Comment by II2II

As a teen I would scour local thrift stores for old 8 and 16-bit computers, play with them for a bit, then sell them off for two or three times the price. That would allow me to plow more money into old computers, either to build up savings or justify the few models I wanted to keep.

People would inevitably offer me more because they were worth more (examples: a very old TRS-80 or musicians who still used the Atari ST). More often than not, I declined. I was more interested in seeing them used and not interested in turning my hobby into a business. For the most part, everyone was happy.