Selling gear to pay bills

[Eekum]

Been there. Done that. Regretted it...

Now, I am trying to rebuild my gear but there are sentimental pieces of gear that I will never get back...

However, if kids were involved, I would sell everything I had and not lose a wink of sleep.

 

[lermgalieu]

I've been selling off stuff I am not using for extra money, and I haven't regretted any of it so far. Even if I had to sell my favorite basses/main players, I'd be ok, as long as I hang on to the two I got from my wife (upright and Stingray). I have kids, and it's really all about them.

 

[grinx]

In the early 90's I had to sell a 1956 Mickey Mantle baseball card to pay rent for 1 month when I was in college
That one still hurts
sorry =/

 

[johnson79]

Yup, I've done it. Fortunately I never lost much on my sales, but I do miss the gear. I have more regret over the fact that I wasn't able to make enough money to cover my bills or whatever, then I get depressed. Fun times.

If you have a car and clean record, look into driving for Uber. I've only done it on weekend evenings and made decent money. Or find a part time gig for a couple weekends or something. Money sucks...

 

[flam]

Sold my Ric a few years ago to help cover bills. I ended up getting 38% of the purchase price because nobody wanted it in my market, and I had to sell it to Sam Ash. Very hard experience, I'm not sure I'll ever buy another Ric even though I really loved that one. If I could do it again, I would sleep on the floor to keep that bass.

On the other hand, if it's just some amp you don't use, get rid of it. The amount you'll take is inverse to how urgent the need for money js, so I'd just go with the first decent offer instead of holding off until the last minute and probably taking less.

 

[31HZ]

I went on tour for two weeks to a warm-weather group of islands (during wintertime) maybe 15 years ago, was told there would be some $$$ in it. I pretty much ate cereal bars the whole time that I wasn't eating free bar food or the complimentary breakfast at the B&B where we were staying, because funds were tight.

When the tour was over, it was, sorry man, no dough.

I sold my MIA Jazz Bass (blue, maple neck, played fantastic) to make the mortgage at the end of the month and never played with the band again.

 

[anthony_spare08]

So I pawn the amp, they give me $300, I spend the $300 to pay a portion of my bills...then what?

Don't pawn it, I was a pawn broker for several years. Firstly, your'e going to get around 20-25% of retail value on your pawn loan. So they may offer you $75-$100 bucks, and then you will pay them 20% interest EVERY month just to keep your loan "good".
So, if you pawned it today for $100, made your payment every month, and picked it back up in, lets say November.

April +$100 borrowed via pawn loan, -$20 interest
May -$20 interest
June -$20 interest
July -$20 interest
August -$20 interest
Sept -$20 interest
Oct -$20 interest
Nov -$20 interest - $100prinipal

You would ultimately be paying them $160 to hold it for 8 months in their storage. BUT, you wouldn't have to sell it.

*this is based on KY 20% Pawn Interest, not sure of your state laws, etc.

 

[BassmanPaul]

Life happens to us all. If you have debts they need to be paid.

When we bought our first house in Toronto my salary paid the mortgage. The band put food on the table. Playing six nights and a matinee for $150 a week each.

 

[Sav'nBass]

I wasn't too sure were to put this thread since it pertains to a combo amp I'm selling and over all general discussion (fairly certain the mods will move it). I don't have the amp listed here since I'm not sure how selling a combo amp would work out with shipping and all. Anyways, I'm trying to sell a fairly newish condition Ampeg BA 210 v2 so I can pay off some bills I got from a university I was formerly attending. I was hoping to get $350 for it but I haven't had much offers except one guy who was offering $250 for it. A little lower than I was expecting but I might just be desperate enough to take so I can get my bills paid off. My question is how low have some of you been willing to sell your gear in order to make important payments?

Been there done that .. I feel your pain..

 

[Johnny Crab]

Sold a number of Orville, Orville by Gibson, and Gibson Thunderbirds to "assist" getting last 2 children through college. A REAL Steinberger with TransTrem(about 199 made) also got sold and much misc. gear.

Similar to that $1200 cello mentioned by @Altitude .

 

[Nick von Nick]

I had to sell my Moog Taurus III Bass Pedal. While it was cumbersome and took up way too much space, I had bills to pay. Amazingly, it appreciated it value, so that made the pill a bit easier to swallow.
~Nick

 

[patrickj]

Sold a pristine Yamaha DX7 for $200 once in order to make a car payment.. huge mistake

 

[Coolhandjjl]

Exactly! These amps go used on the GC website for the same price I'm asking for BUT! no shipping charges. Hopefully I can find someone willing to negotiate. It's a nice amp and it still even smells brand new!

