Shopgoodwill.com Would Be Funny If It Wasn't So Sad - 221 (I won't say Featherweight, I won't!) And Jinyun Qilong Manufacturing Knows Awesome

I kinda like Shopgoodwill.com when I don't outright hate it.  I don't buy a lot off it, but it's good for picking up stuff that needs some work.  For some reason the shoppers on the auctions there will pretty much ignore anything with problems while going hog wild on the exact same object that doesn't list issues.

Case in point:

Two hundred bucks on its way to my door. Because it says this: "Item does power on, but the motor is not running. Sold for parts or restoration."

Wow.  I get that the 221/2 target audience isn't the techie set.  But this thing topped out at 160 plus shipping when they normally go for at least 300 plus shipping on Shopgoodwill.  The same store had another 221 on auction that ended 1 minute before this one.  That machine was in no better shape except they didn't call out if the motor was having problems.  336 bucks plus shipping.  Dude!

So anyway, this is the first machine I'm buying for the sole purpose of flipping it.  The motor doesn't appear to have caught fire, and even if it's completely baked, rewinding it is something to do while watching TV.  So the machine goes on sale the minute it makes good stitches.  My fat hands just have no use for 221/2s.  Well other than an upcoming experiment that I'll post about later.

That said here is the real reason for this post.  Next to people 'repurposing' (breaking) fully usable machines and treadles to make stupid crap crafts that only serve to prove they have zero creativity, the thing that really gets in my craw is people selling new stuff as 'vintage'.  And Shopgoodwill.com stores do it constantly.

Check this out:  https://www.shopgoodwill.com/Item/63009045  (Vintage Flying Man Sewing Machine Wood Case) from the Fairfield CA store.  One from a while back from another California store:  https://www.shopgoodwill.com/Item/18284463 (Beautiful Vintage "Flying Man" Sewing Machine).  I just found that second one by googling 'Shopgoodwill and Flying Man'.  The HA machines change names so fast that it's hard to keep track.  But there is usually one up for auction being called 'vintage'.

Vintage, huh?  Oh hey here's a 'vintage' Flying Man machine you can buy from Jinyun Qilong Manufacturing in lots of 100 off Alibaba today.  https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/flyingman-sewing-machine_1954267181.html

If you are a serious vintage collector they can crank these babies out at 1,000,000 units a month.  But what about 'vintage' treadles? Okay, now I'm interested.  https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/sewing-machine-set-wood-domestic-logo_60147919942.html

Sweet!  Though you do have to go 200 as your minimum order.  A pretty solid knock off of a Singer straight leg, yes?

Industrial? You ask. Well I ask, anyway.  Jinyun Qilong is all over it for us! https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/steel-pipe-stand-cast-iron-stand_240284644.html

I think Jinyun Qilong is my current favorite sewing machine company.  (BTW, check that link, I love the stock photo of the guy rocking a 201, wish they made a copy.)  I'd buy something made by them way before I'd buy a machine from the current off shore tax dodge entity that calls itself Singer.  If I could get a few dozen people together I would really love to grab quite a few of those 18" flywheel treadles.  Maybe I need to check and see if All Brands is stocking them.

Anyway, as you can see.  Awesome looking (haven't actually sewed on one) HA1/2s are still being cranked out by the millions.  And treadles aren't an endangered species either.

Now if the folks as Shopgoodwill.com would just pull their heads out of their collective butts and quit straight up lying, life would be just a little better. Yep I say they are lairs, because I notified the Fairfield store of the mistake in their listing, even sent them the same links to Qilong's Alibaba page and they left it up without correction. When I notified them it was at $31, as I type this over a day after telling them about it the price is setting at $71.  So, sure, willful scumbag lairs.

Okay not all the stores are, they are independent entities that just share a logo.  Kinda like outlaw motorcycle club chapters.  I've seen some that will actually correct their auctions when someone calls them out.  But enough of the stores lie and don't acknowledge it when they get caught these days, so when you google Goodwill, their customer ratings are down somewhere on par with the government's.  People will try and whiteknight for them, saying things like "they are just a job training facility, not professionals".  Well and good, except what?  They are training people to be lying dirtbag sleezeballs?

Meanwhile they are still having no problem selling 221s for 300+ bucks a pop, so what do I know?