10 things to remember when buying .or selling second hand or in fact new gear

Keira-WitherKay

there was a post yesterday where the subject strayed into an interesting topic of the price to expect from 2nd hand gear .so rather than paste this on that page ......i thought it should be a separate post so here's a conversation around selling/pricing 2nd hand gear ........

cos as someone who actively trawls pawn shops and gumtree in search of 2nd hand gear ........i have picked up great deals ..... gear at 25% or the retail price...... so people who think they will get a great price 2nd hand for 'common " gear , cos the vintage or rare market is something else..... need to rather keep their gear as backups.....cos even music stores are offering around 30 % or more on new gear ....... this week i had 4 stores quote me on a blues junior fender all tube amp ....... and the best price was 36% off the retail ........ and the worst was 25% off the retail and the other two came in at 30 % less retail

so basically if i was to buy it .not like it and want to sell it sell it i would need to price it at about 40 - 50% of the retail price just to make it attractive cos remember if my choice is retail less 36% and thats new and with a 12 month gaurentee/warranty.....it is worth buying from the store.so to get a buyers attention and cos it will have no warranty the price better be so attractive i can't say no like at least 50% of retail ..or they simply just buy new.......

and anyway i buy tons of 2nd' hand gear and i even find it difficult just to recoup my monies on most deals and i ussually only buy the real bargains.so what i'm saying is that the 2nd hand market is tough cos lets face it yesterday i walked into pick and pay and spent a grand on 4 bags of groceries ...scary to think that cost of living is just so high at the moment ...and climbing so people have less money for gear.......... unless it's the deal you can't refuse like that gibson SG for R8500 ( if i recall) or was it R6500 but it was priced to sell..... and it did .....

anyway thats my take on the 2nd hand market and i do have the gear all which i bought at the low prices to prove my point ...... and i know a few other people on this forum that also watch the pawn shops and gumtree like a hawk .....and rightly so

so to sum up . 10 points to remember when buying gear .......and to keep in mind when selling
1. it's definitely a buyers market ,
2 rare and vintage gear of course will hold it's price way better ,
3. any gear thats linked to technology with electronic based chips ect will outdate very quickly and lose value as technology leaps forward,
4. most stores these days offer competitive discounts on all new gear so don't take retail price as the final price and always shop around....
5. pawn shops do excist with awesome gear at low prices.same with gumtree.....
6. when buying , research whatever you plan to buy beforehand..to either spot a fake or make sure you getting the correct price........
7. a warranty is always worth a few dollars more so if the choice is from a new item or one almost the same price but slightly used ..think about the warranty
8. and also remember almost anything can be repaired on musical gear .so if you see a Gibson les paul with a broken neck selling for a fraction of the price..it most likely can be fixed
9. ask yourself .are you buying gear to use or gear as a collectors item? ...cos if you gig with your rare /vintage guitar you will add wear and it will devalue it.......... so if your initial idea was to buy it as an investment ....keep it in as perfect nick as possible......
but if you like me .i only buy guitars i wanna gig with and yes i can see the added wear that i have been responsible for ...... also remember guitars that go to gigs can be damaged by others or "stolen" far easier than if it is kept in a case at home.........
10. i saved the most important point for last always negotiate prices.everyone from the dealer ,to gumtree,classified sellers are flexible cos the market is depressed.... and so get the best bang for your buck............you do it in your bussiness why not when you buy gear .....

Bob-Dubery

Keira WitherKay wrote:
so to sum up . 10 points to remember when buying gear .......and to keep in mind when selling
1. it's definitely a buyers market ,
2 rare and vintage gear of course will hold it's price way better ,
3. any gear thats linked to technology with electronic based chips ect will outdate very quickly and lose value as technology leaps forward,
4. most stores these days offer competitive discounts on all new gear so don't take retail price as the final price and always shop around....

Note too that due to a combination of various factors, including (1) and (4) on Keira's list, stores are not giving such good trade ins now as they did a couple of years ago. When you trade your Epiphone in for a Tokai the store knows that
a) they are going to be put over a barrel and spanked until they give you their very lowest price on that Tokai
b) somebody is going to come into the store and do the same for the Epiphone

So whilst they will give you some consideration for the traded in item, they are not as generous as they once were in this regard.

HOWEVER this does mean that there is some 2nd hand kit out there, in good condition and at a pretty good price.

Keira-WitherKay

+10000 to what Bob said re trade in's ...in my opinion maybe point 11 should be never trade in anything unless you getting an incredible deal cos you will sell it for more privately cos the store still wants to make a profit on your trade in ...... personally in all my trades i have never traded in my gear back to a store always sold it privately .

singemonkey

This may need to be stickied.

AlanRatcliffe

A good tip for buyers is to subscribe to any feeds or email lists of secondhand gear. These things push the info to you, so it doesn't rely on you visiting the site or downloading the latest list manually.

On places like Gumtree you can subscribe to a daily email for any specific category or drag their RSS icon to your bookmarks toolbar and you'll have the latest headlines always available as a drop-down list.

Then there are email lists like Turnkey "Seconds and thirds" list which is emailed out once a month and lists a whole lot of secondhand gear (primarily studio gear, but lots of live stuff too) for sale by their customers. Actually, anyone know of any other lists like this? There used to be a fax mailing list called Studio Tan, with a lot of high end studio gear that you won't find anywhere else, but sadly they don't seem to be around anymore.

As far as trade-ins go. Don't bother... Aside from the Cash Convertors type stores, the music stores don't really want your gear as they can often buy the same stuff new for less than you want for it and it means that they don't profit really on the sale. Always better to sell and enter the store with good old fashioned folding green stuff, which gives you much more bargaining power.

symbolofmylife

When buying new, loyalty also goes a long way I have found.

Support one shop as much as possible, even if you initially only buy picks and strings regularly. When you eventually make that big purchase, they know you and are willing to assist with some proper discount.

I have bought my entire setup from one store over a number of years, and eventually the discount happened without even asking.

vic

Keira WitherKay wrote: +10000 to what Bob said re trade in's ...in my opinion maybe point 11 should be never trade in anything unless you getting an incredible deal cos you will sell it for more privately cos the store still wants to make a profit on your trade in ...... personally in all my trades i have never traded in my gear back to a store always sold it privately .

I wish to add point 12:

If in doubt about any piece of gear...post it HERE on GFSA 8)

A good example is the last few posts in the thread Gumtree Junkmail deals

mity88

Great post