Frank wrote a medium length, well though out statement on the travails of
selling on *bay
> ... clipped ....
Thanks for the warnings. I absolutely agree that eBay definitely takes the
buyer's side, no questions, so when I have had any issues, I don't even
quibble. If the item is worth having returned, I'll ask for it back,
otherwise I'll offer a discount/refund depending on what seems best for
all. The few times I've received complaints, it never struck me as a scam
and truly seemed fault of mine for missing a flaw.
On the selling note, if anyone remembers the old "Daddy has a saw problem"
posts from long ago, I think I'd fit that description for saws, braces,
planes and chisels most notably. I've thankfully been able to work from
home through all of the lockdown but with the extra time at home without
the commute and no estate sales to go to I have been catching up on a lot
of 'round to it' culling and selling of excess tools on the bay.
Thankfully, have not had any similar experiences with complaints but will
be wary if I do.
I started selling excess stuff through a booth in an antique mall a few
years ago and hadn't sold much online for quite some time. The antique
mall is good for large items that don't ship well and small items that no
one would pay shipping on but I've found that Stanley planes in nice
condition do not sell well for the prices I wanted and so I've just been
setting those aside. Here recently, have found on the bay that planes have
overall been doing well, especially for the larger sizes. Common 3 and 4
sized have been a little under what I might have expected but still doing
fine compared to the yardsale prices I got them for. I only seem to be
able to clean one or two planes a week but over the course of the last two
months it's putting a pleasing dent in the backlog.
Brace drills still seem to do OK and I've had a few surprises with some of
the less common ones I've listed. Throwing a few bits in with the listing
seems to help. Have almost depleted the pile of "excess" braces although
the "keeper" pile probably needs some scrutiny.
Haven't tried getting rid of any saws yet. If anyone has any tips for
where to find suitable boxes to ship I'm all ears. Would have torn into
the stash but still can't come up with a good option here that doesn't
involve making something from a much larger box.
Other random tools seem about the same as I ever remembered. Push drills
do well if all the bits are there and are barely worth the time if they
aren't. Saw sharpening stuff is still OK if it's got a recognizable name
but if not is not going to get a whole lot. Box lots of pliers don't seem
to do much better than yardsale prices which will hopefully dissuade me
from buying anymore once things start getting back to normal. Drawknives
in decent shape still have plenty of demand if you can buy them right.
Unfortunately most that I have that can go away are missing a handle(s) and
I still haven't mastered the art of making replacements.
Last week I made the major mistake of getting all of the chisels out and
laid them all out in one place to pull things that were not worth the time
or that I had too many of. SWMBO thankfully didn't comment on them if she
saw them. Have now got a pile that need to be prepped to sell but looking
at completed items, seems like chisel prices may not be too promising for
anything that isn't in spectacular shape. Hoping I will keep the momentum
up and find out one way or another. Will be nice to get some of the shop
space back regardless. If I keep it up, maybe I'll make enough room to get
the lathe back up and running and fix that drawknife problem once and for
all.
Take care all,
Andrew
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