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Are used tools loosing their value these days?

yardiron

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Oct 9, 2014
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209
Location
NJ
I have an older neighbor who used to be a dealer mechanic. He retired early about 10 years or so ago but kept most of his tools for home use.
He's no pushing 70 and being pushed to downsize. His box is FULL of nearly all Snap On tools, the box is a top/bottom with two lockers.
I don't think the box has so much as a scratch on it any where.
His daughter has been putting a few things on eBay over the past year or so but has had almost no takers.
She sold his Snap On scanner, which went for under $100. (He got mad at her and gave me his two newer scanners knowing that if he needed them they'd be here). She listed a few of his older 1/4", 3/8" and 1/2" ratchets for cheap, starting the bids at $5 and $10 each, she sold most of the 1/4" ratchets, all went for less than $20, but the larger models didn't sell. With a few people emailing telling her her prices were way too high for "Old, non-sealed ratchets". (The way I see it is all have a lifetime warranty and regardless of the type, they'll fix it if it breaks or replace it with a new one).

More recently, around Jan. or early Feb. she listed a super clean 13pc combination wrench set, 1/4 to 1" long profile, Snap On chrome wrenches on fleabay. When I saw she listed them at only $100, I cringed thinking she was going be giving all his stuff away by starting the bid so low. But they didn't sell. Not a single bid. The sale was auction style, with no reserve, and she started it at $99.99. (I dug through his receipts and he paid $720 for that set back in 1995. It was still in its original plastic box and likely never used).

I had actually thought she sold it far more of his tools by now but after talking to them yesterday I found out that almost nothing has sold.
She quit listing things because she wasn't getting any bids. My first thought was that she was pricing them too high but when she showed me her eBay account I was shocked that no one jumped on what she listed. Nearly every item she listed was listed dirt cheap with no reserve.
She listed the last lot back around Feb. But most ran between Sept. and Dec. 2021. She mostly listed things that were still in the original packaging not knowing how to describe and list a lot of the loose or unmarked tools.

She actually called me yesterday to ask if thought $500 was a good price for the tool box itself, which turns out to be a KRL1001 with a matching KRL1201 top box and two KRL1025 lockers in classic Snap On red. After finding his receipts, he paid over $19K for the whole set new in 2000, but he also had traded in an older box for which they knocked him $2,000 for.

I called a local Snap On dealer who I dealt with a few times, and he tells me a similar box today would cost as follows:
Roll cab $11,120
Top box $5,770
Locker $4,555
Locker $4,555
Total $26,000 plus 7% sales tax
(The quote is for the closest new box to his but it is a bit smaller since they no longer make a ful size top box like his in a two bank configuration. The new top is only 2/3rds the size but I wanted him to price out the Master Series not the Epic which is a very different box style and design wise

When I asked the same Snap-On dealer if he was interested he said he doesn't have room for another box right now and politely declined to make any offer.

She's in a panic to get all his 'junk' sold He's not dead or dying but she's got the idea that it all has to go ASAP despite there being no rush other than he's not likely going to use any of it any more.
I'm not his age yet and I've got my own tools from my days working as a tech, I probably have double what he's got so I don't 'need' anything.
I just can't believe that mint clean Snap On tools are a problem to sell unless you give them away for Harbor Freight prices these days.
Cheap tools were always to be had somewhere but not full sets of Snap On anything. I put most of my tool sets together piece by piece at yard sales and flea markets, buying only what I absolutely needed off the tool truck, but somethings you just didn't have a choice.
Because the industry had no retirement or pension most guys counted on the value of their tools as part or all of their retirement.
Making $10/hr or so back then was good money, and but certainly not enough to put much aside for retirement considering what tools cost.

If she insists on selling it for $500, its getting rolled over to my place, for that much I'll take it apart and drag it downstairs and use it to hold my wood working tools. I can't say where she advertised the box at, if at all. She put the hand tools on eBay, but only after not being able to get any takers on CL or FB. She did get one guy who showed up who offered her $1,000 for the whole box and all the tools but he wanted to pay her with some sort of check cards. When she called to ask if that was safe I went next door and ran the guy off and made it clear that he'd have to deal with me if he came back.

I half understand a big box being harder to sell but I really don't understand why the hand tools are such a tough sell.
I also see her point in selling off some stuff but not if it means giving it away for scrap prices. He dad told me he'd rather just give me thebox and all the tools than let her sell it off for nearly nothing. I don't think he wants to get rid of it nearly as bad as she does, but I think he realizes that he'll likely never use those tools again. He was particularly upset about her selling a brand new Snap-on screwdriver set he hadn't even yet opened yet on eBay last fall for a $10 starting bid. He paid $200 for it.

