People asking new prices for used guitars (ebay content)

steer

I used to love Ebay when nearly everything was an auction. Now it seems that 90% of the lots are Buy It Now deals, and I agree that many of the prices are ridiculous. 

On the other side of the coin, I sold for £50 BIN a delay pedal that I won in an ebay auction a year or two back for £ 25. 

axisus

I'm outraged to be honest. Any trip to the local shops and everything is more than I want to pay for it. Did nobody get the memo that I'm important?

impmann

The reason everyone uses Buy-it-Now is auctions don't work any more. Everyone waits to the last few seconds to squeeze it for the lowest amount.

Frankly selling is a ball-ache right now - everywhere you sell, you get wallies low-balling you left right and centre. Farcebork is the worst - lots of twonks on there with "give you £xxx and will collect tonight" offers. Piss off. Everyone is an 'expert' and this expectation that as a seller you will move heaven, earth and everything else to ship something for with full insurance, packed to perfection and in better condition than listed for sums that its physically impossible to do so pisses me off. And when you don't offer shipping you get the whinges that you live "X hours away"... its not my fault where a buyer lives.

Anyway back on point - the issue is often that if you are an early adopter of something and you buy something new, then try to sell it for a reasonable sum, you find that the retailler/manufacturer has dropped the price massively in the mean time to shift the last of the stocks of the unit.

Rarity factors in this - the Sherwood Green Marr is a case in point. These are massively in demand in Offset circles and they didn't make many - IMHO its one of the best looking Jags of all time - and so the prices may be higher for this colour than the more common white. If colour doesn't bother you, then the pricing looks daft, but if it does...

Bottom line is - don't want to pay that much, move on and look at something else.

crunchman

impmann said:

The reason everyone uses Buy-it-Now is auctions don't work any more. Everyone waits to the last few seconds to squeeze it for the lowest amount.

At the same time, it's free to list something with a 99p start price, where it's not free to list something with a BIN.

I wouldn't do that with something valuable, but I wouldn't sell anything valuable on Feebay anyway.

adamm82

there are some good deals on ebay but you really have to dig deep these days.

Another site I occasionally check is cashconverters but their prices are stupid. 
I assume they make money just buying in store on impulse.

I've seen beat up second hand guitars about £50 less that you can a new one for. and their pedal prices are stupid too. and the occasional fake  

It's a shame as years ago these sort of shops were exciting to go to years ago. Well not exciting but you never knew what you might find. 

That's why my last 2 purchases were on here. reasonable prices and good people to deal with.

Legionreturns

Babones said:

Here's another. £987 new from GAK. This guy thinks as it's only a few months old it's still worth £900. Even at £1045 from other shops, that hasn't even removed the VAT.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fender-Road-Worn-Jaguar-Nitro-Candy-Apple-Red-/253050463185?hash=item3aeafba3d1

He also uses the non word "alot" so he is automatically a cretin who should be charged with manslaughter of the English language.

crunchman

adamm82 said:

Another site I occasionally check is cashconverters but their prices are stupid. 
I assume they make money just buying in store on impulse.

It's harder to find good bargains in shops like that these days.  15 or 20 years ago you used to be able to pick up some of the lesser known 70's Japanese brands for absolute peanuts because they didn't know what they had, but these days they can google it and find out what it is.

Around 15 years I bought a Daion Acoustic for £55 including a hard case that was worth close to that on it's own.  The guitar needed some work, but it was an absolute steal.

thermionic

I think the fundamental problem I have with all this is the feeling that it drives second hand prices higher. Look at MIJ/CIJ Jaguars and Jazzmasters - you'd have to plough through tens of £900-1000 ones to find one that you could buy for £500. I'm not an expert on Japanese guitars but they seem to be of basically MIM Classic quality but with much poorer pickups. Hopefully supply and demand will mean that as more and more people realise some of these prices are ludicrous, sellers will eventually have to drop their expectations to be more realistic.

Babones

Agreed, with the quality of MIMs these days, MIJ/CIJ guitars have lost what was their main selling point, bar the odd special colour, MIJ only models, perhaps.

