Need Advice on Pricing/Marketing

[Mastiff]

I have to sell my metalworking machines. I had planned to open a machinist and welding shop to supplement my income when I retired. Unfortunately I have developed Parkinson's Disease so it looks like those plans have gone out the window. I don't know what to price these things at, nor how best to market them. I am looking for advice.
I've got a Lodge, Davis & Co. flat-belt lathe with the change gears, taper attachment, 4 jaw chuck, faceplate, steady rest and some tooling. It is 19x113, the bed is 13 feet long. It was manufactured on Feb 11th, 1888 and is still in good shape.
I have a 14" Elliot 2M shaper, a Cincinnati Hydraulic horizontal milling machine, 2 400 amp single phase Tig welders from the 60's or early 70's with post purge and water cooling. I have 2 Esab suitcase wire feeders, model #2CVCC.
I have a Millermatic Challenger 172 (the newest machine I own). I also have two plasma cutters, a Thermal Dynamics Pak 10 and Pak 10XR. They are rated at 100 amps.
Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

[BadDog]

A big part of your answer will depend on where you are located.

[Mastiff]

Sorry about that. I'm located in the near western burbs of Chicago.

[IOWOLF]

Well at least he didn't post a link to his stuff on EBAY.


Not a whole lot of difference.

[CCWKen]

Sorry to hear about your predicament. Even more so about the PD. Until you mentioned Chicago, I was thinking this was the shop closing in Fredericksburg, Texas. It's hard to give "values" for equipment because the value to one person is so different than the value to another. Condition is the biggest element of any appraisal. Your best bet may be to search Ebay history for like or similar machines. Many auction sites also leave history available for 1-3 months.

Listing in the local paper is not very cost effective when you compare it to the audience of Ebay but a local buyer may pay a higher price. The price is often tied to shipping. If you Google the brand and model, it's possible that like machines will show up on other auction sites.

Best of luck and good wishes to you and your family.

[BobWarfield]

Research eBay, and consider an ad in craigslist.

Best,

BW

[Mastiff]

Well at least he didn't post a link to his stuff on EBAY.


Not a whole lot of difference.

I'm not trying to get you to buy this stuff. I have not put it up on e-bay. I need to sell this stuff or scrap it. It isn't doing anybody any good when I can't use it. I was hoping for some advice, not sales. This is what I'm doing to find the best way to sell the machines. If the advice is to go the e-bay route, I'll go the ebay route. I'd rather donate that lathe than see it butchered or scrapped. That is history, and it still works. I'm a grandfather, and that machine was working before either of my grandfathers were born.
I am not some scum who bought some machines at a local sale and is trying to turn it around at a profit. I've been collecting these over the last 20 years. I took courses in welding and have practiced it. I bought a number of old technology books from Lindsay, to learn how to run these machines. This is what I most enjoyed doing, working with machines, repairing and riding motorcycles, and making old stuff run again. It's a great feeling.
You can give me the leer, I can handle that. The PD is much worse than anything you can throw at me.

[ProGunOne]

Hello Mastiff, Sorry to hear of your bad news. I too am in a suburb of Chicago (Burbank) While I haven't any clue what your equipment is/would be worth, I agree with Bob Warfield. I've bought and sold on Chicago's Craigslist with some pretty good luck. You can list your items for free with pictures. Keep it strictly cash and carry and you should be OK. If you're unsure on how to go about posting any of it when you're ready, send me an e-mail, I'd be happy to assist if you need it? Good Luck, Paul.

[Mastiff]

Hello Mastiff, Sorry to hear of your bad news. I too am in a suburb of Chicago (Burbank) While I haven't any clue what your equipment is/would be worth, I agree with Bob Warfield. I've bought and sold on Chicago's Craigslist with some pretty good luck. You can list your items for free with pictures. Keep it strictly cash and carry and you should be OK. If you're unsure on how to go about posting any of it when you're ready, send me an e-mail, I'd be happy to assist if you need it? Good Luck, Paul.

Thanks for the offer of help, Paul. I looked at Craigslist, but I admit I wasn't too sure how to go about dealing with them. I'm much more comfortable with old technology than new.
You are not very far away from me, I'm at Harlem Ave and the Eisenhower.

[Mcgyver]

sorry to hear about the PD Mastiff, quite a collection you've got. us home shop guys have a sweet spot for these older machines but they can be tough to value and sell because industry does not, mind you your stuff is large for the home shop. are our benefactors here have tremendous reach into the home shop market, an add might be considered. there are also other boards that get a lot of hobbyist/home shop following, like cnczone, practical machinist and home machinist - maybe some of them have a classified section, not sure. as suggested by others, kijiji and craiglist are free to advertise on and reach a local audience - that's who's going to buy it imo

I agree with the donate idea if you can't sell it, be nice to see it keep going. network a bit maybe there'be a home for it. some steam engine or antique internal combustion engine group or museum for example? then again maybe they've all been offered more old iron than they can handle over the years, worth a try though.