Hi Max, I have been cutting up catchers for years and putting them in the bin and I know you sometimes burn they. Today my son put an ad on market place , assorted catchers for free. He had to take the ad down fairly quickly because he couldn't keep up with all the messages coming in. I should have done this ages ago
I had no luck on Gumtree advertising Free catchers ,I had at least 50 late model Victa catchers with no damage and after a couple weeks I took the ad down ,I drove to a couple mower shops and they didn't want any .I have been told market place can be better for ads but there was a guy not far from me with about a hundred catchers for $5. each and he has had them advertised for a long time on market place.
I just think it's my location not many people here are interested in older mowers but I do see a few people around your area Norm advertising serviced / repaired mowers.
Usually when I drive past someone mowing the lawn it seems about 50 percent of the time they have an electric mower.
About 5 years ago I could sell 50 mowers in a couple months but lately if it wasn't summer the only way to get them sold quickly was at $50. each but was still taking over a month to sell one so I haven't collected many mowers for the past 5 years as they would just pile up and the last lot of 200 catchers I burnt a lot ,cut up a lot and threw a lot on hard rubbish.
I did advertise a free trailer load of mowers that got picked up quickly, with cutting up catchers and putting them in the bin I didn't like using the grinder as you get covered in plastic as it was a little messy but found the jigsaw was virtually just as quick as the grinder but was a lot less messy.
One problem was the vintage catchers that were advertised for a few dollars each ,I only had interest from people who wanted them posted interstate and were happy to pay the $50 to $60 for postage but I made it clear that I could not post them as it would take a couple hours to box one and drop it off to the post office and the selling price did not even cover the fuel cost of getting to the post office and back let alone the time wasted .I've had that a few times listing larger new old stock items for $10. and all I get are people wanting it posted but expect you to work a couple hours for nothing.
I had two old hand mowers a Pope and an Ogden with a catcher in very good condition and put $20. on the lot ,had no interest so thew them out but kept the wheels and catcher and advertised the wheels and catcher for $20 and it sold straight away.There was a good Ogden mower at the side of the road here the other day and I was surprised someone picked it up.
At one stage I could buy a new ex demo mower for $100 that had a sprint 3.75 hp motor and use the mower for 10 years then still get a $100. when I sold it.
Most of the stories I get from people that go to mower shops is they just want to sell them new equipment and tell the customer that their mower etc isn't worth repairing or parts are no longer available or worse still when they charge the customer $60 to dismantle the mower etc then tell them they need to buy a new one.
When someone leaves old fuel in a mower and the carby gets gummed up ages ago mower shops would charge $100. just to clean the fuel system out (carby, tank, fuel line, filter) but I've never had anyone willing to spend $100 on a service that included a fuel system clean out. People around here just throw the mower out.
Hi Max, I put the same ad on Gumtree 24 hours before my son put them on market place, I got 1 person wanting a catcher for a 16 inch mower and another wanting one for a 19 inch Masport. Put exactly the same ad on market place and it went stupid within minutes. I have a couple of early Victa low arch catchers here and I will probably just cut them up because it is always somebody interstate wanting them. A lot of the people I get coming here to get something fixed (somebody told them to come and see me) if they took their mower to a mower shop they wouldn't get through the door and I don't blame the mower shop, why would they bother spending a couple of hours repairing a mower that they know they will never get paid for. I had a bloke here last night who fixes mowers in his spare time and we were chatting and he was saying that he can often spend 4 hours getting a mower ready to sell and sometimes longer. I agreed and the problem then is somebody wants to give you $50 it and they think they are doing you a favour. I'm in the process of clearing out all my mower stuff and then I will concentrate on the slashers and a some Victa 2 strokes (only if I can get those bastard float needles and primer caps to work. They are by far the worst design of any float needle I have ever come across in my life. Once you get them to work they are fine but I can waste hours trying to achieve that Another thing with working on the bigger slashers you are dealing with a different breed of people who have some idea of machinery and what it does and understand why they cost more than $50 to repair and build. That being said I had a clown a few weeks ago wanting me to sell him a Victa 24 cheap. I told him I would sell him one for $80 as I picked it up, seeing I run all around Vic picking them up. Once I told him he would still have to put another motor on it, rebuild the front end and probably new front wheels, carby, new blades and all the other bits that have to be repaired on them. He didn't reply, I am better off without fools like that Another thing yesterday I put a 6x4 trailer on Gumtree for free, got not one enquiry, my son put it on marketplace and he had to remove the ad because of so many people wanting it
I've tried a few ads on Market place before and had a lot more views than Gumtree buy not one buyer ,in the end I've taken the ad off Market place and just let the ad run on Gumtree and eventually it's sold.My brother listed a car cheap on Gumtree with no interest then used Marketplace and had lots of interest but was still messed about by the first buyer that said he would pay the price if he dropped the car in to a workshop so he drops the car off then the buyer says he will pay less than the asking price so my brother just takes the car home and sells it to the next buyer at the asking price.
I have posted rare items where I'm not making anything from them just because I would rather it gets saved by someone who has an interest in the item or is a collector .Once I had a rare major part off a first TV camera used in television ,I contacted a collector in the area and all he said was don't throw it out because he would like it but he wouldn't pay a cent ,eventually it sold and covered my petrol cost of picking it up in the first place.
I have noticed Market place is difficult to pickup free items as a few times I've seen items listed for free with the address and I've seen the ad 15 minutes late then gone to pick the item up 15 minutes away and when I get there someone is loading the free item onto a trailer.
There are a few rare good low arch catchers here too , it's the same problem to get rid of them ,j don't want to destroy them but just don't have a choice sometimes even if they cost you $10 each.
I sold all my 24 inch Victa mowers cheap and they were working mowers.