Am I wrong to think a box like that should bring closer to half of what it sold for new? You sure won't touch one off the snap-on truck for anywhere near that amount. The dealer I spoke to said he had a used KRL1023 on the truck in yellow for $8,500, with no top chest or lockers.
 
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Blue Scoot

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Mar 15, 2021
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Wow, that really does shock me as well. I'm on eBay quite often looking for some deals on high quality tools. I've been in the industry a little over two years now and have been able to upgrade my starter tools to more name brand and high quality/reputable ones. Most of the snapon tools I have bought go for about half of the retail.

I wonder if you posted some of the tools on here if you might get better luck than eBay? At least most here would know what they are worth.
 

jonshonda

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Jul 17, 2017
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Wisconsin
I wish stuff was going DOWN in value, but covid threw a real curveball into that market as well. Suddenly people had money to spend, and people had time to go around there house a list stuff for sale. Add to that the fact that you couldn't get certain things, and you end up with an inflated used market.

I had gotten kinda excited for the deals to start rolling in once the safer at home order was put into place, but that just hasn't happened.
 

Fedwrench

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Valley of the sun
There must be more to the story. Is she doing local pick up only or shipping smaller items? Granted, the used market for SAE tools is lower than for metric but, I would think the general mechanics tools would fetch more. :dunno:
 

m6z

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Sep 13, 2019
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Missouri
Correct descriptions, part numbers and good pictures are key to getting top dollar on Ebay.

Craigslist and Marketplace are not the place I'd be trying to sell Snap-on tools.

I'd probably start with buy it now listing about half of retail, but you should always do your own searches on Ebay to see what you're selling is usually priced at.

Link to Snap-on Ebay deals?
 

subroc

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Apr 22, 2017
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Dover, NH
Selling stuff on eBay is a skill. You have to take good clear images. More images than You need. You really need to present the tool to get top money. Clean them. Arrange them. Know the value. Be willing to wait.

An interesting story about that same thing. A few years back I bought a NOS Craftsman motor off a Craigslist posting. A woman was selling her recently passed dads tools. She turned the selling of his stuff into a little business. She researched everything. She individually priced chuck keys and extra length drill bits. I was astonished. But, she wanted every last dime out of dad's stuff and was willing to do the work and take the time to get it. The motor was the only thing I bought.

Not advocating any course of action. Just saying to get top dollar for used stuff requires work.
 

luvtheheat

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Jan 28, 2017
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Tucson AZ
"I called a local Snap On dealer who I dealt with a few times, and he tells me a similar box today would cost as follows:
Roll cab $11,120
Top box $5,770
Locker $4,555
Locker $4,555
Total $26,000 plus 7% sales tax"


Is it just me, or do others think prices like this, granted for new (I assume), are just f'n nuts? Even for Snap On!?

Do people really pay this much?
 

unslow1

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Mar 3, 2012
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Illinois
I know with several of the things I've tried to buy online lately the deal breaker was the shipping. The couple of things I sold I thought the shipping was crazy. The lower half of an aluminum intake I shipped 110 miles west was $33. Until recently I could've spent less in gas myself.
The local Advance still has some tools from Gearwrench and Teq Correct sitting on their clearance rack at 80% off. They clearanced them 3 months ago.
 

Mr_B

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Reading
Not really a skill to sell on marketplace or eBay but you do need be diligent and put some effort in with plenty of photos .
Snapon sells well .
Box will get pretty good money as it well liked and 29" depth but the full price quotes are unrealistic to what deals can be achieved when buying new .
KRL1001 in proper tidy condition with all liners and keys likely get 1.4 to 2K these days pretty easily,
KRL1025 lockers proper nice too and plenty people be interested in that and more so if condition proper tidy .
 

Sweetcorn

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Feb 14, 2018
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North Central Ohio
I routinely search Ebay for Snap On deals and never see anything like that.

If you want to help them and me out😁, please send me some links to their Ebay auctions. If the prices are really that cheap, I'll send you a freebie or two in the mail for your efforts.
 

Dave455

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Sussex, England
I can’t speak for the U.S. but in the U.K. used Snap On consistently sells for about 1/2 the new price, or maybe a little less at present as new prices have shot up so much. No way they’re losing value, in fact quite the opposite!

Age doesn’t really matter, as for the most part the older tools are better than the newer.

What will affect things is whether the tools are SAE or Metric. Most folks want to buy metric. There is some demand for SAE, but the supply of used SAE tools far exceeds that demand, which keeps prices down. (Whitworth is the opposite, but that’s a different story).

You also need to have clean tools, decent photographs that show them at their best (especially wrench jaws etc), and be prepared to ship. “Collection Only” reduces the potential bumber of customers, and the price!

Personally, If I was your neighbour I’d tell the daughter to “do one”!
 

