Best sellers in tools?

[KEH]

Judging by the brands of tools for sale at flea markets and pawn shops in the area, the best selling tools by far are Craftsman, followed by import auto parts store brands. Not too many tool truck brands availiable and certainly not in sets. The closest thing to a set I found was a tray of 1/4 drive Cornwell metric sockets, which i bought.

Are there any figures availiable comparing sale numbers from different manufacturers?

KEH

 

[mrshaun]

i do not see very many craftsman tools around the pawn shops out here, nor the flea markets... mainly tiawan tools......
they do have a lot of snap on / matco tools, but they sell them at the same price i do for new tools

 

[slacktide]

Judging by the brands of tools for sale at flea markets and pawn shops in the area, the best selling tools by far are Craftsman, followed by import auto parts store brands. Not too many tool truck brands availiable and certainly not in sets. The closest thing to a set I found was a tray of 1/4 drive Cornwell metric sockets, which i bought.


KEH

I will submit that the giant 5 gallon bucket of tools at the pawn store represents the WORST selling tools.... the best selling tools get sold quickly.

Pawn shop near me has tons and tons of import stuff for sale, some of it has been there for years. He usually only has a limited selection of good tool truck quality stuff, but it has high turnover, something new all the time. I've scored some pretty good deals there over the past few years, but you have to check often, because anything worth owning sells off quickly.

 

[Zrexxer]

I will submit that the giant 5 gallon bucket of tools at the pawn store represents the WORST selling tools....

Yeah, plus I don't think the OP's logic is sound... Craftsman and auto-parts brands are the ones most likely to get pawned and/or otherwise disposed of.

 

[Skyline]

I sell a lot of tools on eBay...and I can barely GIVE AWAY Craftsman stuff. The best selling tools are: Snap-on, MAC, Matco and Cornwell...in that order. As costly as these brands are initially, they have the highest resale value as a percentage of new price. Followed by specialty European brands like Hazet, Stahlwille, Knipex, Facom, etc. Craftsman does not even make the list. Any pawn shop owner who pays much of anything for used Craftsman stuff is not going to make a living.

But there is certainly a LOT of Craftsman stuff around, and lots makes it to yard sales and flee markets....perhaps that's what the OP meant.

 

[woody 73]

I am not sure about that I think his logic is sound at least in my area craftsman rules the roost. If you stop and think about it what brand can most people afford (craftsman). How many people can buy the truck brands versus getting into your car and going to a brick & morter place. How many people in the street have ever heard of snap-on I bet not many. Ask 10 different people to name a tool brand I bet 8-out of 10 will name Craftsman.

 

[jeepnut24]

I have found a mixed bag. Half the shops that can pay $$$ have truck brand tools, the other half seem to have nothing but Pittsburgh tools....WAY over priced.

 

[vssjim]

hardly have any pawn shops or flea markets here in my area, the one pawn shop here only has a few power tools and that stuff is more than new and looks used up. They only want to sell jewelry and stuff like that.

 

[KEH]

Thanks for replies, some interesting points made. Two additional comments: It may be that a professional mechanic who decides to get rid of his tools has contacts that will take his tool truck tools off his hands, and, I know several professional mechanics here that use Craftsman tools because of the expense ot the tool truck brands and because they know where Sears is located.

As others pointed out, conditions are different in different areas.

KEH

 

[mkdive]

Lots of Cman at the flea markets around me in Socal. I would agree here is my experience for my area.

1 Cman
2. Import & auto store brands
3. Truck brands (and they want at least 75%-90% of new price for them).
4. Older Proto, Plomb, Hazet.....(the stuff Im there for)!

 

[ears]

I sell mostly at yard sales and flea markets. The cheap chinese junk will outsell all others by 10 to 1. Truck brands and Craftsman are close to equal. Resale value would probably go to chinese, followed by Snap on. Brands like Bonney, Wright etc. are the hardest to sell. A lot of people dont know about them and wont pay more even though they are obviously better quality than what they end up buying.

Ebay gets more people who know what they are looking for and what they want, they go looking for Snap on wrenches and buy them. At the flea market people want wrenches and buy on price alone.

 

[back2class]

Craftsman stuff at the fleas sell pretty good here and there is alot of it. I also see alot of lower quality import stuff with name brands. The population here does not seem to have a taste for better stuff so I get many great deals one the odd Snap-On or other top brand when they pop up, but there is not too much of that around here.

 

[mcdtommy23]

Around here people seem to think Crapsman rules. I all too often see Crapsman going for more $$$ at pawn shops then at Sears. Truck brand tools are either in the bargin bins or behind glass. If behind glass they usually want more than the truck does.