Question About Selling Wood

[Frank Drackman]

I am looking for help in determining the best way to break lumber into lots that make sense to potential purchasers. The wood is mostly cherry and maple with single boards or zebra wood, bubinga, purple heart, and koa. Should I break into packages of similar boards, like 12/4 cherry, or just put random boards together to hit a price point? Are lots of $800 too much?

I know that this is kind of a strange post so I appreciate your time.

[Matt Day]

If I was buying, I'd be looking for lots no more than $400. For me, that's a lot of money to drop at once and I'm tight on space.
So roughly 8 lots at around $400 would be my suggestion. Or since you're selling smaller qtys, you could raise the price per bdft a bit if you want.
I'd let you're buyers pick what species they want, but not let then pick each board, and adjust price/qty accordingly.

[Jeff Duncan]

This is just my opinion for whatever it's worth. Most of the people looking to buy your lumber are probably going to be hobby guys. Reason being is pro shops don't tend to want to have a lot of cash tied up in materials unless it's a super deal. So if you think about the group your trying to sell to as mostly guys doing it part time, or maybe small shops, your likely going to be better off breaking it down into small lots. You can package it the way you think is best, or……the way people want to buy it. For instance, if you get a post that says they'd be really interested in small lots, ask them what they would be interested in buying. This should allow you to move a bunch of it fast…..I think? Selling as a lot would be easier for you of course….you just may have to wait a bit longer to find the right buyer?

FWIW I'm in a similar position as I'll have to sell of a bunch of shorts and misc woods in the very near future. I'm going to throw it up and see what people are interested in buying.

good luck,
JeffD

[Andrew Gold]

This is just my opinion for whatever it's worth. Most of the people looking to buy your lumber are probably going to be hobby guys. Reason being is pro shops don't tend to want to have a lot of cash tied up in materials unless it's a super deal. So if you think about the group your trying to sell to as mostly guys doing it part time, or maybe small shops, your likely going to be better off breaking it down into small lots. You can package it the way you think is best, or……the way people want to buy it. For instance, if you get a post that says they'd be really interested in small lots, ask them what they would be interested in buying. This should allow you to move a bunch of it fast…..I think? Selling as a lot would be easier for you of course….you just may have to wait a bit longer to find the right buyer?

FWIW I'm in a similar position as I'll have to sell of a bunch of shorts and misc woods in the very near future. I'm going to throw it up and see what people are interested in buying.

good luck,
JeffD

I generally see pro shops buying in huge quantities, like several hundred board feet of one thing at a time, I might reach out to a couple local to you and see if you get any interest. That said, I would imagine they would want a real deal, and have little interest in the singleton boards. Have you tried posting your lot on CL at what you'd consider to be your price floor? I think you'd be surprised at the response you'll get.

I've bought wood on CL relatively frequently, but expect to find something more interesting than even the better local yards would stock (like urban salvage, thicker, or less common species).

[eugene thomas]

I would not mix the wood up just list what want for each type. As to price would call a hardwood lumber supplier to see what they sell for. Figuring if person just needs few boards they will not get good price.

[Yonak Hawkins]

I would not mix the wood up just list what want for each type.

I agree with grouping the lots by species but not by dimension.

[John Lanciani]

Just my opinion but the price seems high at over $7 per bf. I pay a fair bit less that that here at regular hardwood dealers for maple and cherry even when buying less than 100 bf at a time. When I buy off of CL or other non retail avenues I expect to pay much less, I'd to pay around $700 to $1000 to take your entire lot. I understand that you may have some attachment to your cache but if you need it to be gone you'll need to price it accordingly.

[Bill Space]

Hi,

I guess it depends on what prices are in your area. Like John said above, I found $7 per board foot to be really high for my area, but I am in western PA and there are a lot of cherry trees here. For comparison, I bought 535 square feet of 5/4 high quality cherry not long ago for $1,200. (that is square fee, board feet would be 25 percent more) It was air dried. I had it kiln dried for a couple hundred dollars, but still my cost was less than $2.50 per board foot out of the kiln.

But that is here and not where you are...

Following the advice that others have given you with respect breaking the lot down into smaller lots seems sound to me.

Bill

[Wade Lippman]

At an auction about 4 years ago they put up a lot of 600bf of walnut, curly maple and butternut; all perfect and good dimensions. The bidding stalled early and I got it for $600. I didn't even want it, but $600?
I then sold 400bf of it for $3/bf.
So, if that wood only sold as one lot for $600, I can't imagine there would be much interest in anything you put together for $800.
And it took me a while to sell the 400bf to 4 people at half of retail; so I expect if you ask more than that it will take a long long time.

[bill tindall]

Why not sell it like a lumber yard would sell it, by the bd ft? Price it by the bdft, advertise and let people buy what ever quantity and variety they need. Good luck finding someone that needs $800 worth of 12/4 cherry.

A question to ask is why are you selling the lumber? You want to get into the lumber business, you stumbled on a lot of wood cheap and want to turn a quick profit and be rid of it, etc? Your objectives will determine how to market it.

I ran hardwood lumber business for 30 years. My experience was that you don't make any money selling to hobby woodworkers. They just don't buy enough lumber and they require a lot of time to sell a little lumber. If you want to move it look to sell it to cabinet shops and the like.

[Frank Drackman]

Thanks for all of the great suggestions. I am going to reprice the wood into more reasonable packages.