Rig-Ebay-Talk...RANT!

[fearhk213]

The used market for seller's has never fully recovered after 2008 imo, and has just gotten steadily worse to the point where it is now. A glut of used gear in a sea of lowballers and those trying to trade up at your expense.

I'm trying to avoid selling now because of it...no more "buy to try" for me until it get's better.

In addition to low ballers I'm also seeing (not the OP) some seller's with eyebrow-raising prices where I would just buy new.

I wouldn't let it get to you, not worth it...but I do miss how the classifieds used to be.

I've seen that a number of times lately myself. There was one I saw here a while back where the original seller had a guitar listed for a good price, and it sold. Then the buyer turned right around and listed it again. Only his asking price was the same as the new price! A simple google search would have revealed to anyone that they could have gotten the same guitar brand new with a warranty. I don't get it.

 

[cardinal]

Low ballers are annoying, but I just ignore them.

But there are plenty of diluted sellers out there, too. I'm not at all trying to insinuate that the OP is one. But for example, there a guy with an old guitar in the classifieds right now asking nearly $3,000 for a guitar that I'm pretty sure he bought off Reverb.com days earlier that was listed at $500 (it's very distinctive guitar). Really??? But he's now dropped the price! That's just as annoying. But again, I just ignore it and move on.

 

[Dingleberries]

I don't get the whole taking it personally mentality. Why do people let their emotions rule when doing business?

 

[billboogie]

I sell on C-list for the local benefits, here is how my last three transactions went

Listed a one yr old Xotic RC booster for $100......Listed 3 months, sold $75.00
Listed one Mesa V-30 from 1994 for $100.....Listed for.4 months, sold $50.00
Listed one Marshall 1960A cab (normal ware all tolex in place) $300.....Listed for 3 months....sold $240.00

I listed all three pretty competitive but the economy is what it is........Flipside to this??? Buyers market....
Purchased 2 200 watt EVM OEM matched pair dated 1989........$175
Purchased 3 70th ann Cel. (UK)...........$150
Purchased 2007 MIM Tele Standard with an extra set of Hot Rails, Lil 59 bridge, Twisted Tele neck, and Texas Specials installed.......$350.00

Win some/lose some

Bill

 

[glip22]

I don't get the whole taking it personally mentality. Why do people let their emotions rule when doing business?

It is what it is. I have seen a lot of cool gear for sale and the prices are not realistic for the climate. Most of it is still for sale weeks later. I don't care what it was wroth. You can expect a 30%-35% decrease in value as soon as it leaves a store or dealer, I used to be able to resell gear I bought used for a decent price and not lose much. Now you can expect a 10-20% loss on it. It is what it is. Personally I have sold everything I have listed quickly. I take my lumps and move on. What else can one do. It didn't hurt that some of it was quite desirable. Another factor is to buy desirable gear.

 

[Shiny_Surface]

The market is emotionless but people make up the market. Some people view forums as just another buy/sell medium but others see it more than that.

 

[Mailman1971]

Yeah when I bought and sold alot.....if I used it for a while....got tired of it.
I would sell it for a loss. No biggie. Or trade. Its just gear. I would chalk it up for experience just to play the item.
But 99 percent of the time I never bought new and I never had sentimental attachment to the piece.
Easier to let it go for a loss that way. Not take a BATH or get ass raped....but a loss was always expected when I bought something. ymmv

 

[glip22]

Yeah when I bought and sold alot.....if I used it for a while....got tired of it.
I would sell it for a loss. No biggie. Or trade. Its just gear. I would chalk it up for experience just to play the item.
But 99 percent of the time I never bought new and I never had sentimental attachment to the piece.
Easier to let it go for a loss that way. Not take a BATH or get ass raped....but a loss was always expected when I bought something. ymmv

I don't think anyone remembers the magnitude of you buying and selling

 

[Mailman1971]

Yeah when I bought and sold alot.....if I used it for a while....got tired of it.
I would sell it for a loss. No biggie. Or trade. Its just gear. I would chalk it up for experience just to play the item.
But 99 percent of the time I never bought new and I never had sentimental attachment to the piece.
Easier to let it go for a loss that way. Not take a BATH or get ass raped....but a loss was always expected when I bought something. ymmv

I don't think anyone remembers the magnitude of you buying and selling

Ha!!

Yeah.....it was a thrill ride for sure.
It would be nothing for me to get in 2 amp heads and 3 guitars in one week.
Yeah....those were the days.

 

[Mudder]

I sold a few things on ebay recently and got ASS-RAPED by the new FEES !!!

"Holy throbbin' corn hole" Batman !!!

https://reverb.com/
Not quite as much traffic but fees are much better.

This...so much this. Reverb.com is a nice format and will only improve as traffic improves.

 

[guitarmike]

I think a lot of sellers are deluded as to the current value of their stuff. If you don't want to take a hit on your gear, sit on it till things improve. Now is a good time to be a buyer. Notice that stuff that's priced in accordance with current market conditions actually sells. Other stuff just continues to rot in the classifieds.

This is the right answer in this thread. Nothing else much to say. If you dont want to take a hit keep it. If you want to move it price it to sell.

You can also NR it on ebay.

No one wants to lose money on gear just like no one wants to lose money on a house. The reality is most stuff has dropped significantly in value, period, end of story. If you paid $3000+ for a Cameron modded amp, you will lose money if you want to sell it. It just is that way now, either get used to it or do not sell right now. Although if I had gear that the guys would buy, I'd use Ebay with buy - it - now. BIN has fees much lower than regular auctions. Either way, sellers have all of the power and you can be ripped off at any time by a bad buyer. They can force a refund, keep the item, and you can lose a serious amount of money.

 

[Steinmetzify]

The last few items I've sold here have been priced fairly for what they were and sold quickly with multiple offers. Got something up right now on another forum, and it's lowball city over there. It doesn't matter what you actually type out with regards to trades, people offer whatever they want and that annoys me. "No, I don't want your Ibanez, cause I stated in the FS ad that I don't like Ibanez. No, I won't ship to Puerto Rico, because it's not worth my time and I stated in the ad that I only ship to CONUS. No, I don't want your AR-15, because I'm set for guns. No, 5 $200 guitars don't have the same value as what I'm selling, no matter what you think."

This place might not be as good as it used to be, but at least I don't get crap like that here. People just PM and ask for a Paypal address and I dig that.