Watching craigslist has finally paid off

[Scott Brandstetter]

I have been watching craigslist for over 3 months. Been on the hunt for a jointer and planer. Really wanted an 8 inch jointer but couldn't pass up the Powermatic 6 inch that was never turned on (a son was selling his dads tools, kind of sad, his dad never got to use a lot of them. I didn't even negotiate, he had them priced very well) Got it for $600 and figured until I find an 8 inch this will work and I shouldn't lose too much on the deal. I also bought his newer used 13 inch Jet planer molder for $700 but as luck would have it, I found a Jet 15 inch planer with the Shelix cutter head this weekend for a $300 more so I sold the 13 inch already. To gloat a little more, sold a couple shotguns that I haven't used in years so I am not out a dime with all the transactions. Feeling pretty good. All I need now is a good buy on a 3hp table saw to complete the shop.

In the process of expanding my shop to 900 sq ft and starting a small business. Focusing on children's furniture.....looking to take out Pottery Barn, LOL

[julian abram]

Congratulations, some very nice wheeling n' dealing on CL. I bought a 6" Jet joiner off CL about 4 years ago, thinking I will need to get an 8" someday but frankly I haven't needed one on any project to date.

[Jay Park]

I've been watching Craigslist for months, finally found someone selling a Tersa head 10" jointer/planer. He wanted $500, I said I'd give $700 and match other offers if he could wait till Saturday ( he was about 1.5 hours away, double that on the weekday LA Traffic).

Come Saturday, I text him, he replies he sold it for higher price.

Arggggg. I was so close.

[Moses Yoder]

I've been watching Craigslist for months, finally found someone selling a Tersa head 10" jointer/planer. He wanted $500, I said I'd give $700 and match other offers if he could wait till Saturday ( he was about 1.5 hours away, double that on the weekday LA Traffic).

Come Saturday, I text him, he replies he sold it for higher price.

Arggggg. I was so close.

That is just wrong. I always hold it for the first guy that calls and says he wants it, basically a commitment to buy if he looks at it and it is as advertised. I have had to listen to some pretty mad people because of that too. I don't take the ad off until I have cash in hand.

[James Nugnes]

That is a tough one Jay. A commitment to hold it for a reasonable length of time and get more money for it should be sufficient to keep that from happening. I mean seriously, how much more could somebody have offered the guy than $700 for a tool he was only asking $500 for in the first place? At some point....sure I guess it would be tough to ask the guy to pass up maybe something like $1,000. That becomes more than just a "bird in the hand" kind of situation then. But short of that....I think he should have held it. At the very least, he should have tried to contact you so you would have known what was happening even if it meant it might make him sound like he was trying to get you to bid against yourself. At least you would have had the option at that point to drop everything and run up to get it for $700. Plus if he had two people willing to pay more than his asking price it should have given him some confidence that it as going to sell and quickly whatever happened and he should have lined his other buyers up behind you.

[Peter Quinn]

.....looking to take out Pottery Barn, LOL

Congrats on the tools, good score, enjoy those. I too got a fair deal on some tools that were never once used from a son selling his fathers shop after a paralyzing illness. Sad, but its something to bring life to them through use. I've done a few built ins and such for people that were considering something from Pottery Barn.....not that hard to beat their pricing, and at a better quality. It helps to have a big jug of Mocha Java stain on hand.....or brownish deck paint! When a potential client starts with "I saw something at Ikea"....them I encourage to keep moving, because their target price is too low for me to turn on the shop lights, usually a short conversation, and thats a quality level to which I personally simply can't stoop. I like to think the small craftsman can stage a revolt against the big boxes, but we have to get the people on our side. People are becoming all about "eat local" with food, maybe that will extend to cabinetry and furniture eventually? Just that its hard to offer a complete hand crafted bedroom set for $499, so I don't try.

[Jim Matthews]

Two kinds of Craigslist buyers;

Those that show up right away with cash,
people that had "other plans".

[Randy Red Bemont]

I can say that I don't blame the guy for selling it and not waiting. I've only sold a couple of tools on CL and every time I get someone who sets up a day and time and they never show. Very frustrating and a waste of my time. So I now say that I will not hold it, you get here first and you can buy it first.

Red

[Bill Orbine]

Two kinds of Craigslist buyers;

Those that show up right away with cash,
people that had "other plans".

That is the deal.

[cody michael]

After looking for a few months I just picked up a unisaw for 350$ 3hp, needs cleaned up but I'm happy.

A fee months ago I bought a grizzly 20 inch planer for 500$ I was super excited about that

[John Conklin]

Congrats on your new purchases, hope they serve you well for years to come. I've had good luck, both for buying and selling. I'm sure Craigslist has its share inconsiderate and dishonest people, but I believe most people are just like me, looking for something for a decent price.

The last thing I sold was my Delta 1440 wood lathe. A young guy that had just started college and had been turning on an old Shopsmith was the first person to come look at it with his dad. He was genuinely excited and the 3 of us stood in my driveway and talked for probably 45 minutes. He offered me the bottom of what I had decided I'd take, but it felt like I was helping promote the pastime so that made up for a little less $.

