For some time, I have been organizing a stock of old ICs purchased as a lot some years ago. The majority are 80's vintage parts, mostly NIB. I enjoy tinkering with discrete logic and linear parts, but there are a slew of obsolete parts that I simply don't see applicable for much other than vintage electronics repair.

The parts in question are mostly old processors (6800 series, 8088, Z80, and some sporadic oldies), old RAM, EPROMS, etc. A good portion of the logic chips are also limited in their use due to slow speeds, or even application (bus drivers, inverters, counters).

Is there a market for these parts? I see them listed on ebay, but are people actively purchasing? My goal is not to make this my second job, but naturally, I would hate to trash irreplaceable items that someone may have a use for. Are there people on here interested in the parts? Does anyone know of a company dealing in this era electronics that may want the lot?

 

I see them listed on ebay, but are people actively purchasing?

I pretty much stopped buying semiconductors on eBay around 5 years ago when counterfeit parts became too common. Sellers didn't even try to hide the fact that they were selling remarked parts.

Generally, you can assume anything that ships from China is counterfeit. Because there could be legitimate sellers who are unknowingly acquiring counterfeit parts and "repackaging" to sell on eBay, eBay (and Amazon, AliExpress, ...) are all suspect. I started buying only from authorized distributors; with one exception. If an eBay seller seemed to be selling odd lots of parts, I'd take a chance. There was one seller who had 3 locations and bought liquidated company stock by the pound and sold quite reasonably, for awhile, on eBay.

I won't even buy through hole resistors on eBay (unless it looks like odd lots). If they're not counterfeit, they're definitely substandard (i.e. skinny leads).

Vintage NOS TTL parts have gone up in price since the 80's, CD4XXX has gone down. Some parts like EPROM, PROM, and NVRAM are still in demand for repair work.

There are some online companies that buy new old stock. None come to mind, and they may be wary of buying parts of unknown authenticity these days.

Counterfeiting is just too widespread now. Even the military has been affected.

 

I did not realize counterfeiting had become such a problem. Its too bad this may keep parts like these from getting to someone who needs them.

If anyone knows of a place that deals in these and my be interested, let me know.

 

This https://www.utsource.net/ is my favorite GOTO spot for obsolete parts.

 

I did not realize counterfeiting had become such a problem. Its too bad this may keep parts like these from getting to someone who needs them.

If you're confident in the authenticity of your parts, you can offer a no hassle money back guarantee.

If anyone knows of a place that deals in these and my be interested, let me know.

If you're willing to sell piecemeal, some members might be interested.