JradM

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Sep 4, 2019
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Alberta
Something seems off with these details. With prices like that there should be a stampede.

No, tools are not losing value these days. To the contrary, I see a lot of stuff selling for way more than I would be willing to pay. New prices are rising and people seem to have money to spend.

If she is in a hurry to sell and isn't worried about getting top dollar - I'm thinking it might be time to involve a third party. Maybe bring these items to the local auction house?

Heck, from the prices you're telling us about, I bet you could post links here and double her profits.

If she really wants to sell on ebay, she needs to check the shipping rates and make it available to international buyers. Sometimes there might not be a local market for something that will sell very well elsewhere.
 

Jacobs976

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Sep 11, 2020
Messages
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Location
Indiana
In my experience, I don't sell because shipping is difficult to do locally but I do buy if it's a decent price and I want it, used tool prices go up and down without much warning and specific pieces are in high demand then no demand. Newer stuff, this generation, goes fast then doesn't move. Older stuff goes fast then doesn't move.

A F80 ratchet can go from $60-$100 on eBay depending on the day. A L72T can go from $40-$150. Wrenches can go $15-$80 a piece on the same sizes. Sockets $15-$50. Some stuff goes for more than retail sometimes.

Boxes are harder to move, especially online because of transit costs/driving for local pickup. This generation big boxes locally have sat for years for sale at $5500-$10,500, bottom only $4000-$6500. Nobody wants to deal with them because they're difficult to move around and most people already have a box so demand isn't there.
 
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Xcursion88

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I have an older neighbor who used to be a dealer mechanic. He retired early about 10 years or so ago but kept most of his tools for home use.
He's no pushing 70 and being pushed to downsize. His box is FULL of nearly all Snap On tools, the box is a top/bottom with two lockers.
I don't think the box has so much as a scratch on it any where.
His daughter has been putting a few things on eBay over the past year or so but has had almost no takers.
She sold his Snap On scanner, which went for under $100. (He got mad at her and gave me his two newer scanners knowing that if he needed them they'd be here). She listed a few of his older 1/4", 3/8" and 1/2" ratchets for cheap, starting the bids at $5 and $10 each, she sold most of the 1/4" ratchets, all went for less than $20, but the larger models didn't sell. With a few people emailing telling her her prices were way too high for "Old, non-sealed ratchets". (The way I see it is all have a lifetime warranty and regardless of the type, they'll fix it if it breaks or replace it with a new one).

More recently, around Jan. or early Feb. she listed a super clean 13pc combination wrench set, 1/4 to 1" long profile, Snap On chrome wrenches on fleabay. When I saw she listed them at only $100, I cringed thinking she was going be giving all his stuff away by starting the bid so low. But they didn't sell. Not a single bid. The sale was auction style, with no reserve, and she started it at $99.99. (I dug through his receipts and he paid $720 for that set back in 1995. It was still in its original plastic box and likely never used).

I had actually thought she sold it far more of his tools by now but after talking to them yesterday I found out that almost nothing has sold.
She quit listing things because she wasn't getting any bids. My first thought was that she was pricing them too high but when she showed me her eBay account I was shocked that no one jumped on what she listed. Nearly every item she listed was listed dirt cheap with no reserve.
She listed the last lot back around Feb. But most ran between Sept. and Dec. 2021. She mostly listed things that were still in the original packaging not knowing how to describe and list a lot of the loose or unmarked tools.

She actually called me yesterday to ask if thought $500 was a good price for the tool box itself, which turns out to be a KRL1001 with a matching KRL1201 top box and two KRL1025 lockers in classic Snap On red. After finding his receipts, he paid over $19K for the whole set new in 2000, but he also had traded in an older box for which they knocked him $2,000 for.

I called a local Snap On dealer who I dealt with a few times, and he tells me a similar box today would cost as follows:
Roll cab $11,120
Top box $5,770
Locker $4,555
Locker $4,555
Total $26,000 plus 7% sales tax
(The quote is for the closest new box to his but it is a bit smaller since they no longer make a ful size top box like his in a two bank configuration. The new top is only 2/3rds the size but I wanted him to price out the Master Series not the Epic which is a very different box style and design wise

When I asked the same Snap-On dealer if he was interested he said he doesn't have room for another box right now and politely declined to make any offer.

She's in a panic to get all his 'junk' sold He's not dead or dying but she's got the idea that it all has to go ASAP despite there being no rush other than he's not likely going to use any of it any more.
I'm not his age yet and I've got my own tools from my days working as a tech, I probably have double what he's got so I don't 'need' anything.
I just can't believe that mint clean Snap On tools are a problem to sell unless you give them away for Harbor Freight prices these days.
Cheap tools were always to be had somewhere but not full sets of Snap On anything. I put most of my tool sets together piece by piece at yard sales and flea markets, buying only what I absolutely needed off the tool truck, but somethings you just didn't have a choice.
Because the industry had no retirement or pension most guys counted on the value of their tools as part or all of their retirement.
Making $10/hr or so back then was good money, and but certainly not enough to put much aside for retirement considering what tools cost.

