
Rockhounding is a very common hobby, so plenty of people are looking to offload things they no longer need.Įstate sales are a favorite of mine. If you’re in an area where there are a lot of lapidary artists, both yard sales and estate sales can be awesome places to find yourself some great equipment for a good price. That usually means lower prices on your end. You can usually find great deals there, and unlike using Facebook or Craiglist you’re unlikely to run into nearly as much competition when buying. Specifically, however, you should look and see if they have an equipment sales sub-board. That said, they’re often rewarding communities to become involved in, many of these message boards have been around for 20 years or more. These are great places to find stones, equipment, and company for rockhounds.įor those used to the new internet, they can be a bit confusing to operate.

The good old days of BBS boards are long gone, but message boards dedicated to hobbies remain on the internet despite the advance of social media. While Craigslist is an anonymous platform, you’ll find that most sellers are willing to cooperate and give you more information about themselves. Try to vet your sellers as much as possible. If not… just use their parking lot anyways, the risk of an officer complaining is a small price to pay to know you’re covered if something happens. That said, I ran a resale business primarily off of Craigslist and have bought from dozens of people using it.Īlways meet somewhere safe, most police departments have a designated area in their parking lot. When using Craigslist I prefer to use an aggregator like SearchTempest to target more than one area at a time.Ĭraigslist does have a reputation for being shady, and it’s well-earned. That said, if you’re smooth enough about it and find someone willing you can still get equipment from outside of your local area. But it’s also a great place to find deals, provided that you use common sense and some basic safety precautions.Ĭraigslist is best used for local sales, where you’ll actually be picking up the equipment yourself.

CraigslistĬraigslist is the sketchy dude with an unnerving overcoat of the internet. Most equipment is pretty heavy and privately shipping something like a CabKing can get expensive. The biggest problem is going to be shipping.

It’s probably the easiest and most direct way for the majority of us to find used lapidary equipment and it’s a route I recommend you look down before going anywhere else.

At least in my limited participation, I’ve found the groups are quick to out anyone who acts unethically, but the same may not be true everywhere as there are hundreds of groups for rockhounds and lapidary work. Like any direct sales, you’ll need to watch for scams and the like. A quick search reveals multiple groups based just around selling used lapidary equipment! There are a lot of rockhounds out there and, consequently, a lot of rockhound groups. Facebook Groupsįacebook groups can be found for every niche, big and small. The following are all good sources if you’re looking to lower the cost of entry into the field of working stones. Fortunately, there are a ton of different places that you can look, both online and in-person, to find used gear for good-to-great prices. Lapidary equipment is an expensive investment, and one of the better ways to get tools cheap is to find used ones.
