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Seems like used gear is more expensive outside music stores these days


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Unalaska wrote:

 

Just scanning the local Craigslist and almost all the gear for sale is way more than what I'd consider a fair price. And music stores are filling up with gear not selling even cheap.mostly its rack gear and passive speakers, or older mixers. Weird.

 

I hear you! Guys like Mike Pyle and Archcity Audiovisual are selling new gear cheaper than the fair market for new gear. The reason, I think, is that the smaller dealers like Mike and Robert from Arch City are making a great name for themselves by selling great gear close enough to wholesale to be incredible for us, but still able to make a profit. It used to be that you had to go into big chains to save money, but honestly, now the little guy is able to undercut the big chains.

I saved a bundle on PA gear and have noticed that what I paid for new gear is under what the fair market price that the same stuff is fetching used.

 

 

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Unalaska wrote:

Just scanning the local Craigslist and almost all the gear for sale is way more than what I'd consider a fair price. And music stores are filling up with gear not selling even cheap.mostly its rack gear and passive speakers, or older mixers. Weird.

 

I think this odd situation has existed since eBay became popular years ago. For some reason people are willing to pay ridiculous prices for used items (not just music gear), sometimes at or above the retail price of new. Even the local Cash Convertors store, which operates as a buy-only type of pawn shop, is selling used tools and sound items for at or above new retail, and these items are literally beat to oblivion.

Indeed, very weird.

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Unalaska wrote:

 

Just scanning the local Craigslist and almost all the gear for sale is way more than what I'd consider a fair price. And music stores are filling up with gear not selling even cheap.mostly its rack gear and passive speakers, or older mixers. Weird.

 

 

Two things about Craigslist

 

1 - The cheap stuff goes fast, VERY fast. I once scored a $2000+ Roland edrum kit for $500 from a church. I just happened to check Craigslist seconds after it was posted. So most of the time you don't see the good deals because they last for only hours or less.

2 - The flip side is, the "asking price" isn't the selling price. Look next week and the same stuff will be listed. Eventually the listing price comes down or they take the "best offer". 

I use Craigslist from time to time. When I do I do my homework and check what the item has been SELLING for on ebay and not what people are listing for. I call it out in the ad, discount it slightly or list it on the lower range if many have been sold on ebay, and also list in ad not to waste my time with some ludicrious offer. Still, I often get emails offering me 1/2 the price I've listed the item for.

While I'm at it, another Clist tip is to have potential buyers come to your workplace. I'll just meet the person in the parking lot and show them the item. It's better than inviting strangers, some stranger than others, into the house.

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Oh, and off topic. Craigslist is also a great place to get rid of crap you don't want and aren't sure what to do with. They have FREE catagory. A few weeks ago I listed 4 large mirrors that came out of bathroom remodels I recently had done. They were in good shape, I just didn't need/want them and they were in the garage, which isn't the best place to store mirrors. 

15 minutes after I made the "come and get it" listing, I had a half dozen replies. I told each what place in line they were and removed the listing so I'd get no further inquiries. An hour later they were out of my garage.

I did the same thing a few years ago with all the 25 yr old stuff out of my kitchen when we had it remodelled. It was old and tired, but it was out of my garage within an hour of listing it, saving me time and money disposing it. I suppose it's also the "green" thing to do. Whether they refurbed the stuff to use themselves or sell, parted, or scrapped it, it's all better than going straight to the landfill.

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I'm pretty stoked on CL at present because of my purchase earlier this summer of a pair of SRX715s for $1400. When I got to his house (in an upscale area north of Vancouver WA) and checked them out, to my surprise the cabs looked and smelled brand new. When we fired them up they sounded fantastic. The guy said he'd only used them three times in his hobby band, and I think that was probably the case. These are things you really can't do over eBay.

CL is full of overpriced junk but there are some gems in there that make it worthwhile IMO.

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When I traded in my Yorkville Powermax16 towards my StudioLive 24.4.2 a couple years ago, a new PM16 was around $2,800. They figured they could sell mine for $1,800 and offered me $1,200 on trade. I took the deal. That way I didn't have to sell it, and I was using my new mixer. I could have maybe got $1,600 - $1,800 but instead of waiting to sell it, instead I was using my new StudioLive.

 

 

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