What's going on with the used market?

[Steinmetzify]

Whatever you have or have bought, it's still used and for the most part, used means 60% of new value....not MSRP, but NEW VALUE, meaning 55-60% (give or take depending on rarity) of what YOU PAID, or what I could pay buying it new. The reason for this is NO WARRANTY and NO customer support. The fact that a guitar has an MSRP of 7k doesn't mean a damn thing when everywhere that you can buy one sells it for 5k, WITH a warranty and customer service from the manufacturer. A fair price for that guitar would be 3000-3500, depending on condition, which is usually documented by photos, vids, talking to the guy, etc....

The fact that you're the 1st owner and it's sat in a case for a year would go a long way to help your price to some people, but if you've got another guy on the same FS page doing the same thing for $500 less, guess what? His shit is gonna sell and your shit will sit there, simply because in this instance yours is overpriced for the market you're trying to sell to...there's no reason for someone to pay $500 more for yours in even condition. There's not even any reason to pay $500 more for yours when the other one has two dings in it, unless you're a collector...you pay $500 less for two dings and you're a player, you're winning...

I'll do the same thing for amps.....if I know I'm gonna dig it I'll certainly pay $100 less for a 5150 II with a few dings on it. Find me a 20 yr old amp that doesn't have a few dings on it anyway....the guy trying to sell his for $900 is dreaming when there are multiple listings for $550, and the same for the guy trying to sell a 2 month old 6505+ head for $1100. C'mon....for $100 more I'd buy new.

This is borne out by the fact that you see guys that are selling Schecter JL7's (as an example) for $900 and they just sit there. Why would someone pay an almost new price for your used guitar, whether you're the first owner or not, when for $200 more they could buy a new one and be the first owner too? I've sold 2 of those guitars at under $800 and they went quick, both of them. Gear priced fairly always does as long as there's a market for it. Specialty guitars (8 strings with exotic woods and hand wound pickups etc...) are harder to have go quickly and that has to be accounted for when you buy....I have a LP that was custom built for me that kicks the shit out of pretty much every other guitar I've ever played...but it doesn't say Gibson on it and I couldn't get anywhere near a used Gibby price for it if I wanted to sell it, unless someone played it first. Gotta be aware of these things when you do a custom build from an unknown.

Got to be a lot smarter about it than you would have had to 4-5 years ago....I watched guys on this forum flip 20 amps a year for years, and make most of their money back or not even be out anything....could buy one amp, and trade it around for years trying a bunch of new stuff with only the cost of shipping to deal with. That doesn't happen anymore, really.

 

[Tone Monster]

I truly think its the quality of Modelers doing it.

 

[guitarmike]

The brand name stuff sells for lower dollar new and then doesn't seem to depreciate quite as much as the niche Bogners, Friedmans etc.. so if you buy a 1600$ Marshall and sell it a first time for 1200$ then someone else resells and sells it for 900$ , you aren't losing as much and you haven't spent as much. Drop 3500$ on an amp and expect to sell it in a bad economy... it is gonna sit even if it goes for 2500$ simply because if the 6-800 used market amps are brand name and do the job (Marshall, Peavey, EVH) within 10% of the more expensive amps, most people will just buy the 6-800$ amps that still sound great within their own right. I know I simply can't make a 2k+ amp purchase now.. Sure you can save over 2+ years but that would take restraint and who has that?! I think it is more of a gamble to buy niche/boutique right now should you not agree with it. Lots of Friedmans and Bogners in the classifieds it seems!

I disagree with you on a couple points. First, there is no way a $600-$800 amp will sound as good as a $3000+ amp, if it did there would not be any reason to make or sell expensive amps because no one would buy them. Also, go buy a new JVM410, it will cost you $2000-$2300. Sell it 1 week later and you will be lucky to get $1200. That is about the same hit you'd take on a new BE100. But this has been the case for a long time now it is really more of a supply and demand issue than a pure economy issue. In 2006 I waited 12 weeks to get a new Splawn Quickrod. Just 2 years ago it was a decent wait for Friedman's stuff. There are more higher end amps in the market, that is what is causing the prices to drop as much as anything.

It is always a gamble buying something used off of the internet, if you can't afford to sell at a loss if you do not like it, buy used and you will minimize the lose. The days of buying an amp and reselling it at the same price are pretty much gone for good, unless you are a dealer.

 

[greatmutah]

I can see your point about there being a lot more variety and less wait time of higher end gear, hence prices being lower. However, the JVM is a poor example. Gotta remember those amps new ran about $1600 when they launched in 2007 and have practically gone up almost $1000 since their launch. Marshall here really screwed resale value on those as most people know they're way overpriced to begin with, given what they launched and how much they've gone up. And buyers of used gear don't expect to pay more for a production amp that's just as readily available, If not more, than it was six years ago when prices were better.