Hi all

I'm a newbie home barista and got lucky buying a Mazzer Super Jolly and thought I'd share my experience to help others on here.

After reading a lot on here and settling on an SJ, I was being a little frustrated at the size of the prices that they were going for on ebay, I changed my search approach somewhat. I had a search running for 'Mazzer' and every week new listings appeared but at prices I wasn't able to pay...so I had a brainwave and came at things a little differently.

Used Titans seem to be being sold by two types of people - HB types who know what they have (and so want a decent price), and others who have *no idea* what they are selling, beyond it being a grinder. The second type of people are the ones you are looking for!

So......don't go searching for "Mazzer Super Jolly" and expect to find bargains. Instead try 'coffee grinder' or even just 'grinder' and if you can sift through all the whirly birds, you might just find a bargain....Of course this depends on your ability to spot the grinder in question from just the picture, but if you're a HB regular it ain't that hard

BUT!! Don't email the seller and ask "Is this a Mazzer?" etc - if they answer, and put your question in the listing (which they can) then it will suddenly pop up for all those with a Mazzer search running...

Hope this is in some way helpful - I'm mainly trying to give a little something back to the forum, having spent months hoovering up useful info from here, meaning that from day one my espressos are coming out better than plenty I've paid for in the past.

Cheers guys

LF

Well... How lucky did you get? Also there are often better deals to be had on craigslist (in general compared to what is usually on eBay) if you can find what you are looking for since often times people put grinders up for a fraction of the price they are worth and all you have to do is act quickly whereas on eBay, people can run up the bid. Last week I saw a Mahlkonig VTA 6 S on craigslist listed just as "coffee grinder" for $75! Those can literally cost 100 times that price new! I emailed the guy that I wanted it but he never got back to me and the listing was removed and not put back up. Someone was quicker on the trigger. I also see "espresso grinders" go for $50 occasionally. The same guy with the mahlkonig was asking $50 for a la spaziale (rebadged macap?). It's all about watching daily and know when to lock down on a good deal and when to not settle but hold out for what you are looking for. I saw a mini go for 200... A SJ for 350. The list goes on. Also negotiation is a big money saver on craigs!

Craigslist exists in the UK now, but it's not really caught on as yet.

I got my SJ for £100 (they are about £500 new), as opposed to the normal £300 they seem to reach on the bay, and unlike most on there it's not battle-scarred - which, while it doesn't make a difference to the coffee is a nice-to-have as it's pretty big for the size of our kitchen.

I've recently seen a Santos finish for a shade over a hundred pounds, and another SJ went for £129, so there are bargains out there if you look hard enough

jonny wrote: Last week I saw a Mahlkonig VTA 6 S on craigslist listed just as "coffee grinder" for $75! Those can literally cost 100 times that price new! I emailed the guy that I wanted it but he never got back to me and the listing was removed and not put back up. Someone was quicker on the trigger. I also see "espresso grinders" go for $50 occasionally. The same guy with the mahlkonig was asking $50 for a la spaziale (rebadged macap?). It's all about watching daily and know when to lock down on a good deal and when to not settle but hold out for what you are looking for. I saw a mini go for 200... A SJ for 350. The list goes on. Also negotiation is a big money saver on craigs!

The thing with craigslist is that the really good bargains seem to go really quickly, so you need to get lucky, and jump on a bargain as soon as it comes out.

Randy

Oh, and I have no idea if it's the same over in the States, but craigslist here seems to consist almost entirely of scams.

I guess the average scammer isn't going be listing a coffee grinder though.....

My experience is somewhat different. Many items I've sold immediately (leading to seller's remorse, sometimes), and many items have taken weeks of posting to sell, the biggest example being my 2004 Subaru STI, but it sold for what I listed it for. I've generally found some good deals on CL in the coffee area ($175 for a nice pre-mil Europiccola), but like HB says, you better be ready to jump on it.