[James Nugnes]

And that IS the dif. If you are going to agree to hold it then you have a responsibility to hold it. If you say you are going to hold it and you don't well then you are just putting your 1st buyer in your hip pocket as a safety valve happy to know you can negotiate a little harder with every other buyer that sees the ad and calls on it. Frankly, that is sort of dirty pool all the way around. Adhere to your commitments or don't make them and don't use the excuse that most buyers committing don't come through. That is their bad and on them.....don't make it worse.

[Scott Brandstetter]

John, I totally get what you are saying. Over the last couple of years I am finally upgrading all of my tools to higher quality (I started like most people with a lot of Big Box stuff). It makes me feel great to see a young guy or gal come by to look at the tools I am selling. They always get the bottom dollar price and I normally throw in a few other tools that I know they will use and I haven't needed for some time. I even get a few pictures from these younger workers of their new projects.


Congrats on your new purchases, hope they serve you well for years to come. I've had good luck, both for buying and selling. I'm sure Craigslist has its share inconsiderate and dishonest people, but I believe most people are just like me, looking for something for a decent price.

The last thing I sold was my Delta 1440 wood lathe. A young guy that had just started college and had been turning on an old Shopsmith was the first person to come look at it with his dad. He was genuinely excited and the 3 of us stood in my driveway and talked for probably 45 minutes. He offered me the bottom of what I had decided I'd take, but it felt like I was helping promote the pastime so that made up for a little less $.

[ken masoumi]

A while ago I saw a for sale ad for 6 K body Bessey clamps for $70(31" long) I happen to be the first person who responded,and he replied back"can you pick up Tomorrow @11:00 am?) which of course I said yes,when I went to pick them up he said he had 4 or 5 offers for $90 and one for $100 but he told them all the clamps were sold pending pick up.
This seller runs a small shop selling tires,I have already bought a set of winter tires for my son and will soon buy a 4 for myself,I don't know if it's called good karma but I would say his integrity/good deed did not go unpunished.

[John Grace]

Both my wife and I love CL both for buying and selling but like anything else, one must be judicious. I have several rules I try to live by when it comes to buying tools off of CL. First and foremost, what's the tool and what's my expected usage of it? I prefer new for tools that I'll use all the time...unless it's a tool with a long pedigree and likely to have problems. Second, I rarely if ever pay more than half of what the tool would cost new. One of the beauties of CL is that patience will truly pay-off, wait long enough and the right tool and the right price will become available. Third and finally, be fair to both sellers and buyers. Cheers...J

[Julian Tracy]

Ive seen it from both ends, as a buyer and a seller.

Recently though, I was selling a jointer for $250. Had a guy called on Friday wanted to buy it for sure but couldnt pay for it till Sunday, was even willing to come a drop off a deposit. I told him no worries on the deposit cause he was about 45min away, I'd see him Sun.
Sun we had a snowstorm, so Monday it was. Had two other guys call on Sat, one wanted to come right then. Told him a guy was coming Monday and I'd call if he fell thru. Well - he didn't call Mon and when I called him, he told me he had to go to the hospital. Tried the other guys with no answer.

Then Wed a guy called and said he wanted it and for sure would pick it up after work on Thurs. Had a nother guy interested but I held him back till thursday. First guy says thursday he bought a new one WQed night! Other buyer never called back.

Finally sold it the next Sat, but what a PAIN!

Lesson learned, no holding for more than about 30-45min...

JT

[Ellen Benkin]

Jay -- at the very least he could have called you and let you make another offer.

Julian -- always take the deposit and make it non-refundable. I just sold a car on Craigslist. Had two guys come and look but they wanted to think it over for a couple of days. Told them that the first person who met my price with cash or a bank check would get it. The next people who came to look (the same day)took it for a test drive and handed me my asking price in cash. I did call the first "lookers" to tell them it was gone -- they were friends of a friend. I also contacted everyone who contacted me via Craigslist to tell them it had been sold and immediately took the ad off Craigslist. It cost me nothing but a little time to be polite.

[James Nugnes]

I like CL on balance. The only thing I have to say I despise about it is that you can tell there are some sellers there that are trying to get out from under some really difficult times. Probably hard working people that were in better shape at one point or they would not have the stuff to sell in the first place nor the computer and Internet connection to sell it. Conversely there are some buyers that go there not even interested in the item for sale, not interested in the asking price....simply going there looking for opportunities to take further advantage of somebody that is already at a disadvantage. They will offer a ridiculously low price for the item, indicating they will come by with cash today to buy it. Heck they have no idea what the thing is actually worth and the seller does not even know if they can come by with cash that day even if the seller is willing to take that price. I don't like the way the CL profile, the way it is constructed seems to encourage that kind of activity.

