More evidence of crazy tool market.

[Jim Koepke]

Getting the names and terminology correct is another challenge in the crazy tool market.
I've seen things listed as lumbar, carpentree and others. I've also found that chisel identification is almost impossible by the listings. It's hard enough if you sort of know what you're doing. Timber frame, firmer and beveled edge are all interchangeable terms, it has no basis on what the tool actually is.
Here's a recent one.
"Vintage 2" PS & W CO. Timber Framing Wood Lathe Carving Turning Gouge Chisel (NO HANDLE)"

Now I'm pretty handy with a lathe but I don't think this is a turning tool.

Wow, the seller must have never heard of a slick.

Some sellers have very little knowledge of what they are selling. Others do the shotgun description to show up in more searches. This is also why some sellers would include the words, "not Buck, Stanley" to get items to show up in unrelated searches.

It used to be wise to search misspellings of words such as Stanley, Starrett, Sargent and others. That may have been fixed in ebay's search function. There were also sellers that intentionally listed items as being Stanely just to get a quick bite from inexperienced bidders who just recently learned about searching for misspellings.

A lot of my better deals were of items with incorrect listings. Not of the wider net kind but of misspellings or misidentifications. Ebay used to be a much wilder place than it is today.

jtk

[Matt Hunstiger]

I've been building my collection of old tools via ebay.

I've seen some crazy stuff. A guy selling a Disston D8 hand saw for 250, didn't sell, last time I looked it had gone down, in 10$ increments, to 150...still unsold.

Another one that I saw sell a couple weeks ago, maybe some of you saw it too, was a Mint in Box Disston hand saw from ~100 years ago. It came with the box it was sold in from the hardware store, and the paper sleeve on the saw plate, and the etch was immaculate. Whole thing was immaculate. Basically a museum piece, if such a museum existed. It sold for just under 400.

Word to the wise, check common missspelllings! I got a good deal on a saw because no one else saw it, because the guy listed it under "Diston." Saw vice, saw vise!

[Luke Dupont]

I've been building my collection of old tools via ebay.

I've seen some crazy stuff. A guy selling a Disston D8 hand saw for 250, didn't sell, last time I looked it had gone down, in 10$ increments, to 150...still unsold.

Another one that I saw sell a couple weeks ago, maybe some of you saw it too, was a Mint in Box Disston hand saw from ~100 years ago. It came with the box it was sold in from the hardware store, and the paper sleeve on the saw plate, and the etch was immaculate. Whole thing was immaculate. Basically a museum piece, if such a museum existed. It sold for just under 400.

Word to the wise, check common missspelllings! I got a good deal on a saw because no one else saw it, because the guy listed it under "Diston." Saw vice, saw vise!

Years ago I scored a really nice old 2 x 7 Washita by searching not for "Washita Oilstone" (because those are all like $200) but for "old sharpening stone" / "whetstone" etc, and finding something that I was pretty sure was a Washita (David W. helped me here -- I sent him the links of what I found and asked if he too thought they were Washitas). It came in an old hand made yellow pine box and sold for $20. Probably my favorite stone to this day!

International shipping on Ebay has become ridiculous though, especially if you live outside of the U.S.
Most items are $25-$50 to ship to Japan. And even the smallest item from the UK is like $40 shipping, and that is continually climbing. I think shipping sharpening stones and the like from the UK is now like $70-$100...
Part of that is tax/export policies by the UK government, and part of that is all the chaos and mismanagement going on with supply chains in response to the pandemic, apparently.

Anyway, you guys would be surprised to see local auction sites here in Japan. You can score some really nice old Japanese tools for pretty cheap, even if the new stuff can be quite expensive. I just don't have enough knowledge to differentiate the "average" from the "really good" stuff when it comes to vintage Japanese tools... But if you don't care about that, you can find plenty of things to bid on and score cheaply, and most of them will be of quite decent or even really good quality. I often see large batches of chisels and planes going for like $15 - $30 just because they're old and need work (maybe new handles, and light rust). Individually, they tend to command higher prices though. I paid $30 for a used Nankin Kanna / Japanese spokeshave -- but they usually go for 70-150 new, so I consider it a deal still.

[Bill Bukovec]

Often people from other countries will pay more for a used LN or LV tool because the inport taxes are a lot less. In the long run they still get the tool at less than they would have to pay on a new one with import or value added taxes.

jtk

On another Facebook group, the original poster admitted that he picked the starting bid $10 less than what one sold for on Ebay.

[Mike Manning]

As Tom Waits once said..

Hello sucker, we like your money, just as well as anybody else's here

+1 for any Tom Waits references, quotes, etc. :0)

[Edward Weber]

I just had an ebay item I came accross arrive in my email, apparently it's still available.
Vintage Pexto 2" Firmer Socket Chisel Restored

. Asking price $65.09, shipping $11.60
So for the low, low price of $76.69 , it could be mine.
Along with the 1 1/4" split in the socket
Attachment 477352
And just in case any of these sellers are reading this, taking a wire whell to something old is not "restoring" it.

I got an email this morning, this is still available.
Don't all rush at once

[Stephen Rosenthal]

Often people from other countries will pay more for a used LN or LV tool because the inport taxes are a lot less. In the long run they still get the tool at less than they would have to pay on a new one with import or value added taxes.

jtk

I follow LN on eBay. Today an unopened brand new set of scrapers (2 pieces) sold for $53 with free shipping. The seller specified shipping to US only. They are in stock at LN for $15. Cost with shipping = $26.15. So is this an example of a crazy tool market or a crazy buyer?

[Jim Koepke]

Some folks do not pay attention to the current price or availability, so maybe an uninformed buyer or one who neglected to do due diligence?

jtk

[Stephen Rosenthal]

13 bidders. That’s a lot of uninformed buyers, especially for something like card scrapers.

[Jim Koepke]

13 bidders. That’s a lot of uninformed buyers, especially for something like card scrapers.

Searching ebay didn't turn this up in the completed sales. My curiosity was wondering if this was 13 individual bidders, one bidder who kept upping the bid by the minimum amount or a couple bidders engaged in a bidding war.

jtk

[Stephen Rosenthal]

13 individuals, 4 continued to bid past the price from LN (including shipping). What’s interesting is that the eventual winner didn’t start bidding until after it reached the overpriced amount and even doubled down in the event somebody outbid. Makes me wonder about price manipulation. But the reason I posted this is because other in stock LN items have been overbid in the tool frenzy we’re experiencing and I feel it’s much more important to support LN than some anonymous eBay seller.

[Jim Koepke]

13 individuals, 4 continued to bid past the price from LN (including shipping). What’s interesting is that the eventual winner didn’t start bidding until after it reached the overpriced amount and even doubled down in the event somebody outbid. Makes me wonder about price manipulation. But the reason I posted this is because other in stock LN items have been overbid in the tool frenzy we’re experiencing and I feel it’s much more important to support LN than some anonymous eBay seller.

Agree with you on this Stephen. Though one might consider the idea that the losers of the auction might take a look at the LN site and make a purchase at a better price. Maybe even the seller will buy another set and try again to make another score.

Sometimes we have to let the fools be fools.

jtk