If she insists on selling it for $500, its getting rolled over to my place, for that much I'll take it apart and drag it downstairs and use it to hold my wood working tools. I can't say where she advertised the box at, if at all. She put the hand tools on eBay, but only after not being able to get any takers on CL or FB. She did get one guy who showed up who offered her $1,000 for the whole box and all the tools but he wanted to pay her with some sort of check cards. When she called to ask if that was safe I went next door and ran the guy off and made it clear that he'd have to deal with me if he came back.

I half understand a big box being harder to sell but I really don't understand why the hand tools are such a tough sell.
I also see her point in selling off some stuff but not if it means giving it away for scrap prices. He dad told me he'd rather just give me thebox and all the tools than let her sell it off for nearly nothing. I don't think he wants to get rid of it nearly as bad as she does, but I think he realizes that he'll likely never use those tools again. He was particularly upset about her selling a brand new Snap-on screwdriver set he hadn't even yet opened yet on eBay last fall for a $10 starting bid. He paid $200 for it.

Am I wrong to think a box like that should bring closer to half of what it sold for new? You sure won't touch one off the snap-on truck for anywhere near that amount. The dealer I spoke to said he had a used KRL1023 on the truck in yellow for $8,500, with no top chest or lockers.
I did a study on this a while back conparing SO, SK, MAC etc (USA made) tools and the return on investment versus tools like Harbor Freight....

All I can say is something is off with your story.
I'm not calling you a liar but used SO,SK/Mac, etc...routinely brought back around 50-70% of retail. Possibly more if a hot item. Can be a tad less if it's obsolete technology but I didn't find them bringing a return of 5-10% which is what you're stating.

A couple examples...
Screenshot_20220527-125209_Chrome.jpg

Here is a completed EBAY listing...not just an asking price but this is the actual sold price...
Screenshot_20220527-125631_eBay.jpg

This is a flank drive wrench set not flank drive plus and you can see it brought back 50% of current retail.

Here is another quick example...
Flank drive plus metric set
Screenshot_20220527-130748_Chrome.jpg

Screenshot_20220527-130811_eBay.jpg

This set brought 60% of new retail.


Boxes/cabinets can be a tough sell as the enormous shipping challenge involved...
Plus...
Boxes are very expensive and most, (not all) but most people are going to finance those on the truck. A 10k box is hard to sell for 5k because not many are going to show up with 50 c-notes and a trailer/truck to haul away.
If your neighbor was going to finance the box then you'd see 50 percent at least...but I highly doubt your neighbor will be doing that.

One last example...
Screenshot_20220527-131722_Chrome.jpg

Screenshot_20220527-131752_eBay.jpg
This example returned approximately 72% of retail

I'm not suggesting you can just slap anything on EBay from Snap-On and it will return that kind of money...ancient stuff perhaps nobody wants.......

....but....
Modern stuff within reason
The right pictures...description...feedback of the seller...
If you advertise it properly you very much can realize a 50- 70 % return from retail price.

Good luck
 

Aaron_W

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Feb 6, 2018
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Northern California
Agree with those saying ebay is a skill. Description and photos are everything in online sales. There are lots of bargains out there due to mis spellings, and bad / incorrect descriptions which keep them from being seen by most of the people who would be interested. Priced too low with weak description / photos can actually be a red flag "probably junk at that price".

Also for common items buy it now can help, not everybody wants to wait a week only to get out bid in the last 10 seconds. For something unusual bidding wars can really drive up the price, plus what other option do you have, if it is an unusual item no longer made.
If I can go to the company website and buy a socket set for $200 and have it in 2 days, I'm not going to **** around on ebay then wait a week to see if I even win, then wait for them to ship just to maybe save $50 on a used set.


I think tool boxes are a tough sell, I'd be surprised if may people will pay more than 2-3x new US General prices. Sure that Snap on chest cost $26,000 new, but a shop will just buy new (warranty and tax deductions help here as well as they actually need the quality), and the typical guy in a garage is going to look at Husky, Craftsman, US General and think I could by 20 tool chests at that price, so what if I have to replace it every 3-5 years. Priced at only 2 or 3 tool chests and it becomes easier to part with the money.

