Markets for Used Basses

Those are pretty big resources to find a lot of used gear on. Is there something very specific you're looking for? Sometimes I have thrown in a google search for a very specific bass and it came up.
And don't forget used.guitarcenter.com

 

Guitar Centers used sites often has great deals and their 30 day return policy makes buying used much less risky.

 

however they seem to have weird pricing practices. as an example I was looking up a 6 string guitar I am selling to get an idea of pricing and I saw one ( different color though) listed on GC for 199.99 and another one in a different GC store same color and everything for half that and another GC store in yet another state had it for less than that. so make sure you go through their listings relly good and get the cheapest and have them ship it to your location. if you are thinking of selling to them I would suggest one of the following:

wait till they have an event for 15% off new purchase with trade in and do that ( of course use the crappiest thing you can find LOL)
take it to your local pawn shop. ( they get their pricing the same way a pawn shop does by looking up sold listings on fleabay and giving you 20% of that, then they will take the item you bought and sell it for what it is currently listing/selling on fleabay ( which is why they have varying prices on used gear all over the place).

it is different for vintage in my closest GC they only do vintage on Fridays and you show them the item they get pics to send to a guy in California who makes the call. but I have heard he favors certain brands and specific items ( basically thing US brand name only with the exception to marshall stuff and for the love of god don't take him a vintage peavey VTM-120H and matching 412-MS cab with celestion G12k-85 speakers cause he will quote you 50.00 for the whole rig LMAO ( oops got off topic ROFL)

 

GC screwy pricing??? I got this for $800 a few years back:


It's a 77 USA BCRich Mockingbird with case that only needed a couple of knobs replaced!!!!!

 

ok lets use your example, imagine 3 different stores having that EXACT SAME THING and all 3 were different in price going from 800 to 1200.00. point is their pricing is screwy and NON standardized through their chain of stores and it is best to look at different store locations, buy from cheapest, and ship to your store

 

Thanks for the heads-up. I figured GC was some faceless greedhead corporation, should have known MF went that way too. I liked MF when they were getting started, but they obviously changed ownership at some point, started getting too "slick".

 

This is both good and bad, depending on your viewpoint. If there were standardized pricing, yes, some things would no longer be overpriced, but, at the same time, some things would no longer be UNDERpriced either. I've been able to find some screaming deals, mostly based on GC not being aware of what they were selling. The stuff that is overpriced usually sits for a long time, then gets a price cut, so either way, it works itself out.

 

You mention craigslist... are you aware of SearchTempest.com? Allows you to search every craigslist in the US, plus eBay and Amazon, all at once.

 

adhuntr.com also allows you to search all of craigslist, ebay, kijwhjateveritis and others as well. I've had decent look looking for oddball synthesizers with that one.

 

Bain hasn't owned GC, MF, etc. for quite some time now.

 

You can get lucky on Reverb every once in a while.

 

Also don't forget pawn stores....

 

I see a lot of good stuff at thelowend.net bass shop. It's a regular stop for me.

 

Here. Join up. Get decent deals on VERY well maintained gear. I have yet to be let down by a TB purchase. Not one.

 

Nor is So Cal. All the pawn shops are picked over by local stores.

 

Ebay, pawn shops and 48th st. custom is where i bought all my basses back in the 80's and still play all three