Ask HN: Where to buy old computers and consoles? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Where to buy old computers and consoles?

33 pointsibobev48 comments

Does it exist a dedicated place where I can buy old 8-bit and 16-bit era computers and game consoles like C64, Amiga, Apple II, NES, etc, and periphery for them as old CRT monitors and floppy drives for example? eBay exists but there is a great chance the hardware from there is in not working condition. It will be great if there exists a dedicated store for such hardware.

And the second question is does exist a place where I can send such hardware for restoration? Like what can be watched on channels like "The 8bit Guy"[1] and "Adrian's Digital Basement"[2].

[1] https://www.youtube.com/@The8BitGuy [2] https://www.youtube.com/@adriansdigitalbasement

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The first thing I'd do is find a forum, group, discord, whatever of people who dabble and deal in this kind of thing. Starting with YouTube channels and follow the strings. Said groups almost always have a "deals/trade/buy" subsection somewhere.

But you will be paying for "known good" items.

If you want to get deals you have to troll eBay, local auctions (this is a great source, especially if they're not well advertised/described - look for photos of piles or boxes of "equipment" where you can recognize something like an Apple II sticking out), estate sales (many of the people originally involved are now dying), government sales/auctions (schools and other government places that are shutting down/moving are a great source).

Get to know the people in your area who traffic in used computer gear and let it be know that you're in the market for "really old" stuff. Eventually your network will get large enough that you'll start to hear about things.

Start an electronics disposal side-business. Basically advertise that for $x per pound or machine or whatever, you'll come and clear out electronics. 90% of what you get will just be stuff you haul to the local electronic disposal place (charge enough to break even+) but now and then you'll get a treasure-trove of really old stuff.

> The first thing I'd do is find a forum, group, discord, whatever of people who dabble and deal in this kind of thing. Starting with YouTube channels and follow the strings. Said groups almost always have a "deals/trade/buy" subsection somewhere.

This parallels my good experience with buying older enthusiast cars (Acura Legend, Honda S2000), it seems like a valid pattern for any such endeavor.

Yep, and if you can't find a forum that is specific for the exact "old computer" you're looking for, you find one that is close or more general.

Computers and Consoles are two different groups, but they have some pretty significant overlap, especially when you go back far enough that the distinction is blurred.

1) eBay, that's the one place where I get a lot of old bits when needed... Secondly would be the vendor table as t local Vintage Computer event which would be a lot less than eBay prices but only available at specific times and places through the year. Other than that be diligent, check out craigslist, thrift shops, boot sales/flea markets, look for used electronics parts places, used games stores, other resellers (Habitat for Humanity Re-Stores) etc. Let your acquaintances know you collect old computers. Know what you are looking at and your results will widely vary.

2) Network, I guess, restoring computers like on the videos is a laborious process if they were in business to make a living doing such the labor costs would be significant. You might get some help from people for one aspect or another// If you are willing to pay a bit you could find professional restoration.

Ham Radio swap-fests can be a good place to find retro-computer gear as well. At least if you live in, or near, an area with an active Ham radio community.

Flea markets as well, at least in the US. At least as of a few years ago, the Raynham Flea Market[1] in southern Massachusetts had several vendors specializing in old gaming consoles and games. On average prices are probably a little higher, but the trade off is being able to inspect something in person rather than having to trust an eBay listing.

[1]: http://raynhamflea.com/

If you're in the LA area the W6TRW swap meet in Redondo Beach is fun to visit, iirc it's the last Saturday of every month in the morning. Definitely show up early, the good stuff sells quick :)

I get a lot of old audio gear on Ebay.

I've noticed various vintage gear on eBay disappearing over time, without being replenished.

So, if you're interested in a piece of vintage gear, and you see many of them on eBay, don't assume they'll still be there a few/several years later (when you buy the home with the workshop space you were waiting for).

I'm guessing that most of it has been been e-recycled or discarded, and what hasn't tends to settle into the hands of people who want to keep it for its vintage value.

Over the decades I've been collecting - Ive noticed stuff comes in waves, when collecting is trendy (like when there's a lot of news of 6 figure vintage computer auctions) there's a lot more people buying stuff up at silly high prices, but it doesn't stay that way.

Such as when new emulators for modern hardware or more compact retro hardware comes out that offers near perfect compatibility without the space/cost/hassle things start loosening up.. (i.e. the miniPET does 90%+ of what a PET does and doesn't need a bulky 30 lb. cabinaet to lug it around in, if you are more into running software than displaying the actual hardware that's a compelling "upgrade")

People aging out is another one, I see a few estate hauls recently of the old school techies passing on or reliving themselves of those burdens in their twilight years. I've gotten several bits in my collection from those leaving the hobby and want to give it to someone who will appreciate it. (that's where the letting others know you collect comes in).

