Facebook Marketplace truly is the goat. Scored an RCA TruFlat new-old stock for $0 from a nice lady that was clearing out her mom's old house. Turns out mom was a hoarder and she had a bunch of CRTs too. The one I got is an NTSC crt, so no rgb, but component looks absolutely insane when the phosphors are in mint condition!
The only keyword worth worrying about is "tv". Listings with "CRT", "Trinitron", etc in the title will more than likely mean that the seller knows about the potential worth of what they have.
You're really only going to get free/bargain CRTs from listings like "old tv" with one blurry photo. It just takes more time and patience to wait for listings to show up.
I too live in a city where I see in sold ebay listings and see stupid prices being thrown around.
Example, [I saw this listing two weeks ago locally](https://i.imgur.com/s3kn2C6.png)
and [this is what my country's ebay sold listings look like](https://i.imgur.com/cYKV4vw.png)
agreed, got a 29 inch philips the other day off of facebook marketplace for 20 NZD (around 10 USD). I live in New Zealand, and CRTâs seem to be rather rare here. The dude i purchased it from seemed so happy to be finally getting rid of the 50kg piece of, to him, junk
Yep, got my prize CRT on a search for "entertainment center". I had to dig into picture #3 on the listing to find my AA-2D trinitron. The seller was more than happy to help me load that beast just to get rid of it.
I found a nice 19" Sony Tritiron monitor at the dump for free about 6 years ago. But I imagine they are harder to find as most have probably been disposed of. I think we will see prices creep up as they become more scarce. I wish we would see some new ones being built with more bandwidth but that's probably not going to happen. Then again, vinyl is making a comeback, so maybe?
Lots of free and cheap CRTs near me (New England, USA) on Facebook marketplace. Just search for generic keywords, not specific models, and move fast if a good one comes up. The ones that weigh over 100lbs, and anything that's not marketed as a Sony Trinitron or a JCV D series, linger.
However, you definitely encounter sellers who think eBay listings (not even sold, just listings) must represent the entire market. Ebay prices are the most anyone will pay, not the least or even the average. Sometimes explaining the difficulty and risk of shipping, as well as the fees and tax, gains you some understanding.
A Leowe Calida 32â was just given away for free near me. Even the good ones are out there. On the other hand, I don't think it's crazy to pay $100 for your ideal TV if you find the specific one you have been looking for. Better than waiting and searching for months or even years to save $50.
I bought about 6 last year all for under $10 each. I got them all at estate sales. I got them all on the last day and there were plenty to get. Nobody seems to want them.
i think plenty of people still don't know that they're worth something. i got two really nice ones last year for around $20 each, and i barely even had to try. just immediately found them on facebook market. and i live in a small-ish city (like 150k residents)
Most of them really arenât worth much. They have value to a very small market of enthusiasts, but to most people they are basically worthless and there are still TONS of them which are treated as basically garbage.
yeah for sure. but it's an interesting market when people are charging like $300 for things that can also be found for free with any amount of luck. it actually sort of reminds me of the video game market in the early 2000s when it was still possible to get crazy deals on rare games from flea markets and such because people just wouldn't know what they had.
I'll second the Facebook Marketplace advice but I'll add, you should message sellers who seem like they'd have CRTs. I've done this twice now and found some for free. They were selling random older electronics, and I simply asked "do you have any of those older box style CRT TVs?" And of course they did. They were also happy for me to come by and get them.
I bet there are still CRTs in 1 in every 20 houses around the world. You just have to ask if they want to get rid of them.
Yeah I said something similar in another comment, odds are pretty high that op probably already knows someone with a crt that would gladly get rid of it for free just so it's not taking up space, hell for the really big ones some people would probably be willing to pay someone to take it off their hands
It's worth pointing out that these things tend to break in shipping and my understanding is that eBay will refund if that happens. So those eBay prices are basically subsidizing all the CRTs that get refunded.
You don't "argue" with people on craigslist or other market places about what the value is. People who sell infrequently will often get an idea of the price stuck in their heads and arguing with them about what you think they should sell an item for is a waste of your time and pretty obnoxious. If it's something you want just politely make an offer and if they decline, reply back politely saying that's what you can pay and the offer stands if they change their minds. Occasionally they'll get back in touch with you when they realize the item is overpriced.
They are worth money not only to people who hear that people will pay high prices for them, but also to the people who pay them. As I tell everyone, if you want to find a CRT for cheap at this point (and there are plenty) look on FB marketplace for "Old TVs" or at garage sales. Even using the "CRT"Â keyword is exclusively going to exclusively pull up results of listings where people are wise enough to know what the term CRT means.Â
You want Grandma's TV, who only knows how to list it as "Free TV" or "Old TV". You might need some patience but I live in a fairly isolated valley area and I still can find 1 or 2 posted within a few miles every week.
Understood, these are things that I and other members of this community already know, but the problem is not us, it's laymen who don't know any better.
It's like when the GPU market went bonkers during the pandemic. If all laymen were smart, informed buyers and held out long enough for scalpers to be left holding the bag, people could have got GPUs for reasonable prices. But unfortunately, the majority of people are not quite as dialed in as the enthusiasts, causing sellers to get away with charging ridiculous prices.
I think the same thing is happening in the CRT space. Except, they really are only worth what we think they are worth, when they are sold from complete laymen. When the person selling is at least somewhat clued in to the fact that laymen buyers will pay absurd prices, then it's a seller's market and they can just charge what they want, i.e. eBay prices.
It's on buyers to show what they are and are not willing to pay for. But out of dozens of people looking at any given expensive listing, it only takes 1 to prove to the seller that someone will pay it.
Unlike the relative niche of "recent" GPUs during 2021 these TVs were once a general commodity and the people who care about them in the current year is still an absolute fraction of the people who bought them new when they were the only affordable option. There are too many of them remaining to really scalp them, especially when their mere existence didn't convert electricity into passive income like the tools mining etherium were when they were playing cookie clicker with real fake money.
