Is it a bad time to sell music gear?

[Michaelga]

I'm just curious of what everyone's experience is selling guitars, basses and other gear during tis year. Are you making less money on your gear than when the economy is better or has it made much of a difference? I have a bass or two I want to sell but I'm wondering if I should just wait until the economy is better.

Michael

 

[War_in_D]

My own personal experience has been that the implementation of internet sales tax was the first nail in the coffin, and now the Covid situation has put a pretty good damper on people's expendable income...  Me personally, I'm not even trying to sell anything right now.  Maybe if there is another round of stimulus payments, that might be the time to list but the window would be short. 

 

[docteurseb]

Best time was March/April when lockdowns started and stimulus checks rolled in, insane demand back then.
I think the demand is high, see how little inventory there is for Warmoth bodies/neck in the showcase.

I'm not sure about right now but I sure did cycle through a lot of higher end gear (PRS USA) since June and can't complain about the time it took to sell them, and the price they sold for. They were a little unusual (very limited finishes) so there's that too.
If anything it seemed easier than in normal times.
Same goes for couple Warmoth bodies; I broke even on the 40th anniversary Warmoth Strat body I bought in March, which is unusual even for 'never used' gear.
You have a loophole selling via Reverb: you can set up a 'reverb store' for free and taxes are not typically collected at checkout for buyers. Of course buyers are still responsible for them during tax filing season, just like they were before online sales tax collection got enforced at major selling sites, right ?


This one is a weird economic downturn as it hasn't quite affected the finances of most (yet).

Tens of millions have lost their jobs with no expectation to get them back anytime soon (restaurants, retail stores come to mind).
Yet many other companies have actually thrived from working from home (online sales, tech companies, amazon, etc...) and those still employed there sure have a lot more disposable income from being unable to travel, not commuting, not requiring daycare for kids or pet sitting, etc...
That explains I think the unusual demand for many recent product launches that come to mind: Playstation 5, Nvidia gaming cards (they had lots of stock and expect to be unable to meet demand until early 2021), iPhones, etc...

This may go south very rapidly though, time will tell.

 

[mayfly]

I'm finding that gear is selling fairly well.  I'm not selling stuff on ebay though...

 

[jay4321]

Broadly speaking, gear is selling fine right now. If you have stuff to get rid of I’d get on it ASAP with the holiday shopping season just about here.

As always, the used gear market favors motivated & rational sellers.

 

[War_in_D]

So, it seems that I'm the exception here.. lol 

Where are you all selling this stuff, if you don't mind my asking and have you seen a significant dip in what items are selling for?  I'm sure that you could "sell" anything right now, if you're willing to take the hit on it.  Example would be Carvin CT's, which I have actively watched pricing on for the last few years.  Great time to buy them, bad time to sell.  Nicely figured top CT's that used to sell in the $1400-$1500 range with no problems, are barely breaking the $1000 mark right now with a few exceptions. 

 

[docteurseb]

I mostly sell on Reverb.

 

[mayfly]

kijiji and Canuck Audio Mart

 

[jay4321]

Reverb sometimes but more on eBay lately. People groan about it but with a 20-year-old account I generally have no problem holding up against other folks when selling the same items. Guitars, guitar parts, pickups, a fractal and 2 different helix units, tuning key sets and similar stuff - haven’t seen any issue in recent months.

As far as “taking a hit” I’m not sure if we’re talking the same thing or not. If you’ve monitored your Carvin and comparable models’ sales prices and seen them decline over a few years from $1.5 ish down to $1k, then there isn’t much question as to market value.

That drop has NOT been the overall trend by the way - how sure are you that this is a bad time to sell/good time to buy that model? If and when the current price trend reverses and then appreciates by 40-50% (!), it will be because something creates a massive jump in demand for it. And nothing to do with what the price levels were in 2017 or whatever.

 

[War_in_D]

Reverb sometimes but more on eBay lately. People groan about it but with a 20-year-old account I generally have no problem holding up against other folks when selling the same items. Guitars, guitar parts, pickups, a fractal and 2 different helix units, tuning key sets and similar stuff - haven’t seen any issue in recent months.

As far as “taking a hit” I’m not sure if we’re talking the same thing or not. If you’ve monitored your Carvin and comparable models’ sales prices and seen them decline over a few years from $1.5 ish down to $1k, then there isn’t much question as to market value.

That drop has NOT been the overall trend by the way - how sure are you that this is a bad time to sell/good time to buy that model? If and when the current price trend reverses and then appreciates by 40-50% (!), it will be because something creates a massive jump in demand for it. And nothing to do with what the price levels were in 2017 or whatever.

Maybe it's just what I have been trying to sell that's maybe not as popular or sought after.  I don't usually buy to resell (not any more at least), so when I say "take a hit" I'm referring to buying something with the intention of keeping it but then maybe you decide to sell it later to buy something else.  Call it G.A.S. or just wanting the Flavor of the Month, if you will.  How badly you want the "new" item determines how much you're willing to "take the hit" on the old one.  I've been in that situation plenty of times.  I used the Carvin CT's as an example, but it's not the only thing I've seen where values (perceived or otherwise) have taken a hit in recent months.  There have been other items I've listed in the last 6 months that I feel haven't met their potential based off what they were selling for even late last year, but there will always be items that will hold value no matter what the market is.  You mentioned parts, and in my experience at least in new parts.. I haven't seen that much of a downward trend in pricing, although I can't speak to selling because I don't generally sell parts.  If anything, I've seen prices of some new parts go up (Floyds for example).  Used to be able to buy a new German Floyd for around $175-$180 and they are well over $200 now.

I'm in the same boat with you, with regard to Ebay...  I have a 20+ year account as well, so I tend to stay there but haven't sold anything there in over a year because (thankfully) when I sell something it's because I want to and not because I have to.  So, I'm not willing to take a thrashing on something just to get something else.  If I really want the new thing, I'll just buy it and keep my old stuff too.  But when it comes to selling my gear people either pay my price (or make a reasonable offer that we can both live with), or I keep it.  Simple as that.  No harm, no foul.  If the market doesn't support my asking price, I accept it and move on and generally if I don't get any interest on something within a week or two.  I pull it down.

There may come a day when that situation changes and then the market will decide what my item is worth, but until then.. 

..and I don't have the patience to deal with Facebook Marketplace.. way too many flakes on there. 

 

[jay4321]

Yeah my GAS has to be managed somehow. If something isn’t getting used enough I’ll just appraise it as best I can and move on. I’d rather have $900 in hand for the next thing than I would a $1,300 guitar in the case.

A plus to that approach over time is that I’ve accumulated a small number of excellent keeper guitars, so it’s increasingly harder for new additions to “make the team.”

 

[War_in_D]

A plus to that approach over time is that I’ve accumulated a small number of excellent keeper guitars, so it’s increasingly harder for new additions to “make the team.”

That's kind of where I'm at as well.  I've got pretty much what I want at this point, so I'm not searching near as much as I used to.