[vcf-midatlantic] OT: time to downsize

[Bill Degnan]

Hey all...my 2 cents....Sales take months when you're trying to get retail
prices. Collectors who know their stuff never pay full price.   So my
question for Bob is - Do you want to maximize the profit or maximize the
balance between income and satisfaction that the items say in the member
population?  The answer to that question would be applied to pricing.  50%
ebay prices for same item?  75%? volume pricing?  Don't care?

If it was me, I'd make a spreadsheet, create specific lots and assign
everything a number.  I'd take pictures and match the lots to the
pictures.  Post it online so anyone interested can look up the items and
reference good photos of the item(s).  Set up a simple form that allows
people to click on the paypal link assigned to the given thing for sale,
and use Paypal (or venmo or whatever) to pay for the lot.  You can also
select which items you'd be willing to ship or not.

This is easy for me, but may not be desirable for you time-wise.

Once the payment has been received buyers can come to your home to pick up
their items, or you ship those you've indicated can be shipped.  Leave this
site running for a year and you'll eventually sell everything if your
prices are fair.  If people come to your house with cash in hand I'd still
suggest you set prices in advance to set expectations.

Don't give away items for too low of a price if you'll regret it later.

If you take items to the swap, you're guaranteed not to get retail prices
plus you have to haul the stuff there (and some of it back home).


Bill

On Tue, Jan 25, 2022 at 1:55 PM Herb Johnson via vcf-midatlantic <
vcf-midatlantic at lists.vcfed.org> wrote:

> Bob Shuster:
>
> > So - I’m not sure how to start with this.  Does the group have a For
> Sale page where I can post photos, etc.?  I’ll need to dig out each of the
> systems (carefully stored in my heated/cooled workshop) and test and figure
> out prices, but I will definitely entertain offers.  For specific inquiries
> please email me, but for discussion of how to go about reducing my
> collection [and assuming the admins agree that it’s on-topic] that can be
> on-list.
>
> >  in general anything else will need to be picked up [at a PA location]
>
> I think Bob has a reasonable question; nobody replied exactly to it so
> far. I read "does the VCF-Midatlantic group have a for-sale Web resource
> for private, on-site, local-only sales?" Not shipping to, not
> bring-to-sell-at, as some responded.
>
> As Bob replied, it's just impractical for some of us, in some cases, to
> ship. Or to bring volumes of materials to an event, or even to attend an
> event. I think it's fair to say, it's "unwieldy" to post at length here,
> or repeatedly, about numerous items one wants to sell. Bob asked for
> discussion, asked for "the admins".
>
> Maybe, some resource could be offered and supported, like the vcfed.org
> national/international for-sale forum, but "local" to central New
> Jersey? Maybe, something like that "want to buy/sell Google spreadsheet"
> for the VCFed-Mid swap meets, but more permanent, maintained?
>
> As I wrote a reply, Jeff already offered to make Bob a Google Drive
> folder. That would also be a good for-local-sale general resource, as
> long as sold items are culled out.
>
> Regards, Herb Johnson
>
>
> Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey in the USA
> http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net
> preserve, recover, restore 1970's computing
> email: hjohnson AT retrotechnology DOT com
> or try later herbjohnson AT comcast DOT net
>