Steve, when I was in business, investing in tools was an everyday occurrence. While an electric drill at Harbor Freight might cost $30, a Milwaukee drill might cost close to $200. Why one rather than the other? When your union electricians cost you a hundred bucks an hour, you want them to use tools that are efficient to use and won't wear out during tough duty.

The tool distributor I dealt with also would sell the same tool, with the same lifetime warranty as a "rebuilt" at $125. They looked like they were brand new - because, essentially they were. These were returns which had been refurbished (maybe the cord was bad, or maybe the customer had buyer's remorse). To differentiate them, the serial number had an "R" punched at the end.

Then, of course, in bad times, there are auction sales. during the 1970's and 1980's, I would go weekly to pick over the bones of former competitors who went bankrupt. In those days, it was mainly tools and material for my contracting business which interested me. It was an important lesson. In every field, there are professional auction-goers (I considered myself one) who the auctioneers recognized and who knew each other. While collusion is patently illegal, there was a substantial amount of "interaction" of one sort or another. In my humble opinion, after dealing with dozens of them, there has never been an honest auctioneer born. Auctions bring out the worst in human nature as "winning" just means that you were willing to pay more for an item than anyone else in the room.

During the dot.com period, vast amounts of unopened network equipment was sold for a pittance on E-Bay and the game was afoot again - absent the physical auctioneer and utilizing different techniques to maximize the benefits.

Jeff