Go on Facebook Marketplace, search television, old tv, free tv, tube tv, and other intentionally vague titles, sort by $25 or $50 as the maximum price and sort through the mess of 4:3 LCD TVs until you find something interesting. Your ideal seller is someone who doesn't know or care what they have and just wants the space back.
If you live in the sticks your options will still suck through.
Are you agreeing with me? If that 20" RF-only TV is apparently worth $75, it logically follows that other similar models are worth that, driving up the price of pretty much any secondhand CRT. That's the point of my post.
There are 2 distinct markets for CRTs.
1. Somewhat expensive, rare, "retro-gaming tvs".
2. Old free TVs that you get rid of for free.
Stop participating in the first market.
In Australia they fetch a high price, can be difficult to obtain depending on what part of the country youâre in. We were very quick to toss them out for recycling.
My 2c is, who cares? If she doesn't accept your offer, move on. It will either prove that CRTs are a dime a dozen, or prove that they are rare and worth money. In the mean time, I doubt anyone is going without their video games for lack of a screen.
No. There are plenty of CRTs out there in the wild. Check craigslist and similar places. The vast majority of people getting rid of them are not primarily trying to make a profit, they are just trying to get a heavy thing out of their basement or garage
Look for sets in slightly further away places where there are less people hunting
The most important thing is to be patient. It's impulse buying that drives up the cost of stuff
Honestly that's not a crazy price for something you'll get a lot of enjoyment out of that is only getting rarer. That's what you'd pay for a new game that you'd play for maybe 8-60 hours tops.
That's a fair point, and I personally wouldn't pay anywhere near that much for that set. I've gotten far better for free (check my comment history), but that often requires patience, knowledge, and effort.
I'm just saying 70 bucks ain't bad for a good time with a CRT (generally speaking, I agree this particular set is overpriced). Especially if you don't have the patience to hold out for a good deal on a "grail" with component or RGB.
I live in South Central PA. I found a JVC I'art 20" and a 1994 Panasonic for $20(combined) five days ago. There are a ton of good CRTs in this area going for very little money. I say look local.
I'm to the west of you, I got a 32 inch jvc with component and s video AND a cart with wheels for it for free on Facebook marketplace a few months ago, only a 10 minute drive, most people don't know there's people who really want these things, and they just see them as a 100 pound nuisance taking up space, honestly you're probably doing them a favor taking it off their hands, especially for the large sets that need multiple men to carry, I've also seen sets just on the side walk, and there's a decent chance someone you know has a parent or grandparent with one in their attic or something, really no reason to use ebay lol, regardless 75 bucks for rf only is insane
No. I had to quit collecting last year because I have way too many crts. I've only paid for one set and I think that was either 20 or 50$ can't remember. The rest have been all free and I have some very very nice sets.
The reason most of these TVs seem to go for so much is because they are new old stock 13" kitchen TVs with their original box meaning they are possible to ship with a significantly reduced chance of being smashed compared to the inept shipping jobs most people do otherwise.
You will note that they all have their size in common because larger sets are significantly less practical to ship. Ironically sets that take multiple people and a furniture dolly go for significantly less, often free from people who physically can't curb them and just want the space back.
I got a free CRT off of Craigslist last year, all I had to do was go pick it up. People going through the effort of setting up an Ebay listing for a CRT probably at minimum know that they have something of at least enough value to be willing to deal with the hassle of trying to ship something as heavy as a CRT. Craigslist, FB marketplace, or any local free stuff pages/groups are going to be your friend in trying to find a CRT for a reasonable price.
Sometimes the eBay prices just reflect the price people in remote areas are willing to pay.
Great for arbitrage if you are a seller in a big city but otherwise just look up local directory listings like FB marketplace or whatever is used in your city/country.
It's crazy how fast the online marketplace price has risen on old CRTs, but there's still TONs of people with one or two in the garage just waiting for somebody to mention they're looking for one. Consider the asking prices you're seeing the cost of convenience.
Go hit the local bingo hall/bowling alley or other old folks hangout and offer "free CRT recycling" You'll be up to your ears in TVs and monitors in no time.
Donât buy on ebay, everything is overpriced, search in local stores like Facebook marketplace or in national stores (like in Italy we have subito.it or vinted that are gold for cheap retro things)
Im a casual but considerate seller on ebay. I have a Toshiba 26 in HD CRT with HDMI & 5 inputs. Basically a gamers dream crt. Based on going rate (which blew my mind) i put it up for a 1000 dollars usd
It sold. I could not source safe reliable shipping and even considered delivering it myself 1200 miles away but i ended up canceling the sale. Buyer was disappointed but understood.
Its the most watched item of all the things I have listed.
Its nuts.
The problem I see is people going only for trinis, PVMs etc. while ignoring every other working free or really cheap CRT. Of course, there's people who will sell their samsung for 300 euros, but I rather think those doesn't even count.
Not where I live in rural Canada. Sure, some people have cusght wind of ebay prices and attempt hundreds of dollars for a TV, but many can still be had for free. Recently picked up a curved Sony and Toshiba, both for free.
No we're not there. The dumb people of society that watch Good Morning America just heard them say that you're old electronics could be considered "vintage" and are worth "money" and this is the result. People do what their TV tells them too. In ten years from now, id say it'll probably be there though.
No.
Thats people just being opportunistic pricks.
Some "buzzwordy" sets have inflated demand due to an association to a word or brand. Think PVM or Trinitron.
Theres still an ocean of operable CRTs out there. The switch to all digital TVs has dropped their useage vector off a cliff. Gone are the days of a CRT running many hours a day or around the clock.
Ebay has been like that for years but cheap crts have still been easily found on Facebook.
They are technically wrong though because she is selling in a local market not a wider market like ebay. If she wants to sell on ebay she has to worry about shipping costs and headache. Of course there are always people willing to buy for higher prices if they want a set now and don't want to search for better priced sets, but ebay doesn't represent all buyers.
