CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

Joemarzen · Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2008 5:09 am Post subject: Best way to sell?

I just bought an Electrome 8110 and therefore am no longer in need of my old projector. What would guys suggest as the best way to sell it? Should I just put it up on Ebay? What kind of price should I sell it at? I am very happy with the picture, my only complaint being some relatively minor issues with the blue tube. I think it has around 2500 hours on it.

draganm · Joined: 08 Mar 2006 Posts: 8990 Location: Colorado

even though your not supposed to a lot fo people post for sale adds here like you just did. I guess that's one way to sell it.

Brooklyn · Joined: 17 Sep 2007 Posts: 494 Location: Morgan Hill, CA

For the price, do some research for what others have sold for.

Places to sell: craigslist(free), ebay, videogon, AVS for sale forum. Craigslist is nice because you get a local buyer and don't have to pay listing fees.

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2008 3:01 pm Post subject:

Check ebay for what as is projectors are going for. REgardless of the make and model (assuming that the 8111 is an upgrade), expect in the very low $100s. On eBay I'd expect well under $200. Sales of low end sets are dead in the water.. Sad

emdawgz1 · Joined: 14 Mar 2006 Posts: 7949

As Curt said, sales of low end sets are Dead, dead, dead. You'd do better trying to hook up a friend or relative with it.

or Craigslist.

ecrabb · Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2008 4:10 pm Post subject:

I'm going to try both Craigslist and Videogon for the two older ES sets I'll be selling. I figure Craigslist to get the 'new to HT/tinkerer/collector/garage saler' type person, and Videogon to hit the CRT enthusiast that might be in my area (or at least not too far away).

ebay will be a last resort. Before I do that, I'll probably part them out here first.

SC

secstate · Joined: 20 Mar 2006 Posts: 720

Just be aware of scammers on craigslist. I have sold stuff there and any anything over say $200 bucks seems to attract the scammers. Proportionally speaking (I haven't sold a whole lot on craigslist) I have run into many more scammers there than any place else including Ebay. Heck a friend of mine had a guy come buy a car listed on CL and the guy opened up his briefcase and the guy not only had significantly more cash than needed for the car, he was packing a hand gun. It turned out ok but still....

ecrabb · Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2008 8:16 pm Post subject:

You have to be on the lookout for scammers everywhere, now. Scammers even troll some of the car sale sites like AutoTrader and Cars.com.

Craigslist can be a little scary and because of that, I don't particularly like the idea of people coming to my home. Some bad sh*t has happened to people selling cars (in general - not just on Craigslist) and also selling stuff and responding to ads on Craigslist. Like the young girl that got killed in Minneapolis responding to a nanny position CL. There are some pretty f*ck*** up people out there.

Case in point: I sold two extra HT recliners I had last fall and broke my own rule of not having people come to the house to buy sh*t. The people that showed up to buy them were... let's just say... not from my part of town. If I were single I wouldn't give a sh*t, but with two young kids and a stay-at-home Mom in the house every day, I don't like it. Not going to do that again.

Next time I sell something locally, I think I'll meet them in the grocery store a few blocks from the house. Not sure how that'll work with the projector. Maybe I can vet them and if they look cool, then they can follow me back to the house. What else can I do? I don't want to throw the projectors in the trash and parting them out would kind of be a shame because they're perfectly in-tact machines! Not worth any bad juju, though - that's for sure.

SC

benareeno · Joined: 22 Mar 2006 Posts: 1614 Location: ottawa, canada

Does anyone really not know how to sell a projector?

If ever a thread could/should be deleted, this is it.

ecrabb · Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2008 11:40 pm Post subject:

I see your point, but where do you stop? What, the whole subject of selling projectors is forbidden? So, would threads about selling projectors be banned, but threads about threads about selling projectors would be OK? It gets kind of absurd when you think about it. In fact, it almost sounds a little Monty Python.

