Huge eBay pricing variations

[AJB Temple]

It is interesting to see buyer behaviour with respect to hand tools on eBay. Prices for almost identical things range from dirt cheap to ludicrous.

Some while ago a lot of my tools, including some of sentimental value that my dad gave me, were stolen. Some were recovered and others I am gradually replacing. A case in point is Stanley 803 dual pinion hand drills. These come up frequently on eBay and are frequently boxed and in excellent condition. I have watched and bid on a few of these and generally they have sold for between £18.50 plus postage and £28.50. I finally bought one last night for £10.70 which is for a boxed one sold as being in excellent condition. Very sensible price as I think the current Stanley offerings are almost unusable.

Planes are another case in point. Massive variation in price and condition, spanning range of say £25 to £125 for No 4, 5, and 7's. There seems to be almost no rationale for it.

Adrian

 

[RobinBHM]

I think people get carried away with bidding.

 

[JohnPW]

If your're talking the final price in an auction, they yes, people do get carried away, and also they don't really have a firm amount they would pay. Then there's variation of people bidding on any one particular auction, it could be that with one auction, several bidders are prepared to pay high but on another aution all the bidders only want to bid low.

Other facters: the condition of the tool should affect the price. Buyers outside the UK ususally are prepared to pay more, certain (pro) sellers seem to get higher prices.

 

[Zeddedhed]

The time the auction ends can have a big impact as well.
Find something you want that ends at 15:00 or 16:00 on a Friday and you can get some stunning bargains.

 

[MIGNAL]

Quite often I don't bother with the auctions. I just look at the BIN's and simply bide my time until something of a reasonable price/condition turns up. I think my last such purchase was a Record No.4 of late 30's vintage. It was a little grubby but the original square cut blade turned out to be virtually full length (note how much the blade projects above the handle :wink: ). I can't remember exactly how much I paid but I don't think it was more than £20 including the postage.

 

[D_W]

Stanley stuff goes pretty predictable over here on ebay. I don't know what some of the sellers use to set their bottom price, but the ones that actually sell are pretty stable, including bedrocks....

...until you get one that comes up that still has stickers, has no japanning loss and has no significant pitting on it. Then the price goes nutty, but those are collector items.

If I think I want something, I always pull up successful sales and see what's sold in the last few months and how much. If the average price looks reasonable, I just put the average in esnipe for everything that looks average condition until I'm the high bidder on one of the auctions. If someone else wants to have something really badly, i'm glad to let them have it.

 

[BearTricks]

A lot of it depends on time of day. When I was at work I was seeing auctions end after five pm or on the weekend and everything seemed extremely overpriced.

Now I'm coasting along on my redundancy I managed to bag a boxed, unused Stanley 4 1/2 for £18. I believe it was made in the 40s but to be honest I've been too busy using it to have a proper look.

Sent from my LG-H815 using Tapatalk

 

[RogerP]

It is interesting to see buyer behaviour with respect to hand tools on eBay. Prices for almost identical things range from dirt cheap to ludicrous..............
Adrian

When selling on eBay I've found that a Record tool will almost always sell for a higher price than an identical Stanley. Millers Falls hand drills always fetch much better prices than Stanleys. Some pre-war MF hand drills fetch very high prices.

 

[Bluekingfisher]

The time of the auction ending, a low start price and a full description always ensure a better price as a seller. What I cannot understand however is some of the crap offered for sale, Filthy, damaged, neglected. Some of them could be good tools and would fetch a decent price if the lazy beggers who offer then up for sale were able to take a few minutes to wipe an oily rag over then to at least take the cob webs off. At least give the bidder a chance to see what they are buying.
I recently sold a SW #4 which fetched £83. The next day a similar item was listed, almost using the text I used word for word. Unfortunately the seller listed his with a high start bidding price. I kept an eye on it, it only received one bid then disappeared from the auction with a day or so to go. perhaps he felt he was not going to get the price he was expecting.

I think folks just like the excitement of the bid, so if they are willing to pay high, so be it.

David

 

[RogerP]

It just boils down to being fortunate enough to get a couple of bidders who really, really want the item.