SubscribeSat 29 Sep 2007
I’ve alwasy been an advocate of selling stuff on Craigslist or Ebay. Reselling items is the oldest, and still the most effective way of recycling. I just sold my TV. I’ve been thinking about selling my TV for the last year, and replacing it with an LCD. It was 27 inch flat tube TV weighting a few thousand pounds (or so it felt). I sold it for $100. A comparable new Flat tube TV would cost between $200-$300. The TV was in great condition, and about 4 years old. I was able to get it sold and picked up in less than a day. I believed I priced it appropriately, and got an offer without any haggling. When selling stuff on Craigslist, I’m a big believer in unloading items quickly. It shouldn’t be about getting the best price, but getting a good price and transacting fast.
Now I have empty space in my tv cabinet. Ideally, I would like to sell my cabinet and get a wall mount LCD, but given I’m renting and don’t expect to be my in apartment another year, I’m ambivalent of about going through the hassle and expesne of doing a wall mount. I want a TV that can fit in my cabinet (32 inches, or possibly a slim 37 inch tv), and supports 720P resolution. I don’t need 1080i or 1080p. While HD-DVD and Blueray both support upto 1080p, I don’t have any immediate plans on getting either types of players (especially before one format clearly becomes the standard). Besides, I’m looking at this current TV purchase to be one that holds me over for 2-4 years rather than the TV I purchase for the rest of my life.
My plan right now is to go to Costco and pickup a 32 inch Vizio LCD TV. Vizio is basically a no name brand company that makes cheap flat screen TVs. Between them and Westinhouse (another no name company that co-opted the Westinghouse tag) they have nearly a quarter of the flat screen TV market. Costco lists a 32 inch Vizio at about $600. On Craigslist, people try to sell their brand name 32 inch (and smaller) LCD TVs for any range between $500-$1000. The problem is flat screen TV prices have come down so much that people offering their “old” LCDs for half of the purchase price are being outpriced by new TVs.
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September 29th, 2007 at 6:30 pm
Good for you! I’ve been planning to make the move to LCD for over a year now–the prices just keep coming down, so i’ve been putting it off. But I’ve been doing more and more research and have chosen a model just today after reading a special edition of Consumer Reports on the subject. I’m going with a 46″ Sony, but I’m also doing 720p (retails for around $1500).
I’ve read and witnessed that some really good 720p sets actually have better picture quality than many 1080i/p sets and this is supposed to be one of those models. But of course they’re much cheaper. And in any event, the difference is supposed to be invisible to the naked eye on TV’s less than 50″. Besides, there’s basically zero programming in 1080i/p yet. Good luck with your purchase!!
October 1st, 2007 at 9:53 am
I’m happy to see that you didn’t just throw out your old TV. I actually found my 27″ TV sitting next to a dumpster, so I shouldn’t be so down on people that throw away TVs. However, it’s nice to see that you thought your purchase through and were able to not add another TV to a landfill.
October 1st, 2007 at 10:44 am
Great idea selling yout TV online. I always forget that you can request pick-up only on heavy items. Good tip!
October 14th, 2007 at 12:48 am
[...] repto55427 wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptVizio is basically a no name brand company that makes cheap flat screen TVs. Between them and Westinhouse (another no name company that co-opted the Westinghouse tag) they have nearly a quarter of the flat screen TV market. … [...]