You think basses are bad, my brother's GF just took a loss to the tune of tens of thousands selling off a small herd of alpaca!
True story.
True story.
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Used bases aren't selling well.
- Thread starter darwin-bass
- Start date
I honestly have better luck selling my stuff over craigslist then Talkbass , example is I sold a 1978 P bass for $1500 cash on craiglist, on TB I got zero offers and it was up nearly a month and I was asking $1600 shipped well after paypal fees and shipping I would have netted like $1450, less money and more time spent boxing it up and driving to the post office. That said I am in LA so I have a bigger audience on craigslist then most and additionally I have had a American standard jazz bass, all original with original case on craigslist a few months at $700 and its still there which I think is basically a bargain price. Its tough to move stuff, even tougher here.
Yep in 1968 I traded my first BASS a nice brand new Silvertøne for a PA. That was the LAST time I got rid of anything. In 68 figured geez who needs two BASSES. Sure wish I still had it. Never again. Yes a great time to be buying from the used market.
Yes great time for buyers of used equipment. I too regret parting one time! Only once!! In 1968 I traded my brand new Silvertøne BASS for a PA after less than a year. I Truly thought who needs two BASSES? Gosh sure wish I had it and never ever will I part with equipment. And now when I buy I do so to use it and do so forever. Buy used now as it is the right time. Seen this happen a few time over 50 years. Happy Playing
OTOH-
they are getting increasingly hard to find used because no one is buying new USA fender basses in Canada. this should drive the prices up.
everybody and their dog owns a MIM though and why wouldn't they? they are close enough for most people.
I missed a completely original (except for strings) '76 Jazz, 'burst with bound & MOP blocked maple fretboard, with player's marks and oozing mojo (but far from too worn, or beat-up) and OHSC, last week by about 4 hours drive time. Asking price was $1,200, selling price was $850 cash to the lucky s.o.b. that drove *6* hours to get it but left several hours before I could and beat me to it.
It's a buyer's market... and I'm stockpiling the right pieces as they come along.
It's a buyer's market... and I'm stockpiling the right pieces as they come along.
Alpacas were a fad just waiting to die. everyone thought they would get rich with herds of those things, until there were too many animals for buyers. POOF -- no profit.
I live on about 1.5 acres and have a horse barn i rent out. Sometimes I get some cash, sometimes I get some labor, sometimes I get nothing. Before I did this I looked into getting a few of them alpaca beasts. I could get some for $200/ea, maybe even free if i was nice. Was concerned they might kill my rambunctious dog.
I've been trying to downsize (mostly guitar gear) for the past year+ and its been very tough. I've traded a few things but getting someone to pay ANY cash for something has been a challenge. I haven't even gotten low ball offers, which is crazy. People don't want stuff even when its cheap.
And that is very surprising, because people are still buying new gear for double the price of used.
I have been able to pick some stuff up recently for a good price - so thats nice. I actually want to buy MORE gear as I move my collection from mid grade stuff to higher end gear. Even when I price my stuff at a bargain, I'm just not getting the interest. Case in point: I have a 4x10 guitar cab, Celestion loaded, mint condition, 1 year old. Paid $300 new. Asking "make offer". Not one single offer! Cash or trade?! I don't get it... (no, you can't buy it - this isn't an ad!)
I've also noticed on CL and even ebay, seems people are holding their good stuff instead of selling in a depressed market. So even in a buyer's market, its not great for buyers bc selection isn't wonderful. Need prices to come up a bit and people to be buying and selling, then all the good stuff becomes available.
And that is very surprising, because people are still buying new gear for double the price of used.
I have been able to pick some stuff up recently for a good price - so thats nice. I actually want to buy MORE gear as I move my collection from mid grade stuff to higher end gear. Even when I price my stuff at a bargain, I'm just not getting the interest. Case in point: I have a 4x10 guitar cab, Celestion loaded, mint condition, 1 year old. Paid $300 new. Asking "make offer". Not one single offer! Cash or trade?! I don't get it... (no, you can't buy it - this isn't an ad!)
I've also noticed on CL and even ebay, seems people are holding their good stuff instead of selling in a depressed market. So even in a buyer's market, its not great for buyers bc selection isn't wonderful. Need prices to come up a bit and people to be buying and selling, then all the good stuff becomes available.
I often watch threads of basses I know the typical resale value of. The problem I see is people are asking too much. Or perhaps the problem is people are no longer willing to pay too much.
