Poll: What kind of Computer Related Stuff Have you Found at Goodwill for an Insane Price.

2 350 mhz iMac's for 2 for $75

2 atari 800xl, 25 games, 8 joysticks & monitor $2. Nes $0.50(clearance) 3 usb, and 1 scsi zip 100 drives + 20 zip disks $5. Errorless, problemless for 2 years so far western digitital wd-80

... I did take home a haul from a garage sale last summer. The guy had a bunch of old Mac gear, and I got a very nice LaserWriter 16/600 and toner cart for $40. He had a bag full of mouses, cables & whatnot, including a PowerBook yoyo AC adapter. He said I could have it, & said the yoyo "had a short in it". Took it home, tested it, and the only problem was a bad AC cord. $3 later I had a working 2nd adapter for my PowerBook (and I was actually in the market to buy one!)

I found a Apple II Plus, IIgs, Mac IIx, LC's (tho everyone has those), and other such vintage Mac stuff, and tons of PC things...

My local Goodwill store never has anything. I saw a crummy old USRobotics Courier modem in there once, but that's useless. The local Sally Ann doesn't accept computer stuff anymore, so they send it all to some unknown dude that might contact you if you leave a name and phone number. Yeah, right!

We have a Value Village that sells used stuff, but, again, there's never anything of "value" in there. At least not for the value conscious computer geek.

Basically, I never get anything at really good prices. Although, I have had the misfortune of trying to deal with people that were seeking insanely high prices for their old junk.

Ah, well...

the only thing ive ever gotten was a Logitech Steering wheel and pedel set for $5.. and it worked.

New in box, with original Laserwriter (also NIB) and it came with the original Disks, and the mousepad.

Total cost!
$15

Sold On ebay $324

Enounter: Priceless...

I was driving in my mom's neighborhood on a weekend day afternoon, when I passed the leftovers of a yard sale. My eyes were keenly on the lookout for Apple IIe's at the time, and I thought I spotted one. It was an Apple II, not IIe or II+, but a II! The seller gave it to me, as it was the end of the day and nobody was buying it.

I had been working in the theatrical prop business in L.A., and I heard about Pirates of Silicon Valley being produced. Through luck, I met the prop master on an Apple II classified board, and agreed to rent the unit to him. I got to go on set and hang out with him a little. I actually also did some "extra" work in it.

So, I paid nothing, got $75 for it's use, and still own it along with a signed note from prop master that it was used in "Pirates". Ah, the life of a cheapskate . . .

Mutant_Pie

One day while taking some stuff to the dump, I noticed the electronic recycling yard. I pulled in my pickup ( I hadn't yet dumped the plant and yard debris from the yard of a friend who had bought a house that came with some junk in the back yard. I spotted what looked like Apple II housings in the fresh mud (from a rare So. California rain) pulled them up, (complete IIe units) and stashed them in the back under some of the stuff. Then I asked the workers if I could take any of the things in the yard for use/recovery, assuming that of course they would say "yes" and "no problem". They said no, and wouldn't let me look around the yard anymore.

I went and dumped the trash, took the two A][e's home, disassemebled them, washed them, dried them a bit, let them completely dry over a three day period, examined them, re-assembled them, and they booted right up, first time, no problems.

Mutant_Pie

In Clearwater, Florida, the Florida Sheriff's Youth Ranches Opportunity Stores are always a good source of stuff. Granted, it's hit or miss at times, but over the years I've snagged some good deals. Back in '98, I picked up a couple of 6100's for $50 a piece. I reinstalled the OS on em and resold them for $200-$300. Yeah, I'm something of an opportunist. Though, the last time I went there (summer 2004), there were blueberry 350 mhz iMacs going for $50 a piece. The apple stuff always went cheap, while PC stuff didn't. It was odd. Snagged an HP Laserjet 5P in almost new shape (back in 99) for $10. My father still uses it to this day with his linux box. Through gimp print and sharing - a nice cheap OS X network printer!

