- Jun 3, 2009
- 3,330
- 399
- Disclosures
- Bassgearu, Music Industry Consulting and Sales. Tech 21, NBE Corp, Sonosphere.
Hello all. This is about basses and prices/pricing. Driven by a conversation I had with someone who was interested in buying my Alembic bass.
I Put my Alembic Excel on the Alembic forum for a very good price. A little higher then I will take, but I left myself some wiggle room. At the same time, I put it on eBay for a couple of hundred more, to see if someone would bite, and to see what the interest was in it.
An interested person contacted me after seeing my post on the Alembic forum. I sent all the pictures, showing that the bass really is like NOS. Includes all the case candy. My price was fair. We emailed a bit, then things went silent. I then put the ad on eBay. He contacted me again and asked if the one on eBay was my bass, which I told him it was.
So, after that , I knew I had a very interested Alembic person. Who is looking for or watches Alembics. I told him that even though the bass was listed higher on eBay, if he was interested I had a little room in my price, and if he bought it I would end the eBay listing. I heard nothing back.
I then did some research on basses I have been watching on eBay, and noticed that many of them have been relisted at least three times, going from a good price to a better price to a "make me an offer" price. About half of them sold at that point.
After looking at that, it became clear to me. The internet economy has destroyed the price of everything, including bass guitars. And we are doing it to ourselves.
My conversation with the potential Alembic buyer pretty much said, that if no one buys it, and you are selling it, you will continue to lower your price until it is "cheap" enough. The word "cheap' blew my mind. He was actually waiting until I would give it away. He actually said that my bass was at a very good price, but if it didn't sell on eBay he "knew I would start to lower the price much more because I wanted to get rid of it." Which, of course, is not the case, but it was his entire thought process.
Now don't get me wrong, there is no problem in someone looking to buy something at a certain price point, and only buying if they get it there. That to me is fine. But it was the notion that he thinks that like your iPhone or other electronics the price just always goes down until its worth nothing. It is that thought process that is also making it hard for him or any of us to buy and sell, as most of us rely on selling something we have to buy the next. And if you continually race to zero, you continually devalue it, then the asset you need to sell to buy will also be worth nothing.
Which is why to this day I am still astonished. My '84 Guild SB-602 is far and away a much better bass in every way then my old Fender ,81 P bass, but the P is worth about 3 times what the Pilot is. i see my era Pilots listed for $400 at times. That is the same price as a very cheap Ibby or Schecter, and it is monumentally better. And its made in the USA. And it has EMG pickups and a great active system. ALL USA made.
I purchased my current Guild Pilot several years ago after my original started to fall apart. At the time, you could score a Pilot for about $600 in this condition, the guy was asking $800, and I agreed to $700, because that was still clearly less then it was truly worth. And it was a great bass. I had several people tell me to wait, because eventually it will probably go lower, because the guy needed to sell it. I purchased it anyway.
My purchase price helps set the "price" for them everywhere, because with the internet now everyone can search and see where prices go. I believe in paying a fair price, and asking a fair price. Which is why I refuse to purchase anything used Fender with the excption of the the Fender Jazz with Kubicki electronics, as for some reason they are stupid cheap for what you get. Its maybe one of the best Fender Jazz bassses ever, and it is head and shoulders above any Fender Jazz of the same year. But my point is that I will pay a good or fair price, even if I know that I could wait the person out and maybe get another $100 or so off it. Because when I do that, it means I just took another $100 or so off the next bass of any kind I'll be selling.
I am not saying pay more then its worth just for price sake. I am saying that, if the price is good, and you want it and you can afford it, think twice about waiting a guy out. In the end, its hurting you more then the guy selling it.
I've said it here before, its a new world and there are a lot of things I don't like about it. But this "I should be able to have everything I want no matter what at my price point" mentality is just really driving many things the wrong way.
The teller in my bank was telling me that she was mad because she made so little and didn't have good hours. I asked her if she did all her transactions at the bank or mostly online. She said online. I pointed out to her that she should go to school for computer and network programming then, because her job was essentially obsolete and sooner or later everything will be online only, and there will be no tellers. She asked me then how will she pay her bills because she doesn't want to be a computer programmer. I said to her, this very young lady, "you reap what you sow. You are part of a generation who doesn't understand what value is, who doesn't understand that one of the keys to everything is human interaction. Once you devalue that, you are no longer needed. And one website and one computer programmer now can do the job of thousands of you." Then I asked her if she bought most of her stuff online or in a store. She said online, because it was a better price. Then I explained to her that its a better price because they don't have a store. Which means they hire about one third of the number of people a store does. Which means that is 2/3 less people with jobs. And it also means that quickly enough, you will not be able to go to a store to get that thing you desperately need today, because there will either be no store or the store can't afford to stock what they used to. you reap what you sow.
Which is my point. To me, the prices of basses, especially good US made ones like Guild or Peavey, or yes, even Carvin, are ridiculously low, and have only been in that realm for the last few years. Because we reap what we sow. So that nice Carl Thompson you just bought for $6K? Depreciated more then a car did while it was in its shipping box to you.
