thats alot of money for a general box
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GeorgiaHybrid
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I saw that one earlier today. Funny how a guy has been in the business for years and retires but he has a new US General box from Harbor Freight....
Deafautotech
Well-known member
yeah i dont understand neither....
rsanter
Well-known member
thats a good deal.......for the seller
bob
bob
Seanbev24
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You never know. Until I upgraded to a krl722, my work box was a 40" kobalt full of mostly SnapOn tools.
GeorgiaHybrid
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The problem is the new box, not the US General box (then again....). What idiot buys a new box and then "retires"? It makes everything in the post suspect.
mrholeshot
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Did none of you read that it's full of tools? When my dad retired he had 4 worn out Craftsman boxes but they were overfilled with some of the best SK, Older craftsman,Proto,Snap-On, Mac and about another dozen brands of high quality tools ever made. No wrench organizers, just drawers piled full of wrenches. He knw where each one was but nobody else would have. You open up a drawer in one of those 26 inch boxes and there were probably 200 wrenches jamed in one drawer. None of that plastic tray show off tour tools **** for him. Tool storage wasmn't his highest priority, he didn't get caught up in in the stylist prestige of high dollar boxes. he had the right quality tool for the job, did work the right way and made an excellant living at it and never made a tool payment to a tool truck. If he needed or wanted tools off the truck he walked in opened up that 2 inch thick wallet and laid out the cash for it. He knew how to make a dooler with spending half of it making tool truck payments on prestige of a huge shiny box. If he was still living I could see him with a set of these boxes after the bottoms of those old craftsmans just let go. I can still remember he would have to shove a few 2x4s under the edge of one box because the caster collased into the box.
Not everyone gets caught up in that "Prestige" world of tool boxes like some of us have. He knew what he was doing and had everything to do it with. He retired(for the third time) in 1990 and he was still using some of the same craftsman boxes and most of the same tools he had when I was 5 years old sweeping the floor and washing parts in his garage and that was 1958. His last new toolbox was a Silver Craftsman with red drawers. He was still (Along with all his old ones) using them in his home shop when he died in 1994.
When I die and all my stuff hits the sale people will probable knock themselves over to get at the stuff in my Snap-On boxes in my cyl head shop but will prob overlook all the smaller boxes and laugh right past my wood tool box.
My point is don't underestimate what you see on the surface. I bought a st of homeowner(the ones with the external locking bars) craftsman tool boxes at a yard sale. They had been sitting there for 2 days with 500 dollars on them and were full of tools. I looked through each drawer quickly and pulled out 300 dollars to hold the box until my wife got there with the rest of the money. I sat down in front of the box and waited an hour until my wife and one of my sons showed up with my truck. I paid the lady the other 200 hundred and we loaded them up. There was 4 complete sets of Snap-On wrenches (big sets) a few large sets of Snap-On sockets, ratchets, extentions, etc. I sold off most of the Snap-On to my guys at 50% off list and collected about 1500, kept some stuff for myself and them sold the box and the rest of the contents to a flea market vendor who came by my shop and picked it up for 350 dollars and he doubled his money.
I have also gone out to look at a bunch of Snap-On Mac, Cornwell,Matco only to find them filled with **** Never judge a book by it's cover
Not everyone gets caught up in that "Prestige" world of tool boxes like some of us have. He knew what he was doing and had everything to do it with. He retired(for the third time) in 1990 and he was still using some of the same craftsman boxes and most of the same tools he had when I was 5 years old sweeping the floor and washing parts in his garage and that was 1958. His last new toolbox was a Silver Craftsman with red drawers. He was still (Along with all his old ones) using them in his home shop when he died in 1994.
When I die and all my stuff hits the sale people will probable knock themselves over to get at the stuff in my Snap-On boxes in my cyl head shop but will prob overlook all the smaller boxes and laugh right past my wood tool box.
