Im going thru some old photos and came across a photo I took when I hit the mother load of reloading supplies on Craigslist. Figured I would share it here as a brag and also to share some wise info that has paid off for me a handful of times.
I do a ton of buying on used markets. The best way to find something that is under valued and still available, is to spell what you are looking for incorrectly. By doing this, you may happen to come across something that isn't selling and the reason for that is it isn't being found. I once bought a 1987 Camaro on ebay for $100 (opening and only bid) because they spelled the title "Cmaro". It cost me more to tow it home from the cape than it did for the car. Other searches that always gave me good luck was spelling Craftsman as Craftsmen or Starrett with only a single T or R. Some market places are getting smarter and will change your results with a simple "did you mean......" search. Craistlist doesn't.
Another method of searching I use is general terms. Want reloading stuff? Search Reloading, reloader, reload, press, RCBS, Dillon, Lyman, ect. Don't assume the seller knows what they have.
So back in July, 2017 I was searching for "dies" on CL. The problem with such a generic search is that you get a ton of hits. You just have to sort thru the mess for stuff you want. After scrolling thru pages of listings, I came a cross a one line ad that said "dies, $5 a piece". I was curious and was worth an email to find out what they were selling. After some back and forth, I find out the guy was selling his brother in laws estate. The BIL had passed away and they were selling everything. BIL owned a gun store in the 80's and everything was all over the house.
Guy said he stopped counting at 150 sets of dies. $450 for the lot. It was an hour away. I said Ill be there in an hour. I get there and see the pile of green boxes. The mother load. Although some of the boxes look bad, the majority of the dies were untouched, still covered with protectant applied by RCBS. And because he owned the store 30 something years ago, most of the dies were non standard calibers, so more sought after.
The man took my cellphone # and said that he would contact me if he found anything else reloading related and would give me 1st dibs. After a month he called. He said "I have a bunch of brass Id like to get $800 for it. Now I was at a point where I was not buying any brass because I had so much range pickup at my house that I had no need for anymore, but he insisted that it was a ton. I agreed to take a ride and see. But $800 for brass was steep IMO. I get there and the bed of his 8ft truck was full. Im talking full. He had a cap on the bed and the brass was to the ceiling. I opened the 1st box and it was all brand new old stock brass. Again, all older calibers from the 80s. I wish I took pictures of the brass and the sorting operation that happened in my basement. It took about 2 months to sort, catalog and sell what I didn't want. That deal netted me 20k. Too bad I didn't sit on them for a few years. Todays prices would put me into retirement.
I do a ton of buying on used markets. The best way to find something that is under valued and still available, is to spell what you are looking for incorrectly. By doing this, you may happen to come across something that isn't selling and the reason for that is it isn't being found. I once bought a 1987 Camaro on ebay for $100 (opening and only bid) because they spelled the title "Cmaro". It cost me more to tow it home from the cape than it did for the car. Other searches that always gave me good luck was spelling Craftsman as Craftsmen or Starrett with only a single T or R. Some market places are getting smarter and will change your results with a simple "did you mean......" search. Craistlist doesn't.
Another method of searching I use is general terms. Want reloading stuff? Search Reloading, reloader, reload, press, RCBS, Dillon, Lyman, ect. Don't assume the seller knows what they have.
So back in July, 2017 I was searching for "dies" on CL. The problem with such a generic search is that you get a ton of hits. You just have to sort thru the mess for stuff you want. After scrolling thru pages of listings, I came a cross a one line ad that said "dies, $5 a piece". I was curious and was worth an email to find out what they were selling. After some back and forth, I find out the guy was selling his brother in laws estate. The BIL had passed away and they were selling everything. BIL owned a gun store in the 80's and everything was all over the house.
Guy said he stopped counting at 150 sets of dies. $450 for the lot. It was an hour away. I said Ill be there in an hour. I get there and see the pile of green boxes. The mother load. Although some of the boxes look bad, the majority of the dies were untouched, still covered with protectant applied by RCBS. And because he owned the store 30 something years ago, most of the dies were non standard calibers, so more sought after.
The man took my cellphone # and said that he would contact me if he found anything else reloading related and would give me 1st dibs. After a month he called. He said "I have a bunch of brass Id like to get $800 for it. Now I was at a point where I was not buying any brass because I had so much range pickup at my house that I had no need for anymore, but he insisted that it was a ton. I agreed to take a ride and see. But $800 for brass was steep IMO. I get there and the bed of his 8ft truck was full. Im talking full. He had a cap on the bed and the brass was to the ceiling. I opened the 1st box and it was all brand new old stock brass. Again, all older calibers from the 80s. I wish I took pictures of the brass and the sorting operation that happened in my basement. It took about 2 months to sort, catalog and sell what I didn't want. That deal netted me 20k. Too bad I didn't sit on them for a few years. Todays prices would put me into retirement.