Rant: Junk has invaded ebay pretty badly...

[Robert Mayer]

Anyone tried to look for some deals on ebay and get nothing but cheap imitation chinese tools? These idiots are posting a million auctions for the same junk and making it really hard to find real tools. Do a search of biscuit joiner and see how many are cheap imitations.

okay im done complaining.

[Tim Morton]

I wish there was a way to filter that crap out too, I sometimes search for 6" Jointers and come up with the same crap you must be coming up with, I can't remember the last thing I bought from ebay or sold either. I used to buy and sell alot years ago.

[Steve Clardy]

I hear you. Try a search on clamps. Sheeesh. Most all are junk. Very few well made clamps.

[Dan Mages]

You can do an advanced search on ebay and exclude words by putting a - before the word. If you search biscuit jointer -chisel -4" -4in -case -planer, you will exclude results that have chisel, 4", 4in, case, and planer.

Dan

[Scott Loven]

I sort by price, highest to lowest.
Scott

[Troy Wilkins]

I also sort by price, that way the junk pretty much ends up at the bottom of the list. I normally use ebay to get a look at what is available and get an idea of the market prices for used tools. When looking for something new I have pretty much abandoned ebay. You can usually find prices that are as good if not better from a normal online retailer without having to jump through all of the auction transaction hoops.

[Robert Mayer]

I posted this last year....

[Anthony Anderson]

Since it is a year later, Is your ebay experience any better? Bill

[Robert Mayer]

Since it is a year later, Is your ebay experience any better? Bill

actually i havent even searched for tools on ebay since then. i just pull out my lee valley catalog and im usually good to go.

[Frank Hagan]

I tend to limit the search in "advanced" to a certain distance from my zip code ... especially if I'm looking for a jointer, etc. that I know I don't want to ship. I did get a good deal on an old drill press that I love. But there is a lot of junk.

Craig's List is another good source though ... more like a classifieds section in your local newspaper. http://www.craigslist.org ... then select the city nearest you. You'll find a link for tools that show what people are selling.

[Kenny King]

Try craigslist... i haven't found anything good on ebay recently... i guess it jumped the shark!

http://www.craigslist.com

Then select your region. i usually check deleware, phildalphia, and new jersey... regions are listed by state or big city.

- ken

[Brad Knabel]

To add to Frank's post: you can subscribe to specific categories in Craigslist. I get 1-2 messages a day from the Pittsburgh Tools section. Most of it is stuff I have no interest in. But it's worth getting these for the little gems that show up occasionally. I recently picked up a 2-3 year old Foredom carving tool for $125.00. It was new in the box and had never been used. (She had the receipt...no, it wasn't stolen.)

This just makes it easy to wade through the listings without having to remember to go to Craigslist every once in a while.

[Sam Chambers]

If you ever post something for sale there, be prepared to receive scam offers. Those of us who have been around the Internet for awhile have heard of these scams, but the uninitiated might be taken in.

Example: When I posted a table saw for sale there, I received an offer for my full asking price, sight unseen. The guy wanted to send me a cashier's check for $8,000 (because his banker supposedly owed him some money). I was to deposit the cashier's check in my bank account, and send him what was left of the $8,000, after deducting the price of the saw and an additional $300 for my trouble. He would arrange for his local "agent" to pick up the saw.

Needless to say, I didn't fall for that scam...it's been around for some time. I've never encountered this from any other site where I've posted things for sale. Just a word to the wise.

[Bernie Weishapl]

I agree Robert most of the tools it seems like any more are just plain junk. The last time I bought on ebay were some clamps. The guy said these were as good as any you could buy at an borg. So I bit. I had to twist most of them to get the jaws square. I just needed some extra clamps around the shop and now they hang most of the time.

[Curt Harms]

I did purchase a 23 ga. pinner through a guy that has an ebay store. In terms of quality, it's probably a step above harbor freight which for pneumatic tools is acceptable to me (hobbyist). I didn't want to spend $150 or more on a tool that probably won't fire 100 pins/year, but when I need it I need it. It did seem to have a burr in the magazine which caused the pins to feed erratically. I removed the nose piece, removed the burr with a thin knife blade, and it's been fine since. I don't discount Fleabay entirely, but I don't expect Lee Valley quality and service either. YMMV.

