Ebay and the state of machining

The economy is certainly one factor. In addition eBay's changes over the years have ruined it for me. I still budget the same or even slightly higher for new equipment I always have. Much of it used to come from eBay. Very little does now.

Karl

I checked ebay and do not see any .99 cent Cadillac height gages.

I see one $49 gage with bids.

I sold one (to a member of this newsgroup) for $99 three years ago, when the economy still was going well.

I would tend to agree, I think auto tool length measurement has probably replaced most all manual tool length measurement and data entry. Even many HSM folks are using auto tool length measurement / touch off, and most HSMs don't have ATCs yet.

I started viewing other catagories as well. It appears that anything related to machining is simply not selling.

Im also rather fascinated by the prices....some of which have gone UP, rather than down. Im not sure why. Are the sellers simply trying to make a living off of each piece (mostly dealers) or have they given up on selling and are trying enmass to raise the price of items?

Like..come on..$275 for a verticle vernier height gage, without even a dial indicator on it...geeze. Ive been picking them up for $20 in the wooden cases...

Gunner

One could not be a successful Leftwinger without realizing that, in contrast to the popular conception supported by newspapers and mothers of Leftwingers, a goodly number of Leftwingers are not only narrow-minded and dull, but also just stupid. Gunner Asch

I also agree, but we have deindustrialized our economy. Our labor is simply too expensive to be competitive with the Chinese. What you do still see is CNC everywhere there is machining. The manual model shops and short run ma & pa operations are long gone. They only exist with the hobbiest and we are dying out as well. Just look at this NG. What do we have, 2 dozen regulars left? If you survey those, I'll bet there are not many below the age of 60. I'll be 66 this Wed. Steve

too expensive to be competitive with the Chinese. What

and short run ma & pa operations are long gone. They

NG. What do we have, 2 dozen regulars left? If you

I'm 40.

too expensive to be competitive with the Chinese. What

and short run ma & pa operations are long gone. They

NG. What do we have, 2 dozen regulars left? If you

One of my buddies who uses my shop, is 28

Gunner

One could not be a successful Leftwinger without realizing that, in contrast to the popular conception supported by newspapers and mothers of Leftwingers, a goodly number of Leftwingers are not only narrow-minded and dull, but also just stupid. Gunner Asch

On the plus side, I just read an article in "The Economist", relating that Chinese workers are still demanding -- and getting 15% to 25% annual wage increases as their economy gets better and better. If we can just maintain some pools of talent, then as China turns into the New Japan and hits _it's_ economic wall, we'll be able to start manufacturing again.

I think the current prices on eBay reflect a combination of the fact that there's still a lot of surplus capacity (read: cheap equipment) out there and folks _expect_ prices to be low, and the fact that eBay just isn't what it used to be.

While newsgroups in general are dying out, one of the major problems this one has is the need to wade through mountains of political crap to read an occasional machining post. Anybody still reading it for machining is being really stubborn (yes, I'm including myself there).

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-- Unka George (George McDuffee) .............................. The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there. L. P. Hartley (1895-1972), British author. The Go-Between, Prologue (1953).

ly too expensive to be competitive with the Chinese. What

hops and short run ma & pa operations are long gone. They

his NG. What do we have, 2 dozen regulars left? If you

Not so quick there, binky...

My day job is within a major, very commonly known company, working in a Tool and Model Shop. (They like to refer to it as Rapid Prototyping, here) While deeply ensconced in CNC, there is almost as much done manually, and those of us here are here because we have skills in both. My night job, at home, is 95% manual machining, too. And I'm not over

too expensive to be competitive with the Chinese. What

and short run ma& pa operations are long gone. They

NG. What do we have, 2 dozen regulars left? If you

When I'm not falling to the temptation to respond to the political posts I try to post my own metalworking projects, even when they're pretty trivial, just to get the SNR up.

This is a serious question: What kind of machine tools would a profitable, well-run machine shop or manufacturing plant buy on eBay?

It's my understanding that hobbyists, repair shops, and part-time shops run by retirees are the ones who buy most of the machines that are more than 10 or 15 years old.

Right? Or wrong?

Probably mostly correct, however I think that some businesses who's main function if not machining probably also buy some of the older machines to add some in-house repair oriented fabrication capability.

Or they know how to set their filters to eliminate 95% of the crap posts...

That is more a function of usenet and a function of the political bickering that has driven knowledgeable people away from this (and other usenet groups) in droves.

As much as I loathe webforums, they do have the advantage of moderating out the political B.S., and the community of HSM's there is thriving.

Reaping, sowing, and all of that.

Jon

Hey Gunner,

You won't get one of those for 99 cents, but there is one at 2:45 EDT July 12, with a starting at $199.95 and no bids as yet

Take care.

Brian Lawson, Bothwell, Ontario.

ps....whatcha want that for??

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On Mon, 12 Jul 2010 09:33:21 -0700, Gunner Asch wrote the following:

I only buy stuff from eBay which is dirt cheap.

Bingo, they're trying to make a few years' living off each piece sold. I've never seen good deals on there. And I've never seen a mini-mill there (3 in 6+ years, IIRC) which didn't get listed for more than retail. Go figure. Sellers are vying for Rolls Royce price for Yugo items. Ain't gonna happen, except when you find some fool in "auction heat".

Can you say "eBay anteek"? I knew you could.