Best place to sell tools?

[gyrfalcon]

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

I would get a camera, and a piece of paper, and spend quite a few hours writing down the models and details on everything and photographing it. Then sort it so you can find it again (boxes or whatever)...

On the items that seem to look more expensive you can do google searches on the model/names and get a good idea how much they're selling for new/used:

http://goo.gl/LcDzP <--Example

You'll also get all the info you need to sell it online or that someone else would need to do so.

[m4andxdisbliss]

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.

The drawers are usually not able to be removed. But most lock so they won't fly open. Empty, it will still weight a lot. Depending on brand/condition they can run anywhere from $600-$6k+.

My advice would be to do like you are saying and remove everything and then try to load it up.

Sorry for your loss.

[xxForceTenxx]

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.

Empty, you're looking at 300 pounds or more. With tools, close to or over 1,000 pounds. You may want to talk to a tool rep and see if it's possible they can load it onto the lift gate on their truck. It might be too heavy for them. But, worth asking. Or, find a tilt bed trailer or ramps. Friend of mine hired a flat bed tow truck to haul his across town.

[wrench]

I have a very similar box, moved it recently with a ramp style trailer. Was mostly empty, still needed 5 strong young men to shove it up that ramp.
Very heavy, even empty.

[farmerj]

sorry for your loss.

I would echo again contact a Matco rep.

Another thing you might want to consider is contact a local tech college that has a mechanic program similar to what he did. Consider offering the box and tools to the students.

Just an option

[Dave Pendleton]

My condolences.

There are some good suggestions here. You might be surprised how much some of this might be worth. It won't sell itself, so you might have to do a little work. Tools are always in demand, and don't have to fetch pennies on the dollar.

Posting it here is a good idea, but the audience is a bit limited.
Craigslist is a good option, I've bought a number of tools on cl and while I wasn't stealing them, I thought the prices were fair for both me and the seller.
Donating them to something like Newgate or some such place might be an option and might get you a pretty sizeable tax writeoff.

http://www.newgateschool.org/

It's a good idea to get a complete inventory and pictures of everything.

[tacticalninja32]

Condolenses........
if you/neices do use craigslist just becareful and not do it alone

[ScatterGun4015]

Most tool guys I know will move boxes for around 80 bucks. its worth the cash. sorry for your loss

[builttoughf350]

if i remember right the mechanics at the shop i worked at 10 years ago could sell or trade their tool boxes back to the matco / snap-on tool guys.

you might want to google search that exact brand and model and see if anything pops up to give you a good price reference. maybe check on Ebay too and see what one sold for, etc.

[Grandpa Rex]

Back when I worked auto service locations, we used to lift the boxes with an auto lift, letting the wheels hang. Back a pickup or trailer under, and drop lightly on the bed.

Getting it out at home was another thing entirely.

[Consummate]

My condolences to you and your family!

[xracer390]

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.

The drawers are usually not able to be removed. But most lock so they won't fly open. Empty, it will still weight a lot. Depending on brand/condition they can run anywhere from $600-$6k+.

My advice would be to do like you are saying and remove everything and then try to load it up.

Sorry for your loss.

Almost all the quality boxes have removable drawers, just need the right tool in some cases, should be very easy and the the box could probably be lifted by 2 or 3 guys.

[Bulldawg]

Sorry to hear of your loss...When I used to work for a towing company I moved a lot of these tool boxes for mechanics when they would switch employers. A good flatbed operator can load and unload these big boxes (locked and full of tools) quite easily. We used to do it for $20 - $75 within the city, maybe worth calling a couple tow companies in your area to get quote. I didn't notice in your post about distance the box needs to be moved but be aware most towers charge mileage.

[lenny7]

Sorry to hear of your loss...When I used to work for a towing company I moved a lot of these tool boxes for mechanics when they would switch employers. A good flatbed operator can load and unload these big boxes (locked and full of tools) quite easily. We used to do it for $20 - $75 within the city, maybe worth calling a couple tow companies in your area to get quote. I didn't notice in your post about distance the box needs to be moved but be aware most towers charge mileage.

Interesting idea. This would be about a 30 mile tow...Roseville to Savage.

[nosualc]

My condolences to you and your family.

I'm a half-a$$ed weekend mechanic, and I bought a lot of my tools piece by piece (or small sets) from retiring mechanics on e-bay. The advantage to me is that I could get just what I wanted, the advantage to the seller is that they get national exposure. You can also see on e-bay what the going rate for various individual tools really is. If you can spend the time to do it, this is probably the best way to maximize the value of the tools.

-nosualc