Workshop purchasing companies

Probably a dumb question but I'll ask anyway. ME and MEW have loads of adverts from companies wanting to buy machines and whole workshops. But what do they do with the machines and tools? As far as I can see, only one company is offering machines for sale but what about the rest? Do they all go for auction? Any auction sites I look at seem to only deal in really big stuff! Can anyone enlighten me please? Thanks.

A few months ago, I approached a couple of companies advertising to purchase whole workshop contents. Neither were interested in relieving me of the machines and tooling for anything but pocket money figures. I still have all my kit, except the shaper, which I sold through an ad in the forum's "For Sale" column. They can afford to be very picky about what they buy, I suppose, but what they do with the unwanted machines, I have no idea. Unless I can dispose of the stuff individually, my executors will no doubt have it all auctioned off for beer money after my "half day out with the undertaker" as Fred Dibnah used to say.  Someone will get some real bargains!

John

Edited By John Hinkley on 17/08/2022 21:15:15

I actually dread having to part with my lifetime's collection of tooling and machinery but I know that the time is coming up fast. The machines are all a bit underused these days and have become like a philatelist's collection of stamps, they don't actually do anything but are a pleasure to own and cherish. So, if I go suddenly I have told the wife to just call the local industrial auction house, which some of the machines originally came from, and tell them to get what they can for her, although I suspect lifting and haulage costs will cut deeply into the proceeds. I may try to sell some of the smaller machines privately before the inevitable becomes obvious but how I am going to move the larger machines is going to be a problem. The property is built on an incline with the main workshop at the top of the garden. The machines were carried up there twenty five years ago after being lifted off the transport by a Hiab and taken from the bottom of the drive and over thirty metres of grass slung under the tines of a local farmer's Teleporter. He has since told me that he could not reverse the operation because new regulations prohibit the use of red diesel on non-agricultural work so I think it will be a case of engaging a professional machine moving company and letting them solve the problem. Happily, or not, I may not be around to see it!

John H., Last funeral that I attended took little more than half hour, not half day! Talk about "next please" conveyor.

John

DMB,

I believe our Fred had a bit of a do at his funeral; the whole of Bolton turned out. There will only be one person at mine - me! I'm having one of the cheapie jobs.

John

I think a lot of them sell on the machinery and tools on eBay. There are a handful of regular sellers of Myford and other machines and parts on there who obviously do it as a business. A lot of them seem to break lathes down into parts to sell at premium prices. They will get much better prices on eBay than at a physical auction house usually.

Although they offer a pittance when buying and charge a premium when selling, the logistics of driving all over the country and humping all that gear back to a yard/shed where it has to be again humped around, stored, sorted, dismantled, cleaned. advertised/auctioned and dispatched is a job they are welcome to, thank you very much. I don't imagine they are purchasing real estate on the Riviera from the profits.

Here is a (typical?) example of an ebay marker-uperer.

An item sold, (for what I consider a likely fair price), one week and was back on the auction site the next week at FIVE times the price of the item realised the previous week. Pics of the ‘two’ items most certainly appear to be the same item, simply rearranged for the new pics. There may have been some wiping down to clean the parts a little, but no more than that.

If anyone sees items offered by “rawengineering” might well need to be aware of this type of ‘dealer-marketing’. He also has at least one other item which has been grossly over-inflated, compared to the usual auction values, so this was not an isolated instance.

I recognise that dealers have to make a profit, but not to simply try ‘ripping-off’ any purchasers like that. They may well buy things at much under market price (workshop clearance), too - and some find items from house clearances for absolute peanuts.

The seller, above, may be one of the extreme examples - but I expect there are others.

The true value of anything is only that which someone is prepared to pay whatever the seller may think something  it is worth. I have put items on eBay in the past at what I considered to be a fair 'buy it now' price with no takers. I have subsequently made a much lower offer to the 'watchers' and the item has been snapped up. I shouldn't be so surprised at this, really. Not so long ago, and I am still crying myself to sleep over this, I was persuaded by my wife to part with a beautiful Boxford 240 CNC lathe which, being an ex-university machine, was in superb condition although still driven by the original Boxford software running on a BBC Master with 5 1/2" floppies but working perfectly. Given that some, IMO, Boxford junk is advertised at mega bucks I certainly thought there would be at least some interest in my offering. Not so, there was only one bidder and it went for the starting price. With the advertising and commission costs that eBay charge I was very disappointed. SWMBO will never get me to part with another machine under similar circumstances however much she needs the space for a new freezer!

