Tool Talk
General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: Lewill2 on February 07, 2014, 06:31:07 PM
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Looking at eBay as I do most nights I saw this stuff the other night. I asked myself what is this guy doing and how does he ever sell anything even close to his asking prices.
http://www.ebay.com/sch/Tools-Hardware-Locks-/13849/m.html?item=171237007569&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27de8560d1&_ssn=rah445n74
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No idea. It's certainly a curious strategy...
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Maybe he put the decimal point in the wrong place:)
Mike
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But,he could sell one item and make as much as you would normally selling a couple of dozen. He's got a lot of crap too. 50 cent stuff.
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In his completed listings all the $65.00 items he has accepted the best offer - now we can't see what it sold for. He is making the buyer toss out the first serious offer. I hate haggling, let me know your price and I'll buy it or move on. If you ask me to make an offer, take it or wait for a better offer. Ebay dropped listing fees and some people lost all restraint.
At the pawn shop last week I was digging through the wrenches and some sockets. I found 58 wrenches (craftsman v, vv, bf up to blue point) & 22 sockets (c underline craftsmen and better.) I showed him what I had, he asked me what I thought it was worth. I told him, based on buying similar wrenches there a couple of weeks before that I thought $50 to $60 was fair. He said $55.00 was fair. As I was going he said "Thanks for not offering me $20.00 for that." I asked if he gets a lot of that, he said that I wouldn't believe the people who come in there, dig through to find the snap-on tools the shop missed and offer pennies for them.
In that venue I liked the price, and I got pick. At auction or estate, buying bulk or flats or whole boxes, I would expect to pay half that.
On the haggling, maybe this dealer comes from a haggling background. Could be cultural. I don't like haggling when we travel. Looks like I should avoid Wisconsin. The broken grammer could be a clue. This dealer may think guys like me are rude when I don't counter offer.
The other strange thing is the snappy oe's are in the low price group, while lesser quality are in the higher priced group. Not willing to combine shipping either.
After all that, my diagnosis and final prognostication is this: The long, cold Kenosha winter has addled his brain, and sales will suffer.
Chilly, but not that chilly, over and out.
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check his feedback, on his lst page of 25 transactions, 20 were items he sold and not one tool.
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And I thought the guy selling single newer Craftsman 3/8" drive sockets for $10.95 + shipping was bad.
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you can find out what it sold for.
http://www.watchcount.com/ (http://www.watchcount.com/)
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"Honest honey, I have run hundreds of ebay auctions and these old tools just don't sell. I'll just have to keep them"
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"Honest honey, I have run hundreds of ebay auctions and these old tools just don't sell. I'll just have to keep them"
lol, maybe that feller is slicker than we know.
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Maybe he doesn't care if they sell or not...maybe it's a tax write off. Business loss?
I scrolled though his completed listings and in ten pages he sold four items. Three for $9.99 and one for $15.
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11 sold items,over 1300 completed listings
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Maybe he doesn't care if they sell or not...maybe it's a tax write off. Business loss?
I scrolled though his completed listings and in ten pages he sold four items. Three for $9.99 and one for $15.
How can you tell what they paid whren he accepted best offer?
Chilly
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he thought occurred to me that hew might just be thumbing his nose at Ebay. Tying up a lot of website space with no chance of selling anything. Dude must have a lot of spare time on his hands.
DM&FS
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Maybe it's all stuff that really doesn't want to sell! You can take just about any tool that you want from me for $95, I will replace it & buy some extras along with it! You never know on eBay, some people have more $ than brains!
The problem that this causes though is every once in a while at a garage sale or flea market you get the seller that researches their stuff on eBay... then they think they are giving you a bargain at $40 for their Craftsman adjustable wrench!
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http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Eifel-Geared-Plierench-Old-Pliers/270867831021?_trksid=p2046732.m2060&_trkparms=aid%3D111000%26algo%3DREC.CURRENT%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D27%26meid%3D4971336890620243573%26pid%3D100040%26prg%3D1011%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D1%26sd%3D270867831021%26
Is this a fair price?
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I suspect it may be a woman. I suspect its a "We sell for you" consignment shop.
I suspect she has been in business a little while, but probably not for much longer.
You bring in your stuff, and I will put it on ebay for a percentage type shop.
The seller seems to know a little about makeup/hairdo tools and childrens collectibles.
The seller seems to know little to nothing about tools.
Consignment shops never work. Its too much labor for too little money. But this seller has at least found out 50% of 10 dollars is 5 dollars, and she has to take pictures, list, pack and ship for 5 bucks. That is under $2.50 an hour pay no mater how fast she is, and more like $1.10 an hour! Suicide, fast suicide.
She sold some stuff in the 10 dollar range in the past, if you look at all completed sales.
So tools are now listed at what it takes for her to stay in business and make a profit.
Not what the tool is worth, what she thinks her time is worth.
They will never sell but the consigner is satisfied and she already accepted the commission so now has to deal with it.
The next step in her business evolution will be to refuse to agree to auction anything that is worth less than 100 dollars.
Even at 50% commission, the least you can do a commission auction for is a 100 dollar item, or group of items you sell at once that are easy to ship.
I won't do an auction listing for someone else, unless the item is ---actually--- worth $200 or more these days. And it better fit in a flat rate box.
I sold a gold watch and some comic books on consignment last year. $1000 watch and $600 comics. The only reason I took the comics was because it was a friend of mine who desperately needed the money and he had already pre-packed them for shipping.
2 dollar tools? No way in the world. You have to find someone dumber than me to even look at selling cheap tools on ebay.
yours Scott