A gear pricing discussion on rareish stuff

  • Thread starter Thread starter Bram576
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Bram576

Bram576

Well-known member
All right, I’ve gotta ask your guys thoughts on a few things. Do you think that we on the forum(s) contribute to gear pricing hikes in our own right. Since we are at the majority the ones that seek rareish items. And at times people on here will pay thousands of dollars over the last sold example, because they just want something and they want it now. I will say, I definitely have caved in before, knowingly over-paying for an amp because I wanted it.

The second one as a follow up is listing items. There are very clear comparable sales out there (for pretty much everything), and yet I constantly see listings thousands of dollars over the last sold one. Are we basically just throwing shit at the wall to see if someone will be crazy enough to pay it? Does a wife just want something gone and you say sure honey, I’ll sell it lol. I will say sometimes it works, and other times it doesn’t and stuff sits.

Don’t take offense. I want to see honest opinions here.

I mean I’ll be the first to say the deal I got on my mark iic++ if I sell it somewhere down the line, it sure as shit won’t be for what I paid for it, more likely closer to what an actual comparable sell is.
 
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I basically never buy anything that isn't priced well under market value. There's a reason I've only bought one amp on this forum lol. Actual deals are few and far between, if you want to pay under price for something, you have to hunt elsewhere. If you just want to buy a nice condition X amp model, and are willing to pay market value, this is a great place to do it too.

That said, I'll happily list stuff over value because I'm not in a hurry to sell. If someone out there wants it so badly that they are willing to spend on it, I'll let it go. And I think there are a lot of people like that, not necessarily trying to sell something right this second, just fishing a bit, and that's fine too. Plus, I can tell the wife that I'm "trying to sell stuff" haha - exactly as you said.

It's just different mindsets. For my personal experience, the reason I have so many amps is because I've been accumulating them in rough condition from random places, priced aggressively, and I clean, repair, and test them up - sometimes that means spending money on tubes, solder, parts. I consider that a bit of a "service" in a way, so if I sell something, I'm pricing it back at market value for my efforts.

On the other hand, if I absolutely loved and only wanted a specific amp or two, I'd have no qualms about paying full price or even over to get the right one in the right condition, especially for rarer items. Then I'd be happy to have the amp and play it all the time and I'd never remember that I paid an extra 200 bucks or whatever in a year.

The third type of person are the people who go through tons of amps to try them all out, and I think they willing to pay market price because it's just part of the cost of the hobby. They aren't here to make money, they don't want to get fleeced either but if something cost $2k and something is for sale in great shape for $2100, and they know they can sell it 3 months later for $2000, they'll just consider that extra 100 bucks the value of renting/trying it out.
 
I price high.
I accept offers.
I'm never in a hurry to sell.

To be quite honest though, these days pretty much what I buy, I keep.
My thought process has changed quite a bit the last few years...
 
Bram576 said:
All right, I’ve gotta ask your guys thoughts on a few things. Do you think that we on the forum(s) contribute to gear pricing hikes in our own right. Since we are at the majority the ones that seek rareish items. And at times people on here will pay thousands of dollars over the last sold example, because they just want something and they want it now. I will say, I definitely have caved in before, knowingly over-paying for an amp because I wanted it.

The second one as a follow up is listing items. There are very clear comparable sales out there (for pretty much everything), and yet I constantly see listings thousands of dollars over the last sold one. Are we basically just throwing shit at the wall to see if someone will be crazy enough to pay it? Does a wife just want something gone and you say sure honey, I’ll sell it lol. I will say sometimes it works, and other times it doesn’t and stuff sits.

Don’t take offense. I want to see honest opinions here.

I mean I’ll be the first to say the deal I got on my mark iic++ if I sell it somewhere down the line, it sure as shit won’t be for what I paid for it, more likely closer to what an actual comparable sell is.
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There's some questionable listings in our Classifieds all the time. Some people are delusional.. Most, however, try to be reasonable. I price my shit to move.
 
The rare items will always command a premuim. Just like in any other genre. Since the Covid lockdown, when EVERYTHING went up, some have come back down while others are still staying priced high. I think the issue becomes more, are you willing to pay the higher price for something that is very hard to find? Just depends on whether or not you want it bad enough.

I used to flip items on ebay 15 yrs ago, and never sell for less than 30% more than what I paid. Over the last 7 yrs though, I'm ok breaking even. I don't run a gear store...I'm out to enjoy the gear, sell it possibly, to try another piece I've wanted to own. But I won't lose money on anything. That's my requirement. With most of my items bought pre Covid, and anything during/after bought for lower than market I'm ok moving items for a good price vs shooting for the moon. Unless it's a rare item that I'd be foolish not to mark up to its real value.
 
napalmdeath said:
There's some questionable listings in our Classifieds all the time. Some people are delusional.. Most, however, try to be reasonable. I price my shit to move.
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I’m kind of the same mind set. I list things for what I see they sell for. If I overpaid and know I did I might try to go middle ground.

