Old Jointer Value Question

[Scott Brader]

A friend is selling her late husband’s tools. She has an old Delta 37-255 Jointer. It is in great shape, including the knives. Any idea of how much to offer her? I can’t find anything. I want to be fair to her.

[Matt Day]

$150? Do a broad craigslist search in your region and see what 6" jointers are selling for. Go from there.

[Scott Brader]

Matt,
I've looked at CL and came away more confused than when I started. Some people ask ridiculous amounts for jointers in very bad shape while others are more reasonable, but on much newer jointers. This one hasn't been made in 30 years, so it's hard to come up with a good comparable from my local CL. I'm thinking of offering her somewhere around $125 to $150 and seeing where it goes from there.

Thanks for the input!
Scott

[cody michael]

I bought the larger free standing 6 inch delta jointer for 200$, i think 125-150 is about right. I definitely wouldn't pay more then that

[David Kumm]

i either pay premium to a widow or pass. Life is ( or should be ) full of little donations you don't get credit for. Dave

[Scott Brader]

I paid premium on a couple of other items I bought. Neither of us could come up with any idea for the jointer, though.

Thanks for the input!

[Mike Henderson]

Used 6" jointers are usually not that expensive. Lots of people start with them and then trade up. I bought an 8" for about $200 (it was part of a bulk buy so I have to estimate the amount for the jointer).

I'd go $150 if it's in good shape. For more than that, I'd look for an 8".

Mike

[Sometimes a widow is glad to get the sale over with and the price is not that important. The service you provide is to buy the "lot" of tools so she doesn't have to deal with a bunch of different people to get rid of it.]

[peter gagliardi]

i either pay premium to a widow or pass. Life is ( or should be ) full of little donations you don't get credit for. Dave

+2 on this. I do the same. Especially widows. Or family survivors. Of course I extent that a bit to my machinist, and a few others for work they do for me as well. Especially when I know they are "fitting me in" , when they just as easily call it quits and go home.
Reminds me of a quote I heard or read a while back, from someone I can't remember, ironically.

" you can do a lot of good in the world if you don't care who gets the credit"

[Matt Day]

Mike and Dave both make good valid points. He's not asking if he should pay a premium or not, he asked about value, which i take as market value.

[Don Sundberg]

Looks a lot like this one.

http://siouxcity.craigslist.org/tls/5220505004.html

$150 is probably good and generous. $125 if you've felt generous enough.

Don

[Scott Brader]

I offered her $150. I figured it's better to err on the side of being generous when working with a widowed friend than to try to dicker the price down. I'm happy and she's happy. That's the best way to walk away from a deal.