Edited By Chris Crew on 18/08/2022 08:59:02

Edited By Chris Crew on 18/08/2022 08:59:47

Edited By Chris Crew on 18/08/2022 09:01:24

NDIY: Nice work if you can get it! I suppose it depends if you can luck out and buy something cheaper than market value on eBay when no rich collectors etc are looking at it, then let it sit on sale yourself with a high reserve until the right big-dollar customer comes along willing to shell out the higher figure. At the end of the day I suppose he is only selling it for what the market will bear -- if you are willing to wait, versus the first seller who maybe just wanted a quick sale.

I do have to wonder at some of the rather unusually high prices you see sometimes though. Perhaps they don't really want to sell it and are just convincing the missus it's a great investment they have made? Or are talking up the price so they can make a cash sale to a customer at a substantial "discount"? Sounds like Arthur Daley at work!

Edited By Hopper on 18/08/2022 09:05:03

My main interest is ellectronic test equipment, but it's a similar situation with some dealers selling on ebay. A recent example was a pair of rado test sets, ex RAF sold at a commercial auction (as is). Less than 12 hours after the auction end with a total price around £500, they appeared on ebay at £1500 each. Listed as tested and working perfectly. I had won items at the same auction and had not even had an invoice yet! The seller was using the photos from the auction as well. Having bought some of the same model I knew that many of them had faults. They were not even switched on for the auction. And no the dealer didn't go and view the items, pay and pick up on the day, it was an on-line, delivery only listing. So the dealer is selling an item they have never seen at a 200% mark up.
Other dealers break-up servicable equipment to sell for parts. Thsi seems to be because there is more profit and it's easier to post parts.
It also seems to be a quirk of human nature that we are wary for something too cheap. Time and time again I've seen people buy fixed price items of used test equipment on ebay for significantly more that they could get it for from a "bricks and motar" dealer. Often these items are sold be people who obviously don't know much about them. Often items listed as working have obvious defects or missing critical parts.
It clear that at least some of these dealers make a living from this.

Robert G8RPI.

Fractionally off topic, but still stupid pricing this wonderful ahem 'Body' has been on for that price for at least 2 years or more. Being a private listing you can't view the revisions to see the original start date.

You have this sold Boxford with noticeable bed wear near the serial number, I think the £90 delivery clinches deals like this, few seem to be prepared to do local pickup.

There's a state of mind out there that says, more expensive so must be worth it otherwise some of the inflated prices would not the paid

Yes I think there is that mindset too. A sort of extension of "You get what you pay for" into " I paid good so it must be good." Caveat emptor indeed.

It is easy to get sucked into that when shopping on something like Aliexpress. Something like a box of 10 carbide threading inserts for $7, stupid cheap. Then I start thinking, well maybe the $9 box of the same is a bit better quality? But of course they are all the same, identical, churned out of the same factory. Being a tightwad, it's not a hard decision for me to make though.

Edited By Hopper on 18/08/2022 12:18:27

I want bound vols of old MEs for personal use, not to buy cheap and flog on via the flea market at a fat profit. There are lots of them advertised for £32 / vol!! They can keep them at even half that.If I can't buy them at a reasonable price to read at home, I'll read them on day visits to a club that does possess them. Wonder how much the would be vendors paid?

From time to time over the years I have sold machines to upgrade by little workshop. I have placed ad,s on various forums with little response. I have sold on eBay with buyers coming some distance to collect and both of us happy with the price paid and given. However of late I tried to sale a very nice cnc router which was too big and taking up too much space for the use I was getting out of it. Placed it on Facebook market place, and had a dealer come round who said he would buy it for the asking price but he could not collect until the following week. In that week I turned down other interested people. And yes you knew this was coming, the dealer did not turn up. However out of the blue another chap turned up and offered half the asking price and could take it away same day. I put it on eBay, and it’s now in Burma. Dealers on the whole are robbers. The only think in their ability to transport the machines. When I am past it, I will sale the whole lot on eBay.

My obvious question is 'why didn't you ask for a deposit from said dealer'?

Tony

The dealer sent his mate the first time, it's a known trick car dealers play on private sales.

This is a bit cheeky.

At the grand young age of 64 I have handed my notice in and will retire from the work battleground in a couple of months.

We will be downsizing and I am allowed to using some of the released capital to purchase a better lathe than my current Chinese 7x14.

So if one of you even more mature gentlemen is looking to dispose of bits of their workshop and want better than pence in the pound, I would be delighted to hear from you.

This isn't immediate. House sales are taking ages to go through even if the house itself is snapped up.

Like I said, a bit cheeky

Iain