EBay rant!

[bowtiepro3]

Anyone know of the guy Harley1junk on Ebay that seems to be buying every nice or new set of hard handle ratchets, screwdrivers, pry bars and anything else related. It sure seems that most of these items are being bought outside of eBay rules, such as a new listing that suddenly disappears, then is relisted a short time after with a astronomical price from this seller! I pay a good premium for the stuff I collect but it's really out of hand! Rant over!

 

[jeffws]

http://orangecounty.craigslist.org/tls/3597346530.html

 

[mattmankow]

Free market. They will sell at his prices or they won't. If he can make money off of it, good for him.

 

[I van putski]

Pay up or shut up.

 

[Felix1]

Pay up or shut up.

Lol?? Gtfo

 

[jeffmoss26]

His prices are out of this freaking world...some sucker is paying them!

 

[honcho]

Hey OP, I tried to search for listings by Harley1junk on Ebay and came back with zero results. Is that the person's Ebay name? Just curious to see what they are buying and selling. Remember that Ebay can be pretty ruthless and money talks and bull walks.

 

[jeffmoss26]

1harleydjunk

 

[jeffmoss26]

People are paying 16.99 for ratcheting screwdriver end caps from this guy when they cost 4 bucks from SO!

 

[Rockuf8]

I found the same thing for something as common as Craftsman wrenches. People like to bid up listings and pay more then they would if they bought online at Sears or walked into the store. Some people get wrapped up in the bidding war I guess.

The other thing that I find humorous is when someone lists a small tool for like $7, and the shipping is inflated to $35. They pay less fees that way and it's against ebay rules.

 

[ianguilly]

Wow he's got dark blue pry bars for $400, how about no.

 

[sumner52000]

The other thing that I find humorous is when someone lists a small tool for like $7, and the shipping is inflated to $35. They pay less fees that way and it's against ebay rules.

They now charge final value fees on shipping costs as well. When i sell I am charged the same % on the selling price and on the shipping cost.

 

[canuckian]

LOL this guy has been used here as an example of overcharging for items on ebay more times than I can count! I bought a couple items from him a few years ago when his prices were only just a tad on the high side. In the past year or so his prices have gone to borderline insane. He does seem to be able to move some of his product so there must be people out there that have deep pockets. He does find some interesting items though. He's got a couple ratcheting screwdrivers that he's listed a few times that I'd love to have but at almost $200 a pop, I'll do without.
Pretty sure he either watches GJ or may even be a member here as I've seen him reference GJ in a couple of his listings. One was for a clear ratcheting screwdriver I believe.
One thing I can say about him though... His customer service, when I dealt with him at least was second to none. He noticed a small blemish on one tool I bought after I had paid. offered to refund the whole thing or take some off. The blemish wasn't a big deal to me so I said sure, knock a few $$ off. Refunded 1/3 of the price! I was a happy camper!

 

[gj67stang]

Does 1harleydjunk have over-inflated prices on most of his stuff? Yes.

Will people pay those prices? Yes.

Heck, I even bought a few ratcheting screwdrivers from him last year. They were the only place I had ever seen them and his prices were reasonable to me. That's the beauty of a free market economy - he can charge what he wants, I can pay what I want, and if the amounts match, we have a deal!

 

[RV77]

Around Christmas I was interested in a orange handle locking flex head 3/8 ratchet that he listed for $175 obo. I checked snap-on's website with the part # he supplied and made a fair offer and he said 150 was the best he could do.Was still higher than SO retail

 

[SCscoutguy]

It is kind of weird that he uses the same ebay account for buying and selling. You would think he would buy with one account and sell with another so people who are bidding on his auctions could not look and see he bought the same item for cheaper on ebay and relisted it?

 

[jeffmoss26]

People are not very smart.

 

[kythri]

Perhaps the new method of Mafia money laundering has been discovered...

 

[firebox40dash5]

It is kind of weird that he uses the same ebay account for buying and selling. You would think he would buy with one account and sell with another so people who are bidding on his auctions could not look and see he bought the same item for cheaper on ebay and relisted it?

I don't know that people who pay over retail for 'used' tools are going to be that smart.

 

[honcho]

Thank you JeffMoss26 for the correct userid. Looking at his sales, a lot of them sold as "Best Offer Accepted" It appears that Ebay is not showing the actual sold price for completed best offers. I suppose when you ask a sky high price you got a LOT of wiggle room to accept an offer.

 

[Rickster]

Wait a minute.... a guy is buying tools and reselling them for more money? ... WTF??

