Ideas for disposing of entire collection

[Jim Battle]

Bob Stek wrote:
...
> The time has come for me to liquidate 90% of my collection.  I won’t give it
> away – my kids can deal with it after I’m dead!  I started to sell it piece
> by piece last year and sold about $3,000-$4,000 worth on ebay  (I know,
> boo-hiss! But that’s where I got most of it from.)  I would rather not go
> this route again, except perhaps for my Altair or one of my IMSAI’s.  I am
> willing to take a loss if I can dispose of this stuff in bulk, but want this
> to be as painless (for me) as possible.  All of this stuff has been packed
> away in moving boxes for at least 4-5 years and I no longer want to have to
> take it out, photograph it, test, troubleshoot, write accurate descriptions,
> re-package for safe shipping, take it down to UPS or the P.O., deal with
> eBay, etc.  

Hi, Bob!

I wanted to point out that back in 1999, when I started collecting, the 
first machine I obtained was a Sol-20.  Very little was available about 
it on the internet, and that is why I started what became www.sol20.org 
-- as a magnet to draw out more information.  Bob was one of my first 
benefactors, sending me copies of many docs to get me going, and 
providing other items for the collection/website in the following years. 
  I'll testify that Bob is of utmost trustworthiness.

Bob, your wishes are contradictory -- you want it to be easy while 
maximizing profit.  You may get lucky and find someone who wants the 
whole thing at a fair price, but don't count on it.

To make it as easy for you as possible, give it away for local pickup. 
I did that for many of the heavy pieces in my collection and had no 
problem finding takers.  Some of the smaller, easier to pack and ship 
things I sold on ebay.  Even though I'm sure I could have made at least 
$2000 on ebay from what I gave away, I gained more than $2000 worth of 
time and sanity.  And I've had no regrets.  The few things I've kept I 
still don't have enough time for.  :-)

Probably the next best choice is to bring it to a professional ebay 
seller.  They are likely to not know squat about your items, so it would 
be best if you spent some amount of time writing not more than a one 
paragraph description of each major item, and instructing them on what 
items make groups.  You will get less than if you had done everything 
yourself, but you'll make way more than if you give it away.

Good luck!