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I've mentioned in other threads that my wife has taken up quilting and is starting up a business with it. One thing she absolutely needed was a new sewing machine. She has a general purpose machine but it is not made for quilting at all and she's been limited with what she could do so far because of that. She has been researching quilting machines and had narrowed it down to a particular manufacturer that she wanted and had pretty much decided on the model. Without getting into too much detail, there is style A that is model 3.0 and retails for about $1,600. Then there is style B, the much higher end machine, that is model 4.2 and retails for about $2,600. I was gently (or not so gently) encouraging her to buy something secondhand on ebay or craigslist even if it wasn't the latest model because I really didn't want to spend that kind of money.
We found the style A model 3.0 on ebay for $1,100, so a nice $500 discount, but my frugal nature still wasn't satisfied. Then we found the style B model 4.0, the higher end model just prior to the current one, but it was an auction. Starting bid was only $299 but of course we have no way of knowing what it would sell for. She reluctantly agreed to watch it for 6 days and see where it ended up and if it went too high, we'd buy the $1,100 one.
I just went on ebay to check and see if there were any bids yet and the seller had modified the listing to add a Buy It Now price of $700. Bingo! That fit the budget in my head. So she got an unexpected Mother's Day gift that is nearly $2,000 cheaper than buying the equivalent model new today and at least $400 cheaper than the lower end model that doesn't have as many features. Even better, the seller is relatively local. I emailed him to see if we could pick it up in exchange for a discount since he won't have to ship it. I'm waiting to hear back about that but either way it was a great deal.
The moral of the story is to explore all options before making a major purchase and have some patience. We were in the sewing machine store yesterday and could have easily whipped out the credit card to buy the $1,600 machine but we refrained. As a result, we saved $900 and got a much better product at the same time.
We found the style A model 3.0 on ebay for $1,100, so a nice $500 discount, but my frugal nature still wasn't satisfied. Then we found the style B model 4.0, the higher end model just prior to the current one, but it was an auction. Starting bid was only $299 but of course we have no way of knowing what it would sell for. She reluctantly agreed to watch it for 6 days and see where it ended up and if it went too high, we'd buy the $1,100 one.
I just went on ebay to check and see if there were any bids yet and the seller had modified the listing to add a Buy It Now price of $700. Bingo! That fit the budget in my head. So she got an unexpected Mother's Day gift that is nearly $2,000 cheaper than buying the equivalent model new today and at least $400 cheaper than the lower end model that doesn't have as many features. Even better, the seller is relatively local. I emailed him to see if we could pick it up in exchange for a discount since he won't have to ship it. I'm waiting to hear back about that but either way it was a great deal.
The moral of the story is to explore all options before making a major purchase and have some patience. We were in the sewing machine store yesterday and could have easily whipped out the credit card to buy the $1,600 machine but we refrained. As a result, we saved $900 and got a much better product at the same time.
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