Question for you tool sellers.
- Thread starter hickmlg09
- Start date
kblazer87
Well-known member
If you can buy the tools cheaply enough you can certainly make some money doing it. I do it as a hobby and to put some free tools in my tool boxes and have had quite a lot of fun doing it as well as making some extra cash on the side. As far as how much work that will be up to you. I go to A LOT of flea markets, swap meets, yard/garage/estate sales and auctions, but again that is one of my hobbies and I enjoy it. If you want to make lots of money you certainly can, but you will also have to work much harder at it than just the hobby level in order to do that.
I have been thinking about selling tools on the side from my job. Do you make much from doing it and how much work does it take? Thanks alot!!
It takes lots of Research to know what stuff is bringing and what Brands Move the fastest. The Next thing is Appearance and Lastly Good Feedback. Its a Bad Sign when you can recall a Members Paypal Addy or there Mailing Address. If Electronic Money could be tracked, Im sure Mine has made a full circle here at GJ a few times.
Oddball Ratchets, Snap On, Oddball Ratchets and Snap on are generally Easy Sellers.
Last edited:
I sold about $36,000 worth on ebay last year. I think I made a few bucks but I'm starting to wonder if it is worth the work. Buying out people on CL and breaking it up on ebay seems to be the most efficient way, but you need to get good at finding the right people on CL. I **** at that. I had one guy that basically made my year, and another that brings me tools to sell about every 2 weeks. I haven't gone out looking for tools in about 5 months, so my stock is getting really meager. We'll see what the spring brings.
Outlawmws
Well-known member
I did that on a hobby level with Stereo equipment for much of the past 8-9 years. I can't say that I got rich off of it, but it allowed me to try a lot of interesting setups, cherry pick the beast, and outfit about 8-9 systems for me and my kids, and I'm a bit ahead, so I basically got to keep the cream of the crop for free. I still have maybe $1-2K to sell off, but now that I stay off of Eprey, its a lot slower going.
To make a lot of money at it takes a lot of time and work, as was already mentioned, the same would fall true for tools. Knowing what something is worth to the right purchaser, and how many there are that are willing to pay the price makes all the difference in the world.
My best deal so far had nothing to do with tools or stereo, and was a dual quad 4 barrel manifold that I got for the cost of a burger, and it turned out to be worth 800 bucks to someone. I was stunned as I expected it to go for maybe 250 tops.
Knowing the product and having a little instinct at times can pay dividends.
To make a lot of money at it takes a lot of time and work, as was already mentioned, the same would fall true for tools. Knowing what something is worth to the right purchaser, and how many there are that are willing to pay the price makes all the difference in the world.
My best deal so far had nothing to do with tools or stereo, and was a dual quad 4 barrel manifold that I got for the cost of a burger, and it turned out to be worth 800 bucks to someone. I was stunned as I expected it to go for maybe 250 tops.
Knowing the product and having a little instinct at times can pay dividends.
AltecDarpa
Well-known member
- Joined
- Dec 18, 2011
- Messages
- 52
Do you post over on Audiokarma? I thought I recognized that avatar
Outlawmws
Well-known member
Yep, that would be me. long time member. Do you use the same username?
sumner52000
Well-known member
I agree with Hiball.
Ratchets sell, sets sell, and anything Snap On. German stuff is good too.
The stuff I sell I usually picked up in a large lot of tools and I am just trying to move some things I'm not interested in.
For shipping you have to love the flat rate boxes and envelopes from the post office.
Good luck.
Last edited:
chadster1
Well-known member
I have been thinking about selling tools on the side from my job. Do you make much from doing it and how much work does it take? Thanks alot!!
Its a full time job for me.
mrshaun
Well-known member
buying tools is addictive, selling them is sometimes the hard part. you want ot keep so much for yourself.
Chad it a full time job for sure.
Chad it a full time job for sure.
Outlawmws
Well-known member
One great way to research what sells (and for how much) is to look through Eprey completed listings. Keeping in mind, those are not necessarily a good price guide for selling at flea markets, yard sales, or CL; but generally, maybe 50-80% as a guide? Eprey has the advantage of having a national base at least, and the other venues are much smaller so finding someone willing to pay top $$ is harder. Can you get an Eprey price? yes, but not consistently, if you try, you are likely to sit on the product a long time.
You can do a similar thing by perusing the for sale section of GJ, but with the disadvantage of not actually knowing the final sales price, but you can tell how quickly an item moved.
