Maytag Dryer, DE606 in White, Full Chrome Dial, $140.00 on Facebook Marketplace in Missouri

Description reads: "Used/Good - Must pick up in Caledonia, Mo"

Not much info and price too high but it looks nice anyway.

I can't see where a 1972 dryer that looks this good and is priced at just $140 is priced too high, finding and replacing one part on a dryer like this will cost you more than that.

If you want something decent be willing to pay for it, if every body just lowballs and complains about sellers trying to get a few bucks for something that looks good and works it will just lead to more cool stuff getting junked.

John L.

That dryer has outlasted at least a couple of washers.   It's sad to think that maybe it was part of an 806 set and that its companion washer could have been repaired, but it was likely considered too old to fix by some clueless young repair dude.

More disturbing to me is the fact that people continue to feed the Facebook monster by listing things on FB Marketplace.  What's so wrong with craigslist?  (I only have a FB profile -- a blank one under a fake name -- because it's required in order to play Ingress, a phone game that my buddy wants me to learn, but I could not be less interested in such a huge waste of time.)

That's just it, John. Pay $140.00 for it, and find out the blower bearings are noisy. Or a week later the heating element goes out. I'm liking it, for about $75.00

John - You're not wrong, it is a shame that so many machines get junked because the price seems a little too much. A dryer of this vintage is ridiculously rare to land on, in searching the entire (more or less) U.S. 500 miles at a time on FM I only landed on 5 or 6 vintage Maytags and this was the only 606. If you are someone on the search for one they all should be seen as rare gems that are worth the effort if you really want to own it, or save it from the scrap dealer for someone else. No argument there.

But that was where I should have elaborated in my description. Like Dan and Kenny said you just don't know what you're getting, there is no indication in this persons ad on if it runs, and if so if it actually operates properly rather than just "I plugged it in and heard a noise so it works" kind of analysis so many sellers go by... but we don't even get that much info from them, in addition there does look like there's cabinet/top damage which is an important buying factor as well for someone that wants a daily driver but doesn't necessarily want to take on a full restoration.

So my line should have been more thorough and put all of that in, an end note I also should have added (that I was thinking in my head and thought any one interested might think of too) is that this has been listed for over a month without any takers so it's very likely they might be willing to negotiate the price.

Ralph - I was thinking the same thing for the other dryers or washers I landed on that were singles or the one paired with a modern counterpart, that they were surely once part of a matched set that could have been kept together if the owners had put in the effort.

I hate Facebook as well. I also just have a basic unused profile strictly for seeing family pictures and interacting with Marketplace now and then.

It's because of Facebook being 'Facebook' that it takes a lot of Craigslist business. Part of that is because Craigslist is an anonymous service that is known for scamming, not just potential buyers but sellers as well. Facebook users can get scammed as easily of course but because the people involved don't hide behind anonymous filters like Craigslist, and you can 'see' who they are it lends a feel of safety I guess. Also it's laziness, most people selling online are younger and have had social media accounts since birth, so since all their credentials are entered on a site that will sell for them, why make the effort to create an account on another site.

There's more reasons of course, but that's a couple. I do plan to comb through Craigslist and Letgo/Offerup one of these days after my eyes uncross from all those FM searches yesterday

Is a bargain if you only need an extra motor, electronic control or a control panel that is not pitted etc.

I am assuming that you can pick it up easily and don't have to pay $400 to ship it.

If you have one of these dryers or are restoring one the door gasket, door switch, the heating element, the  blower, idler pulley and shaft, even the lint screen and holder are all getting scarce and it is very likely that many of these parts are in great shape.

Every body has to figure out their own budget, but I am just saying if sellers get beat up on the price of cool rare vintage appliances and can't even get $100 for them a lot of people are just not going to even bother trying to sell cool old stuff and just let it get hulled away.

I am not justifying people trying to get $500 for this dryer, but in reality any appliance is worth at least $100. I like a bargain as much as anyone and many of my favorite appliances we got for free, but low balling prices is ruining this hobby, people looking at this site that have a 50 YO appliance and reading that its only worth $25-50 dollars are just going to put it out for scrap.

John L.

Haha, me as well. I usually think of Craigslist first too, it's just what comes to mind when I think of going online to look for something for sale that's not easy to come by and not likely to be found / picked up locally on eBay. I fell into the Marketplace search this time because the last couple of places that have posted the commercial dryers I'm looking for have all been Marketplace items, so figured I'd start there.

There's a lot of things I like better about Craigslist, and one of those is you aren't judged by your Facebook profile, or lack of a prolific/popular one.

I lost out on a potential dryer last week when the seller I contacted replied "Sorry, but you have no pictures or posts on your profile and this screams scam to me" and stopped responding after that. Granted it's the first time that's ever happened in the 4 or 5 things I've bought on there in the past... but Craigslist doesn't have that problem.

I think that's my frame of mind, all machines I find always require freighting of some kind so I see the freight cost on top of the asking price when I'm looking and it is more like buying a 5 or 6 hundred dollar machine when I do the math in my head.

When I start looking again for my commercial Maytag dryer, if I find any other vintage machines that haven't been added to Shoppers Square yet I'll keep the other aspects of that in mind in future posts.

Another good resource, although far more limited in its listings, is Nextdoor.  I've found some great deals and lots of free stuff there, and have seen plenty of washers, dryers, refrigerators and AC units listed.  I even got my FWB a portable AC that was barely used, "commercial grade," 1,200 BTU with eco-friendly refrigerant, no need to empty condensate, and remote control for $100.  That thing blows ice cold and keeps his whole apartment comfortable, and in a black & silver scheme it matches his sleek decor perfectly.

I hate the discussion boards on ND and don't ever access them anymore, for the same reason I don't access DL here anymore either.  Too much negativity polluting those boards.  I created a shortcut that takes me straight to the classifieds.  The other good thing about ND is that anything you come across is super local for quick and easy pick-up.  The only drawback is that you can't post stuff on ND here because there are hoops to jump through for access, and if you're not in the 'hood, you're SOL.

Thanks Ralph,

That's great, I never heard of that site, excited to check it out now.

Appreciate the tip!