2 Snap-On toolboxes $1250

[Downwindtracker 2]

Widow selling late mechanic husband's toolboxes and tools for $1250 on CL.

One box was a 44"? and the other a 26", nicely laid out tools. No, I didn't buy it. It was an 7 hours old and an hour if traffic was good away. Besides I have my tools I've collected and used over a life time. But some scumbag took that widow.

 

[chrisnazzy]

I buy and sell used Snap-on tools often and many times the reason for the tools being offered for sale is following a death. I have bought items and resold on GJ, FB and Ebay. I have also helped people in these situations sell off collections without me personally buying the tools.

I have a rule. If I respond to an ad and the seller is literally giving away Snap-on tools for pennies on the dollar because they have no idea of the value, I will advise them that the tools are worth considerably more than they are asking. I will also explain that in order to capitalize on the potential for a greater selling price one has to be willing to separate, inventory, create online listings and ship the tools to buyers and pay about 15% in fees and of course have the time to correspond with potential buyers and package to ship.

I certainly go on to explain that even with all that said, there is a potential for more profit. What I have found is that most sellers in this situation are either not capable or willing to go through the steps necessary to sell the tools for more. Let's be realistic, Craigslist is where we look when we're looking for great deals and it's also where people list stuff for sale when they are looking for a quick sale.

I went to a "tool sale" a couple years ago. I was the first to have access. There were 6 pics in the ad of an entire kitchen with every countertop, center island, kitchen table and 2 other tables full of virtually brand new Snap-on tools from the 1990's and early 2000's. There was probably $100k in new retail value worth of tools. Every item was tagged and priced.....at about 20% of Ebay pricing. The guy hosting the sale was helping a widow sell her late husband's tools. He told me that her husband got a weekly visit from the Snap-on guy at home for years.

I had the conversation with the guy and even offered to help him sell the tools for far more money. He indicated to me that the widow had at first attempted to sell the tools and toolboxes for a flat sum with no success. She had gotten to the point where she didn't want to have them around anymore and just wanted everything gone. The guy hosting the sale and her meticulously chose a price and tagged every set and every individual tool. He said that all added up, she was happy with the amount she would receive.

I ended up spending $300. I sold about half of what I bought for a substantial profit and kept the rest. I sleep fine knowing I went as far as offering to help sell the tools for them. BTW, one other guy got in on a couple items after me and the next guy was a reseller who traveled from about 60 miles away. He bought everything else!

I'm confident that was a once in a lifetime deal but I've been involved in two situations like this since, albeit on a smaller scale and the opposite scenario in which the seller wants way too much for the tools to sell locally. In both cases I helped the sellers sell a bunch of tools. I helped one lady make over $3500 and another guy over $1200. In both cases I was given a couple items I was interested in for my time.

Edit:

Even though I may have handled the opportunity differently, I certainly wouldn't classify the guy who did score today as a "scumbag". If someone responded to the ad and was able to meet her and gladly paid $1250 that doesn't make them a bad person. If you found the ad when it was 5 minutes old and she lived 10 minutes away would you classify yourself a "scumbag" if you were able to buy everything for $1250?



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[BDT/NWMN]

Thinking I got this figggured out.. The Widow sold the tools for $250 MORE than Her Husband claimed He paid for them... She will be keeping that information a Family Secret.

 

[Professional Tool User]

That's estate sales for you. Tools are a cost of doing business for those in the trades, not an investment. Even if the late husband left his widow a nice organized inventory book like at one estate sale I've been to, there's still a potential for them to price things either too high or too low, such the 1 5/16, 1 3/8, and 1 1/2 satin chrome Proto wrenches that were cheaper than buying the equivalent Mastercraft singles. That's the second best $40 I've spent on Craigslist after that lightly used Made in England Record No. 3 swivel vice I bought. There's also other just want to get rid of the tools situations where the tool box is taking up someone else's space and/or the owner of the tools owes money.

When my time comes, unless I just give away my tools beforehand, the full circle will be complete when a relative gets rid of my tools.

 

[Downwindtracker 2]

"Even though I may have handled the opportunity differently, I certainly wouldn't classify the guy who did score today as a "scumbag". If someone responded to the ad and was able to meet her and gladly paid $1250 that doesn't make them a bad person. If you found the ad when it was 5 minutes old and she lived 10 minutes away would you classify yourself a "scumbag" if you were able to buy everything for $1250? "

Of course there is the temptation , the boxes were red after all. Snap-on no less, but I've tried to walk in the light. So I hold by calling him scumbag unless he acted like you guys when he got there. Fat Chance. A couple of exceptions maybe, if it was an apprentice buying them, it's like a son inheriting them or she hated the old phart, then she deserved what she didn't get.

I've bought woodworking tools off widows and paid a fair price. It wasn't so much buying the tools as having them passed on to another woodworker. I disliked the experience, one widow teared up on me and I didn't feel right bargaining.

ProToolUser, Lee Valley sold a bunch of SQ#3 for a silly 29.95 when Record moved offshore. I bought one just to get the swivel for my #3. Is yours one of those?

 

[Professional Tool User]

"Even though I may have handled the opportunity differently, I certainly wouldn't classify the guy who did score today as a "scumbag". If someone responded to the ad and was able to meet her and gladly paid $1250 that doesn't make them a bad person. If you found the ad when it was 5 minutes old and she lived 10 minutes away would you classify yourself a "scumbag" if you were able to buy everything for $1250? "

Of course there is the temptation , the boxes were red after all. Snap-on no less, but I've tried to walk in the light. So I hold by calling him scumbag unless he acted like you guys when he got there. Fat Chance. A couple of exceptions maybe, if it was an apprentice buying them, it's like a son inheriting them or she hated the old phart, then she deserved what she didn't get.

I've bought woodworking tools off widows and paid a fair price. It wasn't so much buying the tools as having them passed on to another woodworker. I disliked the experience, one widow teared up on me and I didn't feel right bargaining.

ProToolUser, Lee Valley sold a bunch of SQ#3 for a silly 29.95 when Record moved offshore. I bought one just to get the swivel for my #3. Is yours one of those?

The vice definitely looks like one of the newer Made in England ones. The swivel base has a 3SB code though. Whether or not the swivel base was added on, I don't know. It wasn't until a few years ago that I started to go to Lee Valley for oddball tools that no one else sold.

 

[Downwindtracker 2]

That is a standard #3, just like mine. The swivels were sold separately. When I bought mine, I couldn't afford the extra. Thomas Skinner, the machine tool supplier , had the best prices. They were on Main street then. Their prices on Hazet were good, too.

In Canada, it was almost exclusively Record mechanic vises. In all the maintenance shops I worked in ,I never saw another brand . It would have been so unusual I would have taken note. The common #3 is 4" wide.