15 Mar
2007
15 Mar
'07
1:33 p.m.
Teo Zenios wrote:
I don't understand why people donate complete and
working vintage machines
to places that just recycle them, why not offer them in the forums of
websites where people collect them or on freecycle or ebay? It reminds me of
the local Angels for Animals here that advertises they find homes for
unwanted pets (and have many people donating large sums of money for the
cause) only to kill 99% of the aminals they get the day they show up.
In my case, I didn't know that *this* goodwill just recycled things.
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.