Using CL as a guide is worse than useless for pricing, as too many people ask stupid prices and you never know if the item sold, or for how much, or if the seller just got discouraged and quit trying.
If you find something truly unique, sometimes you can offer it on a specialty collectors forum, (if they allow it) and get top dollar.
The key for top dollar is finding a person who "can't live without it" and has the $$. (lots want it but can't/won't part with the cash)
The key for making a consistent reasonable profit is buy low and move the merchandise at a reasonable price.
Knowing when to do which is a learning experience, and if you pay attention to the details you get better at it over time. And remember, markets, and "what's in" is a constantly changing variable. (But you work in retail so that should not be news...)
Good Luck!
Last edited:
Packard V8
Well-known member
Thoughts from fifty years of scuffling for tools:
1. Got to be in an area with plenty of sellers from which to choose. Some places are just too thin on the ground. With today's fuel prices, driving too far too many times can put the business in the red from which it will never make a profit.
2. Got to be willing to be out in the flea markets weekly, first in line at estate/garage sales, on craigslist early and often, plus impulse control.
3. Got to have the research, computer and creative writing skills to position and describe what is being sold.
4. Got to be disciplined and detail oriented. We all know hoarders who are out buying all the time, but somehow never get around to the cleaning, sorting and selling.
5. Have enough cash on hand for when the once-a-year-deal comes along.
6. Any pawn shop or professional picker knows the profit comes on the buy. Research and remember thousands of sales over several years. Pull the trigger when the price is right and walk away when it isn't.
Bottom line - if one has all the above skillset, he'd be successful in a real career and make enough to own everything he'd ever want or need. I've been all of the above - just never all at the same time ;>)
jack vines
1. Got to be in an area with plenty of sellers from which to choose. Some places are just too thin on the ground. With today's fuel prices, driving too far too many times can put the business in the red from which it will never make a profit.
2. Got to be willing to be out in the flea markets weekly, first in line at estate/garage sales, on craigslist early and often, plus impulse control.
3. Got to have the research, computer and creative writing skills to position and describe what is being sold.
4. Got to be disciplined and detail oriented. We all know hoarders who are out buying all the time, but somehow never get around to the cleaning, sorting and selling.
5. Have enough cash on hand for when the once-a-year-deal comes along.
6. Any pawn shop or professional picker knows the profit comes on the buy. Research and remember thousands of sales over several years. Pull the trigger when the price is right and walk away when it isn't.
Bottom line - if one has all the above skillset, he'd be successful in a real career and make enough to own everything he'd ever want or need. I've been all of the above - just never all at the same time ;>)
jack vines
Last edited:
Toolhorder
Well-known member
One great way to research what sells (and for how much) is to look through Eprey completed listings. Keeping in mind, those are not necessarily a good price guide for selling at flea markets, yard sales, or CL; but generally, maybe 50-80% as a guide? Eprey has the advantage of having a national base at least, and the other venues are much smaller so finding someone willing to pay top $$ is harder. Can you get an Eprey price? yes, but not consistently, if you try, you are likely to sit on the product a long time.
You can do a similar thing by perusing the for sale section of GJ, but with the disadvantage of not actually knowing the final sales price, but you can tell how quickly an item moved.
Using CL as a guide is worse than useless for pricing, as too many people ask stupid prices and you never know if the item sold, or for how much, or if the seller just got discouraged and quit trying.
If you find something truly unique, sometimes you can offer it on a specialty collectors forum, (if they allow it) and get top dollar.
The key for top dollar is finding a person who "can't live without it" and has the $$. (lots want it but can't/won't part with the cash)
The key for making a consistent reasonable profit is buy low and move the merchandise at a reasonable price.
Knowing when to do which is a learning experience, and if you pay attention to the details you get better at it over time. And remember, markets, and "what's in" is a constantly changing variable. (But you work in retail so that should not be news...)
Good Luck!
Lots of good points.
Before the tv shows came out and basically ruined the storage auction market for me and my brother we would buy units and flip the contents at the local flea market on the weekends. We would sell anything and everything at low prices to move the stuff as fast as possible. The sellers who have the same spot every weekend and never move would brag how much they would "resell" our stuff at and I just laughed and offered them more stuff at a decent price.
