Once expensive, now junk, but still hard to throw away?
 

It's amazing how we'll spend thousands on gear, only to have it superseded. But how long do you hang on to it?

I've got a Matrox X.100 which was by no means my first "real time" video editing card. Back in the glorious days of standard definition video where you custom built your computer so that the dreaded dropped frames would be avoided. Now? The computer box sits in the garage as the motherboard is now dead and not worth fixing. I still have it and the 'squid head' breakout box/cable. Still have trouble bringing myself to throw it away (yet I need to).

Anybody else got something in this category?

Andrew

Re: Once expensive, now junk, but still hard to throw away?
 

I have the Matrox RT2500 which I mated with Adobe Premiere 6.5. Never could get it to run perfectly and it was just a pain in the ass. It now sits in my basement because I could not sell it and it cost too much to throw away. Ultimately I switched to Edius and swore never to buy another Matrox or Adobe product again.

Re: Once expensive, now junk, but still hard to throw away?
 

This article may help.

Re: Once expensive, now junk, but still hard to throw away?
 

I wonder if my JVC HD110 falls into this category. Still a great camera and honestly 720P isn't so awful for You Tube - except lately everybody expects HD. I've got it feeding a Ninja2, so no issue with tape.

But did I say that everybody seems to expect HD???

Re: Once expensive, now junk, but still hard to throw away?
 

The JVC matched a number of HD cameras in resolution.

Re: Once expensive, now junk, but still hard to throw away?
 

I bought a Lightscribe writer on Craigslist for $80 back around 2010. About a month later my PC crashed & I got a new one, with a DVD burner which supposedly also burns Lightscribe as well. If needed. Honestly I've never burned one since.

Re: Once expensive, now junk, but still hard to throw away?
 

I have a simple rule now. If I don't use something in 6 months then I sell it. e-Bay has become the saviour of us gear hoarders and it's amazing what people will buy and bid for ..even if it doesn't work! I had a Fuji point and shoot camera that I had bought on eBay for $60.00 and soon after the sensor chip died. Instead of tossing it in the bin I put it on eBay saying .."faulty needs sensor repair" and two people fought over the bidding and I ended up with $72.00!!

There is hope yet for you guys with old gear sitting in the basement ...put it on eBay and use the money to get some shiny new toys!!

Re: Once expensive, now junk, but still hard to throw away?
 

Problem with ebay is auction fees/shipping costs. Costs a fortune to ship everything unless you're a shipping/packing expert.

Problem with craigslist is people are very flaky and also some of them like to murder you.

I have several items that are definitely worth some money that I would like to get rid of, but AT WHAT COST?

Re: Once expensive, now junk, but still hard to throw away?
 

I sell a bit on Ebay and shipping is not an issue for me. I use USPS Priority mail and it is reasonably priced with tracking.

Re: Once expensive, now junk, but still hard to throw away?
 

You must be dealing with smaller items.

Re: Once expensive, now junk, but still hard to throw away?
 

Most services have flat rate parcel services up to around 10 lbs so I just add that to the sale. For really heavy stuff like your old U-Matic recorder that would cost more than you get for it just in shipping. I list heavy stuff as pickup only but if the buyer is prepared to pay the freight costs I'll send it anywhere!

If the item is in another city or state I'm sure the buyer has enough sense to realise that it has to be shipped and he has to pay for that shipping??

Re: Once expensive, now junk, but still hard to throw away?
 

So far the items I've sold on eBay haven't had much issue with shipping costs, even from here in Hawaii.

I recently sold a teleprompter that cost the buyer more than $90 to ship. My biggest concern was making sure the fragile beamsplitter glass would be unharmed. The buyer was ecstatic at my packing job, saying I must have gotten a masters in teleprompter packing. :-)

USPS is how I ship everything. Almost all of it goes via flat rate unless it's small and/or lightweight. In which case it's sometimes cheaper to send in an ordinary box via Priority Mail.

I've been on a selling spree, clearing out as much as I can. Sold all the Nikon lenses from my years as a news photographer. They hadn't been used since 2004. Trying to sell my Norman studio strobe system. And there are several miscellaneous items which managed to find buyers at very cheap prices. The cost of mailing them was almost as much as the item itself.

But that's what's interesting about eBay. Never can tell what might sell.

Re: Once expensive, now junk, but still hard to throw away?
 

if i were willing to do local/pickup only I'd just go through craigslist and cut out the middleman/fees.

Re: Once expensive, now junk, but still hard to throw away?
 

I bought a Nikon D2x when it came out. Paid $4999 plus tax. I like the camera but its junk compared to the Nikon D7000 that I bought just 3 years later for $1000.
Big mistake to buy the D2x and waste of money.

Re: Once expensive, now junk, but still hard to throw away?
 

I still have my first hard drive: a 100mB for my Amiga 500. I think it was $800 including the interface. I no longer have the computer but I just can't get rid of the hard drive.