Vintage Kirby Collection

[kirbyhoneyhole]

I am trying to liquidate my friends 30 year old collection of vintage Kirby’s. Aprox. 30 to 40 complete machines and boxes of new/old stock repair parts and accessory kits. Would love to sell as a lot.
Northern California location. Would deliver up to 300 or 400 miles.

 

[bnsd60m9200]

no one will buy it as a lot. period. break it up into individual units to sell or youll end up stuck with nothing sold. charge the buyer shipping. you'll thank yourself later.

 

[huskyvacs]

@ bnsd60m9200

Nobody will buy them shipped unless they are really worth it. Shipping a vacuum from California to the east coast USA will run about $60-$70 in shipping cost. That puts off tons of buyers. A lot of the Kirby auctions I would see on eBay I used to see in 2017 are now virtually gone or are all "local pickup only", there's very little listed.

His best option would be to sell individually and locally. Try facebook too in collector's forums, and show photos of what there is.

40 machines + all the kits would be enough to pack a small UHAUL to the brim, you'd have to find someone that has that kind of money plus buying a storage unit just to accommodate their purchase, not a lot of people can do that.

 

[bnsd60m9200]

huskyvacs

ive dealt with these large lot sales personally. NO ONE will go get the stuff. i tried that in 2014 in amarillo for two weeks and ZERO people went, over 400 vintage and rare machines were scrapped.

people wont buy it unless they ship it , and NO ONE will buy this many machines at once. many collectors are lazy and dont want to put the effort into getting machines. locally he wont get buyers. i can promise you this. people wont drive to get the things.

 

[kirbyhoneyhole]

Hi folks, Thank you so much for the responses and reality check. I wont have time to re-assemble, assess, and sell these individually. 68 Machines + accessory boxes.
I have had a few inquirey's and will pursue some local options. Hope I don't end up
taking these to Aluminum scrap yard. Such cool machines. Including a link to some pics I took of the handles. Hope to be unboxing the motors soon.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/r04ru5nhqbfzkgr/AAD93N8FIxxPRgAPWxFM1z_ra?dl=0

 

[lesinutah]

Hey

I emailed you. Feel free to call
3852390657
Les
Nobody else prank call because idk prank call might liven up day.
Les

 

[bnsd60m9200]

KirbyHoneyhole

sorry to be so rash about it, but having dealt with this before and others who have had trouble inheriting large lots to sell them, it pushes away most collectors because of the volume. if you get someone who wants them great. overall selling vintage machines (vacuums) in bulk just yields a frustrated seller.

 

[huskyvacs]

Donate them to Habitat Restore and Goodwill. There is no reason to take something to the scrap yard. Thrift stores have been around for 50 years. These vacuums went out of production 30-60 years ago, every one destroyed raises the price of the survivors.