Sassafras

I blame the internet.
For everything.

crunchman

I've sold 2 MIJ Fenders and now have 2 MIM Fenders.  They aren't exactly like for like (Strat vs Tele, Jazz bass vs P bass) but in both cases I'm much happier with the MIM.  I don't get the fuss over the MIJ instruments.  The pickups were horrible on the Tele.

impmann

thermionic said:

I think the fundamental problem I have with all this is the feeling that it drives second hand prices higher. Look at MIJ/CIJ Jaguars and Jazzmasters - you'd have to plough through tens of £900-1000 ones to find one that you could buy for £500. I'm not an expert on Japanese guitars but they seem to be of basically MIM Classic quality but with much poorer pickups. Hopefully supply and demand will mean that as more and more people realise some of these prices are ludicrous, sellers will eventually have to drop their expectations to be more realistic.

Maybe they are of similar quality - but personally speaking, I prefer the slimmer necks on the MIJ and most of them are lighter than the Mexican examples (both of which make them more desirable to me), plus we are back to rarity again. They won't be importing many more of them (if any) so if you are after something specific (such as an MIJ in a particular colour) you may have to pay over the odds.

I take it from that you are looking for a MIJ Jazzmaster, then? I think the days of £500 for one may be numbered, mate.

Funkfingers

It's not just Internet auction sites. 

A friend of mine just asked for almost full retail price on a guitar that he only bought six weeks ago. He just realised that he did not need really that guitar. I was with him when he originally decided to buy the guitar. I knew THEN that he did not really need it but it would have been bad form to say so out loud in the shop. (The proprietor is also a friend.)

Okay, so the guitar in question is a 2016 short run limited edition. "Find another one." Or not!

adamm82

crunchman said:

adamm82 said:

Another site I occasionally check is cashconverters but their prices are stupid. 
I assume they make money just buying in store on impulse.

It's harder to find good bargains in shops like that these days.  15 or 20 years ago you used to be able to pick up some of the lesser known 70's Japanese brands for absolute peanuts because they didn't know what they had, but these days they can google it and find out what it is.

Around 15 years I bought a Daion Acoustic for £55 including a hard case that was worth close to that on it's own.  The guitar needed some work, but it was an absolute steal.

That's why I always used to go look for these shops when I was in a new town. I bought a huge Marshall amp in one that was £40. I was a bit clueless at the time (17 years old) 
Struggled all the way to the train station with it.

Turns out it was a bass amp. I mainly used it in my room to put drinks on. 

Chalky

Am I the only person to read this thread and think "How can you get ANNOYED by how much an eBayer is asking for a guitar?"

Think they are stupid, yes, but get annoyed? No, that's way over-reacting.

Chill, man!

Funkfingers

All buyers seek bargains. All sellers delude themselves that their item is of above average value.

Chalky

Funkfingers said:

All buyers seek bargains. All sellers delude themselves that their item is of above average value.

I think you've nailed it there.  In the old days, you used to measure worth upwards - how much more than nothing is this thing worth? Nowadays, its measured downwards - this costs £X new so as its not too shabby or old then it must be worth £X minus ten per cent at most. Surely!

Gotta smile

Jack_

Back in my day this were all green fields.

thermionic

It's not all bad though, things like MIM Standard Strats and Teles are so plentiful you won't struggle to find a bargain. Squier VMs & CVs as well, although my local shop had the VM offsets for £255 when they came out and the used asking price is often well over this.

MtB

I agree with most of this, however the true market rate can also be (up)set by desperate sellers. Someone buys a guitar and soon after suffers from buyers remorse / angry wife syndrome / change of financial circumstances. Desperate for the cash, the seller accepts an offer £300 less than the market rate. Anyone now checking the sold prices sees a new "going rate".

This happened to me recently with my Super Reverb. A guy had sold an immaculate one on ebay for £700 about a month before I advertised mine at £900. I then had several punters quoting and offering me £700 as the "going rate" for this amp.