My point is don't underestimate what you see on the surface. I bought a st of homeowner(the ones with the external locking bars) craftsman tool boxes at a yard sale. They had been sitting there for 2 days with 500 dollars on them and were full of tools. I looked through each drawer quickly and pulled out 300 dollars to hold the box until my wife got there with the rest of the money. I sat down in front of the box and waited an hour until my wife and one of my sons showed up with my truck. I paid the lady the other 200 hundred and we loaded them up. There was 4 complete sets of Snap-On wrenches (big sets) a few large sets of Snap-On sockets, ratchets, extentions, etc. I sold off most of the Snap-On to my guys at 50% off list and collected about 1500, kept some stuff for myself and them sold the box and the rest of the contents to a flea market vendor who came by my shop and picked it up for 350 dollars and he doubled his money.
I have also gone out to look at a bunch of Snap-On Mac, Cornwell,Matco only to find them filled with **** Never judge a book by it's cover
dualsub2006
Active member
And who says the box is new? That could be a year or two old. Our fleet mechanic bought a new Snap On box right before Christmas last year and was forced to retire because of a sudden heart condition back in July. **** happens.
GeorgiaHybrid
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That box is located about 3 miles from my office. I will call them tomorrow and take a look but I'm pretty sure it's not full of Snap-on. I will let you know though...
and holeshot, don't get your ******* in a wad, my main point is that box looks too new to be owned by a "retiree". There are times that a medical condition will cause an early retirement but in almost all of those cases, they mention that fact in the ad.
and holeshot, don't get your ******* in a wad, my main point is that box looks too new to be owned by a "retiree". There are times that a medical condition will cause an early retirement but in almost all of those cases, they mention that fact in the ad.
Lots of possibilities as to why the box looks so new. At any rate, if I was as close as you are, I'd definitely go have myself a look. Let us know what you find out. I'm curious.
mrholeshot
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Read your first post and you may understand why I got my ******* in a wad.
"What idiot buys a new box then retires"?
I guess it would be the same kind of idiot it takes to buy one of these toolboxes just to keep some of his tools out of cardboard boxes while he sells one toolbox and builds another. It just irritates me to prejudge someone based on a craigslist add that you know absolutly nothing about. For all you know there may be 30K worth of tools hiding in that box.
back2class
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I'm close. I buy a lot of toool boxes. This one strikes me as a waste.
dualsub2006
Active member
So, sight unseen it's a waste? I'm sure that someone will be very happy that you chose to stay home.
I hope the buyer is a member here and posts pictures and an inventory of what they scored.
kythri
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I suppose we'd have to see the contents, but I, also, am failing to see how it's automatically a bad deal, just because of the brand of the cabinets.
Sale prices:
$369.99 - 13-drawer bottom chest
$299.99 - Top cabinet
$199.99 - Side Cabinet
$199.99 - Side Cabinet
$869.96 - Total
$695.97 - Total after 20% off the entire assembly.
It doesn't seem hard to believe that there's $1300 (used prices) in tools in the cabinets. $1300 really doesn't get you that far today, especially if it's a truck brand (even accounting for eBay/used prices).
Sale prices:
$369.99 - 13-drawer bottom chest
$299.99 - Top cabinet
$199.99 - Side Cabinet
$199.99 - Side Cabinet
$869.96 - Total
$695.97 - Total after 20% off the entire assembly.
It doesn't seem hard to believe that there's $1300 (used prices) in tools in the cabinets. $1300 really doesn't get you that far today, especially if it's a truck brand (even accounting for eBay/used prices).