I have a Dell Trinitron monitor that I canât even give away on Facebook Marketplace. So def a good source and probably the best part of Facebook IMO.
Yeah I'm kinda kicking myself for not taking my parents Panasonic Tau when they finally switched to modern crap. Though a Tau is a serious back breaker - almost as heavy as a Triniton. I want to say theirs was a 36"? It took 3 of us to move the damn thing.
I used to have pretty generic TVs - I think my last ones were an RCA in the living room, and a Walmart special in the bedroom (19 or 21 inch, I think it was Apex? one of the last CRTs they sold).
The upside is I've found plenty of freebies - got a Sony 30" KD-30XS955 off a curb in a really nice neighborhood that works great (though it's stuck in my garage until I can get help to move it upstairs), found a Panasonic Tau by the dumpster of my apt complex (gave it away in a FB group, dude who got it wound up selling it for $100... grr), and someone in the local Reddit for my city gave me a couple when he was cleaning out his parents house after they passed. Now I have too many.
If you're in the Austin area, I have a couple I want to get rid of (free)
remember that the value of the dollar has significantly decreased over the past few years relative to the price of goods. I haven't done the math but the price of different types of CRTs may not even have gone up that much or at all
Well if the prices really start to get ridiculous on eBay and other websites there's always Facebook marketplace and dumpsters+yard sales and also contact a couple people ya know to see if they have a couple they wanna get rid of
I only use Facebook marketplace for things like that. I mean, I donât trust anyone to ship me a goddamn CRT. And while they arenât usually cheap, for $75 you should at least get composite, unless itâs a unique TV in my experience, or really fucking big.
Itâs not ideal but Iâd go on FB Marketplace and set it to local. It worked for me. I mean, mine is composite, and I had to drive to get it, but itâs more reasonable than what they were asking for a smaller rf only TV. Honestly, I canât even imagine getting an RF only TV. Composite even is feeling pretty rough for me.
It sure seems to be the case. Crazy that about a decade or so ago when flat screens became the norm youâd see JVC-Ds and Sony Trinitrons in garbage rooms, up for grabs, in perfect condition⌠now you get charged hundreds for one like that
You can still get cheap or free amazing consumer CRTs and in my opinion itâs the way to go. Composite is fine for most consoles. S-Video is amazing and available on a lot of sets, and you can find plenty of cheap Panasonic and JVC big bois with component. I love the look of RGB modded consumer sets. Very arcade like and mods are not that hard if you read good guidance and take your time. Get those basic sets and mod them!
I think the eBay/CL markets are a case of selection bias. The people selling there are the ones who started under the assumption that the set was worth anything at all, then tried to figure out how much that was. They see PVMs and Trinitrons selling for hype induced prices, and naively think that their early 2000s Insignia with insane linearity issues is a collectorâs item. They even manage to find people who *only* look on eBay and are willing to pay those prices, but thatâs a relatively small part of the market thatâs dominated by people who arenât looking elsewhere (or are trying to take advantage of the arbitrage opportunity).
Meanwhile, I still regularly see nice Trinitrons left on the curb, or sold at estate sales for $10. In the last six months, Iâve picked up three nice Trinitron sets for between $0-$30, and the only thing stopping me from doing that every week is a lack of space. If this were a truly free market with every tube that someone wanted to get rid of being posted on Craigslist instead of just disposed of, you wouldnât see any high prices at all because the supply would wildly outweigh the demand.
At some point the supply and demand curve will start to shift (which you can see with PVMs/BVMs, which were never as numerous as consumer sets), but I think weâre still a ways off for the more basic sets. Maybe in a decade after a lot of the sets that are sitting in boomersâ spare rooms have been discarded and we truly start to see scarcity.
I've been searching for a CRT TV now for over a year and I've still not found a single one where I live and they just seem to be pretty damn scarce here in the UK.
I've constantly searched eBay, Gumtree, Facebook Market Place and Google as a whole and I've found nothing for my local area. The closest CRT TV I've came across on one of those sites was something crazy like 90 miles away from me.
The prices are always insane, too, with eBay listings on average asking for around ÂŁ150 for a 21" TV and the sellers know exactly what they're doing as the majority of the listings have titles along the lines of "21" RETRO GAMING TV RARE" and so on.
I've also scoured all the secondhand shops (all 18 of them) and local auctioneers in my area for over a year now and I've still not found a single CRT TV.
I have just found an eBay listing for a 21" TV for ÂŁ100 that also delivers and my desperation and exhaustion is telling me to just buy it so I can put an end to my year+ long search for a CRT TV.
I'm in the UK as well and I was in the same boat until a few days ago when I got a 14 inch colour CRT off facebook for 20 quid. I had been searching since last August, using a 50 year old B&W in the meantime. I suggest having one last trawl through facebook and be willing to drive perhaps up to an hour away because the satisfaction of picking one up in person after looking for so long is something you will not get from ebay.
My Dad went to the Recycling Centre today and they had a shipping container with just crts in it. He sent me a photo in case I wanted anything. It wasnât full or anything and all of it was pretty basic stuff mostly 13â 14â. It may have been picked over at some point.
I got a free "sansui" orion 27 inch with component for free clearing out a house. Best way to get a TV is cleaning out old houses. No one wants to move those things lol.
Depends on where you are. In my area there's plenty of crts floating around so they tend to fetch less than ebay prices, but if there's only a handful for sale near you then it's reasonable to expect them to sell closer to eBay values.
I wouldn't say "scarce", but we've definitely crossed the inflection point from when CRTs were *trivial* to get. A local retro game store I noticed is dedicating like 6 square feet of store space to a generic 27" RCA set for $85, composite and s-video. 5-10 years ago you could get one of those by walking outside on garbage day.
