Every now and then I look for a stanley #90 plane on ebay. They're always up for auction, but the prices for good condition ones often go very close to or even above retail price (about $75 from Lee Valley, Rockler, etc.). Are these planes of interest to collectors which raises the price or do people bid irrationally considering retail price (and easy shipping, return policy, etc. of buying from a company like Lee Valley)?
Thanks for any insight.
Charles Lerner
Charles Lerner asks:
They must bid irrationally. As a check, I looked at Lee Valley: $79. I didn't check shipping because IME, Ebay is ALWAYS higher. I saw #90s on Ebay with "Buy It Now" prices of $100!
Given a choice, I'd willingly pay some place like Lee Valley more for the plane than I would a seller on Ebay for the simple reason I know that if there are any kinds of problems, LV will make it good. You can, maybe, hope that an Ebay seller will do the same, but you can't know.
Ebay is a great place to pick up some planes (I got a transition #26 for what I think is a great price), but in other instances, it isn't. You need to take a knowledge of the market in with you to keep from getting burned.
Charlie Self If God had wanted me to touch my toes he would have put them higher on my body.
Does Lee Valley sell collector type Stanley planes? Are you guys comparing vintage, collectable, more sought after and often better plans that you are probably seeing on ebay to the new Stanley plans as sold by Lee Valley, Lowes, etc? I'm confused.
Aaron
#90, #90A or #90J ? US or English ? The one-piece body ones are rare and expensive, unless you're in England, where they're common and cheap.
Personally I find a #92 more useful, and much cheaper. I've rarely needed a bullnose, sometimes needed a chisel plane.
-- Do whales have krillfiles ?
You're right, you're confused. LV sells NEW Veritas (home brand) planes that are far superior to most other planes. The crap you buy at Lowes isn't as good as the Old Stanleys that you see on eBay, but they, generally, aren't as good as the planes you buy from LV. The other question is user vs collector. LV sells users, straight from the box, Stanley doesn't, so neither does Lowes. eBay may sell collectors, but usually sells users that will need varying amounts of work done before they are usable. Why not go to LV and look at their planes or go to the website and look at the pictures. Or just DAGS and do some reading. /rant off Dave in Fairfax
Yeah, well I didn't consider collector's models when I put up prices. The current crop of Stanley #90s is still made in Great Britain, AFAIK, and the ones I've seen are as good as the old ones. This is a current plane, not an antique, though I guess it's been out for a lot of years. I'll have to check and see if I have one: IIRC, mine is a 72 or 73, but maybe not. It's cold as a titch's wit in the shop right now, so checking will wait.
Charlie Self If God had wanted me to touch my toes he would have put them higher on my body.
snipped-for-privacy@fairfax.com wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@fairfax.com:
Actually, I think you're confused. Lee Valley sells the UK made Stanley #90, which I think is what the OP was refering to.
As far as I know, none of the #90/92/93/94 are collectable (ignoring for the moment the first #90, which was a totally different plane). There's no consistant difference in quality between older US made Stanley and new UK made Stanley in these planes, so no reason not to buy new. The advantage of buying new from Lee Valley or where ever is that if the plane isn't square you can easily return it and try again.
John
Dave, you're a dumbass. Where did Veritas come into the picture? The OP asked about Stanley planes, asking why they go on ebay for more than retail. OP asked about the Stanley #90, which can be found on LV and Ebay. I don't know how you got off on your little rant, but try to stay on topic next time. Putz.
Aar> > Does Lee Valley sell collector type Stanley planes? Are you guys comparing
Except that UK #92s (even the new ones) don't pretzel like the old US ones did.
They're rebate planes, not shoulder planes. But you can shut the mouth tight enough on a UK one to make a fair go at it. Try this on a US one and the chances are that the mouth will be too tapered to be usable.
-- Do whales have krillfiles ?
Since none of us know the answer to your question (unless we personally bid $90 for one of these on eBay) it's all just our speculation. Therefore, I'll had my hunch to the pile. My guess is that if the new ones are indeed the same quality as the old ones being auctioned on eBay, then the reason people buy them for $90 on eBay is they don't realize they can buy a new one for less. I see a lot of auctions go for more than the retail price and my assumption is that the people don't know that or they wouldn't bid so high. Most people feel older planes are better than the new ones or they don't realize that particular plane is still being made. If someone wants a #90 they go to eBay and soon realize that to win one they have to bid $90, therefore, they do.
Veritas came into the picture when LV was mentioned. I misread the OP's question, I admit. I'll blame the misreading and poor judgment on pain meds. I didn't call the OP names, however, what do you blame that on? Dave in Fairfax
Could be that the quality of the new ones has really gone downhill! The last run of #79's were virtually unusable before production finished.
John
Mebbeso. But does that explain NEW #90s for a "Buy It Now" price of $100?
Charlie Self "Take care of the luxuries and the necessities will take care of themselves." Dorothy Parker
Thanks for all the responses. From what I've read it seems the planes are probably not that collectable and they are "overbid" on e-bay relative to current retail price for illogical (at least to me) reasons. I guess there wasn't really a practical reason for my question in the first place - I just would have felt better if it they were collectable or the old ones were better (and therefore worth more) so I wouldn't be frustrated with the ebay prices. I would think you should be able to consistently get an old one for no more than 1/2 retail, but that's not the case - oh well.
Charles
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well.
I think you're close. The fact of the matter is that there are quite a few folks that are willing to pay a premium to get a #90 made in the USA. The #90 hasn't been produced in the USA since the sixties, so the American version has a little bit of collector value. The older American version also has a reputation (and I'm not arguing whether it's deserved) for being of higher quality. That said, it is true that there are a quite a few buyers on eBay getting duped into paying too much for a modern copy.
Also, regarding earlier comments about some older planes from the series having alignment or warping problems. This is certainly true. However it is not true of the #90 itself--only the larger 92,
93, and 94. This was a design flaw that was fixed a long time ago. There's good information Patrick Leach's Blood & Gore page.Charles Lerner responds:
Ebay life is like that. My curiosity recently took me to examing digital SLRs on Ebay. There are an awful lot of new ones available, at prices that are higher than those charged by reputable dealers. The few used cameras I saw (that were in the range I wanted to check) were selling for 9/10 the price of new, something that I find a little silly, because you have no way of knowing how that camera has been treated, where it's been or what it's done, nor do you have a factory (or any other) warranty to back up your purchase. Same deal with tools. Ebay prices are higher than you're going to find locally for used tools, for the most part. The only value I've found there is in older tools that may not be readily available locally, and even then a great deal of care needs to be taken in pricing and in paying attention to the photos (most of which are terrible, quite possibly on purpose) and descriptions.
Charlie Self "Take care of the luxuries and the necessities will take care of themselves." Dorothy Parker
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