Best place to sell tools?

[lenny7]

My brother past away last Thursday and I'm helping his two daughters with his meager estate. It didn't help that he recently lost a bunch of stuff in a fire in the garage at his apartment. One of the few things he did have of value was a hell of a lot of tools, mainly mechanics tools. I don't have them all here with me yet but I 'd guess he had 5 or 6 handheld toolboxes (full) and one of the large Matco shop tool boxes on wheels...maybe 42"W x 24"D x 36"H...full of tools.

The girls aren't getting much financially from my brother so I've offered to help sell the tools and his hunting gear for them. Any suggestions on where to sell the tools? Obviously there's Craigslist, or even this forum, but I don't have a sense of the value of this stuff and I want to get the most for them that I can. Are there any consignment auction places that would take this stuff? When I get the hunting gear (mainly clothes...some new) I'll post an ad here.

I lost a brother, I lost a hunting partner, I lost a best friend.

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[macphisto]

I'm very sorry for your loss.

[JJ]

You might try K-bid out of Maple Plain. They do consignment auctions monthly I believe and they seem to get plenty of hits. Just an FYI on tools, if you can seperate out sets and specialty tools you will get a lot more for them. If sold just a a "box'o'tools" you seldom even approach fair market value on them.

They also would probably take the sporting gear also on consignment. Other wise here on MGT but http://www.lakestatefishing.com gets a lot of hit on the classifieds over there.

[xxForceTenxx]

Sorry for your and their loss. Unfortunately, tools don't get a lot of resale value due to many people not knowing the real value of good tools like Snap-On, Mac, Matco in comparison to Craftsman and other brands.

To give you a starting point, you can go to each of the professional tool companies web sites and get a MSRP for each tool, or sets. From there, adjust accordingly based upon condition, age, etc. When I got out of wrenching and sold off all my high end tools, I was lucky to get 30% value. Many times, it was 15-20%. I should have just kept them, but I needed the money at the time.

Post up what you have here, someone might be looking. I'd be interested to hear what there is for hunting equipment as well.

Again, my condolences.

[Pezhead]

Sorry to hear about your loss. Our thoughts and prayers go out to you and your family. It's always tough around the holidays. Hopefully you can find a source for the items your selling.

[Pezhead]

Maybe one of the Votech schools have a bulletin boards for items.

[hammAR]

Condolences.................

[gyrfalcon]

Could post them on MN Guntalk, just take lots of photos. When other people sell stuff for you the money you get back is generally a lot less.

[1911fan]

If he had a regular salesman, they some times carry a list of used tools out on the road with them, and for a cut will sell them to guys out on the route.

I too am sorry for your loss

[mrp]

Sorry about your loss.

Is there any chance your nieces will have kids? If so, they might want to each keep a toolbox with a good assortment. Knowing you're using your grandpa's tools can be a big thing for a youngster.

[Thunderjohn]

I'm sorry to hear about your brother.

[westberg]

Our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family.

[LarryFlew]

Condolences also. If you do consignment be aware of listing fees if any and selling percentages which are often very high.

[wrench]

I'm very sorry for your loss.

Maybe one of the Votech schools have a bulletin boards for items.

We do, and I'd be glad to post them for you when we come back from break. PM me if you want.

Agree with other posters on value, used tools bring very little money. High end tools, Snapon, Mac, etc maybe half if they're in great shape. Cheaper tools, less.
I've sold some tools on Craigslist, also.

[lenny7]

I want to thank everyone for both the advice, offers to help, and for the condolences. I'm still helping my nieces go through his stuff and cleaning the apartment, and there's Christmas coming up, so I'll be busy with that for a while, but sometime in January I'll go through the tool boxes and tool chest more closely to see what's there and see if I can separate complete sets of good tools.

Anyone want to venture a guess at how much something like this:



would weigh, both empty and full of tools? (I don't recall the brand of tool chest, but I think it looked something like this, but red) I have to figure out how to haul it from the shop where he worked down to my place. I do have a pickup so I'm thinking I could empty all the tools out and then lift it onto the truck bed and strap it down. Do the drawers usually have a way to take them out of the chest? I'd rather do that than take all the tools out individually. Crap that thing must be heavy.