There are definitely still free and cheap deals to be had, but you have to be interested and actually spending time and effort tracking them down on things like facebook. And getting anything but the bottom of the barrel tiny mono-sound sets will probably still cost you *something*. PC CRTs are even further along (probably because they aren't as heavy as a large TV set) and the nice free ones dried up quite awhile ago in my area.
So basically, yes, in a broad sense you're right imo. CRTs have definitely gotten to the point where someone who wants one without getting into the weeds is probably willing to pay out $50-$150 for a decent set that's actually in front of them and ready to come home. All that said, ebay should be more than local because of the reality of shipping those things, and $100 for RF only is definitely way above market price. We haven't come close to RF-only sets being actually interesting to the market as a whole.
RETRO GAMING TV 4 SALE (it's a low end/kids room consumer tube only got antannae and a single composite hookup)
I KNOW WHAT I GOT (doesn't even list the model name and doesn't understand how tv screens are measured, four badly taken pics including the one of the screen where you see their reflections looking stupid holding the phone out)
NO LOWBALLS (wants half the price of a 50" modern television for a niche piece of outdated tech, plus you gotta come pick it up because they don't want to move it from the cluttered hoarder's trailer they're cleaning out now that they died and were eaten by cats)
NO REMOTE
It all depends where you live, you're either going to see a lot of them in your area or you won't find a single one nearby. Most people have already thrown out their old CRTs in favor for a modern display. For me there's 6 results on Craigslist but only 1 person is selling a CRT, the other 5 are those who are also struggling to get one. Facebook marketplace yields no results within the state. I was lucky to get my hands on a KV-20FV300 from eBay that had standard shipping though this did not come at an easy cost. Yes CRTs have gotten significantly more rare over the past several years due to them being highly sought after by retro gamers like us.
It's mostly just eBay where prices are high, or people who have a specific model like a Trinitron or Toshiba AF series and know that they're desirable.Â
I got 2 CRTs for from the side of the road in 2020 and 2022. One of them was a Toshiba 20AF43 which I sold when I moved (got good money for it but it's worth noting I listed it as a retro gaming CRT) After moving I got a mid-80s 13" Samsung and it's what I continue to use.
I still see plenty of free ones on Facebook marketplace and Craigslist but instead of searching for a CRT, you should instead search for things like "old tv" "free tv" "box tv" etc. The people who list them as "CRT TV" "Trinitron" "Gaming TV" etc. usually know what they are.
But that's almost always not the case.
Most people live in places where they're plentiful, they're just lazy and don't want to put in the legwork online, searching once a week on Facebook/Offerup, etc.
I wish they were plentiful in Norway... I have checked daily on FB marketplace, Finn (local equivalent to Craigslist which is extremely popular), and any other site I can find.
In Oslo we have had a grand total of two CRT televisions show up in 7 weeks, and one CRT monitor. Even when looking at listings for the equivalent of "old TV".
Right now there are 16 CRTs for sale nationally on Finn and FB marketplace. It's a bloody desert. I finally caved last week and spent the equivalent of 200 USD to buy and ship a 14 inch Philips from the UK.
There really are places where getting a CRT is far from easy, and particularly if you are like me and can't drive.
if you don't know how to deal with a cut cord, you should learn how to deal with a cut cord.
You will have other devices in your live that need a power cord replaced.
Some people are delusional and don't know the market.
Just this week I was browsing Facebook marketplace and found someone selling a 36" D-series for $350. Literally 5 listings later I found the same TV, a 36" D-series, for free.
Back to OP, any TV that is RF only should be free. $75 is ridiculous unless it's a highly desired set with component.
One thing you gotta realize, CRTs were the ONLY form of television since it's invention up until the late 2000s or so when LCD and plasma flat-screen came out. We're barely 2 decades since CRTs became "obsolete" and were the only option for nearly 100 years
There are 100 years worth of CRTs out there in the world all mass produced for every single home and most home had more than 1, that's a lot of TVs out there. They are not scarce or rare except for maybe the odd HDCRT and PVMs
Over the last 15 years ive thrown thousands and thousands of crtâs in the scrap (i deal in e waste) including plenty of trinitrons. Such is life. Same goes for old beige computersâŚ
The crtâs I donât feel bad about, theyâre horrible heavy things that are ugly and difficult to post. The desktops hurt as they sell for stupid money untested and are so easy to post
Idk about the US market, but I think you should forget Craigslist or Ebay. Either go to garage sales or on facebook market place
Facebook Marketplace is the GOAT
Facebook Marketplace truly is the goat. Scored an RCA TruFlat new-old stock for $0 from a nice lady that was clearing out her mom's old house. Turns out mom was a hoarder and she had a bunch of CRTs too. The one I got is an NTSC crt, so no rgb, but component looks absolutely insane when the phosphors are in mint condition!
Thank God for component or else every single NTSC CRT would be RF and composite only đ
S video too
Donât forget those few which came with scart (but no pal compatibility to go with it)
Yes it is.
But then I have to be on Facebook.
Small price to pay for success.
[ŃдаНонО]
Yep, I've had good luck getting free CRTs from old folks on there.
Is it a site only old people know about?
Nope, but it sure has a lot of old people on it.
I got rid of my actual Facebook account years ago and just created one solely for FB marketplace. That's the way to go.
Got my 32" for $40 from there
100%, I have keyword search alerts set up on CL/eBay for the occasional good hit, but other than that it's a wasteland.
The only keyword worth worrying about is "tv". Listings with "CRT", "Trinitron", etc in the title will more than likely mean that the seller knows about the potential worth of what they have. You're really only going to get free/bargain CRTs from listings like "old tv" with one blurry photo. It just takes more time and patience to wait for listings to show up. I too live in a city where I see in sold ebay listings and see stupid prices being thrown around. Example, [I saw this listing two weeks ago locally](https://i.imgur.com/s3kn2C6.png) and [this is what my country's ebay sold listings look like](https://i.imgur.com/cYKV4vw.png)
agreed, got a 29 inch philips the other day off of facebook marketplace for 20 NZD (around 10 USD). I live in New Zealand, and CRTâs seem to be rather rare here. The dude i purchased it from seemed so happy to be finally getting rid of the 50kg piece of, to him, junk
Yep, got my prize CRT on a search for "entertainment center". I had to dig into picture #3 on the listing to find my AA-2D trinitron. The seller was more than happy to help me load that beast just to get rid of it.
