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Thread: eBay

  1. #1

    eBay

    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

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Location
    Houston TX
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    548
    Ken, two folks probably wanted it & got into a bidding war. As you saw, it can get crazy!

  3. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by Tom Vanzant View Post
    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

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jan 2020
    Location
    West Central Illinois
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    194
    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?

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Apr 2018
    Location
    Cambridge Vermont
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    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.

  6. #6
    Join Date
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    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
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Nov 2019
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    Big Bend/Panhandle, FL
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    122
    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!

  8. #8
    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!

    Left click my name for homepage link.

  9. #9
    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??

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Feb 2020
    Location
    Camarillo, CA
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    417
    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.

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Sep 2019
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    Lafayette, CA
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    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.

  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tom Levy View Post
    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
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bob Jones 5443 View Post
    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
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Feb 2014
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    Lake Gaston, Henrico, NC
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    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.

  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by Tom M King View Post
    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

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