<thick british accent>Mmm... Yes... If I were - hypothetically speaking, of course - to sell a projector (not that I have one to sell, of course), where would be the best place to sell said hypothetical projector, and what would be a fair price... hypothetically speaking, of course? I have no projector to sell, but I'm only asking... WHAT would be the price... What WOULD be the price... What would BE the price... What would be THE price...... of THEEEE projector?</thick british accent>

I wrote a snarky post similar to what draganm posted, but closed the browser window before I posted because I decided it wasn't my place. I figure it's Curt's party - he can make the call on who stays and who goes.

My view is that low-end ES projectors have so little value now, that they're barely worth shipping any more. That would mean most of us would either be selling locally or parting out. I wonder if Curt even sells many of those types of machines any more or if the bulk of that segment of the business is in parts. Curt?

SC

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 12:43 am Post subject:

Well you're right, I could ban parts sales as well. I just lost a parts sale today:

Curt - Sorry I didn't get back to you before but I found someone nearby who is selling me a complete set of boards and tubes for the XXXX for around $100.

So there again, someone used me for tech support, then found parts elsewhere. It's generally not a big deal, because people know that I stand behind my parts with a warranty, the parts are tested and modified a lot of times before sending them out, so while other boards on ebay and elsewhere are cheaper, you can also return boards if you (we) misdiagnose what the problem is the first time around. You can't do that with eBay for the for sale forum here.

And yes, I am parting out more sets than ever before. Parts demand is higher than new set purchases. I am however also getting a lot more corporate inquiries/purchases, and those sets go out the door at full retail. Customers that are used to paying $35K for a new 9500LC are happy to pay under 1/3 of that.. with the same warranty as from VDC for a refurb.

I'm happy with the status quo for now. There aren't that many others out there that have the stock of parts that I do. Besides, I end up buying select parts that I am low on stock of from my own buy/sell forum, so it works to my advantage as well.

Discussion of how to sell sets privately is fine by me. Guaranteed though that if someone comes here selling NIB G90s for $100 each, I'l be first in line.. Smile

BTW, CL is indeed a strange place to sell stuff, hell, even give it away. I was giving away 2 oddball tires here before Xmas, some woman phones, demands that I hold the one tire for 2 days, asks 400 questions about the damn thing (yes, it's round, holds air and has tread), then calls back 2 days later after I could have given it away 10 X, and says that she really needs two, can I check to see if I have a second one? (oh right, I forgot about the one under my bed). She never showed up for it, I had to relist (and I posted that I would NOT give this tire to Sherry the Bitch!)

This past weekend I sold some tripod speaker stands and some mic stands and a TV bracket. Had a woman (again) email about asking me to deliver said $20 TV bracket way across town (f*ck no!), sold the mic stands without an issue, and ended up selling the speaker stands to my lawyer's cousin.... that I first saw in Toronto in 1983 when I drove across Canada. He'd moved here in 2000, and I think I last saw him 4 years ago. Small world!

paw · Joined: 08 Mar 2006 Posts: 1176 Location: Arvada, CO

If you can buy a PJ cheap enough, parting it out is not a bad deal. I bought a Barco 701s for $50 back in November. I just sold the last bits. The grand total was $230 in payments. I just wish my stock profolio could generate that kind of return. 360% return in 5 months. Shocked

I'd be retired in a few months. Of course, I did have to hear the wife say "when are 'we' going to get rid of that old projector" a few hundred times. Yes 95% of those parts were sold through this website. Of course, Curt got the his pick of the litter for a good price. Wink

I think Craigslist is great. Over the past year I've sold thousands of dollars of stuff. From Barbies to bikes to cars. Heck, I even sold an old wooden swing set for MORE than I paid for it several years ago. My wife did like that part. I've bought a few thinks cheap and I'm look for a decent, free or cheap sofa for the HT until we can afford what we really want. Every person I've met via Craigslist has been decent to very nice. Though I have found people to be flaky. Some just don't show up. For my free stuff, who ever gets here 1st gets it. Well, unless she's got a sexy voice. Thumbs Up

99.9% of the people out that are good people. You just have to watch out for that 0.1%

benareeno · Joined: 22 Mar 2006 Posts: 1614 Location: ottawa, canada

How to sell a projector-
put ads up wherever you can...ask a proper price. If nobody responds, lower the price...loop!