My hobby is a time sink and a money hole for the most part (it is a hobby after all).

If I ever want to sell it off I will probably make my money back.

In the past I have fixed machines for other people and received payment or other equipment in trade. Plus I made out ok on the few items I did sell.

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For me it's kinda zero sum game. But that's just wishful thinking... in reality I spend way more then I sell.

It is a Hobby so when I want to get rid of stuff it is mostly not on ebay but on other fora, mostly trading into other stuff on specialized fora (like Amiga stuff on A1K.org). Also sell some fancy new stuff (like Pentium's) I never will use again.

As PeterLI said, when you buy at ebay and sell on ebay, you can almost make no money at all. Making money is only possible when you get the hard- and software from other sources and sell on ebay. Or buy as defect, repair and sell on. I did that some years ago (2005-2007) whit iMac's G5, that was quite profitable, mostly replace some leaking Caps and they were working again.

And I don't like ebay, even to buy stuff I mostly use other sites.

And for selling, putting stuff on the internet cast a lot of time. For example, you have some "classic" games, you could make a bundle but than you won't get the money that you could receive selling each game apart. So you make some pictures of each game, write some text, put that on the internet. Next IF someone buys it for the money you want,you have to pack and post it. So the effort is not there, you "work" about an hour to receive 5 or 10 bugs. I could do some pressures things whit that time, like playing simcity or the settlers.

Let me rephrase my question. I am not interested in being an ebay seller. Nor am I really interested in turning a big profit per say. I am basically asking if anyone has established a local side business around retro computing/gaming.

I don't consider myself a collector. I don't just store things for the sake of it. Anything I keep I do so because I might need it some day and wouldn't want to have to buy it again if I did.

An Example would be I picked up a lot of 15 towers, but I really don't have use for them all. One of them is a old Compaq Presario with a K6-2 533 and Built in Trident video. I have a K6-3 system I build off a P5a motherboard so I don't really need this Compaq system, nor do I really like OEMs as a general rule honestly. So maybe I load up DOS on this thing along with maybe a bunch of free/abandonware and see if someone will pick it up for 50 or 100 USD just so they can play a bunch of old DOS games? Has anyone tried this in their local area? I only spend 100 USD on the lot of 15 towers so maybe I turn a bit of a profit but I would just put it back into more parts anyway most likely.

In the end it is really just a way to spend less money on retro computing by offsetting it rather then necessarily trying to really make money.

That would be a no, at this moment.

But... I just finished renovating my work and hobbyroom, now I planned to put some request in local supermarkets and maybe some newspaper asking for old hardware (like before 1996 or so). And than after picking the best for me I would sell or trade the rest on. In hope that there are some real nice computers to keep.

There are not that many retro computer collectors in the world, and they all collect different things for different reasons. The odds of somebody local to you wanting to pay more then peanuts for generic equipment you just paid peanuts for locally is slim to none. Ebay works for flipping items because while there might not be that many local collectors looking for what you have, there might be a few in the same state, country, or globally that would want it and they do use ebay.

Granted there are items in high demand that you can stumble over in a lot of junk and somebody else will want and that will offset your expenses. Thing is you have to be a jack of all trades and very knowledgeable PLUS knowing how to target a small niche group to do this with any consistency. Being able to fix things is a major asset, especially when people are giving "broken" things away that are valuable if fixed.

If you are the type that has friends with the same kind of hobbies or the friend of a friend what people go to talk to for advice then you probably have the contacts needed to make a small amount of side money. The problem I see here is that you say you don't like to hold onto stuff , and are not a collector, and don't want to sell on Ebay. So you don't want to invest in storage (sometimes it takes a while for things to get collectable or you to get around to fixing them), not really a collector (so you probably don't know what things collectors really want), and don't want to be an Ebay seller (limits your options to flip items) those are big problems.

There are other ways to make money like sourcing things for people with a commission, repairing their stuff for a fee, or selling other people items for them you might want to look into.

I in you hood hazxing your posts

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Especially when Craiglist sellers advertise their goods at eBay prices, even though they don't have to pay eBay fees and often not even PayPal fees or shipping fees and they almost never collect sales tax for the states that have one.