It's a horrible ad because it doesn't give the reader any idea why it is worth $2k or more. Why not list at least some of the tools? Why not 1 or 2 photos of open drawers? I hate it when people write crappy ads and then wonder why they get crappy responses because of it.
mrholeshot
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I buy a lot as well, I'm experiance enough not to speculate, brave enough to actually take a real look and knowledgeable enough to know when I can make a buck. I've dug through boxes of junky looking toolboxes and cardboard boxes at flea markets enough to know that every now and then a box of hidden treasure awaits. Then I'm smart enough to ask "How much for the whole box"?
mrholeshot
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Those are the ones I go to look at. A few days with no responce and a handful of cash speaks loud and clear. Lots of time people who take open shots of a few drawers (only four photos on CL) will set up the shot with the best stuff in two shot only to get there and find the rest of the box filled with India no name brand tools. magazines and car parts. You just never know. In this guys case if every drawer has at least craftsman tools it could be quite a haul. The boxes alone are worth 700 if you need a set of boxes
alamerang
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I have to agree with this. I see this all the time on craigslist. People selling high dollar items and don't even bother to post up a pic or really even specs on what they are selling. Seriously, if you can't bother posting a decent ad why would someone waste their time checking it out?
back2class
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In my experience, if someone knows enough about tools to have a huge newer box, and they have any real amount of good quality stuff they SAY SO. If it were some old Craftsman boxes I may be a little more open minded. That might tell me the buyer was a real old timer and did not even know what was a good quality name any more or some tool left to from a dead guy. By someone who is buying new boxes like that appreciates tools. They would have known to mention if there was quality stuff. If this guy has even more average stuff like SK, or even Craftsman he would have said so. He took time for good pics and to write a long paragraph. I am all about digging for treasure too but this one has all the signs of a waste.
Now I could be wrong, but I am 90% sure it would be a waste of an hour each way and that is not enough to roll the dice.
alamerang
Well-known member
No offense, but those boxes are now used boxes. How many times have people on here made fun of CL posts trying to sell 1 or 2 year old Snap On boxes for about $1000 off retail price?
Stick Figure
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Problem is that technique is very geography dependent. In this area out here, an ad with out pics is basically a skip for me. I'm not afraid to drive but a 50 mile trip can turn into a four hour adventure. Ad to that the fact that 90% of the items are large so i'll take the truck rather than the car and gas price and frustration of dealing w/ traffic increases a lot w/ the truck.
and yet i still see used KRL722's on craigslist all day long at more money than i paid for mine new.
As for the original ad it's out of my budget for tools to flip and nothing i need for myself, so i would just look right over it.
mrholeshot
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As a buyer that can be either a good thing or a bad thing. I buy and sell a lot of vintage guitars. I've had times where someone puts Vintage Gibson and it turned out to be an Epiphone by Gibson. I've seen adds that read Old Cheap Electric Guitar and get there and find a Mint Aria Pro in mint nearly unplayed condition. It's a **** shoot. For about every three deals I walk away from I snag a winner. You just have to be willing to spend the time and risk the let down to be able to hit the real score.
About a year ago I saw an add on craigslist "Gibson Les Paul Copy 500 dollars" The next week it was 350 dollars the last week it was 250 dollars W/case. I went to see it and found a Orville (by Gibson Japan) Les paul 59 reissue. The Orville by Gibson had all USA electronics and was a Les paul built in Japan. It was a great find and I whipped out the money so fast it was like I was on gunsmoke. The real kicker to the deal was the Liftion Fortess Les paul case that came with the sale. The case sold on ebay for over 1400 dollars.
Chadro
Well-known member
Most of the old timers at my shop (Truck/Diesel) have Craftsman boxes that are older then me. Seems the only guys that run Snap-On boxes are 20-35. Now that I think about , most truck shops I go to are full of majority Craftsman boxes. The local Dobbs Tires is full of big, pretty Snap-On boxes, though.
