Buying rare Amps

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BesaMoogie

BesaMoogie

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Hi, guys, I have a question on how you handle things considering buying rare amps that the seller isn`t aware of. Do you tell them, what they have?
I mean it is kind of a moral dilemma for me. I found an 2C+ DRGX (at least according to the pictures) in local ads. I made an offer but someone else snagged it away for still a very low price considering the going rate of those amps.
Not sure how you handle this things as paying prices like up to 8-10k truly brings this amps out of reach for me. In the end, the amp went for much less than these prices.
 
So your offer was lower than someone else who actually got the amp? Now you want to notify the seller that he could have gotten more? Sounds like you are just upset and want to take it out on the seller. Just move on. Not worth the extra unnecessary stress.
 
So your offer was lower than someone else who actually got the amp? Now you want to notify the seller that he could have gotten more? Sounds like you are just upset and want to take it out on the seller. Just move on. Not worth the extra unnecessary stress.
No stress here, the amp is gone and I`m not upset. Wile making my offer I was constantly thinking if I should tell the guy about the amp. So I`m thinking about how to handle the thing in the future if I come across a similar situation.
 
Never happened to me, and I've bought a lot of shit. Maybe pre-internet it was more likely.

The complete opposite is common though - sellers not understanding that the big asking prices they see online are often nowhere near the actually selling price. They price according to that and can't understand why their item doesn't sell, I see it frequently.
 
Unless their name was Guitar Center they probably knew what it was but there are exceptions. I say if it's something you want then just say "I'll take it", don't haggle and drive to pick it up. If it's something you don't really want then maybe drop them a note telling them they might want to recheck the item and the going rate. I wouldn't buy it to flip it but that's because I don't want the hassle/risk and that's not what I do. That IS what some people do so I wouldn't fault them for jumping on an opportunity.
 
I find them.
Maybe being USA based you have a big advantage over me.

Being in Australia, I pretty much need to pull rare amps either from Reverb or eBay.

Not sure where else you guys look
 
No stress here, the amp is gone and I`m not upset. Wile making my offer I was constantly thinking if I should tell the guy about the amp. So I`m thinking about how to handle the thing in the future if I come across a similar situation.
Doesn't sound like you have much of a moral dilemma to me... You thought you the price was below what he should be selling it for then decided to offer less. You didn't seem to have a problem with doing that. If it was bothering you so much why didn't you at least give them their asking price instead?
Seems like you're more bothered by not getting the amp at a cheaper price than your "moral dilemma" of buying it at an already low asking price..
 
Doesn't sound like you have much of a moral dilemma to me... You thought you the price was below what he should be selling it for then decided to offer less. You didn't seem to have a problem with doing that. If it was bothering you so much why didn't you at least give them their asking price instead?
Seems like you're more bothered by not getting the amp at a cheaper price than your "moral dilemma" of buying it at an already low asking price..
Nope
 
What is "Nope"?
Did you not offer the seller a lower price? Was the original asking price fair and you tried to get a better deal? If already at a good deal, why did you not buy it for asking price? Is there more to your conundrum that what you have stated?

I would understand you asking about this as a moral dilemma if you bought the amp for asking price and were conflicted feeling you lowballed the seller and got away with something. Or if you were a gear flipper and starting having remorse for hosing the seller the way Guitar Center does. Buyers remorse of getting such a good deal and feeling like you stole it or ripped someone off makes sense when asking the morality of that situation and how to handle it.

I'm not trying to be a jerk. You stated it was being listed for well lower than the going rate and you made an offer which implied you offered less than asking price. If you have a conflict based on the morality of taking advantage of this situation or similar then it stands to reason you'd be at odds about paying asking price; feeling bad about that. But you offered lower. This suggests you were not questioning the morality to begin with. Only going by what you stated, the questioned morality is only coming after someone else bought the amp and is in direct opposition to your actions. Would you still be asking this question if the seller accepted your offer? Unless there is more to this, the way it reads is that you are looking for societal affirmation that it's okay to either lowball an already well priced amp or disrupt a sale because someone else got a deal instead of you.

Regardless of what you are actually seeking, I'll comment on the general situation of seeing something priced below its value as I view it. Just like it being on the buyer to do the research so they don't over pay, it's the sellers responsibility to research market value and price accordingly. On top of that there may be other motivations/reasons for pricing. They may just need to move it quickly, they are paying forward the good deal they originally got, they don't care about market value and just want to sell, etc. Whatever the sum of reasonings are for the asking price, the seller has listed it for what they deemed they are willing to sell it for. There's more than enough resources for anyone to figure out market value and it's fair enough to assume the seller has done what they needed to determine the asking price. On the buyers I don't see much coming up in terms of morality of getting a good deal. If questioning the good price; whether you're buying or just came across it, is to ask if they are comfortable with selling for that price. You also have to determine if what the seller is offering is on the up and up. Are they trying to hide something wrong behind what looks like a good deal? If all is legit, you are the one buying, and are wanting the feel goods you can always tell the seller you think you're getting too good of a deal and offer a little more. Unless you know for a fact that a buyer is purposely trying to take advantage of a seller it's not anyone's place to step in and try to disrupt a transaction.

When it comes to the bottom line, there's nothing morally wrong with getting a really good deal. It's the seller who is responsible for due diligence to price accordingly. Just the same as caveat emptor on the buying end. If at the time of transaction both walk away satisfied, then that is that. Both parties will have to accept their own regret if later they find the price wasn't as favorable to them as it could have been and take it a lesson learned. Morality would come into play if the buyer is trying to coerce the seller into thinking what they have is of little value to drive down the price and purposely taking advantage of them, idly standing by knowing a buyer is forcefully pushing a bad transaction on the seller to take advantage of them, or disrupting someone else's purchase because they got the deal instead of you.
 
I would have offered him his asking price,offered to meet him at a steak house and bought dinner...then tossed him an extra $50 for his gas and time.

And then bragged about the great deal I got and the great meal and conversation we had on this forum.
And posted pics too.
But some people are different...ya know.
 
If someone is actively selling an item, they set the price they want/need out of it when they list it. I think it would be different if you found out someone had something you want but they weren't actively selling it. I think if you are trying to get someone to sell you something they weren't planning on selling then an "honest" reasonable offer is the right thing to do. Its your choice if you want to tell someone they could get more for something, but in my experience people generally list items for sale at the price they want or are willing to take, many times when an item is listed lower than market its to drive a quick sale and therefore they are willing to take a hit on what they "could" get. Or its stolen....
 
If it's some old lady selling her deceased husbands stuff, yeah I'd tip em off. If its so random asshole; who gives a fuck. He'd probably steal your wallet if you sat it down to take a piss while you were buying him said steak.
 
I would have offered him his asking price,offered to meet him at a steak house and bought dinner...then tossed him an extra $50 for his gas and time.

And then bragged about the great deal I got and the great meal and conversation we had on this forum.
And posted pics too.
But some people are different...ya know.
That's what I just did, only I didn't offer dinner. I gave his asking price, met him out by him, and came then here and bragged. I still gotta get the pics up though.

I thought that was routine?
 
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