liking quilting

Well said.

purplefiend

I'm really getting fed up with folks asking in various Facebook groups how much a machine is worth.

miriam

The other thing I'm fed up with is people saying how little a machine is worth. Or how little they paid. They never seem to say how MUCH they overpaid.... I try to keep the $$$ part of it out of the picture.

Sunflowerzz

I think 'worth' and 'want' are two totally different things. I can pass up good buys on machines that are worth a lot but the asking price is very reasonable for several reasons: Here are the two most common ones for me personally.

1. I already have at least one of them.
2. I had or have one and they are not all that and a bag of chips, I wasn't impressed.

Now on the other hand 'worth' to me is something I value because I know about it, have owned one, loved it, nostalgic reasons, sentimental reasons like I thought highly enough of a 319W to drive 12 hours round trip to pick one up for $80.00 I would do the same for a few models of Bernina.

We can also throw 'Need' into the mix to create worth. Hope this makes sense.

Sometimes 'want' is something I can't fulfill because of the 'worth' of an item i.e. A Two Spool unless the seller doesn't know the worth.

Basically I found sewing machine collecting to be very serendipitous!!

Rodney

Good point Miriam. I'm guilty of saying how little I've paid for mine. I think it's human nature to brag on getting a good deal. It's also human nature to not brag if you think you didn't. But then even if you think you overpaid on a vintage machine , in reality when you consider the quality and beauty of the older machines you probably didn't. Usually the prices are still comparatively low when you think about what a new machine of similar quality would cost.

Average prices for sewing machines tend to be higher than what I've paid for my machines. But still I do think there are more machines available than there is demand. That's why so many of them end up as lamps, tractors or end tables that are generally far uglier than the original cabinet or stand.
The low prices in many ways don't reflect the true value of the machines.
Rodney

CindyA

This would be a good thread to refer folks to when they are asking about price of machines!!

grant15clone

I never say what I paid for a machine, for a good reason. It confuses people. Just because I got something for a great deal, doesn't mean everyone can get the same deal and that is what it is worth. For instance, I find a Featherweight and pay $1 for it. Someone else buys one for $100 and finds out what I paid. Even though they got a good deal, they think they got ripped off because it was 100X as much as what I paid. Rarely does a really cheap machine not need any work at all. The $1 featherweight may have needed $200 worth of work or parts to get it to look and sew nice. People never mention that they had to put the $200 into it, just that they paid $1 for it, now do they? I think not. Back to being apples and oranges and confusing people again.

The flip side of that is I have paid more than the asking price for machines too. I have a conscience and I like to have good mojo.
~G~

Thank you everyone for all of the nice comments.

Rodney

I've been given a couple machines by members here that were able to sew right away but all of my cheaply bought machines have needed at least a couple hours of cleaning and oiling and usually need expendables like bobbin tires or belts replaced too. Some need far more than that to run again. It's pretty rare for a cheap machine to be ready to go in "as bought" condition. It's pretty easy to pay more for parts than the machine itself costs.

Machines that have been serviced and tested to work before you buy them are worth more-especially when if you had to pay a shop to fix them you would be looking at $75 plus to have them serviced. Things like having the original case, instruction manual and accessories affect the price too. Kind of like the difference between buying a fully loaded Cadillac or a stripped down Yugo with a mismatched door.
Rodney

miriam

You two are spot on about the money. If I buy it for $XX and am selling it for $XXX it isn't anybody's business. Very likely if it was cheap it was because it was needing a lot of TLC - even the ones that don't look used some times have something wrong. It cracks me up what people are willing to pay on shopgoodwill for a machine they haven't looked at.

sews

Yes, makes me wonder too....

Yesterday I passed on a 201 that I saw at a local flea market. It was a portable - with cobwebs and dust on it and it didn't seem safe to plug it in (not that there was electricity provided....). Wires were exposed at the plug. The sellers had (wisely?) not tried it out - it was grandma's. It used to run, for sure, many years ago. "May need a little oil." There was a dome top, but it didn't latch onto the bottom.

I offered 1/3 less than the asking price. Who can resist a 201 that is right there for the taking? Well, no, she had been at antique malls to research.... and apparently had high hopes for this machine that nobody who's not in the know will ever want because it is just plain black. I just let it go, and left my name and phone # along with info on what I'd pay.

We already have a 201 that works great, so sticking to my conviction was easy. Someone may want/need it more than I do, so it's all good.