I've been buying an selling for many years, and have always believed that lying and trying to deceive a seller is not only morally wrong, but also bad for business.
I've been dealing in all types of tools since I started this business of horse trading, ebaying and flea marketing. One of my favorite areas is antique tools. I love buying them, using them, collecting them, and selling what I'm not interested in collecting.
I attend a ton of estate auctions, and tag sales. I often buy more tools than I can handle, so I don't mind a bit if I can quickly flip tools for a fast but small profit. I know I am giving a good deal, and leaving plenty "of meat on the bone", as they say on American Pickers. For instance, I bought a miter saw for $2, and flipped it the next day to a guy for $25. He cleaned it up, and flipped it for $80. I could care less how much he made; I owned the saw for less than 8 hours and only touched it once.
As well, my attitude is that if I can make a little profit, and you can take it to a specialty market that I don't deal in and make some money too, we are both happy.
Several years ago, I met up with a wanna-be carpenter, who also likes to buy and sell old tools. The first few deals were fairly straight up, and I don't feel like he lied to me too much.
But then, he started telling lies about what he wanted, and how "I really, really, really need that for my business" about some of the various tools I had hauled home from different auctions. The lies and bull hockey grew into "that ain't worth much, look at the rust" and "the bottom fell out of the market on those".
In actuality, those lies about "needing" something for his carpentry business were actually "I need that (to resell at an astounding price)". He must have imagined that I don't ebay myself, and must have concluded that I was too dumb to check the completed listings even if I did.
In short, this guy got a good deal on two miter saws and some miscellaneous other tools that I had. But I no longer offered killer deals when the lies started...and I found out later that he lied about a $2 saw I sold him. He flipped that saw for $50 after telling me he was going to cut it up into pieces of steel for scraper blades because the saw was worthless.
Earlier this year, I bought 10 hand saws for $1 each, and had the intention of offering them to him for $10 a piece, if he took the whole lot.
But, because of the lies he has told me, I decided to list them on ebay. There is an identical saw to one that I have that sold for $175+.
I was trying to help him be profitable in his endeavors, but in turn, he took the opportunity to tell me bald face lies and tried to deceive me about any decent tool I had to sell. When you look at the big picture, he made $200 off of me in three deals...but screwed himself out of a lifetime of money.
In my experience, 95% of the people that I buy from could care less that you are reselling something, but they just want you to be honest with them.
I still have 9 saws to look up on ebay...
I've been dealing in all types of tools since I started this business of horse trading, ebaying and flea marketing. One of my favorite areas is antique tools. I love buying them, using them, collecting them, and selling what I'm not interested in collecting.
I attend a ton of estate auctions, and tag sales. I often buy more tools than I can handle, so I don't mind a bit if I can quickly flip tools for a fast but small profit. I know I am giving a good deal, and leaving plenty "of meat on the bone", as they say on American Pickers. For instance, I bought a miter saw for $2, and flipped it the next day to a guy for $25. He cleaned it up, and flipped it for $80. I could care less how much he made; I owned the saw for less than 8 hours and only touched it once.
As well, my attitude is that if I can make a little profit, and you can take it to a specialty market that I don't deal in and make some money too, we are both happy.
Several years ago, I met up with a wanna-be carpenter, who also likes to buy and sell old tools. The first few deals were fairly straight up, and I don't feel like he lied to me too much.
But then, he started telling lies about what he wanted, and how "I really, really, really need that for my business" about some of the various tools I had hauled home from different auctions. The lies and bull hockey grew into "that ain't worth much, look at the rust" and "the bottom fell out of the market on those".
In actuality, those lies about "needing" something for his carpentry business were actually "I need that (to resell at an astounding price)". He must have imagined that I don't ebay myself, and must have concluded that I was too dumb to check the completed listings even if I did.
In short, this guy got a good deal on two miter saws and some miscellaneous other tools that I had. But I no longer offered killer deals when the lies started...and I found out later that he lied about a $2 saw I sold him. He flipped that saw for $50 after telling me he was going to cut it up into pieces of steel for scraper blades because the saw was worthless.
Earlier this year, I bought 10 hand saws for $1 each, and had the intention of offering them to him for $10 a piece, if he took the whole lot.
But, because of the lies he has told me, I decided to list them on ebay. There is an identical saw to one that I have that sold for $175+.
I was trying to help him be profitable in his endeavors, but in turn, he took the opportunity to tell me bald face lies and tried to deceive me about any decent tool I had to sell. When you look at the big picture, he made $200 off of me in three deals...but screwed himself out of a lifetime of money.
In my experience, 95% of the people that I buy from could care less that you are reselling something, but they just want you to be honest with them.
I still have 9 saws to look up on ebay...
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That's not to say I haven't moved stuff that I knew was going to be resold, because I have, but I did so at a good profit and a price that I knew was already high to begin with.
