Everyday Woodworking Podcast Ep3
SHOW NOTES
The Best Places To Buy Bargain Tools – Garage Sales
Welcome
Hey everyone. I’m Ricky Fitzpatrick with Everyday Woodworking, your Podcast Home for tips, tricks and information on how to make the most of your woodworking time and money, every day.
So if you’re a regular listener, you know we are in the middle of a really cool series about The Best Places To Buy Bargain Tools. And if you haven’t listened to it, you’ll want to go back and check out Episode One, which is all about how to make your bargain tools last.
Our last show was all about our Harbor Freight…the broke woodworker’s best friend. Today though, we’re switching gears from the retail store to the private seller. We’re going to get into Garage and Estate Sales and Private Buys.
First, what’s a private buy? Well for this episode, it’s buying from a friend or neighbor or someone you know who has a tool they want to sell. Or maybe trade off. Or even give you. We’re not talking about classified ads or online market places. That’s next week.
So again, let me disclaim what I’m about to tell you. Obviously, if you buy from an individual, there’s always the chance you could get a lemon, or worse yet, get something that hurts you. It’s rare, but just FYI, you know it’s a possibility. I’m telling you what works for me, but as always, you have to make your own well-informed decisions.
OK? Yes? We’re done. Onward we go.
So, Today’s Show: The Best Places To Buy Bargain Tools – Garage Sales
Let’s start with Garage Sales, or as we call them here in GA, Yard Sales. Or as rednecks call them…God’s Marketplace.
Yard Sales are an awesome place to pick up great deals because homeowners are clearing and cleaning out their carports and garages and basements and they need to make room. So many times they’ll sell perfectly good tools for pennies on the dollar.
They’re also a great place to throw your money away if you aren’t careful. There are also folks who are just wanting to pass their junk off to the next person instead of throwing it away themselves. So proceed with a healthy skepticism.
One thing about Yard Sale buying is, you need to expect to haggle. Or negotiate. Or as my granddaddy called it, “horse trading”. My rule of thumb is to never, ever pay what the person is asking. I always ask for a lower price. If you aren’t comfortable with that, then get someone to go with you who is. Otherwise, you’re going to pay more than you have to.
If you aren’t ready to ask for a lower price, then try bundling. For example, when you see three tools for $10 each, ask if you could get them for $25 if you bought all three. The worst they can say is “no”.
Next, get ready to inspect before you buy. We could go on for an hour about what all to check, but you’ll need to do it quickly and on the spot. So let’s just go over 10 suggestions for some obvious things to keep in mind.
- Know a good deal. Research reasonable used prices.
- Look for good power cords. Although, you can replace them if you’re handy.
- Ask to plus it in or test it, if possible. If not, it’s a gamble that may pay off, or may bite you.
- If you can hear the tool run, listen closely for grinding, unusual whirring, bad bearings. See if it hesitates or hangs up. Make sure any adjustments, knobs, etc all move freely. Make sure there are no odd vibrations or shakes. You may be handy, but don’t buy something that you have to spend a fortune in parts to repair.
- Look for cracks, dents or damage to the case or housing.
- Especially for cordless tools, be aware of the age. Technologies evolve, and an old obsolete battery will never come back to life. You can probably assume that any included battery is on its last leg
- Brush up on your industry news. Recalls. Example, Craftsman Table Saws. Even if you can’t use it, you can get $50 out of it.
- Rust is a sign of neglect. You can always remove the rust you see, but we aware that there may be more, hidden.
- We aware of potentially stolen tools. Power Tools are THE most commonly stolen item in a home theft. So watch for tools that has name plates or engraved names or numbers that have been defaced. Also be wary of missing or defaced ID/serial# tags. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.
- Even though we’re talking about being thrifty, if you’re buying a used tool, a respected brand is always a safer bet.
OK, that’s all I’m going to talk about today. That’s a TON of information. We may just revisit this more on the next show, because I really didn’t even touch on Estate Sales or Private Buys. So let’s plan to talk about those two and maybe even on into Online Private Buys in places like eBay, the FB Marketplace, Craigslist, etc. We’ll jump into these on our next episode or two.
Hey thank you as always for hanging out with me for a few minutes. I hope this was helpful and I hope you’ll join me again here on Everyday Woodworking.
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OK, that’s it. Have a great day. Thanks again. And I’ll see you next time…on Everyday Woodworking.