I'm facing a logistic dilemma here and would welcome some ideas. I'm in London UK and have accumulated a workshop full of hundreds of tubes - almost all DHTs like 10Y, 71A, 26, 30, 112A, and so on. Together with that are a large number of parts - transformers (Lundahl, Hammond etc), capacitors (Russian teflon etc), cables, connectors (Neutrik and such) etc. and at least 20 finished and unfinished projects on different chassis. There are also boxes of small projects like filament supplies, plate loads etc. I've sold off a lot of tubes already but this has been slow and time consuming.
The dilemma is that if I advertise on this site I sell a small amount of tubes and stuff, but half the responses just want to cherry pick the best items which I have no difficulty selling. It's the bulk of it I want to move. This is heavy to post, and really needs to be collected. It's good stuff and I don't want to just dispose of it - that would be pitiful.
What can I do - have any of you sold off bulk items to a dealer, for instance, and how did that go? Any other ideas besides just the drip-drip-drip of small groups of items on ebay or small ads here?
I'm really looking for a solution to this - I want to retire from building projects and clear out everything except a small amount of parts to keep me amused. Any creative thinking or experiences would be much appreciated.
andy
The dilemma is that if I advertise on this site I sell a small amount of tubes and stuff, but half the responses just want to cherry pick the best items which I have no difficulty selling. It's the bulk of it I want to move. This is heavy to post, and really needs to be collected. It's good stuff and I don't want to just dispose of it - that would be pitiful.
What can I do - have any of you sold off bulk items to a dealer, for instance, and how did that go? Any other ideas besides just the drip-drip-drip of small groups of items on ebay or small ads here?
I'm really looking for a solution to this - I want to retire from building projects and clear out everything except a small amount of parts to keep me amused. Any creative thinking or experiences would be much appreciated.
andy
In response to Michael - yes, I would give part of it away for the cost of postage. I have a lot of stuff which an active DIY tube builder could profitably use - loads of miscellaneous capacitors and cables, and just bits and pieces of all kinds of things dating back to turntable spares. If I knew it was going to a good home this would be an option for the "small bits and pieces" things which should fill a few boxes! I'd appreciate a nominal amount for the packaging and the effort in taking it all to the post office, but strictly nominal.
Why am I doing it? I'm 65 this year so on paper I've retired and taken my pension. I'm going to do some other things - I'm writing a new edition of my last book and would like to do some more songwriting. I've built hundreds of projects and whilst I was passionate about it, I'm now feeling like a break. Time to pass my gear on to another generation - or a retired person more fanatical than me!
Does ebay work for job lots? I haven't tried this yet. Anyone tried that? I also thought about audio fairs, but I'm not as mobile as I was - stiff joints - and I live on the 2nd floor so transporting boxes would be out without major help.
Any other ideas?
andy
Why am I doing it? I'm 65 this year so on paper I've retired and taken my pension. I'm going to do some other things - I'm writing a new edition of my last book and would like to do some more songwriting. I've built hundreds of projects and whilst I was passionate about it, I'm now feeling like a break. Time to pass my gear on to another generation - or a retired person more fanatical than me!
Does ebay work for job lots? I haven't tried this yet. Anyone tried that? I also thought about audio fairs, but I'm not as mobile as I was - stiff joints - and I live on the 2nd floor so transporting boxes would be out without major help.
Any other ideas?
andy
I'm not near retiring, but I decided it was to time to get rid of some stuff I haven't used in years and might not ever use again. Even giving the stuff away is proving difficult.. 
Might want to hold onto a small quantity of the rarer stuff that you might find hard to replace in the future lest the passion return at later date. (I have at least two older friends who have come full circle and now lament giving the stuff away.)
Good luck, it is not always easy to get rid of this stuff. Free to deserving members might be the path of least resistance.
Might want to hold onto a small quantity of the rarer stuff that you might find hard to replace in the future lest the passion return at later date. (I have at least two older friends who have come full circle and now lament giving the stuff away.)
Good luck, it is not always easy to get rid of this stuff. Free to deserving members might be the path of least resistance.
Let's face it, you want to clear out fast and complete with max. profit. I understand that as everyone does. It's just like most human beings would act. But you also know, that this won't work. I don't know about the exact parts you have, but if I were to drive from germany to the UK, I would like to have a big discount.
Don't even think of professional dealers. They will tell you a price which will shock you. Your complaints will be unheard. Maybe later when you sell the stuff one by one you will know why these dealers won't bother dealing with you and just end the conversation. It takes a long, long time selling, packing shipping etc. the stuff.
A freind of mine bought the whole stock of Opel auto parts from a local dealer. A whole storage building. It took him years till everything was sold which he COULD sell. At the end he still had a few containers with junk/parts he couldn't sell. Of course, he made high five-digit number of cash with it. But all the problems that came along like people who didn't pay, stolen or lost shipments, warranty claims etc. made him say: Never again !
What I want to say is, don't set your expectations too high. Buying the stuff is always more fun than having to sell it. And yes, everybody is a cherry-picker
Don't even think of professional dealers. They will tell you a price which will shock you. Your complaints will be unheard. Maybe later when you sell the stuff one by one you will know why these dealers won't bother dealing with you and just end the conversation. It takes a long, long time selling, packing shipping etc. the stuff.
