#Used Software
1. I never buy older versions, but do buy software people decided
they don't need any more. I look at AmigaUser/Classifides (and
other, non-CIS sources) to find such software.
2. Post a message to places like AmigaUser/Classifides. The market
certainly seems as well-developed.
3. See above.
4. There is all the stuff about C.O.D., whether to accept a check or
cash-only, etc. My philosophy is that no matter how you do the
transaction, someone can screw the other. For example a shipper can
ship a box of rocks C.O.D. cash only to screw the shipper. The buyer
can sometimes slip a personal check to UPS even when it is marked
"cash-only", or he can refuse shipment and put the seller out for
shipping costs and time. Trust is required. If there is no way you
can afford to lose the amount of money or product involved, and you
don't know the other person from Adam, don't do it. If you can
afford the (small) risk that this is going to be a muffed
transaction, save yourself the C.O.D. charges and the time and
request that the buyer sticks a check in the mail on the same day the
seller sticks the merchandise in the mail. I've conducted dozens of
transactions this way over the years. I haven't been burned. I might
be someday, but it probably won't cost me much more than I've saved
in C.O.D. charges over the years.
Also, and obviously, there are legal issues with software to be
cautious of. Some license agreements don't care what you do with
older versions, some allow you to sell your older versions as long as
you indicate that it is unsupported non-upgradeable, some forbid
distribution of any older versions except with full transfer of the
license, including the current version.
Often, the license agreements themselves don't specify this. I
belive that SAS/C is in this category. They recently provided an
upgrade from 6.3 to 6.5 which included a complete set of new
documentation. Someone asked, and SAS said it was OK to sell 6.3 as
unsuppported and non-upgradeable. Many people posted "for sale"
notices for 6.3, and quite a few were "flamed" for doing something
"illegal." Needless to say, SAS's message had to be re-posted quite
a few times to straighten this out.