 

[ChevyEFI]

People are paying 16.99 for ratcheting screwdriver end caps from this guy when they cost 4 bucks from SO!

I think this can be partially attributed to the "least bother to purchase" factor.
SO doesn't list everything (replacement individual pieces; different color screwdrivers that hit the trucks but not the website)

So because of how "if you don't have a truck guy, buy from corporate" they've gotten, it's probably $12.99 worth of bother to find something vs. just buying it and being done with it.

 

[ianguilly]

How about the guy who is selling hard handles for $42 a pop? Crazy.

 

[cookefab]

I see nothing wrong w/ buying low and selling high...that's how America was built. I often buy lots on the cheap, piece them out and resell what I don't need....I will agree w/ having an issue w/ his pricing, but w/ some items that can't be found anywhere else, what are you going to do? Pay up, or be patient...and lucky.
FWIW, I just bought a partial set of older Blue Point wrenches to get 2 for my set in the condition that I wanted...the rest are doubles to me, and since they average $10 to $12 apeice on EBay, (and sell for that!), I'll list them for $8 apeice in an auction and make money no matter what...most will get taken w/ 1 bid, but 1 will get the "bidding war" action and I'll double up...
I love capitalism.

 

[shockwave]

All I can say it is wrong he is asking that much but at the same time others have been buying them up at his prices eBay is a marketplace for hard to find items as not always available to everyone as we all like snap on but not all on us have access to dealers and the specials they get

 

[RCStocker]

There is nothing wrong with it as long as it is on the up and up.
I have been buying and seling for years. I even have and antiques shop in indiana and a second hand store in here in California. I hae always sold on the low side. I raised my prices last year by 30 percent and I am still selling everything.

The problem with E bay is that you get a lot of shills. Inside buyers or the same party with a different account and IP address. They bid things up to sucker people in to bidding more. Threre are so many who get cought up in the bidding they loose thier common sense. I have seen it huindreds of times at auctions through the years.

If this party is buying up every hard handle then you can bet there is some hanky panky going on. They are trying to corner the market on that tool and drive the price up.


I would reprot it to E bay and have them look into who is biding.

There is nothing wroing in buying it all and then trying to get more more money but there is a fine line.

Your post sends all kinds of red flags up in my book Don't bid. This can lot last long. There are not going to be that many people who will keep paying supper high prices. Then again all the Snap-on collecctors are nuts. You pay far to much for your tools to begin with. They are not on the free market. Snap-on is doing to you the same thing this party is doing on E bay. That is controling the marked and keeping prices artificialy high.

 

[cookefab]

I would reprot it to E bay and have them look into who is biding.

Unfortunately, Ebay wants to have multiple reports before they'll expend resources looking into anything. I'm sure there are exceptions to that, but...

 

[vintagefan]

My biggest gripe is that I've seen a lot of guys like this guy (I think I've seen it out of him a few times as well) that add **** to their listings like, "SUPER ULTRA MEGA UBER RARE! RARE! RARE! RARE! SO RARE THEY DIDN'T EVEN MAKE ONE, THEY ONLY MADE HALF OF ONE!!!!!! SO RARE THAT IT DOESN'T EVEN EXIST" To fool buyers into thinking they'll NEVER see one like it again, and then impulse purchase at the high price.

I see some folks saying "Oh, it's just capitalism, it's just salesmanship", but it's neither... it's dirty, and immoral, period.

For some reason it's Ok to misrepresent your item when dealing with Snap-on tools, but if you were to repeatedly do that with cars, for example, you'd eventually end up making the evening news, and maybe even an appearance in court.

I get it, "buyer beware", but that doesn't all of a sudden make it Ok. Not even close.

Snap-on is doing to you the same thing this party is doing on E bay. That is controling the marked and keeping prices artificialy high.

I have to agree with you on this one. Snap-on knows they have the market, and they're not scared to price as such.

Of course, I'm one of the guys paying those prices, so I'm part of the problem. In general, I feel SO's pricing is anywhere from 20-40% inflated, which I assume is going directly into the CEO's boat payment.

It's a bit irritating, and I really don't like to think that me scraping together enough to get the best tools on a budget, is helping SO big wigs to add the 12th addition to their mansion.

 

[cookefab]

I see some folks saying "Oh, it's just capitalism, it's just salesmanship", but it's neither... it's dirty, and immoral, period.

For some reason it's Ok to misrepresent your item when dealing with Snap-on tools, but if you were to repeatedly do that with cars, for example, you'd eventually end up making the evening news, and maybe even an appearance in court.

