• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

I think I found a bargain on eBay

#4
EmaTheMirror said:
Fender Made In Japan Heritage 50S Precision Bass Maple 2 Color Sunburst S N | eBay

:roflmao::roflmao::roflmao:

Anyway... Is there any special thing going on for a 2020 Japanese version of the Classic 50s/Vintera bass for real?
Are those extremely limited and collectable runs? :thumbsdown:
Click to expand...
There’s quite a few Fender MIJ that are non-export models that you don’t see here in the States. From that perspective they’re special.

Whatever that bass is I definitely like the burst without the orange transition between the black and natural making it what I would call a Tobacco Burst. Not so nice as to justify the outlandish price though.
 
#6
Dominic D said:
There are Japanese sellers on eBay and Reverb who list things for ridiculous prices. I'm not sure why.
Click to expand...

Often it's dealers listing old or rare guitars that are in private collections for exorbitant prices. If you read the small print in the ads they'll say something like "pictures may not be representative of actual guitar" - once you 'buy' the guitar then they put feelers out to their collectors to try and find someone who will sell them the guitar at a price they can still make a profit at, hence the super high prices. Its not really a scam, they're just providing a reselling service and not being very clear about it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: B-Mac
#7
darkwasthenight said:
Often it's dealers listing old or rare guitars that are in private collections for exorbitant prices. If you read the small print in the ads they'll say something like "pictures may not be representative of actual guitar" - once you 'buy' the guitar then they put feelers out to their collectors to try and find someone who will sell them the guitar at a price they can still make a profit at, hence the super high prices. Its not really a scam, they're just providing a reselling service and not being very clear about it.
Click to expand...
To me, that's a scam.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Rabidhamster, Ghastly and Dominic DeCosa
#8
there's also the tactic of "there's a buyer for everything out there, and maybe my buyer is willing to pay a ludicrously high price".
I once sold a weird/rare bass to a very famous rock star that way, no bargaining down from an astronomical asking price, he wanted it and could easily afford it so he bought it. Maybe he felt like he was sharing the wealth that way.
 
#9
Yes, good points here.

Anyway, my main gripe is that with a similar sum (and depending on where you are geographically) and only taking Fender into account, you can basically buy:
- a lovely custom shop
- a nice vintage instrument, not too vintage or a rarity but something cool
- an awful "old dog", supposedly an iron anchor from the 70s with a misaligned neck, bad truss rod, worn frets, all sorts of structural problems and dull sound. Probably (and thankfully) for a bit less, but you get the point. DISCLAIMER: there are wonderful and bad 70s Fenders, this is just an example.

Now, even with the latter, you can basically justify a resale purely based on the fact that it's "old within vintage territory" and its valuation goes accordingly. Good luck finding a buyer, especially if they want to play it too, but it's within the norm.
If I bought that bass on *bay (which, AFAIK can be as good as my Classic 50s, so a nice instrument with bad looking wood on the body, as someone pointed out - something that does hurt my eye TBT) and tried to sell it locally or trade it in at a local shop mentioning the original cost (and let's not bring taxes into the equation), I'd probably make someone laugh. That's my guess.

In the end, I think that what @JimmyThunder said is most right - when it comes to free market and second-hand sales, I can always sell a screw asking for a grand and describe it as the most wonderful screw you'll ever come across and if someone agrees, happy days.
If that screw had a Swarovski head I would personally think of it as a stupid feature, but it'd be an objectively valid point for a high price tag. With this Japanese (supposedly good) bass, I definitely fail to see the diamond.

If it were a Sadowsky head, though... :smug:
 
Last edited:
#10
A bit OFF TOPIC (I wish there were a smile for it)

Does anyone know if there's a precise reason for a more neutral tint on the neck on MIJ vintage reissues? Purely by circumstances? A deliberate choice based on average taste in a particular market? I've never seen one verging on the dark yellow/orangeish hue of, say, my C50s. The Mex tint IMO is still nice, not full-on orange or canary yellow anyway - something I've seen on some Nash relics, and I don't want to say they are bad with that, at all - but still darker. The tint on that Swarovski-signed Japanese looks more like my CIJ 51 than its Mex counterpart.

Speaking of average taste in a particular market, is there a big hype/desire for relics on nitro in Japan as well? Might be wrong stereotypes, but I've always thought glossy and shiny, polished finishes to be a preference there, for example.
 
#11
One other option on these. I just purchased a MIJ Hybrid Jazz a few weeks ago. I saw the exact same bass (same pictures, backgrounds and angles) listed by multiple sellers with prices of about $1500 usd plus $300 for shipping.

I had been told some time ago about these folks. They find an instrument at a local shop, and either take or steal pictures from the shop’s website. They post it on various foreign sites at a greatly inflated price with a caveat that it is listed on multiple platforms, and if it sells somewhere else they will refund your money. If you buy the bass, they take the money, run to the local shop, buy the instrument, and ship it to you. At a huge profit. If the instrument has sold, they refund.

In the case of my bass, I quickly figured out that it was listed at Ishibashi, which does a TON of international business. However, on the Ishibashi site, my bass was listed for a bit over $600. With shipping, it was about $800. Or less than half of what I’d pay if I used one of the eBay scalpers.
 
  • Like
Reactions: EmaTheMirror
#12
Yes, those are obviously catalogue, or at least polished shop photos made with a photographic set, it's definitely not an individual private seller with their bass. That scavenging technique might be applied too. I still need to think of someone who can fall for it, though.

59Bassman said:
In the case of my bass, I quickly figured out that it was listed at Ishibashi, which does a TON of international business. However, on the Ishibashi site, my bass was listed for a bit over $600. With shipping, it was about $800. Or less than half of what I’d pay if I used one of the eBay scalpers.
Click to expand...

I've never bought instruments imported directly from Japan, only small stuff. How are things with customs in that case? Well, from a US import perspective, at least, which wouldn't be my case anyway.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back