Need guidance to find good homes for stereophile's collection

[Chris Weegar]

My life-long stereophile husband passed almost two years ago and I'm trying to decide what to do with, what I believe are, a number of quality vintage pieces of stereo equipment. Some examples are a Pioneer SA-9100 Amplifier, Pioneer TX 9500 ii, and Cambridge Audio 640A DAC. My interest is not so much a price, but rather that someone who loves this kind of gear takes over responsibility for it. How do I best find such people? He meticulously maintained all his equipment, so to me it seems it all performs almost the same as the day it was first installed. If they still have useful life, it would break our hearts to learn it ended up in a flea market somewhere.

 

[Yamaki]

Have you thought about an estate sale or local used audio consignment stores?

I'd hesitate to advertise such items on eBay or your local Craigslist.

 

[Nightfly]

You are doing the right thing coming here. Lots of good opinions from those who care about the equipment and people, and the stories behind them. And the collective group will be able to give you a very fair evaluation of what the pricing should be.

Agreed, you don't want to let someone "buy" this stuff for nothing and see it not cared for properly.

Sorry for your loss.

 

[macgolf]

Chris,

Please accept my condolences on the passing of your husband. Your questions and concerns are shared by many of us here, who have put effort and time into our music systems.

Are there any family/friends who can help you with this task?
What is your comfort level of dealing with strangers via CraigsList, Facebook MarketPlace etc?
Sold Ebay listings is a good place to start with value, but expect to get less(possibly 20 - 30%) for a local sale.
Are there any local Record stores that do consignment audio gear sales?

Mark

 

[Chris Weegar]

Have you thought about an estate sale or local used audio consignment stores?

I'd hesitate to advertise such items on eBay or your local Craigslist.

Thank you for taking the time to respond.

I'm continuing to use some of the equipment, because Paul trained me on its care. So, I only have about 10-12 pieces worthy of preservation and/or shipping, which makes the lot too small for a professional estate sale handler, plus they can't exercise discretion as to whether or not the buyer was just going to resell the equipment. And earlier this year I did sell one pair of high end floor speakers currently valued at $1500-2000 for just $600 through a trusted consignment shop. There, I'm fairly sure the consignment retailer did respect my request for the speakers to go to someone who wanted them for personal use. I was testing the waters with that sale, which took six months, and the retailer had considerable latitude for negotiation. For such a big item, the retailer was interested in handling the consignment. For items with a current worth under $1000, interest is a lot less. I live in a relatively rural, low population area.

A core issue I face is connecting with an interested and trusted party who isn't just interested in a "score". That's why I turned to this forum.

I face a similar issue with a classical music collection consisting of 1000+ CD's, copied to disc (1+ terabytes) for transportability, with a cross-referenced file system for physical or digital lookup by composer(s), name of piece(s), or performer(s). Any direction to contact a fledgling public radio station, educational institution, or music charity would also be appreciated.

 

[4-2-7]

Thank you for taking the time to respond.

I'm continuing to use some of the equipment, because Paul trained me on its care. So, I only have about 10-12 pieces worthy of preservation and/or shipping, which makes the lot too small for a professional estate sale handler, plus they can't exercise discretion as to whether or not the buyer was just going to resell the equipment. And earlier this year I did sell one pair of high end floor speakers currently valued at $1500-2000 for just $600 through a trusted consignment shop. There, I'm fairly sure the consignment retailer did respect my request for the speakers to go to someone who wanted them for personal use. I was testing the waters with that sale, which took six months, and the retailer had considerable latitude for negotiation. For such a big item, the retailer was interested in handling the consignment. For items with a current worth under $1000, interest is a lot less. I live in a relatively rural, low population area.

A core issue I face is connecting with an interested and trusted party who isn't just interested in a "score". That's why I turned to this forum.

I face a similar issue with a classical music collection consisting of 1000+ CD's, copied to disc (1+ terabytes) for transportability, with a cross-referenced file system for physical or digital lookup by composer(s), name of piece(s), or performer(s). Any direction to contact a fledgling public radio station, educational institution, or music charity would also be appreciated.

Well unless you want to deal with one person at a time a buyer of the whole lot is not going to want everything if any at all. Individual buyers on one unit will tend to want it for themselves. Some buyers only want one brand or type of equipment.

Me personally would not care what the buyer wants to do with the equipment as long as I got my asking price or a fair price. The unit will end up with someone using it even if they plan on making a couple of bucks.

