To contact me or for brief terms of ordering, see my main ordering and contact Web page. This page is FINE details about ordering, terms of sale. Details about non-United-States customer ordering and shipping is on another Web page.
General ordering terms and terms of sale
More details and specific explanations
If you want to SELL OR GIVE ME YOUR STUFF
Customers outside the United States
For brief terms of ordering, see my main ordering and email contact Web page.
Ordering is done by email.. We don't use complicated on-line order forms or "shopping carts" or "click to buy". To order items from me, I need to know EXACTLY what you want to order, and your FULL shipping address and phone number, If you are concerned about privacy, for estimates I need at least your ZIP code, city, state (or city & country if you're outside the US). For a "final quote" I'll need a full address, so I know where I'm shipping! Your phone number is only for use by shippers like FedEx, who call if there are delivery problems. I RARELY CALL CUSTOMERS.
I'll answer some technical questions to assist you in making choices, but it's up to YOU to choose what to buy. We offer a little advice but most of what we know technially is on the Web site. It's up to you to make choices, but . If you can, pick specific items from my Web pages. Those descriptions have a price, condition and a shipping weight for most items. That info determines the final total with shipping, so include that info from my Web page if you can. If you want items not on my site, you can ask but please BE SPECIFIC.
Because I get many emails a day, please include your prior email message with your reply, and don't change the "subject" heading. I usually reply within 24 hours to all inquiries but if you do not hear from me in a few days, it may be a spam or email or network problem; so try again or follow this link for details.
I'll send a quote when I have your shipping address and your list of specific items., otherwise I can only provide ESTIMATES and respond to BRIEF questions. My quote will include my mailing address, a quote confirming or updating my estimate, costs of shipping and handling, and how to pay.
Payment is almost always by PayPal. When you pay, PayPal will contact me; but no harm if you send an email too. For PayPal I charge to cover their fees. For payment services like Western Union and MoneyGram, I need their payment information from you (payment number, your name written as you gave to them). They won't email me; and you pay their fees. My quote will tell you details, we will agree on how-to-pay as part of the quote. Details are at this link.
If you are postal-mailing payment: Print that email quote (or write a note with that information) and physically mail that with your cash (US dollars), check or money order payment. Most US customers send payment by first class mail or Priority Mail; the Post Office offers tracking for Priority Mail. If you want expedited or quicker service for your order and faster shipping, we can provide "expedited service" but there will be additional costs. Please review that "expedited service" link before sending payment by express services or before using certified or registered mail.
For shipping outside the US, we use the United States Postal Service (USPS) "Priority Mail Package International" or First Class Package International. It's the cheapest and it's been reliable for me. Please review the information on my site at at this Web link for details. Other services are available at greater cost but may give faster delivery and may provide other services.
Payment for orders inside the US is usually by PayPal, but I will take a paper check (personal or bank) or money order or postal order. No credit cards. For PayPal I charge to cover their fees. Details of payment and where to send it will be in my quote. If you are outside the United States, please read the linked section for those terms of payment and shipping, but most non-US customers use PayPal. I'll consider MoneyGram or Western Union payments.
If you want an invoice or to send a purchase order, please review this link; we provide reciepts but don't take PO's without a prepayment. (We'll add your PO or invoice or other number to your reciept if you ask for it.) Most payments are sent to me by first class mail or Air mail; if you want faster reciept of your order check my "expedite" notes.
We'll ship when we receive your order and payment, and notify you by email when we ship. Expedited services for shipping or to send payment are available at extra costs. We normally ship in the US by FedEx ground or US mail (First class or Priority). You will get a paper, numbered reciept with the shipment; shippment tracking and insurance depends on the order and shipping method. For shipments outside the US, please read this linked section.
Verify your order upon reciept; notify me within 7 days of your reciept of any errors, failures, or other problems. We sell good used items, tested before shipping unless noted in our quote. We don't warrent working items beyond "working when shipped" unless specifically noted in our quoting messages. Anything you buy and use is at your own risk and it is up to YOU to know if what you order is useful to you.
