A silly online auction experience

[Zachary Hoyt]

I have bought a lot of things from this company including my current Unisaw, bigger bandsaw, scroll saw, drill press, house, etc., so I am not saying they are silly, but the seller must be. I bid $60 on a Triton spindle sander (to have as a spare/ second unit) from a school district about 60 miles from here and got the highest bid at $52.50. All I had to go on when bidding was a picture of the box and a description of 'used but in working condition'. There is always an approval that has to be waited for when bidding on school/government property, but always before whatever I bid was approved. Today I got an email saying that my bid had been declined by the seller but they had made a counteroffer of $250. This is more than a new one costs, so after a struggle I persuaded myself not to accept the offer. When I checked the past prices section of the auction company website the seller had posted that there was a $250 minimum bid on everything, so all that got sold were a planer and a bus. I don't know who would think they would get that much for a Craftsman radial arm saw, or a non-functional walk behind snowblower. I just hope that whoever oversaw the auction is not also teaching kids, as I would think the kids might not be able to learn very much in that case.

https://www.auctionsinternational.com/auction/35875/item/triton-oscillating-spindle-sander-223672

[Warren Lake]

schools are stupid. My worst two machinery purchases were high school woodworking. After that I did my own survey and called up schools and colleges and talked to woodworking teachers. One told me hes seen people teaching woodworking that were teaching computers a week before. One of them said "we never misrepresent equipment we are selling, we are clear about damage, we just hope to get a bit of money back on used to go towards new stuff" . Have respect for that guy.

[Richard Coers]

I've seen prices on Facebook Marketplace doing the same thing. Near new prices. But on there, they can lower the prices, but often that is like $20 less. Everyone thinks they own gold.

[Zachary Hoyt]

I've had very good luck with school auction tools before. The ones I have bought have been good, though sometimes they have needed a little work to get back to how they ought to be. It's a funny world out there on CL and Facebook Marketplace too, for sure. I am a bottom feeder and only buy things when the price is low enough for a cheapskate like me.

[Pat Germain]

"No low-ballers! I know what I got!". Says it all.

[andrew whicker]

I bought a 18 inch planer and a bunch of saw blades from a school. The planer had a bad sleeve bearing that damaged the feed shaft. Machinist got it sorted out. Works great now.

Schools are fine by me. They buy such nice stuff that's it hard to really break the machine to the point of inoperability.

At least around here. But we also have some of the lowest teacher salaries in the nation so maybe the two are connected: nice equipment and poorly paid teachers.

There is a guy on fb right now that wants 750 for a Seco shaper that is literally sitting outside rusting. He has is hand on the top to show us how massive said shaper is and the description is something like "huge shaper for sale"

Yeah buddy. Get it if you can I guess.

[andrew whicker]

The fb post:

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1386016515377891/?ref=search

[Bruce Wrenn]

The fb post:

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1386016515377891/?ref=search
Scroll down the page, and look at the "In Closed Trailer." Wonder what is in the trailer?

[Zachary Hoyt]

Scroll down the page, and look at the "In Closed Trailer." Wonder what is in the trailer?
My usual reaction to that type of question is "Maybe Jimmy Hoffa is in there."

[Derek Cohen]

I have bought a lot of things from this company including my current Unisaw, bigger bandsaw, scroll saw, drill press, house, etc., so I am not saying they are silly, but the seller must be. I bid $60 on a Triton spindle sander (to have as a spare/ second unit) from a school district about 60 miles from here and got the highest bid at $52.50. All I had to go on when bidding was a picture of the box and a description of 'used but in working condition'. There is always an approval that has to be waited for when bidding on school/government property, but always before whatever I bid was approved. Today I got an email saying that my bid had been declined by the seller but they had made a counteroffer of $250. This is more than a new one costs, so after a struggle I persuaded myself not to accept the offer. When I checked the past prices section of the auction company website the seller had posted that there was a $250 minimum bid on everything, so all that got sold were a planer and a bus. I don't know who would think they would get that much for a Craftsman radial arm saw, or a non-functional walk behind snowblower. I just hope that whoever oversaw the auction is not also teaching kids, as I would think the kids might not be able to learn very much in that case.

https://www.auctionsinternational.com/auction/35875/item/triton-oscillating-spindle-sander-223672

Is this legal? There is no minimum price set, no reserve. Is this not a contract?

Regards from Perth

Derek

[mike stenson]

Is this legal? There is no minimum price set, no reserve. Is this not a contract?

Regards from Perth

Derek

Welcome to US Derek, the fine print rules.

From that page.

Terms of Sale
Item(s) sold SUBJECT to seller's approval after bids close.

[Zachary Hoyt]

I've never had a bid rejected before, and I've bought several tools, a bus and a house at various times from this company. I think the seller approval is probably required by a lot of government or school sellers, as they likely have certain procedures they are required to follow about buying or selling things.

[mike stenson]

Or, it seems, that they don't get bids over new selling price.

[Mark Gibney]

To be fair Andrew, that shaper is down from the initial asking price of $1K.
Buy now and save $250!

[Derek Kessler]

Crazy counteroffer, good thing you didn't accept it. It's a bit of a hit or miss for me when it comes to school auctions. Sometimes the price is ridiculous so I don't bother, and sometimes I get a tool that needs just a little bit of maintenance to get it working good again.

[James Baldwin]

I've bought several things from school auctions. The site I use is Public Surplus. They do government entities also. Never had any problems. I picked up a Jet 7X12 horizontal/vertical metal cutting bandsaw really cheap and there wasn't a thing wrong with it. They were purchasing new equipment. Was an 8 hour drive to pick it up. The other idem was a Jet 16/46 wood lathe. Was also an 8 drive to pick it up but I use the heck out of it. B.T. W I sold my old horizontal/vertical bandsaw for about the same price I paid for the new one. Same with my Jet 12/36 lathe. I thing when all was said and done it cost me about $200 for newer and better tools. Jim