to part or not to part (out a lathe)

Note that ebay will line its pockets wit at least 10% of the selling price, including paypal; The only way to make a profit on e bay sales if you consider your time as worth something is if you got the item at no cost and your wife will do most of the work involved in selling/packing and taking the item to the P.O.
 
I am in the same boat with a South Bend 9A. I'd rather sell it whole for a few less $$$.

I have no problem with ebay fees - wouldn't be able to sell much without it.
 
Moderatemixed said:
I’ve had 4 Atlas 10F lathes. I rebuilt two and then had a bunch of spares which I decided to part out. BAD IDEA! You will find prices on eBay, but people will “actually” pay about half of what most listings suggest. Your lathe as it sits is worth $1500 to $2000 (Canadian) depending on when you decide to sell it. August is the WORST time, November and February are the best, historically. Wait until November, put $2000 on it and see how fast it sells, or take your $600 now (which is a steal unless it is in US funds) and then you’ll be stuck with an agonizing process of peddling part after part to cheap guys who cherry pick the best pieces, grinding your prices down. Then, once you’ve moved box after box of cast iron pieces from one side of the basement/garage to the other for the fifth time, your put the lot onto Craig’s List/Kijiji and give them away..... only to count the proceeds and find yourself with $1000 total. Ask me how I know, lol. Sell the lathe as a whole, unless you are really really bored. Just my 2 cents.

Cheers


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I think a value $1,500.00 to $2,000.00 is extremely optimistic. There are currently a couple similar size machines on eBay with an asking price of $1,200.00. If you do a an advanced search there are a few that have sold in the $900.00 to $1,000.00 range. However the OP's assessment on the value of parts seems very close looking at what has sold in the last 12 months on eBay.

As a point of reference I was able to purchase a Sheldon MW-56-P (13"x56") machine in the Chicago area for only slightly more than the price mentioned by Moderatemixed. The machine I purchased machine had been rebuilt including grinding of the bed and cross slide ways. It also included 3 chucks, a collet drawbar system, a QCTP, steady rest, follow rest, several drill chucks and other assorted tooling.

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As has been noted in other threads there are a few young folks out there looking to get into machining as a hobby or possibly a "hobby" business that would love to get a hold of your lathe. If you have a community college near you, or a trade school that teaches metalwork it might be worthwhile talking with the instructor to see if any of their students have been looking for a manual machine. Depending on your financial circumstances it might be more gratifying to sell at a slight loss to someone who really wants and will use it than making a profit by parting it out.

If you've never had the pleasure of dealing with eBay as a seller you'll be in for a rude surprise should you go for the "parting out" route. People don't read descriptions, or maybe they just can't read. But my experience is by the time I've made a sale there I usually come away frustrated and feeling kinda dirty if you know what I mean.

When it comes to a hobby I've found it best to consider the enjoyment I've gotten as part of the expense. If I can share the fun with someone else when I sell off my toys it's a bonus:)

BTW, have you tried a for sale listing on this site?

Cheers,

John
 
projectnut said:
I think a value $1,500.00 to $2,000.00 is extremely optimistic. There are currently a couple similar size machines on eBay with an asking price of $1,200.00. If you do a an advanced search there are a few that have sold in the $900.00 to $1,000.00 range. However the OP's assessment on the value of parts seems very close looking at what has sold in the last 12 months on eBay.

As a point of reference I was able to purchase a Sheldon MW-56-P (13"x56") machine in the Chicago area for only slightly more than the price mentioned by Moderatemixed. The machine I purchased machine had been rebuilt including grinding of the bed and cross slide ways. It also included 3 chucks, a collet drawbar system, a QCTP, steady rest, follow rest, several drill chucks and other assorted tooling.

View attachment 294616

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That's a sweet looking machine....
 
Which is why I stated “Canadian Dollars”. 30% less than USD. These machines sell REALLY well up here.


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I have parted out 2 machines myself. One was an Atlas MF Mill that had been damaged and parts to repair exceeded the cost to replace the machine. The other one was a Craftsman 109 lathe that had been left standing on one end in a wet basement. About 1/3 of the bed was heavily corroded. This was a few years ago before eBay and Paypal got all greedy, so those costs weren't so bad. Shipping costs have gone up significantly which also makes online selling less attractive. Between eBay and paypal fees it typically ends up being about 30%, don't forget they charge final value fees on the selling price + shipping charges. Depending on how you ship you will also be paying for tape and other packing supplies + paper and printer ink for printing shipping labels, add fuel to get to the post office etc.

Given those same machines I would probably part them out again but I really hate to see complete functional machines parted out.
 
I paid 840$ for a Craftsman just like that, and the seller was almost going to part it out- the parting out phenomenon makes it harder to buy whole lathes but does provide spare parts, so it's a tradeoff.
When he said he could get 600 for the QC gearbox I didn't quite believe him- I do now
M
 
eBay gets 10%, PayPal gets about 3%. That is on both the item cost and the shipping cost.

But selling on eBay is a lot of work. If you value your time it is just not worth parting out. Think about making all the trips to the post office and all the packing.
 
I think the Atlas in question will sell as a whole unit just fine.
 
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