I hope she is working with her dad to sell that stuff. First off it is his, but he also knows what it is and should have an idea of a reasonable value (50% of new is a decent starting point, less for obsolete, more for completely up to date). It doesn't sound like she is and that is probably a big part of the problem.
 

kbuhagiar

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Escondido, CA
I hope she is working with her dad to sell that stuff. First off it is his, but he also knows what it is and should have an idea of a reasonable value (50% of new is a decent starting point, less for obsolete, more for completely up to date). It doesn't sound like she is and that is probably a big part of the problem.

Yeah, the way that whole dynamic between father and daughter was described in the first post struck me as odd. I don't have children, but if a family member jumped in and suddenly started selling off my stuff I'd be a bit perturbed. Perhaps there's more to the story?
 

woody 73

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The Great State Up North
Funny story, but just today I walked into a garage sale and the very nice man was selling off his father's hand tools. I asked for a small box and filled it up with 55 tools at a cost of $1.46 per tool which came out to $80.00 dollars. Now I don't think older tools are losing any value but that is just my gut feeling.

98% were vintage Mac. and the other 2% were other truck tools and a few non truck brands. As a matter of fact, I found one that will make for an interesting story so keep looking in the general tool section.:)
 

NYBODYMAN

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SAE tools are more difficult to sell but tell her to start all the auctions at $0.99. The tools will sell themselves if they are Snap On and are that clean.
 

Zewnten

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People are broke, no spending money. Everyone is complaining about it. Shiny low demand tools are going to sit for a long time. Listed two sets of metric wrenches, gone in one day. Two sets of SAE still sitting there, also no one is going to pay a premium for old tools regardless of condition unless they're collecting, from the young person perspective they want the latest and greatest.
 

iajonesy

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I think there are a lot of dynamics in play here. First of all there are fewer people doing their own repair work now. Secondly many sellers are overpricing the tools they are selling. Thirdly I think many sellers think all tools are valuable, not just high end tools like Snap On etc. Many times the area you live in dictates price. Some people think a cheap tool is just as good as quality tools. They just don't care about high end tools.
If the OP wants to help this guy, he should offer to list the tools on GJ classifieds and arrange some sort of monetary plan with the guy. Just my .02 cents.

Mike
 

vssjim

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The scan tool if it was a red brick is not off at 100.00 hard to sell used scan tools for any money and the wrenches yea inch series tough sell but they must be listing then weird like part numbers instead of just Snap On ratchet and then see what happen, many times on Ebay a more generic listing is way better
 

Wrench97

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I still have a SAE wrench in my hand everyday, Truck/Trailer mechanics tend to use SAE bolts all over the place mud flaps are held on with 5/16 or 3/8 bolts, dolly leg brackets are all still 1/2" to 3/4" bolts, air line fittings are SAE brake hoses are 11/16, 13/16, 7/8" wrenches.
Shocks on the tractors even if they were a 16mm bolt to start with they end up replaced by 5/8" bolts.
If I saw a Snap On SAE set of combination wrenches on Ebay for $100 I'd have bought them.
 

Steve_P

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As others have said, Snap On tools are pretty much like crack: they sell themselves - if you take decent pictures. But inch sized tools aren't in much demand today- since the last cars made that used a decent amount of inch sizes were last made 40 years ago.

$720 for a 1/4-1" wrench set in 1995????
 

Blue Scoot

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I hardly have any metric tools in my box at work and use all SAE sized sockets, wrenches, hex bits etc. I have been slowly upgrading my toolset to the higher end stuff and am able to score some great deals on the SAE sizes. Pretty cool being able to replace my starter tools with better stuff at cheap prices.

I do wonder how the boxes would be priced on the used market though. I'm going to have to look around now.
 

BombShelter

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There's a lot of variables as other posters have mentioned, I'd need to see a screen shot of the ad but I have a feeling the photos and description are way too short.

I call November to February "Boombox Season," I get major deals on some of my hobby stuff, Ebay is a ghost town with most discounts around 20-75% and very few bidders, it sounds like she was working it around this time. I think most people are buying new stuff for the holidays and skip Ebay, Craigslist and Marketplace.
 

vssjim

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Especially if the description is only "Snap-On Scan Tool" and says nothing about updates, doesn't show the adaptors, keys, manuals, box, etc.
If it was the MT -2500 it was fairly old even if up dated to the newest they could it is still old and they just don't sell for much money any more. I had one and sold it for 350.00 five years ago and was happy to get that.
 
OP
Y

yardiron

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Oct 9, 2014
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NJ
I was on a Snap On truck this morning, a 7 pc set today is $400. The drivers wasn't sure if they made all the sizes
in that original set anymore. Apparently they dropped the smaller sizes in the long wrenches sometime ago.
He did say they were on sale a while ago but the sale price sets sold out and he was only able to get one of them. The truck was pretty bare , lots of empty spaces and lots of used tools vs. shiny new ones.

