jmarkwolf
Well-known member
Craftsman, Dewalt, Matco, Kobalt. New, in unopened packaging.
Stolen? Counterfeit? Truck hijakings?
Stolen? Counterfeit? Truck hijakings?
What's with all the tool sets FS on Craigslist?
- Thread starter jmarkwolf
- Start date
WWheeler
Well-known member
Damn.
Nothing like that in my area nor in the "more from nearby areas".
Nothing like that in my area nor in the "more from nearby areas".
kbuhagiar
Well-known member
Stolen.
Mostly from big-box stores.
Mostly from big-box stores.
Xcursion88
Well-known member
- Joined
- Apr 18, 2013
- Messages
- 785
Just spitballing here but my guess is some are hot (how could you ever know) but I'd guess that most are bought on sale with a battery...someone needed a battery...and now selling the "new" tool for less than normal retail.
Pending the sale purchased price they could make a cool c note or the like on it.
Sometimes that **** goes on sale at ridiculous deals from all mfg's.
Particularly Christmas time.
Example...I picked up a Dewalt Atomic 4.5" saw (i thought this would be the ultimate bomb for doing hardieboard as I'm doing a bathroom remodel.
It was virtually half price during a Christmas sale.
Pending the sale purchased price they could make a cool c note or the like on it.
Sometimes that **** goes on sale at ridiculous deals from all mfg's.
Particularly Christmas time.
Example...I picked up a Dewalt Atomic 4.5" saw (i thought this would be the ultimate bomb for doing hardieboard as I'm doing a bathroom remodel.
It was virtually half price during a Christmas sale.
engineer2
Well-known member
Do a google search for "warehouse of stolen power tools".
Looks like HD is the big victim, hence the cages you see now.
Looks like HD is the big victim, hence the cages you see now.
mrb1
Well-known member
..and sellers that have left ebay.
four.cycle
Well-known member
always tons of tools listed on CL here.
full set of Craftsman 1/2" drive deep-well SAE 12-points (mostly -V-) = $25.00
shallows = $20.00
partial set of Craftsman metric combos and four metric 1/4" drive sockets = $27.00 (that's all the cash I had on me at the time.)
3-1/2" Chinese vise = $10.00
gigantic cantilevered tool box = $10.00
none of it was hot. people just needed money.
full set of Craftsman 1/2" drive deep-well SAE 12-points (mostly -V-) = $25.00
shallows = $20.00
partial set of Craftsman metric combos and four metric 1/4" drive sockets = $27.00 (that's all the cash I had on me at the time.)
3-1/2" Chinese vise = $10.00
gigantic cantilevered tool box = $10.00
none of it was hot. people just needed money.
Old Man Roger
Well-known member
Some people scoop up clearance items and sell them too.
LeeG
Well-known member
I decided that regardless of how cheap something is on CL or where ever, I was not going to buy it if it looked like it was stolen. There is a guy on my local CL with 97 listings of "new in box" power tools, and nothing else.
The big box stores have finally started locking up the majority of the power tools so the meth heads are looking for other items to steal that will get them money for the fix. When I worked at lowes and we finally started locking up the "top 10" high shrink (aka theft) items it proved the thieves would just move to the next available item, uhhh duhhh. Finally they started locking up just about all of it and I am glad. I'm tired of paying higher prices so stores can offset the cost of the theft.
Years prior I had asked our loss prevention/asset protection supervisor why we didn't lock the **** up. He said they had arrangements with the tool makers to keep the product readily available for the customer. I guess the increased theft with the unemployment during covid finally convinced them to lock the stuff up.
Years prior I had asked our loss prevention/asset protection supervisor why we didn't lock the **** up. He said they had arrangements with the tool makers to keep the product readily available for the customer. I guess the increased theft with the unemployment during covid finally convinced them to lock the stuff up.
four.cycle
Well-known member
^ I never pay any attention to any of the power tools, but there are TONS of them listed daily on Seattle-Tacoma CL.
Still a lot of pawn shops and "tool liquidators" around here who use CL as a free advertising vehicle.
Still a lot of pawn shops and "tool liquidators" around here who use CL as a free advertising vehicle.
BarrelRoll
Well-known member
A while back I was at home depot and there was a Milwaukee power tool box empty in the cabinet section. A week or so later there was a M12 drill driver, new threw away the box and can't return, need money ad on craigslist. Hmmm, I wonder where this came from? I live in a town of 30k people with no roads out connecting us to anywhere so you have to be pretty ballzy to peddle stolen junk on craigslist/ facebook.
I'm sure there are lots of reasons. The HD store I worked at did something like $1 million dollars in shrink one year just in hardware (aka tools). You would be amazed how much inventory gets lifted, the sheer amount of theft and fraud, literally entire baskets full.
Every store is different... One day we found a toilet out of the box. Couldn't find the box. We discovered someone filled the toilet box with tools and whatever the **** else and walked out.
The HD store I worked at is the largest in the district. Highest traffic, highest amount of product in and out. The inventory system at HD is terrible. It's not uncommon to be missing entire pallets. Not because they were stolen though, but because we never actually received them.
Anyway... Individual items are nearly impossible to trace. I would not be the least bit surprised if an overwhelming majority of tools, especially power tools, sold on OfferUp and CL are stolen.
