Selling used TV production equipment

[Paulo Teixeira]

I know a TV studio that needs to sell a lot of its old equipment which includes ½” studio cameras, lenses, SVHS camcorders, tape decks, etc. Does anybody know of a place in Massachusetts that’s buys that stuff?

Sorry if this isn’t the place for this.

[David W. Jones]

Have you ever heard of ebay?

[Chris Hurd]

I'm sure that Paulo would not have bothered to post his request if Ebay were an option.

Ebay isn't a solution for everyone.

[Chris Soucy]

Afraid I can't help with details of specific buyers in Massachusets, but have been present during a couple of similar sell offs.

The first was when the ABC (Australian Broadcast Commission) closed it's ageing studio's/ office complex in Hobart, Tasmania about 1993, to move into new premises.

They contacted one of the largest auction houses in either the State or even Oz, who took over the whole shebang.

Advertised Oz wide and basically sold the entire contents of the building, everything from Studio camera's and entire control room equipment down to the hand dryers from the loos, over a period of 2 days (I vaguely remember), on site.

What a scrum! There must have been buyers from half the pacific and asia and just plain bods who wanted something cheap - hundreds and hundreds of 'em. Had to call the cops to provide crowd control as it was getting out of hand.

Sold the lot.

The second was the very well publicised London Millenium Dome sell off in 2000. Same sort of set up but this time the crowds were in the thousands. I was hoping to get my hands on one of the many plasma displays up for grabs but even I wasn't paying the prices they eventually sold for.


If they hadn't pulled a ton of high tech gear they would have made well over the 5 million quid they wanted.


Dome auction cut back after claims of asset-stripping | UK news | The Guardian


Anyway, a long way of saying, let their fingers do the walking and get hold of a decent auction company, be gone in a flash.


CS

[Paulo Teixeira]

I don’t think EBAY is a good solution and I did thought about it but I’d prefer someone to come inside and buy the stuff face to face. This way the people will be able to see for them selves the quality of the equipment and it would be a hassle shipping some of that stuff out.

An auction place that specializes in TV equipment is a good possibility and Craig’s List is also a possibility but that way could take much longer to sell everything.

My goal is to help the station get at least a Sony EX3 or what ever Canon is cooking in the kitchen.

[Chris Soucy]

I don't think in either of the cases I mentioned the companies concerned were necessarily specialist TV or Techno auctioneers.

An auction is an auction - you catalogue the items for sale with as much detail as possible, advertise the nature of the sale in all the right places (relevant journals and web sites), set a date and a place and a viewing period and away you go.

The great thing for the seller is it's not up to him to find suitable bidders, that's the auctioneers job.

From my limited experience in such matters, the type of gear you have briefly described would, in most instances, only go to a "hands on" bidder ie one who has/ can actually see and play with the goodies before deciding to bid.

The latter auction I mentioned did indeed have on line bidding, tho' in most cases for gear that had been well checked out in advance by a representative of the bidder.

As far as the TV station is concerned, anybody who would buy this stuff as a job lot will know what it's likely to fetch on the open market and pay substantially below to give themselves a (big) margin.

The advantage of an auction is obvious - it will fetch what the end buyer is prepared to pay, against competition, thus ensuring the seller get's the best price available "on the day".


Good luck,


CS

[Paulo Teixeira]

Searching the web, I saw an auction place in Massachusetts that was involved with WGBH. I’ll try to email them or any other similar place tomorrow.

Chris Soucy, thanks for your help.

[Chris Soucy]

I'd like to hear how it works out.

Once again, good luck.


CS

[Paulo Teixeira]

I was told the removal of the products went smoothly but I’m disappointed at some of the current bids and it almost over.

A lot of the products are on the first and second page.
Corporate Internet Auctions

[Chris Soucy]

Well, you/ they didn't muck about, and no mistake.

Do you think you'll get that EX3 out of the proceeds?


CS