Re:

John Lee writes:
> The difference between what you buy something for on ebay and purchasing
> quality merchandise from a reputable dealer are many.

I agree.  I've had mixed experiences with eBay, and (with one exception
(who doesn't post on the list)) much better experiences with
dealers.  With dealers, the customer has many more options.
Dealers have a reputation to maintain.  They're also much more likely to
fully understand what they're selling, and to be selling working equipment,
and to offer some kind of warranty.

In other words, you get what you pay for.  You might save a bit of money
on eBay, but that comes at the cost of increased risk.

(BTW, the majority of our HP 3000s were bought from used
equipment dealers, and we're quite happy with them!)

My point was that if you're trying to calculate the Fair Market Value
of something, you don't take a dealer's price ... any more than you
take a car dealer's price to determine the value of a car you're donating!
Instead, you have to determine the likely price you'd have gotten if you
sold your equipment ... the Fair Market Value.

   IRS doc 561:
      Fair market value (FMV) is the price that
      property would sell for on the open market.

Note that it doesn't say "the price you'd have to pay to replace it".
In this case, the answer to the question "what would a dealer pay me for
it" is one FMV data point.  So is the answer to the question "what could
I sell it for on eBay".  So is the answer to the question "what could
I sell it for to another user".  All of those data points are going to be
more interesting to the IRS than those derived from questions
like "how much would I have to pay to replace it", and "how much did it
cost".  The latter two questions *are* useful ones to ask, and can have
a bearing on determining the FMV in some cases, as explained by IRS
doc 561.

As it happens, eBay prices are probably close to what a dealer would
have offered you for your equipment, for obvious reasons.

> It seems to me that if I'm donating a fully configured and working system,
> then I deserve to consider the value all of my and my employees' time and
> expenses that made that pile of hardware into a working system.  Thus, I

*I* agree, but the IRS doesn't :(

The IRS document is written somewhat poorly, leaving room for confusion in
some cases.  However, the general rule of thumb is: if in doubt, they'll
take your money.  Sometimes they don't wait for "doubt" :)

But, hey...I'm not a tax lawyer, nor do I want to be one!
Stan Sieler                                           [log in to unmask]
www.allegro.com/sieler/wanted/index.html          www.allegro.com/sieler

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