What’s up with all the “Combo” kits?

[Bruce Page]

It seems like everyday somebody is selling a “NIB!! Combo Kit” on my local Craigslist. DeWalt, Ryobi, Makita, you name it and you’ll find it within a few days, brand new in the box.
I haven’t been able to figure out the scam angle but surely there must be one.
Any ideas on what’s going on?

[glenn bradley]

I do see some repeat folks that come up with NIB stuff more often than seems reasonable. I avoid them and buy elsewhere. I have no interest in even possibly buying something at the detriment to someone else. I'm not judgin', I'm just sayin' . . . I probably miss a few legit bargains but, oh well.

[Dan Friedrichs]

I don't know either, but saw a 15 piece (NOT including batteries and chargers) Makita combo kit on my CL recently. I like Makita stuff, but do I need 6 different drilling-type-tools, plus 9 other cordless tools?! Why do they even make this "kit"?

Attached is the picture of it... I have a hard time believing someone bought this for $1500, then suddenly decided to re-sell it for half the price?

[Brian Effinger]

May not be a scam, just stolen merchandise.

[Mitchell Andrus]

Could be a scam, could be someone needed batteries and is selling the rest of the new kit with some old batteries.

Every time I need a few batteries, I buy a new drill too. Got a bunch of 'em because the drill adds only a small percentage to the cost of the batteries if otherwise purchased separately.
.

[Bruce Page]

I have a hard time believing someone bought this for $1500, then suddenly decided to re-sell it for half the price?

That seems to be a common theme.

No doubt that some of it is stolen but from where? Is some ring breaking into warehouses?

[Bryan Morgan]

That seems to be a common theme.

No doubt that some of it is stolen but from where? Is some ring breaking into warehouses?

Or stealing them from the freight vehicles (sometimes the drivers... I've been offered stuff from guys who drive these trucks and "somehow" wound up with some of the merchandise they were supposed to be delivering...)

[Rob Damon]

Another possibility.

I have been in HD when some guy comes up dragging a 4'x8' sheet of luaun, with a corner dinged off and said to the store manager, "hey I just need a 3'x4' piece of this, but since it is damaged, how about $2? (normal price that day was $9) and the manager said "sure" and marked it down.
I have also seen guys come in tear open a box that a wall cabinet/base cabinet is in and ask for a discount. HD also has a special order return areas or parts missing area, where tools are discounted.

I went in to buy a full spool 1/4" steel cable and you could clearly tell someone had bought it, took a few feet, and brought it back. I asked if they had anymore full spools that had not been un-opened. They looked around and couldn't find one. I asked when they would get another shipment and he responded "as soon as we sell this spool". Then he said "how much of the spool do you think is missing?" to which I said "I don't have a clue, but if you want to unroll it and measure it, I will pay the normal bulk rated listed per foot." He then looked at it and then looked at some of the other sized spools (this was 500lf) and said "looks about 1/4 emtpy, so if you buy this opened spool you can have it for half price". Yep, sounds like a deal to me. When I got it home, and measured it, it was about 10' shy of 500'. So I could have sold it on CL for a heavy discount price as well.

The point is, some of it could be legit, but it was purchased at a huge discount, because of a damaged box. I have seen listings on CL for NIB and the tool is clearing sitting outside the box. This listing rarely will say in unopend NIB. So if this guy has a buddy at the local BORG that keeps an eye out for returned, slight damaged goods, he could be getting the stuff for half price or less.

Also, remember when the Milwaukee SCMS that was listing for $649 and was put on sell for $299. Within a day there were listings on CL for $450 described as "Such a deal, my loss is your gain, this normally sales for $700+, but I need the money, so I am sacrificing and only asking $450." A nice quick $150 profit.

Rob

[Brian Elfert]

I thought most home improvement stores (and retail stores in general) have a policy of not selling items at a discount unless the store marked it down? This is to stop the folks that intentionally damage an item to get a discount.

[Dave Lehnert]

I work in retail and do not sell any damaged product to customers.
I had this one lady I would sell flowers to cheap because they were out of bloom or one plant in a 6 pack was dead etc... I happened to be working late one night and found out she would come in on 2nd shift and exchange the plants I sold to her cheap for good product.

Anyway.......... I am convinced that any item NIB being sold on CL is just stolen from a store. if not , why would one not just return it for full price?

[Van Huskey]

Many if not all the Dewalt sets showing up are from the sale HD had and as mentioned same with the Milwaukee CSMS. There are tons of people that make extra cash breaking up multi-tool sets selling off the pieces OR selling off the bare tools and ending up with the batteries and chargers they need for "free". Certainly there is a level of scam and stolen goods but if you watch there are lots of GREAT deals on multi-tool sets but are usually gone in seconds, the people buying them are wired into slick deals type sites and buy them up for resell. In the olden days these "deals" were passed on to other dealers but today it is quicker and cheaper to blow them out on the web and generate customer good will in the process, but as I said they tend to be snapped up by resellers in moments.

[Pat Germain]

There are many situations where people get free stuff, to include tool kits; conventions, promotions and employee anniversary gifts for example. My employer gave me a DeWalt reciprocating saw for 15 years of service. I could have easily posted it on Craigslist as "New In Box" and sold it. (BTW, that gift program is now defunct.)

When you get to the high-end world of business, you would not believe the stuff people throw around and throw away. Back in the VCR days, someone came to my place of employment with a extremely high end, commercial, editing VCR. It was for one project. When the project was over, that someone left and left behind that VCR. It became part of my workcenter equipment.

Another example is disaster cleanup. Right after hurricane Andrew hit Florida, my next door neighbor the Air Force guy was sent to South Dade County. He helped clean up areas where department stores had been destroyed. They were throwing away entire departments of merchandise. Suddenly, this guy's wife was receiving giant boxes of toys and power tools collected from Wal-Mart, K-Mart and other stores. If he had not taken the stuff, it would have ended up in the landfill. The insurance company had already written it off.

People also win stuff they don't really want in raffles, drawings and contests. They often sell it.

So, it does seem suspicious to be selling NIB stuff so often for so little. And it certainly could be stolen. But I doubt it. Serious thieves have many other places to sell their booty. They likely wouldn't bother with Craigslist.

[Ben Rafael]

A few months ago HD had a promo where if you opened a business credit card they'd give you $200 credit for that day's purchases. You didn't need a business to get the card or credit. I'm sure some people took advantage of that deal to buy and resell something. Combo kits are easy to resell.

[Brian Elfert]

Two years I got in on a promotional deal where the first 100 people could spend $500 at Home Depot online and get the whole $500 refunded.

Gift cards were not excluded so I was able to buy $500 worth and sell them. Gift cards are easier to sell than tools.