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What a fair price?
- Thread starter bdplaid
- Start date
You can check historic prices on reverb for a particular model
Be sure you aren't figuring in any sentimental value or other non-tangibles. Or what you'd like to get above actual market value. None of those translate to a fair price for the next prospective owner. Fair is what someone is realistically willing to pay.
I have been looking at buying a US made instrument in the foreseeable future and I do find your prices too high. If I buy used it has to be 30% plus below cost of a comparable instrument. While I understand that you have certain features on your basses that are unique they are not important to me (quatersawn neck for example).
At the prices you have them listed for I'd rather pay a bit more and buy new from a source where I can try the instrument for some time or before I buy it.
Markets are weird atm, imv.
Some people are quoting crazy prices and I'm not sure if they are selling.
Take Sadowsky's Metro, ...upto $3k asking.
But quite a few hanging around a $2k.
Same with other Far East builds.
Unless I see exactly what I want...I'm not doing much more than just looking.
Some people are quoting crazy prices and I'm not sure if they are selling.
Take Sadowsky's Metro, ...upto $3k asking.
But quite a few hanging around a $2k.
Same with other Far East builds.
Unless I see exactly what I want...I'm not doing much more than just looking.
As mentioned, check Reverb for the sales history of the same/similar basses.
Check the TB Classifieds to see what the same/similar basses sold for.
Most importantly, be prepared to take a loss. Just like a used car, unless an instrument is vintage/highly sought after, expect to take a loss of 20% from the new price.
Custom basses are harder to sell because you might have paid more for the features you wanted, but that narrowed down the market for others who would be interested in the same model bass but maybe don't care about certain features.
You're also pushing these as a semi-local (no shipping) sale only. That severely limits your market as well. A bass won't cost more than $100 to ship in the continental US if you get a standard guitar shipping box at UPS or Fedex. They include packing in that cost, and if you stand there and watch them pack it, they do a great job IME. If you included free shipping in your current prices, you might sell them faster.
Check the TB Classifieds to see what the same/similar basses sold for.
Most importantly, be prepared to take a loss. Just like a used car, unless an instrument is vintage/highly sought after, expect to take a loss of 20% from the new price.
Custom basses are harder to sell because you might have paid more for the features you wanted, but that narrowed down the market for others who would be interested in the same model bass but maybe don't care about certain features.
You're also pushing these as a semi-local (no shipping) sale only. That severely limits your market as well. A bass won't cost more than $100 to ship in the continental US if you get a standard guitar shipping box at UPS or Fedex. They include packing in that cost, and if you stand there and watch them pack it, they do a great job IME. If you included free shipping in your current prices, you might sell them faster.
Research ideas:
- Check SOLD transactions on eBay
- Check SOLD transactions on Reverb
- Check past Talkbass Classifieds
To be honest, I close for sale ads as soon as I see "Paypal Friends and Family".
I kinda see the friends and family as a yin yang response of sellers, and buyers to a degree, to stop the fee's associated with a sale via reverb or ebay. Once reverb started collecting sales tax, the whole thing changed for me. I'm in a 6% sales tax state, so when looking at 3k basses, that extra tax just would pile on the buyers price and stress the seller to lower the price knowing buyers were now getting taxed.
I see where you are coming from, but all of the costs of selling an item (fees, taxes, shipping etc.) should all be considered when pricing the item for sale to begin with. I do not mind paying fees as a seller because I remember the days of trying to sell to a very limited local market (Craigslist, I'm looking at you!) and putting things for sale online increases the number of people looking at it by quite a bit, increasing the odds it will sell and ultimately what I could get for it. That is definitely worth something monetarily to me.
When I see "Friends and Family" all I think of is "no recourse" in case something goes wrong. If someone doesn't want to eat the PayPal fee, they could just as easily increase the price by 3% (which Paypal will automatically do when you use F&F anyway, so it is a more transparent way of telling potential buyers what the actual final price will be). Sending the money Friends and Family is like sending a gift, at that point you only have the goodwill of the seller to rely on if the item gets lost, broken, or if they simply do not choose to send it.
Actually, both of the basses I have for sale (locally as well), are a good bit under the new price for them. For example, The Stingray is around $2400 now. The G&L is well over $2k. I also have a 2018 Player P Bass up for $600. They go new for $850.
Also, in the local ads, I have made myself available to meet the buyer up to an hour away, so they can try it before they buy it. Not even a nibble.
I think bass players, probably everyone, want something for nothing. I could donate these instruments to a school or the like and take a 100% tax write-off as a donation, and I might do it.
70% of 2400 is 1680. You have it listed for 2100. Sweetwater has the JB for 1955. The Player is in the ballpark.
I do? I think I need to coordinate my price across the places I'm selling it. Thanks for heads up.
Might not be your pricing or the desirability of the basses. Unfortunately people are hurtin for discretionary cash.
You're definitely not wrong with any of this
The hard part to swallow is any used bass is worth less than you think it is. And any upgrade expense should be straightaway taken off the resale value. It’s not that anyone’s bass is not worth buying, it’s that basses lose value over time and sentimentality drives us to price them above value to reduce the sting of parting with some we love.
$1 starting bid no-reserve auction is the definition of finding out your items market value.
it's also nice because the instrument is sold at the end of the auction.
i've never really been burned too bad selling this way, either.
it's also nice because the instrument is sold at the end of the auction.
i've never really been burned too bad selling this way, either.
This part is why they aren't selling: Cash preferred. Zelle OK. PayPal family and friends OK
Any of those are fine for a local sale, but yeah, for a shipping sale, PP F&F is a hard pass.