These are my COMPREHENSIVE terms of ordering, payment, and shipping. This respesents the best ways for me to insure that you know and I know what you are buying, for how much, and that your payment and your items will arrive safely. These methods allow me to keep my costs low, and to provide modest service and to make good use of my time (and yours). I have a lot of satisfied customers over several years who have given me good references.
Shipping costs Shipping costs within the USA are based on the SIZE of your package if any dimension is over 12 inches; and distance. Otherwise shipping costs are based on the weight of the package.
We add a few dollars for the time and materials needed to pack your items safely.
A total for shipping and handing will be in our final quote to you for payment. We'll estimate shipping for
our estimates. We have had very few shipping losses over the years because of the care
we take in packing and addressing. If you want to ESTIMATE shipping costs before you order,
please note that most items on our site include a weight in pounds - that
includes packing and box. You can go to a shipper's Web site (like usps.com for postal) and enter
that weight and size, my postal ZIP code (use Trenton NJ 08600) and your ZIP code (or country and postal
code) and get an estimate; they don't charge for this service.
We normally ship a few days after recieving your payment by mail; and
we ship by Federal Express (FedEx) Ground or US Postal Service (US mail) as per
our quote. We send you an email notice
when we ship. A tracking number is often available depending on the shipping
service used, and we can provide that number. If you want FASTER
service, including faster receipt or tracking for your payment,
check my expedited section for details;
and the the delay section below regarding delays.
Delays in ordering: Contact me if a week has gone by since
you sent your order and payment and you have not heard from me; include any tracking number if any for your mailed order. If you are outside the US, check this section. If you have sent payment by US mail and it requires a
signature, I may not have recieved the item OR notice that it was delivered.
I recommend you DO NOT USE SINGATURE SERVICES with the US POST OFFICE. "Delivery Confirmation" is fine, but not "Signature confirmation". Or, use FedEx or UPS or other
commercial services.
Customer References: I've sold technical items over the Web for two decades as of 2020. Before the Internet, I was selling vintage technical items by email. I have had many satisfied customers. Some customers have sent me thank-you's and permitted me to list those messages, on the following Web pages.
Customer references for Apple Macs and parts, Expedited payment and shipping:
If you wish to speed up shipping of your order, you must send your payment faster, or ask me to "expedite" your order when it arrives, or have it shipped by a faster service. (But also see my option to pick up.)
Expedited Payment: We won't ship until we get payment. You can send payment with a reciept to you and tracking, by US Mail Priority Mail. That is reasonably reliable. Otherwise First class is fine. A faster service is either Federal Express (FedEx) or United Parcel Service (UPS). If you are really in a hurry, you can use Western Union or MoneyGram, so follow that link for information. DO NOT USE US Postal Service Registered Mail or Certified Mail, it will add to delay. Whatever service you use to physically send payment, notify me of how payment was sent and give me the tracking information so I can "find" it if necessary.
Expedited Shipping: I normally ship within a few business days of payment reciept. I will ship the same business day I recieve payment if I quote "expedited service" for a $10 fee Mark "expedite" on your envelope. If you want faster shipping by FedEx, specify WHICH service you want from them there are many choices. All this extra effort is why I charge for "expedited" service. But it's a limited service.
Forwarding packages, forwarding services. Some of my non-USA customers use a reshipping service, to accept items within the USA at US postal rates. I don't like doing that but that's acceptable.
However I am not responsible for customer's reciept of that package. My customer is responsible for providing me with a correct address to that third party, including if needed a contact phone number (ex. FedEx ground requires it).
Pickup of orders: If you are near enough to central New Jersey we occasionally allow pickups. You can ask. But don't ask just to pick up a $25 order after driving an hour or two - your gas, your time is (generally) not worth any imagined savings. I do not have a store, I don't have a "museum of my collection" to look at. I work from my home. I cannot have customer traffic for many reasons. What I have to sell and "show", is on my Web site; ask about other items of interest to you.
