#C= Toronto Sale
18 messages in this thread
News travels slowly. There will be ANOTHER sale of goods at Commodore Canada
tomorrow (Friday, Sept 9) from 10am to 2pm. No new goods, just whatever was
left over from the last sale. Perhaps prices adjusted slightly downward
(especially on furniture, which didn't seem to move much las time).
I spotted a 3000UX (with Unix removed) still there, plus some MS-DOS laptops,
but don't have a full inventory list. NO AMIGA ETHERNET CARDS, sorry.
–Jim
I just got back from my second day in West Chester for the auction.
I'm exhausted.
I talked to Alex Amor and Dave D. from CEI, Ed Goff (attorney and
former(?) board member of Commodore), and other people who know what is
going on. Some (limited) discussion of the liquidation occured, and I
didn't find out anything new or suprising. I still suspect it is not
going to happen within the next two weeks, and I wouldn't be suprised to
see it stretched out.
The furniture went for outrageous prices, but then, it does new, too.
Some of the nastiest most useless cubicles sold for hundreds of dollars
(for a one or two workstation setup). The nicest cubes sold for thousands
of dollars per few workstations.
The test equipment went for outrageous prices. Several of us (former
engineers) sat together. The chip guys were laughing hilariously at some
things which sold for more than they would pay for new.
Some piles of Amiga stuff which would have required a semi to move, but
which were probably 10% good stuff, sold for a few thousand. These piles
cost more to move than to buy, or they would have been good deals. Among
some of that stuff were an A3000+, several pilot-production build A4000s
(with A3400 black faceplates), some A3000Ts, lots of A2000s, etc.
I didn't end up buying any Amiga stuff.
I suspect an easy $500,000 was raised. There were many lots which went
for more than $25,000 (like test equipment) and there were 588 lots. It
seems like the median was probably about $500.
Dale L. Larson Intangible Assets Manufacturing (info@iam.com)
"That's the best part about being crazy. You see things no one else can see."
Interesting, Dale. I gather that at Commodore Canada, they have had a LOT of
trouble moving the furniture. Then again, maybe they didn't promote the sale
as well as they could have.
Think I'll look in there tomorrow, but I have no serious thoughts of finding
true bargains. But who knows?
–Jim
There was enough furniture here (hundreds of large lots) to attract many
serious buyers of partitions and systems. Ross-Dove does auctions like
this nationwide, so they know just who to call for for different kinds of
items. I suspect that some of the furniture buyers even flew in.
I knew the day before that, even if I wanted a single filing cabnet, if I
won a bid on furniture I paid too much — because 50 experts in the room
would have bid up to, but not more than, what it was worth.
Dale L. Larson Intangible Assets Manufacturing (info@iam.com)
"That's the best part about being crazy. You see things no one else can see."
Dale,
Ah, that's where Alex and Dave went! I would have loved to get a hold of that
A3000+ as a collectors item.
Regards,
John Chang
John, the 3000UX was still there yesterday morning. I didn't see any smileys
in your message .. so maybe you'd like to check with Commodore Canada to see if
it's still available. If so, Commodore Canada's number is (416) 499-4292; Al
Mews at local 344 would know best what's left over.
Of course, Alex was gone before Commodore turned out the lights. But for
nostalgia, you could probably try for the spiral binding machine that Alex used
to put his documentation and notes together .. the Commodore Canada crew viewed
it as Alex's private possession (nobody else knew how to use it).
–Jim
Jim,
Thanks for the info.
I have to laugh about the spiral binding machine. Alex really gets into his
work!
Regards,
John Chang
Technical Support Manager
Scala, Inc.
CEI ended up with several A3000+s. If they were smart, they would have
let me sell them on commission. I would've had Dave H. sign them, then
auctintioned each off individually. 🙂
Dale L. Larson Intangible Assets Manufacturing (info@iam.com)
"That's the best part about being crazy. You see things no one else can see."
Dale,
A3000+ as in the '91 Devcon machines? Complete with AA and the ATT DSP?
-sja
Same machine, with AA, but I don't think most of them had the DSP (only a
couple of people needed one).
Dale,
That's a great idea! Yo, Dave.. lets talk.
Regards,
John Chang
Dale,
The prices you speak of seem typical for my two experiences with Ross-Dove
auctions. I have seen PC equipment sold for Sears Business Systems and excess
inventory sold by Apple. In both cases there were few bargains..particularly
for single units. Somehow these guys are able to attract a lot of buyers who
haven't done their homework.
Bill
"In both cases there were few bargains..particularly for single units. Somehow
these guys are able to attract a lot of buyers who haven't done their
homework."
Or more likely, sophisticated buyers who don't expect "bargains". A business
auction is not a garage sale. The function of the auctioneer is to get as a
high a price as possible for what's being sold. Occasionally a "bargain" will
slip through, but as a Wall St. Journal article pointed out just a couple of
weeks back, average savings will be about 10 to 20% below current market
prices.
For someone buying in quantity, that can be quite a savings and offer a
substantial profit opportunity.
The unsophisticated buyer, however, looking for a pennies-on-the-dollar
"bargain" for a single piece is apt to be disappointed and is better advised to
haunt flea markets and garage sales.
Jerry
Jerry,
It seemed that a lot of the single unit sales went to people who didn't have
much of a clue. The pros could be seen bidding up to whatever they were willing
to pay. Then there almost always seemed to be two or three who would keep going
until they had surpassed the highest local prices. To that they had to add a
10% surcharge.
You are right though about the quantity pricing. After selling a certain number
or percentage of the large lots in one or two unit sales, the rest would be put
up for a "winner takes them all" bid. Then the price was really good. Trouble
was I really didn't know what to do with 40 Mac IIsi's. I thought the price of
$750 +10% that I paid for one (with monitor and keyboard) wasn't bad though.
Actually the worst part of these auctions is the $%^&*( hard chairs <g>.
Bill
"Then there almost always seemed to be two or three who would keep going until
they had surpassed the highest local prices."
Yeah. I've seen that happen. <G>
"the rest would be put up for a "winner takes them all" bid. Then the price was
really good. Trouble was I really didn't know what to do with 40 Mac IIsi's"
That's a heartbreaker, isn't it?
My favorite technique is to stay on the lookout for pre-bankruptcy or
liquidation situations where the business is desperately trying to raise cash
to keep the wolves at bay. You can really score some incredible bargains like
that – but those aren't everyday scenarios.
Jerry
Like the C= West Chester fire sale about a year ago where monitors were $5
and computers $10?
Dale L. Larson Intangible Assets Manufacturing (info@iam.com)
"That's the best part about being crazy. You see things no one else can see."
"Like the C= West Chester fire sale about a year ago where monitors were $5
and computers $10?"
I'm not familiar with that one, but it sounds like it might fit the
"desperate seller" model. <G>
Jerry
This went a little beyond even their usual. The Philly Inq. reported that
they raised over $500,000 (odd, that was my guess!) and that Ross-Dove's
presale estimate was only half of that.
Dale L. Larson Intangible Assets Manufacturing (info@iam.com)
"That's the best part about being crazy. You see things no one else can see."