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Steel Shelving


blksn8k2

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I've been wanting to add some more steel shelving in the loft of my shop but I'm having a devil of a time buying it for a decent price. 

 

The first place I checked was Lowe's but their price is about $160 for a single 48"W x 24"D x 72"H unit with steel framing and particle board shelves. I already have one identical unit that I bought at Lowe's several years ago so that is what I would obviously prefer and the local store has several in stock.

 

So I thought I would check a few other sources just to compare prices. Home Depot sells them for about the same price but when they had a recent sale none of the local stores had any in stock and they were not available to be shipped. Strike one.

 

Then I found several listings on Ebay for lower prices. I ordered one set from a two different sellers whose listings both showed that they only had one remaining and both were listed for about $122 with free shipping. 

When the first one came it was the wrong size. It was only 18" deep. The description said it was 24". So I returned that one. Then I got a notice that the other one was canceled because they apparently sold it before my order went through. Strike two, or is that three?

 

Then I decided to design my own shelves out of wood. When I priced the materials at Lowe's I was only saving a few bucks compared to their steel shelves and that didn't account for fasteners or my time to cut all the pieces and assemble them. Ball one.

 

So today I checked Ebay again and found what looked like a really good deal. But you know what they say about things that look to good to be true...

 

The listing was for the same size unit that I wanted and the photos showed the same construction of steel framing and wooden shelves for $88.99 per unit. So I placed an order for six. The other interesting thing about this listing is that there is a notice stating that the seller is on vacation and might not be able to ship the items for a few days. That's fine.

 

Wait a minute, the description says "Wire Shelving". Crap. No wonder the price was so low. And there was nothing in the description about wooden shelves. But the photos show wooden shelves. Looks fishy to me. So I requested that the order be canceled. Keep in mind that I have NEVER had any success when trying to cancel any previous Ebay purchases no matter how quickly I requested it after placing the order.

 

Then I sent the seller a separate message stating that his photos did not match his description and if he shipped the items and they did not match the photos I would request a return and a full refund.

 

Within a few minutes of requesting the cancellation and sending the message I got a notice from Ebay that my order had been canceled and that I had been issued a refund. WOW! Didn't expect that.

 

When I checked the listing again there was a notice that it had been updated. Now the word "Wire" has been removed from the title and the description has been changed to state that the shelves are particle board. But the price has not changed. Hmmm?

 

So I tried sending the seller another message to get clarification and ask WTF was going on but all I got was a notice that the seller would not accept my message. Then I tried placing the same items in my shopping cart again but the only thing I got was a message stating  "The buyer does not meet the seller's requirements".

 

Looks more to me like somebody got caught in a bait and switch. You're out! ROFLMAO. 

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This is getting way out of hand now. I've actually lost track of how many orders I have placed on Ebay for shelves (when an order is cancelled it is removed from your Purchase History) but it has to be at least ten and some of those were for more than one unit. So far not a single order has worked out. 

 

The majority have been listings that were for a single 5 shelf unit and most of those have been canceled by the seller because the items were damaged and not suitable to be sold. The same thing happened on another order for three units.

 

I had one order where the listing was removed by Ebay due to "issues with the sellers account".  Unfortunately I had already placed the order before I got that message from Ebay. I can't do anything now until the estimated delivery date has passed at which time I can request a refund due to non-delivery.

 

The only order I have received so far was the wrong size which I returned.

 

I still have I think three orders pending and I only have a tracking number for one of those. My guess is that if I do get that one it will be the wrong size too.

 

Haven't lost a dime yet but it will be a miracle if that holds true to the end. Sad part is that none of the sellers have had terrible ratings.

 

I also had an order for four units from a company whose web store listed a Florida address. That was not on Ebay although the payment method was through Paypal. Paypal informed me that the company was actually in Hong Kong and would not respond to any attempts to contact them. Paypal eventually refunded my account.

 

At this point it would be nuts to try again. You can't make this stuff up.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Okay, after much trial and error I finally got enough shelves to finish the project. I was eventually able to buy a total of seven units from four different Ebay listings and two more units from Zoro. I can finally see the floor of my loft again. The last image is a snapshot from the 3D model I created from the building blueprints before I erected the building. I also use the model to design any modifications like the loft and the office space and work shop under the loft. The building is 40 ft wide x 50 ft long x 14 ft high at the eaves.

 

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Building Layout.JPG

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  • 4 weeks later...

Nice garage and everything within.  For anybody reading this who may be in the market...my sons and I all have steel shelving from Costco in our garages.  The nice thing about those shelves is that the posts can accept shelves on either side rather than  having two posts for each shelf setup.  This allowed us to buy two boxed sets (total of four posts and eight ea. 8' shelves) and attach them together in one continuous piece, three shelves wide.  Arranging three shelves in each of two sections is the perfect height for the yellow and black storage tubs you can buy everywhere stacked two-high, and placing the remaining two shelves in the third section allowed space to store my generator and pressure washer under a shelf in the middle of the posts, my chop saw and other bulky  "stuff" on top of the middle shelf, and  the last shelf is set level with the top shelves in the adjacent two sections. We have found the best time to buy them was in January when all of the organizing "stuff" goes on sale.  I imagine that the cost of them has skyrocketed lately, like every other steel product, so count yourself lucky to already have yours.

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