A common example I see is mark IIIs which are fairly easy to get. Getting mods done to them are fairly cheap as well from Mesa. I bought mine for 2k, sold it for 2k. The amount of ridiculousness I see from ads though “this one is special… different from all others, no mods done to it, but I swear it’s the best I’ve ever played” and trying to sell it for 1500 dollars more. Hoping someone bites on it. And at times people do, which is even more crazy to me.
 
Have a feeling I know exactly what sparked this question, Brandon :ROFLMAO: I think some people are in this game for entirely different reasons
 
On this forum I generally don't haggle much. If I want it, have a general idea that the person is trustworthy, and the price is fair, I will just buy. When it comes to selling, I accept most offers under asking within reason. Whatever I lose is considered a rental fee.

About a year and a half ago I had to move so I cleaned out a bunch of cabs, amps, guitars, and pedals. Since then I have added some stuff, but almost always move something else to justify it. Don't have to but am keeping it a bit more simple these days.
 
It’s always going to come down to price it how you like. People will pay what it is worth to them. The price will adjust accordingly or become a family heirloom instead.
 
Bxlxaxkxe said:
Have a feeling I know exactly what sparked this question, Brandon :ROFLMAO: I think some people are in this game for entirely different reasons
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:ROFLMAO: It’s a culmination of things man, over several months I’ve noticed. And I won’t say who it was here, but someone literally was messaging me how good a particular amp is, this and that. Then a week later was like hey man do you want to buy x amp off of me (mind you I had showed zero interest). And I said maybe…. Wasn’t really looking but what are you asking. And they were trying to get a 1500 dollars more than I knew for a fact what they paid for it. What the fuck kind of used car salesmen shit is that.
 
Stuff is only worth what you can get someone to give you for it. Most listings on CL where I browse seem to be priced at the higher end of used market You see fewer "deals" or to get them you have to haggle with the buyer, who will want 85 percent of the new value in his claimed bottom line. Yeah good luck with that.
 
There are deals, but you have to be ready to pounce nowdays, because they are typically gone quick. Just saw that with a nice Jackson SLATQH guitar. Priced at what would be a super deal, even pre-Covid and the listing lasted maybe a couple hours? Of course, the guy who got a deal turned around listed it for 1500 more than he paid for it a couple days later....I get you can do whatever you want, but I always roll my eyes when guys do that.

As for me, I try to list my items fairly so they move relatively quick and I can try something else. Most times I make a modest profit or break even. Sometimes I make decent profit and sometimes I lose some money. Just the way it goes.
 
not like maybe 15-20 years ago when people would use whatever search engine and get directed to the forums if they searched for a particular amp, now i gotta think most everyone is going to youtube or social media first.
 
I don’t care how rare any amp or guitar is, I will never ever pay a premium for them.

I’ll wait for how ever long it takes until I get the killer deal on the instrument I’ve been wanting.
 
Texsunburst59 said:
I don’t care how rare any amp or guitar is, I will never ever pay a premium for them.

I’ll wait for how ever long it takes until I get the killer deal on the instrument I’ve been wanting.
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you are the king of the killer deal!! if you had a seminar on gear buying id buy it :LOL:
 
Lately I have been on a buying spree and pay about average overall. Some deals are under market, a few I happily paid a premium for to get a vintage amps in excellent condition.

I don't concern myself with profitability when it comes to amps/gear. So long as it is within my disposable income I don't mind paying extra to get EXACTLY what I want.
 
There are groups of people in any hobby who simply want things because they are rare, and nobody else can have it. Usually, these people rarely use the items, and end up selling them after the "newness" of it and showing it off ends. I don't understand it but it's their money so...if it makes you happy why not.
 
japetus said:
There are groups of people in any hobby who simply want things because they are rare, and nobody else can have it. Usually, these people rarely use the items, and end up selling them after the "newness" of it and showing it off ends. I don't understand it but it's their money so...if it makes you happy why not.
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Of course, everyone is absolutely free to do what they wish their own money. I personally always look for what I’d call “fair deals”. And I try to list fair. People who consistently overpay, that’s their deal 100 percent. I just fail to understand the hyping up a piece of gear like there’s no tomorrow. THEN trying to list it for double the last sold listing when we all have the search bar feature on the last sold listing and pricing it a certain way “because this one’s better than all the other ones out there” even though it’s an identical circuit.

If people are open about it that they treat gear as a used car salesmen deal and try to hype shit and profit off it, that’s cool… but you lose credibility doing that stuff IMO. Especially with me when you’re posting stuff about amps. If you’re getting rid of something for a fair price trying to get your money back just because the honey moon is over, that’s one thing but trying to double your profits or make a quick thousand dollars… idk man. There are YouTubers out there that do this stuff too with revisions and shit. Then a week later selling that item trying to double what they paid and selling a whole fleet of them. Just bull shit.
 
I just buy according to how good an amp seems to be imo . I have my own price scale I go by
 
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