- iantm

i have found a 19" viewsonic monitor for $10. i have also found a a complete apple IIc+ system(montior,stand,iic+) in orginal boxes for under $10. also found a power computing clone for $20.

On the way home I stopped at the local Goodwill as I usually do. In a 3 year period the only thing I every found was a great condition beige classic mac carry on bag.

But today I FOUND a near mint condition bondi iMac with the correct mouse and keyboard. It even had the plastic wrap still on the fold up leg. For $29.29.

It was plugged in at the store and booted right up. The drive was wiped and taken back to original condition with OS 8.1!

MaxTek

I used to live a couple of blocks away from the biggest Goodwill in the islands, so I stopped by most days and collected a ton of stuff I convinced myself I should have and now I'm still buried under all of it. It used to be a good place to find lots of stuff, and there's people who go there everyday waiting for the bins to come out so they can "help" the staff putting things on the shelf--the professional scavengers who sell things on eBay and at the swap meet and to people in Japan, so you have to be swift and know the value of things. Luckily, most of them were clueless about electronics, especially computers, so for a long while I'd pick up lots of the old Macs for $10-$20-$50. Picked up a PM6500 with 128mb RAM and a Sonnet 300/1mb G3 card for $50 years ago. Sold some stuff on eBay. Picked up a C++ developers software still in shrinkwrap for $5 and sold it on eBay for $100. Goodwill has gradually become more and more finicky over the years.

At one time they had part of the store buried in old computers and monitors and realized they weren't making any money on it, so they moved all electronics to an "as is" store downtown where you could pick up any computer or monitor for $10. They sell all kinds of stuff there. It's a sight to see. That place is professional scavengers central. Dozens and dozens of people are lined up waiting for the bins, many speaking foreign languages. What they do there is rope off half of the store so the staff can bring out all the stuff while all the people are standing there on the other side of the ropes calculating which direction to run to when the ropes are dropped. The staff are like wild horse herders.

The store has these large bin tables on wheels which are wheeled into the back where everything under the sun is dumped into them, and then they roll them back out into the store and line them up in four or five long rows. And they have an area of shelves for large electronics, monitors and computers and microwave ovens and tv's and audio, etc. in the back part of the store. When the stage is finally set, a couple of brave staff members go over to the ropes where the multitudes are salivating and chomping at the bit, and lower the ropes and then, stand back, the tide surges. The stuff on the tables get yanked and pulled and collected and tossed about. You can see old VCR's flying from one table to another amongst Barbie dolls and cookery and books and you name it, it might be there, and it might be gone the next moment. There's a minor sense of etiquette. If you bump into the persons next to you while scrounging you might say excuse me, but if you bump into the person behind you looking through the bin behind, you don't bother to turn around and say anything. And often, people are plowing right through each other.

A lot of the electronics are seriously looked at, and often puzzled over, and then tossed back into the bin. I've only been there a dozen times or so and have walked in on the beginnings a few times, but I found a Linksys router for $5, an MP3 player for $3, and a Beige G3 desktop for $10. Don't remember what else, but stuff, much stuff, some good stuff, very cheap. You just carry your stuff up to the cashier and she gives you the price off the top of her head.

Get there very late and you'll have a sight to see. Hours later when everything's been picked through, yet there's still tons of stuff in the bins, some of it like new and good stuff, and after the feeding frenzy has long passed, they then wheel the remainder into the back area and dump the whole contents of the bins with whatever is left in them into a very large garbage container which is then unceremoniously trucked off to the dump. They don't even rope the place off for that. You're standing there looking in a bin and see something you might be interested in, but watch out, a couple of staff members walk right up in front of you, yank the bin away just as your considering reaching for that thing in there, and blink, that thing is gone and in one beat of your torn heart has gone from something with possible value to fuel for the fires. Hey wait, you think, I might have wanted to pay you money for that. Too bad. It's gone forever. And when the bins are empty again, then the cycle in the store starts all over.

