Buyer's market?

LPManic

I've read in various places the opinion that it is a buyer's market at the minute and will be for some time.

I'm wondering what hobby and professional sellers think about that? How are sales at the minute? I see a lot of guitars popping up on Ebay and the like but I don't see any change in prices.

Would it be a good time to buy from reputable establishments? Would there be some haggling room?

sweepy

I think that with varying levels of lockdown and cashflow hassles these days, cold hard cash carries a lot of weight 

RaymondLin

I thought all gear prices has gone up and it is a seller's market? 

mbe

RaymondLin said:

I thought all gear prices has gone up and it is a seller's market? 

I concur with that, thinking the demand is stronger with recent lockdown restrictions.

DB1

I've found it pretty decent to be honest. I have a few up for sale, and could have sold them all really. I've taken some sensible offers along the way, but there haven't been any silly offers.

The Godin that I advertised on here didn't get any interest (I didn't expect it to, although it was a nice guitar) but sold at a higher price within half an hour of it being on Gumtree. 

There are a couple of guitars in the classifieds that I'm amazed are still for sale at great prices, but it doesn't (surprisingly) seem to be particularly a buyers market from what I've seen. 

In fact some of the prices on eBay seem higher than ever, although asking price and getting price aren't necessarily the same of course. 

It doesn't seem that stores are panicking on prices either.

RaymondLin

mbe said:

RaymondLin said:

I thought all gear prices has gone up and it is a seller's market? 

I concur with that, thinking the demand is stronger with recent lockdown restrictions.

There’s about half a dozen threads on TGP about prices going up, with Reverb fees gone up the prices went up too to compensate, people at home with nothing to do they start buying guitars, gym equipment and try getting a bike!

From what I have seen it is anything but a buyer’s market at the moment.

skunkwerx

I dunno, I’ve got two Ltd’s, ones been up for months and not so much as a bite.. 

Granted they are not the easiest to sell at the best of times though.

Taking them into cash converters on Sat to see what I can get.. 

DrCornelius

I think it’s a buyers market on here only.

Most people (me included ) would much rather sell on here because the buyer is going to be one of us - for that reason we lower our prices until someone here is interested enough.

My Wilko tele didn’t get a sniff on here at a good price for weeks. Eventually rather than drop it further I put it on eBay at a higher price and it went within 24 hours and I could have probably priced it even higher.

thebreeze

DrCornelius said:

I think it’s a buyers market on here only.

Most people (me included ) would much rather sell on here because the buyer is going to be one of us - for that reason we lower our prices until someone here is interested enough.

My Wilko tele didn’t get a sniff on here at a good price for weeks. Eventually rather than drop it further I put it on eBay at a higher price and it went within 24 hours and I could have probably priced it even higher.

I think this is definitely the case.  The classifieds here are their own world and bear little relation to the usual markets.  I see really nice stuff here, nearly always underpriced, sitting around for months, particularly amps and acoustics.  I sold two amps, a modest Blackstar and a nice Cornell, on the same day I put them up on EBay.

impmann

Tbh, prices are too high... they’ve crept up during the pre lockdown period due to perceptions over demand. That demand isn’t there... that’s why stuff is sitting unsold. I understand folks are trying to get back what they spent but if they over spent in the first place...

Ive seen some stuff that is optimistically priced sit for months - if it doesn’t sell after a long period at a price, it’s too expensive. End of.

Something to bear in mind - just because something is rare, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s valuable. There may be a reason for its rarity... and that reason may be because very few people are interested. And if few are interested, it’s not desirable ergo not valuable.

thermionic

I’ve had a few guitars on my ebay watch list because they’re staggeringly overpriced. Ordinary, run of the mill guitars like a 15 year old MIM Classic Strat for £200 more than they were new, or a couple of dinged low-end Taylors for £40 less than you can get new. Latest is a nice reverb pedal, scratched, but 39p more than I could get a new one for tomorrow. None of them sell.

Fuengi

Do any of the large manufacturers have staff on furlough? 

