selling all machines question

[DaveParkis]

I'm doing a sale this weekend for a widow who needs to liquidate her late husband's shop. I think that doing an "estate sale" kind of thing will bring you the most money. Yes, you will need to deal with idiots and spend a weekend. You need to decide how much grief you want to put up with to maximize your return.

[mike4244]

I'm doing a sale this weekend for a widow who needs to liquidate her late husband's shop. I think that doing an "estate sale" kind of thing will bring you the most money. Yes, you will need to deal with idiots and spend a weekend. You need to decide how much grief you want to put up with to maximize your return.

Your post reminds me of a neighbors plight 50 years ago. Her husband passed away. Carmen was a semi retired cabinet maker and had a 1400 sf  shop with excellent quality tools. She put an ad in the paper to sell the entire lot.
Only one fool showed up and offered her $500.00 for the contents of the shop. My wife told me Doris was crying because she knew her husband had paid thousands of dollars over the years for his power tools alone. 
This guy told her that he was being generous because he ought to charge her for cleaning out the shop of junk machinery.
I went over to my neighbors shop and spent 4 hours writing down each piece of machinery and hand tools.
I then spent another 3 hours finding prices of new machinery and tools. This was before the internet so it took awhile. I came up with $716000.00 new in 1970. Machines were from almost new to 35 years old at that time.
I am a retired carpenter and new many carpenters that might have an interest.
To make this short ,all machinery and many other small tools were sold in a 3 week period. Doris received $297000.00 . She gave me all the lumber,  Carmens toolbox with a full drawers of tools. What I received was a gift worth at least $2000.00 without the lumbers worth.
Needless to say she felt good about the sale. 

mike

[Admiral]

Your post reminds me of a neighbors plight 50 years ago. Her husband passed away. Carmen was a semi retired cabinet maker and had a 1400 sf  shop with excellent quality tools. She put an ad in the paper to sell the entire lot.
Only one fool showed up and offered her $500.00 for the contents of the shop. My wife told me Doris was crying because she knew her husband had paid thousands of dollars over the years for his power tools alone. 
This guy told her that he was being generous because he ought to charge her for cleaning out the shop of junk machinery.
I went over to my neighbors shop and spent 4 hours writing down each piece of machinery and hand tools.
I then spent another 3 hours finding prices of new machinery and tools. This was before the internet so it took awhile. I came up with $716000.00 new in 1970. Machines were from almost new to 35 years old at that time.
I am a retired carpenter and new many carpenters that might have an interest.
To make this short ,all machinery and many other small tools were sold in a 3 week period. Doris received $297000.00 . She gave me all the lumber,  Carmens toolbox with a full drawers of tools. What I received was a gift worth at least $2000.00 without the lumbers worth.
Needless to say she felt good about the sale. 

mike

Almost $300 Grand??   What the heck did he have in that shop??

[cvillewood]

More like he had 3/4 of a Million dollars in tools, 50 years ago?! With inflation that’s over $5M today. What the heck did the guy do?

Did you add a couple zeros by mistake?

[mike4244]

More like he had 3/4 of a Million dollars in tools, 50 years ago?!  With inflation that’s over $5M today. What the heck did the guy do?

Did you add a couple zeros by mistake?

No mistake. At one time he owned a millwork shop much larger than his home shop. I never saw that shop but talking to him I learned a lot. Two machines he called " stickers" from what I gathered they were some type of molding machines. These were stored in a large shed next to the shop along with 3 very large saws. The fourth saw was in the shop, 7-1/2 HP. Large embossed letters in the base said "Philadelphia". The fences for these saws were nothing like you would see in a home shop. Heavy cast iron that mounted in holes in the table. The fence was adjustable for several inches. The fence was moved to about the width needed for ripping, then adjusted to final width. 
36" planer, two smaller planers , 8", 12" and 16" jointers. Wood lathes and two metal lathes, milling machine ,drill presses etc. I asked him about the metal working equipment. He had a millwright that worked full time that used these machines for making and repairing tools. Knife grinders , shaper etc. 
He had tried to sell the machines when he closed up shop and sold the building. Only the smaller power tools sold. He wound up storing the machines in his home shop. I would guess he had about 1/4 / 1/3 of floor space left to actually use .
He closed the shop when he was offered a lot of money for the land, 4+ acres. I understand the shop was razed for a commercial building.

I think your estimate of 5 million dollars is high. My guess would be twice the new prices today, even less for many power tools. One example , Bought a 6" jointer in 1971 ,paid around $425.00. You can probably buy same jointer for under $500.00.

[Bob10]

What many aren't considering is the man bought the machinery for a business.  They were a write off and probably paid for themselves rather quickly. Especially in the days before foreign imports saturating out markets

[fredhargis]

To the original question, like others have said it depends on how much effort you want tp put into the sale...individually you'll get the most. Another problem with the but everything plan is that most individuals already have some of the pieces and aren't looking to duplicate them. But another thing to consider is who will be selling your tools...it may be your wife and you don't want her to get the short end of the stick. I think giving some thought to the disposal as you are is very prudent.

[Admiral]

No mistake. At one time he owned a millwork shop much larger than his home shop. I never saw that shop but talking to him I learned a lot. Two machines he called " stickers" from what I gathered they were some type of molding machines. These were stored in a large shed next to the shop along with 3 very large saws. The fourth saw was in the shop, 7-1/2 HP. Large embossed letters in the base said "Philadelphia". The fences for these saws were nothing like you would see in a home shop. Heavy cast iron that mounted in holes in the table. The fence was adjustable for several inches. The fence was moved to about the width needed for ripping, then adjusted to final width. 
36" planer, two smaller planers , 8", 12" and 16" jointers. Wood lathes and two metal lathes, milling machine ,drill presses etc. I asked him about the metal working equipment. He had a millwright that worked full time that used these machines for making and repairing tools. Knife grinders , shaper etc. 
He had tried to sell the machines when he closed up shop and sold the building. Only the smaller power tools sold. He wound up storing the machines in his home shop. I would guess he had about 1/4 / 1/3 of floor space left to actually use .
He closed the shop when he was offered a lot of money for the land, 4+ acres. I understand the shop was razed for a commercial building.

I think your estimate of 5 million dollars is high. My guess would be twice the new prices today, even less for many power tools. One example , Bought a 6" jointer in 1971 ,paid around $425.00. You can probably buy same jointer for under $500.00.

Oh, ok, so really not a home shop, unique circumstances.

[Phil Thien]

Clearly these guys are going to offer half of any asking price they see.

So double your prices.

[cvillewood]

My estimate of $5M is according to Bureau of Labor Statistics. Enter $712,000 in 1968 and you’ll get $5.2M today. BUT, I reread the thread and see this all happened back in 1970 and the tools were 0-35 years old at the time. That’s hard to calculate, and believe! My mistake!

https://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl?...ar2=201803