40% higher price in 1 hour?

[rojo412]

Not long ago, a suspect Ric 4003 was listed on FBMKT for $500. Listing said it needed electronics work.
I thought it was a scam, so I didn't bother.
It was quickly marked SOLD.

Very soon after, a familiar looking bass shows up on FBMKT for $1550.
Also needs electronics work.
Disclosed a refin though.

I'll admit it, I like to flip. It pays for gear. I'm married and have to justify these things.
There are 2 rules I follow though:
1) Don't repost where it came from.
2) When you sell it, make it better than how you got it.

To buy this and then just put it up as is, it's lazy and lame. Faster, sure, but come on, how lazy are you?!?

Yeah, I'd have gladly liked to have bought this for $500. But I'd have fixed it and made it work before selling it.

 

[Berndizzle440]

Yep! By selling at a profit and trading, I have $0 in my Genzler MG800 and my Epifani UL210/UL112 stack along with a few pedals and my 3 basses and hard shell cases.

Funny you should mention epifani ul stuff… I’m working on getting a ul502 that’s for sale locally ha ha just gotta move some of the stuff I have… (it’s not really a sellers market right now)

 

[SharpCat]

Yeah, that happens. Good reasons already given.

I was a member of a well known horn site where a guy posted a horn with full details of sale, shipping, etc.
I met his price and gave him shipping details and asked for his payment info. No variation from his listing.

Later in the day, I saw it for $++++ more money from the same seller. I asked what was going on and
he told me that he was "just checking the market". Then when I asked other people about this kind of
behavior, they said it was not uncommon practice!!

As I said, I WAS a member of that site. What a crock!!

So, that is not what happened with you. Buy/sell, win some, lose some...

IMHO, this is different than the original OP example. In the OP case we have two back-to-back sales. Here, we have the seller attempting to find a better buyer than @jeffb28451 who already met the seller's requested terms. From what I remember of the law, meeting the terms forms a verbal contract. The Seller was then violating it.

edit: buyer->seller

 

[jtg]

Speculators in whatever field are free to profit as far as the law allows. The rest of us are free to make our own judgments about the social utility of that behavior and the character of those who do it. Personally, I distinguish between speculators and refurbishers, though certainly there's a continuum.

 

[JKos]

We were in a social media group, where I posted an Epiphone bass that was cheap. One member bought it and another also wanted to buy it, but arrived late.

It wasn't mine, I just found the ad.
A Rumblekat.

I don’t understand. These seem to be conflicting statements.

 

[gln1955]

I don’t understand. These seem to be conflicting statements.

I think he found the ad somewhere and posted to his group about it.

 

[FullumMusic]

Demand suddenly skyrocketed. You saw it.

 

[jeffb28451]

SharpCat:

Of course it was different: two sales and sellers and simple speculation. My example was one guy obviously abusing a platform.

Sorry I didn't make it clear enough that I understood the difference.

 

[Derry Murbles]

I'd only have an issue with this situation if the first buyer negotiated the price down to the selling point under false pretenses; IE I'm a new student and can't afford it at the current price; I'm going to donate it to an auction to raise money for some worthy cause; etc.

Might leave a bit of a sour taste in someone's mouth if the first buyer jacked up the price just to make some coin off of the "community" and the members perceive there to be some sort of additional consideration due to other members when buying/selling. But that's all subjective/relative and up to the community to address.

In short, I don't see a problem with this approach in and of itself.

 

[Gervais Cote]

Reading this makes me refrain from buying used or on line.……………..
In Japan, some guys will list some basses for sale on fleebay while the bass is in a store, they don't even own it !

 

[NZBassman]

it does happen... a couple of months ago someone was selling a Cort Bass with a gig bag for $30 NZ on a popular buy sell site here.
I told Mrs Bassman I was going to buy it because it was very cheap, but someone had beaten me to it.....
The next day the person who bought it had re-listed it for $300 NZ

 

[WG Plum]

I don't like profiteering, but that's how things are done. FOMO, snooze/lose, buy low sell high, yada yada yada.

E

T

C

.... to borrow from D. Boon.

 

[SharpCat]

SharpCat:

Of course it was different: two sales and sellers and simple speculation. My example was one guy obviously abusing a platform.

Sorry I didn't make it clear enough that I understood the difference.

No, I didn't think you were equating them. I just wanted to reinforce that your example was a larger abuse than the original. It's all good!

 

[Carl Hillman]

Adam Smith's Invisible Hand, baby.

Sometimes it give you a high five. Sometimes it gives you the finger.

 

[Tim Skaggs]

We were in a social media group, where I posted an Epiphone bass that was cheap.
One member bought it and another also wanted to buy it, but arrived late.

Less than an hour later, the buyer offered the bass to interested party, with 40% price increase.

In this network media with known friends, others not so much, what do you think about that?
Any thoughts?

My thoughts are that I don’t know nearly enough about the bass or the purchase price. Was the bass bought for $75 and put back up for sale at $105? That’s a 40% increase. Was it bought for $300 and put back up for sale at $420? That’s also a 40% increase.

The first set of prices is probably unrealistically low, but if they are close to what you observed, it wouldn’t be surprising the second buyer was still interested at a 40% increase.

I’ve seen deals where someone bought an item and I offered them a 100% increase over what they gave for the item. If it’s still a good price, their purchase price means nothing to me.

 

[White Crown]

Would you have been happy with making the sale if you never knew he re-sold it? If so, I'd move on... lifes to short to hang on missed opportunities and hindsight is a thing that only helps you in your next endeavor, not the last one. At least you made your sale. The lesson is free if you don't let it cost you in stress, use it next time I say and you've got more than your money's-worth.

 

[2thAche]

Wow! So sad...
So whenever you play out you do it for free? Or you're a professional full time bass player and that's your main job? Those are the only two options in your mind? Or does it only apply to the things you deem it should apply to?

It applies to taking advantage of a friendly group where someone tries to help someone else get a good deal on a bass (OP could.have flipped it himself, but was trying to help someone else out like a decent human being), and instead a person grabs that bass to make a quick buck off the friendly group. That person is not a genius, they're a jerk.

As far as your two options, not what I'm talking about and I don't understand the reference.

 

[Stewie]

I sold an almost entirely un original refinished 73 Jazz Bass for something like 425 a year ago. This week I found it with a cheaper neck for 1900, Advertised as 71. Good luck to him, although he knows that the chunk of alder was shaped as a 73

 

[pglaser01]

The OP is in South America so another question comes up too.

Was the ad mentioned traded across different markets? Relative values of similar products between markets are a real thing and can play a role in resale for sure.

 

[Lava]

You bought it, sold and made a profit.
He bought, sold it and made a profit