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Selling old Mac collection?

T

trlblzr

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 2, 2012
4
1
Hi all,

Just curious... does anyone have experience selling (or buying) old Mac collections? My dad and I have amassed several older Macs over the years, and they're really just collecting dust these days. Mac SEs, Plusses, I think maybe one or two 512k, LC II/III, Power Mac 9600, fruity iMacs, and others. For the most part, as I recall, pretty much everything boots and runs (assuming i could find floppies for the really old ones). A couple of those 9" Macs have those old school carrying cases with them. Few of them were our personal machines back in the day, but most were acquisitions from Goodwill stores, yard sales, etc.

Was kind of hoping to part with them en masse, rather than trying to piecemeal it on eBay or something.

We're moving, and really don't have the space for them any more. I don't want to just throw them in a landfill.

Thanks in advance for the ideas!
 
trlblzr said:
Hi all,

Just curious... does anyone have experience selling (or buying) old Mac collections? My dad and I have amassed several older Macs over the years, and they're really just collecting dust these days. Mac SEs, Plusses, I think maybe one or two 512k, LC II/III, Power Mac 9600, fruity iMacs, and others. For the most part, as I recall, pretty much everything boots and runs (assuming i could find floppies for the really old ones). A couple of those 9" Macs have those old school carrying cases with them. Few of them were our personal machines back in the day, but most were acquisitions from Goodwill stores, yard sales, etc.

Was kind of hoping to part with them en masse, rather than trying to piecemeal it on eBay or something.

We're moving, and really don't have the space for them any more. I don't want to just throw them in a landfill.

Thanks in advance for the ideas!
Click to expand...
There is a marketplace here on macrumors where people sell old macs. I'm not sure if you have the post count required to get in. Give it a try.
 
I would ask in the PowerPC Mac subforum:
https://forums.macrumors.com/forums/powerpc-macs.145/

I see lots of discussion there about value, buying and selling.

Although I'm not an expert I can tell you that, generally speaking, you lose enormous value trying to sell several items together at once because there is generally nobody that wants that specific random collection.

The exception is if your collection happens to be a special set of some kind that's hard for a "completionist" to put together, but it doesn't sound like that.
 
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bunnspecial said:
Where are you located?
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I'm south west of Atlanta, about 45 minutes.
[doublepost=1543690775][/doublepost]I'm working on getting a complete list of machines. If it sounds like it's going to lose significant value on some machines due to the sale of the lot, I can certainly consider that.

Thanks all!
 
When I decided to get rid of my 2001 iMac G3 a few years ago, I found that Apple offers free recycling of its products. I was able to print a shipping label (Apple paid for shipping) and the FedEx driver even picked up the box for free at my home. So if you decide to go the landfill route, at least consider recycling as an alternative!

In my case it helped that I still had the original packing box for my Mac.
 
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It might be worth it to check the 'Sold' section of eBay for each specific mac to get a loose Idea of value. Plus, you could pick out a couple of the more valuable systems and sell them individually, then see if someone will take the rest of the lot.
 
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JoeInMilwaukee said:
When I decided to get rid of my 2001 iMac G3 a few years ago, I found that Apple offers free recycling of its products. I was able to print a shipping label (Apple paid for shipping) and the FedEx driver even picked up the box for free at my home. So if you decide to go the landfill route, at least consider recycling as an alternative!

In my case it helped that I still had the original packing box for my Mac.
Click to expand...

Colored iMacs are on the upswing in value...I can say that pretty safely as someone who collects them. The more difficult to find colors(sage and snow come to mind) are especially noticeable in this regard.

BTW, I am in talks with the OP to get an inventory and possibly make an offer on the collection.
 
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trlblzr said:
I'm south west of Atlanta, about 45 minutes.
[doublepost=1543690775][/doublepost]I'm working on getting a complete list of machines. If it sounds like it's going to lose significant value on some machines due to the sale of the lot, I can certainly consider that.

Thanks all!
Click to expand...
Pity you're too far away for me (Europe) to follow up with ease.
Can't help wondering how ''bunnspecial' still manages to find sufficient space in his Boeing-like hanger facility.....;)
 
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chown33 said:
In addition to his other collections, maybe @bunnspecial collects aircraft hangars...
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A more interesting collection would be the 747's themselves! :p A pristine example of the 747-100 could be a start, and certainly much prized like an Apple1. Then -200, -300 and -400 series could follow on behind, and dating from the 60's to the 80's there's no shortage of the early examples, just gathering dust & sand in the Arizona dessert.
Perhaps at least 5 of us here could even organize a collective/group purchase.......;):p
 
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CooperBox said:
…there's no shortage of the early examples, just gathering dust & sand in the Arizona dessert.
Perhaps at least 5 of us here could even organize a collective/group purchase.......;):p
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Not so fast!

I'm the closest, seeing as I live in Arizona. Before he goes buying 747s in my backyard he can damn well open the Phoenix, AZ annex of his Mac museum that he's promised me. And then pay me to be the curator!

:D
 
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eyoungren said:
Not so fast!

I'm the closest, seeing as I live in Arizona. Before he goes buying 747s in my backyard he can damn well open the Phoenix, AZ annex of his Mac museum that he's promised me. And then pay me to be the curator!

:D
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I think he needs to buy a 747 and have it trailered to Phoenix, where it can be converted into the Mac museum.

And if he puts solar cells on the wings, it could easily power itself, and he could lease the shaded land under the wings to grow cantaloupes.
 
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