Selling through Gumtree.

[Colin]

Hi,

Over the years I've been selling through Gumtree with great success. I've just returned home after delivering my American Shopsmith woodworking machine. I posted it for sale on Gumtree yesterday dinnertime and it's gone. I put a fixed price of £600 stating no time wasters please and I received an email enquiring if I could deliver it 30 miles away. Last night I stripped and loaded it into the Yeti for an early start this morning.

Unlike eBay; Gumtree is entirely free; I haven't paid a penny in fees and no PayPal involved; I returned home with the full amount in my pocket; no hassle; no fuss and all so easy. I'm aware there are lots of untrustworthy people but with common sense Gumtree I find to be excellent; a couple of years ago I sold my Startrite combination woodworking machine through Gumtree for the stated fixed £1,200.

I delivered free of charge and reassembled the Shopsmith letting the buyer see it run before accepting the cash. I used to sell through eBay until the eBay fees meant many times it was less hassle to run items to the tip; combine eBay and PayPal fees then its an expensive way to sell when Gumtree is free.

Just thought I'd add this for interest.

Kind regards, Colin.

 

[LIcenter]

Looking at the condition of that machine, I'd say it was a win, win for both sides.

 

[Colin]

Hi,

Thanks Licenter; I got most of the money back I paid for the Shopsmith and the restoration I did on it I put down to pleasure so I agree it was a good deal all round.

When I buy a second hand machine I always subject it a full and comprehensive restoration before putting it into service. I fully restored the headstock on this Shopsmith installing quality bearings and checking the drive belts etc; it had a very dangerous on/off switch fitted so I dumped this and installed an heavy duty toggle switch. I find this kind of work very easy and enjoy restoring machines; once a machine is fully restored then it will last many years in my home workshop but then I do look after all my kit.

I bought the Shopsmith two years ago from a bereavement paying full asking price; I didn't really need it but I feared the lady might end up being taken advantage of and I've seen these Shopsmith's for sale new at Craft Supplies when they were in Millers Dale. At the time Bron and I owned a Skoda Fabia Monte Carlo that we always garaged but no sooner had I restored the Shopsmith we attended a Skoda VIP day ending up buying our new Yeti; the Yeti being bigger than the Fabia meant the Yeti had to sleep out on our driveway much to my delight; it freed up the entire garage and I immediately started converting the garage into my full time workshop. Now I could have individual machines and having two woodturning and one metal turning lathe plus I designed and built a new 4hp saw bench the Shopsmith was obsolete; I was loathe to part with it but it was in the way each time I wanted to access the nearby cupboard and bench. So that's the story of the Shopsmith; I'm happy to add pictures of the Shopsmith restoration but the pictures are poor due to working in our black hole called Yorkshire.

Since I started using Gumtree for selling items I've saved a lot of money not having to pay fees; as I say though common sense is required using Gumtree and I have been messed around a couple of times but on the whole I like using Gumtree; I now only use eBay as a last resort.

Kind regards, Colin.