Craigslist around here *****

[Milwookie]

I live in Boulder county, one of the more expensive areas of the country. Craigslist around here is basically useless. I find Milwaukee stuff on there that's often priced higher than Amazon for new items, or almost new prices for stuff that's absolutely trashed. Any actual decent deals are gone almost instantly.

Here's typical example from Denver (usually a bit better): http://denver.craigslist.org/tls/5595771868.html

I have to look at 75 miles away to start finding good deals.

 

[dsimatt]

That ad reminds me of one here for a 1/2'' snap on cordless impact the guy wanted $450 for it because it was only 6 months old but looked like he had been dragging it behind his truck the whole time.

I don't constantly look on craigslist but anything that is good quality is priced almost new price or if its cheap its junk.

 

[ScottsGT]

Don't feel bad. Same here on the east coast. Lots of idiots thinking because THEY owned it, it is worth more. You can watch the same ad for a year or more. Morons cannot figure it out.
I always hear about Pawn Shop scores. Not going to happen in this area. They usually want the same as new for something that has been run hard and put away wet or stolen.

 

[Rewind97]

Same here where I live.......old worn out **** or overly priced SO boxes

 

[anndel]

Hah, we have you beat here in Hawaii! 25 year old beat up and worn out Wilton vise for $250? SO, MAC boxes that are >5 years old for near retail.

 

[BK13]

Same here where I live.......old worn out **** or overly priced SO boxes

Sounds like here.

 

[bwringer]

The obviously stolen stuff is interesting -- drills with one battery and no charger, or random assortment of construction/contracting tools but the seller has no idea what most of it is.

The upside is that if I want to sell something, it's not hard to rise above such rabble. If I post a halfway coherent ad with decent pics and a realistic price, it'll get a response very quickly.

 

[Cruzan80]

I have found for Boulder/Denver/CO Springs, it either leaves within 2hrs, or sells in weekly increments (1 week, 2 weeks, etc). So things I am somewhat interested in, I usually email/call them about 4-5 days in, and ask if they are flexible on price. Then explain what I have seen and why I am offering less than list price. Got a CM 150 Floor DP for about 60% of listing this way. The really good deals I have gotten have all been up under 3 hrs (18" bandsaw, Unisaw, etc). It also seems to ebb and flow. Nothing, nothing, tons of stuff in one week, nothing, nothing...

Thinking of picking up that Sawzit that has been listed for a while, if he comes down a bit on price (just been up for a LONG time). Trying to find boxes for some stuff I have, and realized my jigsaw doesn't slow down enough for some things I need it to.

 

[CGT80]

It is the same in SoCal. The only thing I bought from CL in years, is a swamp cooler for my garage. It was a good price at 60 bucks and I had to buy a pump for it.

Look at air compressors or electric tools for this area. They will show the belt guard side of a compressor and not the pump and motor side and they usually don't have any specs. Half the time, they don't even speak English, if you do call. CL is useless and I would rather throw or give away my stuff than deal with the flakes on there.

 

[cowanrg]

Boulder/Denver craigslist is just fine, you just need to setup searches and be ready to grab something quickly. If you look at craigslist and don't see anything good, it's because you're only seeing the stuff that wasn't priced well. All the good stuff is sold, and sold ads don't show up anymore. set up searches with email alerts. Boulder/Denver craigslist is actually VERY good.

 

[Jo Diesel]

Same **** here in Michigan. Every thing is over priced junk. People can't even tell you what car the wheels they are trying to came off from. Chrome wheels with a Chevy bolt pattern $1000

 

[dsimatt]

It is the same in SoCal. The only thing I bought from CL in years, is a swamp cooler for my garage. It was a good price at 60 bucks and I had to buy a pump for it.

Look at air compressors or electric tools for this area. They will show the belt guard side of a compressor and not the pump and motor side and they usually don't have any specs. Half the time, they don't even speak English, if you do call. CL is useless and I would rather throw or give away my stuff than deal with the flakes on there.

When I was looking to get a compressor I kept watching CL and the **** on there was scary being old and rusting away. I ended up getting a husky 30 gallon from HD and the saddest part is there was a used tool store selling a older used sanborn for more than I got mine new.

