That would make sense if they were being sold "as e-waste" or "for parts." They were listed without a disclaimer and with specification information that would be relevant to their eventual use. Not sure why you insist this was the premise they were sold under when that is simply not the case. In fact, it is deceptive because that is a condition that they would be aware would reduce the resale value if disclosed. If that is ethical in your eyes as a "professional", I don't really need to hear any more of your opinions or advice. If it is such a hassle for "professionals" to properly pass on ownership of their assets, whether it be 20 year old vehicles, tools or radios, then they should simply destroy them with their own labor rather than making them available to the general public for a quick buck.
I can appreciate your opinion on this, but MTS2000DES makes a very valid point, and I can back that up.
I shut down an old trunked system and had about 350 radios that needed to go. This was for a large state facility. I did purposely wipe some of the radios that had trunked systems in them that were still active at other sites. That was a security thing that I did in case they fell into the wrong hands, and so it didn't become an issue to that agency.
The rest of them were sent, as is, to our shipping and receiving department since they handle surplus sales, e-waste, recycling, etc.
I let them know what they were, what their expected value was, and that was it. It was up to those guys to decide what to do with them. I don't see a dime of that money if they are sold. I suggested e-waste, since these radios were selling for $40 or less each on E-Bay, and it didn't make financial sense for much effort being made to try and sell them.
I have no idea what happened with most of those radios. They may have gone to e-waste, they may have been dumped in a dumpster, or they may have been auctioned off. Even if they went to e-waste, there's nothing that says they didn't magically end up on e-Bay or auctioned off somewhere else.
Truth is, once those radios left my shop, I was done with them. I no longer had any obligation to support them, remove system keys, or anything else. They were garbage to me and not worth any more of my time.
I think you are expecting the original radio shop to be the ones that actually sell them. Usually that's not the case, and in most government agencies, there are all kinds of rules to prevent me from selling equipment directly. It all has to go through a specific group.
What you have is a bunch of radios the shop wanted rid of. They did what they were supposed to do, which is dump them on the group that handles surplus.
What happened next was out of the control of the radio shop. Some guy in shipping and receiving, material management, purchasing, or some other similar department probably just dumped them on a pallet and sent them off to auction to see if they could make a few bucks off them. End of story. If they hadn't sold at auction, they would have been dumped to e-waste, or just plain tossed in a dumpster.
You could certainly try contacting the shop and see if you can get them to help. I suspect they won't. Maybe your experience will be different. I know I wouldn't spend any time on them if I was in that place. More rules in place about spending government labor/funds on helping a commercial provider make a profit. That sort of stuff always ends badly.
And no way I'd buy random pallets of used radios hoping to flip them. I know what they go through and the pitfalls. Make what you can off them, but don't expect the agency to spend any time, effort or money trying to help you make your investment back. Dump them any way you can and take it as lesson learned. Hopefully you make your investment back.