Craigslist Rant!

[AlBeThere]

This drives me nuts..

I'm trying to find a used Kapex. Finally, a gently used, less than one year old Kapex pops-up on Craigslist near me. I respond to the seller within hours with, "Where are you located and when can I come and see the saw." No response!!!

I think, maybe he didn't get my email. I emailed again. No response.
's safe to assume it's sold but why not take the two minutes and delete.

Thank you FOG members for letting me rant. The non-responsive Craigslist sellers is such a pet-peeve of mine.

And yes, it's killing me that I missed out on a used Kapex in good condition!!

Have a great day!

Mike

 

[RKA]

The stars never align for me.  I still try, but I give myself a time and price limit on CL.  If it doesn't work out, click and ship.  In the last 45 days I found one used Kapex about 1/2 hr away.  The seller wanted as much as Festool was selling the refurbed units.  My offer was less and it was soundly refused.  So I wished him luck and ended up with a new one.  Even if one turns up next month, I won't be disappointed.  My time, gas money, dealing with CL people and posting rants all cost me something.  So the way I look at it, I saved by buying new.    Good luck!

 

[barnowl]

IMHO, the Kapex is such a finely tuned piece of machinery, I'd never buy a used one.

Buy new, and get the 3 year warantee.

Same goes for the Domino.

How much are you really going to save? Figuring driving, ggas, etc. 10%? 20%?

Just not worth it.

One "drop on the floor" by a former owner, could knock it out of tolerance, and you might not notice til later.

I bought a used Festool jigsaw, (sight unseen from Atlanta) and while it wasn't abused,

it was obvious that the former owner didn't "baby" his tools like I do.

 

[Slappy]

IMHO, the Kapex is such a finely tuned piece of machinery, I'd never buy a used one.
Buy new, and get the 3 year warantee.
Same goes for the Domino.
How much are you really going to save? Figuring driving, ggas, etc. 10%? 20%?
Just not worth it.
One "drop on the floor" by a former owner, could knock it out of tolerance, and you might not notice til later.
I bought a used Festool jigsaw, (sight unseen from Atlanta) and while it wasn't abused,
it was obvious that the former owner didn't "baby" his tools like I do.

+1

when it comes precision tools only new for me , all the others I will entertain used ,the large shop tools like joiners & alike there are some real deals used  on them & they can be brought back to new specs & new cutters
but something like a Kapex, Domino ,TS55 tracksaw  new & only new . IMO  your opinion may vary  [tongue]
I'm saving up for a New Kapex  [cool]

 

[SittingElf]

I just sold a number of WW machines on CL over the last month. They all sold very quickly, including a 19" bandsaw, 8" Jointer, 14" Floor Drill Press, 1.5HP Dust Collector, Bosch compound miter saw, 19" Planer, and various hand power tools.  All gone within five days of each posting.

I make it a point that as soon as an item is sold, I go to my account on CL and delete the listing. No problems as a result.  I have received emails via CL after the fact, asking if the item is still available, and I ALWAYS respond with a "sorry" note and wish the sender good luck on finding a similar item. 

I feel that not removing an item, and ignoring info requests completely defeats the whole purpose of CL and causes undo frustration as experienced by the OP of this thread.

Having said that, it is also understandable to some degree, considering the horrible titles and narratives of a lot of For Sale posts on CL, that the sellers have no clue about how to use CL effectively....or just haven't figured out that there is a system to delete their offerings once sold. That, unfortunately, is the face of education and knowledge in our country today. [crying]

 

[AlexThePalex]

IMHO, the Kapex is such a finely tuned piece of machinery, I'd never buy a used one.
Buy new, and get the 3 year warantee.
Same goes for the Domino.
How much are you really going to save? Figuring driving, ggas, etc. 10%? 20%?
Just not worth it.
One "drop on the floor" by a former owner, could knock it out of tolerance, and you might not notice til later.
I bought a used Festool jigsaw, (sight unseen from Atlanta) and while it wasn't abused,
it was obvious that the former owner didn't "baby" his tools like I do.

+1

when it comes precision tools only new for me , all the others I will entertain used ,the large shop tools like joiners & alike there are some real deals used  on them & they can be brought back to new specs & new cutters
but something like a Kapex, Domino ,TS55 tracksaw  new & only new . IMO  your opinion may vary  [tongue]
I'm saving up for a New Kapex  [cool]

-1

I buy and sell used tools all the time, and especially Festools are all good. Sometimes they need some work, so I replace some parts or do some tuning and they're good to go again. 

The idea that only a new tool can be perfect is silly. A tool is a complex composition of parts and when a couple of those parts are off you simply replace or adjust them till they're good again. All the other parts are still good. You just need to make them work together again as intended.

There's too much babying and glorification of Festools on this forum. Respecting something does not mean you put it on a pedestal, it means you use the heck out of it for what it's meant, thus fulfilling it's one and only true potential. In Festool's case this means business, not lullabies! [wink]   

But I totally get the sentiment about dealing with online listings as the OP expresses. Just a little courtesy can make such a difference. 

 

[AlBeThere]

Thanks everybody for the great insight and advice.

I didn't intend for this to happen, but this thread is making me lean towards buying new. I didn't really want to drive the 90 minutes to Sacramento anyway.  [big grin]

The $1375 plus the 8.75% Ca State Penalty (tax) is killing me though.

How does that saying go.. Buy once-Cry once!

