Boys & Girls, have you been to this on line auction site for GOODWILL stores? wow, I was just looking..it has several vinatage machines / some with cabinets...some of them say "local pick up only" like in LA, and ME, and MN and etc..but well worth taking a look at this site........you do have to pay shipping, but some of the prices looked pretty good to me! go to ShopGoodwill.com.....you have to register (for free) to bid on anything.

Unfortunately the shipping is like $30-$40 which makes the machines not really worth it 90% of the time...I wished I lived in some of these pick up only areas!

OMG I just checked out the site and it is awesome. Some wonderful bargains in all categories. The shipping charges depend on your and the items location as they are not all in the same place. Enjoy :D :D

I bought one of my featherweights through them and the shipping really wasn't so bad. You just have to figure out the shipping cost before bidding.

I also would like to be in some of those PICK UP ONLY areas .... probably some of our quilting buddies on here will be, that is what I was thinking....

Been checking them for years now. Unfortunately I'm not near any of the stores that participate either. And the FW's (which are about the only machines worth shipping) go too high for my tastes. I already have one and would only be looking for the right 'deal'. Unfortunately I think it's alot like ebay in that people start bidding far too early and drive prices higher than they need to be. If you look at the closing time/date and wait, you can get items far cheaper. JMHO

Do like I do if you have family or friends in the town the machine is in go ahead and buy it and send them to get it and hold it for you until you can come and get it or let them send it to you.


Billy

Billy glad to see you are on board today. How are you? I think a lot of people have missed you not being here.

Hi Billy! Hope you are better! Oh...back to the topic! I love the shop goodwill stores. I got a couple of mystery boxes of fabric from them. Loved it!

We have bought several machines from them. We love vintage machines. Actually my DH B-day was yesterday, and the one I bought him arrived. A 1964 New Home (Janome) purrs like kitten. Beautiful machine, he named her "Ivy". She is a pretty 2 toned green. He was all excited, he told his pals on the gun forum and like I predicted the boys were excited to tell about their machines.
We also collect old metal toy sewing machines mostly hand crank, we've bought 10 from them in the last 2-3 months. We even found a Betsy Ross electric one in the case that runs and it looks like our hand crank Betsy Ross. Our 5yr old DGD has used it, and loves it.
The only bad thing about the Goodwill auctions is the same problem as this site ADDICTIVE!...