I had hoped we could do some sort of deal, but to be honest your personality prevents any reasonable negotiation. There are things I know and things I don't know. When I don't know something, I defer to someone who seems to know, and I get educated. You come across as knowing everything. Please keep this email, I'd be willing to discuss with you in the future (even a year from now) my points below:
1. You mentioned a Mac can be turned into an iPad holder for $2200. That is far from the truth. Vintage Apple collectors want original hardware. They don't want modified or grossly deranged things. Case in point: This item has been listed on eBay and relisted since before March (I can't keep track but I know it's been there a LONG time). It started off at $900 when I noticed it. Likely higher before. It's the talk of the Vintage collectors around the world as the biggest abomination. Have a look for yourself. If this is such a good deal, I suggest you buy it and flip for $2200.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Mackintosh-color-classic-iPad-Air-2-case/124301172196?hash=item1cf0ed5de4:g:I3EAAOSwiS9eOeDk
2. You mentioned that there's gold inside the circuit boards and parts. There isn't. Well, not totally true. There isn't MUCH. Have a look at this, and please, watch the entire video:
https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/a19670/refining-gold-from-old-computer-parts/
3. You mentioned that the individual parts are worth more than the computers themselves. While in some cases that may be true, do you really want to go all the way down to removing key caps from keyboards because a single key CAN sell for $5, so a $30 keyboard is worth $150 in its parts? Maybe. It's not realistic. Additionally, I can guarantee you, especially from the track record of the equipment others have bought from you, at least 50% or more of your machines don't work. At least 50% of those are permanently broken. Not everything can be fixed. See another point I'll make below. A buyer may have to take parts from one to make another work. The parts taken from one will make that one worth almost nothing. The work involved with making working machines is extraordinary. Someone can easily spend 5-10 hours per machine TRYING to get it to work. How much is that time worth? People who buy untested and non-working on eBay assume this as well, and buy accordingly. A fully functioning and reconditioned computer is worth a lot more than a dead one, because of the time involved. Time is money.
4. The components inside these machines were meant to last 5-7 years tops. Over time, the components spew out acidic stuff on the boards, which ruins them. This accelerates over time. As in, at 20 years it won't be so bad, but at 30 years it's ruined. When I say ruined, I mean it's like a car that is entirely rusted, including the frame. Cannot be repaired. There are traces embedded within a motherboard that get eaten, and no longer electrically connect. Those traces cannot be easily repaired. Chips get eaten and no longer work. Buyers of vintage computers know this, and buy non-recapped equipment priced accordingly. A Macintosh IIci that is untested and non-working will sell for about $60. One that at least boots and can demonstrate itself as working, about $110. One that has been cleaned and recapped, $250. Tops. Which leads me to...
5. You mentioned that someone like me could fix any one of the computers there and sell for $2-3000. You are uneducated in this statement. Based on your list, and what you have remaining, there is not one single computer in your lot that could sell for even $2000. Even brand new, unopened stock computers, which have never been touched and are factory sealed don't sell for that. This PowerBook is buy-it-now:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/FACTORY-SEALED-Apple-Macintosh-PowerBook-5300cs-Mac-100Mhz-16mb-750HD/274471093813?hash=item3fe7c08635:g:vn0AAOSw-XRe8Ty8 This one sold and is used and working:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/WORKS-GREAT-Apple-MACINTOSH-LAPTOP-POWERBOOK-5300cs-Cords/293695121794?hash=item446197e982:g:IuAAAOSw6aRfOvfA
6. You seem to be emotionally attached to the items even though you say you are not. That is influencing what you are doing here. Additionally, and I don't know how true this is, I was told yesterday evening that you had been recycling them until someone told you to stop and that you had a goldmine. From what I heard, you had already recycled a significant portion of what you had. I don't know how true that is, but if it is, it demonstrates the extreme leaning from far left to far right in terms of what you believe you have there.
