I sold my metric Speed 10, in decent fully working but not immaculate condition, for £710 on Ebay in 2015. It had a 3 and 4 jaw, faceplate, fixed steady and fixed centres with it. All parties were happy with the deal.

Difficult to say. I think Mick's price is reasonable for an ML10 in good condition, but you may find it's on the low side.

On ebay, or any other auction, the price depends entirely on who else wants it on the day and how high they're prepared to go. With luck no-one else bids and you get a bargain, but it's likely to go the other way. Buying Myfords is a bit of a problem because their reputation pushes up prices irrespective of condition. Being a notch down in the Myford Catalogue, ML10s were once immune to silly asking prices. Unfortunately, ML10s have since caught the bug and their prices have inflated too. If you want a Myford, it may be necessary to fight for it.

What tooling comes with a second-hand machine varies considerably. Dealers are always likely to sell tooling separately to push up their profits. What's sold on ebay depends entirely on the seller, who can be generous or mean, depending on his goals. Perhaps the best way to buy a lathe is to find a local man keen to make space, who will demonstrate the machine and throw goodies in just to be rid of it with minimum fuss.

As condition is vital, I recommend inspecting any second-hand lathe before purchase. The high selling price of Myfords has attracted a certain bad element on auction sites – machines 'refurbished' by chaps who know nothing about lathes, Every so often forum members post links to machines with obvious danger clues like botched paint jobs; others are basically OK but may have missing parts (like change gears) or need a lot of remedial work. An ML10 with a badly worn bed is probably a write-off.

Good luck,

Dave