Bedroom Dealers/Flippers

guitars4you

^^^^^^ - add to this - Reverb etc allows everyone to be the worlds finest/largest/best dealer - From whatever building they wish to be working from - The changing face of commerce

StefB

It annoys me more as a buyer than a seller. As I say, it’s no different from ticket touts in my view as it removes a fair priced commodity from affordable circulation just so someone can (try and) make a quick buck. 

At least as a seller I like to think I’m savvy enough to spot them so it doesn’t irk me as much in that sense. 

JezWynd

guitars4you said:

^^^^^^ - add to this - Reverb etc allows everyone to be the worlds finest/largest/best dealer - From whatever building they wish to be working from - The changing face of commerce

But they aren't professional sellers. Thy don't offer a support service or any expertise. They are simply looking to sell with minimal responsibility and little come back. 

Adey

I sold a car to a dealer once, and would you believe it, he put it up for sale straight away at a much higher price.

Unbelievable....

StefB

Adey said:

I sold a car to a dealer once, and would you believe it, he put it up for sale straight away at a much higher price.

Unbeleivable....

Did he try and pretend he wasn’t a dealer?

Adey

I didn't really care. I was happy with what I got for it. He had the issue with selling it on again to try to make a profit.

guitars4you

I'm also missing the guitar shows which gave me  a good chance to buy stock - 18 shows in 2019 - 2 in 2020 and both in Feb

Adey

He didn't have a forecourt and definitely didn't keep them in his bedroom though.

Car was a lovely Alfa 166 3.0. The engine was a work of art. Yum

ThePrettyDamned

Don't sell to them if you don't like it.

I would question whether they pay taxes or not, but other than that, it's something that's always happened. 

If I bought a guitar from one of these dealers I'd ask what the service was - do I get a returns period? Often, they specifically state you don't... 

Keefy

Once upon a time the Keefy family took a load of old shite to a car boot sale. A lady made us an offer on a load of [insert name of toys]. We accepted and took her money.

Half an hour later Mrs Keefy spotted those very same toys on the lady trader’s stall at much higher prices.

Were we upset? For about 10 seconds. We went home with folding money and the trader had stock for her business which afaik she didn’t sell that day. She didn’t disclose her trade status (although I had my suspicions) and didn’t give us a sob story.

If someone comes to me with a sob story my response would be: Oh dear, you can’t afford the thing that I’m selling.

Epsilon

Perhaps on the basis of our massive network of informants we can then send out the fretboard Gestapo to round them up. Then we can hold public Maoist denunciation meetings to really put people in their place.

I'm all for calling out dodgy buying and selling practices wherever they are (e.g misrepresenting items as new when they are not, as seen recently), provided they are evidenced. But am I the only one that finds some of this idea of "naming and shaming" a little bit uncomfortable? Usually results in unevidenced accusations of sellers not paying tax, and you only ever get one side of the story. You also see threads "calling out" some of the big guitar retailers at the first sign of an issue, which damages their often hard-won reputations over one transaction. 

JezWynd

Keefy said:

If someone comes to me with a sob story my response would be: Oh dear, you can’t afford the thing that I’m selling.

Teyeplayer

JezWynd said:

DrCornelius said:

So what do we do ? (if the majority agree something should be done) 

All meet at the crossroads clutching something pointy?

Vigilante pitchfork rule, absolutely. :+1

We work through each bedroom dealer, one at a time.  Break in, tie them to a chair and torture until they release social media passwords. We then lower the price of everything to sensible amounts, sell it off quickly and release them when the stock is cleared. Rinse and repeat until the bedroom dealer circuit has been reduced to a shivering wreck of its former self and prices have been returned to realistic levels.

In all seriousness and piss take aside, I’ve no idea how we protect ourselves as a community but like you guys they do my head in. I also find it really quite amusing (and infuriating at the same time) when you approach them about something they’ve got that you fancy and there’s ‘absolutely no negotiation on price, it’s the best I can do’ and the claim of a ‘50% trade-in value if you want to part-ex’ as if they were a bricks and mortar shop. 

Keefy

JezWynd said:

Keefy said:

If someone comes to me with a sob story my response would be: Oh dear, you can’t afford the thing that I’m selling.

Especially her!

gazrichards

Let’s not beat around the bush here. Your talking about Steve Jordan and Jordan guitars. 

There are a few names I could add but most are dealing with one or two guitars at a time (I currently have 5 for sale, 2 of which are my old ones I’m selling as I’ve replaced it with ones I got in and prefer- something I seem to do quite a lot!!)
steve has about 30 guitars all of high value and asking a high price (and he states he won’t take offers on price??). I’ve heard some stories about him seriously lowballing folk and he regularly puts adverts out saying he will pay such and suc( for certain guitars only to apparently drop from his stated price on discussion. 

LordOxygen

I have a lot of respect for bedroom dealers, over the years I've sold perhaps 5 used guitars, despite my best efforts I've lost decent sums of money on each one.
Good to know there's at least a chance of making a few quid one day. 

LPManic

I can't see how anyone is making money at the moment. I've had my eye on the used market since the beginning of Corona and generally there is no value anywhere. The new prices are ridiculous - an Am Std Strat at £1700 for example - and used prices are not far behind. And in many ways it's not even the prices but the amount of guitars out there. Good luck to the flippers. I think they need it.

Moloch

It honestly doesn't bother me in the slightest. I've seen Steve Jordan around, knew Jim Ramsay quite well for a while and have even sold a PRS to Essex Recording Studios. I've also sold a couple of Les Pauls to the Vintage Guitar Emporium (Fat Rick's). What's the difference?

If I get what I want for my guitar then I really don't give a crap if someone tries to flip it for more. And if I see a guitar that I fancy being sold by a bedroom flipper at an excessive price, I make an offer and if they don't accept I move on and look for something else.

As for the sob stories, seriously, grow a spine. If someone is trying to talk you below your floor price off the back of his nan's cat getting cancAIDS and only being curable with your Ibanez S540LTD, just ignore them, or tell them to fuck off.

As some others have commented, this all seems incredibly control freakish.

Pabcrane

I saw Goody Proctor selling a guitar!

SlopeSoarer

Really what is the problem? Bedroom dealers (I'm guessing) look at classified adverts, which are open for everyone to look at. If they see an opportunity to buy and sell making a profit, what is the problem with that?

You have the same opportunity to scan the classifieds and buy to keep. 

The bedroom dealer is probably just a bit more motivated!

Life is to short to worry about stuff like this for me

Oh.... and if they try to chip you, you can always say no!