Warning eBay Irwin Tools

This isnt an uncommon practice by many tool manufactures on any website. Usually if the seller isnt an authorized dealer, they wont support the product.

-- Wayne - Plymouth MN

”I was going to write a review, but how can you review a clamp that is not a clamp?”

Give it an appropriately lousy review…

-- Happiness is like wetting your pants...everyone can see it, but only you can feel the warmth....

Sounds to me you got scammed by the ebay seller not Irwin.

-jeremy

-- Easy to use end grain cutting board designer: http://www.1024studios.com/cuttingboard.html

Jeremy

it came in a sealed box of 5 from Irwin

Labeled made in Germany

-- Who is the happiest of men? He who values the merits of others, and in their pleasure takes joy, even as though 'twere his own. --Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

I’ve seen a lot of the Irwin Quick Clamps on e-bay…. and bid a few auctions, only to see the prices go higher than retail at Home Depot (what was that old saying about a fool and his money?). So I just bought the set I wanted at HD.

I have one older Quick Clamp that broke on me, and I really wanted to repair it, as they don’t make that exact model and I wanted to keep a matched pair….

Called Irwin to purchase part to repair…. No Joy… “we don’t support that model any more”

Now I understand why the newer large Quick Clamps looke the way they do…. they beefed up the molded housing in exactly the area that mine broke.

After seeing how they’re gutting the Marples brand (i.e. “assembled in England from global components”) with Chinese steel, I’m turning sour on the entire Irwin brand.

I recently purchased two Marples Split Proof chissels to replace one I lost and round out my set. I had to buy them from an e-bay seller in England, as apparently they don’t market anything but the Blue Chips in the U.S. any more. The quality of the machining on the two new chissels is crude and rough when compared to the identical product line purchased 15 years ago.

-- Matt, Pine is fine, but Oak's no joke!

I had to laugh about this one Jamie. I checked Ebay and CL Norway and neither of them even have a single tool for sale! Pretty typical for this country. Tools here are only thrown away when they don’t work anymore and they are almost never sold (at least none that I’ve been able to find).

-- Mike, American in Norway

I also broke an Irwin clamp. I emailed them and they told me to take it back to the store where I got it and they would make it good. I did take it back and the store confirmed this and they gave me the new model. I was happy with the new style clamp.

Have you tried Amazon.com for these clamps. You would have some recourse if you didn’t get what you expected, also use PayPal for even further control.

-- Failure does not stop me, it makes me try harder..... because I'm crazy.

Sometimes you can get good deals on ebay, but not so much anymore… I find that prices for things go much higher than you can get them new at retail down at your local Lowes or Home Depot or whatever. Back in the early 2000’s I got a good deal on a block plane, jack plane, and a router. Can’t seem to do that anymore. If you must buy online, Try Amazon. You don’t have to go through the silly bidding process, and you get a fair price, without the artificial inflation that goes along with ebay these days. Just my 2 cents worth, but now it’s in your brain cells and stuck with it. :)

-- Adventure? Heh! Excitement? Heh! A Woodworker craves not these things!

First place I go is Amazon. They have great customer service and you rarely need to use them. My only experience with Paypal wasn’t so good. I didn’t receive a package. They looked into it and told me that the seller mailed it and they were closing the dispute. Luckily I got the package in another week. Had a similar problem on Amazon and they were all over it. Ebay seems to be full of undesirable dealers these days.

-- "Actions speak louder than words but not nearly as often." - Mark Twain

May be a counterfeit. Chinese love to copy & export ;-(

-- "some old things are lovely, warm still with life ... of the forgotten men who made them." - D.H. Lawrence Wake Up America!! Please read; http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/01/26-0