Selling used TVs, then and now

[radiotvnut]

I had a friend, who did really well in the 1970s, repairing TVs for people and fixing TVs to sell. He told me that back then, I nice 19" B&W set would easily bring $75 and the minimum price on a 19" color TV was $125 (if it had remote, the price went up). Color consoles were in the $150-$250 range, depending on what features they had and how nice the cabinet was.

This trend continued throughout the '80s, but by the '90s, new TVs were coming down in price and that made it harder to get as much for a used one. However, it was still possible to sell them. In the mid-to-late '90s, I was at his house and witnessed a woman pay him $125 for one of those little 13" RCA remote sets with the TX82 chassis (I never really cared for those sets) and, at that time, she could have bought a new one for that (just a case of an uninformed buyer).

I started fixing TVs in about 1990, as a young teenager. The first B&W I ever fixed was a 16" RCA from about 1963 and the first color set I fixed was a circa '75 Zenith CC2, with a 4-button clicker remote. I sold the B&W for $25 to a young guy who didn't have much money and needed a TV. He didn't care that it was old and B&W. He just needed a TV and $25 was in his budget.

When I first started, I was getting between $35-$50 for a 19" solid state B&W, with the tube 19" B&W sets selling in the $25-$35 range. 12" B&W sets were in the $20-$35 range, with the solid state AC/DC sets being in the higher end of that price range. 13", 17", and 19" solid state color portables were in the $50-$125 range, depending on screen size and rather they were remote controlled or not. Solid state 23"/25" consoles that had a decent cabinet were in the $100-$200 range. About $40 was as much as I could squeeze out of a tube color portable and maybe $50-$75 for a tube color console, if it looked good.

Then, it got so that new color TVs were selling for under $100 (especially the 13" and 19" models) and there were some 25" and 27" sets that weren't much over $200. Unless I happened to run up on an uninformed buyer, that made it hard to get much for used sets. In the early 2000s, I had a nice looking knob-tuned 13" color set (I think it was a GoldStar). I'd replaced the flyback, HOT, regulator, and a few other parts that had gotten cremated, and an older guy looked at it. He asked what the price was, and I told him $125. I figured he'd squeal like a stuck pig, but he opened his wallet, handed me $125, and took the TV with him. A friend of mine knew him and he told me that this guy is generally not one to worry about what something cost. He said that if he wants something, he generally buys it.

Then, things pretty much hit rock bottom around 2006, or so. I had a brief resurgence in CRT TV sales around 2009, when new CRT sets were getting scarce and flat screens were still expensive. That opened the door to selling used CRT sets to people without much money.

Around 2012, or so, I had a 19" Toshiba from the early '90s and I was trying to get $10 for it. I had a woman ready to buy it, until she found out it didn't have A/V input jacks, and she backed out. After that, I had a mid '90s RCA console, in great cosmetic condition, that an older man gave me. I repaired the chassis and tried to give it back to the man, but he didn't want it. I tried to sell it on Facebook, no luck. Tried to give it away on Facebook, no luck because it wasn't a flat screen. Then, I took it to a flea market and after about six months of it sitting there, they finally sold it for $30.

Then, there was the 32" Sanyo that someone gave me, I fixed it, and couldn't even get my $10 in parts back out of it. After much effort, I finally found someone who'd take it for free.

I keep saying that I'm not taking in any more BPC/SPC TVs, but then someone offers me one, and I take it just to get it out of their way. Then, I end up getting stuck with it. The current example is a 27" flat-tube Emerson (Funai) from 2002. I had to replace a couple of tact switches, re-soldered a ton of bad connections, and replaced one capacitor. I've been trying to sell it for $20 and do you think I've gotten any serious hits? Of course not.

As far as flat screens, there is a local thrift store that has been giving me broken ones. I managed to fix a couple of them, but most end up having either a busted panel or bad LED backlights.

A couple of pawn shops told me that they will not take in any TV over two years old. They said that even if it's a flat screen, people will not buy them if they are over two years old. I told him about how it was 30 years ago and he said, "that's great, but today, people are not willing to just settle for some old TV, just to have something to watch." He said people want the "latest and the greatest" and they want it for nothing.

