In response to the letter in your Feb. 20 issue by Mr. Seavey of Plastech Corp. regarding used equipment dealers, I would like to offer another side to the story. While I agree with Mr. Seavey about pricing in retail stores, we in the used equipment business do not have the luxury of a homogeneous product. It is hard to list something at a price in a mailing and generate a fair description in the mind of the customer.
One specific piece of equipment can vary greatly in terms of condition, hours used, options, etc. One may make a judgment based solely on price and this may not be fair. Something that looks overpriced or underpriced in a listing may in fact be the opposite in reality.
I have learned that the best way to accurately describe the equipment is to be on the phone live with your customer.
One more thing calling on a listing does is let us know that while a customer may not be interested in one particular piece, we may run across another in the near future. If he hadn't called because he thought the pricing too high on a listing, we wouldn't have been able to offer him the next piece of equipment, possibly causing us both to lose! A quick phone call to my company and I'll fax a spec sheet to anyone who makes a request.
David L. Toppin
Pelletizer Group
Hyannis, Mass.