Lastly and timely is the employment market seeing on the news that there's thousands of tech layoffs, some of those guys will have to part with the extra stuff to either downsize or pay the bills, so you might be seeing an uptick on eBay and other sites in the coming months,

Also Location Location Location

Places were there is big industry for a long time is good. Silicon Valley was excellent but not as much now as most hardware mfg. is outside now.

Also suburbs of industry towns have a good chance.

College towns or other concentrations of learning in an area (schools/colleges store their equipment for a long time before remaindering them off).

Just think of where the tech was back in the period you are interested in, and check out local offers in that area...

We do hardware repairs and restoration as a side-business:

http://www.glitchwrks.com/

Site does not represent the business part :P Most of the hobbyist repair work we do is S-100 (Altair/IMSAI type stuff, and newer), Ohio Scientific, etc.

eBay is still your best bet if you're looking for a deal on the Internet. The trick is not to be in a hurry, if you don't want to pay retail. Either buy from a seller who guarantees their stuff as working, or pay significantly less and plan on fixing it or sending it off to be fixed.

It's only about 60% of what you're asking for but I'm a fan of DKOldies: https://www.dkoldies.com

They're a US storefront but they ship internationally. They do a great job restoring consoles. And they have amazing customer service (one of the SNES Controller refurbs was a no-go and they cross-shipped a replacement with no expectation that I even returned the defective one).

I don't know if they have old computer stuff, mostly just consoles. They have Atari consoles sometimes though.

This is great. But I'm even more interested in computers than in consoles. :)

For vintage video games, you can find mom and pop stores all over the place. Some of them even have some basic repair services. Do a search, see what you find locally.

For vintage computers, I've never seen a dedicated store to this kind of thing that is still around. It's too niche of a market, with product that wont move fast enough to dedicate retail space to it.

Be sure to do a little research before heading to the mom and pop. These days most of these places are over priced or priced at the high end of what the market will bear because they are selling nostalgia. For example, a store in my city will often run out people that browse, and will adjust prices based on feeling or what the highest asking price on ebay for a mint version is on ebay plus markup.

Another issue, at least in my area, is the people that are out to flip vintage equipment. These people make their money off of scooping up anything at a bargain price and reselling it for more. One guy locally picks up every CRT TV and Monitor he can get his hands on that is in decent working order. He wipes them down, "services" them, and resells them online for 5 or 6 times what he paid. Other people in town do the same for vintage video games.

That CRT guy 100% practices his waveshines every morning

The Vintage Computer Fest has an annual event on each coast: https://vcfed.org/vcf-swap-meet/

I went last year and there was a smallish number of old 8- and 16-bit computers for sale at vendor booths. (Large numbers of old Macs, if you're into that.)

Great suggestion. If you're in the Midwest you should not miss VCF Midwest (http://vcfmw.org/sitearchive/2022_vfinal_20220906/), there are 10-15 vendors selling old computers there.

And there's also selling at the exhibit booths sometimes!

Yes, VCF East and VCF Midwest are both great, though pretty much unrelated oter than the genre! The VCF East swap meets and workshops are also great. System Source in Maryland also hosts VCFed-affiliated workshops. We're hoping to start doing them at our business in central VA (near Lexington, the southern I-64/I-81 interchange) soonish.

I can repair old machines, I started last year and have done a dozen or so.

Does that mean that I should start a repair business for old machines? I don't think the economics make sense for most machines; sometimes it takes less than an hour to "repair" an old machine, but most of the time it takes a long time to diagnose the issue, especially when looking at a machine you've never looked at before. Even at minimum wage, it would sometimes end up costing more than paying a little more on ebay to get a machine in working condition in the first place.

I've been thinking of maybe starting a rental service for vintage machines though. I imagine that most people just want to play around with something for a couple days or weeks, and buying and then selling is quite a lot of effort I imagine. (However I wouldn't like sending known working vintage machines using regular delivery services.)

We do it as a side-business, and it's definitely a balancing act. A lot of non-technical people also don't understand the troubleshooting process, and balk at the bill when it ended up being one small issue. Oh well!

There's a lot of active Facebook groups for vintage computer users including a bunch of buy/sell groups. For the most part the community does a good job weeding out scammers or unreliable sellers.

If you're in the Boston area, stuff shows up at the MIT Flea a lot.

Oh wow I can't believe I've never heard of the MIT Flea market, thanks!

