Does anyone know why one character would get 6 for a broadsword and another character gets offered 0, all stats being the same?

Nick Z.

blame magic
magic is the root of all the worlds ills

but seriously that does seem odd

was it the same sword
if not where did they come from , i know some games force starting equips to have no value
i dont recall if that was true in these games its been a while

The only starting gear I've seen have 0 value in the Krynn games is the Knight starting gear.

It is not especially rare in the Gold Box games, however, for otherwise identical items of different origins to have different sell values. Usually this involves items that were acquired in different games (e.g., Bracers AC6 acquired in Champions are worth 500, whereas ones dropped by enemies in Death Knights are worth 3000), but there are the occasional exceptions where items from different sources in the same game are of different value *shrug*