Is buying house paint a shell game?

Projectjunkie

Whatever
Joined
May 19, 2020
Member Number
306
Messages
3,010
Loc
Tucson Az
I need to paint a couple of houses on a budget, I'm seeing stuff like this all over offer up, CL, etc

what's the hustle? Old stock? Watered down leftovers? Stolen? Counterfeit name brand? Is the markup in the big box stores so high that the pros unload leftovers at cost?

photo52628.png


photo52629.png


photo52630.png


photo52631.png
 
I don`t know fuck all about grey market house paint tactics but for $30 i`d probably just buy a pail and see what i`m getting, if it`s decent go back and grab more.
 
Around here it's $20 for 5 gallons of mystery paint. The habitat for humanity store takes all the donated paint of a similar color and mixes it all together then puts it in new buckets. Great for doing shit you're selling or renting since exact colors and matching later doesn't matter.
 
You should go check it out maybe you'll find your truck.

I would just call and ask why it's so cheap and why they have so much of it.

They have to be some kind of date code or lot number.
 
There's full on storefronts in phx selling truckloads of it, here, less people, there's Mexicans that usually have 20-50 buckets at a time.

Just trying to understand the hustle
 
Vancharger said:
Just buy good quality paint from a good scource and get over with it. You Will thank me in two years time when you dont have to repaint.
Click to expand...

I guess I could just buy 2 new houses and 2 new diesel trucks instead of bothering with these ones, trade my wheelers for hiking boots and walk around the big rocks:laughing:

Just looking for the best value, if it's on the shelf at the big box store, that's what I'll buy
 
Old stock? Any chance it was frozen in shipping, returned and then offloaded at a discount? We had frozen paint before and its junk. I know you can get paint labels for bare cans.
 
No idea, but given how much labor is involved in painting (assuming you do it right), it's bloody stupid IMHO to take that big of a risk in the name of saving a few bucks.
 
People sell 5 gallon pails of Tide laundry detergent online. The problem is that Tide does not make 5 gallon pails of detergent. I’m guessing it’s as fake the buckets of Tide.
 
Projectjunkie said:
I guess I could just buy 2 new houses and 2 new diesel trucks instead of bothering with these ones, trade my wheelers for hiking boots and walk around the big rocks:laughing:

Just looking for the best value, if it's on the shelf at the big box store, that's what I'll buy
Click to expand...

Depends on how much your time is worth. Painting a house right takes time for the prep work and then the trim Do you want to chance doing it again in 2-3 years to save a few bucks
 
Aisin said:
People sell 5 gallon pails of Tide laundry detergent online. The problem is that Tide does not make 5 gallon pails of detergent. I’m guessing it’s as fake the buckets of Tide.
Click to expand...

I buy the "Tidy" detergent in the 5 gallon buckets, sure it isn't real but it is a good enough knockoff.

Paint tho, as much as I hate to, I would suck it up and pay for the good shit at a big box.

Paint is too labor intensive to take a gamble on.
 
crispins said:
I buy the "Tidy" detergent in the 5 gallon buckets, sure it isn't real but it is a good enough knockoff.

Paint tho, as much as I hate to, I would suck it up and pay for the good shit at a big box.

Paint is too labor intensive to take a gamble on.
Click to expand...

My uncle Alan has owned and operated a Benjamin Moore for close to 35 years. Before that his father owned the place. Paint is one thing I was taught early to not be a cheap bastard with.
 
Fuck cheap paint. After doing the interior of my house with SW, I decided to save a few bucks when I needed a quick coat in my basement when we were moving. I got mid upper grade big box paint and it fucking sucked, what should have been one coat turned into almost 3 with a like color, I would have saved time and money going with good SW. Additionally valspar professional ceiling paint has the consistency of skim milk and sucks dong.

Fuck big box store paint.
 
My ex used to work for a paint supply store. They would give away the paint for various reasons. One time a supplier “re-imaged” their product line (new logo, colors etc). That supplier sent a whole new inventory to all their stores and didn’t want the old inventory back.

IIRC a commercial business can only handle chemicals disposal a certain way. But they can give it away to whoever will come take it. I bet people take pallets of that shit for free and turn around & sell it cheap. When I sold my house and moved I had a few full unopened gallon cans I had to dispose of. Took the shit for free and never came up with a use for it. It didn’t cost to much to get rid of it but there was a limit to how much I could dispose of in a month.
 
It's crap quality paint, they sell that shit everywhere. Maybe it comes from china made from nuclear mining waste by orphans.
 
