I am puzzled

Yorkshire Sam · 20 Jan 2014

I am fairly old novice who has little working practical experience of woodworking having taken up the 'hobby' fairly late in life. I have learned a lot from just 'lurking' on here for which I thank you. I do the same on ebay trying to pick up some tools when I can afford it. But I am often confused having watched several items to see just how much they actually sell for.Some articles sell for a lot, some obviously are for collectors, etc. But I often see some articles sell for a lot when a similar ( to me ) article sells for so much less or even goes unsold. I cannot work out why! I try to observe as much about the tool as I can, ie blade length remaining, signs of misuse or such but I am still confused why apparently similar articles are sold for such divergent prices.... can anyone give me some clues?

Baldhead · 20 Jan 2014

eBay is not the best place to gauge tool prices, often secondhand tools sell for more than the new price, I assume it's because people get carried away bidding in the dying seconds.

Baldhead

Grahamshed · 20 Jan 2014

Impossible to tell for sure but it may be down to the makers name, or people spotting the name when it hasn't actually been mentioned in the ad ?

Racers · 20 Jan 2014

I picked up a Stanley 60 1/2 block plane from EBay about half the going price because the advert didn't say 60 1/2 and had a bad photo and description.

Some times the description adds a lot to the final price.

Pete

carlb40 · 20 Jan 2014

Pete Maddex":3pnaqhj4 said:
I picked up a Stanley 60 1/2 block plane from EBay about half the going price because the advert didn't say 60 1/2 and had a bad photo and description.

Some times the description adds a lot to the final price.

Pete

I agree, it amazes me with some sellers when they list and item and the description will just say - used saw or whatever.

When i sell i go to great lengths to do a decent description. I nearly always get the price i want or more usually.