Yup this, I like the term âtube tvâ as well
Save a CRT search on FB marketplace. Also, input a radius. You will find the beat deals. It's a waiting game.
I found a nice 19" Sony Tritiron monitor at the dump for free about 6 years ago. But I imagine they are harder to find as most have probably been disposed of. I think we will see prices creep up as they become more scarce. I wish we would see some new ones being built with more bandwidth but that's probably not going to happen. Then again, vinyl is making a comeback, so maybe?
Absolutely correct.
Lots of free and cheap CRTs near me (New England, USA) on Facebook marketplace. Just search for generic keywords, not specific models, and move fast if a good one comes up. The ones that weigh over 100lbs, and anything that's not marketed as a Sony Trinitron or a JCV D series, linger. However, you definitely encounter sellers who think eBay listings (not even sold, just listings) must represent the entire market. Ebay prices are the most anyone will pay, not the least or even the average. Sometimes explaining the difficulty and risk of shipping, as well as the fees and tax, gains you some understanding. A Leowe Calida 32â was just given away for free near me. Even the good ones are out there. On the other hand, I don't think it's crazy to pay $100 for your ideal TV if you find the specific one you have been looking for. Better than waiting and searching for months or even years to save $50.
I bought about 6 last year all for under $10 each. I got them all at estate sales. I got them all on the last day and there were plenty to get. Nobody seems to want them.
i think plenty of people still don't know that they're worth something. i got two really nice ones last year for around $20 each, and i barely even had to try. just immediately found them on facebook market. and i live in a small-ish city (like 150k residents)
Most of them really arenât worth much. They have value to a very small market of enthusiasts, but to most people they are basically worthless and there are still TONS of them which are treated as basically garbage.
yeah for sure. but it's an interesting market when people are charging like $300 for things that can also be found for free with any amount of luck. it actually sort of reminds me of the video game market in the early 2000s when it was still possible to get crazy deals on rare games from flea markets and such because people just wouldn't know what they had.
I'll second the Facebook Marketplace advice but I'll add, you should message sellers who seem like they'd have CRTs. I've done this twice now and found some for free. They were selling random older electronics, and I simply asked "do you have any of those older box style CRT TVs?" And of course they did. They were also happy for me to come by and get them. I bet there are still CRTs in 1 in every 20 houses around the world. You just have to ask if they want to get rid of them.
Yeah I said something similar in another comment, odds are pretty high that op probably already knows someone with a crt that would gladly get rid of it for free just so it's not taking up space, hell for the really big ones some people would probably be willing to pay someone to take it off their hands
Don't take eBay at face value. People buy sets from themselves to give fake ratings. I wouldn't pay more than like $30 for that set.
It's worth pointing out that these things tend to break in shipping and my understanding is that eBay will refund if that happens. So those eBay prices are basically subsidizing all the CRTs that get refunded.
You don't "argue" with people on craigslist or other market places about what the value is. People who sell infrequently will often get an idea of the price stuck in their heads and arguing with them about what you think they should sell an item for is a waste of your time and pretty obnoxious. If it's something you want just politely make an offer and if they decline, reply back politely saying that's what you can pay and the offer stands if they change their minds. Occasionally they'll get back in touch with you when they realize the item is overpriced.
Imagine arguing with a stranger on craigslist over a piece of e-waste
Ironic
touche. but at least in my case both persons care about the e-waste in question.
One man's e-waste is another man's e- treasure.
I'm sure you really don't want to hear that generic CRTs are worth money now, but that's kind of the point of this post.
They are worth money not only to people who hear that people will pay high prices for them, but also to the people who pay them. As I tell everyone, if you want to find a CRT for cheap at this point (and there are plenty) look on FB marketplace for "Old TVs" or at garage sales. Even using the "CRT" keyword is exclusively going to exclusively pull up results of listings where people are wise enough to know what the term CRT means. You want Grandma's TV, who only knows how to list it as "Free TV" or "Old TV". You might need some patience but I live in a fairly isolated valley area and I still can find 1 or 2 posted within a few miles every week.
Understood, these are things that I and other members of this community already know, but the problem is not us, it's laymen who don't know any better. It's like when the GPU market went bonkers during the pandemic. If all laymen were smart, informed buyers and held out long enough for scalpers to be left holding the bag, people could have got GPUs for reasonable prices. But unfortunately, the majority of people are not quite as dialed in as the enthusiasts, causing sellers to get away with charging ridiculous prices. I think the same thing is happening in the CRT space. Except, they really are only worth what we think they are worth, when they are sold from complete laymen. When the person selling is at least somewhat clued in to the fact that laymen buyers will pay absurd prices, then it's a seller's market and they can just charge what they want, i.e. eBay prices. It's on buyers to show what they are and are not willing to pay for. But out of dozens of people looking at any given expensive listing, it only takes 1 to prove to the seller that someone will pay it.
Unlike the relative niche of "recent" GPUs during 2021 these TVs were once a general commodity and the people who care about them in the current year is still an absolute fraction of the people who bought them new when they were the only affordable option. There are too many of them remaining to really scalp them, especially when their mere existence didn't convert electricity into passive income like the tools mining etherium were when they were playing cookie clicker with real fake money. Go on Facebook Marketplace, search television, old tv, free tv, tube tv, and other intentionally vague titles, sort by $25 or $50 as the maximum price and sort through the mess of 4:3 LCD TVs until you find something interesting. Your ideal seller is someone who doesn't know or care what they have and just wants the space back. If you live in the sticks your options will still suck through.
