My questions: Do the power tools work?; Is the bid price a bargain? My second question is based on an estate auction I attended several years ago. A small B&W TV (dates the auction, huh?) sold for more that a store price.

 

I know it's not strictly local, but I use Goodwill a lot. It can be, they do have a pickup option if what you're buying happens to come from a store near you. Hasn't happened to me yet.

I just got this the other day, about 30 shipped. Always check shipping before bidding. Most of the times it's reasonable enough, but sometimes it's ridiculous.

I'd say at least half my tools came from Goodwill at this point.. most of my planes did, most of my saws did. Bench grinder, clamps levels etc..

It's a slow process though, mostly because a good usable tool (at least that I would) that stays at a reasonable price, pops up at most once every few days.

Most of the stuff people start over bidding on. Like basically ending up paying the new price for a used LN plane.

Always research prices, takes like 2 mins. It's saved me hundreds so far. There's been stuff I would have bid on in the heat of the moment and I could have bought it cheaper on eBay in better condition.

 

Try estatesales.net for sales in your area. Mainly estate sales but some auctions. Also check the web for auctions near you.
Are you interested in hand tools or stationary power tools?
Distance is less important in hand tools.
I would not buy stationary equipment without putting eyes on and checking it out.
Since Covid a lot of auction companies have moved to online. Some are better than others documenting the tools. Learn the difference.
I have bought a lot of hand tools at auction, on site and online. I have gotten some good deals and made some big mistakes. After nine years, I think I am slightly ahead.
If you bid at auctions you will make mistakes. As one of my friendly competitors told me, "if you haven't paid too much for an item at auction, you're not buying enough.

Good Luck

 

We go to swap meets, but haven't seen many real woodworking tools, mostly handyman/mechanical stuff. We also donate to Habitat and Goodwill and shop at their stores on occasion. My partner drags me into enough thrift stores too. Honestly, all of those sources seem to be drying up or skyrocketing to unreasonable prices.

My hunch about thrift-type stores is that the "good stuff" is never seen in the stores, but sold quickly on the internet at higher profit. Another price driver seems to be the new fad of "flipping" old furniture, tools, etc.

We never tried auctions or considered estate sales. Thanks for the input above, and please keep sharing your experiences and wisdom.

 

A good place to start is https://www.auctionzip.com.
There you can put in your location and how far away you wish to see auction listings for. I bought a nice woodcutting bandsaw, stand, motor and spare bladed for $15, and a nice old cast iron wood lathe for $5. We do mostly estate sales here in Iowa and we see a lot of home workshop bench power tools. If you don't mind doing a little DIY, you can find them relatively inexpensively.

 

One of the Auction companies in our area, has a Contact List. They email notifications of the next up-coming Auction. Notification shows a poster, short list & pictures. Just contact the Auctioneer to be put on the E-mail list. This way you can figure out if you want to attend.

 

Our local newspaper advertises auctions. Paper now comes Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Auctions are in the Thursday edition as they are on Saturdays. Would an auction house have a list of upcoming auctions on their FB page or website?

 

All the ones I use do. Established auction houses advertise widely. People running estate sales, not so much. 9There should be a good number of estate sales etc in the suburbs and exurbs of Memphis. Only problem is that there will probably be a lot of competition.

 

You can sign-up on Auction Zip.com to receive auction notices via email, and elect how far away you want to see. I don't know if you can select items, such as "machine tools" "woodworking tools" etc.

 

Got turned off by auctions in general.....

last one I did go to...there was a couple people sifting through the Box Lots of tools..re-arranging the contents to get a better load...and then out bid anyone else on just THAT box.....

I WAS bidding on one other box, until I saw this happen....got up and just walked out.

 

That does happen sometimes. We have caught people doing that and have told them to leave. Our regular auction customers usually tell us who are doing it.

It's unfortunate but sometimes it happens. My 3 decades in law enforcement has me watching the browsers pretty closely and letting them know I am doing so to keep that stuff down.

 

Everyone in my town seems to like Craigs List and (gack!) facebook. My wife searches for canning stuff and quilting stuff, I search for tools and hifi. She seems to bring home more material than I do tools, but I picked up some good stuff. I live in a farming community and most of the tools are beat up pretty badly after 40 years of good work, and don’t even think about finding any hifi equipment! I have to go over to the wet side of my state for that.

 

Mixed results at in person auctions. I find prices are at the extreme ends. Either way to high or dirt cheap.

I went to woods hop wood shop being auctioned off. Most the machines were 3 phase and they were going very cheap. Mostly Powermatic too. I just wasn't in the market but it was tempting.

I picked up an ACME belt sander for something like $32 dollars. Probably worth 150-200 in my market to anyone that knows what it is. I think that is why it went so cheap. No one recognized it and thought it was a cheap import.

I have watched some online auctions and except for the table saws or miters saws everything always seems to go cheap.

 

Three phase equipment is something you have to steer-around unless ofcourse you have the availability of 3 phase power. Most large commercial and constant-use equipment is 3 phase. Most of what we sell is from home workshops and is not 3 phase. I have a son-in-law who had 3 phase available right outside his shop and was quoted an enormous price to bring it in to his shop. Seems they wanted to set a transformer etc. I also have picked-up some old Craftsman wood lathe tools etc. rather reasonable at the auctions. We frequently have band and bar clamps as well as those clamps using pipe. I've also seen wooden clamps. I have a brand new stil-in-the-box plane I got at an auction, as well as a combination belt/disk stationary sander purchased really reasonably.