I had a Ford dealer (not a client) call me the other month to see if I would like to either buy his in-house ADP system, or help him find a buyer for a % of the money. He had just purchased the dealership about 3 years ago, and in this tough market he was not well enough capitalized to keep it open. So he was closing the business and trying to sell off the assets before the bank came and grabbed everything they could (another situation unto itself I did not want to get tied up in). The ADP system had cost him about $250,000.00 for the hardware, and another $200,000.00 for initial software license. He was paying about $8,000 monthly for "hardware and support", which is really hardware maintenance, tech support, and recurring license fees. He figured he could get at least $50,000 for the hardware.
I felt terrible in telling him his hardware was about 3 years old, older for his PCs, and the only thing that made it worth anything was the use value of the proprietary ADP software on it. Since he did not own the software he could not leave it on the Server for others to use. And since ADP would not be willing to support hardware they did not sell themselves directly, anyone purchasing the hardware would be self-insuring against any problems. Hence, in case the equipment had a problem another dealer would be risking his own smooth business operations by using unsupported hardware. On top of that, ADP would likely relicense the use of their software at very high pricing simply because they would not have gained the profits of the hardware sale from the used equipment buyer. And, on top of that, the Server is an old IBM unit with 128Mg RAM and just over 1Ghz CPU clock speed, hardly a high performance machine. So at best he would be lucky to get $300.00 for it. He would be best off using eBay to sell it for what he could to avoid environmental disposal/recycling fees. He was shocked, and decided to call around. He called me a few weeks later and asked if I would be willing to buy it for $300.00, including all the PCs (15 of them). I told him I did not have the room or need for machinery with those specs from 3+ years ago, and he would be best off trying to move the equipment himself on eBay. "Yeah, but the eBay fees would eat away at what I sell them for, and I would not get much from what I am seeing." "Yes, sir, which is why I told you what I did the other week. I wish I could give you better news, but this is just how it works in the computer industry. If I could have helped you get a significant amount of your investment back I would have done so gladly, but it is not going to happen. It can't happen." He told me he did not fault me, but it sure deflated him as he was hoping to at least get some cash out of the computer system to help out financially after shutting down the store. Shame, but reality does bite at times... Gil > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Malcolm Greene > Sent: Sunday, December 16, 2007 4:16 AM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: [NF] Estimating value of very old PC equipment > > > I have a very large customer with a suite of servers that are 6-7 years > old. I would like an objective (3rd party) way to prove the value of > this equipment is zero. (Or less than zero if you factor in ecological > disposal). Is there an internet site that would help me prove my point? > Plain old common sense is not an option for this particular customer. > > Thanks! > Malcolm > > [excessive quoting removed by server] _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: [email protected] Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech Searchable Archive: http://leafe.com/archives/search/profox This message: http://leafe.com/archives/byMID/profox/[EMAIL PROTECTED] ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