For us it was getting our money and a little more back out of the stuff we were selling to open the next door and find that Snappy box full of tools (okay this was my dream) or something else I could flip and make a ton of money on. We never got rich or could make it a full time gig and it was a lot of work cleaning them out, dumping non valuables and just hauling the stuff around. Then "Storage wars" and the knock off shows came out and it was the straw that broke the camel's back. $200 lockers are now $1200 because of ignorant newbie bidding and an auction that once had say 20-30 people show up now has 200 people showing up.
Not worth it, I can make more money now hitting thrift stores and cherry picking stuff for feebay.
I'm looking at complete top and bottom toolbox with tools in the $600 range on CL. If you have the starting capital buy a loaded box, sell what you can and keep the rest.
Snap-on, Mac, Matco and Cornwell...in that specific order. I only buy on Craig's List, and sell on eBay. Unlike Boiler, I have no problem finding good bargains on CL. But the difference between our methods is that I get to buy really good collections because I will pay many thousands for a large toolbox filled with tools. I'm not interested in individual items or even really small collections. That is how I get the really good deals...I buy by the ton. The last collection I bought was $5,000, and I did not take the guys toolbox. This guy had a huge Macsimizer top and bottom with two side lockers. All packed to the brim with Snap-on, Mac and Matco stuff. I would bet we took home $35k+ at least at new prices, maybe much more. The collection before that was $6k, and included a loaded Snap-on KRL triple bank and a nice MAC cart.
I have no desire to buy at flee markets, after all, that's retail. Even if the prices seem pretty good, I need to pay "wholesale" to make a buck. I have no complaints about my profit margin. I believe if I did this full time I could probably make just about $100k per year if I busted my ***. A bit more if I hired a helper or two. But the business would max out based on the available used tools that could be bought 'well' within a reasonable radius. Sometimes I can find more used tools than I can store, otrher times, it takes me a while to find anything at the right price. And I always have to weed though hundreds of collections where the sellers have pie-in-the-sky ideas of what their stuff is worth.
Yes, and if I stick with the auto class I will be taking next fall i may not need or want to sell tools. My dad would be very happy if i had lots of tools and a toolbox, cause i know i will need different tools to work on my jeep once i start learning in class.
05CarbonDRZ
Well-known member
Fast nickels are better than slow dimes.
Its a full time job for me.
That can take some of the fun out of the hobby.
Knowledge has value, thats the key. Eventually you get a nose for what looks like $$ and actually is $$$$$.
Beware the trap of telling yourself you are buying things to sell and then not selling them. Buying is WAY more fun than selling. Selling is work, and its also the stage where the profit becomes clear, which is kind of judging of how well you did, or if you F U. Easy way to avoid "realizing" your mistakes is not to sell them. Next thing you know you have a storage unit with a monthly bill.
OTOH screw it, you only live once, have some fun, but keep an eye out for ruining the hobby and making it work, or not doing the work part and ending up on hoarders. Good simple plan, your budget for buying comes from net profits of selling.
SpiderGearsMan
Banned
aww profiting from others misfortune is not the profit center it once was ...my heart weeps
I've seen guys that are successful (not homeless) that are lousy buyers, paying top dollar, but they are great sellers that have a list of contacts that pay them top dollar. Other guys that are crazy good at buying, but lack the selling skills so they end up as feeders for middlemen who turn around and make the real profits.
I love a live auction, and after a few got to know a fair number of fellow junkies, and the fringe people that survive in what is about the last DIY self employment gig, buying and selling used stuff. Generally a highly diverse, fun group to hang with and shoot the bull.
Outlawmws
Well-known member
Um, that's hardly a "hobby" level...
Beerman
Well-known member
I've been buying, selling and trading for around 15 years, mostly in tools.
If you have the capital and some other source of regular income, buying and selling anything you're interested in can be a fun hobby that makes you a little money on the side.
As others have said, having a good eye, being 1st in line at garage/estate sales and having enough spending capital to put down $$$ when you come across a deal worth it are also key elements. There's been COUNTLESS deals I could have made a bunch of money on by flipping, but I either didn't have the required amount of cash necessary to complete the deal , or I did have it, but had bills to pay with it and didn't have it available to "invest" in something that might pay off in a week or two or more.
Couple of things I'll touch upon that others in this post have not. 1. I used to buy a couple of boxes of used tools at the local pawn shops and sell them one at a time at the local flea market. Most of the pawn shops in my area have either a. gone out of business or b. no longer take in tools. I can't remember the last time I saw a box full of used tools in the $50 or so range that I could flip.
