is a kenmore whispertone self propelled worth buying to resell?

I personally don't have much problem reselling vacs in my collection I have gotten tired of, or vacs I have bought or found specifically to resell.

The challenge is, as Bagintheback stated above, is being creative in your description, finding the right places to advertise for free, & making sure you don't put too much money in the vacuum that you can't easily recoup what you've invested in it.

You also have to know what your vacs are worth, price them accordingly & stick to your guns when sellers try to negotiate. For instance, my local vac shop will sell the brown Filter Queens for $300 refurbished. Last year, I had the opportunity to sell two brown Filter Queens....one I sold for $120 as it needed a new electric hose & I didn't have all the tools for it, & the other for $160 as it was in near perfect shape & just needed some tools. For the one that needed the new hose, I included a dead hose & told them to buy an outboard cord or buy a new hose....the guy offered me $80, & when I told him that I priced it at $125 because the vac shop sells them for $300 & that he was getting a steal, he quickly coughed up the $120 for it. The other Filter Queen was bought by a lady who loves them & made the mistake of replacing the Filter Queen with another brand that was problematic....again, she tried to lowball me, & again when reminded of what she could pay elsewhere, she coughed up $160 for it.

Same with Kenmore canisters with the top-mount swivel hose....I sell those for at LEAST $125, as the vac shop will sell them for $150-$200 refurbished, & Sears sells new ones for $300 & up, so I know I can command the prices I do & easily turn away people who think they can "steal" the vacuum for much less. Whereas, cheap vacuums like Eureka Maximas, I can only get $30-$40 at most for them, as it's all too easy to walk into Walmart & buy it for $90 new.

Bottom line....buy them cheap & sell them high, & stick to your guns till it sells for what YOU want them to pay for it, not what THEY want to pay for it.

Rob


Forum Topics & Rules Manuals & Literature	New users Click-here to sign-up

Post# 141545 6/30/2011 at 10:00 (4,677 days old) by Impfac ()
Checkrate/Likes I noticed one of these at a local thrift store dirt cheap, I honestly have no need of it myself but I saw it here as rare and "good to find" (I also lifted the picture from that thread). I got the impression a number of people would like to find one but it doesn't interest me personally. It seemed to be in good condition. What do you think?

Post# 141554 , Reply# 1 6/30/2011 at 11:40 (4,677 days old) by bagintheback (Flagstaff, Arizona)
Checkrate/Likes I buy vacuums at thrift stores all the time to sell again. The trick to sell is to write a good description advertising the vacuum to both consumers and collectors. Older Kenmores are fantastic cleaners, so you could ask "Why pay more for a disposable vacuum at Wal-Mart when you can buy this durable Kenmore for less than Hoover's cheapest upright! If it's less than $15, I'd get it and start the bidding at $40. If you don't sell it, then it will still be an interesting addition or wait to re-post it. Craigslist seems be good place to sell, but people want a vacuum cheap.

Post# 141555 , Reply# 2 6/30/2011 at 11:54 (4,677 days old) by Sablekid ()
Checkrate/Likes Yea, its gotta be cheap. Ive got a practically brand new Royal ive been trying to get rid of....Ive got the price down to less than 100 and no bites and I keep lowering the price....Most vacuums on craiglist (at least around here) seem to be going in the 10-20 dollar range. Ive given up on trying to re sell vacs...there just seems to be no money in it unless you can sell it for 10, 15, 20 dollars and have to do absolutely nothing to it. But perhaps its just the area!

Post# 141556 , Reply# 3 6/30/2011 at 12:03 (4,677 days old) by suckolux (Yuba City, CA)
Checkrate/Likes Seems it would be a lovely machine anyway!

Post# 141559 , Reply# 4 6/30/2011 at 12:34 (4,677 days old) by shag (Ontario, Canada)
Checkrate/Likes Are Whispertones really that rare? I know they are a great vacuum but from what I recall working at Sears, we sold a ton of them.

Post# 141563 , Reply# 5 6/30/2011 at 14:20 (4,677 days old) by vacman117 (Chicago, IL)
Checkrate/Likes *Yes,* that is my vacuum up there. They are fantastic vacuums, and the self propelled models are pretty rare. It has a very nice and smooth drive mechanism and has an on off brushroll.

