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How to Sell your Bass FAST

#81
I am a firm believer that anyone can ask whatever price they want for something. Of course, if you ask too much, there is a very good chance that it will not sell at all, never mind fast. I am sometimes amazed to see instruments or even parts priced well above current market levels that go unsold week after week, after month on ebay. I mean, how long do you eat the listing fees with your 15 photos before realizing that the price is the issue?

My only real gripe is the people who are compelled to send you a msg/email advising that your price is too high. Oddly enough, everytime this has happened to me, the item has sold that same week for my asking price. Strange, huh?

If my, or anyone's price is too high, an email is not needed. The market will tell you that the price is too high simply by the fact that no one will purchase the item.
 
#83
Mad Tango said:
To MCNACH & LOMO. Companies do charge what they can get away with and the public pays. Just think of the $4.00 gas prices we paid. Everyone with an once of common sense knew that it was speculators running up the prices and not the actual worth. That cost so many people their jobs. The gas companies didn't care how many people lost their jobs until it hit their profits-"how much more arrogant can you get". We paid $4 "at that moment" even tough it wasn't worth it because we had no choice-it was only when we stopped using so much (ie. trucking co. out of biz and such) did they back off. If we had consumed the same amount, I think today we could have been paying close to $5-6 a gal. However; with your logic you would have stuck to your guns and said thats ok companies should be given the right to charge anything they want as long as we pay. With a bass we have a choice and if some want to pay $5k+ for a bolt-on solid color, plain dot inlay bass-it is their choice. You are right to say the world doesn't revolve around me, but as for me, Ill buy the high quality upgraded $3,000 basses myself {thats a Good cost to quailty price}.
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dude, we were talking basses and selling on TB/eBay...
you are way off the mark

and custom bass builders... ****, if they collectively raised their prices 1000% life would continue exactly as we know it. It's a "luxury"... something most people do happily without. Not talking about the price of basic foods, fuel for transport and heating your house etc.
You are barking up the wrong tree here :eyebrow:
 
#87
mcnach said:
dude, we were talking basses and selling on TB/eBay...
you are way off the mark

and custom bass builders... ****, if they collectively raised their prices 1000% life would continue exactly as we know it. It's a "luxury"... something most people do happily without. Not talking about the price of basic foods, fuel for transport and heating your house etc.
You are barking up the wrong tree here :eyebrow:
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Lets talk basses and use your own words. "if they 'custom bass builders' collectively raised their prices 1000% life would continue exactly as we know it". WOW- thats $50,000.00 per bolt-on bass from the $5k I was talking about. I think life would go on, but w/out custom builders because 99% of the rich/wealthy bass players would say even 'No' to a bolt-on bass. However; their would probably be the 1% like you who put the hook in their own mouth and jump in the boat for the fisher. I am not going to respond any more because it useless.
 
#91
Some really poor analogies in this thread.

A bass is worth what another person is willing to pay for it. Period. "The market" only needs to be one person. As they say in the car biz, "there is a butt for every seat."

As for boutique instruments, they are worth what people are willing to spend. Period. Ascribing what they "should" sell for based on imagined costs is interesting but my answer is always the same - if the price is so high and the cost so low, then go into business making/selling basses.

The top luthiers have spent time and money building up their skills, their reputation, and their brand. That time and effort has a value. A Sadowsky or Fodera bass is more than just an assemblage of parts. There are people behind them. Some value those people highly and are willing to pay for it. Others do not and they don't. And that is fine - that's where there are Fenders, Ibanez, SX, etc. A butt for every seat...
 
#92
cybersnyder said:
Ok, I did a search of the thread and I think I'm the only one that used the term "sob story". What are my pot/kettle moments?
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Haha, not you. Come to think of it, I don't know why I put sob-story in quotes. There are a couple. I don't want to embarrass anyone, but there is a post on here that is quite a diatribe on story telling, and when I looked, their MOST RECENT for sale ad was like three paragraphs of fluff:D
 
#93
SubSectorSucker said:
Haha, not you. Come to think of it, I don't know why I put sob-story in quotes. There are a couple. I don't want to embarrass anyone, but there is a post on here that is quite a diatribe on story telling, and when I looked, their MOST RECENT for sale ad was like three paragraphs of fluff:D
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Ah! I was trying to remember what I posted. No worries.
 
