Selling a scope is hard!

wavelandscott (Scott) · #1 22-01-2012, 04:19 AM

All,

I am finding selling an old scope to be a hard thing...maybe I should be on the TV show "hoarders".

Last night I agreed to sell my first telescope (a Bintel 8 inch Dob) to an interested young lady near my house.

She attended a viewing night and was really excited to get a scope (she had been doing the binocular thing for a while)...

After stewing on it for a week I decided to sell her my old gear at a good price. The 8 inch scope has not been out for a long time and it deserves better.

She is over the moon and will use it a lot so it is all good.

I've still got plenty of viewing firepower but it is sentimentally hard letting the "trusty" 8 inch go. I know I am being silly but still I've got a lot of memories wrapped up in that old scope.

Is this just me or do other folks have trouble letting go of their unused gear?

mozzie (Peter) · #2 22-01-2012, 06:26 AM

hi scott,they become like a member of the family.....when i sold my12"lx90 i drove down to the airs rock servo north of newcastle to meet the buyer very hard putting it in someone else's car give it a rub..had many many great nights seeing with it.....

casstony · #3 22-01-2012, 11:19 AM

Occasionally I feel sentimental about selling a special scope or mount. I recently sold my double stacked Lunt 60 to a friend at mates rates, so I can visit it from time to time. Apparently what goes around comes around though, and I managed to replace it with a pst for a good price so I can keep an eye on Sol.

I also have a T-Rex and DM-6; it's hard to let go of either of those though I don't need them both.

Having limited storage room helps to avoid hoarding.

jjjnettie (Jeanette) · #4 22-01-2012, 12:04 PM

LOL I know a couple of members with sheds full of gear.
Is there an Astronomers Anon. branch in SEQ?

Oh and my laundry and dining room full of gear doesn't count because it all gets used regularly. LOL

leon · #5 22-01-2012, 12:07 PM

Yea I know the feeling I miss my TAK imaging rig every day, but a choice had to be made, as traveling Australia, and owning the rig was not possible.

Maybe one day things will change, nothing lasts forever.

Leon

allan gould · #6 22-01-2012, 11:03 PM

Scott, I know how you feel as I still have the first OTA that I ever bought. Sold the forks that came with it but I can't bring myself to sell it as it's has too much sentimental value. And also it just keeps performing for me.

wavelandscott (Scott) · #7 23-01-2012, 01:08 AM

Thanks for the comments and shared feelings...on the upside to see and hear how excited the new owner is in person does help a bit.

Who knows, maybe she will go on to great heights in the study of Astronomy and I can claim I helped her get her start.

astroron (Ron) · #8 23-01-2012, 01:15 AM

I still have my first Scope, a 60mm Jason Refracter, couldn't sell it as I would get very little for it and as it was my first scope ,it has great senimental value.

Cheers

multiweb (Marc) · #9 23-01-2012, 07:35 AM

I haven't sold any of my scopes either. Even the ED80. Probably because they've been modded to death and nobody would buy them.

h0ughy (David) · #10 23-01-2012, 08:05 AM

it is indeed hard to part with anything, and i shudder at what i have bought ..... especially when the questions come from the better half...haven't you got one of those already?

AstralTraveller (David) · #11 23-01-2012, 10:04 AM

I've never sold a scope, camera, stereo or anything similar. That's partly because I'm sentimental but mostly because by the time I'm through with anything nobody else would want it. However three years ago we sold the troopie we had had for 25 years. We'd been everywhere in that car and for five years it was home. As it drove away it felt like I'd betrayed my family. We were both in tears and that night we had a wake.

wavelandscott (Scott) · #12 23-01-2012, 11:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by h0ughy

it is indeed hard to part with anything, and i shudder at what i have bought ..... especially when the questions come from the better half...haven't you got one of those already?

Based on actual size I would call her my better 1/3 but she does contribute more than half to my "betterness"... While she recognizes my angst, she likes the idea of being able to park her car in the garage instead of leaving it out in the snow...

My suggestion of getting a bigger garage for scope storage has largely fallen on deaf ears...

cventer · #13 23-01-2012, 12:35 PM

I agree 100%

I have a shed full of stuff I can't seem to mentally come around to selling. These include a losnamdy g11 with Gemini a mountain instruments mi250 eq mount with Gemini. An Orion ed80 with moonlight focuser. They all have been part of my journey and so see hard to sell.

avandonk · #14 23-01-2012, 12:45 PM

No matter how much a scope means to you if you are not using it you should set it free to do what scopes do, be used to observe or record!

Bert

snowyskiesau · #15 23-01-2012, 01:40 PM

The main problem I have in getting rid of an excess scope is finding a buyer

Should have sold the C8 while I was still in Sydney.

I'll be sorry to see it go but I'm getting by OK with just the ED80

spacezebra (Petra) · #16 23-01-2012, 07:18 PM

noooooo dont sell scott!

Cheers Petra d.

brian nordstrom (As avatar) · #17 23-01-2012, 07:32 PM

Yea I just sold my SV 80mm Aplanat , Iv'e had for years , its a hard thing to do alright , I like Mozzie , gave her one last rub as I sealed up the postage box ,,, Goodby forever , old friend .
Brian.

dannat (Daniel) · #18 23-01-2012, 08:05 PM

I just move on & sell straight away, there are a couple of regrets though

erick (Eric) · #19 23-01-2012, 10:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by h0ughy

..... especially when the questions come from the better half...haven't you got one of those already?

Err... my explanation is that I'm contemplating building a bino-scope!

g__day (Matthew) · #20 24-01-2012, 12:28 AM

I must be the odd one out. Whilst I wouldn't want to sell the gear I am currently using - I often gift my old gear to any friend that appears interested and needy.

I find I get a kick out of knowing stuff I can no longer justify has made somebody else quite happy!

A quick top of head count would reveal I've freed one OTA, one computerised CG5 mount, 1 laptop, two speakers, one hugemoungus rear projection Sony TV, 5 PCs and monitors, two dvd players, two binoculars, one spotting scope and a half dozen Plossl eye pieces.

Maybe I love buying and upgrading and hate selling? I love gifting where you can see it is really appreciated and unexpected by the folks who receive it. To me that is worth much more than some cash; I'd hate to think my possessions own and control me; they're are just gadets with a shelf life and I am sure I have a bad hoarding instinct that I won't let control me!