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I'm the only one I know in my area that has retro PC interests. 😀 I don't sell, either locally or through ebay, etc. So I don't make any money. Because of lack of space, I've kept my hardware purchases in check and only have a few machines. I'm more in it for the retro games, so most of my hobby money gets spent there. Granted, if I had the space and the money, there's no doubt I'd be spending more on hardware.

I wouldnt say I've MADE money, but I've self funded my hobby. Mostly when it comes to really rare stuff or stuff that has a huge following. If you account for time acquiring/listing/selling, then its a 0 sum game.

Most of the stuff that goes for big money is Amiga and commodore stuff, also vintage apple stuff tends to go for good money. But good luck sourcing that stuff.

For me I started an Amiga collection, because I never saw one growing up, it was just a mythical awesome computer. When I got what i needed, I sold the stuff I had duplicates of, and some of it went for nothing, some of it went for good money. Again I just reinvested that $$$ into other stuff I wanted, hence self funding.

My retro habit makes money out of me.

I don't think I actually ever sold anything I bought. It's simply not very time-consuming and I already have little time to spare.

And after all, I see purchasing these old parts as a way to spend some time, just like others spend time on vacation abroad, except my vacation is right at home and it never evaporates 😁.

I think I'd at least break even if I managed to sell most of the more wanted stuff, but it would take an enormous effort just to get all the parts tested and shipped. Let alone having to take into account things like disputes from scammers or lost parcels or anything.

It's really not worth it to me. And as has been said here before, it's a niche market, I know of noone here close by, the people who also collect retro pc stuff and live the closest are actually the same people already posting here on Vogons 🤣!

And often there is usually only a partial overlap. To me, it's simply not worth it financially to spend my time selling all those tiny bits and pieces for next to nothing.

I would only sell full functioning systems I think. Your right it's not worth it to sell parts for a couple dollars here and there. Honestly, the more I think about my motivation for this I think I just don't like things not getting used. I see all this potential I've got sitting around and I know I will use a lot of it but definitely not all of it.

Absolutely, if I want to. This can be an expensive hobby and often, selling off things you found for cheap is the best way to finance your collection. I've sold a few items before for several times what I paid for, and even then it's usually for less than eBay value. It all depends on the item and what I think would be a fair price, I don't believe in charging someone $200 for a tiny, insignificant part or something borderline useless like a printer, I'm sure a lot of us here know the frustration of finding a seller that has that one exact thing you need but it's ridiculously priced because he's the only one out there who has it.

If I have a choice I'd much rather sell to a local buyer on Craigslist or LetGo than on eBay. Yes it means far less potential buyers, especially so in terms of niche stuff like retro PC hardware, but eBay's sale fees and technical support are a total joke, and when something goes wrong on a shipment they HEAVILY favor the buyer over the seller. And good luck shipping heavy, fragile stuff like CRTs and floppy drives without either it getting trashed in shipment, or being forced to charge up the butt for the item to offset heavy shipping costs.

I sell duplicates and things I don't want/need. I actually get some kind of satisfaction from packaging them up and sending them off to another enthusiast, as I can't stand clutter. I wouldn't buy something specifically to resell unless it was an absolutely amazing deal.

The only way to make a business out of it would be to buy bulk lots and part out, or perhaps buying larger hardware locally and selling nationwide. Good luck posting monitors though, I wouldn't do it unless I had the original packaging. Even then, your hourly rate would be peanuts.

Any money I have in my Paypal account from selling helps to subsidise future retro purchases but that's it 😎
I did sell a Socket 7 system made from surplus parts for £225 last year, but it had a desktop case, Voodoo 1, AWE32 and XR385.

Now that I think about it, I guess I have made a little money, but only due to sellers trying to pawn off broken items or inaccurate descriptions. Out of about twenty or so purchases (yeah, that's all I've bought), a few have gotten refunded due to wrong description or broken product, which I've reinvested into other stuff. So technically, I guess I've made out a bit without even trying. 😀