Curt

[Vaughn McMillan]

I've seen the same trend towards the "cheapening" of items on eBay. Like Curt, I know what kind of quality to expect, but it did take a couple experiences to really drive that point home for me. (Anybody want some cheap Chinese clamps or a Chinese Makita router knock-off?) That said, I've ordered one of the 23 ga. pinners (probably from the same guy Curt mentioned), figuring it was no riskier than buying the HF model, and like Curt, for my occasional use, I couldn't justify the cost of the P-C or other pro-level models.

- Vaughn

[Gary Curtis]

Haven't bought any power tools on eBay. But I supplied 80% of the hand tools in my new shop purchasing on 'the bay'. I got a lot of tools, but the bidding was truly difficult.

Not one to think "conspiracy" at the drop of a hat, I think the eBay sellers largely are ignorant about tools, so their photos and descriptions And that can set you up for some rude surprises. And the commercial sellers can't be monitored. I have found a few who seem to be selling "back door" on eBay who have quality merchandise. But the prices only offer about a 10-15% advantage over a real store.

If you think tools are suspicious, you out to look at fishing gear. Lots of grey market Japanese gear. You buy it, and the guarantee is not valid in America.
Tragic.

Gary Curtis:D

[Lynn Sonier]

I purchased two different set of clamps through Ebay that I am quite satisfied with. You must, however, check the feedback before you bite.

[Bill Simmeth]

It's like going to any "real" (non-virtual) flea market. You'll see the guys selling velvet Elvis paintings, other guys with tables full of cheezy tools made in 3rd world factories and still more tables with counterfeit Gucci leather items and fake Rolex watches. But, if you know which aisle they're on, you find one or two guys with quality vintage hand tools carefully culled from estate sales. Bottom line: Know what you're buying and who you're buying it from. Honing your search skills doesn't hurt either. ;)

[Scott Loven]

Haven't bought any power tools on eBay. But I supplied 80% of the hand tools in my new shop purchasing on 'the bay'. I got a lot of tools, but the bidding was truly difficult.

Not one to think "conspiracy" at the drop of a hat, I think the eBay sellers largely are ignorant about tools, so their photos and descriptions And that can set you up for some rude surprises. And the commercial sellers can't be monitored. I have found a few who seem to be selling "back door" on eBay who have quality merchandise. But the prices only offer about a 10-15% advantage over a real store.

If you think tools are suspicious, you out to look at fishing gear. Lots of grey market Japanese gear. You buy it, and the guarantee is not valid in America.
Tragic.

Gary Curtis:D
10-15% off seems real good to me on quality tools.

[Dev Emch]

You think biscuit jointer is bad..... try using the search term shaper. In between hundreds of funky used women's undie garments, you may find a few industrial tools. They must think some of us are perverts looking at all that stuff. Now, I just fly down the listings looking at price. If the price is three digits, I have a look, else, its some kind of griddle thingie for which I have no use.

[John Shuk]

It is funny about all the weird things that happen with EBAY ie: high prices and lotsa junk to wade thru. It was created with the idea of an efficient marketplace in mind.

[Dev Emch]

While were on the subject, another irritating behavior is to snag a box of biscuits and a biscuit jointer, for example and then to do the following. List the jointer as one item. Then list each and every biscuit or other petty item as a single entry on which you can bid. So your search comes up with a ka-gillion entries. Often, this is done with collet collections. How about listing the set of collets as a set.

Or how about this one. Now that everyone is aware of old iron, you find a beat to heck porter planer that looks the the devil himself did the punishment and list it for a huge amount of money. Truth is, most iron hounds are exercising their longest finger at this one. You know, communicating with the seller. For the fantastic price of $5999.99 you can purchase this high quality machine. IT was fully functional when removed from service. Hmmmm, but the seller did not state that it was used as a mooring anchor for a boston whaler for the last five years either!

There are some excellent deals on olde-bay but buyer beware. Also realize that many of these older tools will need massive work when they come home. Consider the purchase more of a kit than a finished tool. Your buying a set of servicable castings more than a working machine.

[Travis Porter]

I got that as well. Never thought panty hose and shaper would be a match.

[Dan Forman]

I've gotten some nice older hand planes form there, was kind of fun. Recently I found a 7/8" Bosch rotary hammer drill for a reasonable price, but there was a plethora of "brand new" drills of unrocognizable origin to wade through. To weed out those, it's sometimes worth it to use a brand name in your search, though you may have to do several searches with different brand names to cover the field. Some have gotten around this by adding "not Stanley" (for example) to the description, but sometimes you might actually find something interesting that way, such as a Sargent VBM, or an infill plane.

Dan