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Anyone else notice how many guitars and basses are being sold from Japan?

#21
MustangMan78 said:
I’ve been cruising eBay and Reverb lately looking at various models of guitars and basses (mainly Fender and Ibanez). I’ve also been looking at Sam Ash’s stock, which is non-existent at the moment (I have a Sam Ash card). It seems like our Japanese friends may have bought up a lot of the available stock over the past year. It seems like almost every model I’m interested in is only available from a Japanese seller at a rediculously inflated price due to the exchange rate and Japanese domestic market. Has anyone else noticed this with other brands/models? Take a look for yourself and you’ll see what I’m talking about. I feel like there has always been availability, with a few listings overseas. It seems like the opposite is true now!
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Yes, the market has shifted a lot over the last year or so. Ebay.com used to have a lot of USA-based guitars, but that has changed and it is now guitars based in Japan that are the most at prevalent at stupid prices. The listings seemed to gather dust because most of us are not daft enough to pay that kind of money. Some of the dodgy translations in the listings don't fill me with any confidence so I have always stayed well clear.
 
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#22
When I was going through vintage tube hifi equipment, I was buying and selling regularly over the span of 5-6 years. I would guess that about half of my publicly listed items went to Asia, either Japan, mainland China, HK or Taiwan. I got really good at packaging. Anyway, I would get top dollar because I was willing to ship these fragile and irreplaceable items overseas. I even sold a non-functioning 350B tube for $150 once.

I do think there has been a significant degree of collector activity going their direction for a long time. I have no idea how much of it was with investment intention, or the balance between personal interest collecting and investment motivation in each buyer... but they were definitely buying what I was selling!

Paid a LOT of rent that way when my marriage ended and I liquidated.
 
#25
I'm a big Status Graphite fan (if you can't tell) and there have been numerous Status basses listed from Japan-based sellers on eBay for quite some time, with asking prices WAY above what you'd pay if you just bought new directly from Status. Not sure I understand the logic there (and hopefully nobody is falling for the ruse.)
 
#26
20GLJazz said:
87.1% positive feedback. Nice review--- "
Item came poorly packed and shipped with undisclosed damage. Seller did not respond to any of my messages, very frustrating.
Fender Japan Aerodyne Jazz Bass (#363332801466)"
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Seller response: it is the effect of the corona virus
 
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#27
Esteban Garcia said:
The musical instrument market is commoditized, especially in a time of relative scarcity. As with any commodity, if you're speculating, you want to buy low and sell high. Right now is not the time to buy into the market.

Woe to those who just want to buy a sweet bass for a sweet price, but stick around. Markets are cyclical. As the supply chain loosens and new instruments start hitting the streets at or near pre-pandemic levels, the used market will ease and the speculators will need to start dumping their holdings lest they be caught at the bottom with excess stock.
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Markets are not really cyclical in the way people wish they were. Real estate just goes up - except in times when nobody (except institutional investors) has money. As a proportion of incomes, it just goes up. Same goes for oil and many other commodities; it cycles with ability to pay.

The prices and availability of low-end instruments -- the Squiers, Yamahas -- have not really budged. That's not what people are talking about on the forums. People are sore because the older/more rare instruments have been made (by them) into commodities. Like fine art, those prices are not coming down. This surge in prices is all about the really unseemly transfer of wealth to the upper middle class through fiscal stimulus. Nobody seems to want to admit that they are making out like a bandit from the pandemic -- y'all know who you are.

As far as Japanese sellers -- I haven't seen particularly high prices from them. The cost of shipping is somewhat high and they sometimes wrap that in. There is also a higher transaction cost when they have to deal with Americans, in English, like the guy above.
 
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#28
I know that Fender noticed it in the 1970s.

Oh wait, you don't mean it like that. :-)

So like the sellers are in Japan and selling just your regular gear? I have noticed that on eBay before. Reverb too eh? Hmmm....

There must be some way that is unusually profitable for it to be worth the effort. I have no idea how the finances work out, but maybe there's a big upside from their perspective?

But I mean, selling a mexican geddy for 4K is obviously not the "upside" I'm referring to....
 
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#31
MustangMan78 said:
I’ve been cruising eBay and Reverb lately looking at various models of guitars and basses (mainly Fender and Ibanez). I’ve also been looking at Sam Ash’s stock, which is non-existent at the moment (I have a Sam Ash card). It seems like our Japanese friends may have bought up a lot of the available stock over the past year. It seems like almost every model I’m interested in is only available from a Japanese seller at a rediculously inflated price due to the exchange rate and Japanese domestic market. Has anyone else noticed this with other brands/models? Take a look for yourself and you’ll see what I’m talking about. I feel like there has always been availability, with a few listings overseas. It seems like the opposite is true now!
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There’s a lot of scamming in online sales from that area of the world. Lot of the time they don’t even have the bass they claim to be selling. They just make an overpriced listing with the idea that they can get one to ship to you and keep the profit.
 
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#34
Well, it seems like I'm not the only one who has noticed it. Don't get me wrong, the Japanese listings have always been there, and I know that JDM prices are a premium as compared to here. However, it does seem that there are many more than there ever was. A lot are for late model basses and guitars...like 2020s, and specifically, a lot of the USA made models or special editions. I'm getting the feeling that they were bought up early in the pandemic and are now being listed for sale at a premium price. Shelves here have been bare for months. I was appalled the last time I walked into Sam Ash and saw the little bit of stock they had. What was in stock, they only had the floor model. The warehouse was empty! It just seems a little too obvious to me that a scarcity problem has been artificially created by our overseas friends. I'm hoping when the 2021 models start shipping, we start getting some selection again.
 
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#36
Ya, no kidding. I was looking at used Warwick thumb basses and all but 1 were being sold from Japan and lots of them used the same pic for a different sale. I was very surprised that over 90 percent were coming from Japan. I know they can be found her on TB but I was just looking at what the going rates are. I would definitely want to purchase a bass coming from the states as it seems like less trouble and quicker arrive time.
 
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#39
MustangMan78 said:
I’ve been cruising eBay and Reverb lately looking at various models of guitars and basses (mainly Fender and Ibanez). I’ve also been looking at Sam Ash’s stock, which is non-existent at the moment (I have a Sam Ash card). It seems like our Japanese friends may have bought up a lot of the available stock over the past year. It seems like almost every model I’m interested in is only available from a Japanese seller at a rediculously inflated price due to the exchange rate and Japanese domestic market. Has anyone else noticed this with other brands/models? Take a look for yourself and you’ll see what I’m talking about. I feel like there has always been availability, with a few listings overseas. It seems like the opposite is true now!
Click to expand...

From what I understand is these guys don’t actually own these instruments. They are resellers. Back in the day we called them “scrounges”. The deal works like this. They put an ad up, usually something that is not rare, a buyer makes an offer, they go to the market place buy one that fits the bill from a clearing house and ship it out making a pretty large profit in the process. When my son (Marine Corp bassist) was stationed in Japan, he got the lowdown on how this deal works.
 
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#40
If you live in the US, sure...you're thinking to yourself who'd be crazy enough to buy a bass you can get at Sweetwater for much less shipped to you all the way from Japan? Other than the Japanese basses that don't often make it to our shores, buying from them doesn't make much sense.
HOWEVER....remember, Ebay is global. Those listings are more directed to markets that don't often have the kind of choices and particular models where they live. Australia, parts of Asia and the Middle East for example.
 
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