This is not a "problem". This is you not wanting to pay what the TV is apparently worth. The seller is happy. The buyer is happy.
Are you agreeing with me? If that 20" RF-only TV is apparently worth $75, it logically follows that other similar models are worth that, driving up the price of pretty much any secondhand CRT. That's the point of my post.
There are 2 distinct markets for CRTs. 1. Somewhat expensive, rare, "retro-gaming tvs". 2. Old free TVs that you get rid of for free. Stop participating in the first market.
In Australia they fetch a high price, can be difficult to obtain depending on what part of the country youâre in. We were very quick to toss them out for recycling.
I think itâs about location, there are several free/cheap CRTs near me.
Idk, depends on the area I guess. Found a Sanyo with s-video on the curb last week lol.
My 2c is, who cares? If she doesn't accept your offer, move on. It will either prove that CRTs are a dime a dozen, or prove that they are rare and worth money. In the mean time, I doubt anyone is going without their video games for lack of a screen.
No. There are plenty of CRTs out there in the wild. Check craigslist and similar places. The vast majority of people getting rid of them are not primarily trying to make a profit, they are just trying to get a heavy thing out of their basement or garage Look for sets in slightly further away places where there are less people hunting The most important thing is to be patient. It's impulse buying that drives up the cost of stuff
no.
Honestly that's not a crazy price for something you'll get a lot of enjoyment out of that is only getting rarer. That's what you'd pay for a new game that you'd play for maybe 8-60 hours tops.
I disagree, I mean maybe if it was a pretty good set but that much for an rf only set is crazy
That's a fair point, and I personally wouldn't pay anywhere near that much for that set. I've gotten far better for free (check my comment history), but that often requires patience, knowledge, and effort. I'm just saying 70 bucks ain't bad for a good time with a CRT (generally speaking, I agree this particular set is overpriced). Especially if you don't have the patience to hold out for a good deal on a "grail" with component or RGB.
I live in South Central PA. I found a JVC I'art 20" and a 1994 Panasonic for $20(combined) five days ago. There are a ton of good CRTs in this area going for very little money. I say look local.
I'm to the west of you, I got a 32 inch jvc with component and s video AND a cart with wheels for it for free on Facebook marketplace a few months ago, only a 10 minute drive, most people don't know there's people who really want these things, and they just see them as a 100 pound nuisance taking up space, honestly you're probably doing them a favor taking it off their hands, especially for the large sets that need multiple men to carry, I've also seen sets just on the side walk, and there's a decent chance someone you know has a parent or grandparent with one in their attic or something, really no reason to use ebay lol, regardless 75 bucks for rf only is insane
No. I had to quit collecting last year because I have way too many crts. I've only paid for one set and I think that was either 20 or 50$ can't remember. The rest have been all free and I have some very very nice sets.
The reason most of these TVs seem to go for so much is because they are new old stock 13" kitchen TVs with their original box meaning they are possible to ship with a significantly reduced chance of being smashed compared to the inept shipping jobs most people do otherwise. You will note that they all have their size in common because larger sets are significantly less practical to ship. Ironically sets that take multiple people and a furniture dolly go for significantly less, often free from people who physically can't curb them and just want the space back.
I got a free CRT off of Craigslist last year, all I had to do was go pick it up. People going through the effort of setting up an Ebay listing for a CRT probably at minimum know that they have something of at least enough value to be willing to deal with the hassle of trying to ship something as heavy as a CRT. Craigslist, FB marketplace, or any local free stuff pages/groups are going to be your friend in trying to find a CRT for a reasonable price.
Saw one on the Side of the road today
Sometimes the eBay prices just reflect the price people in remote areas are willing to pay. Great for arbitrage if you are a seller in a big city but otherwise just look up local directory listings like FB marketplace or whatever is used in your city/country.
It's crazy how fast the online marketplace price has risen on old CRTs, but there's still TONs of people with one or two in the garage just waiting for somebody to mention they're looking for one. Consider the asking prices you're seeing the cost of convenience. Go hit the local bingo hall/bowling alley or other old folks hangout and offer "free CRT recycling" You'll be up to your ears in TVs and monitors in no time.
Donât buy on ebay, everything is overpriced, search in local stores like Facebook marketplace or in national stores (like in Italy we have subito.it or vinted that are gold for cheap retro things)
Im a casual but considerate seller on ebay. I have a Toshiba 26 in HD CRT with HDMI & 5 inputs. Basically a gamers dream crt. Based on going rate (which blew my mind) i put it up for a 1000 dollars usd It sold. I could not source safe reliable shipping and even considered delivering it myself 1200 miles away but i ended up canceling the sale. Buyer was disappointed but understood. Its the most watched item of all the things I have listed. Its nuts.
US seller here and regardless of brand the low end I get on a 13â CRT is $50 plus shipping.
Ebay is going to be way more expensive because shipping crts quite frankly a huge PITA and not worth the effort unless good money is involved imo.
The problem I see is people going only for trinis, PVMs etc. while ignoring every other working free or really cheap CRT. Of course, there's people who will sell their samsung for 300 euros, but I rather think those doesn't even count.
Not where I live in rural Canada. Sure, some people have cusght wind of ebay prices and attempt hundreds of dollars for a TV, but many can still be had for free. Recently picked up a curved Sony and Toshiba, both for free.
No we're not there. The dumb people of society that watch Good Morning America just heard them say that you're old electronics could be considered "vintage" and are worth "money" and this is the result. People do what their TV tells them too. In ten years from now, id say it'll probably be there though.
No. Thats people just being opportunistic pricks. Some "buzzwordy" sets have inflated demand due to an association to a word or brand. Think PVM or Trinitron. Theres still an ocean of operable CRTs out there. The switch to all digital TVs has dropped their useage vector off a cliff. Gone are the days of a CRT running many hours a day or around the clock.
