Thread: Lie Neilsen Block Plane

In any auction the price you pay is more than anyone else was prepared to. Obviously the buyer got carried away and did not know the cost (as distinct from the value) of the item he was bidding on.

as near as I can determine, the rules of eBay are:

1. If I am bidding, I am bidding against a rich compulsive wacko who will outbid me just for the hell of it. I often see prices near or beyond current retail. Sometimes way over, and it never makes sense.

2. If I am selling, seconds after I list the item 12 others just like it will be listed all over the world, causing a serious price sag.

3. If the above does not occur, I will sell something really nice, the losing bidders will get second chance offers from some Nigerian fraudster DESPITE my listing stating that I never make second chance offers. I will get caught up in the chaos and tears that follow.

I was going to post about the same listing, but just shrugged it off as yet another eBay moment of irrational exuberance.

Originally Posted by prozac

This is probably the wrong spot to post this but here goes. The above plane, a #102 just sold on ebay. I think seller was a WWF member. Price achieved $153.50 + postage...great result! The same plane new at Carbatec is $149.
No I was not a bidder merely an interested observer.
Now I can be a bit dopey, but what am I missing here?

prozac

Actually, I think it's even worse. The seller described it as a model 103, then in the ad said it was really a 102. It wasn't either.

If you looked closely it had a cast iron body (not a bronze body like the 102). So that makes it a "low angle iron block plane", which Carbatec sells for $119!

Originally Posted by gregoryq

as near as I can determine, the rules of eBay are:

1. If I am bidding, I am bidding against a rich compulsive wacko who will outbid me just for the hell of it. I often see prices near or beyond current retail. Sometimes way over, and it never makes sense.

2. If I am selling, seconds after I list the item 12 others just like it will be listed all over the world, causing a serious price sag.

3. If the above does not occur, I will sell something really nice, the losing bidders will get second chance offers from some Nigerian fraudster DESPITE my listing stating that I never make second chance offers. I will get caught up in the chaos and tears that follow.

I was going to post about the same listing, but just shrugged it off as yet another eBay moment of irrational exuberance.

LOL. Truth in irony.

epay and lotto - a couple examples of "informal taxes" on stupidity

Hi guys.

I sold the plane, and it was an iron LN 102.

I accidentally put '103' in the title because that's what I upgraded to (I had 103 on the brain). By the time I went to change it, ten minutes after listing it, there was already a bid on it, and so I couldn't change the title.

The price on the Lie-Nielsen website is $119. But I bought it from America for about $AU87. I was hoping to make just enough to cover my bronze 103 (about $105 shipped). But I ended up getting a little more for it, as you know.

So in the end my bronze 103 ended up costing me around $40.

Cheers,
GW

Great result GW!

Now you'd be thinking about doing this full time...imagine what you might get if it were absolutely new.

Originally Posted by prozac

Great result GW!

Now you'd be thinking about doing this full time...imagine what you might get if it were absolutely new.

Nah. That would decrease the "collectable" status.

I was absolutely stunned with the price it brought; I was expecting $100-110.

Traditionally, the way I fund my own tools is by buying old planes, then rehabbing them and selling them on eBay. You could never make enough money to survive out of this (at least I couldn't), but I do generally make somewhere between 40-300% on a sale. Over time, this is enough to fund my own hand tool purchases - and my wife is cool with that.

There's been a lot of discussion on this forum about what a good eBay listing looks like, but I've learned a few things: good photos, really thorough description with good grammar and spelling, and lastly (most importantly?) show that you know the soul of the plane - not just its specs. People generally like to see shavings as well, but I didn't bother with the LN - we all know a new LN pours out pretty fountains of shavings with the blade nicely honed.

I have only a few more old planes to clean up and sell, and then we move house. Hopefully when we leave in 6 wks they'll all be gone.

Cheers,
GW

GW, remind me never to buy tools from you.
prozac

Prozac,

Consider yourself warned.

Cheers,
GW

P.S. Just so you know what NOT to buy, I should have a really nice Stanley No.3 Type 16 coming onto eBay soonish ...

Don't need another plane and don't know what a Stanley #3 looks like but I will give you $500 for it.

I wonder how many on here I have purchased from?

Or worse,
how many bids I have placed on items of Ppl from here.......
Thinking ePay

Would they reveal themselves?

Just picked up a reasonable Stanley 4 1/2
Hope it is reasonable, as it has yet to arrive.

Missed out on a 10 1/2 Rebate Stanley;
the $$$$$$$ got out of my league,
Thinking HNT GORDON Shoulder Plane....................

Now looking @ Large Dressmaking Scissors, always handy

SOLD to the man in the basketball shorts.

Cheap at twice the price. Gosh, I'm generous at Christmastime.

Cheers,
GW