----- Original Message -----
From: "Jim Battle" <frustum at pacbell.net>
To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts"
<cctalk at classiccmp.org>
Sent: Thursday, March 15, 2007 4:33 PM
Subject: Re: Austin, Texas Computerworks Goodwill
Why did I stop by there instead of using ebay or craigslist? Lack of
time. I knew I was going to be driving past, so I put a few machines in
the trunk of my car that I knew I'd never have time for, or were
duplicates. If it hadn't been for the unpleasant experience and detour,
my incremental time cost would have been ten minutes, total, for the
three machines.
Ebay: Putting up a listing for ebay, along with appropriate sized decent
photos, finding boxes, and packing appropriately (which takes a lot of
time for heavy items), the email exchanges, answering questions, running
to the post office -- 1-2 hours per item, I'd say. I will ebay things
that are easily packed, or for which I expect a multi-hundred dollar
sale price.
Craigslist: I scan it pretty often, but I rarely see anything remotely
interesting (from a vintage computer standpoint). The few times I've
tried inquiring on items (not vintage), I don't get a reply, and the
couple times I helped my wife sell something, it hasn't been worth the
hassle of coordinating with unreliable people.
The funny thing is that the people with the items you like to collect have
the same attitude, so anything not easily shippable gets recycled. I don't
like shipping items either, but I keep a few boxes around from things I get
so that if I do want to help somebody out with an item I don't have to run
around to find boxed and packing material.
The only thing I seen on craigslists that I wanted was a Supermac
DigitalFilm card with cable, breakoutbox, and SCSI card for 68K Macs for
free, but somebody had snagged it by the time I seem it.