With all that said, I'm going to have to "stick to my guns" and "just say no", unless it's old enough to be in a woodgrain plastic cabinet and preferably have knobs on it.

I don't care if that Emerson from 2002 is non-HD and a CRT set. It's a working color TV, it has a good picture, it has a remote, it has A/V jacks, and there is no reason it should still be sitting here with a $20 price on it.

[Alex KL-1]

Originally Posted by radiotvnut

I had a friend, who did really well in the 1970s, repairing TVs for people and fixing TVs to sell. He told me that back then, I nice 19" B&W set would easily bring $75 and the minimum price on a 19" color TV was $125 (if it had remote, the price went up). Color consoles were in the $150-$250 range, depending on what features they had and how nice the cabinet was.

This trend continued throughout the '80s, but by the '90s, new TVs were coming down in price and that made it harder to get as much for a used one. However, it was still possible to sell them. In the mid-to-late '90s, I was at his house and witnessed a woman pay him $125 for one of those little 13" RCA remote sets with the TX82 chassis (I never really cared for those sets) and, at that time, she could have bought a new one for that (just a case of an uninformed buyer).

I started fixing TVs in about 1990, as a young teenager. The first B&W I ever fixed was a 16" RCA from about 1963 and the first color set I fixed was a circa '75 Zenith CC2, with a 4-button clicker remote. I sold the B&W for $25 to a young guy who didn't have much money and needed a TV. He didn't care that it was old and B&W. He just needed a TV and $25 was in his budget.

When I first started, I was getting between $35-$50 for a 19" solid state B&W, with the tube 19" B&W sets selling in the $25-$35 range. 12" B&W sets were in the $20-$35 range, with the solid state AC/DC sets being in the higher end of that price range. 13", 17", and 19" solid state color portables were in the $50-$125 range, depending on screen size and rather they were remote controlled or not. Solid state 23"/25" consoles that had a decent cabinet were in the $100-$200 range. About $40 was as much as I could squeeze out of a tube color portable and maybe $50-$75 for a tube color console, if it looked good.

Then, it got so that new color TVs were selling for under $100 (especially the 13" and 19" models) and there were some 25" and 27" sets that weren't much over $200. Unless I happened to run up on an uninformed buyer, that made it hard to get much for used sets. In the early 2000s, I had a nice looking knob-tuned 13" color set (I think it was a GoldStar). I'd replaced the flyback, HOT, regulator, and a few other parts that had gotten cremated, and an older guy looked at it. He asked what the price was, and I told him $125. I figured he'd squeal like a stuck pig, but he opened his wallet, handed me $125, and took the TV with him. A friend of mine knew him and he told me that this guy is generally not one to worry about what something cost. He said that if he wants something, he generally buys it.

Then, things pretty much hit rock bottom around 2006, or so. I had a brief resurgence in CRT TV sales around 2009, when new CRT sets were getting scarce and flat screens were still expensive. That opened the door to selling used CRT sets to people without much money.

Around 2012, or so, I had a 19" Toshiba from the early '90s and I was trying to get $10 for it. I had a woman ready to buy it, until she found out it didn't have A/V input jacks, and she backed out. After that, I had a mid '90s RCA console, in great cosmetic condition, that an older man gave me. I repaired the chassis and tried to give it back to the man, but he didn't want it. I tried to sell it on Facebook, no luck. Tried to give it away on Facebook, no luck because it wasn't a flat screen. Then, I took it to a flea market and after about six months of it sitting there, they finally sold it for $30.

Then, there was the 32" Sanyo that someone gave me, I fixed it, and couldn't even get my $10 in parts back out of it. After much effort, I finally found someone who'd take it for free.

I keep saying that I'm not taking in any more BPC/SPC TVs, but then someone offers me one, and I take it just to get it out of their way. Then, I end up getting stuck with it. The current example is a 27" flat-tube Emerson (Funai) from 2002. I had to replace a couple of tact switches, re-soldered a ton of bad connections, and replaced one capacitor. I've been trying to sell it for $20 and do you think I've gotten any serious hits? Of course not.

