When The Whole Is Less Than The Sum Of The Parts

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Tue Jan 17, 2012 3:42 pm

[quote="heathicus"]I know the feeling! I recently bought a used 510 with the goal of parting it out on eBay and expanding my workshop budget. I did clear a couple hundred $ in the end, but considering all the time and effort of breaking the machine down, cleaning up parts, listing them on the auction site, packing, shipping, dealing with lousy buyers... I wouldn't necessarily say it was a very profitable endeavor. eBay and the USPS made a lot more money off of it than I did. Although I made a profit overall, there were some individual items that ended up being a loss because I under-estimated shipping.

The only parts that seemed to do really well for me were the items that were still new in the box. I got "over retail" on a couple of those items. Most everything else I listed seemed to go for below average auction prices. I listed the empty headstock casting once for $.99 plus shipping and it didn't sell. I didn't relist it. I didn't even list the tubes or legs, or end castings as I had plans for those parts and they are hard to sell.

I think eBay is a great place to sell parts. But it's not the ideal place to sell whole machines. As Dusty said, with shipping prices and uncertain condition, it's just not a wise purchase. So, as a seller, your potential buyers are limited to people within driving distance who want a whole machine. Not a very large market. The smaller parts, on the other hand, have a much larger market. People who have machines and want extra parts or need repair parts]

Aah but you are not sure that Shopsmith does not do that from time to time. While you never see Shopsmith listed on eBay as the seller does not necessarily mean that they do not purge parts via eBay under a different seller name.

I have purchased several items on eBay that were shipped to me from within the Dayton area.

Who knows, for sure.

I almost typed "Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of man" but that did not seem appropriate because we are not speaking of anything evil - just hard to understand.

terrydowning · Post by **terrydowning** » Tue Jan 17, 2012 5:03 pm

That or the bidder(s) is/are using auto bidders and they failed to set a max limit on it or they set their increment too high. Those things can can really take off if you don't pay attention.

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Tue Jan 17, 2012 5:49 pm

terrydowning wrote:That or the bidder(s) is/are using auto bidders and they failed to set a max limit on it or they set their increment too high. Those things can can really take off if you don't pay attention.

A DG reason to not use them!

There is no doubt in my mind that a Folkerith(John's brother???) was selling funky(fully functional) parts on e-bay.

For a brief time Shopsmith was selling parts up front.

I have to assume SS got tired of the lousy buyers like Heath did.

heathicus · Post by **heathicus** » Tue Jan 17, 2012 6:08 pm

JPG40504 wrote:A DG reason to not use them!

There is no doubt in my mind that a Folkerith(John's brother???) was selling funky(fully functional) parts on e-bay.

For a brief time Shopsmith was selling parts up front.

I have to assume SS got tired of the lousy buyers like Heath did.

I don't really know much about setting up an eBay "store" but my assumption is that it works quite different from auction listings. You list your inventory at the price you want to sell it for. People buy it, at that price, and pay using PayPal when they buy it. I think it cuts out a lot of the problems with the auction process. But I'm sure it introduces a lot of other problems.

brad_nalor · Post by **brad_nalor** » Mon May 07, 2012 3:16 pm

It would be nice to see some Mk5 stuff on the new Shopsmith Trader site but right now only looks to be for the older 10er lurkers. Makes sense to me.

http://forums.delphiforums.com/shopsmith_trade

Also, interesting comments from others here about parts on ebay from Dayton. Are those from a Shopsmith employee or salesman?

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Mon May 07, 2012 3:24 pm

brad_nalor wrote:It would be nice to see some Mk5 stuff on the new Shopsmith Trader site but right now only looks to be for the older 10er lurkers. Makes sense to me.

http://forums.delphiforums.com/shopsmith_trade

Also, interesting comments from others here about parts on ebay from Dayton. Are those from a Shopsmith employee or salesman?

If you are referring to the one I think you are, he was a former employee/demonstrator who amassed a considerable stash of ss stuff. He has been selling it off for a couple of months or more. Condition varies greatly!!!! He even sold a 'red' greenie!:D Merry Christmas!!!!

Ed in Tampa · Post by **Ed in Tampa** » Tue May 08, 2012 11:09 am

JPG40504 wrote:Question is, why do used parts sell higher than new ones from ss?

I gotta assume 'lack knowledge of SSI's existence'.

I totally agree. Many present day Shopsmith owners inherited the SS from a relative or close friend. They know the machine is old and due to normal trends in this country they assume the company that made it is out of business.

And Shopsmith does very little to correct the misconception.

If they do a search on the internet the come to a site (shopsmith which is pushing the mark 7) with a picture of machine that looks foreign to them and move on. Get a hit on a e-bay and decide to better qualify their search, find the part they want and buy it.

End result they paid more for the part than SS sells it for and Shopsmith lost another sale.

Either that or they have more money than brains!

In any case Shopsmith has got to make it's presence known to the buying public. Not just to guys that visit this forum.

heathicus · Post by **heathicus** » Tue May 08, 2012 11:47 am

I still think they are missing out on a HUGE opportunity by not setting up an eBay store. Obviously, a lot of people go to eBay to buy parts and accessories. It's an existing marketplace for them to tap in to. And it combats the assumption that they're no longer in business.

The only reason I could think for them to not do that is if they are already taking more orders than they can handle.

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Tue May 08, 2012 12:26 pm

heathicus wrote:I still think they are missing out on a HUGE opportunity by not setting up an eBay store. Obviously, a lot of people go to eBay to buy parts and accessories. It's an existing marketplace for them to tap in to. And it combats the assumption that they're no longer in business.

The only reason I could think for them to not do that is if they are already taking more orders than they can handle.

People do not seem to be jumping all over the "Shopsmith Trader"

pinkiewerewolf · Post by **pinkiewerewolf** » Tue May 08, 2012 1:05 pm

There have been occasions when I would have purchased a MKV or Pro Planer on ebay but they are listed as for local P/U only. I think that is one variable for seeing some larger SS products re-list on ebay.