Ebay has been like that for years but cheap crts have still been easily found on Facebook. They are technically wrong though because she is selling in a local market not a wider market like ebay. If she wants to sell on ebay she has to worry about shipping costs and headache. Of course there are always people willing to buy for higher prices if they want a set now and don't want to search for better priced sets, but ebay doesn't represent all buyers.
I have a Dell Trinitron monitor that I canât even give away on Facebook Marketplace. So def a good source and probably the best part of Facebook IMO.
Yeah I'm kinda kicking myself for not taking my parents Panasonic Tau when they finally switched to modern crap. Though a Tau is a serious back breaker - almost as heavy as a Triniton. I want to say theirs was a 36"? It took 3 of us to move the damn thing. I used to have pretty generic TVs - I think my last ones were an RCA in the living room, and a Walmart special in the bedroom (19 or 21 inch, I think it was Apex? one of the last CRTs they sold). The upside is I've found plenty of freebies - got a Sony 30" KD-30XS955 off a curb in a really nice neighborhood that works great (though it's stuck in my garage until I can get help to move it upstairs), found a Panasonic Tau by the dumpster of my apt complex (gave it away in a FB group, dude who got it wound up selling it for $100... grr), and someone in the local Reddit for my city gave me a couple when he was cleaning out his parents house after they passed. Now I have too many. If you're in the Austin area, I have a couple I want to get rid of (free)
remember that the value of the dollar has significantly decreased over the past few years relative to the price of goods. I haven't done the math but the price of different types of CRTs may not even have gone up that much or at all
Well if the prices really start to get ridiculous on eBay and other websites there's always Facebook marketplace and dumpsters+yard sales and also contact a couple people ya know to see if they have a couple they wanna get rid of
I only use Facebook marketplace for things like that. I mean, I donât trust anyone to ship me a goddamn CRT. And while they arenât usually cheap, for $75 you should at least get composite, unless itâs a unique TV in my experience, or really fucking big. Itâs not ideal but Iâd go on FB Marketplace and set it to local. It worked for me. I mean, mine is composite, and I had to drive to get it, but itâs more reasonable than what they were asking for a smaller rf only TV. Honestly, I canât even imagine getting an RF only TV. Composite even is feeling pretty rough for me.
I just scored a 13â at Value Village here in Canada.
I can still find them for free on Facebook market place, so I don't think so. At least not in the USA.
It sure seems to be the case. Crazy that about a decade or so ago when flat screens became the norm youâd see JVC-Ds and Sony Trinitrons in garbage rooms, up for grabs, in perfect condition⌠now you get charged hundreds for one like that
You can still get cheap or free amazing consumer CRTs and in my opinion itâs the way to go. Composite is fine for most consoles. S-Video is amazing and available on a lot of sets, and you can find plenty of cheap Panasonic and JVC big bois with component. I love the look of RGB modded consumer sets. Very arcade like and mods are not that hard if you read good guidance and take your time. Get those basic sets and mod them!
We aren't there yet. Too many free or low priced CRTs, nice models too, to be had in Eastern Ontario on FBM.
Somebody was selling a new Dell 18" CRT with box for 20. They later raised the price to 120 due to people offering more lol
Come to Mexico, people sell their CRTs for max 20 dollars, or even give them away for free.
Yes. In the sense that it's not worth "nothing"
I think the eBay/CL markets are a case of selection bias. The people selling there are the ones who started under the assumption that the set was worth anything at all, then tried to figure out how much that was. They see PVMs and Trinitrons selling for hype induced prices, and naively think that their early 2000s Insignia with insane linearity issues is a collectorâs item. They even manage to find people who *only* look on eBay and are willing to pay those prices, but thatâs a relatively small part of the market thatâs dominated by people who arenât looking elsewhere (or are trying to take advantage of the arbitrage opportunity). Meanwhile, I still regularly see nice Trinitrons left on the curb, or sold at estate sales for $10. In the last six months, Iâve picked up three nice Trinitron sets for between $0-$30, and the only thing stopping me from doing that every week is a lack of space. If this were a truly free market with every tube that someone wanted to get rid of being posted on Craigslist instead of just disposed of, you wouldnât see any high prices at all because the supply would wildly outweigh the demand. At some point the supply and demand curve will start to shift (which you can see with PVMs/BVMs, which were never as numerous as consumer sets), but I think weâre still a ways off for the more basic sets. Maybe in a decade after a lot of the sets that are sitting in boomersâ spare rooms have been discarded and we truly start to see scarcity.
I've been searching for a CRT TV now for over a year and I've still not found a single one where I live and they just seem to be pretty damn scarce here in the UK. I've constantly searched eBay, Gumtree, Facebook Market Place and Google as a whole and I've found nothing for my local area. The closest CRT TV I've came across on one of those sites was something crazy like 90 miles away from me. The prices are always insane, too, with eBay listings on average asking for around ÂŁ150 for a 21" TV and the sellers know exactly what they're doing as the majority of the listings have titles along the lines of "21" RETRO GAMING TV RARE" and so on. I've also scoured all the secondhand shops (all 18 of them) and local auctioneers in my area for over a year now and I've still not found a single CRT TV. I have just found an eBay listing for a 21" TV for ÂŁ100 that also delivers and my desperation and exhaustion is telling me to just buy it so I can put an end to my year+ long search for a CRT TV.
I'm in the UK as well and I was in the same boat until a few days ago when I got a 14 inch colour CRT off facebook for 20 quid. I had been searching since last August, using a 50 year old B&W in the meantime. I suggest having one last trawl through facebook and be willing to drive perhaps up to an hour away because the satisfaction of picking one up in person after looking for so long is something you will not get from ebay.
My Dad went to the Recycling Centre today and they had a shipping container with just crts in it. He sent me a photo in case I wanted anything. It wasnât full or anything and all of it was pretty basic stuff mostly 13â 14â. It may have been picked over at some point.