But Goodwill has become so finicky that they don't accept donations of computers at all anymore, which may be why there seems to be more and more computers left out on the curb for trash pickup these days. I stop by a church thrift store on my way to my favorite beach sometimes and have found the best deals there. Picked up 2 Blueberry iMacs for $10 each, 2 Classic II's for $2 each, printers for $5, a Sony Vaio with LCD monitor once for $10 (needs a new powersupply), a USB burner $5, a TDK firewire burner $5...maybe I shouldn't be giving out my secret here.

But nothing beats the "deals" I find on the side of the road: my wife's monitor is a fairly new 19" Viewsonic that's in excellent condition. I've got a Dell 4400 with all parts that seems to merely need a new powersupply. I picked up another generic PC with a 900mhz PIII with all parts working perfectly. What am I going to do with them? Don't know. But the price was right--free.

I'm ashamed to admit, I'm a junked computer scavenger junkie. I find it educational and enjoyable. Many are just dissected and put back on the road.

Your post reminds me of a Black Sabbath tune...

Horde of this world...
Computer possessor...
Horde of this world...

Okay, so I got the lyrics a little wrong... Okay, so I got the lyrics really wrong...

Anyway, I just wish I had your scavenging luck. Everything I've ever picked up, I paid fairly decent money for... Not that I worked terribly hard for the money, but that's not the point.

Happy Thanksgiving! That was my Thanksgiving feast story. I'm thankful for the abundance. Wish I knew what I'm going to do with it all.

I've always wanted to vacation in Hawaii. Now I know what there is to do there.

Thanks for the information Hawaii Cruiser. I'm sure this publicity will be great for the Islands.

Oh, by the way, I would love to play with your 900mhz PIII!!

Aloha!

Here in northeast Florida, the two biggest thrift chains, Goodwill and Salvation Army, have stopped taking computers and put up signs saying, to the effect, that "due to possible litigation, computers can no longer be accepted due to personal information on them."
However, there are still anumber of thrift stores that do take computers, and they get some good ones. When I was down in West Palm Beach in 2001, I stopped by the PAWS Thrift Store and helped the owner out with a computer problem. As a thank you, I left there with a Centris 660AV and a IIsi. So, I guess free is a pretty good deal.
Now, if I can find one of those thrift stores that everybody else seems to that sell iMacs dirt cheap...

I am an avid Goodwill and Savers/Value Village shopper and always find a good deal. I've picked up everything from a IIe to 9600 and most even on dollar day. The best values I would have to say would be 2 monitors. About 2-3 years ago I picked up a ViewSonic VA520 15" LCD for $35 then valued at $399. Then about 1 year ago I picked up a Mitsubishi Diamond Plus 200 22" flat CRT for $20. Goodwill has been marking up alot of their computer items as of late and it seems the good deals are minimal as of late. You use to be able to pick up a 17" monitor for $5-$10 and now some are even overpriced at $45 for a well used 17" NEC.

For a year or so I volunteered at a local nonprofit computer recycling center, and ended up acquiring some cool stuff for myself at ridiculous prices and hooked up lots of other folks with some great deals. Since I was the only Mac guy in an otherwise PC 'shop', I got to sort through and set prices on all the Mac stuff.

When I first started helping out, there was a ton of older Mac stuff just sitting in the back. I assembled a bunch of working systems (stretchwrapped a Mac, display, KB and Mouse all together) and sold 'em for $10 to $20 a set. You shoulda seen 'em fly out the door. It was cool to see so many older Macs go back out into the world for someone else to enjoy.

I also ended up having access to some cool stuff, iBooks, iMacs, etc., plus parts, cables, drives, a decent PC desktop and laptop, printers, big UPSes, and lots more.

Sadly, the org folded after losing their cheap warehouse space . . . snif, snif . . .

dan k

I also have had unbelievable good luck at the yearly Trenton Computer Fest, which takes place every spring in central New Jersey. There's a big outdoor computer flea market where anyone can buy a space and flog their unwanted computer related stuff.

