Swapping tools to get same mfg

[gumbudah]

Anyone know of any sites that have a focus on trading tools? I know folks do it on here, but I'm wondering if theres a site focused on it. I have 100 different mfg of tools in my toolbox, the ocd in me wants to slim that down, I'm trying to figure out how to do it. I realize I could just sell what I don't want on ebay or marketplace but seems the value wouldn't be very high there. Like I sell a pair of masterforce pliers for $2 but need to buy a used pair of ICONs for $25. not that they're the same, but I'd take a licking on the sale part and likely also still need to pay a higher price for an equivalent brand.

Options
1. forget the ocd and use what i have
2. sell stuff I don't want on facebook marketplace and buy new or used
3. find a website to trade
4. give my non desired stuff to the kids or donate to young gearheads.
5. Other.

For like the past 20 years I've been thinking of a website that deals in used tools, enabling folks to find that specific brand and era to replace the one they lost from the set they bought in 1993....

 

[liliysdad]

For like the past 20 years I've been thinking of a website that deals in used tools, enabling folks to find that specific brand and era to replace the one they lost from the set they bought in 1993...

That’s almost exactly what eBay is…

 

[Komet]

If it's not on eBay, it's probably pretty rare.

 

[nicks78camaro]

If it's not on eBay, it's probably pretty rare.

Yeah tell me about it, I just tried finding a USA Craftsman 10mm 1/4" drive deep socket on there, to complete an old set.

Of the few listings available, one guy wants to charge $6 to ship a single socket, another makes you buy oddball sizes to get the 10mm.

One guy even has these listed for $30.00. Insane.

Pardon Our Interruption...

Most people TRULY must have lost their 10mm as there's not many for sale. Lol.

 

[ohhimark]

5. make full sets out of each brand. If you know kids actually interested in tools, get them to do odd jobs for them. Trying to fill in the blanks can frustrating, because who wants to buy one used socket for $10? Conversely, who wants to list, sell, and ship one socket for less than that?

 

[Zewnten]

Yeah tell me about it, I just tried finding a USA Craftsman 10mm 1/4" drive deep socket on there, to complete an old set.

Of the few listings available, one guy wants to charge $6 to ship a single socket, another makes you buy oddball sizes to get the 10mm.

One guy even has these listed for $30.00. Insane.

Pardon Our Interruption...

Most people TRULY must have lost their 10mm as there's not many for sale. Lol.

I see this all the time. Shipping is expensive. Why do so few people on here value other people's time and money. Bunch of choosy beggars.

As for OPs question. No I've never seen a site for trading. There was a discussion about how to do it and I've done a few here but unless there is a one to one trade it's hard. Monetary exchange is the easiest but both people lose some value in the trade as it's no longer one to one. Best option is to list it here or make your own website but I couldn't think of a way to secure the trade for both parties.

 

[nicks78camaro]

I see this all the time. Shipping is expensive. Why do so few people on here value other people's time and money. Bunch of choosy beggars.

As for OPs question. No I've never seen a site for trading. There was a discussion about how to do it and I've done a few here but unless there is a one to one trade it's hard. Monetary exchange is the easiest but both people lose some value in the trade as it's no longer one to one. Best option is to list it here or make your own website but I couldn't think of a way to secure the trade for both parties.

There is a difference between being a so called "choosy beggar" and a desire to pay a reasonable shipped price for a well used 40yr old 1/4" drive socket.

 

[BTL-A4]

Anyone know of any sites that have a focus on trading tools? I know folks do it on here, but I'm wondering if theres a site focused on it. I have 100 different mfg of tools in my toolbox, the ocd in me wants to slim that down, I'm trying to figure out how to do it. I realize I could just sell what I don't want on ebay or marketplace but seems the value wouldn't be very high there. Like I sell a pair of masterforce pliers for $2 but need to buy a used pair of ICONs for $25. not that they're the same, but I'd take a licking on the sale part and likely also still need to pay a higher price for an equivalent brand.

Options
1. forget the ocd and use what i have
2. sell stuff I don't want on facebook marketplace and buy new or used
3. find a website to trade
4. give my non desired stuff to the kids or donate to young gearheads.
5. Other.

For like the past 20 years I've been thinking of a website that deals in used tools, enabling folks to find that specific brand and era to replace the one they lost from the set they bought in 1993....

Are you trying to make it so that you don't have so many mixed brands of tools? For example, you have Craftsman sockets, but a few Duralast mixed in and want to get all Craftsman? Ebay is probably the best way.

You might try selling sets/multiples/more than one piece of items to save a bit on shipping. For example, sell all but the Craftsman sockets in one lot.