On top of that it feeds into the worst aspects of American Society which is on balance a pretty darned good thing. But in truth, we love you when you are up but that does not mean we are neutral when you are down. We don't know you when you are down. We treat each other as sort of an extended version of the way we treat our stars. Love to adore them when they are up but can often revel in their failures. I just don't like the way CL tends to expose that aspect of us even more.

Granted there are those of us that are more generous than others and oddly enough we tend to extend more generosity to those that we don't know from a hole in the wall. But I think it is our own fear of failure in a society that treats failure even of the best intended and most vigorous efforts with something close to disdain that pushes us to shove people we have more in common with than we care to or even dare to admit, further under the bus than they are already going just on their own steam.

[Erich Larson]

I would ask for a 25% deposit to hold it. Otherwise you are getting set up for uncompensated aggravation.

[Marty Tippin]

Never hold *ANYTHING* for a Craigslist buyer. Most who ask you to hold it won't show up and even fewer will let you know they're not coming. Burned more than a few times before I learned better...

Selling on Craigslist is simple: First person who shows up with cash in hand is the winner. Everyone else can go complain on an online woodworking forum...

[James Nugnes]

Well that of course means you are not telling buyers that you are going to hold the item and then not holding it. That has been the main issue in this thread from the start. If you are not going to hold it, don't say that you are and then turn around and do otherwise. By the way, I agree with not holding an item.

[Brian Henderson]

Unfortunately, the Craigslist in my area really sucks, at least for tools. You go in looking for anything and you get "FEW results in your area" and the ones that are there, either the prices are sky high for everything, or the ones that might be reasonable are a hunk of rust. About a year ago, I was trying to help a friend get a jointer, we both watched Craigslist for about 3 weeks before he gave up and just went and bought a new one. I kept watching for an additional 2 months afterwards, just to see if anything ever came up and nothing worth spending a red cent on ever did.

[julian abram]

Unfortunately, the Craigslist in my area really sucks, at least for tools. You go in looking for anything and you get "FEW results in your area" and the ones that are there, either the prices are sky high for everything, or the ones that might be reasonable are a hunk of rust. About a year ago, I was trying to help a friend get a jointer, we both watched Craigslist for about 3 weeks before he gave up and just went and bought a new one. I kept watching for an additional 2 months afterwards, just to see if anything ever came up and nothing worth spending a red cent on ever did.

I check CL tools pretty much daily but not so much to pick up a tool for immediate use but to upgrade down the road. Quality, clean tools at a reasonable price are kind few and far between in CL. But they do pop up some you need to watch routinely.

[David Falkner]

I have a 6" Delta DJ-15 jointer that I bought new in 1990 and an Oliver 159-A long bed 8' lathe made in 1948 that I need to get rid of but I'm leery of listing on CL because people have to come to my house to see these tools.

How do you handle people coming to your house? I guess I could meet them in the HD parking lot 10 minutes away and do a brief interview to see if they're really interested and if it's someone I would actually allow in my shop, but just curious how y'all would handle this?

[Myk Rian]

I have a 6" Delta DJ-15 jointer that I bought new in 1990 and an Oliver 159-A long bed 8' lathe made in 1948 that I need to get rid of but I'm leery of listing on CL because people have to come to my house to see these tools.

How do you handle people coming to your house? I guess I could meet them in the HD parking lot 10 minutes away and do a brief interview to see if they're really interested and if it's someone I would actually allow in my shop, but just curious how y'all would handle this?
Wheel the machines out of the shop and close it. That's all they're going to see.
Write down their license plate number.

[David Falkner]

Wheel the machines out of the shop and close it. That's all they're going to see.
Write down their license plate number.

That would be nice but not really feasible. The jointer is possible with enough notice but I've sacked it away in a corner with stuff piled on it because it's in the way. The lathe is simply not possible. Eight years ago it took 5 of us to move it in and we only moved it 3 or 4 feet at a time. Plus, it's 10' long overall and would require a complete rework of the shop equipment to get it out and I only want to do that one time.

[Brian Henderson]

I check CL tools pretty much daily but not so much to pick up a tool for immediate use but to upgrade down the road. Quality, clean tools at a reasonable price are kind few and far between in CL. But they do pop up some you need to watch routinely.

I'm not looking for anything, I almost exclusively buy new tools, I was just making the point that Craigslist isn't a panacea everywhere, there are plenty of places where tools are few and far between, even in bad condition and overpriced. For the amount of time you spend waiting for the perfect tool at the perfect price and making the call at the perfect time and showing up before everyone else, it's usually easier just buying something new. YMMV.

[James Nugnes]

I think you have to get crazy lucky to end up with a good deal off CL when it comes to power tools. Same experience here. If somebody has something decent they just want way too much for it. Does not matter how good the condition is, sellers have to be realistic about what people will pay for used power tools. They are taking all the risk and it is not inconsequential when discussing power tools. Every now and then you run into somebody that is realistic about selling used power equipment. But the fellow that said you have to check regularly was right. You really have to check every day. Deals are few and far between and easy to recognize. So something worth your time is going to disappear pretty quick.