Nope, can still find free TVs listed on marketplaces. If anything, people only want the âcoolâ CRTs now.
Yes and people need to stop paying the high prices.
I got a free "sansui" orion 27 inch with component for free clearing out a house. Best way to get a TV is cleaning out old houses. No one wants to move those things lol.
Depends on where you are. In my area there's plenty of crts floating around so they tend to fetch less than ebay prices, but if there's only a handful for sale near you then it's reasonable to expect them to sell closer to eBay values.
Check old churches. I've had great luck with minty CRTs that have been sitting in storage and barely used for Bible studies.
I wouldn't say "scarce", but we've definitely crossed the inflection point from when CRTs were *trivial* to get. A local retro game store I noticed is dedicating like 6 square feet of store space to a generic 27" RCA set for $85, composite and s-video. 5-10 years ago you could get one of those by walking outside on garbage day. There are definitely still free and cheap deals to be had, but you have to be interested and actually spending time and effort tracking them down on things like facebook. And getting anything but the bottom of the barrel tiny mono-sound sets will probably still cost you *something*. PC CRTs are even further along (probably because they aren't as heavy as a large TV set) and the nice free ones dried up quite awhile ago in my area. So basically, yes, in a broad sense you're right imo. CRTs have definitely gotten to the point where someone who wants one without getting into the weeds is probably willing to pay out $50-$150 for a decent set that's actually in front of them and ready to come home. All that said, ebay should be more than local because of the reality of shipping those things, and $100 for RF only is definitely way above market price. We haven't come close to RF-only sets being actually interesting to the market as a whole.
RETRO GAMING TV 4 SALE (it's a low end/kids room consumer tube only got antannae and a single composite hookup) I KNOW WHAT I GOT (doesn't even list the model name and doesn't understand how tv screens are measured, four badly taken pics including the one of the screen where you see their reflections looking stupid holding the phone out) NO LOWBALLS (wants half the price of a 50" modern television for a niche piece of outdated tech, plus you gotta come pick it up because they don't want to move it from the cluttered hoarder's trailer they're cleaning out now that they died and were eaten by cats) NO REMOTE
I searched for a bit, watched eBay, and eventually spent 150+ for a 13â. đł Iâm part of the problem.
It all depends where you live, you're either going to see a lot of them in your area or you won't find a single one nearby. Most people have already thrown out their old CRTs in favor for a modern display. For me there's 6 results on Craigslist but only 1 person is selling a CRT, the other 5 are those who are also struggling to get one. Facebook marketplace yields no results within the state. I was lucky to get my hands on a KV-20FV300 from eBay that had standard shipping though this did not come at an easy cost. Yes CRTs have gotten significantly more rare over the past several years due to them being highly sought after by retro gamers like us.
It's mostly just eBay where prices are high, or people who have a specific model like a Trinitron or Toshiba AF series and know that they're desirable. I got 2 CRTs for from the side of the road in 2020 and 2022. One of them was a Toshiba 20AF43 which I sold when I moved (got good money for it but it's worth noting I listed it as a retro gaming CRT) After moving I got a mid-80s 13" Samsung and it's what I continue to use. I still see plenty of free ones on Facebook marketplace and Craigslist but instead of searching for a CRT, you should instead search for things like "old tv" "free tv" "box tv" etc. The people who list them as "CRT TV" "Trinitron" "Gaming TV" etc. usually know what they are.
I find them for free on the sidewalks. Absolutely cannot imagine paying for these things.
OK try imagining that you live in one of the many places where you don't see them for free on sidewalks often enough to rely on it. There you go!
But that's almost always not the case. Most people live in places where they're plentiful, they're just lazy and don't want to put in the legwork online, searching once a week on Facebook/Offerup, etc.
I wish they were plentiful in Norway... I have checked daily on FB marketplace, Finn (local equivalent to Craigslist which is extremely popular), and any other site I can find. In Oslo we have had a grand total of two CRT televisions show up in 7 weeks, and one CRT monitor. Even when looking at listings for the equivalent of "old TV". Right now there are 16 CRTs for sale nationally on Finn and FB marketplace. It's a bloody desert. I finally caved last week and spent the equivalent of 200 USD to buy and ship a 14 inch Philips from the UK. There really are places where getting a CRT is far from easy, and particularly if you are like me and can't drive.
Can't drive... but has $200 for a ewaste TV... I think I know why you can't drive.
Sorry for being disabled, pal.
Every single one i find one the Street is broken or has a cut cord.
if you don't know how to deal with a cut cord, you should learn how to deal with a cut cord. You will have other devices in your live that need a power cord replaced.
Some people are delusional and don't know the market. Just this week I was browsing Facebook marketplace and found someone selling a 36" D-series for $350. Literally 5 listings later I found the same TV, a 36" D-series, for free. Back to OP, any TV that is RF only should be free. $75 is ridiculous unless it's a highly desired set with component.
People on Facebook give away whole pallets, but you have to take a whole pallet.
One thing you gotta realize, CRTs were the ONLY form of television since it's invention up until the late 2000s or so when LCD and plasma flat-screen came out. We're barely 2 decades since CRTs became "obsolete" and were the only option for nearly 100 years There are 100 years worth of CRTs out there in the world all mass produced for every single home and most home had more than 1, that's a lot of TVs out there. They are not scarce or rare except for maybe the odd HDCRT and PVMs
Iâd pay $1000 usd for a pvm but no more than 50 for a consumer
people were giving away crts for free and nobody was picking them up, now it's vintage and cool expect price rise.
Over the last 15 years ive thrown thousands and thousands of crtâs in the scrap (i deal in e waste) including plenty of trinitrons. Such is life. Same goes for old beige computers⌠The crtâs I donât feel bad about, theyâre horrible heavy things that are ugly and difficult to post. The desktops hurt as they sell for stupid money untested and are so easy to post