A freind of mine bought the whole stock of Opel auto parts from a local dealer. A whole storage building. It took him years till everything was sold which he COULD sell. At the end he still had a few containers with junk/parts he couldn't sell. Of course, he made high five-digit number of cash with it. But all the problems that came along like people who didn't pay, stolen or lost shipments, warranty claims etc. made him say: Never again !
What I want to say is, don't set your expectations too high. Buying the stuff is always more fun than having to sell it. And yes, everybody is a cherry-picker
What do you have ? I'm just starting out and looking for parts!
Do you have anything in the EL34 family that's pretty close to matched ? I'm looking for a Quad. EL38.. looking for 2. What transformer types do you have ? I bet if you put together a list, many of us here would buy from you. And you will make more money than if you offload to a dealer.
I'm interested in testing my amp with a quad of 6P3SE tubes too.
Do you have anything in the EL34 family that's pretty close to matched ? I'm looking for a Quad. EL38.. looking for 2. What transformer types do you have ? I bet if you put together a list, many of us here would buy from you. And you will make more money than if you offload to a dealer.
I'm interested in testing my amp with a quad of 6P3SE tubes too.
sell all the popular tubes on ebay... NOS prices are ridicules high for popular tubes. The rest is properly harder to get rid of ( and of course MUCH more valuable for us inhere ).
Im sure that th UK must have a national HIFI site as well, thats usual a good place for heavy quality electronics.
I would love to get my hand on such a lot *s*
Im sure that th UK must have a national HIFI site as well, thats usual a good place for heavy quality electronics.
I would love to get my hand on such a lot *s*
Those days have sadly gone. Fear of litigation, and heaven forbid anything that operates on more than 12V ....
Thanks guys for some useful ideas I hadn't thought of. I like the idea of mixing easy to sell and hard to sell tubes in one job lot. That could help. The problem I have is that I made the decision to collect not common tubes but DHTs - all directly heated tubes. This has provided me with the most exciting sounding tubes I've ever heard - the 10y, 71a, 26, 01a and so on. But these are real minority items, however good they sound. So what do I do with 60 of #30 tubes? Or 20 each of 1J6G, 1G4GT, 1624? If I advertise a tube list everyone asks for KT88 or EL34 which I simply don't have. If I mix them up it may work better - like four 71A combined with some 30, 1G4GT, 6BY5 and so on. Could work.
Schools are out for all the reasons given.
A word about location - yes, London is central and full of people, but they don't have workshops and garages. The guy who would appreciate a few boxes of tubes and parts to use at leisure is probably in a town or in the country. So that's another issue.
What would help is to sell off all the mostly-built projects which any competent DIY-er could turn into working amps and preamps in days. I'm at a loss for what to do there - they are full of good parts like teflon caps, Lundahl transformers etc. but are worth more than just taking off the transformers and selling them. They take up a lot of space. Ideas for those are very welcome.
Andy
Schools are out for all the reasons given.
A word about location - yes, London is central and full of people, but they don't have workshops and garages. The guy who would appreciate a few boxes of tubes and parts to use at leisure is probably in a town or in the country. So that's another issue.
What would help is to sell off all the mostly-built projects which any competent DIY-er could turn into working amps and preamps in days. I'm at a loss for what to do there - they are full of good parts like teflon caps, Lundahl transformers etc. but are worth more than just taking off the transformers and selling them. They take up a lot of space. Ideas for those are very welcome.
Andy
Bidding-sites as Ebay are good
The price always get 100% right
Here on the worlds countryside (sweden), we don´t see that much of those old DHT´s. Buying from ebay, is a risk of having bad gods
But since you are a known name in the diy communities Andy a am sure a lot of people would bid with confidence.
At least I would keep an eye of some of those 10Y´s and #26´s
Best
Pix
The price always get 100% right
Here on the worlds countryside (sweden), we don´t see that much of those old DHT´s. Buying from ebay, is a risk of having bad gods
But since you are a known name in the diy communities Andy a am sure a lot of people would bid with confidence.
At least I would keep an eye of some of those 10Y´s and #26´s
Best
Pix
I'll put some stuff on the swap meet forum. For some reason I didn't think you could post photos - thanks for pointing that out Wavebourn. That way people can see the built items. I use a modular chassis system which is really cool and I have several spare top plates with different sockets on them. I'll get my camera out and start snapping. Really good idea. This is coming together a bit.
andy
andy
Say it ain't so, Andy!
Like you I switched to 2C22 from 6SN7 in my preamp. And just now I'm plotting how best to make another preamp with #26 tubes to use with the power supply from the 2C22 preamp - guess where THAT idea came from...
I take it you've settled on your optimal DHT preamp/amp configuration and are satisfied now. That's a good thing, I guess.
Like you I switched to 2C22 from 6SN7 in my preamp. And just now I'm plotting how best to make another preamp with #26 tubes to use with the power supply from the 2C22 preamp - guess where THAT idea came from...
I take it you've settled on your optimal DHT preamp/amp configuration and are satisfied now. That's a good thing, I guess.
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