I would post a few listings on CL and see what kind of bites you get. Talk to some of them on the phone and read what type of people they are. You can then tell them you have other pieces they may be interested in.

Not everyone is bad in this world and I have always met the asking price if I wanted something and it was priced fairly to me. I have met some very nice people on CL with like interest as well.

 

[winters860]

If you're willing to ship, $25 will buy you a year of access to Audiokarma's Barter Town classifieds.

There's no eBay fees to pay, and the buyers are generally going to be more appreciative and upright than Craigslist randos.

 

[4-2-7]

If you're willing to ship, $25 will buy you a year of access to Audiokarma's Barter Town classifieds.

There's no eBay fees to pay, and the buyers are generally going to be more appreciative and upright than Craigslist randos.

Yes, you can sell on the site and deal with good people as long as you become a subscriber for $25. You can also research value and learn a bit about the demand of the equipment. You could even find local members to you as your listings can be made local pickup only. It's free to list all you have.

There is more on this site than just audio interest, you might even get to know people who will become friends, other women here also.

 

[bshorey]

My life-long stereophile husband passed almost two years ago and I'm trying to decide what to do with, what I believe are, a number of quality vintage pieces of stereo equipment. Some examples are a Pioneer SA-9100 Amplifier, Pioneer TX 9500 ii, and Cambridge Audio 640A DAC. My interest is not so much a price, but rather that someone who loves this kind of gear takes over responsibility for it. How do I best find such people? He meticulously maintained all his equipment, so to me it seems it all performs almost the same as the day it was first installed. If they still have useful life, it would break our hearts to learn it ended up in a flea market somewhere.

My condolences on your loss.

If you read through this forum, you'll find many stories of people who've let stuff go for very cheap prices, often due to some sob story from the buyer, only to see it on Craigslist the next day for double the price. So there are no guarantees.

In my opinion, the best bet would be to do a little research on the pieces to see what they're worth (eBay auctions are a good place to start), then price it near that. If you can get something close to this kind of market price, then it tends to squeeze out the potential flipper.

That will be time consuming, but it sounds like you're willing to invest the time. I do have a question, however. What's the difference between selling to a flipper on CL, and selling through a consignment shop? Both are in the middle making a profit, right?

Where are you located? There may be somebody here who's close by and can help. Word of caution, while most people here are sincere enthusiasts, there are some who are not. I've been burned here on AK, as I have on CL and eBay. As 4-2-7 says, get comfortable with whomever you're doing business with.

Good luck with it. While I'm sure your husband appreciates your efforts to find a good home for everything, I'll bet he's just as concerned that you are as well off in the process as possible.

bs

 

[sKiZo]

Just be aware that AK's Bartertown requires any postings to have a price listed in the post, so you'll have to do the research to get a fair price. It WILL give you access to people who actually want the equipment, but there's no guarantee you won't run into the occasional flipper ...

Maybe a suggestion for the next AK upgrade. Add a checkbox on the profile page ...

Are you a flipper? If so, automagically add a

tag to any posts in BT ...<G>

 

[hjames]

One helpful thing is to list where in the world you are - while you can ship most gear anywhere,
local sales can be their own reeqard - and -
there is less risk of damage for local pickup/sales.

Classical music collections can be a hard sell in bulk, tho I think CDs have a better inherent value than large classical record collections -

My life-long stereophile husband passed almost two years ago and I'm trying to decide what to do with, what I believe are, a number of quality vintage pieces of stereo equipment. Some examples are a Pioneer SA-9100 Amplifier, Pioneer TX 9500 ii, and Cambridge Audio 640A DAC. My interest is not so much a price, but rather that someone who loves this kind of gear takes over responsibility for it. How do I best find such people? He meticulously maintained all his equipment, so to me it seems it all performs almost the same as the day it was first installed. If they still have useful life, it would break our hearts to learn it ended up in a flea market somewhere.

 

[highping]

Sorry for your loss. I would suggest you hang out here and get an impression of the type of folks that post/share their stories. Most display their location. Maybe you'll run across someone that resides close to you.
Pretty sure all senior citizen guys worry about where their gear will go when they pass. Good luck in finding the right buyer.
Kind regards,
Bob

 

[Chris Weegar]

If you're willing to ship, $25 will buy you a year of access to Audiokarma's Barter Town classifieds.

There's no eBay fees to pay, and the buyers are generally going to be more appreciative and upright than Craigslist randos.