2. Timing and luck are FAR more important that most here would think. I've advertised a number of things here at what I would consider very reasonable prices. No interest. A few weeks later, someone offers the same or a very similar item at roughly the same price and it sells right away. The difference???? The seller posted at the same time the buyer was looking, before the ad got bumped off of the 1st page-while my post with the same item is on page 81. Ever wonder why some sellers here bump their own classified posts at every opportunity allowed? Because if it moves off of page 1 without selling, it's not going to sell most likely.
Finally, you have to have a thick skin-something I'm still trying to work on. Unfortunately, I take it personally when something I'm trying to sell doesn't move-whether it's here at the GJ classifieds or when I set up at the local flea market. I've gone home after a bad day at the flea market (for me a bad day is <$50 after I pay to rent the table) and am in a bad mood for a couple of days. I figure that: I got up at the crack of dawn after working a 60 hour week, broke my back wedging a bunch of heavy tools in the back of my sub-compact car, drove to the flea market, unloaded them, stood on my feet all day, loaded the remainder back and unloaded them once again at my house. How DARE those asshats at the flea market not buy more of my stuff-especially since I practically (in my own mind) have it priced at give-away prices.
The fortunate thing about this is you can give it a try by starting small and going from there. Spend a day or so travelling to the pawn shops in town and seeing if you can find a box of tools almost too heavy for you to lift in the $50-$100 range. Take them to the local flea market (weather permitting-I see you're in Michicgan) and see what happens. If you bomb or decide you hate it, you're out less than $200. You might be surprised at what you make. I feel like a bunch of guys here are tool junkies (like me) and forget that not everyone has a garage-full of tools. So when you offer that guy at the flea market a C'man #2 phillips screwdriver for $2-3 bucks, he sees it as a good deal. Most people don't already have 50 ratchets or a million #2 phillips like the regulars here do.
FWIW.
Beerman
If you have the capital and some other source of regular income, buying and selling anything you're interested in can be a fun hobby that makes you a little money on the side.
As others have said, having a good eye, being 1st in line at garage/estate sales and having enough spending capital to put down $$$ when you come across a deal worth it are also key elements. There's been COUNTLESS deals I could have made a bunch of money on by flipping, but I either didn't have the required amount of cash necessary to complete the deal , or I did have it, but had bills to pay with it and didn't have it available to "invest" in something that might pay off in a week or two or more.
Couple of things I'll touch upon that others in this post have not. 1. I used to buy a couple of boxes of used tools at the local pawn shops and sell them one at a time at the local flea market. Most of the pawn shops in my area have either a. gone out of business or b. no longer take in tools. I can't remember the last time I saw a box full of used tools in the $50 or so range that I could flip.
2. Timing and luck are FAR more important that most here would think. I've advertised a number of things here at what I would consider very reasonable prices. No interest. A few weeks later, someone offers the same or a very similar item at roughly the same price and it sells right away. The difference???? The seller posted at the same time the buyer was looking, before the ad got bumped off of the 1st page-while my post with the same item is on page 81. Ever wonder why some sellers here bump their own classified posts at every opportunity allowed? Because if it moves off of page 1 without selling, it's not going to sell most likely.
Finally, you have to have a thick skin-something I'm still trying to work on. Unfortunately, I take it personally when something I'm trying to sell doesn't move-whether it's here at the GJ classifieds or when I set up at the local flea market. I've gone home after a bad day at the flea market (for me a bad day is <$50 after I pay to rent the table) and am in a bad mood for a couple of days. I figure that: I got up at the crack of dawn after working a 60 hour week, broke my back wedging a bunch of heavy tools in the back of my sub-compact car, drove to the flea market, unloaded them, stood on my feet all day, loaded the remainder back and unloaded them once again at my house. How DARE those asshats at the flea market not buy more of my stuff-especially since I practically (in my own mind) have it priced at give-away prices.
The fortunate thing about this is you can give it a try by starting small and going from there. Spend a day or so travelling to the pawn shops in town and seeing if you can find a box of tools almost too heavy for you to lift in the $50-$100 range. Take them to the local flea market (weather permitting-I see you're in Michicgan) and see what happens. If you bomb or decide you hate it, you're out less than $200. You might be surprised at what you make. I feel like a bunch of guys here are tool junkies (like me) and forget that not everyone has a garage-full of tools. So when you offer that guy at the flea market a C'man #2 phillips screwdriver for $2-3 bucks, he sees it as a good deal. Most people don't already have 50 ratchets or a million #2 phillips like the regulars here do.
FWIW.
Beerman