Copies of manuals: My manual copy service fee is generally 20 cents a page for PDF copies provided by Web access; I generally discount that for larger manuals. I may offer further discounts. Plus, if you want a printed copy, costs of printing and postage. Why do I charge for "free" manuals? They aren't free for my storage, my Web site isn't cost free to me, my time emailing with you is valuable (to me) ... If this seems unreasonable, consider that I have provided this service for DECADES. Then tell me why you don't give your boss back your paycheck for YOUR daily work? And if you donate your time and services, God bless you, I hope you have other means for income.
When you tell me which documents you want (and where to ship for paper results), I will provide a quote accordingly. If you are looking for documents for specific hardware or software, please be informative. I know a lot myself, so if you want more than a specific document, talk to me, I can't read your mind or see your repair items. Keep in mind, I'm just trying to help people with docs to get things fixed, and I get many inquiries. There's limits to my "talk", and I expect YOU to do real work and not just "chat". When in doubt....read my Web pages!
Tech info, advice: Check our Web pages first via
the links section for links to common questions, my main Web pages,
and to lists of links to other sites. Any information I provide is without warrenty or guarantee of completeness or accuracy: use it at your own risk, I am not responsible for loss, damage, or
injury. It's up to you to determine what you want to buy from me or anyone else, and whether
it will serve your purposes and needs.
Finding Web pages on my site:
Links to ALL my major "home" pages start at my retrotechnology home page. I have a lot of content on my Web site from two decades of Web presence. It looks archaic, because my
pages are 90% text-based. "Content is king" is still true on the 2020 Web. I'm explaining and describing
by text - not some YouTube video voice-over to a video image of a nonmoving computer! (Harumph!) To find more information on my site, don't expect pull-down tabs and colorful menus. Follow my HTML Web links, or
use the Internet search engines ("google") on my site as follows: [keywords] site:retrotechnology.com. OK?
Privacy: If you are worried about privacy, the bottom line is that I don't know much about you by intention. I don't keep or sell "customer data bases".
I won't bug you with spam or junk mail. I almost never phone a customer.
I do not maintain any online personal cusotmer data: I don't even have your credit card number.
I only request a phone number so a shipper can contact you to complete a delivery
if necessary. Obviously I need your address to ship, but I need it for my quote
because all shipping costs are based on distance; and I want to make sure I have
your address correct for shipping. All of my procedures are intended to protect you,
your privacy, and your order.
Spam: Did you not get a reply from me? or did your email to me bounce?
In brief, some spam filter may have deleted your email to me; or your Internet Service Provider (ISP)
may be blocking ALL email from my site or my ISP's site. Or, one of us has some email problems.
That's why I have two email addresses, try using the other one. Try again in a
few days; most intermittant spam-blocking times out by then.
I get a lot of spam,
so I filter my email, so your message may have been deleted. To avoid deletion, make sure your message
has an obvious "subject" line for a customer - mention a Mac model name and number for instance.
Don't use subjects like "help!" or "thanks" , or "hello again". Those are used by
spammers and I delete those messages. Also don't send large attachments or photo images in your
first email; they may be seen as spam. Another problem may be that your email or mine may be blocked by a spam filter: try sending a message to my alternate email address and
mention that you did not get a reply from me. Don't just send a copy of
your first email to both of my addresses.
Spam and viruses are a tremendous problem for anyone with a public email
address. We list our email address on this page only, to minimize the misuse of
our email address by spammers and by programs which send viruses. Many
virus programs use a computer's email list, while some "harvest" email addresses from Web pages.
When we did not block spam, over 90% of our email was spam (based on daily measurements of 150-200 emails DAILY. This was not a guess.) Please buy an anti-virus program and use it, the annual cost is very modest.
And use the spam filters used by most email providers.
