A 'friendly' steer on pricing...

Neil

Obviously more esoteric gear will be harder to sell as the market is less and if you buy new and want to sell it on you will probably have to take a beating on what you paid. However forum favourite type guitars if well priced will soon go as far as I can see.

TBH if I really wanted rid of something I'd knock the price down (within reason) until it sold rather than pathetically keeping on bumping it up for months and months.

After all if you don't want it any more?

koss59

kurremkarmerruk;437802" said:

There have been  some very goods threads here about the value added by a shop.  I 'm tryin to get a grand for me Mercury .  I called a Carr dealer in the UK and they will give me a grand for it if I part-ex it (I was looking at an another amp for c£1300 and mine is a custom finish job).  I daresay they'll stick it up for sale with a mark-up (and I would expect them to, they are a business).  I don't think I'm over-priced at all.  Fact is, not everyone wants a Mercury, not everyone's got a grand to spare.  Doesn't mean my price is off, doen't man I'm not being realistic. 

Shops also have the ability to accept credit cards which is a large selling point for buyers these days. It's not easy to find a grand cash but they can stick it on a card and sell stuff over the next two months etc

ToneControl

Some stuff does naturally take a long time to shift: pricey, less well known gear typically

What always disappoints me is to take the time to read an ad, get interested, then find the seller thinks that a used item can be sold on for just 10% or 15% less than the new price (especially when the item is only sold new by one seller, or the manufacturer, and you are certain that the price is static).

Parker

I had a guy trolling my post on Facebook. "Dude, all due respect, you won't get that price. I sold mine almost identical [posts blurred low res pic] and barely scraped X for it". By this point, the post is ruined and I had to take it down. Low and behold, I got what I wanted for it! Discrete PM's on price is no bad thing.... You can choose to ignore it if you want and your thread is untouched. But sadly, prices do fluctuate and I have seen lots of posts stating a higher price on a used guitar than a reduced shop price that comes with full warrantee. Surely as a seller, you'd like to know....it might help make up your mind to keep it for a year or two or rethink a realistic price.

crunchman

I've had a thread selling a PRS Singlecut derailed by some "friendly" person saying I was asking too much for it.  The price I was asking was less than 50% of the original new price (not paid by me - the original new buyer left the receipt in the case).  I knew that I was being slightly optimistic with price, but at least it gave me scope for people to make offers and to bump it with a reduction a week or two down the line.

There was also someone on here who put out a WTB for a Singlecut.  I responded to this ad, and he refused to budge above £1000, and told me that was the most I would get for it.  It's taken a while but I sold it through a shop on consignment and I just got £1190 through last week.  £190  is quite a useful sum of money.

If you think something is overpriced, then I agree that you should send a PM rather than derail someone's thread.

EricTheWeary

It is within the rules of the forum not to criticise prices within a classified thread. So it's reportable to and deletable by the Mods.

Panama_Jack666

On another note, I've never understood the for sale threads that are like 'Guitar for sale, PM for pics and price'. Clearly they are lazy adverts/posters but surely it would be more effort if 10 people PM'd them asking for pictures instead of putting them in one central location?

impmann

For me, I get annoyed with idiotic PMs and the like from folks linking to things that have sold for less, FAR less than the norm, claiming that this should be the price. Or linking to a cheaper version of the guitar/amp/fx I'm selling...

I'm happy to entertain an offer from someone who if genuinely interested in buying something but I really fail to understand those who feel its their "duty" to apply pressure for a price drop - but have no interest in buying it themselves. Frankly the words "life" and "get a" spring to mind...

If I have something for sale, I have already done the research - I've taken an average sale price (from eBay normally, as that is actually a fair arbiter of what something can be bought for despite the protestations of some people) and I'm happy to spend loads of time with anyone who's interested. However, "tyrekickers" and chancers piss me off and get a very short thrift... if you feel that's harsh, take a look in the mirror and ask yourself why? Life is too short for timewasters.

Heartfeltdawn

What gets me are the number of people who complain about Ebay as a trading platform but who happily list their own gear up on the Fretboard for the Ebay going rate... 

fretmeister

I like the ebay threats best.

ONLY LISTED FOR ONE WEEK THEN EBAY

On Basschat at the moment there is someone selling an admittedly rare pedal. It looks in great condition. It is only available for 1 week before ebay. The price he wants is about double what the last 2 went for on ebay, within the last 3 months.

Samgb

Panama_Jack666 said:

On another note, I've never understood the for sale threads that are like 'Guitar for sale, PM for pics and price'. Clearly they are lazy adverts/posters but surely it would be more effort if 10 people PM'd them asking for pictures instead of putting them in one central location?

In defence of this - it is a ridiculous faff posting photos on here. Having to upload to a photo app or whatever. Its not very user friendly for that so i can see why someone would post a couple and then request PMs for more.

*says man who had murder trying to get photos of the guitar i had up on here - before someone checks up on me:)* 

Voxman

impmann said:

For me, I get annoyed with idiotic PMs and the like from folks linking to things that have sold for less, FAR less than the norm, claiming that this should be the price. Or linking to a cheaper version of the guitar/amp/fx I'm selling...