#94
Mad Tango said:
Lets talk basses and use your own words. "if they 'custom bass builders' collectively raised their prices 1000% life would continue exactly as we know it". WOW- thats $50,000.00 per bolt-on bass from the $5k I was talking about. I think life would go on, but w/out custom builders because 99% of the rich/wealthy bass players would say even 'No' to a bolt-on bass. However; their would probably be the 1% like you who put the hook in their own mouth and jump in the boat for the fisher. I am not going to respond any more because it useless.
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Exactly. And you would not suffer. Suggesting you should dictate those guys how to price their non-essential luxury items is ridiculous.

Thank you for illustrating and proving my point.

Not sure what you get so worked up about :rolleyes:
 
#95
Freddels said:
A few years back, I was selling a very nice bass. I got a sob story about how this guy really wanted this kind of bass for a long time and he had saved up as much as he could. He was still shy of the asking price and asked if I would cut him a deal since he was so broke. I did. Then a week later he had the bass up for sale at a price about $600 more than I was asking to begin with and he also posted about another purchase he had made. So, everyone should just post a price for what they want for the item. It will either sell or it won't. If you want to buy it, then buy it.
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What a great capitalist. Disgusting. I hope you let him have it.
 
#96
smcd said:
Price is the only consideration if you want to sell fast. Luck doesn't enter the "fast" equation.


A couple months ago I had a friend call me and tell me he needed to sell his '74 Marshall Artiste combo "right now". I know he paid $1,500 for it a year before, and told him if he wanted to sell it today he would have to ask $900 for it. He said fine, I called a friend and told him about it, and in 2 hours he sold the amp.
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The luck is that you had a friend who was a phone call away, willing to part with $900 for this "steal" of a deal. Luck can be being at the right place, at the right time; or having a friend in that place; or being fortunate enough to know the right places to be, or people to know. It doesn't have to be literal "luck", but fortunate circumstance does play a role.
 
#97
This is one of my pet peeves - some joker always seems to feel the need to low ball me by way of insulting my intelligence. Some lazy low ballers will just blurt out "Will you take half your asking price?", but then you also have the ones who imply you are dumb by pushing a sob story ("my cat is dying so I need a discount on the bass you're selling - how about half off?") or the ones who just out and out call you dumb ("wow you're stupid if you think anyone will pay what you're asking - how about you sell it to me for half your asking price?").

Maybe some just don't know the polite limits of negotiating or maybe I'm expecting too much to just get reasonable offers or even no offers at all if I truly am pricing myself out of the market. But I suspect way too many are "private merchants" - people who buy low and sell high, all on the used market, for easy money and the thrill of the score.
 
#98
Colonel129 said:
The luck is that you had a friend who was a phone call away, willing to part with $900 for this "steal" of a deal. Luck can be being at the right place, at the right time; or having a friend in that place; or being fortunate enough to know the right places to be, or people to know. It doesn't have to be literal "luck", but fortunate circumstance does play a role.
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With a $900 BIN, that amp would have sold in a few hours on ebay.
 
#100
RS said:
Says the guy/OP with 0 feedback...
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I'll second his comments though. I have 77...all positives. :D

What irritates me is when a seller uses badgering tactics to justify the sale to himself and why he needs to sell it. He may act like he doesn't want to so he can guilt others into paying more for the instrument or perhaps he legitimately doesn't want to? But if he "NEEDS" to sell it, we don't need any B.S. Slap a lower than market price tag on that thing and box it up.

I think what everyone is losing sight of is that the OP mentioned a seller's "NEED" here. Sure, this site allows you to ask whatever you want for something but if you don't want it sitting around for weeks/months, then give someone else a deal. Just the way it is! :D
 

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