Used chainsaw market, good? bad? about the same?

[deerslayer]

I buy broken saws, fix them, use them and then sell them and start all over. Typically saw sales pick up in November and are pretty hot until February or so.

This year there's just nothing happening. I've had a few calls and "gonna comes" but have had almost no customers this year. I'm selling the same models for the same prices as the last several years.

What's your experience where you are? I attribute it to low fuel prices, warm temperatures and a not all that healthy economy.

[Jiles]

I have done that for many years. I only deal with upper quality saws and I find that time of year has no bearing on sale.
Funny that last year, I had a 142 Husky advertised on CL for two months with no reply. I got a call from a local guy that wanted it NOW. It was dark and pouring down rain. I told him to call back tomorrow. Less the ten minutes later, had another call and he was going to take a look tomorrow also.
One hour later I got a third call and he agreed to come by before work next day.
He showed up, bought the saw and other two buyers called that day.
Last year, I sold twelve saws and two buyers bought a couple of my saws.
I guess this is because I price them right and do not deal with junk.

[mad murdock]

In my area probably about the same, though availability of good vintage saws is decreasing, as there seems to be a lot of ppl getting into collecting and running the older saws.  It is an addicting, and fun thing to do, and costs a lot less than being into vintage cars, or other types of hobbies.

[kantuckid]

I'm in the market for a saw (not a saw dealer or collector) and have been using a CL searchengine of late to find my next saw. The high end & popular saws are typically gone in a matter of hours or a day or so of listing. The not so nice stuff persists for months. A few saws i contact and the seller's too lazy to pull the ads and you get silence on replys-PITA too! 
OP-maybe your ads need a facelift or something?
I do see good stuff sell & faitly quickly on flea mkt of other saw place...
I like a good tool like a saw but they have work written all over them and more fun to ride a MC than run a saw-or Look at it... not my thing to collect much, I'm the age/mindset where I'm getting rid of some stuff.

[sawguy21]

I am finding few worth considering, pro quality saws are overpriced and the rest are cheap throwaways being dumped because they are too troublesome and expensive to fix. A few interesting older saws show up but some seem to think they are worth big bucks, I saw a beat up Husqvarna 266 go for 600 bucks at an auction.

[deerslayer]

I built up a Stihl 039 this afternoon with a Farmertec Cylinder kit and an aftermarket top handle. I'm short on top handles but don't want to pay what they cost to complete more saws. Even the aftermarket ones are $25 or more and getting too much into these saws makes it financially challenging to fix them up.
I cut about 50 cookies with it in a 16" oak and a 10" soft hardwood. (unsure of what it was but it cut like pine)
I'll put it in my line up and run some more fuel through it before it goes on the market eventually. I already have three others ahead of it...

[ohiowoodchuck]

I would really like to get into this, but worn out pro saws are almost as much as a new one. I just redone a 660 and if I figured in my labor, I was about even with a new one. There's just no meat left on it for a profit. I've still yet found a good source for repairable saws. I even shop around for the best prices on used parts etc. The last three I've done for myself were like that.

[mad murdock]

I for one would like to see a "kit" saw available for people to build. Based on the 10 series macs, with the machining capacity of new cnc tech and lazer scanned parts, i think it could be viable. With the 10 series macs you can choose from 3.3 cu in to nigh on 6 cubes and have a lot of interchangeable bits. Would be real cool to see!

[deerslayer]

A Mac 10-10 around here is hard to sell for $50 in good running order. There's almost no market for those. Even the slightly used ones don't sell well. So even if a person can buy a non runner for $15. There's just no margin by the time you invest the $ to get it running.
If I counted labor, I'd wind up making about $2.00 per hour working on saws. It's a hobby for me, not a job. Which is also why I don't like working on saws that don't belong to me. I will work on friends saw occasionally but if so, they need to be a pretty good friend.

[mad murdock]

I have cut a ton of wood with a 10-10. I will put a 10-10 up against any saw of similar displacement. They simply cannot be beat for cost and simplicity. Even by wieght standards they are not bad. The cool thing is it is easy to make one into a 60cc or 70cc version with minimal parts changed.

[Jiles]

My favorite saw is the Makita or Dolmar. No dealer close so people are not familiar with these saws.
I have had a few people come to look at a particular saw, and leave buying a Makita or Dolmar. Last week, I had a super nice Stihl MS390 and guy showed up to see. While talking, I showed him a Makita DCS540 and he was quite impressed with the power, smoothness and price. He left with the 540 and knew nothing about them before.
I also had a Echo CS600 and a buyer was so impressed with my Makita DCS520i, with its one pull starting and little vibration,  he bought the Echo and the Makita!