eBay

[ken hatch]

I do not rust hunt often because truth be told I have too many tools and little need for others. That said I've become a fan of folding draw knifes and would like to add one to the stable. eBay had a Jennings 10" folding drawknife with a high bid of $22 USD and just a few hours to go that looked ok, not great but ok with not much pitting and the handles looked usable. I bid $25 USD and forgot about it, I just received a email from eBay that I missed out because the drawknife went for $122.50 USD. That's howling at the moon crazy.

ken

[Tom Vanzant]

Ken, two folks probably wanted it & got into a bidding war. As you saw, it can get crazy!

[ken hatch]

Ken, two folks probably wanted it & got into a bidding war. As you saw, it can get crazy!

Tom,

I'm sure that was the case but it is not only crazy but stupid.

ken

[Christopher Herzog]

Prices on eBay right now are crazy high. Supply and demand with speculation on out of production concerns.

Walk into Wal-Mart and admire all the 600 dollar items staged at the door. Stimulus money anyone?

[Alex Zeller]

Never underestimate what people will bid to win something. 6 months ago the state was selling a flatbed trailer. It had been repaired where the frame cracked because someone tried adding stake pockets, the tongue was bent, it had hydraulic surge brakes, and the mobile home style wheels. I figured if it went for a few hundred I could be interested for the rare times I need to haul my tractor somewhere. Not only did it not go for cheap the final price brought it within a few hundred of a new trailer of the same length and weight capacity. Crazy.

[Jim Koepke]

Not only did it not go for cheap the final price brought it within a few hundred of a new trailer of the same length and weight capacity. Crazy.

Sometime is it just a couple of crazy people who do not know what a new one costs. Sometimes it is because new ones may not be available.

With tools on ebay it may be from all the folks working at home having extra cash because the aren't buying a couple of $5 coffees and lunch every day. Working from home may have given them a little extra time in the shop since they don't have to fight traffic commuting.

jtk

[Tim Best]

I think you are on to something Jim. While I always made my coffee and rarely ate lunch when I went to the office, my commute now is 30 feet. Even though I am working 60 hours a week most weeks, I have about 10 extra hours a week not having to commute. I have spent much of that time at the bench. All that is to say, I bought a plane from on the auction site about 2 years ago, a #4, type 11, for the princely sum of $28 including shipping. I just did a quick search and holy wow! If I didn’t enjoying my planes so much, I would consider selling them and funding a handsome retirement account!

[John Keeton]

I usually do advanced searches on eBay to find the range a particular tool has sold for before bidding. Often, the range for an item will be very wide with some of the better examples actually selling for considerably less than less desirable examples. It is my thought that at any given moment there is an entirely new group of interested buyers - some with deeper pockets, less or better informed than other groups or just possessing an addictive personality that compels them to buy. Auction insanity!! It is a crap shoot. I usually just put in my max bid and let the chips fall. It isn’t like any of them are necessities!

[Tom Levy]

I regularly see veritas stuff on ebay go for more than retail at lee valley. Even things that are currently in stock. With free shipping from lee valley and eBay collecting taxes, I haven’t been able to figure that one out. Who is buying this stuff for those prices??

[Ben Ellenberger]

I’ve had the same experience on eBay, for both tools and bicycle parts. Most of the time you don’t end up saving much if anything over just getting stuff from a retailer. For older stuff, sometimes you get a decent (not great) deal, and sometimes it sells for way more than seems reasonable.

[Bob Jones 5443]

In my limited world view, auctions and gambling seem to activate the same center of the brain. Just guessing and probably wrong. But gambling has never appealed to me, after losing (small) a few times. I never bid on eBay, after getting down in the melee a few times like Ken describes. Buy It Now is all I will touch.

[Jim Koepke]

I regularly see veritas stuff on ebay go for more than retail at lee valley. Even things that are currently in stock. With free shipping from lee valley and eBay collecting taxes, I haven’t been able to figure that one out. Who is buying this stuff for those prices??