You could also buy whatever is needed to fill out a set with the same brand and then make a set of non-matching tools (but with all the right sizes, etc.) to sell or give away.

I wonder if you could go to a local swap meet and trade your tools for other ones? Anyone ever tried that?

 

[mikey03]

Of the few listings available, one guy wants to charge $6 to ship a single socket, another makes you buy oddball sizes to get the 10mm.

I tried selling stuff on eBay last year and the cost to ship a single socket is around $4 using the cheapest possible shipping and you got to pay eBay their 15 percent fee on the shipping and eBay charges sales tax on shipping prices to the customer and the seller got to pay 15 percent fee on the sales tax collected.

some kind of box or padded envelope is needed and that costs 50 cents at least

so yea 6 bucks for shipping is barely breaking even on a single socket to the seller tbh

and now your talking a 3 dollar or 5 dollar socket and yeah it’s going to cost you as the buyer 12 bucks after shpping and tax but the seller gets to keep the 3 bucks minus 15 percent fees minus the 15 percent fees on the sales tax

so your paying 12 bucks on this socket and complaining the shipping is too high meanwhile the seller pockets maybe 2 bucks for the effort of taking pictures, writing listing, answering questions from people printing label boxing it up and taking it to the post office

 

[nicks78camaro]

I tried selling stuff on eBay last year and the cost to ship a single socket is around $4 using the cheapest possible shipping and you got to pay eBay their 15 percent fee on the shipping and eBay charges sales tax on shipping prices to the customer and the seller got to pay 15 percent fee on the sales tax collected.

some kind of box or padded envelope is needed and that costs 50 cents at least

so yea 6 bucks for shipping is barely breaking even on a single socket to the seller tbh

and now your talking a 3 dollar or 5 dollar socket and yeah it’s going to cost you as the buyer 12 bucks after shpping and tax but the seller gets to keep the 3 bucks minus 15 percent fees minus the 15 percent fees on the sales tax

so your paying 12 bucks on this socket and complaining the shipping is too high meanwhile the seller pockets maybe 2 bucks for the effort of taking pictures, writing listing, answering questions from people printing label boxing it up and taking it to the post office

Alright. Seems that the answer is to not buy from eBay then.

 

[rust in the eye]

There is a difference between being a so called "choosy beggar" and a desire to pay a reasonable shipped price for a well used 40yr old 1/4" drive socket.

When is the last time you shipped something yourself?
A 1/4" socket while light as a fart is too large to ship as a letter in an envelope (1/4" thickness limit for "letters")so becomes a "package". Very few packages ship for less the the $6 offered. Not to mention the cost of shipping supplies and time to process and pack.
Nobody is ripping you off.
I can ship one socket or a dozen for about the same money.
Nickel and dime sales @ Ebay are seldom worth the effort for the seller

 

[liliysdad]

It will ship in a padded envelope, and will be less than $4 all day, less than $3 depending on where it’s going.

 

[garfunkle24]

^ Even still, you're quibbling about 2 or maybe 3 ******* dollars.

I'd rather throw a socket in the garbage than list it for a few bucks and have someone tell me my $6 shipping is "unreasonable". For something they don't even need, they just want to complete a set. smh

 

[3baygarage]

^ Even still, you're quibbling about 2 or maybe 3 ******* dollars.

I'd rather throw a socket in the garbage than list it for a few bucks and have someone tell me my $6 shipping is "unreasonable". For something they don't even need, they just want to complete a set. smh

The fun ended when shipping became higher than the item value.

 

[woody 73]

Why not trade in the GJ buy/sell part, I would love to find a few missing sockets that I have never been able to find along with missing wrenches etc.

 

[nicks78camaro]

^ Even still, you're quibbling about 2 or maybe 3 ******* dollars.

I'd rather throw a socket in the garbage than list it for a few bucks and have someone tell me my $6 shipping is "unreasonable". For something they don't even need, they just want to complete a set. smh

Man, really took it personal eh?

How many things do you buy that you don't truly need? Do you care about paying more than you should for those items?

Not worrying about prices doubling/tripling is how we've gotten to where we are in the world today.

As stated above, seems like the eBay fees and the shipping costs make low dollar tool deals not worth it for the buyer or the seller. It only benefits eBay and FedEx.

 

[rsanter]

other
Start looking around to buy the tools you want used or on sale.
Also look at buying a whole toolbox with tools.

Start to put your set together as you want them and put the old tools aside.