Personally I wouldn't own the Flank Drive Plus wrenches, they mar up fasteners and are worthless on already damaged or rusted fasteners. Back when I worked at a new car dealer, when Flank Drive Plus first came out, we were asked to not use them on new cars, several manufacturers even put out tech bulletins about it. Its even worse on aluminum fasteners, so using them in the aviation or racing field is also frowned upon.
Its okay to have a set of them, but they shouldn't be your only wrench set. They have their place which is a bit limited.
I'm also not sure if they even made them in the long sizes either.

I have two of the very same sets myself, one of mine is older, bought in the late 70's or so, the other was from the early 90's
I don't remember what I paid for the first set but the second set i have in my tool box still has the original receipt taped taped to the back and I paid $699 and if i remember right the set came with a hat or mug back then. His are newer than mine by a few years.

Its actually a 14pc set,
The sizes in that set are:
1/4" OEXL8
5/16" OEXL10
11/32" OEXL11
3/8" OEXL12
7/16" OEXL14
1/2" 0EXL16
9/16" OEXL18
5/8" OEXL20
11/16" OEXL22
3/4" OEXL24
13/16" OEXL26
7/8" OEXL28
15/16" OEXL30
1" OEXL32

As far as I can tell, they were opened but never used. The chrome is perfect and there's no signs of any use. Even the paper corner is still haning over the wrenches. He also has the matching metric set as well, plus a set of everyother size wrench they made then. (Minus the shorty wrenches which are in my tool box now).

I don't have the pics his daughter had on eBay the ad is no longer showing
She basically took a full frame pic of the wrenches in their plastic box and a copy of the receipt too I believe.
The pic I saw looked fine. When I looked at her sales history on her computer it showed the ad ended with 32 watchers but no bids. It had run for 8 weeks, first at $150 for three weeks, then she lowered it to $125 for two weeks, then she dropped it to $100 for the last 3 weeks.
I showed her what they sell for new, and what he paid. I don't know whether is sank in or not.

I don't think he wants to sell anything, but I think he is convinced he'll never use his tools again. His daughter said that without his car he has no reason to have them. She is the one in a big rush to sell everything. I fear she'd rather dump it for cheap rather then get what its worth. She dragged a dozen milk crates full of new hardware, drill bits, and a ton of fishing tackle over here after the yard sale telling me to pick through it and throw the rest away. The one whole crate that she brought over in a little red wagon was full of new drill bits, all letter and number sizes, all American made, likely from the 1950's or 60's. There's probably 100lb or them or more. He had full boxes of SAE hardware, most are 10lb boxes of nuts, bolts and washers, duplicates and triples of many sizes. Most unopened, in boxes old enough to still have metal corners.
They're in my basement now and I consider that more than a lifetime supply.

The tool box was never advertised on eBay, but she may have had it on FB at some point.

I am not the one selling this stuff, I'm trying not to get too involved but if if she insists on giving it away for pennies, its going in my garage or trailer here before it gets dumped for peanuts.
I'm really more or less trying to get her to sit back and get what its all really worth. I don't need the tools and I'm not trying to make money off the stuff at their expense but I won't sit back and watch her just let it all go for dollar store prices.

Her father, who I've lived next door to for 22 years now, is not senile, not disabled in any way, but he is 70 or so and has to use glasses and a magnifying glass to read. He's probably far better off than most guys his age. So he's not going to be doing much mechanic work. They took his car away last fall after he had a few fender benders, but I really don't think either was his fault. One dent was from someone hitting his car in his own driveway, the other was from a tree branch falling on it. I don't think he's had any road incidents at all. I've driven with the old guy and I never saw a problem. He's probably in better shape than I am at 10 or more years younger.
His daughter likely just wants to put him in a home where she doesn't have to travel to check on him. He told me he's not looking forward to going to live in a home full of old people but said its better than being stuck here with no car now.

All I keep hearing is that tools aren't worth much or she listed it wrong. I don't see where she did anything wrong.
There are plenty of tools listed but not many selling. Most that sell are brand new and they're selling for a fraction of what they do on the truck. That makes me wonder how any of the tool trucks are staying in business these days?
Especially with diesel being $7.71/gal today at the station down the road. (Gas was $5.37 for regular, it could be cheaper elsewhere but I didn't look today). At $99.99 someone should have gotten the deal of the century but no one bid.

She did have someone she found on CL or FB who advertised that they pay top dollar for Snap On tools come check it all out, but the guy came out and offered pennies for it all and telling her it was too hard to sell a big box these days and the tools were old and out of date. I realized what was going on when he came over and told me she was selling all his tools and really needed a drink. I went over and pretty much ran the guy off before she sold it all for pocket change or worse gave it away. I'm sorry but combo wrenches do not go out of date, nor do sockets, ratchets, hammers, and pliers.
Nor do tool boxes.
Twice she's told me, "If you think its worth so much then stick it in YOUR garage so I can clean this place up".

