Selling gear: How to decide on an asking price?

21Fretter

It's a general question and specific. I have a Jackson Kelly JS30 that I am thinking of selling, simply not getting enough play time. It's +-5 years old, good overall condition. A tiny knock on the side which I don't think you would even see unless I mentioned in (which I would), PU screws are bit rusted (which try shine them up a bit with steel wool).

I imagine, a good starting point would be to find out what the asking price at local stores is I tried Marshall Music (who I bought it from) but they no longer sell the model/Jacksons. Alan mentioned in a topic a while back when Eddie was trying to price his Ibanez HR Giger Iceman that knocking 25 - 50% off the selling price in the US if you can't source the guitar locally (or any more) is a good start. Do you use the price that is listed on, as an example, MusiciansFriend or do you use that price, roughly calculate what the cost would be to import the guitar and then work with the final price?

Any other ideas, things you guys think about when pricing gear to sell?

VellaJ

What I do: Assuming my gear is in good condition (not necessarily pristine, but not buggered...) I'll take a look at the current retail value of the item if I were to buy it again new. I then advertise for approximately 50% of that value, and then I'll negotiate depending on condition...

singemonkey

Depends. How many frets does it have? ? ?

DonovanB

Why not start at what YOU paid for it?

Is it worth that much? If you're not in a hurry to sell, then start high and gradually lower your price.

How much would a similar guitar go for? Bothners stock Jackson's I think.

Beeg

I agree with VellaJ, 50% on retail sounds about right, depending on the item and its condition, some rare items actually increase with value when they reach "vintage" status. However there seems to be an confusion between "old" and "vintage" these days. You could also check the online classifieds to see what other sellers are asking for the same item.

21Fretter

Thanks guys. I think I got a good idea of the price range now. It seems the JS30's sell for R4000 - R4500. I've seen a few advertized on Gumtree for R2k - R2.5k. I think I might start R2.5k because the lower end described theirs has having chips on the horns and what not. I'll also try take some nice photos, the others just use generic google search.

flatfourfan

Donovan Banks wrote: Why not start at what YOU paid for it?

Is it worth that much? If you're not in a hurry to sell, then start high and gradually lower your price.

One thing to remember though........when you start high and go lower, two things happen:

1) Many guys notice the price going down and many just wait to see how much lower it will go and eventually it ends up moving to #2..........
2) People loose interest in something that is listed for ages and no-one wants to buy it. The guy from Cape Town selling the Cort V comes to mind, listed it with a case for R2500-00, lots of interest, then he realised (bugger I should of asked for more), so he lists it at R3500-00 and last time I checked he still coulnd't sell it and he was below his initial asking price.

My advice, put it up at about 30% off what you paid and take it from there.