Invoices, Purchase Orders, "Vendor approval", Receipts:
I sell under my personal name. I am not a corporation. There is no "retrotechnology.com" business name. If your University's or corporation's accounting requires a "Tax ID" or "vendor approval" or "corporate accounts", review
the information below with your Purchasing or Accounting Department, to see if we can do business at all. Frankly,
most orders from my site USED to be well below most company's miminum amounts for such procedures. However, since about 2009 many companies apparently don't allow "petty cash" purchases or reimbursements. Check with YOUR company's procedures, please, and see about "petty cash" or reimbursement.
We generally don't provide invoices (except for customs purposes). My emailed quote is my "invoice". If you must have one, it's an additional fee, but it will have no further information than my emailed quote. Typically, corporations who insist on invoices, also "insist" on only dealing with "registered" companies and corporations.
We don't ship when recieving purchase orders unless payment is included - we ship when we are paid. If your company issues a purchase order number, we'll gladly include that number on our reciept and in my emailed quote and any paper invoice provided.
Of course, we provide a reciept with purchase. With your shipped order you will get an itemized, numbered paper reciept. If your order is for a scanned document, you can ask for a scanned copy of a
paper reciept, or pay postage for an actual paper reciept. Paper reciects are the most secure evidence of a transaction.
Petty cash or reimbursement. If your company insists on only paying "corporate" accounts, I recommend that you check their "petty cash" procedures, or pay for items directly yourself
and get reimbursed. Our procedures provide reasonable protections and safety and a "paper trail" for the modest
orders of most people, as most of the items I sell are not terribly expensive. I have a small one-person
company and I save time and fuss with my simple procedures, so I'll have more time for YOU
and YOUR ORDER and to work on my inventory. Bottom line: If you want
additional payment and ordering services I will have to charge additional fees to
YOU accordingly, or simply tell you "I cannot provide the level of services you request."
Request my Employer Identification Number (EIN) or Tax ID?
Occasionally a customer's accountants will request my IRS "Employer Identification Number" or EIN, or Tax ID, to possibly report payments to me as part of their tax reportage. As I explain above, I'm not a corporation. I do business under my own name. My EIN or "taxpayer ID" is MY SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER, which I'm obliged to protect. My general understanding is that such reportage 1) has a $600 annual limit and 2) may have higher limits for services which are not purchases of items. (These regulations have changed back and forth in recent years and are confusing.) To protect myself from indentity fraud, I generally do NOT give out this number. If you company requires an EIN or Tax ID to provide payment to me, and I believe it's not necessary, we most likely cannot do business. My apologies.
Condition of items is in the Web page description, but most are
good, used, tested; some are unused and new. Refer to the description on my Web site for specifics.
We do not use the term "refurbished" as it has no clear definition, it could mean anything. We'll just
describe what we do, on my Web page for that item or items of that sort. Some new items - that is items
which are unused and even still sealed in original boxes - are on Check a "new" page of mostly Apple repair parts.
Warrenty: All electronic and mechanical
items sold are used and sold in working condition unless otherwise noted in
their Web site description, and ultimately in
our quote to you. They will be tested before shipping and are sold as
"working when shipped" unless noted otherwise in our quote. There are NO
WARRENTIES for software, and absolutely no guarantees whatsoever on any
software that may reside on any system or hard drive sold as we have not
"sold" you that software, it is not ours to sell. For Macintosh or Apple systems
in particular, look at relevant questions in our Apple/Macintosh frequent questions page.
We offer no
additional warrenties in general, unless stated in the quote I provide when
you purchase. There are some SPECIFIC warrenties for some specific
items, again those warrenties will
be noted in my quote before you purchase; reference to those may also
be in the item's description on my Web site. Additional information may
be provided in our Web page descriptions, read those pages carefully.
And PLEASE READ THE SECTIONS BELOW on "problems", "fitness" and "liability".
