Estate Sale Price Wars!!!

[Marc Benjamin]

So just got back from an estate sale and boy while I feel that I got some quality items, a part of me is just not used to shelling a total of $170 (I tried but it was fixed) and I'm wondering if you guys agree with that I actually paid street price fair to high as opposed to my usual killer steals.



$3 for the proto, $2 for pipe $1 pump


$70 for 10 (I really feel this was retail used pricing on this one)



$4 Swiss Army (Victorinox) Snap On


$25 F831, $12 Breaker, 3 old short ratchet


$7 pry bar - I think this is high


$15 on the 1/4 deep mac set.



What say you?

 

[Mohawk Dave]

Yea, we got a few estate sale companies around here that look stuff up on ebay....well, ****, I'll sit in the a/c at my desk and just order off ebay and have it delivered to my door. Assuming I did find all these items at a "normal" estate sale, I'd plan on paying 20 if they didn't know SO, and up to 60/70 if they did.

Why you pay $2 for a pipe? Is it special?

 

[Marc Benjamin]

Yea, we got a few estate sale companies around here that look stuff up on ebay....well, ****, I'll sit in the a/c at my desk and just order off ebay and have it delivered to my door. Assuming I did find all these items at a "normal" estate sale, I'd plan on paying 20 if they didn't know SO, and up to 60/70 if they did.

Why you pay $2 for a pipe? Is it special?

I effed up on that pipe it was in the pile and I didnt notice that it got punched in the totals.

The person pricing said he used to be a SO dealer and kept saying the guys in the line (I was in the first group to go in) would by it for whatever he priced it easy , pissed me off really...lol

 

[Richard Cranium]

what is the red 3.00 thing on the left? If you looked up retail for what you got you would know you got a hell of a deal. Rich..

 

[Marc Benjamin]

what is the red 3.00 thing on the left? If you looked up retail for what you got you would know you got a hell of a deal. Rich..

The red thing is a folding side panel for toolboxes. Not labeled snap on though.

Thing is this is not really msrp retail, far from it. Granted I'm not a flipper so I ended paying the ransom lol.

 

[ShadowRuleZ]

I'd remember who was running that sale and not bother waiting in line next time.

 

[AA/FC]

I stopped going to estate sales for the most part. Like mentioned earlier in this thread, they all seem to look up prices on ebay..... good deals at estate sales around here are a thing of the past. Unless it's a big "TOOLS TOOLS TOOLS" estate sale, I don't bother with them anymore.

 

[zkling]

What all is in the small metal snap on box? Looks like some high quality stuff. Not the most bottom prices, but cheaper than you could find on ebay or the like. I would have bought a few of those items.

 

[Marc Benjamin]

What all is in the small metal snap on box? Looks like some high quality stuff. Not the most bottom prices, but cheaper than you could find on ebay or the like. I would have bought a few of those items.

All small older 1/4 snap on sockets (not a set), a wobbler, a slide and a 1/4 spinner. I paid high again on this too...

 

[southalabama]

Several junk shops I frequent often post a print out of similar items from ebay next to the item. Usually condition is different. Ebay is retail. Estate sales are aupposed to be liquidation prices.

You got some nice items. No killer deals. Not a bad haul.

 

[methomas70]

You got some nice items. No killer deals. Not a bad haul.

I totally agree.
Most of the stuff you showed is in pretty nice shape.
The wrench set for $70, while not a "steal", is a very good price if you need them, especially if you don't need the 7/16 right now.

 

[fasteddie313]

id jump on that $25 ratchet if I was the one that had the opportunity..

would have bought all that but the spanners for $70 , the $7 small pry bar, and the angle grinder..

all in all you got some nice stuff, worth it even if not a steal...

 

[skyking]

Got a 1971 Navy ratchet like that one ......They "donated" it to me.

 

[Eric Nordstrom]

I think everything you got was a good deal I would have pasted on the wrenches at 70, but at 50 I'd pop. Are you going to resale? OR USE.

 

[ken w.]

I think you did pretty good. That ratchet would have been priced at $50.00 + around here. If that was a former SO salesman ( which I don't think he was ) I would have thought he would have put that stuff on Ebay or raised the prices.

 

[t4runner]

Estate sales by me have gotten out of control with their prices and for good reason for the most part the people running the sale also have stores So what doesn't sell at the end of the sale they make an offer for whats hasn't sold at a cut rate price to take it off owners hands and bring it back to their place to sell at their second hand store. Its a no lose situation for them.
I was at one estate sale where the owner told the guy running the sale to knock off the **** and start selling something or he would toss him out on his ear it was pretty funny at the time.

 

[hemifalcon]

Estate sales are great place to take advantage on if they are 2-3 day sales when they drop prices 50-75% to start moving things..
I have fun at them--and alot of the estate sale people are decent that I've met as "regulars" over the past year..
You can't get upset for their pricing--you either pay--or you find it somewhere else. I've found thousands of dollars worth of good deals that I've only paid hundreds for over the past year--and my bank account thanks me.. Gotta be a savvy buyer--and you gotta love to dig especially at the messy sales--I love them..