Outside of North America some countries have a Value Added Tax or other taxes on new items. People in those countries can avoid the taxes by purchasing used tools. To us it looks like they are spending more. To them it is a savings.

jtk

[Jim Koepke]

In my limited world view, auctions and gambling seem to activate the same center of the brain. Just guessing and probably wrong. But gambling has never appealed to me, after losing (small) a few times. I never bid on eBay, after getting down in the melee a few times like Ken describes. Buy It Now is all I will touch.

My last ebay purchase was a Buy It Now at lower than most of the same item sold with auctions.

My tendency with an auction is to just bid my max at the termination of the auction. This is often referred to as sniping.

Sometimes my bid is placed early just because sometimes you get lucky.

It depends on what it is and how much it is wanted.

jtk

[Tom M King]

I have one somewhere. If I run across it, I'll send it to you. I don't anticipate ever having a use for a folding one. PM me your address. No promises about how long it will take. I have a spokeshave/drawknife toolbox, but don't think it's in with them.

[ken hatch]

I have one somewhere. If I run across it, I'll send it to you. I don't anticipate ever having a use for a folding one. PM me your address. No promises about how long it will take. I have a spokeshave/drawknife toolbox, but don't think it's in with them.

Tom,

Thanks, PM sent.

ken

[Brandon Speaks]

Yea ebay can get weird. Sometimes its based on a real specific item someone wants and it willing to pay the premium for even knowing its overpriced. I had a particular model of pocket knife I wanted and it was out of production, I found 2 NIB on ebay and knowingly paid double what they went for retail. All in I spend $80ish dollars more than they are worth but expect them to be daily users for the next 40 years so didnt really care because they were very specifically what I wanted so it was worth the premium for me.

[Matthew Hartlin]

I can't believe how pricey used handtools are going for on Ebay. I'm hopeful that it's a sign of more folks being interested in the Neanderthal or hybrid style of woodworking.

I've been looking for a Stanley 49 to go with my 48 for years and the prices are so varied. Just missed out on one that sold for a reasonable price! Will keep looking.

[Jim Koepke]

I can't believe how pricey used handtools are going for on Ebay.

Sometimes it is the uninformed. A few years ago there was a Stanley #5 listed with the front of the body missing. It was broken off at the mouth. The listing called it a "Rare Bull Nosed Bench Plane." It sold for $150.

Sometimes it is an idiot or a close cousin of the fool. They may be people who feel they must win the bid. It used to be easier to track who was bidding on what and get to know their ways. There are those who will up the bid by 50¢ or $1 dollar and then keep doing it again and again until they are the high bidder. Then someone else ups the bid another dollar. There are some that will bid what they think is above top dollar and hope to win. Sometimes someone else has figured out their technique and will bid right under them. After a while this might get the 'got to have it at any price' bidders to go broke or disappear.

It reminds me of something that happened many years ago during my coin collecting years. My wife went out with one of the daughters looking for yard sales. When she got home she said she found a book for me. It was A Guide Book of United States Coins by R.S. Yeoman, 1947. This is commonly known as "The Red Book." She said it was only 50¢. The interesting thing about this book is it is republished every year with the cover saying A Guide Book of United States Coins by R.S. Yeoman, 1948 2nd Edition, or what ever the year and edition. Any way there was already a more modern edition in my library. This was examined and seen to be pretty much the same other than different prices and other things that have changed over the years. It was taken to a coin show and shown to a few dealers. A few said it was worth about $50 in the condition it was in. One said, "I'll give you $50 for it." Okay, it's a deal. When walking away from his stall, he turned to the dealer next to him and in a sing song voice said, "I've got a first edition red book and you don't."

So sometimes it is just for the bragging rights.

jtk

[Stephen Rosenthal]

I can't believe how pricey used handtools are going for on Ebay. I'm hopeful that it's a sign of more folks being interested in the Neanderthal or hybrid style of woodworking.

