I have pretty much stopped shopping on Ebay. I now have a very functional basic kit of tools, and am trying to keep it simple.
Chris
Member
I have pretty much stopped shopping on Ebay. I now have a very functional basic kit of tools, and am trying to keep it simple.
Chris
Member
What really irritates me are the "salesman's samples" that every idiot with a small tool to sell has.
This guy was selling a Swiss watch maker';s hammer. Everyone makes them. It was a "Salesman's sample" in his ad.
I informed him what it was. His response: "I never heard of a Swiss watch maker". I replied "Ever heard of Rolex"? What can you do with an idiot like that? I think he was just a con man.
Contributor
Hah, why would a salesman carry around miniature tools? Seems counter-intuitive to selling tools. I believe coke salesmen carried small samples of the coolers which likely causes people to leap to the conclusion that everything small is a salesman's sample.
Bumbling forward into the unknown.
Member
Some of the vender's brains are salesmen's samples!!
Contributor
Well I just (FINALLY!) got a Lie-Nielsen chisel plane for $100 with free shipping. I have been waiting 3 years, saying it's not a tool I just have to have, but one that I want, so I set my limit at $100, knowing that is probably going to be quite the challenge. $120 seems to be the going rate on eBay. The deal showed up last night- Buy it now, free shipping, $100. Someone replaced the screw for the lever cap with a hex head screw that looks like what comes with ikea furniture, but that's a cheap fix if I desire to go back to the original screw.
I was going to post a warning, and I'll just do it here rather than start another thread. There are a few glitches with the eBay app for iPad/iPhone. I posted one before- I won the bid, and went to pay, and it said I didn't win, and have had the clock even start ticking again on stuff I already won. Also on the above Lie Nielsen plane, it said "Free Shipping" and I checked that twice plus looked in the copy to see if they added the usual "48 states only" (I hate that) and they didn't, so I bid. Well when I went to pay, it said that the seller had not set up a payment method, and it said it was "Local pickup only." I went back to the posting, and lo and behold, now it says "Local Pickup Only." It said "Free Shipping" before!!! I was quite embarrassed. I cherish my feedback, so I started calling friends in Virginia to see if they lived nearby. Nobody did. I wrote the guy and said I would figure out a way to get it. This morning I logged in and tried again just to see, and now it had free shipping, and it let me pay. They wrote me saying they could ship it free to the 48 US (In case you didn't know, there are only 48 these days) but I said I'd pay the rest. Long story short- the eBay app has some glitches.
Contributor
Prices seem higher to me,too. I was thinking it was because the recession of a few years ago is over for more people, allowing for some disposable income, For others, recession is still on...
Contributor
A lot of cautions exist with eBay. Lots. I find it better to purchase tools from the classified section in the Creek. Most folks keep tools in relatively good condition. Not so much in other places like eBay.
Contributor
Yes, Ebay has gone nuts.
I've quit trying to find planes there anymore and just buy them new.
They're better than the old Stanley's anyway and I can get to work on my work instead of my tools!
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