***Actually, one of the old guys has a MAC box so they're not all craftsman.
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brian90505
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That ad wouldn't even catch my interest, but this thread is entertaining.
mrholeshot
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I have a Chrysler Town and Country Van (caravan) that I use as my daily driver, It's not a gas hog and I drive it to go look at stuff. I carry cash but I never carry it all in the same pocket. I spead it out. I never seem anxious or excited and i look thing over really well. Then I start negociations. When I reach the point that I can make money on this deal I pull out my money and start counting. I'll give you ** amount of dollars right now. If he counters I'll look in another pocket and dig a little harder and counter holding a 10 dollar bill back for gas back home. If I buy I call the wife who brings my truck with trailer attached to haul it home. It's hard for many people to say no to a hand full of cash when they are trying to sell and the less they know about what they are selling the better unless it's a case of a guy who has a box full of Craftsman tools and thinks he has pure gold. It's a game and I love playing it. It allows me to make a living and meet a lot of people.
Yep, it could definitely make for a good day for the buyer. The seller is screwing himself over for not adequately describing what he has. It could be well worth the $2k or barely worth $600 or so.
mrholeshot
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If it was in my area I'd go look. in most cases people will ask a good bit more than what they will actaully take for it because they know people will try to carve the price down. I tell people right up front that my intent is to make money off what I buy. I also tell them that I don't need anymore tools but if I can bust it up and make a profit I'll buy it. I also know in my area in this economy not many people have 2000 dollars sitting around to plop down on tools, people don't want to take the time to list each item and they just waant to sell the tools and be done with it. If I think I can double my money I'll buy it. I never pay the asking price unless it i feel like I'm taking advantage by carving down the price on some lady who is selling her late husbands tools when she is letting them go for a song.
kythri
Well-known member
OK, so chop 50% off the 20%-off of the sale price, and say the boxes are $350.
$1650 in used-value tools still isn't hard to imagine.
That said, yes, this seller suffers from the same thing that just about everyone else selling a box of tools suffers from: Description Fail.
"BOX FULL OF AWESOME TOOLS FOR FAT WAD OF CASH, GREAT DEAL, BUY IT BASED ON THIS SINGLE PICTURE OF BOX EXTERIOR!!!!"
Too many of those out there, take your pick of the brand name attached to the cabinet and the tools. $25K Snap-On packages, $2K HF packages, and everything in between.
Stick Figure
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Sounds very familiar to my own methods. I just had to adjust being in "so cal." Drive time often kills a lot of deals. To give you an idea last Sat i had two craigslist ads to answer, and some Toyota parts to pick up. While we were out i had to stop by the g/fs co-workers place to check a car out that he was thinking of buying, and take one of my own co-workers by a car he was thinking of buying. We left at 10am we got home around 9pm. Of course that included stopping for meals, but one of which was the meeting place for the first craigslist deal.
Oh and i find the better place to keep the extra cash is in the g/f purse. That way it looks like i have to borrow from her. I've had that work very well for me before.
Same here. I hope someone here gets a look to settle this issue.
He could be just another CL dreamer trying to resell HF stuff for more than it's worth.
Or, he could be a guy that's invested a ton of money in tools , but somehow isn't smart enough or care enough about their real value to bother typing a few words to explain their value.
Hmmm.... I wonder which is more likely?
Maybe we should have a pool. I'll take the square that says the tool box includes:
3 flathead screwdrivers (HF) - all blunted from being used as chisels.
I set of misc sockets - various brands, but including 3 mismatched Craftsman sockets...ohhhh
1 set of off brand channel locks - as sloppy loose as a $20 ******.
1 ballpene hammer.