I'm happy to entertain an offer from someone who if genuinely interested in buying something but I really fail to understand those who feel its their "duty" to apply pressure for a price drop - but have no interest in buying it themselves. Frankly the words "life" and "get a" spring to mind...

If I have something for sale, I have already done the research - I've taken an average sale price (from eBay normally, as that is actually a fair arbiter of what something can be bought for despite the protestations of some people) and I'm happy to spend loads of time with anyone who's interested. However, "tyrekickers" and chancers piss me off and get a very short thrift... if you feel that's harsh, take a look in the mirror and ask yourself why? Life is too short for timewasters.

That's an interesting one. The level of knowledge & experience of sellers can vary enormously.  For someone experienced like yourself I can completely understand that you've researched, set your price, that's what you're after (or close to it) and that's great.

But sometimes you do see the odd items that are massively unrealistic and I don't see anything wrong in trying to be helpful to someone where the price looks completely out of touch.  Recent example* was someone offering a used Line 6 HD300 for sale at a start price of £210 when Andersons and others were selling at £149-179 brand new and warrantied.  I dropped a brief friendly heads up saying I wasn't after one myself, but was he aware of price drops, & gave two links so he could see for himself.  I wasn't applying pressure to the guy, merely bringing him up to speed with market changes - his call of course as to whether he acted on it or not. The guy was very appreciative because it was his second insert & hadn't got any interest, and he had no idea how new prices had dropped lik a stone and was going by what it had cost him 18 mths ago.  

I don't make a habit of it, but that one just stood out like a sore thumb. Sure, I could have shrugged my shoulders and ignored it, but what's wrong with being friendly and (hopefully) helpful to a fellow muso bro? (*it came up on 'items you might be interested in' btw).

frankus

I think the problem is that people take ownership for way too much.

Evil ebay listings, classifieds selling for too much... other people liking relic guitars...

Equally people like rescuing a fair bit - you know helping out, except when it's uninvited, then they say "I was only trying to help out" - oh well in that case...

These are not bad things of themselves, but the license it seems to give people to act badly, because they think they're doing the right thing is baffling. It's as if they see behaviour as less important than intent. You can tell someone they've dropped a tenner AND ruin their day if you go about it the wrong way - and it's not worth a tenner.

Usually the only times someone is selling stuff is when they want something else OR they've a financial emergency OR they're getting grief from "'er indoors" - if people considered that more often, they'd probably hold-back or be more diplomatic. The price might be unrealistic, it might be a token gesture, (shrug, well I tried to sell it...) it might be a fraught act of desperation, or it might be ignorance.

I think it'd be enough if people genuinely figured out their own reasons for wading in before they do so, and helping others.

Rox

fretmeister said:

I like the ebay threats best.

ONLY LISTED FOR ONE WEEK THEN EBAY

On Basschat at the moment there is someone selling an admittedly rare pedal. It looks in great condition. It is only available for 1 week before ebay. The price he wants is about double what the last 2 went for on ebay, within the last 3 months.

In all fairness, (certainly if I say it's a pre-Ebay ad), it isn't a threat - more the opposite - I'm desperately hoping someone - anyone - will save me from the horror of using Ebay! 

crunchman

Heartfeltdawn said:

What gets me are the number of people who complain about Ebay as a trading platform but who happily list their own gear up on the Fretboard for the Ebay going rate... 

The Ebay going rate is a good start point as a seller.  If you put that (or maybe 5% below) as your start price then it allows someone to make an offer on it and you will still see about the same amount of money back.

I'd rather sell on here, but as a rough rule of thumb, I don't want to go more than 15% below the Ebay rate as I'd be losing money.  If someone on here buys at 10% below the Ebay rate everyone wins.  The seller is about 3% better off than with Ebay assuming that you don't use normal Paypal for the transaction, and the buyer is 10% better off.  For me that is the sweet spot.

Fazer

ebay rates can vary dramatically.
i've seen the same retro keyboard i was looking at go from anywhere between £80 and £250, purely by randomness of time and who was looking to buy that week

impmann

EXACTLY - you take an average. 

Sadly some (usually the vocal ones) will then say its worth the lower of those two sums... and won't have it any other way because they can prove one sold for that sum.

Fazer

as a buyer i tell myself "they can go for £80, so hang on till you get one that price!"
as a seller i tell myself "they can go for £250, so hang on till you get that price!"

Heartfeltdawn

crunchman said:

The Ebay going rate is a good start point as a seller.  If you put that (or maybe 5% below) as your start price then it allows someone to make an offer on it and you will still see about the same amount of money back.

I'd rather sell on here, but as a rough rule of thumb, I don't want to go more than 15% below the Ebay rate as I'd be losing money.  If someone on here buys at 10% below the Ebay rate everyone wins.  The seller is about 3% better off than with Ebay assuming that you don't use normal Paypal for the transaction, and the buyer is 10% better off.  For me that is the sweet spot.

Yes it is a good starting point and your selling policy is how I like to do mine on here and on Gumtree (10% of so below the Ebay rate).

midlifecrisis

Ive had a couple of yrs finding gumtree quite good but lately ive had a spate of people making offers(their prerogative and mine to accept or decline) but a few recently have made an offer, which I accepted then just disappeared. im not desperate to chase them up but I wouldn't dream of making someone an offer ujnless I was intending to buy.