Printable View
A couple months ago this thing was at the CA surplus auction.
40 KVA Liebert NPower UPS with over 70 Batteris
I calculated the weight of the batteries, and used that to determine what I would pay for it. I think my top was $1100. This went waaay higher than that. I think $2500. Now, this guy still has it and is trying to sell on craigslist. Ouch!
Well thAts what happens when people are not informed and dont know how to stick to a top price.
He is going to be waiting a LONG time to sell that. There is just a limited market. While you will find that a rack mounted ups will sell, these systems are used to support a whole business computer room. If you were running a bank and had hundreds of thousands of dollars in your network system, why would you think they would skimp on the backup? Of course they would want something new with a warranty and support. If you were a smaller business, a couple rack mount ups system will usually do just fine, same goes with the hobbyist.
If you had it working and could show people the system in action, there would be some interest from a few people.
This guy fell victim to the reasoning that if the system is 50,000.00 new it must still be worth a lot used. This just isn't the case. People payed thousands of dollars for 286/386/486 computers. The value is what someone would pay for the system, not what YOU paid for the system.
When I buy I only pay what I know I can get for the item in scrap plus make a few dollars. If it resells, great, it not, I'm still in the black.
scrap it hek, get you some solar panels and wind generators and have your own power station ; )
Ryan.... I agree that he paid too much for that backup and will have a hard time selling it. When you're looking at these to bid on, do pick up a battery if you can to check the weight. I got one that had 6 batteries in it for $50. I thought that it was a marginally ok deal until we got the batteries out and weighed them. Each one was a little over 60 lbs for a standard automobile battery size. I'm not sure why they are so heavy, but it was good for me.
Yeah, I would never think about selling this thing. I agree with Phantoms001...some things just can't be resold after they are used. The people that need these will buy new.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pnutfarmer
Pnutfarmer - What I did was get the model #s of the batteries, and do a low estimate of how many there were. Then I looked up their weight online. I only used a low estimate on the value of the batteries for my price, which would leave room for good profit alone. The racks would have just been extra...but a hefty extra haha.
agree with all said above........strictly scrap
we all must merember that the only difference between crap and $crap is $, and sometimes it's just crap
Check the date of the CL post. Posts expire after 45 days:Quote:
Originally Posted by ryanw
#1: Wait until day 44 and send him an offer of $1100 CASH
#2 Send him and inquiry email now. Get his phone number, maybe have a "tire kicking conversation with him" but you'll have his info for when his ad expires or he pulls it- you can still reach him.
If and when he figures out he's made a bad buy- maybe he'll "cut his losses" and you'll end up with the thing after all- for the price you wanted to pay in the first place!
I agree with all that was said. The guy had the right idea of buying something that looks to be in good condition and with a (longshot?) chance of selling for way more than scrap. He MOST CERTAINLY paid too much for it to just scrap it, but with a little hustle he should be able to get what he is asking. The biggest difference is if he can get exposure to the people that buy this type of equipment. I think that you would have done great getting it for $1,110 just on scrap value alone.
I recently purchased a 60kva system with 18 batteries, inverter and control panel for $200. Based on some calculations and conversations with others, i'm posting it on eBay and shooting for the moon. I'm going to make it a buy-it-now or best offer deal, and who knows? see: Best UPS Unity Inverter Control Panel | eBay
Worst case is that the entire system weighs about 4500 lbs as shred ($450), not including about 100lbs of 3/0 wiring I pulled out with it. The next best option is to sell off all the copper, batteries, switches, transformers, breakers, etc. and maximize my profit piece by piece. I'm guessing about $1k. Obviously I want to sell the system as a whole, so we'll see where this leads. Keep an eye out for these items as they could be good moneymakers if the price is right.