I've been looking for a Stanley 49 to go with my 48 for years and the prices are so varied. Just missed out on one that sold for a reasonable price! Will keep looking.

A few weeks ago I commented about this on the general woodworking forum. I started noticing the skyrocketing eBay used hand tool prices around April, so I think it has to do more with the decreased manufacturing productivity due to the pandemic than anything else. Prices for used LN tools sell for 2-3 times new retail. If you’re patient, I’m quite sure some sense of sanity will return to the marketplace once life returns to a semblance of normalcy. Of course if you’re going to sell your tools on eBay, now might be the time.

[Tom Vanzant]

Several years ago, there was a “custom #5 Stanley plane” listed on eBay. It looked “off”, and the seller finally admitted it was a #7 with the tail bobbed off past the No. 7. It sold for over $300 to a guy who had a history of buying oddities. Whatever floats your boat...

[john zulu]

I love hate relationship with ebay. The shipping cost....... As for bidding. It is a norm the prices rocket up.

[Bruce King]

I haven’t bid on anything lately but I used to win bids by not bidding until 15 seconds before the item closes. Some others are doing it also so I just bid the max I want to pay plus 10 percent if I really want it. Bidding before the last few seconds just drives the price up.

[Jake Hillestad]

"Deals" are few and far between anymore. Still a great resource in that it lets you cover a lot of ground from your recliner. If I had to depend on antique shops and yards sales for my want list I wouldn't get anywhere compared to what I can find daily on the 'bay. I don't consider myself a collector but I want what I want and I'll pay for it up to a certain point without losing too much sleep.

[Jim Koepke]

Prices for used LN tools sell for 2-3 times new retail.

Are these out of stock at LN? That could explain it if there is an unknown backlog for availability.

jtk

[Bob Jones 5443]

Every L-N bench plane (except the No. 8) is out of stock. It's come to that. That hit home when I noticed it yesterday. Sad days. We are all rooting for them to rise again.

Supply chains are disrupted up and down the scale. I can't even buy a pack of fret saw blades from Knew Concepts this week.

On the other end, buying behavior is distorted from long-run averages, so makers can't predict demand. Spot shortages abound if makers aren't keeping huge inventories, and who would do that today?

For used tools, I can't say it enough: I do not bid on eBay. I avoid getting crushed by the Gotta Have It crowd.

The hiked prices on used tools are indeed troubling to me, but they're not limited to eBay. We sometimes run across them here, I must say. The sellers' thinking must run something like, "If people can't buy it at any price from Lie-Nielsen, they'll pay $50 less than the new L-N price for somebody's used plane now." Who's to say that's wrong? We each decide when to part with our cash. If there's a buyer, then the price is right.

The current hype has overheated the used market and made it less attractive lately (to me, at least), but I have to believe it will swing back once we live through a supply/demand cycle or two. Maybe we'll see a renaissance of supporting the real craftspeople and buy their stuff new again when they emerge from their slump. I'd like to hope so.

[Curt Harms]

I haven’t bid on anything lately but I used to win bids by not bidding until 15 seconds before the item closes. Some others are doing it also so I just bid the max I want to pay plus 10 percent if I really want it. Bidding before the last few seconds just drives the price up.

There's at least one auction site that doesn't close the bidding until there's been no activity for 15 minutes. That defeats the snipers.

[Jim Koepke]

Just looked at ebay and one of the promotions at the bottom of things recently looked at is a Nickel minted during WW II, a 1943-P. The only thing special about these is they actually do not have any nickel in them. Nickel was a 'critical war material' at the time so silver was used in nickels during the war.

Item number 184187550101 is a Buy It Now at $1,800 plus $5 shipping. It is in lousy condition if you ask me. Another one in much better condition is listed as BIN for $13.25 with shipping included.

jtk

[Mel Fulks]

Jim, good sharp eyes find good comedy! When I was a kid those things were circulating. I saved them in an official
nickle coin collector blue album ....until I needed an emergency candy bar. Then I'd pop 'em out and head for the corner
beer and candy place.