 

[Jazz1]

You have to shop in area that is economically challenged. Pawn shops are useless in areas with booming economies,,,as are craigslist and kijiji IMO

 

[FigureItOut]

Setting up a search that emails you is helpful. Searching for vises, I've started looking at all the ads with "workbench" in the title. Often, it comes with the attached vise and they'll take less if you don't want the bench. I got a nice older Craftsman vise this way for $10 and nearly gotten a few other decent vises.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337Z using Tapatalk

 

[TK-421]

Got the same problem here. Also have that issue with pawn shops. Always hear about pawn shop scores on here, and the pawn shops by me want near retail for heavily used and abused tools that are almost junk.

I've noticed gun sales are the same thing. People wanting $500-550 for a used gun when you can buy the same thing brand new for $550-600. Then you factor in shipping and FFL fees and you can wind up paying more than new for a used gun.

 

[ritestuff]

Something from the Boston Craigslist tool listings.

http://boston.craigslist.org/sob/tls/5600305937.html

Can't help but lose faith in humanity.

 

[CGT80]

When I was looking to get a compressor I kept watching CL and the **** on there was scary being old and rusting away. I ended up getting a husky 30 gallon from HD and the saddest part is there was a used tool store selling a older used sanborn for more than I got mine new.

Most of the big compressors were priced around $1,000 and usually had 3 phase motors and the owner had no way to run them. The ads stuck around for a long time. Many had no details or looked like beat up junk. There was a huge IR compressor for $375, down the street from me. I drove down there and it was a steal of a deal, but a 10-15 hp beast that was 3 phase. I needed a 5hp unit in single phase, so that one was out. A 5hp motor probably wouldn't have run it well and someone beam me to it by about 20 minutes anyway.

I ended up getting an only leroi 400 compressor from my neighbor. It sat for years, but we got it to run with no problem and it was just the right size and motor. I paid more than I had hoped, but he took less than what most other big compressors go for. I am happy with the deal and it beats the old 3hp 60 gallon sanborn that gave up on me.

Pawn shops are a joke. With 35 million people in this state and SoCal having a high density of people, you have to be quick and most people will just set a higher price and wait for someone who will pay too much. Business costs are also high here, so stores have a fair amount of overhead.

 

[jd_1138]

I think CL is like that everywhere. The users are clueless. They either ask way too low to where it gets snagged instantly by a flipper, or they charge way, way too much.

Stuff I put on CL usually disappears quickly, as I price it logically. I had a Ryobi corded hammer drill. New retail is $60, so I put it at $25 (mint shape). Sold it the next day.

I had a basic Skil set -- 18 volt cordless drill, circular saw, sawzall -- mint, in a case. I put it at $40 and it sold right away. That'd be listed for $100 by most of these CL users around here.

 

[Robby321]

Funniest thing I ever saw was cruising the Goodwill and seeing DOLLAR Store items still in box selling for $1.50?

 

[Banana Man]

CL ***** in general, you have to sift through the garbage to find some decent items for a fair price. I'm here in LA and a lot of CL peps try and sell used stuff for 95% of the new cost. Not to mention whenever I sell legit quality stuff at a fair price people always try to low ball. Like didn't you read the ad!!!! "Price is FIRM!!!" And they still low ball, then ask you to meet them half way, like I'm going to drive an hour to sell something for a few bucks...

 

[Jose Cuervo]

Every pawn shop around here has a bunch of free Harbor Freight multimeters for $10-$20

 

[fatfillup]

I get a kick out of folks complaining about CL. Its a free service so you are going to get a lot of **** ads, its just part of the deal.

I live outside of Baltimore which has a booming economy and you can find deals on CL most everyday. But you will look at 100 ads to find a couple of good ones. So you have to decide if you want to invest the time to save the money. Same way with auctions.

I buy a lot at both for resale but invest a lot of time doing it.

IF you don't want to invest the time but want a fair deal on used tools, ebay is likely your best venue.

 

[Hephaestus29]

X's 2 for setting up alerts.
Also, if you change your spelling,
sometimes you'll find things you wouldn't
normally see.
For instance: if you're searching for a
radial arm saw or drill change it up to
radio arm because alot of people misspell
words or just can't spell at all.
Try this and you'll see other items.

 

[speed bump]

There is an incredible amount of good stuff on Boulder, FTC, and Denver Craigslist pages. It is also a great place to sell stuff if I have enough to justify the trip.

 

[justanengineer]

JME but reading GJ and other forums most of the craigs/ebay "deals" I see I consider overpriced. Yes, the odd good deal exists on them as it does everywhere else, but personally theyre so few and far between that I dont look at either often.