Turning a profit on gear - Would you?

Hertz32

I flat out refuse to make a profit from the classefieds here. If I got a deal, you'll get a deal.
But on Gumtree/eBay/facebook I call it fair game. For instance I just sold my Laney IRT Studio for £255 on Gumtree, I paid £245 4 months ago for it on eBay.
I'm aware there are dealers out there, but when that Feline Iceman went on ebay for about £200 and was then subsequently flipped on here for twice that or so because we know the value of the brand I was right pissed off I was.

boogieman

Wouldn't do it on here, I'd feel dirty afterwards. But yes, other places are fair game.

Philly_Q

Why shouldn't you make a profit?  If you can pick up a bargain but someone else wants it enough to pay a bit more for it I see nothing at all wrong with that, either legally, ethically or morally.

It's a bit of a moot point though - I've sold scores of guitars and related stuff and I can count the number of times I've made a profit on the fingers of one hand.

Dinosauria

I pretty much do the same thing as the OP, I'll only ever buy a piece of gear for what I'm comfortable I can shift it for if I decide to sell it on later. I'm happy to sell on at the same deal, especially on forums/local music circles.

On Gumtree etc I tend to put them up at market price. That leaves room to manoeuvre if the buyer is a haggle monster or just a decent buyer who I'd like to cut a deal.

When it comes to gear buying, selling, trading I think what goes around comes around. If you're known as a gouger then no one will want to deal with you.

Maynehead

I never buy gear just to flip and make profit. I buy something if I like it and it's a good price, and the fact that I might be able to get my money back is a nice safety net.

I have made profits on selling guitars and amps but I've also made losses. I'd say overall I'm just above break even. I find that I t's actually quite hard to make any kind of meaningful profit, considering all the eBay and PayPal fees, petrol costs etc.

drwiddly

Same here. I've done some good deals on here both buying and selling and wouldn't want to turn anyone over. eBay, etc. is a different matter. Over the years I've made good profits on some things and lost a few quid on others but it sells for what it sells for.

mart

I wouldn't go out of my way to earn a profit, but I don't have any objection to those who do. 

A few years ago somebody found a bass going really cheap on eBay because the listing was filed in the wrong section. He then sold it for ten times the price, which was about the going rate. Some screamed that he was profiteering. But the reality is, he only found that bargain because he spent the time searching through eBay, or working to set up the right tools so he would get notified when bargains appeared. In short, he'd earnt it. But all the forum people could see where the two prices - what he'd paid, and what he sold it for - and they all cried foul.

Life's too short to get pissed off about the price something is sold for on a guitar forum.

mart

Oh, and if that guy with the bass had sold it at the price he'd paid, then it would have lowered the value for anyone else owning the same bass. People would say "well, the last one sold for £xx, so I'm not paying £xx0".

Hertz32

Strangley I've managed to turn a profit every time I sell an amp.both times on eBay.
My Dark terror and IRT were the same RRP but I got £20 more for it when I sold it than I paid for the laney.
I now sold the Laney for a tenner more than I paid. So I'm around £30 in the green on them both

ICBM

I don't see why you wouldn't. It depends a bit on how it's done though… I tend to feel it goes with the concept of 'community'.

Buy something here because you were the first to spot it, then flip it for double the money almost immediately? Not a very nice thing to do. We're supposed to be a community and the right thing would be to let the seller know they were giving it away.

Buy something that was slightly underpriced in good faith because you wanted to use it, decide that it wasn't for you and sell it for a small profit a while later? No problem, even if it was bought and sold on here. No-one is being ripped off or taken advantage of.

Buy something on Ebay or Gumtree from a seller you don't know then sell it here at a profit, to someone who really wants it but maybe didn't spot the original sale or doesn't like to buy from Ebay, where's the problem either?

Buy/sell at any amount of profit from/to people you don't know outside the forum? That's business. You don't owe anyone any moral duty to research prices for them. Fairly accurate pricing information is a few mouse clicks away, the same mouse clicks that let you advertise it online. It's not like in the old days of shops and magazine ads.

Gassage

I have a rule. If I buy it on here, I always offer it back at the same price I paid. I respect the community and I don't believe in profiting from our goodwill.

As an example, I am SELLING THE HIWATT (honest).

£1600 to you lot, but £1750 on the Facebook classifieds. (incl cab)

mike_l

Gassage said:

As an example, I am SELLING THE HIWATT (honest).

Who are you, and where's Gassage?

usedtobe

Profit? Wassat??

guitarfishbay

Do what you want and live with the consequences of your actions. Selling at a profit is often more faff than it is worth IME.

Fiftyshadesofjay

If you're the now owner of a piece of gear, it's yours to do whatever the hell you want with it in my opinion.

That being said, the majority of stuff goes for around what it's worth most of the time, and you'd have to scour the classifieds constantly looking for real bargains if you were serious about making a profit. 

bingefeller

I wouldn't sell anything for a profit on here but, if I had something that I had bought for a stupidly cheap price and knew I could make a profit, then I would sell it on eBay.  

Hertz32

bingefeller;643376" said:

I wouldn't sell anything for a profit on here but, if I had something that I had bought for a stupidly cheap price and knew I could make a profit, then I would sell it on eBay.  

I'd do the opposite. I'd sell it here and let it become a community deal.
I got an ENGL 2x12 with V30's for £150 off here. Thats Crazy pricing. So if/when I sell, it'll go for the same figure on here.

Fiftyshadesofjay

Hertz32 said:

bingefeller;643376" said:

I wouldn't sell anything for a profit on here but, if I had something that I had bought for a stupidly cheap price and knew I could make a profit, then I would sell it on eBay.  

I'd do the opposite. I'd sell it here and let it become a community deal.
I got an ENGL 2x12 with V30's for £150 off here. Thats Crazy pricing. So if/when I sell, it'll go for the same figure on here.

Ah, but what happens if somebody on here takes advantage of your generous deal and then decides to flip it themselves for a profit? Could easily happen.

Gassage

I would point out that my goodwill stops short with @drew_fx

I uplift all prices by 80% for him.

mike_l

On here, sell at a bargain price, make profit from fleabay (or bumtree/TGP etc)

 

 

 

Drew_TNBD

Gassage said:

I would point out that my goodwill stops short with @drew_fx

I uplift all prices by 80% for him.

Good job I'm not in the market for ex-sportsmen who like to slurp schlong then innit?