7. Listing and selling and shipping items on eBay is a significant undertaking. Even if every machine you had fully worked and was clean and could be easily resold, that's a lot of time involved. Time is money, and you should know that. Additionally, eBay fees and PayPal fees, costs of shipping supplies, and factors of lost packages and damages during transit eat up an average of 20% of the selling price. That leaves 80%. So on an initial valuation of $30,000 that leaves $24,000 return. The items need to be stored in a climate controlled storage, which would cost money (who really wants to store these in their home for a year or more?). That costs money, about $3000 a year. I know, I've already gone that route with the LEGO I bought and sold a few years ago. Which leads me to ...
8. The environment they are stored in affects their ability to work or be restored over time. High humidity and extreme temperature shifts work quickly to affect the components. Add to that the acidic goo leaking out, it is accelerated with extreme temperature and humidity as well. On top of that, time kills. You say you will sit on these to sell as one lot, that is a mistake. Sitting on these without touching them will make them worthless as working machines. That is what is driving the prices on these machines, that they work. Nobody really wants machines that don't work. Vintage computer collectors want it the way it was when it was made. They don't want someone to take a case and replace the guts.
9. Of anybody in this city, I'm likely the only person who was prepared and able to literally take those computers off your hands yesterday. I had cash in hand, and would have moved them out immediately. I have resources with a partner in California, and business connections all over the US and around the world. My partner and I are establishing a Vintage Apple commercial project, and this hoard actually came along at a good time, which would have been a good piece of our bigger picture.
10. You mentioned your sale wasn't even advertised. You have no idea. Pretty much every vintage Apple collector in our locale is aware of your sale. We are a closenitt group, and the hour someone knows, everyone knows. Your sale was advertised in our groups Saturday morning. How do you think I found out about it ? I don't look up or drive around for garage sales.
11. And my final point in the numbered points, risk. Exchange rate risk. Yes, it's a gamble, but who wants to gamble in so many ways here (dead machines, missing parts, damages in shipping, and now exchange rate volatility)? Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, that is collectible, sells based upon the US dollar. It may sell on eBay in Canada in Canadian dollars, but I can assure you the prices are pegged based upon the USD. Right now exchange rates are somewhat stable, but anything can happen in even 2 months' time (currently about 1.33:1). A few months ago it was 1.47:1. In the past year it has had a range of 20%. That could easily be the difference between profit and loss on a deal like this. On one item, not so much, but on a lot of 200 items? The only way to mitigate that risk is to hedge the currency, but that involves tying up double the money. Who wants to do that ?
In closing, I truly hope you have read upto this point. I will not be reconsidering. I have provided your list to various professionals and the $15,000 you are trying to get is a dream. It truly is. You do not have a mansion on a hill, you have a farm with deteriorating buildings and a worn out farmhouse. Whoever has been advising you is ill educated themselves on the subject. Proof in point, you sold the really truly valuable Macs as monitors (based on your spreadsheet). Those Macs for $20 and $100 are together worth thousands. If those Macs were still part of the deal, it might have been worth the $15,000 you're asking. You may be used to saying what you want and getting it, but that's not going to work in this instance. Vintage computer collectors are often highly intelligent people, who know their stuff, and know what things should be worth. They do not often buy with emotional attachment. This is not an industry like others.
Whatever expert advice you are receiving from whoever you are contacting is flawed, and I wish you well. It is truly a shame that the machines you have in that garage will likely never be salvaged and be in the hands of collectors who appreciate them. And that part is really sad, because I know your friend would have wanted them to be cleaned up and treasured, based on what he had. When I was involved with a local store, I saw many families sell their grandfathers treasured items, because they didn't care to have them. Those items ended up in collectors' hands, and in the hands of people who respected and treasured those items. We also had people think their item should be bought for what they sell for on eBay, and in the end, we actually saw some items end up being thrown out because the people were too stubborn to return and sell them to us. I know because we bought from a guy who goes around and pulls things out of trashbins. A $2000 item was bought that was thrown out, and we had seen that same item 6 months earlier.
This isn't an email to plead with you to drop your price. Because talking with you I already know this is not going to work. I'm the real deal. You won't find another like me.
I wish you well and extreme good luck, and I cry for the future collectability of those machines.
Take care,
