Most home insurance policies pay replacement cost on structures (as long as a certain percentage of the replacement value is insured - usually 80%) and they pay actually cash value for property. So if you could prove the equipment was in good working condition you would probably get reimbursed a average of what the working item is selling for on places like E-Bay.
That's not how it worked for us when we had the fire back in '04.
They paid replacement value on the contents as well.
And we could'nt use places like Ebay for a reference on prices @ all for any of the damaged items.
Any used items had to be replaced with new items or all you got was the upfront percentage based on what a new retail replacment would cost.
Now in some cases that works in one's favor in a
BIG way,,,in other cases not so much...
That was kind of a PITA with certain older items as often there were no new replacements available to use as a reference for a replacement cost.
In those cases they sorta "negotiated" an agreed price to use for the replacment value on a per-item basis.
Now I'm sure coverage & reimbursement methods/requirements vary policy to policy & company to company,so as usual YMMV.
Often enough large collections of eletronics gear are going to need to be put on a stated value policy or they may not even be fully insured.
And with a stated value policy one would typically use pricing from places like Ebay or such,along with purchase reciepts & appraisals and the like.
But that type of policy is usually a
rider on ones homeowner's/renter's insurance,and thus a whole other can-O-worms.
A stated value rider is typically needed when the given item's value exceeds what is covered by the main policy.
And IIRC it typically pays out just as it sounds.
Example:
If you have $20k worth of gear and the main policy only covers $1.5k worth of electronics you better hope you got that rider policy or you are SOL.
With the rider policy if the covered items are considered a total loss,the insurance co. just cuts a check for the stated value and calls it a day.
Which reminds me,my renter ins. is due this month,,,dang...
GTGFN
Bret P.