SELLING IT ALL

@bastereo Make sure that you can prove to that IRS that you are not making a profit from the sale of your gear. especially if you use PayPal and sell each item separately. PayPal sometimes send the IRS info on money transfers if they think you are a business.

If you do not have the sales receipt, I would just look up the MSRP and record it in some document before you sell anything.

Dear Texas Lady, I know you just want it GONE. BUT, are you at least aware of the value of the items in general anyway? Some husbands aren't truthful about the cost of many of our "toys" as they're brought into the house. You could be sitting on $25,000., maybe only $5000.00. You might want to know. I hope you find a good Samaritan to help you out. I've been called on to help out on several estates. I was prepared to do whatever the seller wanted. I never took a dime. God bless, Joe 

Very good advice from you all. No, my husband was never honest about what things actually cost. HOWEVER, I have a lot of sales receipts. And for the others, I am looking up the MSRP and putting it on the spreadsheet. I'm well over $70,000 in that column so far. Obviously, some things have devalued, but others have appreciated. So, it's a rough guess. I made him give me numbers for a lot of it several years ago to make sure our insurance agent had a spread sheet of it in case of loss.
Very good point about not making a profit. So, if it sells for less than he bought it for, then I don't have to claim as income? Or just not as gains? Interesting question. I'll check with tax accountant.
Y'all are a fount of good information. I really, deeply appreciate it.

You should actually be able to use the loss as a tax write-off. Also, you may be able to adjust for inflation to increase the size of that loss. The difficulty will be determining the initial purchase price of the items. HiFi gear often depreciates like a new car. Definitely speak with your tax guy/gal.

Sorry about your husband...that's awful, i've ben through it. Hopefully he can stay positive through it.
tmraudio.com would be great, and if you want to be sure you're getting good offers through them, check the products you're selling on hifishark.com for current and past sale prices on used gear.
Good luck!
Also - i'm sure if you list some of the products here, you'll be able to move some stuff.

cheers.
JKT