 

[Marc Benjamin]

Estate sales are great place to take advantage on if they are 2-3 day sales when they drop prices 50-75% to start moving things..
I have fun at them--and alot of the estate sale people are decent that I've met as "regulars" over the past year..
You can't get upset for their pricing--you either pay--or you find it somewhere else. I've found thousands of dollars worth of good deals that I've only paid hundreds for over the past year--and my bank account thanks me.. Gotta be a savvy buyer--and you gotta love to dig especially at the messy sales--I love them..

This one was posted to run for 5 days. The people running this one's pretty decent, except this supposed ex so dealer who's pricing all the truck brands. It was a real big tool sale, heck this house even had a pretty darn big sandblasting station at the back shed.

I'll probably go back friday/saturday when the leftovers are really on liquidation to see if I can get a better avarage.

 

[EdT]

I go to a fair number of estate sales and the pricing philosophy varies a lot from one dealer to another. When you go, remember that the person running the sale is supposed to get as much as they can for the stuff so they often price stuff really high hoping that someone will buy it and many people do. On the second and third days when the prices are cut often times the really good stuff has already gone to someone willing to pay top dollar and the less desirable stuff is now going for a discount off of the original price. Most of the stuff I buy, I buy to use. My son mostly buys for resale so he has a different price threshold. I usually look for low flying items like a gallon of acetone or some fertilizer or other consumables as well as more top drawer items if the pricing is good. Last week I went to a sale that had very favorable pricing if you "bundled" stuff, so I did and got an outstanding deal on some very useful stuff. Doesn't always happen, but you can bet that I'll be going back to that company's sales in the future. I like their pricing philosophy. But like I said, each company has it's own approach and I really can't fault them for trying to get top dollar at least initially.

 

[jakemac]

I don't see anything out of the ordinary for what was offered. That said, I'm too cheap to pay $70 for a set of wrenches (SO doesn't impress me much) or $25 for a ratchet. I may have been fine with the pricing on the other stuff though.

I don't think you got taken. You paid decent (not "you ****") prices for top shelf tools. In a used tool shop they would have been priced higher.

You need to remember that you can always walk away if you don't like a price. Either someone else will pay it, or it won't sell.

 

[Marc Benjamin]

I don't see anything out of the ordinary for what was offered. That said, I'm too cheap to pay $70 for a set of wrenches (SO doesn't impress me much) or $25 for a ratchet. I may have been fine with the pricing on the other stuff though.

I don't think you got taken. You paid decent (not "you ****") prices for top shelf tools. In a used tool shop they would have been priced higher.

You need to remember that you can always walk away if you don't like a price. Either someone else will pay it, or it won't sell.

Oh walked away I did for a LOT of items that I picked up and brought to the pricing tables. They did not price much so it was a mad rush to the toolboxes fill up take it to the tables then have the "Ex-SO" guys price them per peice.

I took a long tme to finally decide on the $70 combinations and it was probably a pity buy for me cause of a lot of other stuff I simply will not buy at what they wanted. What a noob lol! This was an eff I want it as opposed to a need lol.

 

[jakemac]

Been there, done that.

 

[Tarpley]

I like the Swiss Army knife.

 

[rick carpenter]

Why you pay $2 for a pipe? Is it special?

I'll bet it was an SO cheater pipe!

 

[PugetDude]

I'll give you a sympathy "you ****" on this lot.

 

[Marc Benjamin]

I'll bet it was an SO cheater pipe!

Lol, yeah I just put it on the pile cause it was a perfect fit for the ratchet and breaker. Didnt think he'd charge $2 for it. Pretty darn heavy though.

I think everything you got was a good deal I would have pasted on the wrenches at 70, but at 50 I'd pop. Are you going to resale? OR USE.

No I've been buying for me. That's my first kinda full set of standard combinations really.

 

[tadwolfe]

Geezz, what kind of effed up career path is that guy on...

The same as a guy who complains about a "Free" S&K hat lol



Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[eborcim]

I think you got some pretty good prices. I would like to find those items/prices.

 

[Davefr]

Most professional estate sales around here are overpriced and non negotiable. There are rarely any bargains but there can be a few "sleepers" from time to time or items you can really use. (it get's more interesting on half price day)

The estate sales I love are when the private family runs them. They usually want stuff gone quickly.

 

[Marc Benjamin]

Most professional estate sales around here are overpriced and non negotiable. There are rarely any bargains but there can be a few "sleepers" from time to time or items you can really use. (it get's more interesting on half price day)

The estate sales I love are when the private family runs them. They usually want stuff gone quickly.

Yep , they might as well say it's really "Ebay on Location".

 

[t4runner]

Yep , they might as well say it's really "Ebay on Location".

How true, I been to estate sales where they had a computer set up and they were checking what sellers on E-Bay wanted.

 

[jakemac]

I cringe everytime I see someone looking up prices on ebay at a sale. Most of the items in my pile immediately get put back on the table before I check out. I won't even bother to try to buy them.