TIL it's still going on after all these years!

https://w1mx.mit.edu/flea-at-mit/

I'm not aware of any announcements email list, so I add that URL to my calendar for March, as a reminder to see what that year's schedule is.

If you're looking for old computers, CRTs, and all sorts of periphery, there's a fantastic little online shop that ships out of Vancouver, Canada: http://woodgrain.tv

This is a deep rabbit hole, I have unfortunately fallen into. IT all highly depends where you are and which retro machinery are we talking about. In general though:

- Be prepared that old hardware breaks down, so you need some skills or someone with skills to keep it alive over time. Highly dependent on which hardware, of course.

- Ebay is your best bet if there's nothing nearby

- Some hardware have modern re-issues / re-interpretations of old hardware. Namely, NES/SNES/SEGA (look into Analogue), Commodore 64 (C64 Reloaded MK2), ZX Spectrum (Next and clones of Next), pocket (analogue), etc.

- Emulators are great these days

Find a retro game conference in your area, it almost always has refurbished and working hardware for sale. You're going to pay a premium for something that it working and ready to go though so be ready for some sticker shock. CRT monitors in particular are climbing in value because the vast majority are getting old enough to require repairs like capacitor replacement.

If you just want to use old hardware IMHO mess with MAME/MESS and emulation or the mister FPGA. Keeping old hardware running, particularly from that analog era, can be challenging and expensive.

I think emulation is the sincerest form of preservation for these old systems. The Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator (MAME) project would often say that preservation of the old hardware was their goal, the fact that you could use the code to play old roms was really more of a side affect. I used to think that was just a pretext for piracy, and I still think there's something to that, but more and more I appreciate what they did to document that old gear.

An emulation is a good option which I currently use even purchasing a commercial emulator for ZX Spectrum as well a ZX Spectrum Next modern retro computer. But I'm considering becoming a collector of original hardware. :)

I've been down the road a bit and I appreciate that code wont take up any space and wont collect dust, but I also appreciate people willing to take care of that and really preserve the hardware, so more power to you.

Maybe you’ll be the person to creat a store like that.

In my experience this stuff can be sourced on the cheap at tech flea markets, local classifieds and ebay, shopgoodwill, etc sites.

There are some stores that sell retro consoles along with comic books and stuff like that, although they tend to charge a premium

retro computers in a store I think is pretty rare, I haven't seen it personally

> retro computers in a store I think is pretty rare, I haven't seen it personally

In Japan I have seen them but for inflated prices. I have 1000s myself but shipping is always an issue, especially outside the EU. So I just keep, test and repair them.

Fortunately I have local stores that sell retro consoles, games, and peripherals exclusively. I took up restoring DMG-001 consoles and modding the Nintendo DS over the pandemic. It's a lot of fun.

For computers I haven't found better than kijiji/craigslist/ebay; basically swap-trade sites.

Mentioning what country you're in might be helpful here.

I'm from Bulgaria. I hope to find a dedicated online store.

Is there a Bulgarian website where to buy vintage Bulgarian/SSSR computers?

Thanks!

olx.bg is a place where it can be found some gear but it is not a dedicated place and there are very few options. It's like a local version of eBay. Mainly old Pravetz computers some of which are clones of Apple II and Pravetz 8D which is a clone of Oric Atmos. I'm not sure about the working condition of the computers which can be purchased there.

Garage sales seem the only chance of getting things cheap

Every gathering or public market or forum suffers from market prices

See if there's any good vintage computer shows near you. They often have people selling stuff at them.

eBay is definitely the main place for any kind of vintage electronics. It's not just random people selling old junk there, you should also find professional stores that are basically operating out of eBay. They'll test stuff, do mod work, etc.

Pink Godzilla in Seattle does that

> I thought you were a game store…where are the video games? > We are! In order to maintain a high level of quality and selection for our local customers, we’re unfortunately unable to sell video games through our website. Our website features plushies, apparel, and other merchandise, but you’ll have to visit us in person to see our selection of games!

Not very helpful if I'm outside of the US. I hoped for an online store.

I didn’t realize they didn’t have an online presence

Shipping is going to absolutely kill you.

https://int10h.org/blog/2021/04/safe-crt-monitor-shipping-51... is an example of what you'll have to deal with.

You will need to find someone in the USA (and in Europe or other locations) who can help you on the other side, and even then you're going to have problems. Read up on the various shipping fun he had.

As an example: https://int10h.org/blog/2018/03/steel-survivor-an-ibm-xt-tal... is a success.

Aside from ebay.ca and some bidding platforms, any good place for Canadians?

Any Singaporeans who where to pick up old computers,

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