Is there still a market for used Shopsmith Mark V?

[hlu92126]

I have a Mark V 500 that I upgraded to a 510 maybe 20 years ago. I have tons of accessories for it, but I don't use it much for much else except as a table saw and maybe the strip sander. To clean out my garage I'm looking to get rid of it. But I see listings on places like craigslist that sit for months. Just wondering if it is even worth the effort to try to sell it. I would like to get some money out of it. But don't want to invest the time. If there isn't a market, I was hoping for a charitable organization that might want to take it. Rather give it to some needy organization who can use it rather than someone to part it out. I have several garage projects lined up and the first step for most of them is to get rid of the shopsmith.

I'd appreciate any advice.

[br549]

Yes, I think there is a market, providing it is reasonably priced. With Craigslist (which I regularly check), you never know for what items actually sell. I too see ads that stay up for long periods of time, and there are probably many reasons. Some sellers just forget to take ads down when their item sells. Others set prices too high to start with and may not mention they are willing to consider offers. Some items (such as major SPTs like bandsaws and jointers) are more plentiful and others more desirable or harder to come by. One advantage of eBay is being able to do an advanced search for SOLD listings to see the actual sales price for auction items, which may help in determining a fair asking price if selling locally. Finding a buyer interested in your entire setup may be difficult, so offering major SPTs separately may help. Some effort is required for any attempt to sell online, but plenty of pictures is the best tool. If you want the simplest route, then yes, donating the equipment to a charity is less work, but the charity likely has little knowledge of how to best sell it to get any financial benefit, and it may wind up on Craigslist as one of the ads that stays there for a long time.

[dgale]

There's a market for them but in general they will sell for a fraction of what was originally paid. Much of it depends on what condition the machine is in, how complete it is etc. There are lots of neglected older machines out there for sale and I doubt they typically fetch more than $100-200. I also see more complete machines that look to be in good shape for sale, often with an asking price in the $1000-$2000 range but no idea if anyone ever pays anywhere near that. I picked up an essentially unused and perfect condition 520 for $500 a while back at an Estate Sale. I imagine that good condition machines do sell for more than that on occasion but in general it is a buyers market and really depends on where you live and who happens to be looking at the time. If you could find a school or similar that is interested, perhaps donating to a High School for their wood shop might be an option and you could take the tax deduction instead.