Oh geez, not another "what's it worth" thread!

D

DiscoDan

H-M Supporter - Gold Member
H-M Supporter Gold Member
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This is a tad different. You may recall from prior posts that I bought a bunch of stuff at a tool hoarder's estate sale. They have gone through 3 rounds of "by appointment only" sales but will be opening it up to everyone as a regular open estate sale soon. There is still a bunch of good machining related items and I want to make them an offer for everything remaining before the next sale. For those with experience buying stuff at auction or doing clean-outs, is there a general "cents on the dollar" figure that I should shoot for when making an offer? I figure that if people haven't bought this stuff after 3 rounds of sales, they may be happy to get rid of everything in one bunch. Thoughts?
 
Estimate the weight, and offer current scrap metal price. Maybe add 10 - 15 % if you think that what you are getting will have above average value. It will be your problem to retrieve, transport, store, sort and liquidate the lot. Your money will be tied up, the value in your time to do “all the work” will likely never be realized. There is a reason why there are items that remain. The items are either so obscure that the buyer who needs the piece has not seen the piece or the lot is not worth what they are asking. If you think eBay is going to be your “way out”, keep in mind, you do the work and eBay makes the money. Buy the items you want; “pay up” for them if need be and walk away...... IMHO.


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Offer what you would like to get the items for and leave it at that. Have a max amount in mind in case they come back with a counter offer. Best of luck.
 
Moderatemixed said:
Estimate the weight, and offer current scrap metal price. Maybe add 10 - 15 % if you think that what you are getting will have above average value. It will be your problem to retrieve, transport, store, sort and liquidate the lot. Your money will be tied up, the value in your time to do “all the work” will likely never be realized. There is a reason why there are items that remain. The items are either so obscure that the buyer who needs the piece has not seen the piece or the lot is not worth what they are asking. If you think eBay is going to be your “way out”, keep in mind, you do the work and eBay makes the money. Buy the items you want; “pay up” for them if need be and walk away...... IMHO.


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Click to expand...

Good advice. The remaining items are easily transported and stored. Frankly, the woodworking stuff he had was more in demand. I don't think there are as many of us home machinists around, so other than the lathe and Bridgeport, the machinist stuff was pretty much ignored. Everything remaining is not a gem but there is some nice, expensive, stuff left. I have a dollar max in mind. These ladies know me now and I know they just want to be done with this place. I think they didn't realize how much work it was going to be.
 
Buy whatcha want . If you buy them out in entirety , be ready for a huge mess and lots of work . There are tons of unwanted equipment everywhere in the area . You haul , and it's yours . You could offer them a set price on everything , take what you want , and throw the rest in the Owl Metals container for scrapping . Ask me how I know ! ;)
 
If I read you correctly there will be a few good items and a lot of junk that you are offering on. I take the top 2 or 3 items and figure out a decent used price - what I'd settle for if i were selling them for. I offer the combined price for the lot, your bonus is all the other stuff, and you have a good conscience at the end. You are saving them the trouble of holding any more sales and taking on the risk of the rest of the stuff being near worthless.

Expect a counter offer. If it is a lot higher than you expect, walk. not worth the aggravation.
 
DD . I told you about the summer deal coming up . The value of the stuff to me is 5-6 K . I'm offering 1K . I think of the gas , wear and tear on the truck and trailer , the helpers I will pay , the 3 days of hauling this crap up indoor steps from a basement with no outside entrance , the time involved with selling the stuff etc . 1 K , or do it yourself or take it to your grave , that's my offer . No big sweat , if there's a buck in it for you and it's worth your time , go for it . Personally , I'm shooting for 2 lathes and the BP mill for free which is my last deal . :encourage:
 
Been there...

So now you are regular customer and hopefully have a good relationship with sellers.

Come with cash in the amount you wish as max amount.

Ask to see something left and while looking at that one thing ask to look for supporting things.

Tooling that goes with the mill, explain as separate they are worth little.

As you dig start the conversation about haw folks will be as a bunch of strangers looking for odd parts and asking questions that they have no clue.

Hint along the way that you may take everything so they do not need to manage it...

Careful hinting as you need for them to ask you if you want it before you ask them to sell that way...

We often work on one item and get asked to take whole room of stuff...sometimes for less than cost of the one item.

As soon as you can get the sellers to get interested in selling the lot then the fun starts.. .

If they want too much then do your argument but you can pull out your wad-o-cash and offer it and state their trouble ends now...

If price low then you are ready to seal it before they change their mind.

Be certain it is closed to others too!

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