I'm thinking to hold on the gear at the moment in case the supply chain gets sticky in the next few months. 

Logie

The prices for Gibson and PRS particularly have rocketed in the last 6 months or so. You could easily pick up a pre 2006 Les Paul Standard for sub £1300 at the beginning of the year but the used prices start around £1500 at the moment for run of the mill guitars. I sold my minty PRS Custom 24 10 top in March for £1600 and it took two months to sell at that price ( with no interest on here  for £1500 ) and now £1800 seems to be the start point for a half decent one. Definitely not a buyers market.

guitars4you

A couple of factors to take into account

For the seller - Are you prepared to play the long game or want a quick sale -That will have an impact on your asking price

Over the last 2-4 years, on many major brands/models, we have seen hefty price increases - That will have an impact on the used prices we ask, be it a dealer or private sale - 10 years ago, or so, a new PRS Custom 22/24 was around £1999, so many used examples under £1500 - Now a new CU22/24 is in excess of £3000 so that pushes up the used prices - Apply the same conditions to a new Custom Shop model from Fender or Gibson etc etc 

Just a hunch on my part, but with so many now on furlough and/or working from home - Hence more disposable time - I think many are just taking the 'suck it and see' approach - List such and such a guitar on Reverb, E-bay, FB etc and see what happens and on that basis the asking price is higher

As it happens my sales figures are up on the same period as per last year and that takes into account I've had all my shows cancelled after March - So I was not expecting this

Add to this, expect to see supply issues of new guitars, especially from the USA due to covid - Not sure what impact this is having on guitars from the far east 

LordOxygen

Give it 12 to 18 months and the market will be flooded with guitars purchased in lockdown with the best intentions that are no longer required.

roberty

LordOxygen said:

Give it 12 to 18 months and the market will be flooded with guitars purchased in lockdown with the best intentions that are no longer required.

Bwahahahaha. A musical instrument is for life, not just for lockdown

fretmeister

Pedals are selling easily because they are modestly priced and a nice treat in lockdown. 

Instruments and amps are a bigger purchase and might not be as wise a purchase if jobs are at risk.

So a bit of both I think.

Whitecat

I've sold stuff during lockdown for substantially more money than I was asking late last year even... I relisted several things I had sitting on ebay for a while in 2020 (eventually removed from sale for a few months) and once up they went in just a few days for more money than I could have gotten last year. £2k+ guitars included...

Fortheloveofguitar

I’ve sold two custom shop Gibson Les Pauls in the past fortnight and made a considerable profit on what I paid for them Les than 12 months ago 

One thing I’ve noticed is that stores are offering extremely low prices on buy ins. GG offered me just £1500 for an R8 and Richtone just £1300 

Given that Richtone will sell a used R8 for around £2750 that’s a 95% mark up. But the liars told me they’d sell it on site for £2000. Complete BS

Whitecat

Fortheloveofguitar said:

I’ve sold two custom shop Gibson Les Pauls in the past fortnight and made a considerable profit on what I paid for them Les than 12 months ago 

One thing I’ve noticed is that stores are offering extremely low prices on buy ins. GG offered me just £1500 for an R8 and Richtone just £1300 

Given that Richtone will sell a used R8 for around £2750 that’s a 95% mark up. But the liars told me they’d sell it on site for £2000. Complete BS

I suppose they are working off the fact that they know some dealers have suspended trade-ins entirely due to the pandemic so competition is a little lower right now... but they should also realise that good stuff sells fast so idk...

Roland

Peoples’ finances are all over the place. Touring musicians with no income. Salaried people working from home with no commuting costs and extra time on their hands. Furloughed or newly redundant with time but no money. Then, as @fretmeister says, there are people treating themselves. I suspect that this is not just lower priced items like pedals, but also that guitar you’ve been thinking about for months or years. There’s also the underlying trend away from large valve amps and cabinets which is exacerbated by the lack of gigging opportunities.

So I guess it might be a buyers market for some items, but not all.