The Quilted Cottage

Hello! I am going to look at a 2015 Innova today and would like some help with determining a good price offer. It’s asking price is $15000 but is negotiable. It is a 22” with lightening stitch and table is 9’. The table length is perfect for my needs, since I don’t do large quilts nor have the room for a table much longer. It has the micro handles, too, as well as extra feet and bobbins. It is private party and I’m fairly sure at that age there is no warranty left. Owner says it has been lightly used. It has been for sale since April this year.

A dealer has also offered me a price on a one year old machine for the same price but with 4 more years of warranty. Plus I would have to pay the tax and delivery, probably adding another $2000 to the price. Plus micro handles would be extra. I’m not too concerned with getting them at this time though. Five training classes are also included.

Just from looking at other pricing online, the 2015 Innova seems rather over priced. Any suggestions for price offers would be greatly appreciated. I’m not in a huge hurry and I’ll be going to Houston quilt festival this fall and taking classes so I can wait if others think I might get a good deal at the show.

Thanks for any help!

anonymous

You could check the used prices at Accomplished Quilting online. I think the $15,000 sounds like a pretty fair price with lightning stitch. I would not consider 2015 very old. The machines really don't change much from year to year. Maybe offer less and see what happens.

Tothill

First go see the machine, try it out, how does it feel?

Try to find out what she paid for the machine, you can ask to see the initial invoice or do research to find the answer. How does this compare to what she is asking. You are just looking at the base machine at this point. Keep in mind the original purchase probably included set up and delivery. When buying second had, generally the buyer is responsible for this.

Remember a car depreciates by 25-30% the moment it leaves the lot. Then it continues to depreciate.

I have no idea on the pricing for Innovas, so my comments are entirely based in general on buying used items and how I do it.

I would offer $11,250 or 75% of her asking price all in. This would include all the accessories she listed. You can work your way up from there.

The extras may be worth a couple hundred dollars, or more, but without the machine are not really worth anything. It can be a challenge to sell off individual accessories, that are machine specific.

Now having said that the machine has been for sale for 4 months. It could be that either she is not willing to budge on price, or is getting fed up and wants it gone.

There is a Facebook group for selling LA's that you may want to check out, it will give you an idea of prices. https://www.facebook.com/groups/Longarms4sale/

feline fanatic

I agree, that price seems high to me. I just configured that set up (only with a 10' rack) with L/S and microhandles and brand new it came out to a $16,319.00. I didn't include any of the extra feet, those usually run around $40 or $50 depending on the foot type. If you can get her to knock a couple thousand off that would be an awesome deal.

I love my Innova. I got mine in 2010 and it was a dealer demo so probably a year old at purchase. I wheeled and dealed free delivery and installation. I also had them throw in an open toe foot. Mine has the old style closed foot so is high enough to use as a ruler foot with no issues. The newer models the closed toe foot is not as high and while you can use it as a ruler foot you are better off buying one for the newer machines. I have since upgraded my standard SR to L/S - totally worth it!! When they installed he gave me a quick hands on lesson in loading, threading, changing needles, flipping the head, adjusting tension. Probably about an hour and a half walk through. I had previously taken a class at another dealer as well with an HQ machine(so I could rent, but that never happened). The idea of 5 free lessons from the dealer is very appealing. Most hands on L/A classes at the major shows run around $300 for a 4 hour class. I don't have micro handles and I have done micro work without them. My friend made her own. They don't have off on buttons on them but are perfectly functional. You may not need the micro handles. Even without the warrantee Innova offers free 24/7/365 phone support. The machines are so well made you probably wouldn't take advantage of any warrantee. Only you can decide if the warrantee, delivery and installation is worth the extra you would pay. For me, installation was a big deal. I wanted to play right away and I know from years of camping with my husband that setting up that rack on our own would have lead to a big fight between us. But my DH has done some mechanical repairs on mine when we had to replace a belt.

I would be hard pressed to decide which deal to go with (private sale or dealer sale). If you think you can disassemble the rack and reset it up with minimal heartache and you can get the seller down another 1 to 2 grand go for the private sale. If not, go with the dealer and don't be afraid to ask them to throw in some stuff like extra feet, bobbins, etc. or you can even be as bold as I was and ask for free delivery and setup. The worst that can happen is they say no. I have never seen them offer any specials at the shows.

Good luck with whatever you decide. IMHO you can't go wrong with an Innova, but I am biased.

Iceblossom

That seems quite high to me for an almost 5 year old used machine, because yes they depreciate. I'd be thinking more like 10k. However, to the owners they know it's lightly/barely used and people typically over-estimate the value of their own possessions.

Here's some national listings for used machines through one of my local-to-me long arm quilters:
https://longarmuniversity.com/MachinesForSale.html#M4S

The Quilted Cottage

Thank you all for your input! Fyi, after doing a little research, I think I know what the machine's asking price was when she bought it. It was $14,995, so $5 less than she is asking. Weird, huh? All the info from the original ad sale fits the description of this one. Btw, she bought it from a sub dealer in 2016, so a year old then. I am on my way to see it. It's about 1 1/2 hour drive for me. I'm in So.Cal - we tend to use time instead of miles. lol I will check this thread when I get there, plus report back. Thanks again!

Iceblossom

For negotiating purposes, they will stress that it is "like new" but here's the thing, there is new stuff now that wasn't around 5 years ago.

The Quilted Cottage

Hi! So I went to see the Innova. The person selling it has a longarm business and the machine was located at her business. She said she has used it for free motion quilting and rents it out occasionally on Saturdays. She also has a Huge Gammil with computer, which is what she uses for the bulk of her business. The machine was clean and looked to be in very good condition, with just a few scuff marks on the frame. I test drove it for a bit and it felt and sounded like the other Innovas I have used. It did seem to have a very slight vibration but I think that might have been because she had a fairly small quilt sample on the machine for me to test on. I mentioned the vibration and she put the side clamps on, which seemed to help.

She had already arranged for someone else to quilt on it today, so I got to see that person use it, too. The owner showed us how to load the quilt (red snappers, floated top) and she set it up for a large meander pantograph. The customer's quilt was a small lap size quilt and it came out really nice. The stitching on the back was just as nice as the front - lovely, even Innova stitches.

She is including in the sale lots of extra bobbins, some Innova thread, extra feet (4), extra needles, lots of red snappers and lots of pantographs, plus a few other tools and the manual. I'm not really interested in pantograph but perhaps they would be nice to have to practice on donated quilts. Oh, it also has a thread break guide. I knew Innova had one but I had never seen one on a machine.

I did make an offer of $12,000. I thought that was fair considering the age and condition. She needed to contact her husband and discuss with him so she'll be getting back to me later. All in all, it was a very good experience and even if it doesn't work out I learned a lot. She was very generous with her time and knowledge.

Thanks again to all of you who have responded. Your generous sharing means a lot to me. This is a big purchase for me so I am a trying to make the best informed decision I can. Any other thoughts, please let me know.

Di

mkc

Does not sound like "lightly used" or really "private party" to me. If used for a business, she has already been able to write some or all of it off as a business expense.

Personally, the dealer one sounds like a much better deal - known dealer support, warranty, classes, and likely much less use for what is really not a whole lot more. Plus the dealer can deliver and set up, albeit for a cost, but that is a lot less hassle and concern to deal with.

Jingle

Good luck getting it for the price you want to pay.