if you’re saying that, you know who it is.
Unfortunately this is true for a lot of asset classes right now way more important than music gear: commercial real estate in prime city locations for one….I feel like there has been a stand off between sellers and buyers in a lot of marketplaces for the past year plus waiting for someone to blink. Eventually necessity will force mark downs, but I’m afraid of the day I see truly amazing deals because that means the broader economy will be in the toilet.
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The market is horrible right now I have had a bunch of stuff up for sale for over a month and it’s 80% “is this still available?” “yes” “(silence)” and 20% low-balls
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I have some stuff for sale for less than 60% of what I paid for it and it has been sitting for a while on various forums (I don’t use reverb or ebay). Would have been gone in a flash a year or two ago. Even in the current economic climate I am surprised by how much it has slowed down. I think it must be a combo of less people doing music on top of everyone having less disposable income.
I am actually a little worried about hardware manufacturers going out of business if it continues too much longer.
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Exactly this. I want an mc101, brand new cheapest price is $520 but reverb is more like $480 maybe $430. Nearly $100 off might be tempting but $480 is not even 10% off and then I’d rather have a warranty from a shop.
Reverb also seems to be stacked with real shops selling gear rather than musicians and hobbyists.
I guess people keep the price high because they don’t really need to sell the gear and haven’t really used it much either so it is in mint condition.
I’m surprised second hand prices haven’t dropped more considering the economy, but I’m definitely not an economist.
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Add to that the fact that (not their fault?) you get charged sales tax on Reverb. And a lot of buy direct music gear suppliers have free shipping, but on Reverb free shipping means you pay more tax.
An item which is $100 with $50 shipping is cheaper than an item which is $150 with free shipping, because you get charged tax on the amount before shipping. If the item includes shipping, there is extra tax.
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Agree. $100 off new is pretty rare in my experience, a lot of times it’s like $50 off. If I’m in the market for a $500 piece of gear, am I really going to take the extra risk of used gear for just $50 off? Nah.
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Man, inflation and energy prices are a killer, especially with wages not going up (here in Japan). The cheap guitars now are the price of what midrange guitars were and pedal prices are through the roof. Like many people (I guess), I had some extra cash from not going out during the pandemic so I was willing/able to pay higher prices for a while, but it’s definitely kicking in that I won’t be buying like I used to unless things change one way or another.
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It’s almost impossible to move gear at the moment, unless you sell for a ridiculously low price. This is all to be expected though, interest rates are rising rapidly and many parts of the world are in turmoil. There is also so much gear now and everything has become super niche. If you want a groove box it used to be do I want a machinedrum or an electribe? We are now overwhelmed with options.
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I’m operating a one in one out policy. If I buy something new then I’m almost certainly going to sell something to help fund it. Also this is because I don’t have time to learn and use lots of gear. I need a minimal setup for this to be a fun and productive hobby.
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The second hand market doesn’t get over saturated, unless people have unrealistic pricing for their gear. For several reasons prices spiked a few years ago. The market is correcting and I think it will be years before prices get back to that level. A lot of people bought stuff a few years ago that is now worth less… they need to come to terms with that.
The previous sales prices graphed at the bottom of product categories on Reverb backs this up with data.
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Fact. I also check this data. It is easy to see trends appear.
edit: another fun fact is when you scroll back through the list part of the historical price analysis section, you see the real prices items sold for including accepted offers - it’s not like they show you which item listing went with which price, but it says the condition and the final sale price. I verified this by finding an item I bought on that list, and I was able to because I knew the exact random price of the accepted offer and found it on the list with a matching date. / end of edit.
One thing that is incomprehensible is people selling used items, still available on manufacturer websites new, at more than the manufacturer pricing. Or like they picked a number out of the air and priced their gear accordingly.
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Also the thing of be careful what you buy - or at least think about it carefully if u really need it, because you could end up having it a while.
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haha you did not just compare toy sales with slavery…
at any rate, everyone seems to forget that majority of people received 20-30k dollars in unemployment money a couple years back. everyone was buying gear they didn’t need: fancy desktop synths, modular toe-dipping, studio upgrades, video equipment for precious youtube segments. at one point the government stopped giving handouts and the cost of living simultaneously skyrocketed
i mean it’s no surprise people aren’t buying gear any more right?
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I think thats a big reason. Long time ago buying used stuff was about 40 too 50% cheaper than new. Now people want prices often 80 or 90% retail. Why should someone take something used if you get warranty and money back for a little more. As buyer you just don’t feel like making a good deal a lot of times. Also the used price is higher than deal prices sometimes. This makes you feel like the chance getting it new cheaper some day is there, so no hurry.
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man I hate those low-ballers.
one thing I find where I live is buying / selling electronic music gear 90% of people are lovely. really sound folk.
compared with when buying / selling smartphones (another of my hobbies) 90% of folk are total scumbags. shady b*stards 
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I for myself notice that used prices are often unreasonable. Say a 300€ being sold used for 260-270. Why should I buy used? For the more on money I get warranty and whatever that a private seller doesn’t offer. I only buy used stuff if the price makes sense to me. The 60-70% range someone mentioned here sounds about right.
If it’s something you can’t buy new anymore, then that’s a different story. How many are offered on the market and how much is it worth to me dictate the price of that. But it also has to be reasonable. Those big prices for say an original 909 I would never pay.
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TBH you see it a lot on here. Checking randomly through the items currently for sale in the Marketplace in the UK you see
A synth listed at 90% of new cost despite having marks on it
A groovebox listed at 80% of new cost (admittedly with extras)
A mixer listed at 77% of new cost
A drum synth listed at 74% of new price
A pedal priced at 82% of the new better version
It’s only when you get down to this (very nice) filter most of the way down the page that you find anything priced realistically - at about 60% of new cost.
I guess all of these items might be listed with a 10-15% “negotiation margin” built in. But if even Elektronauts have a distorted view of the value of the tools we fiddle with, what hope is there for the rest of humanity?
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Prices for 2nd hand ware often way too high, or people don’t have all the documents, so reselling later will be a pain. Most of the time, I just save a month more and buy new. I sell 2nd hand tho, and get the stuff sold quite fast most of the times.
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Once those tax returns start hitting in the USA, consumer markets will move. That’s how it’s always worked here. This is still the post Christmas shopping slump.
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