Whoa... I'm not supporting any misrepresentation - I merely checked a few of his posts, and DIDN'T find any major issues. If what I saw is the exception, and he is purposely distorting facts, then he's a pile.
This is too much like thread about the guy buying boxes @ HF and reselling them for a profit...as long as he is only taking advantage of stupid people, then it's fine. Now if he pulls the label, and/or rebadges it, or advertises it as something that its not...and no I'm not referring to calling it "rare" or "hard to find"...then it's fraud.

Legally, saying something is "rare" when it isn't can't be prosecuted. It is distasteful, however, and I would use caution when dealing w/ someone like that.

 

[jeffmoss26]

I love it...the guy wins a clear ratcheting driver for 100 and lists it for 325, wins a yellow screwdriver for 160, lists it for 460...

 

[byoungblood]

I just laugh, or shake my head at the stupid prices folks will pay for SO stuff just because they used a different color $3 plastic handle on it. If people were just buying them to use, and not to sit around and look pretty, nobody would pay any more than any other good quality tool.

I say good for the eBy seller taking advantage of people's stupid and irrational spending habits.

 

[oilfieldtrash4]

I just laugh, or shake my head at the stupid prices folks will pay for SO stuff just because they used a different color $3 plastic handle on it. If people were just buying them to use, and not to sit around and look pretty, nobody would pay any more than any other good quality tool.

I say good for the eBy seller taking advantage of people's stupid and irrational spending habits.

You mad? You know you'd love to have a big *** snap on tool box with color matched handled tools. Saying you wouldn't would be a lie. I'd love to have it. I just can't afford it reasonably. Maybe the guys buying it have big money and it doesn't matter. Now if they are buying this stuff on credit or sacrificing financial security over tools then I agree they are idiots.

 

[Pumpman1968]

You guys are missing the bright spot in this.

The people who are buying tools at this mark up are clearly NOT in the industry and are only buying them as a trophy piece for their "man cave" garage. You know the type....garage floors are painted (by someone else), tools are cleaned because they got dusty....NOT because they were used.

Fast forward 5 years. The same buyer just got caught with his secretary and is now getting absolutely REAMED in Divorce Court. Soon his (soon to be) ex-wife will list his trophies on Craigslist for US to buy for pennies on the dollar just to get back at him.

 

[5.0vert]

Perhaps the new method of Mafia money laundering has been discovered...

wouldn't doubt it...

 

[ChevyEFI]

ex-wife will list his trophies on Craigslist for US to buy for pennies on the dollar just to get back at him.

I like your uber optimism.

 

[byoungblood]

You mad? You know you'd love to have a big *** snap on tool box with color matched handled tools. Saying you wouldn't would be a lie. I'd love to have it. I just can't afford it reasonably. Maybe the guys buying it have big money and it doesn't matter. Now if they are buying this stuff on credit or sacrificing financial security over tools then I agree they are idiots.

Nope. I don't see the point. I do, in fact, need a larger box, but I think I can do better price wise for similar quality buying elsewhere.

I guess it could be said of any collection, but I really don't see the point of it with tools, particularly if you are paying a huge premium just to get something in a specific color that serves the same function as their plain black (or whatever color is most common today) counterparts.

 

[gj67stang]

Nope. I don't see the point. I do, in fact, need a larger box, but I think I can do better price wise for similar quality buying elsewhere.

I guess it could be said of any collection, but I really don't see the point of it with tools, particularly if you are paying a huge premium just to get something in a specific color that serves the same function as their plain black (or whatever color is most common today) counterparts.

What's the difference between collecting tools versus baseball cards versus antiques versus......? Just another "thing" that makes some people happy.

 

[jeffmoss26]

Ooh! For 2500 bucks you can buy the Snap-on toolbox grill he has listed!!

 

[Tucko]

Does 1harleydjunk have over-inflated prices on most of his stuff? Yes.

Will people pay those prices? Yes.

Heck, I even bought a few ratcheting screwdrivers from him last year. They were the only place I had ever seen them and his prices were reasonable to me. That's the beauty of a free market economy - he can charge what he wants, I can pay what I want, and if the amounts match, we have a deal!

A ratcheting screwdriver??? Sorry, this is the most retarded thing I've ever heard of. But if you're interested, I have a few left handed screwdrivers for sale....

 

[Dieselbutterfly]

wtf is wrong with cornering the market?buy up the competition,and sell for your price.that is called capitalism