Problems with orders or with items recieved: Contact me with any questions
about your order or your inquiries. We try to process orders and emails "quickly" but we
don't offer immediate on-line service; usually next business day. We generally
ship a few business days after reciept of order. If you have a problem
or failure with an item upon reciept, contact me at once! You MUST contact me
within seven days of reciept of order to correct any problems or inaccuracies.
We will try to resolve any problems at that point. We don't offer
warrenties beyond "working when recieved" but we do want to hear about any problems. We do not offer
guarantees about your use of anything sold, and no warrenties on any software whatsoever.
Delays in delivery: Delays in delivery are rare for US orders (except during
periods and in locations under emergency conditions). Items shipped by Federal Express or United Parcel Service can be tracked ONLINE via their Web sites. You need the tracking number associated with your order's package - I provide those with most orders. Items shipping by United States Postal Service (US Mail) WITHIN THE USA can be tracked online except for some first-class items.
If your order was shipped outside the United States please review the information on this Web page. There are often delays in customs; there may be delays due
to local or regional emergencies. Contact me as soon as is reasonable if your package is delayed beyond its likely delivery date - there are various deadlines for filing an inquiry with the USPS, and with other shipping services.
Fitness for use: It is up to you, the purchaser,
to determine fitness
for any particular use and whether the item will satisfy your needs or
interests. This is very rarely a problem, we very rarely have
customers who change their minds after ordering or after reciept of goods.
We always urge our customers to get appropriate information before
ordering, and we rarely offer any purchasing advice - that would be a conflict
of interest.
We are glad to help you with your order, that is one reason we use email rather
than automated forms. But we can't help you with how you might use what you
order, or whether it is the "best" thing you "should" buy, or to select
what you "need" for one purpose or another. We just offer information, we do
not offer advice or support. Check our Web links and frequent
questions sections for additional information.
Liability: We are not responsible for any
damage, injury or loss due to any use
of any items bought, information obtained, or due to any advice, suggestions,
or recommendations
provided. We do not warrent any information we provide to be complete
or accurate. You assume all risks in any use of items purchased or
in the use of any information we may provide. We make no judgements as to
your skills or abilities to use the information or items you acquire; or
to whether you can use this information or items safely. YOUR SAFETY
IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY.
The short answer is: I need your CITY/STATE/ZIP; a list of EXACTLY what you have by brand and model and features; some good idea of WORKING and COSMETIC condition; and whether you want to SELL IT or want to GIVE IT to me, and if you want shipping costs. Anyone else who would buy it from far away, would want the same information. (A local person may just drive buy and pick it up or decline it.) Bottom line: if this is too much work, sell or donate it locally, find out if you are local to me. There are similar comments on my Mac "FAQ" Web page.
I generally buy locally and pay much less than a collector would. I often turn down "distant" offers as I generally buy locally to save money and reduce risk of damage. I'm in central New Jersey, ZIP code 08618. If you want to ship: use location info, guess the weight to ship, and check a shipper's Web site to get shipping estimates for free, no registration needed.
"Will you pick up, or can I deliver?" Possibly, if you are not really far AND you have several items. Otherwise the cost of shipping is often LESS than the cost of gas AND YOUR TIME (or mine). Any shipping Web site will give on-line estimates for shipping, based on weight and ZIP codes. Shipping is important - it may cost too much, packing stuff well is difficult and you may have to BUY packing materials. If something arrives damaged, I'm almost certainly stuck with it, and shippers will not cover damage because it's just too OLD.
"What condition is it in?" You may not have described the cosmetic condition, or whether it works, or whether you have any bootable disks. Did you power it up, what happened? Is the color of the Mac white, or grey, or tan, or orange? These Mac fade over time. Hint on fading: compare the color of the BOTTOM of the mac with the sides and top. The Mac may have faded in color but the bottom should not be faded as much for comparison. Or check the BACK of the little door that holds the battery. By the way, check the battery compartment, see if the battery has corroded the contacts there.