You can easily spend 8 hours fixing a mower when building them out of 3 ,one for a base ,one for a motor and another for the blade boss and plate and blades ,then using the best wheels and axles , a little welding ,painting etc.
If I was having all the trouble you have with the Victa float needles I'd put the Tecumseh seat in ,I used a Tecumseh seat and alloy needle with a small hole drilled in the bottom of the alloy needle to tie it to the float with fuse wire and it worked flawlessly but might work with a Viton tipped needle too.
I've never had a problem selling trailers , if it's usable $150. to $250 even if it needs a little work , with a coat of paint $350 and up.
It never works out fixing things too cheap for people ,they just waste your time ,I remember once when I got a call to fix a mates car that broke down at the side of the road ,the first thing I said to him are you sure it has fuel in the tank ,he said yes ,I go out to him with some parts to get the car going ,get there and take the air cleaner top off and open the throttle and no fuel is in the carby ,I say again are you sure there is fuel in the tank ,he says yes ,so I check the fuel pump and it's not pumping fuel so I wire in an electric pump to get him home and still doesn't pump any fuel ,I say again are you sure there is fuel in the tank he says yes ,so before doing anything else I check the fuel tank and it's empty.
I saw years ago on facebook 2 people talking and one wanted something picked up hours away and the other guy says why don't you get Norm to pick it up which also would have been hours for you.
Hi Max, I can't be bothered with the idiots anymore. I had a bloke here talking last night and he asked me what I was doing with the pile of motors. He thought some of them must be ok. I told him they have all been tested and none of them will run, they are going to the scrap because I get 50 cents a kg for them. I said if I can't get them started nobody can and they are not worth spending any time on them, I figure the majority have a valve problem. I also have a number of Flymo catchers for some reason so they might as well be chopped up, can't see anybody wanting those, and a few thumblatch catchers, they might as well go as well, any thumblatch base I get is worth $7 in scrap so I don't bother fixing those
Yep that's why I just scrapped a lot of thumb latch Victa mowers even if I payed $30.each for them .If I advertised them at $30. for a good working mower you just ended up getting lots of messages for $15.
I've thrown out lots of trailer loads of 4 stroke motors but here you would be lucky to get $10. a trailer load.
Still got a lot of good 4 stroke motors that have been in storage for at least 10 years and they looked like they hadn't done much work when I got them, they were good running motors but mostly Quantum motors as I had so many 375 sprint motors I would just keep the quantums and sell mowers with sprint motors.
They may just end up in scrap as the last lot of old mowers I scrapped I just threw in about 10 newish motors with virtually no carbon on the pistons.
I also had lots of Flymo catchers and had lots of those mowers but mostly the alloy bases would be cracked in the corners so I just scrapped them. I've built up quite a few mowers with brand new bases just because mower shops would part out a new mowers selling the parts for more than the price of the new mower and also they would have a new mower with a twisted base and the manufacturer would give them a new replacement alloy base so I was given a fair few new alloy bases from shops and the twisted bases were easily straightened.What I mean by a twisted base is when the mower is on flat ground but one wheel is off the ground by about 13mm.
I've tried a few ads on Market place before and had a lot more views than Gumtree buy not one buyer ,in the end I've taken the ad off Market place and just let the ad run on Gumtree and eventually it's sold.My brother listed a car cheap on Gumtree with no interest then used Marketplace and had lots of interest but was still messed about by the first buyer that said he would pay the price if he dropped the car in to a workshop so he drops the car off then the buyer says he will pay less than the asking price so my brother just takes the car home and sells it to the next buyer at the asking price.
I have posted rare items where I'm not making anything from them just because I would rather it gets saved by someone who has an interest in the item or is a collector .Once I had a rare major part off a first TV camera used in television ,I contacted a collector in the area and all he said was don't throw it out because he would like it but he wouldn't pay a cent ,eventually it sold and covered my petrol cost of picking it up in the first place.
I have noticed Market place is difficult to pickup free items as a few times I've seen items listed for free with the address and I've seen the ad 15 minutes late then gone to pick the item up 15 minutes away and when I get there someone is loading the free item onto a trailer.
There are a few rare good low arch catchers here too , it's the same problem to get rid of them ,j don't want to destroy them but just don't have a choice sometimes even if they cost you $10 each.
I sold all my 24 inch Victa mowers cheap and they were working mowers.
You can easily spend 8 hours fixing a mower when building them out of 3 ,one for a base ,one for a motor and another for the blade boss and plate and blades ,then using the best wheels and axles , a little welding ,painting etc.
If I was having all the trouble you have with the Victa float needles I'd put the Tecumseh seat in ,I used a Tecumseh seat and alloy needle with a small hole drilled in the bottom of the alloy needle to tie it to the float with fuse wire and it worked flawlessly but might work with a Viton tipped needle too.
I've never had a problem selling trailers , if it's usable $150. to $250 even if it needs a little work , with a coat of paint $350 and up.
It never works out fixing things too cheap for people ,they just waste your time ,I remember once when I got a call to fix a mates car that broke down at the side of the road ,the first thing I said to him are you sure it has fuel in the tank ,he said yes ,I go out to him with some parts to get the car going ,get there and take the air cleaner top off and open the throttle and no fuel is in the carby ,I say again are you sure there is fuel in the tank ,he says yes ,so I check the fuel pump and it's not pumping fuel so I wire in an electric pump to get him home and still doesn't pump any fuel ,I say again are you sure there is fuel in the tank he says yes ,so before doing anything else I check the fuel tank and it's empty.
I saw years ago on facebook 2 people talking and one wanted something picked up hours away and the other guy says why don't you get Norm to pick it up which also would have been hours for you.
Cheers Max.
Do you have any dark green low arch catchers in good nick? I'm interested in one for my mower Based in sydney thanks
