General > General Technical Chat

When old electronics nuts die, what happens to their stuff?

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edpalmer42:
If there is a Makerspace in the area, I'm sure that they would love to get a donation of equipment, parts, whatever.  I think most of them operate on a shoestring budget so such a donation would be a real shot in the arm for them.

Ed

Messtechniker:
My nephew has been instructed as to which items contain any batteries
which he must remove first and what might be of value.
And then flog my suff though ebay or the likes. :popcorn:

PaulAm:
Make an inventory, including s/n, condition and associated materials (probes, manuals, etc) and a disposition.  Make it part of your will and it will be the executor's problem to do what you wanted.  If you can afford it, try to not use a family member as the executor.

I have a couple of items that will go to museums, the rest will be posted to lists and forums for people to choose items.  If you are going to donate something to a museum, check with them FIRST to see if it's something they could use.  Otherwise, it will just be a longer path to the landfill.

Local radio/ham clubs are also good venues.

james_s:
There are so many factors that there is no way to make a generalization. If you have a neat tidy lab with clean well maintained equipment and somebody in your family knows that it's valuable then it will probably be sold. If you are one of those guys with a huge disorganized hoard with lots of good stuff mixed in with lots of garbage or stuff that looks like garbage then it is likely it will all just get hauled to the dump. Your best bet is probably to organize things and make sure all the high value stuff is separate from the junk, and make sure somebody in your family has a rough idea of what's valuable. Ideally do some networking, find some younger friends that are into electronics and give their contact info to whoever will be handling your estate when you're gone so they can work out a deal. Either cash, or trade gear for help sorting through and disposing of everything. If there is a local hackerspace or hobby club you might contact them ahead of time. This all is assuming there are no other electronics enthusiasts in your family that would want to inherit the stuff. When my dad passed away I gave away a lot of tools to some of his friends that helped me go through it all, there was a lot of stuff that was duplicates of things I already had and either not worth enough or too niche to bother trying to sell.

CatalinaWOW:
As James says it depends on lots of things.  One thing to consider is that the market is relatively small, so sales at full value will go slowly.  Which is a burden on anyone following up on you.  If you are concerned about the value (either historical, usefulness or financial) the best approach is to clear it out before you die.  I started doing this a few years ago, and it really has little impact on continuing the hobby.  Projects that have been on the 'when I get around to it list' for decades are unlikely to finish in your remaining span.  Those parts you treasured when money was tight are probably worthless now for a variety of reasons.  If you have no reason to believe you are going to die in the near future you can be very leisurely about the process.  When you have finished this process the stuff you are still using will be a manageable package for friends/relatives/executors.  The extra space and organization while you are still using it is nice also.

Another thing to note is that Ebay asking prices are a very good indicator of a price that you can assure will get you a piece of equipment.  My experience is that they are very unreliable as an indicator of what you can sell it for.  Even if you look up sold prices it can be misleading. 

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