"How much will you give me?" I buy for MUCH LESS than I sell for, and I buy locally to avoid shipping costs. That is how I stay in business. If you want to sell to me to make money, you should find a buyer yourself and sell directly to them. My selling price is based on my time and effort and storage costs, as well as what people will pay for a GOOD WORKING CLEAN item. I have some discussion of this in my Mac list of frequent questions. But keep in mind that for items at ANY cost - even ZERO - I have costs of my time to test and repair; costs of storage space; time spent in reviewing inventory. And I have to select items that will sell over items that won't sell. This is how I stay in business. If I'm out of business, I can't help anyone including you.
"Who else will take/buy these items?". In general, I don't know. I don't know any national organizations to which you might send or give your stuff to. Such organizations tend to be local and they come and go, and often they have TOO MUCH stuff already. Most organizations who redistribute computers don't want especially old computers, most don't want ANY Apple computers - and most of them CHARGE YOU to take them! There are a number of recycling companies that will take old electronics, most for free, sometimes on special days - check your city or county directory or phonebook or Web site for "computer recycling". Check my Mac list of frequent questions for more info.
"Why would someone GIVE this guy their computer items?" This question is not as odd as some might think. Many people appreciate the years of service they have had from their Mac or other computers. They also know that others may find THEIR items useful even if it is no longer useful to them. In addition, some cities CHARGE FOR DISPOSAL of computers; and some people simply don't like discarding working items. Finally, some people want to support my services with their "donations". So, paying to ship old computers to me is a reasonable choice.
I try to offer at least "cost of shipping" but I simply can't afford to take everything, even items offered to me for free. My apologies for these limitations. But in order to stay in business to help OTHERS, I must work within these limits when buying or even accepting donations from customers. Thanks for your considerations.
There are similar comments on my Mac "FAQ" Web page.
Payment from non-US customers is by cash in US dollars, or Western Union or Moneygram payment, or PayPal. No credit cards. No "bank transfers".Specifics are described in this linked document. It's difficult to accept checks from outside the USA (except Postal Money Orders in US dollars), the explanation is complicated. Shipping to customers outside the United States is by US Postal Service (mail) only with rare exceptions, details in another document. If you are a customer outside the U.S., PLEASE READ THE LINKED DOCUMENT AND ADVISE ME OF YOUR METHOD OF PAYMENT.
If the ways and services described are not acceptable to you, or if you want much faster shipping or ordering, or you want to use a shipping service not described; then I suggest you find a US agent or person who will then order from me and pay me directly, as any US customer does. They can ship to you, and you can pay them, as you arrange with them. Otherwise, our experience is that shipping outside the US by US mail is cheaper, takes less of our time and generally SAVES YOU MONEY. If you insist on additional services, we will charge additional fees.
shipping outside the US
Customer References:
Copies of manuals:
Expedited orders, payment and shipping:
Forwarding packages
Pickup of orders:
Tech info, advice:
Major Web pages on my site:
Your privacy
No reply from me? your email bounce?
Condition of items
Invoices, Purchase Orders, "Vendor approval", Receipts:
Warrenty:
Problems with orders or items recieved:
Delays in ordering:
Delays in delivery:
Fitness for use:
Liability:
request my Employer Identification Number (EIN)? - unnecessary
If you want to SELL ME or GIVE ME your items...
Payment from customers outside the United States
Customer references for S-100 old computers, floppy drives and docs,
Customer references for SGI computers,
Customer references for other technical items
Links to all my Mac pages are on my Mac home page.
Check our Apple/Macintosh frequent questions and to other Mac Web sites.
Links to my S-100 pages are on my S-100 home page.
Or see our S-100 frequent questions pages and our S-100 Web pointers page.
Here's the link to my page of info and hardware about 8-inch, 5.25-inch, 3.0 and 3.5-inch floppy drives
Links to my computer restoration pages are at this home page
I have a few pages of customer personal references.
Other questions, issues, policies
Customers outside the United States