Hypothetically, if you needed to downsize your collection ...
 

and preferably fairly quickly, how would you go about it?

The local buy and sell is full of tire kickers and lowballers who don't appreciate a cleaned and serviced machine. Ebay has a lot of fraudsters and I don't know if I want to handle that sort of experience at the moment.

What about with relatively limited time to devote to it? (i.e. an hour or so each to box a machine for shipping may be unrealistic... though that may be less than the time to "host" people in the house to look at the machines and want me to teach them to sew.)

I created a bit of a space crisis by making a purchase that will be arriving in 3 weeks that I would love to finance a bit this way and want to see a bunch of these machines that I brought back to life go to good sewing homes.

I'm going to put out some emails to some vintage machine lovers around my area to let them know that some of the machines are going, but I don't expect a lot out of that.

Maybe craigslist? Although Ive never been on craigslist but I know people that have with very good success. Good luck to you.

Phew. I'm glad you're having a space crisis and not having to leave the country in a hurry ;)
What about ebay, local pick up only? Ebay.com is free to list -- not sure about ebay.ca -- so it may be worth a try. It may cost an extra .10 to promote your items on ebay.com. I think the fraudsters are less likely to do local pickup, but make out 2 receipts and ask them to sign yours, just in case.

Isn't anyone going to ask what the purchase is???

OK, spill Tammi. What is it? :o I'm very excited for you, and have little advice about getting rid of machines in Canada. Here, I put them in Gumtree as classifieds, and they usually sell.

Tammi, you have two options and only two options:

1) Open a cafe. No wifi. A sewing machine on every table.

or

2) Invite Mike over from Australia. (And since you elected not to open a cafe, then get him to bring some coffee from Oz. It's good stuff there.) Send him back with all your stitchers, and he can sell 'em on Gumtree.

Also, congratulations on your new pet kangaroo! They do take a lot of room. I know why it is taking three weeks... Mike has to bring it all the way from Australia for you! Those things take time.

How come you don't post the machines on the board for sale? Might be some of us that would like to see and maybe buy. Do you have a Bernina or a Pfaff oldie?

:D I vote for Cecilia's answer.

I would say craigslist. There is a local sewing shop here(ish) that isn't just quilting. They do random upcycling and and vintage patterns and the like and as far as I know, they don't have a machine brand they sell. I have considered offering them a consignment deal on cleaned up machines. Or maybe they have a bulletin board or something.
I'm just thinking out loud, obviously.

I'm with Amyjo, Post them here you might sell them all.

Kijiji is Canada's CL, and I think what Tammi was saying is that she gets dud responses from there. In Canada, CL is ever dudd-ier than Kijiji. (my own experience, not scientifically explored...)

Tammi, posting them here would be a fabulous idea! I mean, after Mike has come and taken his pick. Or, we could all come visit you! If you have a pink Atlas or a green Grasshopper, I want it. My life is empty and meaningless until then. ;-)

I tell ya, in about 2 weeks, with that the weather will be like, I'll wish I had to leave the country. ;) That's a good idea about the 2 receipts. I've often wondered how successful local pick up auctions are.

Your gumtree is basically our Kijiji. The same crackpots listing things for zillions of dollars and wanting to buy for 2 cents on the dollar. I have a clean, serviced 301 that's been in Kijiji for 4 months. For some reason, virtually no one seems to use craigslist.

Are you sure you want to know? This kangaroo isn't vintage... in fact it's not even born yet...

There's also the quarantine time for the roo and for Mike.... ;)

DH keeps saying I should open a museum and charge admission. I lean more towards a vintage stitch and b*tch day... Cafe could be fun though... I'd have to import Mike to be the Barista though.

I didn't think we could? I have 2 Pfaff oldies. 130 (no coffee grinder) and a 362 that I will likely never finish restoring at this stage in the game. The thing that I think would put the kibosh on sending them across the border though, is shipping. Canada Post charges me $12.22 to ship 2 tubes of Singer lube to the next province. The last time I shipped a 99, again a province away, it cost me something like $45, and I think rates have gone up.

I'd love it if we had a shop like that here! :) Heck, I could practically run it, I could sure fill it by now. Consignment gives me an idea though. I wonder what the local antique shop charges for "consignment". Though I see a lot of machines sit there for years...

CL Is pretty duddy on this side of the country too. With all of the posts about no affiliation and not being able to sell, etc, I thought this was not an option. Of course, I don't make it a secret of how to get a hold of me, either. Maybe you could all come visit at once! Then maybe Mike could make you unburned coffee. ;) Better hurry though, my bones say that snow might arrive before my toy does...

ETA: Oh! No, no pink Atlas or grasshopper at this point, sorry. I'll keep an eye out. Shipping to you would be only painful, not fatal, since it didn't have to go across the border...