Get rich by trading up

marantz10 · #1 04-28-2010, 02:19 PM

So I realized after listing pedals and such for sale that I have been receiving several offers for trading for something that has more value than what I am selling.

So you do the math, you could just keep re-listing the items you receive and accept offers for items that have higher net worth.

Good example: I listed my MXR M-80 pedal for $90 on Craigslist. A guy upgraded his studio monitors and wants to trade his M-Audio BX5a monitors which are valued at around $200 used or so.

Any thoughts?

bongomania · #2 04-28-2010, 02:22 PM

It ends up being a wash. I've "come out ahead" on a dozen deals, and lost money on a dozen more. Actually that's a fib, I lost money on at least two dozen. So it's cool when you can make it work in your favor, but for example there were several times when the item I took in trade was something it turned out nobody wanted--so the price it's supposedly "worth" is lost.

MakiSupaStar · #3 04-28-2010, 02:26 PM

Yeah it's more of an ebb and flow. You won't make the right decision everytime. Unless you're that dude that wound up trading up from a paperclip to a house.

MatticusMania · #4 04-28-2010, 03:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MakiSupaStar

Yeah it's more of an ebb and flow. You won't make the right decision everytime. Unless you're that dude that wound up trading up from a paperclip to a house.

Thats what I thought this thread was going to be about.

Quote:

Originally Posted by marantz10

Good example: I listed my MXR M-80 pedal for $90 on Craigslist. A guy upgraded his studio monitors and wants to trade his M-Audio BX5a monitors which are valued at around $200 used or so.

Thoughts: Make sure you recieve the speakers before sending the pedal.

Mortiis · #5 04-28-2010, 03:15 PM

Someone traded a paper-clip for a house?

A-Step-Towards · #6 04-28-2010, 03:16 PM

It really depends. right now i may trade a 2004 MIA P bass for a jack cassidy the reason the jack is what i want and is mint , the MIA is beat up. So i mean you could but i trade simply upon what i want eventually i may end up with nothing but sometimes i can trade up like a jaguar for a stingray etc

marantz10 · #7 04-28-2010, 03:34 PM

For the Craigslist trade that I'm involved with (MXR pedal for M-Audio monitors) is totally local and he's coming over tonight to demo both of our pieces of equipment to show they work fine. I'd back out if the speakers were blown and I'm sure he'd back out if my pedal didn't power up. Can't go wrong with that.

If you are considering a trade, I'd recommend doing the research and find the resell value of that item to make sure you are upgrading to something that is worth something. For example, if there are several on eBay with buy it now prices that are way above what your item is, then perhaps it's a good trade up. There are several factors like people actually wanting it--just have a knowledge about what you're trading up.

Pretend this scenario:

Trade my MXR for these studio monitors
Trade the studio monitors for a MIM Fender Bass
Trade the MIM Fender bass for several pedals (one of which is another MXR pedal!!)
::Repeat three steps above::
Eventually you'll have dozens of MIM Fender Basses which you can sell out right (or trade a bunch to Guitar Center and get a nice used G&L, or Fender, or a Ric [if they have them], etc...
Thus endeth the story, you basically put a little time in doing the trading and ended up trading an MXR pedal for a Ric :P

Sure, this scenario is unlikely because you HAVE to find the right items that are worth considerably more than your item.

:P It's fun to think about anyways. I'm sure that this is basically what Guitar Center does all the time when they take things in on trade and resell it for money + other items in on trade.

MJ5150 · #8 04-28-2010, 03:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mortiis

Someone traded a paper-clip for a house?

I did.

-Mike

MatticusMania · #9 04-28-2010, 03:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by marantz10

For the Craigslist trade that I'm involved with (MXR pedal for M-Audio monitors) is totally local and he's coming over tonight to demo both of our pieces of equipment to show they work fine. I'd back out if the speakers were blown and I'm sure he'd back out if my pedal didn't power up. Can't go wrong with that.

If you are considering a trade, I'd recommend doing the research and find the resell value of that item to make sure you are upgrading to something that is worth something. For example, if there are several on eBay with buy it now prices that are way above what your item is, then perhaps it's a good trade up. There are several factors like people actually wanting it--just have a knowledge about what you're trading up.

Pretend this scenario:

Trade my MXR for these studio monitors
Trade the studio monitors for a MIM Fender Bass
Trade the MIM Fender bass for several pedals (one of which is another MXR pedal!!)
::Repeat three steps above::
Eventually you'll have dozens of MIM Fender Basses which you can sell out right (or trade a bunch to Guitar Center and get a nice used G&L, or Fender, or a Ric [if they have them], etc...
Thus endeth the story, you basically put a little time in doing the trading and ended up trading an MXR pedal for a Ric :P

Sure, this scenario is unlikely because you HAVE to find the right items that are worth considerably more than your item.

:P It's fun to think about anyways. I'm sure that this is basically what Guitar Center does all the time when they take things in on trade and resell it for money + other items in on trade.

You know, despite what any of us have said thus far, a guy DID actually trade up from a paperclip to a house, so its not impossible to believe. All I ask is if you come up on a BassMuff (in decent condition) you trade me for my SD TweakFuzz. It actually would be considered trading up, price-wise, for you.

drteeth · #10 04-28-2010, 03:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MJ5150

I did.

-Mike

Kyle?!

marantz10 · #11 04-28-2010, 03:43 PM

is there a thread about this paper clip to house upgrade? I'd love to hear more about it and how a guy actually pulled it off.

Mortiis · #12 04-28-2010, 03:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by marantz10

is there a thread about this paper clip to house upgrade? I'd love to hear more about it and how a guy actually pulled it off.