Post# 141636 , Reply# 6 7/1/2011 at 03:03 (4,677 days old) by kirbylux77 (London, Ontario, Canada)
Checkrate/Likes I personally don't have much problem reselling vacs in my collection I have gotten tired of, or vacs I have bought or found specifically to resell. The challenge is, as Bagintheback stated above, is being creative in your description, finding the right places to advertise for free, & making sure you don't put too much money in the vacuum that you can't easily recoup what you've invested in it. You also have to know what your vacs are worth, price them accordingly & stick to your guns when sellers try to negotiate. For instance, my local vac shop will sell the brown Filter Queens for $300 refurbished. Last year, I had the opportunity to sell two brown Filter Queens....one I sold for $120 as it needed a new electric hose & I didn't have all the tools for it, & the other for $160 as it was in near perfect shape & just needed some tools. For the one that needed the new hose, I included a dead hose & told them to buy an outboard cord or buy a new hose....the guy offered me $80, & when I told him that I priced it at $125 because the vac shop sells them for $300 & that he was getting a steal, he quickly coughed up the $120 for it. The other Filter Queen was bought by a lady who loves them & made the mistake of replacing the Filter Queen with another brand that was problematic....again, she tried to lowball me, & again when reminded of what she could pay elsewhere, she coughed up $160 for it. Same with Kenmore canisters with the top-mount swivel hose....I sell those for at LEAST $125, as the vac shop will sell them for $150-$200 refurbished, & Sears sells new ones for $300 & up, so I know I can command the prices I do & easily turn away people who think they can "steal" the vacuum for much less. Whereas, cheap vacuums like Eureka Maximas, I can only get $30-$40 at most for them, as it's all too easy to walk into Walmart & buy it for $90 new. Bottom line....buy them cheap & sell them high, & stick to your guns till it sells for what YOU want them to pay for it, not what THEY want to pay for it. Rob

Post# 141637 , Reply# 7 7/1/2011 at 03:04 (4,677 days old) by kirbylux77 (London, Ontario, Canada)
Checkrate/Likes I personally don't have much problem reselling vacs in my collection I have gotten tired of, or vacs I have bought or found specifically to resell. The challenge is, as Bagintheback stated above, is being creative in your description, finding the right places to advertise for free, & making sure you don't put too much money in the vacuum that you can't easily recoup what you've invested in it. You also have to know what your vacs are worth, price them accordingly & stick to your guns when sellers try to negotiate. For instance, my local vac shop will sell the brown Filter Queens for $300 refurbished. Last year, I had the opportunity to sell two brown Filter Queens....one I sold for $120 as it needed a new electric hose & I didn't have all the tools for it, & the other for $160 as it was in near perfect shape & just needed some tools. For the one that needed the new hose, I included a dead hose & told them to buy an outboard cord or buy a new hose....the guy offered me $80, & when I told him that I priced it at $125 because the vac shop sells them for $300 & that he was getting a steal, he quickly coughed up the $120 for it. The other Filter Queen was bought by a lady who loves them & made the mistake of replacing the Filter Queen with another brand that was problematic....again, she tried to lowball me, & again when reminded of what she could pay elsewhere, she coughed up $160 for it. Same with Kenmore canisters with the top-mount swivel hose....I sell those for at LEAST $125, as the vac shop will sell them for $150-$200 refurbished, & Sears sells new ones for $300 & up, so I know I can command the prices I do & easily turn away people who think they can "steal" the vacuum for much less. Whereas, cheap vacuums like Eureka Maximas, I can only get $30-$40 at most for them, as it's all too easy to walk into Walmart & buy it for $90 new. Bottom line....buy them cheap & sell them high, & stick to your guns till it sells for what YOU want them to pay for it, not what THEY want to pay for it. Rob

Post# 142317 , Reply# 8 7/8/2011 at 05:47 (4,669 days old) by thermokid (Casper, Wyoming)
Checkrate/Likes *I would think a Whispertone* like that would be worth something to a collector. I have never seen a model like that that was self-propelled.....

Post# 142331 , Reply# 9 7/8/2011 at 10:11 (4,669 days old) by hoover1 ()
Checkrate/Likes I've got a friend who bought one of the self propelled models off of ebay for $110!