Thanks to all again. I've just given myself a head slap for not sufficiently researching Audiokarma ENTIRE site to locate the Barter Town section. That remained completely under my radar in spite of the fact it was precisely what I was looking for: a place to be in contact with those who are in search of an outstanding listening experience, as was my husband. I had gone down a bunny trail of the "rules" emphasizing that this site and the section "Dollars and Sense" was definitely not to be used to sell, or even hint of a sale.

Given my location, I started this expecting to ship, and $25 is a nit in order to properly distribute my husband's legacy.

Next project: figure out how to list. I really appreciate all the comments you've made. All were very helpful.

 

[superdog]

In spite of your feelings about "finding the right person" your best bet may be a consignment shop.You may find that person there.If you ask a fair price as to the value you will find someone who, like your husband, will take care of the gear.The reason I say this is it can be a process to sell off a collection of gear.Not to mention the hassle of properly packing heavy electronic items.If your not up to it just let the consignment shop do the work.Should you decide to do the cl thing sell at a fair price and ignore the flippers.I have met quite a few very nice like minded people selling audio on CL.Do your homework.I have nothing wrong against people trying to resell to make a buck.Its the methods that some do so that bother me.My condolences on your loss.I can completely empathize as I recently lost my wife of thirty eight years.

 

[swechsler]

Next project: figure out how to list. I really appreciate all the comments you've made. All were very helpful.

The more pictures, the better. A cell phone can take quite decent pictures, and you can always enlarge and crop to point out individual features. You can either post the pictures directly on the site as part of a media gallery, or you can also post on an external image hosting site (such as imgur.com) and then use the Image button to show that picture inline in the post. I prefer the latter method, since it will show the pictures in their original resolution; if you use the image gallery, the posted pictures will be significantly smaller. If an item has any cosmetic defects, those should be pointed out in both text and pictures.

It's not necessary to know all the details about the equipment; AK'ers are a resourceful bunch, and with the model number we can figure out pretty much anything. Of course, if you know about something that's not working properly (or if you're not sure about the working condition), that information should be included in the post. Add any other details that you know, such as when it was purchased, if it was purchased new or secondhand, and any repairs or updates that have been done.

 

[Dswankey]

Not to be a buzzkill but shipping heavy audio equipment isn't as easy at it sounds. If not packaged correctly expect damaged items upon receipt and upset buyers wanting a refund. If you do go this route be sure to pay for the insurance.

On another note have you reached out to or know of any of your husbands friends, associates who are into audio? if not try them first.

 

[4-2-7]

I've just given myself a head slap for not sufficiently researching Audiokarma ENTIRE site to locate the Barter Town section. That remained completely under my radar in spite of the fact it was precisely what I was looking for: a place to be in contact with those who are in search of an outstanding listening experience, as was my husband.

You can not see Barter Town until you become a subscriber, there is more to the site that you can not see until then also. Yeah $25 is nothing and you have a good market here at a fair price. But again you might want to start out for pickup only and state your general location and a price. You then talk to interested members in a privet message and arrange a viewing. The main demographic of this site is about 70% over 50 so you'll have good manner going for you for the most part

 

[kaplang]

Where are you located? Your zip code will do just fine. Maybe some local AK member can step up and help you. I also suggest you stay away from Ebay and Craigslist. Buyers on those sales avenues will not usually respect what you have for sale.

 

[Wildcat]

A good source for the prices of recently sold or closed listings is https://www.hifishark.com . You can do a search on a particular piece and find out some helpful pricing information.

This is for current listings.


Note there is a tab for Sold/Expired...



A lot of times there is a difference between the often optimistic selling prices, and what items have sold for.

 

[Chris Weegar]

In spite of your feelings about "finding the right person" your best bet may be a consignment shop.You may find that person there.If you ask a fair price as to the value you will find someone who, like your husband, will take care of the gear.The reason I say this is it can be a process to sell off a collection of gear.Not to mention the hassle of properly packing heavy electronic items.If your not up to it just let the consignment shop do the work.Should you decide to do the cl thing sell at a fair price and ignore the flippers.I have met quite a few very nice like minded people selling audio on CL.Do your homework.I have nothing wrong against people trying to resell to make a buck.Its the methods that some do so that bother me.My condolences on your loss.I can completely empathize as I recently lost my wife of thirty eight years.

Thanks for the response. The consignment approach is what I tried first. My consignment shop choice is very limited because of my location, and my dealer isn't interested in smaller items. He's actually a repair shop that my husband relied upon and doesn't have the floor space to carry a lot of consignment pieces so he can't address all that I have.