 

[honcho]

I don't go to many estate sales for many of the reasons other people have already written about.

However, when you guys complaining about estate sale prices kick the bucket, don't you want your heirs get the most they possibly can for your tools? Of course you do? You can't want your lousy neighbors, whose cat digs up your flower bed, to buy your 200 lb vise for $10 to give to their no count son-in-law who was always playing music too loud when he washed their cars? No way!

The customer is not always right. Customers do have the money, but both sides have to agree to make the deal. Just because you want something at a certain price (or lower) doesn't mean you're going to get it from an estate sale.

There's always another deal on another day.

 

[Marc Benjamin]

I don't go to many estate sales for many of the reasons other people have already written about.

However, when you guys complaining about estate sale prices kick the bucket, don't you want your heirs get the most they possibly can for your tools? Of course you do? You can't want your lousy neighbors, whose cat digs up your flower bed, to buy your 200 lb vise for $10 to give to their no count son-in-law who was always playing music too loud when he washed their cars? No way!

The customer is not always right. Customers do have the money, but both sides have to agree to make the deal. Just because you want something at a certain price (or lower) doesn't mean you're going to get it from an estate sale.

There's always another deal on another day.

Oh no doubt about getting reasonable monies but at the end of the day, the real purpose of a true estate sale is so that the families be best served by a real speedy liquidation without all the emotional baggage (yours is a prime example) and hassle attached to letting things go.

Why would you want a "professional" estate liquidator who is online price matching most items thus dragging out the process much much longer? If they really wanted top street rates for the stuff, then they would really be better off selling it themselves.

 

[Richard Cranium]

Marc, the red fold down side box, can you show me a pic please..Richie

 

[byoungblood]

I pissed off the lady pricing stuff at the last estate sale I went to.

No prices on anything, so I take some stuff up to her, she is immediately at $3-4 a wrench for some SAE DBE Easco wrenches I found. I offer her $1 per (I had 3), she gets all huffy but begrudgingly accepts.

When it came time to sell of my grandfather's estate, my dad called up a couple of professional estate sale companies, but in the end decided to just enlist the help of me, brother and cousins, and his siblings. We sold virtually everything in the house that wasn't already claimed by someone in the family or willed to someone in one day. All the pros wanted 3-4 days to run the sale, some stupid dollar minimum ($400-500 I think?) and then 30% of the gross sales beyond that. They would clean out what was left over, which I'm guessing would probably end up in auctions or thrift stores that they ran or had connections to.

Last decent professional estate sale I went to was probably two years ago, and there was a ton of family around supervising stuff. I was expecting it to be cleaned out when I got there on the second day, but apparently the pro guys had priced everything so high that little sold the first day, so the family got involved and started making deals just to get stuff gone.

 

[davesnothere]

I think you made out good on everything but the pipe. Those little snappy prybars are worth every bit of $7.

 

[Marc Benjamin]

Marc, the red fold down side box, can you show me a pic please..Richie

Here ya go:











I rather like this shelf really. The thing weighs at least 10lbs I tell you and it's probably the same thing as a 70's Snap-on Shelf KRA 412 just stamped MBC since they made it for SO back then. A new SO one is supposed to be $141 though who in their right mind pays that I don't know.

Last decent professional estate sale I went to was probably two years ago, and there was a ton of family around supervising stuff. I was expecting it to be cleaned out when I got there on the second day, but apparently the pro guys had priced everything so high that little sold the first day, so the family got involved and started making deals just to get stuff gone.

The quality of this Estate sale was pretty darn good. Like you I came back the last day and by gosh there were still a lot of stuff all over the place and mind you this things been going on for 5 days already with an hour line every day I heard.

It's interesting that 5 days was not enough to clear out a 1600 sq bungalow and a few sheds in the back. I'm thinking the first 4 days was still priced high and they were playing catch up with the half everything on Saturday

Now that I had some distance from the experience, I think as a personal shopper, I think I did pretty darn fair as a whole. Now, I actually regret not buying and letting another guy who was hunting Snap-on's get the bulk of the stuff. As a reseller though, I think only able to mark up by x2 to x2.5 might not be enough to justify the 3 hours total (2 in line, 1 picking) I spent there.

 

[justtools]

I Would have bought everything you took. You can get 50% more than you paid on ebay for those items. Estate liquidators need to move the merchandise at a price that works for the seller. ( Needs to be sold not givin away) This liquidator did it correct. They sold the items and got a fair price for the seller. Looking at the comments on this is the reason I wont sell tools at my wifes garage sale. I can have a 20 dollar item for 5 bucks and some A-hole wants to pay 2 bucks. I will break the item and throw in the garbage first.

 

[jeffmoss26]

I'd say you did well.
I went to a sale yesterday where nothing was priced, but the guys sort of knew what they were doing. I managed to get a Panduit GS2B tie wrap gun in my pile of tools for 25 bucks. Got home and looked up what they cost new and smiled ear to ear!