If it's a local GC pickup, no shipping charges. But if it's to be shipped to the buyers local GC, then it can run about $20. GC won't do free inter-store shipping on used items anymore.

Yup, shipping amps and cabs is pricey, especially for those with no FedEx account of their own and have to be subjected to local shipping store marked up prices.

For me, shipping something like a combo amp on my FedEx account would run about $50, plus a box from Office Depot is another $5.00, and I have lots pf packaging material laying around already. Buying bubble wrap and peanuts on your own costs a fortune. For a regular walk-in customer who has to buy the box/packaging service on the spot, the total may be $75 ~ $100.

Craigslist is best for lower priced items that no one wants to pay shipping for.

Everything gets sold at some point, whether it's by you, by your survivors/heirs, or by your creditors. So don't worry about it. It comes with the territory of being an adult.

 

[XrisThaBassman]

One of the challenges with Ampeg combos is that they're all over. I have one myself that I use for my electronic drum set. I think I paid $175 for a BA115. It would have been more if it were the tube version, but for the SS that was an average deal, at least around here. Sorry man, selling gear to pay bills is the worst. I will say, it sounds like you're a younger guy, worst comes to worse it's likely you can get to a point where you can reacquire gear. I played and had to sell crap gear for years, now that I'm older (50, kids out of the house) I have better gear than I need. Good luck, man!

 

[Chrisk-K]

Having debt will have a bigger consequence than not having gear unless your primary income comes from using the gear.

 

[Lava]

I always tell musicians to sell their instruments last as they can make you money if you can get gigs. But I also understand how hard it is when you're really needing money for life. Best bet is to sell it on Ebay or something like that where you can request local pickup only. Unfortunately, when you're trying to move something quick, you might have to take a bit of a loss.

 

[noagreement]

Been there as well, and fairly recently.

For what it is worth, I had a decent experience at my local pawn shop. For larger items (an old vintage Gibson bass in my case), I was given approx. 35-40% of the value as a loan. BTW - this shop just uses Ebay as a barometer for pricing. If a similar model sells recently on ebay, they will use that $$ as a baseline. I was lucky as some recent Gibsons sold for higher than expected prices.

I was down on myself for having to go there, but came away with short term cash that kept me out of trouble. I paid the interest at the time the loan was due (120 days) + the original loan. I was able to later sell the bass at full price. It was a win win in my opinion and never felt like I was being ripped off.

 

[honeyiscool]

I've never known anyone to sell gear who didn't later regret it. You can make whatever the gear might bring by playing a few gigs. You can't play a gig without gear.

Really? Never? I've sold 200+ things on eBay, most of it music gear. There's not a single thing I've ever regretted selling. Things I've regretted buying, but never regretted selling. So here, I'm that person who's never regretted selling gear.

You need little to no gear to actually play gigs and you can always buy things if you need them again.

Almost nothing in the guitar/bass world is that hard to replace.

 

[dbsfgyd1]

I wasn't too sure were to put this thread since it pertains to a combo amp I'm selling and over all general discussion (fairly certain the mods will move it). I don't have the amp listed here since I'm not sure how selling a combo amp would work out with shipping and all. Anyways, I'm trying to sell a fairly newish condition Ampeg BA 210 v2 so I can pay off some bills I got from a university I was formerly attending. I was hoping to get $350 for it but I haven't had much offers except one guy who was offering $250 for it. A little lower than I was expecting but I might just be desperate enough to take so I can get my bills paid off. My question is how low have some of you been willing to sell your gear in order to make important payments?

Man, I feel for you. As for the gear, I came in this world with nothing, and I’m leaving it the same way. The world doesn’t owe me a rig, but I’ve been blessed with it, and it’s used to bless other people. But, push came to shove, I’d take what I could get out of it to further my long term goals.

In your situation think of it this way, any investment in your education is a great thing and will likely increase your earning potential substantially over the coming years. Your schooling isn’t going to go on forever, and when you are done, you can buy all the gear you care to own.

 

[Bassbubble11]

I have not payed bills in order to buy gear so I guess it is fitting to sell gear to pay bills. All kidding aside. I sold my '83 Les Paul Standard a couple years ago and regret it. I had no choice. I guess I should be grateful that I had something worth enough money to get me through a rough time. Besides it was a guitar not one of my beloved basses.