[Andrew Pitonyak]

Years ago I saw lots of #8 planes at a great price so I bought one. It was a dream to use. I thought nothing of giving it to a friend who was visiting and then I went back to buy another and the prices were much higher. I managed to buy one but it does not work nearly as well. I did not replace it because the prices are so crazy.

I considered buying some new things and then selling them on eBay because they were selling higher than new. But you lose so much on the sale when you sell so the seller still might lose money even if selling 20% over retail.

[Buddy Morphis]

I've been trying to buy a #5 jack plane for 2 weeks now with no luck. I usually get out bid in the last few seconds or like others have said I look for the BIN , but on stanley planes most of it is way over priced or junk on the BIN.

[Jim Koepke]

I've been trying to buy a #5 jack plane for 2 weeks now with no luck. I usually get out bid in the last few seconds or like others have said I look for the BIN , but on stanley planes most of it is way over priced or junk on the BIN.

You may have better luck at estate sales, antique malls or junk stores.

What area do you live in? Others in the area might have ideas about where to look.

Are you looking for a plane that is ready to go or are you willing to clean off a bit of grime & rust?

jtk

[Kurt Cady]

I've been trying to buy a #5 jack plane for 2 weeks now with no luck. I usually get out bid in the last few seconds or like others have said I look for the BIN , but on stanley planes most of it is way over priced or junk on the BIN.

What’s are you looking for exactly and what is your budget? Do you have PM privileges?

[Jim Koepke]

What’s are you looking for exactly and what is your budget? Do you have PM privileges?

PM privileges are not available to non-contributors.

Getting outbid in the last few seconds usually means someone else is waiting until then to enter their high bid. It is often referred to as sniping. Sometimes it is the only way to win a bid.

jtk

[David Bassett]

PM privileges are not available to non-contributors.

Getting outbid in the last few seconds usually means someone else is waiting until then to enter their high bid. It is often referred to as sniping. Sometimes it is the only way to win a bid.

jtk

I have a slightly different view of sniping.

On eBay, or at any auction, you need to decide the most an item is worth to you and be willing to walk away. Sometimes people get caught up in the moment and overbid. I see sniping as a way to prevent someone at nibbling* at your top bid by hiding it until the end. If you've entered the max the item is worth to you, you are still likely to lose to someone willing to pay more, but at least not to someone with "auction fever".

(* I haven't been to eBay in a long while, it got too frustrating and seemed to be overpriced, but back-in-the-day I once checked the bid history and saw the person I'd lost too had placed 11 bids to find and beat my max. I haven't not sniped an auction I've bid on since then. Note eBay is weird, you don't pay your max bid. You pay the 2nd place bidder's max bid plus one "increment".)

[Jim Koepke]

Nibbling, sniping bid and walk away, all legitimate bid strategies. Some are annoying, especially the nibblers. It is kind of fun to nibble back at them.

My ebay buying has been almost nonexistent the past few years other than a few Buy It Now items.

If something is desired an alert is set up and items are watched every day. Occasionally someone sets up a Buy It Now auction without any research or wanting to get something sold quickly.

ebay has changed considerably over the years. There used to be many more irregular people listing. Now it is set up more for people with ebay stores or listing a lot of items all the time.

In the past my visits to ebay were often multiple times a day. Now a week might go by without looking for anything. Most often now is when someone here asks a question about an item they are looking to purchase.

jtk

[David Bassett]

... Now a week might go by without looking for anything. ...

Makes you an addict by my standards! :)

I can't remember the last time I looked there and it's been almost 4 years since my last purchase. That was BIN, 6 years since I won an auction.

[Buddy Morphis]

Jim thanks for the info , I live in east Texas , but I did find one thats on the way to me.