Frequently I see people bumping the thread with comments like "amazing deal!" yet the asking price is higher than the typical eBay or TB sale price. Used stuff has always gone for around 60% of new, even if mint. Higher than that is too much, whether Sadowsky or Squier. Especially desireable brands will command a bit more, and obviously lesser-known or desired brands less.
That said, if people stop the credit card spending orgy that's a good thing because it's long overdue.
Frequently I see people bumping the thread with comments like "amazing deal!" yet the asking price is higher than the typical eBay or TB sale price. Used stuff has always gone for around 60% of new, even if mint. Higher than that is too much, whether Sadowsky or Squier. Especially desireable brands will command a bit more, and obviously lesser-known or desired brands less.
That said, if people stop the credit card spending orgy that's a good thing because it's long overdue.
I made this same point a couple of weeks ago. The used gear market is flooded.
Bottom line- you want to flip gear, Good LUCK! Because you will need it. Unless you are buying at a huge volume discount or something, you aren't likely to make a dime.
As others have stated, before you plunk down your hard earned coin on a shiny new bass, better be sure you want to keep it. Because the re-sale is 50-60% at best. Buy a $1600 Fender MIA P-bass for example, then decide it didn't change your world the way you hoped, good luck getting any more than $900 for it on E-bay.
My last bass sale on CL got no interest, but it did sell for the right=low price on Ebay. $486 for a 1-year old MIM P I paid $820 for. 60% on the dot- BEFORE Ebay fees- which brings it right down to YOU guessed it 50%.
You have to also factor in most people buy new gear on credit- so they aren't really "paying" for it in the present tense. used gear sales are more likely to be cash.
Sell a bass here on TB? I ain't that brave! ;-) I could hear it now- " You said there were only 2.3 dings on the bass, and I clearly counted 3.1. It appears the truss rod was adjusted 5.7 times, and the pickup appears to be slightly low." Sorry, but we are the most picky bass fanatics on the planet, I could only imagine...
Bottom line- you want to flip gear, Good LUCK! Because you will need it. Unless you are buying at a huge volume discount or something, you aren't likely to make a dime.
As others have stated, before you plunk down your hard earned coin on a shiny new bass, better be sure you want to keep it. Because the re-sale is 50-60% at best. Buy a $1600 Fender MIA P-bass for example, then decide it didn't change your world the way you hoped, good luck getting any more than $900 for it on E-bay.
My last bass sale on CL got no interest, but it did sell for the right=low price on Ebay. $486 for a 1-year old MIM P I paid $820 for. 60% on the dot- BEFORE Ebay fees- which brings it right down to YOU guessed it 50%.
You have to also factor in most people buy new gear on credit- so they aren't really "paying" for it in the present tense. used gear sales are more likely to be cash.
Sell a bass here on TB? I ain't that brave! ;-) I could hear it now- " You said there were only 2.3 dings on the bass, and I clearly counted 3.1. It appears the truss rod was adjusted 5.7 times, and the pickup appears to be slightly low." Sorry, but we are the most picky bass fanatics on the planet, I could only imagine...
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For some, maybe many, of us, we should just trade this stuff amongst each other while not gigging it. Kind of like a 'club' or rotating lending library. Could keep the costs of GAS down and allow us all to experience 'new' gear for the cost of shipping.
Trades are a lot easier. If you work it right and find the right person you can trade up and they can feel they trade up too.
Well, I must be really bored because I actually went and surveyed a couple of pages of the basses classifieds and ran some numbers. I'm no statistician, but here's what I found.
I only surveyed Page 1 as of this morning, and page 21, which is from a week ago. This is time-consuming to do.
Page one outcomes:
Total listings 29 Complete instruments 27 sold: 2 (1 day and 5 weeks)
$1-500 (full instruments): 1. Sold: 0
$501-1000: 7. Sold: 0
$1001-1500: 4. Sold: 2 (50%)
$1501+: 15. Sold: 0.
I listed "complete instruments" because one of the listings was a project and the other was body only. Of the two sold instruments, one had been first listed 11/26/14 and the last bump by the buyer was 1/1/15, so about 6 weeks; the thread was marked "sold" but actual sale date not clear. The other had been listed 9/8/14 and sold next day 9/9/14 (subsequent posts bumped the listing to today).
Page 21 outcomes:
Total listings: 30 (all full instruments)
Sold: 10 (11?)
Price ranges:
$1-500: 3. Sold: 1 (2?) = 33 (67?)%. 4 days on the confirmed sale
$501-1000: 9 Sold: 5 = 56%. Nearly all in less than a week.
$1001-1500: 5 Sold: 0 = 0%.
$1500+: 13 Sold: 4 = 31%. From same day listed to 3 months.