As far as flat screens, there is a local thrift store that has been giving me broken ones. I managed to fix a couple of them, but most end up having either a busted panel or bad LED backlights.

A couple of pawn shops told me that they will not take in any TV over two years old. They said that even if it's a flat screen, people will not buy them if they are over two years old. I told him about how it was 30 years ago and he said, "that's great, but today, people are not willing to just settle for some old TV, just to have something to watch." He said people want the "latest and the greatest" and they want it for nothing.

With all that said, I'm going to have to "stick to my guns" and "just say no", unless it's old enough to be in a woodgrain plastic cabinet and preferably have knobs on it.

I don't care if that Emerson from 2002 is non-HD and a CRT set. It's a working color TV, it has a good picture, it has a remote, it has A/V jacks, and there is no reason it should still be sitting here with a $20 price on it.

Things are really different in the past. Resolution war don't existed. For some decades, 480i or 576i is all of we had. See the relatively short timeframe of "Full-HD"; today a kind of "resolution revolution"*** (sic) are at place.
Well, of course is interesting the newer resolutions on good panels but, soon maker announce 8k, 16k, etc, making a frenesi about...
In my home, for new panels, I don't bother even with 4k (fll HD are ok to watch series etc on panels), although I'm forced to buy 4k because the OLED panels are "cutting edge" and need to come with ultra-new features to catch attention (seems like the buyers now are like childrens needing something popping to catch attention)... I purchased OLED only because of true contrast, due to self-illuminated pixels (emissive display).

***this was a natural result of Moore law, and not surprise me. Newer TV needs heavy processing, and so it have CPU's far better than we had on PC few time ago...

I mimagine you can sell CRT TV's that you don't want to maintain in collection perhaps more faster if you announce as a "retro-gaming" TV. See the outrageuous price on eBay. Myself I only use old games on old TV's or CRT monitors. Old games and consoles are made with the pros and limitations of the CRT era in mind.

In fact, some extra fact exists for retro-gammers (for curiosity), besides the nostalgia, different color renditions due to phosphours, true blacks (if properly adjusted) and errors in color decoder: https://www.testufo.com/
Smooth dynamic motion are really very poor on Sample and Hold displays (all the new ones); CRT are impulsive display (due to sweeping mode of assembling a image); so it render excellent motion rendering even with low framerate. In this site, physical explanation exists for the perceptual movement performance, and the mitigations on newer displays to overcome it's inherent limitations in this area (gamming monitors and higher end panels have these motion features).

My CRT monitor render absolutely perfectly these tests. My laptop, my cellphone (with OLED!) and my panel monitors at work are simply pathetic on these tests. My OLED TV with motion features enabled renders it decently.

All of this summed can be a selling feature to a retro gamer... so, reasons for these market to continue for some time exists.

BTW, for me, these resolution revolution was at principle to hide the fundamental motion flaws in these new panels, diverting attention to resolution, since this is a "free" feature due to independent pixels on flat panel displays...
Last note: I only purchased my panel TV past 2020, since I'm never liked the motion problem on never panels, and panels with motion features are too expensive relatively few time ago... and, panels until near 2015 are pathetic on color rendition and contrast unless cost a fortune.

[Electronic M]

Out here the St Vincint DePaul thrifts still take and sell CRTs. Nothing old enough to catch my fancy has appeared there yet that I've seen.
I do my best not to take anything I would be bothered being stuck with.
The BPC era stuff unless it's an HD-CRT I either leave or if it's at the curb I sometimes take the HV lead, power cord, and the high voltage (over 100v) caps.

There's still plenty of these things around and since you have to pay money to dispose of them thanks to idiots in government there's always enough free sets here that trying to get money for them is futile.

[compu_85]

I'd think the easiest sets to sell would be in the 17" to 25" range, with inputs so people can use them for video games.

I have a friend who likes those Funai sets. He's got probably 100 of them... he uses them for video game tournaments.

-J

[rcaman]

I used to sell a lot of used tv's and a whole lot of new RCA tv's. i usually had the color console sets sold as soon as they came off the work bench and a lot of times before they were fixed. great money back then.