Back when I was starting out i'd have jumped on the chance to buy nice box for half price or less right from the start.
It would have saved me a ton of money over the years.
What I seen now is some smaller boxes that sold for decent money here and there but likely to home mechanics, and some really old boxes that sold for good money. There's very few 90's and 2000's model pro series boxes listed for sale and none showing as sold.

A quick search of all SO boxes listed on eBay shows only one or two really low end or rough boxes with bids. Many are priced at a fraction of what they cost. https://www.ebay.com/b/Snap-on-Automotive-Tool-Boxes-and-Storage/

I put her in touch with someone who emailed me here who is interested in the side cabinets for what I feel is a fair price. I texted her the info.
 

Wrench97

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 23, 2018
Messages
12,130
Location
Southeastern Pa
Boxes on Ebay are a tough sell because of shipping and the inability to see/touch it first local sale is easier but she would probably need to find somebody connected to the local car scene to get more then 25% of the original cost, keep in mind he probably did not pay full retail when he bought it boxes usually have promotions/discounts or tool set throw ins.
 

freeisforme

Member
Joined
Jan 20, 2016
Messages
14
Back when I first started wrenching, in my late teens, I got hired at a new car dealer and needed a box quick. I looked high and low for a box and the best I found then was a 26" wide Mac top and bottom with a Snap On side cab for $650, that was over 40 years ago. The box belonged to a guy who retired and he had bought it 10 or 12 years prior.

I outgrew that box fast, trading it in on a slightly newer Snap On box with more drawers. That was the last box I traded in and I still have that first Snap On box. But as my tool set grew working for a dealer so did my box. From the 26" wide box with two side boxes I went to a 31" wide box, then to a KR661, about 50" wide, still with the same side cabinets, then to a KR663, then to a KR1000, then to KRL1003, and finally to a KRL1004, all of which I still have, and all of which are very full. I kept a full set of tools at home, and at work. I made far more money working at home in my driveway than I ever did at work.
At $22/hr top pay in the 90's being around $300 take home pay, it didn't take a genius to realize I had to work on the side Eventually I worked at two private shops plus the dealer, working at the dealer for three - 12 hr days, and three days at the other two shops on weekends and nights. It paid for my house in cash. But like my neighbor, other than my tools, car and house that are paid for in cash, I have nothing to show for it. The business has no retirement, most 401K deals are scams, twice we had dealership owners run off with supposed 401k payments. New car dealers would close without warning, so you never had any long term employment history. The longest I had was 8 years Most only lasted 3 or 4 tops. Private shops are usually older dealer techs who got out and started their own business and most were up in years and by the time they were able to hire help, they were already close to retirement, so none of those jobs lasted long, and most of those shops failed too. When prime real estate costs in the millions or rent is taking half of the profits and liability insurance is taking most of the rest, there's not much left for the owner or any employees. When you say that box and his tools are his retirement, most don't realize thats very much the case with most mechanics. They don't make enough to pay for tools, food, rent, and a car AND put anything away for retirement. Then figure that in many states they can't even collect unemployment because 'flat rate' is considered piece work or a subcontractor job, so there is no unemployment when a dealer goes belly up. When they do, Mr Snap-on still wants his money, the kids still need food, and your car still costs the same to drive. A few weeks off looking for work eats up any savings you have pretty quick. Luckily I was never out of work for long, there was always a new dealer opening but they never lasted long.

Dealers are paying less now, and most here require some sort of formal training to be hired these days, past experience means nothing. It was mostly what pushed me out. There was no moving from the shop to the office since manufacturers were requiring a college degree, and eventually most began to require techs to have current factory certs at their own expense and to get those, they required some bogus degree in "automotive technologies" through a factory sponsored program.
Most stopped all factory training in the early 90's, at least any dealer or factory paid training, they moved to online only training and they expected techs to do it at home on their own time. Meanwhile dealers were cutting pay saying they weren't selling enough cars or that the building expenses, taxes, and economy was going to put them out of business. They used that as an excuse to let go of guys making $22 an hour to hire fresh out of college kids for $10/hr to save money. None of them ever stayed, most realized the job meant physical work and a ton of tools they had to still buy out of pocket. Most left in the first few years or less.

Dealers realized that it was cheaper to hire 20 parts changers for minimum wage, and one real mechanic to baby sit the rest and then rely to the factory tech line or outside labor to fix cars when they absolutely couldn't get out of fixing something with cheap help.

In the 90's most dealers closed their body shops to avoid having to deal with EPA regs, they stopped doing major repairs such as transmission overhauls, engine overhauls and such, using only reman units from various suppliers. This eliminated the need to hire real A tech mechanics. Eventually they'd find enough C techs who would do the work and they stopped hiring even B tech guys. That meant that electrical issues, upholstery, paint and body work, and anything that required any experience or ability got sent out to local shops.