The tools you set aside can be sold, used as loaner tools, given as tarter sets....etc

Back in the day I was buying toolboxes with tools as I could get deals.
I kept what I wanted and then sold the rest. I did that many times to get to where I am now with my tools

 

[seber]

I gave up selling on Ebay altogether. It is a lot of work to list and ship so anything under $50 isn't worth my time. Anything over that risks unethical buyers. It has gotten so bad that there is simply no profit left.

 

[garfunkle24]

Man, really took it personal eh?

Nope.

How many things do you buy that you don't truly need?

Lots.

Do you care about paying more than you should for those items?

1. I don't consider myself the arbiter of what something "should" cost. The market dictates that.
2. If something costs more than I want to pay, I don't whine about it, I just don't buy it.
3. I value my own and other peoples' time.

Not worrying about prices doubling/tripling is how we've gotten to where we are in the world today.

Lol, ok. Thank you for your high level economic/social analysis. I hadn't realised that not enough people being cheap skates was the cause of the downfall of society. Where did you pick that up from? Keynes? Friedman? I was under the impression that people hanging onto their money and not spending it was bad for the economy, but what do I know?

Honestly, IMO, people being entitled is a bigger problem than them being cheap.

 

[nicks78camaro]

Nope.



Lots.



1. I don't consider myself the arbiter of what something "should" cost. The market dictates that.
2. If something costs more than I want to pay, I don't whine about it, I just don't buy it.
3. I value my own and other peoples' time.



Lol, ok. Thank you for your high level economic/social analysis. I hadn't realised that not enough people being cheap skates was the cause of the downfall of society. Where did you pick that up from? Keynes? Friedman? I was under the impression that people hanging onto their money and not spending it was bad for the economy, but what do I know?

Honestly, IMO, people being entitled is a bigger problem than them being cheap.

Great insight

 

[garfunkle24]

Great insight

Great counterpoints.

You asked questions, I answered.

You made points, I pointed out how they were wrong.

WTF else do you want? To just be right with zero merit? OK, you're right.

 

[bwringer]

If you want my honest opinion, donate all the mismatched bitsas to a decently good cause like Habitat ReStore (not Goodwill) or your local penniless young gearhead, and go buy the new stuff you really want.

Or, if you're gonna sell on fleaBay, sell in larger lots. No, you won't get much per piece, but you'll only have to fart around with shipping it once.

If you're trading stuff with someone who's not in your city, then you're back up against the old shipping cost problem. PirateShip.com can help quite a bit with shipping prices, but the fact is shipping costs a LOT in 2025. Prices are shocking if you haven't shipped anything in a while, and it's just not worth it unless you can buy and sell things in decent size lots.

USPS flat rate boxes are pretty nice if you're shipping enough heavy tools to fill a box because they're not based on weight; if it fits, it ships. But they're still expensive; a small box is $10.65, a medium is $19.15, and a large is $26.30.

 

[finn]

This is probably the first, and last time I’ll ever suggest this, but wouldn’t a pawn shop be an option.

They might be willing to buy a few of your unwanted tools and give you slight discount on brands you covet.

Don’t expect anything near a one for one trade, though. There has to be some meat on the bone for them to stay in business.

 

[Jtels85]

Shipping costs, fees and the risk of being scammed are all reasons why I’m moving away from eBay.

Too many people have joined in recent years that are unwilling to understand what a seller has to go through, only to find something to complain about. It’s not worth it anymore. Being allowed to leave a seller negative feedback because USPS delivered late due to the holidays? That’s unacceptable.

So now on top of the hefty fees and shipping costs, I was just mailed a 1099k because I sold $6,500 of items last year (threshold is $5,000) most of which I took a loss on each sale. I didn’t save receipts because who does that? I should have known better and was caught off guard. I made the decision right then and there to stop selling on eBay. Between their fees, USPS fees, the feds and the risk of selling to a stupid f’ing ***** who doesn’t understand that the post office is busy during Christmas, I’m over it.

 

[richfinn]

Shipping costs, fees and the risk of being scammed are all reasons why I’m moving away from eBay.

Too many people have joined in recent years that are unwilling to understand what a seller has to go through, only to find something to complain about. It’s not worth it anymore. Being allowed to leave a seller negative feedback because USPS delivered late due to the holidays? That’s unacceptable.

So now on top of the hefty fees and shipping costs, I was just mailed a 1099k because I sold $6,500 of items last year (threshold is $5,000) most of which I took a loss on each sale. I didn’t save receipts because who does that? I should have known better and was caught off guard. I made the decision right then and there to stop selling on eBay. Between their fees, USPS fees, the feds and the risk of selling to a stupid f’ing ***** who doesn’t understand that the post office is busy during Christmas, I’m over it.

Ugrhhh tax collectors