My two penny rant for today.
I Put my Alembic Excel on the Alembic forum for a very good price. A little higher then I will take, but I left myself some wiggle room. At the same time, I put it on eBay for a couple of hundred more, to see if someone would bite, and to see what the interest was in it.
An interested person contacted me after seeing my post on the Alembic forum. I sent all the pictures, showing that the bass really is like NOS. Includes all the case candy. My price was fair. We emailed a bit, then things went silent. I then put the ad on eBay. He contacted me again and asked if the one on eBay was my bass, which I told him it was.
So, after that , I knew I had a very interested Alembic person. Who is looking for or watches Alembics. I told him that even though the bass was listed higher on eBay, if he was interested I had a little room in my price, and if he bought it I would end the eBay listing. I heard nothing back.
I then did some research on basses I have been watching on eBay, and noticed that many of them have been relisted at least three times, going from a good price to a better price to a "make me an offer" price. About half of them sold at that point.
After looking at that, it became clear to me. The internet economy has destroyed the price of everything, including bass guitars. And we are doing it to ourselves.
My conversation with the potential Alembic buyer pretty much said, that if no one buys it, and you are selling it, you will continue to lower your price until it is "cheap" enough. The word "cheap' blew my mind. He was actually waiting until I would give it away. He actually said that my bass was at a very good price, but if it didn't sell on eBay he "knew I would start to lower the price much more because I wanted to get rid of it." Which, of course, is not the case, but it was his entire thought process.
Now don't get me wrong, there is no problem in someone looking to buy something at a certain price point, and only buying if they get it there. That to me is fine. But it was the notion that he thinks that like your iPhone or other electronics the price just always goes down until its worth nothing. It is that thought process that is also making it hard for him or any of us to buy and sell, as most of us rely on selling something we have to buy the next. And if you continually race to zero, you continually devalue it, then the asset you need to sell to buy will also be worth nothing.
Which is why to this day I am still astonished. My '84 Guild SB-602 is far and away a much better bass in every way then my old Fender ,81 P bass, but the P is worth about 3 times what the Pilot is. i see my era Pilots listed for $400 at times. That is the same price as a very cheap Ibby or Schecter, and it is monumentally better. And its made in the USA. And it has EMG pickups and a great active system. ALL USA made.
I purchased my current Guild Pilot several years ago after my original started to fall apart. At the time, you could score a Pilot for about $600 in this condition, the guy was asking $800, and I agreed to $700, because that was still clearly less then it was truly worth. And it was a great bass. I had several people tell me to wait, because eventually it will probably go lower, because the guy needed to sell it. I purchased it anyway.
My purchase price helps set the "price" for them everywhere, because with the internet now everyone can search and see where prices go. I believe in paying a fair price, and asking a fair price. Which is why I refuse to purchase anything used Fender with the excption of the the Fender Jazz with Kubicki electronics, as for some reason they are stupid cheap for what you get. Its maybe one of the best Fender Jazz bassses ever, and it is head and shoulders above any Fender Jazz of the same year. But my point is that I will pay a good or fair price, even if I know that I could wait the person out and maybe get another $100 or so off it. Because when I do that, it means I just took another $100 or so off the next bass of any kind I'll be selling.
I am not saying pay more then its worth just for price sake. I am saying that, if the price is good, and you want it and you can afford it, think twice about waiting a guy out. In the end, its hurting you more then the guy selling it.
I've said it here before, its a new world and there are a lot of things I don't like about it. But this "I should be able to have everything I want no matter what at my price point" mentality is just really driving many things the wrong way.
The teller in my bank was telling me that she was mad because she made so little and didn't have good hours. I asked her if she did all her transactions at the bank or mostly online. She said online. I pointed out to her that she should go to school for computer and network programming then, because her job was essentially obsolete and sooner or later everything will be online only, and there will be no tellers. She asked me then how will she pay her bills because she doesn't want to be a computer programmer. I said to her, this very young lady, "you reap what you sow. You are part of a generation who doesn't understand what value is, who doesn't understand that one of the keys to everything is human interaction. Once you devalue that, you are no longer needed. And one website and one computer programmer now can do the job of thousands of you." Then I asked her if she bought most of her stuff online or in a store. She said online, because it was a better price. Then I explained to her that its a better price because they don't have a store. Which means they hire about one third of the number of people a store does. Which means that is 2/3 less people with jobs. And it also means that quickly enough, you will not be able to go to a store to get that thing you desperately need today, because there will either be no store or the store can't afford to stock what they used to. you reap what you sow.
Which is my point. To me, the prices of basses, especially good US made ones like Guild or Peavey, or yes, even Carvin, are ridiculously low, and have only been in that realm for the last few years. Because we reap what we sow. So that nice Carl Thompson you just bought for $6K? Depreciated more then a car did while it was in its shipping box to you.
My two penny rant for today.
