Could Ebay change tree work as we LOVE it.

[easy-lift guy]

I believe ebay and the like is in the business of bring sellers and buyers together to buy/sell their stuff. If they started to allow these same people to advertise their new business the same way with their new stuff purchased is it ebay's responsibility to pick and choose?. There will always be a percentage of folk that buy things with out any knowledge or concern about how it works or how to use correctly. Two solutions come to mind. First ebay could stop taking ads for the sale of such equipment altogether, this would help dissuade the Black market from using a legal means of fencing stolen property. The Second would be when Manufacturers require owners of New equipment to take a safety/proper use course. This course would have to be administered at the point of sale and equipment could not leave said point until course had been passed buy new owner. TBH I would like to see both but the Second choice would be a good start, if the manufacturers had enough guts to implement the policy industry wide.

easy-lift guy

[Mozza]

The long and short of it is, you'll never stop "unqualified" people buying top handle saws, so why worried about something you can't change??

[gensetsteve]

I spent 4 years training as an apprentice engineer the skilled men I worked with ingrained alot of training and common sense which has kept me safe. now 20 years on I find it offensive when I have to spend 30 mins answering idiot multiple choice questions designed for people that recently entered the country. This is just so I can enter a building site. Good quality training is worth its wait in gold and more often than not is given whilst on the job. Alot of the training offered at the moment seems expensive and often irrelevant.

[Goaty]

As for incompetents buying saws on ebay etc then taking away work, I don't think its a real threat to good businesses. I have had work that was done by others to rectify, they don't get repeat work and the business fades away, makes clients more cautious and they tell friends and family, if anything a job done to a poor standard makes people more professional aware, they enquire for recommendations etc.

 

Also buying a saw is the easy part, you have to develop maintainence skills or buy new chains regulary, keeping running costs down is a major player in starting out in tree work. They soon fade away and try another enterprise. Plus who wants hard work, you have to do this because you love it.

[fergusonforestry]

im sure there are plenty of things available on ebay that are quite dangerous in the wrong hands not just top handle saws but thats down to the individual buying, the other way to look at it is i cant afford £400+ for a new saw hmmm 200T £95 that will do nicely

[Mark James]

The long and short of it is, you'll never stop "unqualified" people buying top handle saws, so why worried about something you can't change??

 

Why worry at all, anyone can walk into my local stihl dealer and buy a top handle. And I mean anyone.

 

 

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[treequip]

Could Ebay change tree work as we LOVE it.

 

Probably not.

 

The OP has missed a couple of salient points, not many professional users would buy a used top handled saw off an auction site particularly not unseen and untested, personally I would treat any used 2 stroke with suspicion uness I could run it.

 

The majority of top handle sawswill be sold to private punters who may (should) have been turned down at a dealership. Private punters are outside the remit of the HSE and since they were the ones sabre rattling about controls of top handled saws that pretty much draws a line under the issue.

 

Back in the day when the HSE were making noises about controls and bans they were doing the best they could with the powers they have, they weren’t and aren’t in a position to legislate against top handled saws. That would require an act of parliament and the situation isn’t nearly dire enough for anyone to go to that kind of effort and expense.

 

If the HSE were to “ban” them under best practice guidance, the voluntary ban on sales to non qualified operators would become moot and any tom dick and harry would be able to buy them.

 

The voluntary ban also has a great big hole in it, as a professional user I must demonstrate competence but as a private punter, I am not under the remit of the HSE so the voluntary agreement is not applicable.

[Charlieh]

Im gobsmacked a thread over 4yrs old has been resurected, I didnt think I had been on arbtalk this long!

[Gray]

I must admit, i've had good instructors (more practical than the usual ones who TELL you what to do instead, wanting you to get it wrong so they can put you down with there ultimate wisdom) . and because of that i've rememberd alot infact it's all used daily years later, just good practice.

Although i can't help thinking about a few times i've been cutting logs while holding them and buzzing the ends off one handed with my 200t, and the guy's who've said bloody hell thats quicker.

Just wondering if they went to the local gypsy or ebay after seeing how easy(to a bi'standard) and light and small(""again"") they are to use.

Dosen't have to be me though, ever seen people watching you work, i know every time i see a chippy using a nail gun i always say gotta get one of those.

 

Quite a good discusion post this is , if only we were all in a pub on wages day,heh,heh.

[Matthew Storrs]

How many of us actually did our NPTCs because we felt we were incapable of using a saw( unless your a complete newbie in which case fair enough) I climbed for 4 years without tickets and did some fair sized trees in that time under instruction & supervision of my then boss, but to be honest the only reason i eventually got them was when i went solo and needed insurance, cant really say i learnt a lot from them really other then the odd tip, as you say you cant beat on the job training.