Best deal I ever got there was a box full of 20 or so DayStar 100MHz PowerPro PPC accelerators for $10 each, this back in the day when they were still selling for $200 or more. For months, eBay was my special friend.

dan k

Picked up 17 21" monitors for free outside the local gaming arcade. They all work, and they will soon be on ebay
I got the tip from a friend who said they are replacing the online gaming computers with AMD Opteron Systems, and a 23" Cinema Display by Apple.

Anyway, the computers were gone (they were Pentium 4 [2.3GHz] with 128MB AGP 4x NVIDEA cards [not sure what kind] I say good riddence [I am an AMD Fan ]) And all that was left were the monitors. I got them, and they are in my basement. I am going to see what Rez they do, as they are all from different manufacturers.

But this was a lucky night, as looking on ebay, some of them go for $45 a piece (minus shipping) This will be kinda cool to see how much i can get. I might offer them up on this site if anyone wants them (Careful, they are over 60lbs a piece )

PM me if you are interested. They are All CRT's

I'll post my fav. place again: Surplus Exchange! It's THE clearing house for donated electronics in Kansas City. Trust me, if any of you come through KC, GO THERE! If anyone goes to KanFest, GO THERE! I've picked up and repaired 2 iMac 350s, one for $10 and the other for $5. A nearly complete Laser PC-4 in factory carry case for $5. They get stuff by the pallet and truck load form companies as a tax write off, and are paritall funded by the city to exist. Big local companies include Sprint, H&R Block, Hallmark cards, Russell Stover/Whitmans candies, ADM(bought out Farmland), etc. and many cycle their hardware out to SE for the taxes and EPA write offs.

Anyone want 17" CRTs for $20 each? They had bunches of G3DTs and Molars several months ago.

Coius, wow! 17 huge monitors for free! Glad you got the space...and the back! Where you going to find all the shipping boxes and foam?
And I was still dazzled by your NIB SE/30 and Laserwriter...

Got a legal-size Astra flatbed scanner for $2. It didn't have any cords or anything, but I had one just like it at home which was going bad, so it was like...divine intervention or something.

Sadly, our GoodWill almost never has Mac stuff, and they tend to sell most of their computer equipment for quite normal second-hand prices. Somone working in the back must have a good idea of technology values.

You know I've heard of this place from quite a few people before, always thought of checking it out! Usually visit the local uni surplus store. So it looks like you just drop in as far as Surplus Exchange goes, KanFest is a meet though?

Just wondering if the haul would be worth a drive to KC sometime... live in SE Iowa. Done properly I'm betting selling a few things when I got back could fund the roadtrip!

**furiously Googles KanFest**

-- Joshua

Being from CT originally, I learned of the Pratt and Whitney Surplus Store. They have massive facilities there, and good deals can usually be found, last time I went I took my cousin, he picked up an hp 1250c or something of the like, a massive color inkjet with full carts, and the jetdirect card, for $30. In Boston (home now) from April to October we have the MIT Flea Market and Ham Radio Swapfest. Google "Flea at MIT" and you'll find out what I'm talking about. It takes place the third Sunday of every month from April to October, and I've sold a lot of stuff there, and bought a lot of stuff, there. More importantly though, I've made a lot of friends there, it's just a good time with some great toys.

Packard Bell 486' $99 (1999)

It's the kind of place where you might walk in one day and find nothing worth the trip. Then you go in another time and you score a pallette load of computers fo $10 each. Or, you pass up a Mac XL for $5... (and I'm tired of myself pointng that out, but it remains to be said that some things of very high value tend to get recycled without anyone realizing their market worth)

I used to help at my church, where we had a thing called helping through him, i helped with putting machines together and installing win98 on them. i got a few really good deals (as in free) for macs and other vintaghe machines that they dont want. i got a biege G3 and a IBM ps/1 running DOS and a 286mobo.

Freebies
Most of these were from local computer shops that didn't want them, with the exception of the HP LCD panel and the laser printers. Those came from my office building.