The question marks are for an old listing, a Squier for $285 where the seller said he had found a buyer but failed to ship and therefore had to relist as the original buyer had pulled out. This was a thread from back in 2010 and it was unclear if the bass had ever sold, thread was never closed.
Obviously, this is just a couple of pages' worth of listings, and by nature there will be fewer sales on the most recent listings vs. older ones, so to really get a sense of what's happening you'd need to go back a lot further than I've done. It's also apparent that sometimes instruments sell but the seller doesn't close the thread, and sometimes instruments sell via another channel (one of the TB sales from page 21, the OP indicated that the actual sale had been over Reverb).
Still, I think it does indicate one or two things about the TB classifieds. Especially, that this is where people turn to sell high-end basses. Of the 59 complete instruments listed on these two pages, 28 (47%) were priced over $1500, some MUCH higher (there were three listings in excess of $6000 on these two pages alone, one of them for a matched set of fretted/fretless boutique basses). However, only 4 of the 12 confirmed sales (33%) were in this range. 7 of the 12 sales (58%) were in the $500-1500 range, where only 25 of the basses were (42%). In other words, sellers go to TB to move high-end basses, but buyers are looking here for medium-priced ones. Still, TB is probably a better place to move a boutique bass than your local Craigslist. People hardly bother with cheap basses on TB, probably because they're simpler to sell locally and not worth the fuss of getting a supporting membership and dealing with shipping.
And on these two pages, at least, what struck me was how rapid most of the sales were: if something sold, it was within a week of listing, often the same day. I suspect that wouldn't hold up if we looked at a longer-term sample, but I suspect the price figures probably would - just my hunch.
I only surveyed Page 1 as of this morning, and page 21, which is from a week ago. This is time-consuming to do.
Page one outcomes:
Total listings 29 Complete instruments 27 sold: 2 (1 day and 5 weeks)
$1-500 (full instruments): 1. Sold: 0
$501-1000: 7. Sold: 0
$1001-1500: 4. Sold: 2 (50%)
$1501+: 15. Sold: 0.
I listed "complete instruments" because one of the listings was a project and the other was body only. Of the two sold instruments, one had been first listed 11/26/14 and the last bump by the buyer was 1/1/15, so about 6 weeks; the thread was marked "sold" but actual sale date not clear. The other had been listed 9/8/14 and sold next day 9/9/14 (subsequent posts bumped the listing to today).
Page 21 outcomes:
Total listings: 30 (all full instruments)
Sold: 10 (11?)
Price ranges:
$1-500: 3. Sold: 1 (2?) = 33 (67?)%. 4 days on the confirmed sale
$501-1000: 9 Sold: 5 = 56%. Nearly all in less than a week.
$1001-1500: 5 Sold: 0 = 0%.
$1500+: 13 Sold: 4 = 31%. From same day listed to 3 months.
The question marks are for an old listing, a Squier for $285 where the seller said he had found a buyer but failed to ship and therefore had to relist as the original buyer had pulled out. This was a thread from back in 2010 and it was unclear if the bass had ever sold, thread was never closed.
Obviously, this is just a couple of pages' worth of listings, and by nature there will be fewer sales on the most recent listings vs. older ones, so to really get a sense of what's happening you'd need to go back a lot further than I've done. It's also apparent that sometimes instruments sell but the seller doesn't close the thread, and sometimes instruments sell via another channel (one of the TB sales from page 21, the OP indicated that the actual sale had been over Reverb).
Still, I think it does indicate one or two things about the TB classifieds. Especially, that this is where people turn to sell high-end basses. Of the 59 complete instruments listed on these two pages, 28 (47%) were priced over $1500, some MUCH higher (there were three listings in excess of $6000 on these two pages alone, one of them for a matched set of fretted/fretless boutique basses). However, only 4 of the 12 confirmed sales (33%) were in this range. 7 of the 12 sales (58%) were in the $500-1500 range, where only 25 of the basses were (42%). In other words, sellers go to TB to move high-end basses, but buyers are looking here for medium-priced ones. Still, TB is probably a better place to move a boutique bass than your local Craigslist. People hardly bother with cheap basses on TB, probably because they're simpler to sell locally and not worth the fuss of getting a supporting membership and dealing with shipping.
And on these two pages, at least, what struck me was how rapid most of the sales were: if something sold, it was within a week of listing, often the same day. I suspect that wouldn't hold up if we looked at a longer-term sample, but I suspect the price figures probably would - just my hunch.
More places are offering improved deals on new instruments, plus no interest on credit for 2 years.