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mrholeshot
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If you need a set of tool boxes they are worth 700 dollars. No matter what Snap-On boxes are seelling for the bottom line is that even lightly used the boxes represent a good value at 700. Until I came to this site I knew nothing of the 20% discount, if you buy new you have to factor in sales tax as a 1000 dollar purchace adds 80 more dollars to the purchce here. I had a set of those boxes with one full length side cab and had them up for 700 and sold them for 650. The full length side cab cost the same as one ot the ones that guy has. Not only that not every HF store will accept the 20% coupon on top of the sale price of the botttom cab. People make fun of things sometimes because they feel the need to justify what they have bought. Regardless the boxes at 700 represent an excellant value. If Harbor Freight stopped selling them and people had to go back to Sears to buy inexpensive boxes you would see these boxes go up in value. Snap-On boxes don't hold their value. If you try to sell one you will be lucky if you get 50% back on a 10,000 dollar box. thats a 5000 dollar loss on a year old box. I lost about 300 dollars on a set of HF boxes. 70 dollars of that was sales tax.
mrholeshot
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Same here. I hope someone here gets a look to settle this issue.
He could be just another CL dreamer trying to resell HF stuff for more than it's worth.
Or, he could be a guy that's invested a ton of money in tools , but somehow isn't smart enough or care enough about their real value to bother typing a few words to explain their value.
Hmmm.... I wonder which is more likely?
Maybe we should have a pool. I'll take the square that says the tool box includes:
3 flathead screwdrivers (HF) - all blunted from being used as chisels.
I set of misc sockets - various brands, but including 3 mismatched Craftsman sockets...ohhhh
1 set of off brand channel locks - as sloppy loose as a $20 ******.
1 ballpene hammer.
Only the person that goes to look will know for sure. Some people don't know how to word and add because they never really sold much. For me it's worth the risk if it was in my area. You can resell what you don't buy so if thats what you do to make money you take the chance. Sometimes when I don't buy everything I'll buy some select items if the seller is willing to break it up. Most of them will.
mkdive
Well-known member
Good thread.
Ill be the first to admit the HF boxes are a great value and offer alot of storage for there price, With that said.... If you are gonna drop 10K on a Toolbox and try to sell it 1 year later you are no doubt gonna take a loss and have made a poor financial decision. If you intend on using your box for 20+ years in a "Pro" enviroment then there is no comparision between the 2. If you do the math you lost about 30% on your HF purchase after 1 year, When you do the numbers your not that far apart on the 2 percentage wise. Of Course all this is speculation, Its impossible to speculate what tools will bring in our current economy. I would venture to say.. There isnt too many Tool trucks who wouldnt have a problem buying back a 10K box for 50%+ of New with 1 years worth of use. Ive grown my Tool collection by buying Second hand Mostly, I make my tool purchase decisions based on Personal preference based on many factors including Coo, Customer Service/Warranty And Personal Experiences. I dont let "Prestige" factor into my tool selection, After reading your posts it sounds like you really got caught up in the "Truck Tools" when you was younger and i cant help feeling some of your resentment towards "Truck companies" and anybody who chooses to buy there products. There is No doubt in my mind that the level of quality in the import world has Risen considerably in the last 20 years and there are some great tools out there currently, It boils down to Personal Preference and there is No Right or Wrong in regards someone elses Decision and there choice on where to spend there Cash.
GeorgiaHybrid
Well-known member
I will call them in the morning and go by to take a look before or during lunch. I will let you know one way or the other.
6530
Well-known member
Using the math above I get a total of $1,070 (rounded), so less 20% would be about $850.
Though it does strengthen your argument...
the few shops i worked at, when a guy retires, everybody turns into vultures to buy what they may part with. one old timer sold his box and all his air tools before he left as he said he didnt need them at home. another old boy sold just his box and took his tools home in cardboard boxes from the parts dept.
maybe this guy had a nice snap on box and sold it for 2-4k to somebody before he retired, then bought the HF for storage at home to put his old work tools in? not to hard to envision that happening.
maybe this guy had a nice snap on box and sold it for 2-4k to somebody before he retired, then bought the HF for storage at home to put his old work tools in? not to hard to envision that happening.
kythri
Well-known member
Using the math above I get a total of $1,070 (rounded), so less 20% would be about $850.
Though it does strengthen your argument...
I'm dumb, I forgot one of the $199.99 side cabs, or miskeyed the calculator.
Good catch, thanks!