• AMD Duron 850mhz barebones (add memory, video, NIC and drives)
  
• Slot A motherboard
  
• Dell P3-550mhz
  
• IBM Aptiva Slot A with Athlon 600mhz
  
• 120GB hard disk
  
• HP 17" LCD Panel (fixed by combining with identical non-functioning display)
  
• PowerMac 8600/200
  
• PowerMac 9600/300 with ATI Nexus and ATTO SCSI
  
• Jaz 1GB drive with 5 carts
  
• Barebones Compaq Presario with Slot A motherboard and Athlon 700mhz processor
  
• 3 AMD K6-2 500mhz boxes
  
• HP LaserJet 4 Plus laser printer
  
• HP LaserJet 4 Plus laser printer with second paper tray module
  
• G3 Molar
  
• G3 MT
  

From thrift stores:

• $10: Parted case with Slot A motherboard and Athlon 700mhz processor
  
• $20 each: 2 G3 DT
  
• $10 20" Apple Multisync monitor with Mac-VGA adapter
  
• $10 each 2 17" Apple Multisinc monitors
  

My friend Alex has been doing the computer-repair gig for about 15 years, and every year about March or so, I get a call. "CW? Alex. I'm having my annual 'i-can't-move-for-all-this-crap-around-here-come-get-some-stuff' sale."

Last year alone, I carted home 5 PCs (P1's and P2's), three 10/100 switches (one was a 24-port rackmounter I use in my setup) and a 12-port 10baseT switch, three 17" SVGA monitors, scads of Ethernet cards, SCSI and IDE hard drives, a Personal LaserWriter NTR, an Apple IIgs, boxes of Mac and Windows software (my daughter still loves to play the "I SPY" and "Arthur" games), a couple internal ZIP drives, some graphite iMac keyboards, optical mice, a couple USB scanners, a SCSI scanner, two PowerMac 6500/275's, some PowerMac 7200's (was it two or three?) ...

My 1995 Ford Escort station wagon was beginning to strain under the load ...

... And the piece de resistance: a 400 MHz PowerBook G3 "Lombard." Alex said the power socket was flaky and the client didn't want to mess with it. I opened it up, resoldered the power connector, and ten minutes later heard the *BONNNNG* that brings joy to a Mac lover's heart. Added 512 MB RAM, a 20 GB hard drive from my dead iBook G3 700, and away we go. Right now it's my Number Two Mac.

I've since parted out the PCs and resold most of the peripherals, but I have all the Macs around, and just about all of them work just great. The others will serve as parts machines as time takes its course.

And I'm wondering when Alex is going to ring my phone again ... ?

i got a powermac 7200/120 for $5

I guess I have hit my limit...

Today I passed up a Color Classic (w/keyboard and cables, no mouse), working but showing floppy icon. I also passed up an i-Opener Netpliance (complete). I plugged it in and it booted fine and was looking for a phone connection. I always wanted to hack one but decided I had too many projects in the basement.

I know where you could get another for free (if you pick it up, of course!)

The last Goodwill I stopped at was when I was passing through Alliance, Ohio in September. All they had was PC peripherals...some old HP printers, keyboards, mice...nothing worth getting.

I haven't ever been in the store near me (I'm from Pittsburgh). Where are you guys from that you're finding all thest Macs?

Oh, and MaxTek, where was this store with the Color Classic?

picked up a 17" studio display for $6

I picked up 35 iMacs from the local School district for $6.00 each. Came with matching keyboard/hockeypuck mouse and power cord. 64 meg of RAM and 20 sets of install disks. I have a complete set of the "five flavors" in my office (need a Strawberry mouse!). Sold 25 of them for $15-25 each and gave a few away.

I also helped them sell off 200 Indigo's (400mhz) for $50 each.

Delaware

Unoppened Flash 5, and MS office 98 for mac $5 total, sweet.

