're all good, but local print is probably better. Talk about vintage computing. The way to do this is to put out a press release about the stuff you just got but entice them to talk with you about this interesting and socially relevant subject. There are many helpful sites on the net which will show you how to write a successful press release. I've done lots of promo in the arts world and note that business often use similar techniques. You just have to make it relevant to the media's audience, and computers are a good subject nowadays. The history slant is an interesting one which might catch someone's attention. Don't be afraid to contact the Vancouver Sun, Province, smaller papers, or even the CBC Spark show, for that matter.
 
Agree you should inventory everything.

From a Mac perspective, I think systems worth eBay listing would include:
-- original (128K) Macs
-- Mac SE/30
-- original iMac (Bondi Blue, not blueberry)
-- Mac Portable

All of these, especially if in good working condition, can attract a premium.

Systems like Mac Plus are nice machines but in great supply (at least in the U.S.) and probably not worth long-distance shipping.
 
The plan is to inventory all this week (there is a lot of monitors and terminals we can dump to make space) and rearrange our storefront so we can setup units on display for sale. We would sell a few complete systems at the local flea market and yes, we will be selling a few items on ebay. I guess I could try appraoching one of the local medis outlets regarding advertising. A few people already know me for my infamous Garage Sale advertisement.
 
Hey NeXT, if you find an IBM 3290 terminal (ideally, including keyboard and cable, or maybe just the keyboard and cable - keyboard PN 601673x where the last digit is either 0 or 2 I believe depending on key legends) please get in touch.

These terminals are easy to spot because they are "all in one" with a plasma display screen.

Not interested in buying, well maybe the cable, more on a hunt for pinout information. The very early 3290s did something different than the later ones for which info exists online.

Additionally, these things had external keypads. One seems to have been similar to, but not the same as the LPFK and the other may have been a normal numpad (the keyboard they shipped with didn't have one). Would be potentially interested in those and any cabling with them.

Pic shows the early/original 3290. Later ones are a bit different.
early3290.jpg
 
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Sounds about right...not common. Thanks for addressing the question.

It's come to my attention that I'm probably not looking for 3290 stuff at all...more likely the 5080 graphics terminal...which would seem to be even more obscure. Lovely.
 
There is literally a handful of Twinax stuff I found.....which is essentially an 8-bit ISA card and the dongle.
The rest was for serial or MMJ
 
Twinax stuff is useful for older main/midframe equipment (like I have..though I think I mentally gave up on the project years ago). To get the best bang for the buck, I think the others are correct. A bit of work but inventory things, the most valuable systems probably ebay (we're talking best interest for the company, not us right now) or you could certainly post it here first with the desired amount. Inventorying things will help you know the potential total cost and if it's going to be roughly what you bought it for or more. Craigslist is a good way to advertise and get attention. Contact previous buyers maybe and let them know you have new inventory (if you're wanting online/shipped things not just local sales). News paper, local paper ads, $$$ another commercial (commercial time costs less at worse hours). True as well as Pontus pointed out, you could also post them on our marketplace here for no cost and if you can get the price either way it's win-win, and no sale = no monetary loss.
 
Okay, I guess I'll put this in front of my boss and see waht he says.

Also, if any of you are still wondering exactly how "big" this is.....

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lol. Does that mean the boss was happy with the turn out of vintage computer sales and wanted to do that again or was this just a random surplus lot he bought?
 
Yeah, I noticed that too...

Seems to me the time and space investment would pay off best by keeping machines and sending the CRTs to the recycler, but...that's me.

If there are any desirable CRTs (specific uncommon interfaces, the old IBM ones that collectors like for IBM-ness, that sort of thing) then those'll probably fetch some money...but most people will sooner pay you to take away a CRT than pay to get one.
 
We are in the midst of pruning down on the CRT's.
When we bought this stuff, the monitors came with the lot and a lot of them are third party garbage but there are a few gems like the Radius Pivot, a DataTrain portrait display, IIe color monitors and what I really liked, an Osborne 1 external display.
Anyways, it's a good thing we do recycling so it costs us next to nothing to drop off several skids of monitors at the recycling center.
 
I hope you keep any and all monochrome CRTs, even if they are only VGA. I've got lots, but I haven't seen one at the dump for some years now and to me that's the sign that they are officially antique. :)
 
I don't think we can spare the space for that unless they are something notably unique.
Our warehouse is tiny and we need it for other stuff.
 
Can you please let me know what the following two things are:
- Picture 1, on the right, by the damaged box, a horizontal case is sitting on it's size with vent slots and a label of some kind, black drive(s). If this is a PC, what class, and is the case AT or ATX (I'd imagine a standard AT with something between 808x->386)?
- Picture 2, near the middle, there is a box containing a white "machine" and what appears to be a VIC-20. What is the white machine? A PC?

Also, if you come across any portrait-oriented monitors (except black and white Apple, already have two of those), exceptionally large CRTs, upgrade CPUs, voltage regulators for 486 or Pentium, or wonky stuff that you think I might like (I'm sure you have some vague idea of what I'm interested in), let me know.

Edit: Oh, and if you find any PC-in-a-keyboard units (or any other strange form-factor PCs), let me know as well.
 
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