The rule of thumb back in the day was that a new box could be bargained for maybe 10% off of catalog price if you were a steady buyer or if you put a ton of money down on it. Used boxes were generally 3/4 the cost of new with some wiggle room, meaning that if you traded in your old box, you paid with your old box and the 1/2 of the listed catalog price.
The only way to unload your old box other than to keep it and take it home was to trade it in, and quite often, it ended up in the hands of someone else in the shop who paid three times as much for it as what you got in trade. But no one ever had the cash to buy it outright. For that reason, Mr Snap-on made a ton of money on boxes that he never had to put on his truck. I watched that happen over and over again.


I made a point even when i first started out to find as many tools as I could from yard sales and flea markets. We didn't have the internet and rarely did anything turn up in a small local newspaper.
For me, the rule was to buy every and all Snap-on tools that I found cheap, I didn't worry about sets, matching sets didn't make me money. Many new car dealers didn't allow cheap tools, they didn't want someone breaking or marring up a new car with non-professional tools. For the most part it was Snap-on, Mac, Cornwell, SK, Bonney, Proto, or Matco. You could get away with some Craftsman tools but if one broke and you got hurt, you were not covered and would remain employed.

We got paid $50 guarantee and flat rate beyond that in most places. (40hr guarantees went away in the 80's, and 50/50 deals were gone with the 70's and never at dealerships, at least not around here).

I worked for five new car dealers and 8 private shops over about 34 years. I kept every last tool receipt and still own my first box, and my last box. I have my last new box because I was never able to find anyone to buy it, its been sitting in my garage since I retired almost 14 years ago now. I bought it a year before I was basically forced to retire after one dealer closed up, and the new owner was only offering techs half of what they were making before. I wasn't going to work for fast food wages fixing new cars. I specialized in transmissions and electrical work. I spent a few years after that working for a transmission shop but never took my main tool box to that job, it wasn't needed since I worked mostly at a workbench. They had R&R guys to do the heavy work.

The average tech back then, whether a newbie to the business or a veteran tech, generally had a $100 to $200 weekly tool bill on the Snap-on truck, plus a few others on the other trucks as well. Dealers rarely supplied any tools beyond things like scopes or jacks, and some charged you for the use of the bay and lift as a way to get more money back from your check.


Near the time I called it quits, the last shop I worked at required everyone to do a yearly inventory of their box and tools. This was required by the insurance company.
By this time I had a KRL1004 box, full top hutch and two KRL1025 lockers, two Snap-on carts, and a top/bottom KRL1003 with two more KRL1025 lockers. They sent a guy out who was to photograph and value each box and tools. They took pics of every drawer, wrote down every last tool number, and made copies of all receipts. They spent a week on my boxes. This was in 2008. They came back with a total of $934k in all. Then refused to write the policy saying that much value in one shop was a bad risk. The owner asked me to take my box home, and work out of his. I did that for a bit but got tired of not having what I needed to make good money. Not to mention all my OEM scan tools for GM, Ford, and Mopar. I only stayed there a little over a year since they really didn't have the business flow to generate enough hours to make it worth my drive.

I'll never sell my tools, but I would sell my larger box if i got fair money for it. I did sell off all four lockers a few years ago but two went to a buddies son, and the other two sold via taking pictures with me to an antique car swap meet.
Ebay is a great place to list a box, especially if there's no money locally. Folks in say TX likely don't check CL in NJ, folks in NJ don't seem to buy anything, or else I wouldn't find so many deals there.

Now years later things are worse yet at the dealers, I've had many calls wanted me to consider un-retiring and going back to work, but they somehow thing $15/hr is good pay now. I passed a McD's a few weeks ago in PA with a help wanted sign saying they pay $17.50 to start. That's a job that don't require any tools either.
With the cost of gas and me not being able to do what I once did, my days of turning wrenches are long behind me. But I certainly can see where selling a tool box or tools would be next to impossible these days.
There's no way anyone should expect a guy to sell a box he likely paid close to $20k for for less than half of that regardless of its age.

The problem is guys starting out only know how to buy online or weekly to Mr Snap-on, and he wants that box for about 1/4 of what he'll list it for, which is likely around $10k or so.

Like a clean used car, its value holds steady, especially as the new models cost more and more. The issue is there are fewer and fewer new techs and in today's workplace, a KRL1001 is likely too small for an established mechanic. I outgrew the one I had in the early 90's. Although I kept it, I bought a second one, and use that box like a tool cart with a hutch and SS top. I sold that one to a guy i worked for as partial trade for a truck I bought from him.






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