Every store is different... One day we found a toilet out of the box. Couldn't find the box. We discovered someone filled the toilet box with tools and whatever the **** else and walked out.
The HD store I worked at is the largest in the district. Highest traffic, highest amount of product in and out. The inventory system at HD is terrible. It's not uncommon to be missing entire pallets. Not because they were stolen though, but because we never actually received them.
Anyway... Individual items are nearly impossible to trace. I would not be the least bit surprised if an overwhelming majority of tools, especially power tools, sold on OfferUp and CL are stolen.
Chumly
Well-known member
Just noticed the cages the other day! Yeah, the boxes of tools use to be under the display in a cage and I had to ask for an adult to grab one, like spray paint, but now it's all one big cage.
It's mostly theft or a flat out scam.
New/In-box tools go out the backdoor of retailers ever since I formed a frontal lobe on my peabrain. Some things just fall off the truck. Oops. A good case of this is apparant in Cali where boxes upon boxes of stuff are just dumped in random places. My Stepmother got fired a lot from retail for some reason. Wonderful person
Used tools are more obvious truck-bed shoppers by local horrible citizens. Yeah, you run into Estate Sales but grandpa didn't have 8 different names engraved or paint penned on his tools. Shop a toolbox. Snap-On Master's yada yada for $2,500, great! Not a single reply has ever been given when I say I'm ready to come pick it up and pay for it. They want a Vinmo or whatever and they'll text you when they receive the funds. Riiiiiight
There's a very small percentage of actual and legit sales going on in the, now, online black market. They exist, Yes, however the past 5 years has been just an entire lack of ethics more than I could remember. If I sold a tool, it'd be on trusted forum like this or to a friend. No different, for me, than trading a 30-30 for a set of tires or whatever back in the day. I used it, bills need paid, I don't need this as much as someone else might...let's make a deal.
The clerks are awful, too. Last year, my then boss bought a bunch of lumber, hardware, tools, and a tool belt. Part way through scanning it, the clerk scanned the belt, which came up as a $0.01 item (I had no idea it was on clearance...), had to go find a manager to get it sold at whatever the last real price was. Then forgot to scan the rest of the stuff. I didn't notice until we realized we'd bought the wrong thing, and were going to return it, but it wasn't on the receipt. No idea how much stuff they didn't charge us for (and helped load the truck with....), but it was many times the 8 bucks she got for that clearanced tool belt.
Houdini5150
Well-known member
Could be hot items, could be that they got on a deal and need to re sell what they don't need. Also from time to time get cheap tools at auction and re sell.
engineer2
Well-known member
Home Depot for fiscal 2021 (numbers may vary depending on source)
$151.2 billion sales, up 14.4% from FY 2020.
$16.4 billion in earnings.
$80 million estimated losses from theft, mostly power tools
HD rarely has large sales which helps the bottom line.
$151.2 billion sales, up 14.4% from FY 2020.
$16.4 billion in earnings.
$80 million estimated losses from theft, mostly power tools
HD rarely has large sales which helps the bottom line.
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Wrench97
Well-known member
Then there is this guy, he's really really proud of his tools................> https://philadelphia.craigslist.org/tls/d/peabody-snap-on/7479219632.html
2ndGearRubber
Well-known member
Then there is this guy, he's really really proud of his tools................> https://philadelphia.craigslist.org/tls/d/peabody-snap-on/7479219632.html
Yeah, goober seem to load up on the tool trucks then try to sell it all at retail.
"Ultimate everything you will need as a mechanic setup !!!!!! " uh, I got more in my cart. And its not drawers with snap on screwdrivers and random yardsale trash. I've skimmed through listings where I'd dump all the tools in the trash, not even worth organizing them.
I wonder what my stuff is "worth". I dont think I'd insure it for less tha 100k.
crguy
Well-known member
Got any proof of that?
mrb1
Well-known member
Yea. Me.
crguy
Well-known member
That makes 1 person.
mrb1
Well-known member
Dang. You got me there
Wrench97
Well-known member
Yea but for the 12 Million $$ asking price I would have retired first.........................................
Got a skid of concrete a few years ago and they left the black bag on it. Didn't think much of it but when we got back to the shop and started opening it up we found 6 boxes of caulking. Tried returning it saying it was accidentally left on the skid but they didn't want to hear it. Would only accept in store credit because we didn't have a receipt for it and they wouldn't accept they made a mistake and take it back no charge. Got 1/3 off the next skid in the end along with the managers anger because we'd even think they'd make a mistake and leave like $300 worth of stuff on a skid they sold and loaded on a costumers truck.
some of those tools may come from looting of railroad cargo containers.
finance.yahoo.com
LA freight train looting 'out of control' as thieves worsen supply chain bottlenecks
Thousands of boxes littering Union Pacific train tracks in downtown Los Angeles attest to a wave of rail thefts that have taken place in recent months, and have worsened supply chain bottlenecks.
That penny item should not have been sold to you at all. It should of been disposed of through a specific process.
But unfortunately we discovered penny items on a consistent basis that were not pulled off the shelf by the merchandising team. We also got plenty of product via a customer return that was a penny or something we don't even sell.
Anyway... I could rant for days about the frustration and failures of working at HD. I'm happy to be free of that hell hole and have no plans of ever going back.