I sold a machine to a neighbor's friend really below what it was worth. She sewed on it for about an hour, loved it but then every time she had a problem about sewing, not the machine, she called me. Every time she had a question she called me instead of reading the manual. When I stopped taking her calls my neighbor said her friend was having a hard time trying to figure out how to sew without any help. I told her I'd buy the machine back as I was tired of her constant helplessness. I would sell a machine to a stranger before selling it to someone that knew me or of me.

I would decide on pricing by checking eBay's sold listings (you need to be logged in to access the sold listings, but it's easy and free to set up an account so you can do that). I would then contact local quilt guilds and/or sewing guilds. My local quilt guild allows members to set flyers out on the welcome table at guild meetings. In fact, that's how I found my frame setup!

Ha! We had a similar experience with selling our car. We were glad to hear our best friends' daughter was interested and sold way less than book value. It was a great car and in great shape. Next thing we know, it was this or this or this.

Never again.

I would start with craigslist which is local and free. I have bought and sold on CL no problems. 2nd I'd do "sewitsforsale" a yahoo group also free but not local. It's a yahoo group of sew-ers only and I've really enjoyed that one. Sewers selling pricey equipment are usually honest and take good care of their equipment. I've have no problems there either. 3rd I'd try ebay. It's neither free nor local. All 3 require Signing up and yahoo requires moderator approval. Except for CL I recommend PayPal as a payment vehicle. It's almost a must with ebay. Good luck.

Max-burke,va

Yep, same thing with us, we sold a car to a friend for way below list price and foolishly allowed them to make payments on it; they abused it and it broke down so they decided to just stop paying for it.

I don't sell things to friends anymore.

First - are you going to sell in the US or in Canada (because prices are different). Second - are you shipping or is this a pick up ONLY sale (again prices are different in different areas, also you will need to state about the buyer paying the shipping costs). Now ask the local shop that is doing the servicing on your machine what they are going for, then look it up on Ebay for both the item for sale and the item sold price (when looking at the same or like items for sale - you want to see how long at that price it has been for sale). Because you can ask any price, but it's how long it's up for sale. You might also check with you local guild or quilting group that you might belong to, about putting up a notice of machine for sale. Good luck

Are you planning to purchase another machine? Or do you already have one? Just curious....

I sold an expensive machine on ebay. People are more likely to have credit to make a purchase like that. I listed in in craigslist but they were looking for something much less expensive, and usually deal in cash.

Yahoo has a group called SewItsForSale. It has been wonderful for me. I've sold many machines and bought a few, plus other items. It's [email protected]. You have to state smoking or not, pets or not, shape it's in, as much as you know. Just servicing would be a great plus. I find out my prices from that group or ebay and usually go a bit below.

Thanks everyone for your great suggestions. I will do more research and use one or all of the ideas when my machine is returned for servicing. You folks are great!!!