Found it:

http://oneredpaperclip.blogspot.com/...in-street.html

drteeth · #13 04-28-2010, 03:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by marantz10

is there a thread about this paper clip to house upgrade? I'd love to hear more about it and how a guy actually pulled it off.

Here you go

http://oneredpaperclip.blogspot.com/

guroove · #14 04-28-2010, 03:47 PM

I thought this thread was going to be about marriage, or women, or something along those lines.

marantz10 · #15 04-28-2010, 04:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by guroove

I thought this thread was going to be about marriage, or women, or something along those lines.

Haha I see what you were hoping for... sounds like a Heather Mills/McCartney scam. I'll never get over the idea that Paul didn't take precautions to that and that some judge actually let her walk out with that much money. Child support for 18 years is well under a million bucks--that's all it really should have been. Not to mention that because Paul made her famous and her "No more land mines" organization is probably billions of times more successful than before they got married.

Back to topic: I read the whole Red Paper -> House blog entries. It's a bit painful to read because there are several twists that cause him to be successful. People trading priceless objects, him getting famous by Digg and the news causing people to want to trade even bigger things. Thus why a house was given to him for a movie roll.

MatticusMania · #16 04-28-2010, 04:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by marantz10

Haha I see what you were hoping for... sounds like a Heather Mills/McCartney scam. I'll never get over the idea that Paul didn't take precautions to that and that some judge actually let her walk out with that much money. Child support for 18 years is well under a million bucks--that's all it really should have been. Not to mention that because Paul made her famous and her "No more land mines" organization is probably billions of times more successful than before they got married.

Seriously, there should be some sort of price cap to how much someone can get for alimony or child support. And maybe an extra fee for being a douchebag. $1mil each. No one gets more than 3 mil in a divorce. Seconded?

Stanley Design · #17 04-28-2010, 04:46 PM

If you have the time and financial stability it's a great idea to just have a savings account with a couple grand in it and glance over classifieds when you get the chance. Sometimes you can score a killer deal on something, bass gear, a guitar, a car, a boat, anything at all as long as it's a "need money NOW get it out of here" deal you'll come out on top.

Then you get the luxury of using it while you sit on the investment. As soon as you buy it, clean it up and get it into the proper lighting. Take quality detailed pictures that are pleasing to the eyes. Write up a nicely written, informative add and put a price at the top used price you see it going for elsewhere with an O.B.O. beside it. Then sit back and enjoy the ride.

This was my main source of income for gear when I was in my teens. You can make a killing at it. Eventually you'll learn some tricks for fixing blemishes and cosmetic damage increasing your profit.

Heck you wouldn't believe how many kids with $500 epiphones will sell them for $100 because they don't know how to do a proper setup. You do an hours worth of cleaning it up and put a $7 worth of strings into it and flip it a week later for $250. $150 profit. Not bad for 1 hour of work.

Simo98 · #18 04-28-2010, 04:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stanley Design

Heck you wouldn't believe how many kids with $500 epiphones will sell them for $100 because they don't know how to do a proper setup. You do an hours worth of cleaning it up and put a $7 worth of strings into it and flip it a week later for $250. $150 profit. Not bad for 1 hour of work.

I do this quite a bit, buying and selling gear (only cheap stuff, Squiers/Epiphones mostly)

I buy them cheap/damaged/dirty/from pawn shops and then take them to pieces, clean/repair/refinish to a point where I either like them that much I keep them (which happens more often that it should, a danger to watch out for) or sell them.

That being said im a student with plenty of time on my hands, and I enjoy the cleaning and repairing enough that im happy to spend my time doing it for what is, in the long run, very little profit.

Kipaste · #19 04-28-2010, 05:07 PM

A pair of bx5a's?

IMO you're getting the short end of the stick here.

marantz10 · #20 04-28-2010, 05:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MatticusMania

Seriously, there should be some sort of price cap to how much someone can get for alimony or child support. And maybe an extra fee for being a douchebag. $1mil each. No one gets more than 3 mil in a divorce. Seconded?

+1, although I would put into effect that each person before they get married is valued at a certain amount of money. Then in the event of a divorce, the difference between the couple's wealth and their initial combined wealth is then split between them with each getting whatever they came into the relationship with. This way their net profit as a couple is evenly divided between them.

+1000000 for extra fee for being a douchebag remark

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stanley Design

If you have the time and financial stability it's a great idea to just have a savings account with a couple grand in it and glance over classifieds when you get the chance. Sometimes you can score a killer deal on something, bass gear, a guitar, a car, a boat, anything at all as long as it's a "need money NOW get it out of here" deal you'll come out on top.

Then you get the luxury of using it while you sit on the investment. As soon as you buy it, clean it up and get it into the proper lighting. Take quality detailed pictures that are pleasing to the eyes. Write up a nicely written, informative add and put a price at the top used price you see it going for elsewhere with an O.B.O. beside it. Then sit back and enjoy the ride.

This was my main source of income for gear when I was in my teens. You can make a killing at it. Eventually you'll learn some tricks for fixing blemishes and cosmetic damage increasing your profit.

Heck you wouldn't believe how many kids with $500 epiphones will sell them for $100 because they don't know how to do a proper setup. You do an hours worth of cleaning it up and put a $7 worth of strings into it and flip it a week later for $250. $150 profit. Not bad for 1 hour of work.

Nice little hobby. My old employeer used to do that with cars and eventually did it so well that he eventually opened a used car dealership. Cool thing is he's very honest and not your typical car salesman.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kipaste

A pair of bx5a's?

IMO you're getting the short end of the stick here.

Some people may dislike any set of speakers out there, but I would bet there is at least one person locally who would pay over $150 for these speakers if I choose to sell them. I actually have been wanting studio monitors for a while so I think I'm keeping them for the time being.