Had a few 2 gallon kits of like imron paint meaning prepping to paint you mix the two gallons and shoot it within xx minutes.

Its not something that keeps and not over 30 years.

It was a special IR absorbing paint and contains heat or something like that.

A friend from RPD had a chopper with something called flir and using this stuff on a square body chevy tends to make the thing blend in to the ground around it.

That and a mylar thermal blanket and the truck just about disappears.

Would love to paint a house with this stuff.
 
Norm said:
It's crap quality paint, they sell that shit everywhere. Maybe it comes from china made from nuclear mining waste by orphans.
Click to expand...

this would be my thought. $10/gal for shit paint doesn't sound like a smokin or terrible deal.

$30 for 5? never been to mexico, but i bet they crank out some grade A cheap watery crap for that price :laughing:
 
Slander said:
Fuck cheap paint. After doing the interior of my house with SW, I decided to save a few bucks when I needed a quick coat in my basement when we were moving. I got mid upper grade big box paint and it fucking sucked, what should have been one coat turned into almost 3 with a like color, I would have saved time and money going with good SW. Additionally valspar professional ceiling paint has the consistency of skim milk and sucks dong.

Fuck big box store paint.
Click to expand...

Your problem was you got it backwards.

Cheap shit works great for places that have stupidly easy paint requirements, like the interior of the house.

A basement or bathroom where you've got wider temp and moisture or anything outdoors is gonna be much more demanding hence you can't get by with cheap shit as often.

Cheap paint works great in places in the kind of places where you could write on it with a magic marker and the writing would still be there 20yr later.
 
It is worth going into a Sherwin Williams and setting up a business account, particularly if you are a landlord or something. It’s not complicated and you often get pretty good discounts. Sometimes there are homeowner sales that have lower prices than your commercial account will, just get to know the manager and ask them which is the best deal. They have a paint called “property solutions” that is for budget/rental stuff. I’ve never used it but lot of pro painters buy it so it can’t be a complete pain in the ass to work with or require 5 coats.

The headache they will save you when you actually need to touch up or match something is well worth it. I had Home Depot try to match something once that was off by more than “light red” and “dark red” crayons in a Crayola box. Dude looked at me and shrugged.
 
Last edited:
Gatorgrizz27 said:
It is worth going into a Sherwin Williams and setting up a business account, particularly if you are a landlord or something. It’s not complicated and you often get pretty good discounts. Sometimes there are homeowner sales that have lower prices than your commercial account will, just get to know the manager and ask them which is the best deal. They have a paint called “property solutions” that is for budget/rental stuff. I’ve never used it but lot of pro painters buy it so it can’t be a complete pain in the ass to work with or require 5 coats.

The headache they will save you when you actually need to touch up or match something is well worth it. I had Home Depot try to match something once that was off by more than “light red” and “dark red” crayons in a Crayola box. Dude looked at me and shrugged.
Click to expand...

I did this long ago, price wise it’s competitive with the big box stores with the business discount and generally the people are good to deal with. I hate going to big box stores.
 
ConwayMuddy said:
Old stock? Any chance it was frozen in shipping, returned and then offloaded at a discount? We had frozen paint before and its junk. I know you can get paint labels for bare cans.
Click to expand...

Pretty obvious as soon as you open the lid if latex paint has been frozen. Think cottage cheeze. BTDT.
 
Gatorgrizz27 said:
It is worth going into a Sherwin Williams and setting up a business account, particularly if you are a landlord or something. It’s not complicated and you often get pretty good discounts. Sometimes there are homeowner sales that have lower prices than your commercial account will, just get to know the manager and ask them which is the best deal. They have a paint called “property solutions” that is for budget/rental stuff. I’ve never used it but lot of pro painters buy it so it can’t be a complete pain in the ass to work with or require 5 coats.

The headache they will save you when you actually need to touch up or match something is well worth it. I had Home Depot try to match something once that was off by more than “light red” and “dark red” crayons in a Crayola box. Dude looked at me and shrugged.
Click to expand...

We did this years ago and still to this day get offers of buy a gallon get a gallon free. Quality paint at 50% off works for me. Fuck box store paint and anything cheap. Many years ago my ex came home with some cheap paint for the interior. It looked off, went on like shit, took 3 coats and when it dried the walls needed a shave. Seriously the walls had a fine fiber that looked like hair sticking out from the paint.

I had to sand all of the walls down and start all over again with decent paint.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Back Refresh