Trade Show Tool Vendor

[Fast Orange]

I ran into an unusual situation at a motorsports trade show this past weekend.
There was a larger tool vendors booth that was about 3/4 chicom/HF type tools,along with KD,Channel-lock and - surprize!-Craftsman!
There were probably 50 sets of standard type CM wrenches,about the same number of sets of sockets,bins of ratchets,extensions and loose wrenches.There was no normal retail packaging-wrenches were ty-wrapped together,sockets were on chicom metal clip rails.The pricing seemed to be about 2/3 of normal Sears.All tools were clean and unused-no visible flaws.
Everything about the vendor appeared legit-business cards with address,phone number,etc.
Has anyone else seen CM stuff being sold outside of Sears?

George

EDIT : None of the stuff this guy had was either pro series or low-pro ratchets- all standard variety

 

[Thumper]

Yep.....theres is a large flea market not too far from me and the guy has a ton of new Craftsman stuff. Got some sweet deals from him a few years ago.

 

[dink]

Who was the vendor.....I can look into it for you.....I am a Sales representative in Texas.....but my manufacturers are in New York....I can tell you if they are legit or not

 

[bmwpower]

I've seen similar on eBay. A guy on another board appears to have started up a business of selling Craftsman tools (all new) on eBay. He hasn't devulged where he's getting them.

 

[dink]

Now there are some contractor supply houses that carries Craftsmen tools.....but I am thinking either the tools this guy is selling is stolen or he gets this at garage sales....cleans them up exceptionally good and resells them

 

[bmwpower]

What about buying a bunch of sets and breaking them up to sell? If you buy them on sale, you might be able to make some decent money. Could this guy be doing this? Did he have any special tools or just ordinary Craftsman (not Pro) stuff?

 

[Stuart in MN]

There have been people selling new Craftsmen tools for years now at the swap meets here in Minnesota. I'm not sure how they get the tools, whether they buy them in bulk or what, but they seem to be legit.

 

[Fast Orange]

Stuart-
I have no doubts as to if vendor was legit-interesting enough,the address for the vendor is Duluth,MN

George

 

[swgray]

What about buying a bunch of sets and breaking them up to sell? If you buy them on sale, you might be able to make some decent money. Could this guy be doing this? Did he have any special tools or just ordinary Craftsman (not Pro) stuff?

This is done on eBay all the time. Thought about doing it myself.

Look at whats in the bigger sets, then look at the prices you could get for groupings of tools. (sockets, combo wrenches, nut drivers, etc.) Then realize how much you could net from selling that set in pieces.

I think this is why there seems to be so many short hex key sets on ebay.

 

[malibu101]

Maybe not completly related, but, I noticed that K-Mart now sells a limited selection of Craftsman tools.
And DieHard batteries.

 

[wythors]

There have been people selling new Craftsmen tools for years now at the swap meets here in Minnesota. I'm not sure how they get the tools, whether they buy them in bulk or what, but they seem to be legit.

The Tool Guy that shows up at the major spring and fall swap meets in the Puget Sound area has carried new, packaged Craftsman tools for at least the last 10 years at ridiculously low prices as well as the cheap ****. He normally rents a double stall to accomodate the amount of stuff he has. One of my favorite stops at the fairgrounds.

 

[bmwpower]

Where are these people getting the tools?? Especially, if they're packaged.

I wonder if Sears sells their "seconds" to certain people or businesses in bulk?

 

[shanker]

Maybe not completly related, but, I noticed that K-Mart now sells a limited selection of Craftsman tools.
And DieHard batteries.

Thats because they bought sears

 

[malibu101]

Thats because they bought sears

Jeez, only a year or so ago Kmart was crying that they were ready for bankruptcy.
Something must have changed bigtime if they now bought Sears.

 

[bmwpower]

http://money.cnn.com/2004/11/17/news/fortune500/sears_kmart/

 

[malibu101]

http://money.cnn.com/2004/11/17/news/fortune500/sears_kmart/

And there's the story...........
Thanks for the info!

 

[Charles (in GA)]

Maybe not completly related, but, I noticed that K-Mart now sells a limited selection of Craftsman tools.
And DieHard batteries.

You may recall, that K-mart bought Sears (how I do not know, K-mart was doing so poorly everyone thought they would go under), so naturally, K-mart is going to sell the good stuff.

I think alot of this Craftsman stuff you see being sold cheap, comes in from Canada, not sure however. Danaher, who makes virtually all Craftsman stuff also makes K-D and a host of others, could be the stuff came directly from Danaher.

Charles