foufymaus

I love her videos and have definitely drooled over a couple of her machines. It's just the price on this one is a bit sky high and the underside needs a bit more cleaning. Personally I wouldn't pay more than $35 tops for that particular model. LOL Heck, my 401A was only $10 and it was nearly spotless with no grease or any discoloration.

miriam

a bit of a tightwad????? I've never seen a clean 401 for $10. It had to be a fluke.

mlmack

Of course it is all dependent on location, but I wouldn't pay more than $35 for a 15 clone either. I've paid less than that for the 15-91s I have. Bought a clean 401 at Red Racks for $7 on a half-price day.

KenmoreRulesAll

My imperfect but very clean 401A was $9.99.

The term 'tightwad' is not an insult in my home.

foufymaus

Tightwad, not really just a thrifty hunter. LOL In fact I think I posted a photo of the machine here when I purchased it.

I have a 15-91 that I purchased for $15. I had to rewire her. My other 15 clone (Riccar Treadle) I got for free. I once nabbed 2 machines, a Dressmaker and a Montgomery Ward with desk for $.75. Yes that's right under a dollar. It would have been free but I felt bad and purchased a book from the seller as a nice token of thanks.

Just to keep things in perspective, I just recently nabbed a brand new Cabela's coat with price tags and those information tags still on it, for $5.00. It had a tear along the seams but a quick run of hand stitches and voila new coat.

Really it's just a matter of being in the right place at the right time and having the ability to walk away from a machine even if it's screaming your name.

foufymaus

That is truth there! LOL

KenmoreRulesAll

Wow:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Nice-Find-c-...item3a9597fd44

And for you tightwads:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ANTIQUE-VINT...item19f543dc2d

ArchaicArcane

Oh WOW! Am I ever lucky (?!?!) I'm on a spending freeze at the moment.

Cari-in-Oly

Yes, we've all got our "screamin' deal" stories. I'm just making the point that Rayna does this for a living, she puts value to the time she spends on her machines and sayin once again, I wouldn't hesitate to buy a machine from her. You should have seen the Japanese clone I saw yesterday at Dick Wightmans that sold for almost that much and the girl almost jumped up and down she was so happy.

Cari

KenmoreRulesAll

I would buy a machine from an eBay seller (and pay the associated shipping costs as well as endure the worry it hadn't been packed carefully) if it was a model I really wanted and couldn't find elsewhere. And I just may do so once again as I'm no longer collecting the readily available, very mass produced Singer/Kenmore/White/Japanese/etc. models and am becoming more interested in the older, rarer, more expensive machines.

If someone can make a living flipping these very common machines for 500 - 1000% profit, more power to them. The Kenmore 15 clone featured above is a nice-looking machine in very good condition. But it's not worth the price she's charging -- not even close. The underside hasn't even been cleaned. It looks like she oiled it, then listed it. There's nothing wrong with that (as long as she's honest about condition and her photos are good) but I don't know why anyone would fall for the "freshly serviced and ready-to-sew" line except that they know absolutely nothing about sewing machines. This is an eBay seller who is relying on ignorance to sell at the price she's charging. If she can get away with it, well, caveat emptor. But I don't necessarily respect the seller and would never buy from her unless she was selling something I just couldn't find elsewhere.

(This isn't directed at or about anyone in particular, just some of my thoughts about eBay using the above seller as an example.)