I am continuing my total bailout, as Don Lancaster puts it.
I have three hundred or so pounds of military surplus bearings.
Little lots of 10 or so bearings in a lot, of various kinds.
The question is how to sell them, with relatively small effort but also to get not too little for them.
Should I sell them as one lot, or should I sell them in little lots of all bearings of one kind in a lot?
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Joe Pucillo
I've been looking high and low for bearing oh-three-niner. If you have that in one of your lots, let me know. Thanks!
JP
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Ignoramus20878
I have no idea what are these bearings like. Do you have a spec number and dimensions? Most likely I do not have them. Lots of caterpillar stuff. Some case stuff etc etc.
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Kris Baker
You can ship up to 70 pounds in a USPS flat-rate box. Make someone a deal and get rid of them.
Kris
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Dave Hinz
You know, when you start measuring bearings by the pound, I think that yes, that's a _lot_.
Iggy, if you sign up for an eBay store, you can list things, with gallery image, for 3 cents a piece. Set a buy-it-now, and they stay up for a month at a time, and autorenew for another 3 cents if not sold. You still pay closing item costs but the listing price is low enough to make it worth listing cheap stuff, cheaply, and individually. I"m doing it with US Silver coins, stuff that'd cost more to list on an auction than they're worth. This way, it works for all concerned:
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Nothing dramatic as far as presentation, but eBay does a good job of getting the stuff in the right faces. At 3 cents an item, it's not too pricy to list.
Sell 'em to me and I'll piece 'em out? Give 'em to me and I'll sell them, and take 10% plus costs? Sell 'em yourself? If you want me to broker for you, eBay tells me I'm now allowed to do that sort of thing. "Sales assistant" they call it. I'm just a couple hours away from you, as you may recall, so a road trip wouldn't be a problem.
Dave
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Don Lancaster
The dilemma with bearings is the same as selling clothes: They come in different sizes.
The sizes you have in stock are not the sizes your buyers need.
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Ignoramus20878
You know, you could be right. Do you mean a $7.70 flat rate box?
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Ignoramus20878
I like the idea for the low price crap.
Sounds interesting, esp. for oddball bearings and such that would have few enough listings to make buyers see them.
I am fully open to this idea actually. Instead of 10%, I could give it
30%. 10% is a pittance, you will lose interest etc. 30% is barely enough to make it worthwhile for a retired person, in my opinion. Give me some time to think though. I am not yet sure which way to proceed.
Your ebay store idea is a a good one. I have a few things that fit the store concept. Is that really 3 cents per listing?
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Ignoramus20878
I sold bearings in big lots, they do sell. Nothing exciting. Some buyers are bulk buyers.
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Donnie Barnes
How much for one Flat Rate box full of assorted ones?
--Donnie
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Kris Baker
Yes. You'll have to load it up with strong, clear tape (virtually encasing it for extra strength)....but if your goal is to get them out the door, it might work best.
Kris
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Spehro Pefhany
Sell them one at a time as Xmas/Kwanza etc. presents.
"With one of these in your pocket you can always walk with a military bearing".
Best regards, Spehro Pefhany
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Ignoramus20878
Yep... Good point... I really like this idea, to sell them in numbered lots, each lot fitting into a USPS priority mail box.
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Dave Hinz
Sounds like a deal. And the USPS flat-rate boxes might be easier, how many are we talking? But, you're just down the road, and I need an excuse to hit Chicago anyway.
Yup. They show up last in the searches though, after the auctions. If it's a rare item, that's not a problem. If it's something that everyone is selling, buyers will never see it unless they sort by price or something.
I'm about to list a bunch of location-specific touristy postcards for the Christmas shoppers looking for their hometowns. I'm thinking that those, they search for by name, so the 3 cent listing will get me to them, just as well as the 70 cent auction listing. Probably the same with your bearings - guys don't need a dozen of something, they need one or two of that something. Price 'em for individual sale, and you're good to go.
Let me know, I'd be happy to do the broker thing. Might work into something, y'know?
Dave Hinz
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Ignoramus20878
I think that here's what I will do.
I will try to sell them in boxes of 50 or so lbs in each, for say $30 a box.
I will think what I do with the rest, but, I think, such a brokering makes some sense. No commitment yet, but your idea about brokering is an interesting one.
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K. A. Cannon
Ignoramus20878 posted in rec.crafts.metalworking on Tue, 29 Nov 2005 18:04:55 GMT:
Lo and behold...I be in the bearing business.
Send me an e-mail and perhaps we can haggle.
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Ignoramus20878
I doubt that I would load it to 70 lbs, the bearings are still in factory packaging. (I can throw packaging away if you want, but feel that it would be silly). But in any case, a USPS PM $7.70 box full to the brim, with no space left at all, I would say would be $30 plus $7.70 shipping plus delivery confirmation plus tape, say $39 total including everything.
ichudov AT algebra DOT com ichudov AT yahoo DOT com
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Rex B
Sign me up for one of those. Small bearings preferred.
- - Rex Burkheimer Fort Worth TX
Ignoramus20878 wrote:
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Ignoramus20878
OK... I am going to take some photos tonight... Some are small, some are big, etc. There are also 3 heavy pieces, looks like parts of differentials. Appx
6-8" in diameter, no moving parts, four opposing holes in the sides about 2" in diameter.
No visible identification.
I use one as a weight for making sauerkraut.
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John Mianowski
Are they relative or absolute?
JM
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