Mike

 

[PA floor guy]

There's a kapex on eBay right now. 900 OBO

 

[AlBeThere]

Thanks for the heads up..

It's in Ohio and its local pick-up only.

Mike

 

[copcarcollector]

I hesitated buying a recon Kapex from Festool - I am sure it would have been perfect but some tools I just cant by the "used" or "recon" status!

That said, and you could do the same, I bought my new Kapex from out of state. The price is the same and most Festool dealers don't charge shipping and the thing is packed quite well in the box, buy from an out of state dealer and save the sales tax! You just have to wait a few more days for it to arrive---!

 

[Slappy]

Thanks everybody for the great insight and advice.

I didn't intend for this to happen, but this thread is making me lean towards buying new. I didn't really want to drive the 90 minutes to Sacramento anyway.  [big grin]

The $1375 plus the 8.75% Ca State Penalty (tax) is killing me though.

How does that saying go.. Buy once-Cry once!

Mike

I'm in NorCal & I buy outta state from Bob Marino no sales tax & free shipping

 

[Jonhilgen]

IMHO, the Kapex is such a finely tuned piece of machinery, I'd never buy a used one.

Buy new, and get the 3 year warantee.

Same goes for the Domino.

How much are you really going to save? Figuring driving, ggas, etc. 10%? 20%?

Just not worth it.

One "drop on the floor" by a former owner, could knock it out of tolerance, and you might not notice til later.

I bought a used Festool jigsaw, (sight unseen from Atlanta) and while it wasn't abused,

it was obvious that the former owner didn't "baby" his tools like I do.

Have to disagree.  I purchased a Domino, with extra cutters, cross stops, and a box of 5mm dominos FOR HALF of  retail.  It was still under warrantee to boot.  Also bought a Ts 75  ( under warrantee) and an OF 2000.  Both at almost half of retail.  Granted, I bought them from an "old-timer" who could no longer woodwork because the physical strains were too much.  But he was more than happy to take the loss knowing they would be used.

Lucky?  Maybe.  But if I hadn't been looking, I would have lost out on a great deal.

Can't hurt to try.

Jon

 

[overanalyze]

There's a kapex on eBay right now. 900 OBO

Dang...must be gone already..just looked..not there...I am in Ohio too!

 

[Richard D.]

Thanks everybody for the great insight and advice.

I didn't intend for this to happen, but this thread is making me lean towards buying new. I didn't really want to drive the 90 minutes to Sacramento anyway.  [big grin]

The $1375 plus the 8.75% Ca State Penalty (tax) is killing me though.

How does that saying go.. Buy once-Cry once!

Mike

Is Sacramento South of you? If so maybe drive North to Oregon and save the tax. I have  bought my Festool stuff in Portland the last few years when visiting the in-laws for the holidays.

 

[AlBeThere]

Richard....

I'm in the SF Bay Area so the drive to Oregon would be a little long.

Wow, the Ohio Kapex on eBay disappeared quickly.

Mike

 

[Samo]

I would call Festool!

Politely ask if they have a reconditioned Kapex you can buy.  Don't report back if you get one. [big grin]

I don't know if it's doable now but a 30% discount is a couple scratches and a little sawdust  [embarassed]

I payed a little over 1 K shipped from the reconditioned sale only because it's taxable in CA.

Best of luck on your search.

Sam

PM me if you have no luck!

 

[sancho57]

To the OP,

It Craigslist!!!!Come on, These people arent professional retailers (well for the most part).

It just Joe blow off loading some tools.

Ive done the same thing, emailed the seller, sometimes it takes a few days, other times they call right away. One guy after I talked to hi, made the deal, decided to sell it to a friend. Didnt bother to tell me I called him back well it took about 4 phone calss and he finally told me.

But Hey its Craigslist…

You want awesome customer service?

Go to  retailer and pay full price.

 

[AlBeThere]

Sam: Great post. I got a good laugh!

I took your advise but I think I missed them for the weekend. The phone tree dumped me into a voice mail. I'll follow up next week and let you know the results.

Jobsworth: You're are so right. Thanks for the reminder of what and who I'm dealing with. As you said, its Craigslist and I do keep my expectations very low. But I still think "No response" is unacceptable. At the very least, if you don't have the time to respond, then delete the ad. Its a two-click process and it sends the message that the item is sold or no longer available.

Ironically, the seller of the Kapex finally responded 3 days after my first email. He is 90 minutes away and can't provide pictures. He wants $1150 for the saw. If the price were a little better or there were pictures to show the condition justifying the price, I would make the trip. Without pictures, its just not worth the $225 savings.

The weekend has started and I'm off to the shop to build something My son is getting a new loft bed and there is 32 Bd Ft of clear 5/4 Alder calling my name..

Mike

 

[bearpaw]

I called about a ts55 in jacksonville fl they wanted 280.00 i tried to contact them to look at it and they ignored my call the next day they wdnt up to 380.00

 

[NuggyBuggy]

If you really want something that doesn't appear often on Craigslist (or, in Canada, Kijiji), I recommend people do what I doost their own WTB ad.

People contemplating selling something online always do one thing first: they check their online venue of choice to look for the same item to figure out how to price it.  So when they see your WTB ad there, they realize that they don't have to deal with flaky buyers (and for every flaky seller one can complain about, there are 10 flaky buyers).  This gives you the advantage: you know you're dealing with a motivated seller, and you are probably the only potential buyer he is courting- as opposed to perhaps dozens of emails someone could get for a popular item.