Unoppened Flash 5, and MS office 98 for mac $5 total, sweet. PS2(fat one) with dead but easily replaceable fuse in psu $1, WebTV box $2. Unoppened Think C $3, sorry double post what happened to the delet post button where parent edit reply and quote are?

I found an Intel USB Webcam for $3, an IIsi for $2.50 (with an ethernet card & 68882 FPU and 33MB RAM), Beige G3's (233/4GB/64MB/OS 8.6) for $10 (I bought 2 - they had 4) and Logitech trackball mouse (one of the rigs with the big red track ball and a scroll wheel) for $1.

Cheers,

The Czar

I couldn't quite believe it earlier today when I was having a look through the messages on London Freecycle and saw someone was offering a Power Mac G4 400 MHz, 512 MB RAM, 2x 20 GB hard drives with Tiger installed, for free!

No screen/keyboard or anything, but still seems way too much to give away - I'm not in London at the moment so didn't try to get it, but he'll get so many requests that if he just picks one at random there'd be practically no chance of getting it.

All my Macs were free though - I tried to get a Beige G3 the other day that had been offered for free, but someone beat me to it by about 10 minutes. That's the trouble with free stuff - I missed out on a QuickTake 150 in the original box a while back too...

I have always found some gems

an unopened Apple //c plus $5.00

900Mhz PC $10.00

Orginial Mac $5.00

Goodwills around here have stopped selling computer equipment though

ive found allot from goodwill

2 sound blaster audigy's for $5 USD
2 apple SE/30's $10 all to gether
1 LC475 $10
my friend that came with me on one trip to the goodwill bought a 20" lcd monitor for $20 yes twenty i was mad he seen it before me but i let him get it lol

Just picked up a comuter that was a part of a police car system, a MobileVu trunk mount computer at S.E. for $50. This is an older model, with a P3-650 Coppermine, 256MB PC-100, 10GB 2.5" HDD. They've still got 5 that my father-in-law might buy to build into the industrial mailing machines he repairs and reconditions/upgrades.

I still need to decide if I should go buy that Micron Trek2 for $35 just to get the 256MB of SO-DIMM RAM... ::roll::

And you un-lucky persons who live too far away to actually go to S.E., you can buy from their eBay seller account: surplusxchange

with 24K Ram Also, I am getting some Z-80 and 8088 micro controllers to play with it. in addition, i also get a 2' plotter with CAD 7

Price: Free
Where: my dad's co-worker.

If you don't know that this is, click here

I found a Colour Classic at Value Village for $7.99CDN today. She works perfectly, completely stock with OS 7.1 (I realize that OS 7.0.1 came with this machine initially). I've never had a Colour Classic, and I must say that it really is a nice little rig!

Cheers,

The Czar

coius wrote:

with 24K Ram Also, I am getting some Z-80 and 8088 micro controllers to play with it. in addition, i also get a 2' plotter with CAD 7

actually, it came with the 32K of ram, a TS-Dos rom, portable 100KB Floppy drive (i found that you can use 1.4MB floppys with them, it just sees them as 100K. ) a Tape cassette, dot matrix printer, and all the cables. Also, it comes with the accoustic coupler, and some other stuff, including a cable to connect directly to the phone system with the built-in modem. I had successfully hooked the thing up to my PC, but I can't get the files to transfer like they should.
I also have all the manuals you can get, including on how to program in enhanced basic, and the technical manual showing how dismantle and care for it, as well how the computer works (schematics).
It also has the Barcode scanner, and some other stuff, like a REAL leather case for both the TRS-80 and the tape cassette. I seem to be having problems getting the cassette to load so it will load programs from tape.
All-in-all, I am having a great time with it. And have typed in several programs by hand (about somewhere in the 400+ lines of code in basic) and this is why I love old hardware. You can't beat the quality of the way they are made!

I got a CH Flightstick Pro for $2 recently. Okay, that might not be an amazing, insane bargain compared to the usual $10-$20 Ebay asking price, but I'm happy. Playing TIE Fighter was sweet today!