Members RMT05 Posted August 17, 2010 Members Share Posted August 17, 2010 Hi guys, I'm currently a student in college. Been playing for the better part of a decade. But, as with probably 95% of all college students, I'm always looking for ways to make money to pay the rent and all that. Was wondering if buying/selling guitars would be worthwhile? I have money set aside that isn't doing anything that I want to invest in something. (Around 1k right now I can "invest" in guitars). Been looking around on Ebay/CL and local brick and mortar stores for the past month and a half or so, so this isn't just bathroom toilet idea I just thought of. Been doing a lot of research on the current market on certain guitars and what to look for when buying/selling in terms of the condition and how to talk the price down. I also helped run my family's business (making over 6 figures annually- the business not me lol) in high school so I know I have the business knowledge to accomplish this. (I don't feel like I'm just a typical student trying to make a quick buck.) If I make even $50, thats still 5% which is about as much as a bank will give me. But, I won't have the luxury of having a new toy around to play while I try to sell it off. What do you guys think about this? I'm already working multiple jobs. Just figure collecting in on an extra $50 - 100 might be nice every once and a while. (And having another axe ) Not really trying to turn this into another job or anything. But maybe a little hobby that just happens to bring in some bread. If I do go forth with this, what should be my line of approach? Was thinking about buying MIM Strats for around 200-250 sell for 300- 350. They have the "name" and if I clean em up a bit, I'm sure I can make them look nice enough to deal. Any other guitars that are good for making a $ on? What guitars have the quickest turnover? Prob tons more questions to follow. Thanks everyone! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members aenemated Posted August 17, 2010 Members Share Posted August 17, 2010 buying cheap used gear and trying to resale cheap used gear is not going to be a particularly successful venture. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DaleH Posted August 17, 2010 Members Share Posted August 17, 2010 Many of the $200-250 MIM strat's I see on CL and pawn shops are older models and not really worth much more than that. I guess you could dump them on newbs or those that are lasy and don't do their homewok before buying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BoneNut Posted August 17, 2010 Members Share Posted August 17, 2010 Maybe you could become the campus luthier instead? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members stormin1155 Posted August 17, 2010 Members Share Posted August 17, 2010 Ebay is a big enough market that what stuff sells for is generally about what it's worth. You may occasionally find a local deal at a garage sale, Craigslist, or pawn shop, but those are the exception. I recently picked up a very clean '69 Gibson Byrdland for $2200... they are going for $3000+ on Ebay... I'm probably going to flip that. I also got a very nice 335 for $1000, and I could probably make a few bucks on that if I should sell it (which I probably won't). Bottom line, you might get lucky, but you probably shouldn't bank on it. On the other hand, like you say, it would be a whole lot more fun than watching your money grow at the rate of 2% setting in the bank. One problem I've encourntered with such endevours is buying a guitar with the intent of flipping it, then falling in love with it and have a hard time parting with it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Yarbicus Posted August 17, 2010 Members Share Posted August 17, 2010 During 2009, I started with $300 and ended up making about $3000 PLUS upgrading most of my gear. In 2010 I have profited maybe $500 total. It is an awesome market for buying used gear; horrible market for selling used gear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members webwarmiller Posted August 17, 2010 Members Share Posted August 17, 2010 It all boils down to how good/lucky you are and finding gear that is under priced. I know I could make $100-200 a week flipping gear, but it's not worth the amount of time and hassle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bisticles Posted August 17, 2010 Members Share Posted August 17, 2010 A few years ago, you could definitely make a fair amount of scratch just bouncing gear between Craigslist and eBay, but nowadays, stuff just isn't selling like it used to. I'm sure if you're willing to do the legwork and a little haggling, you could get get something going. However, right now, people just don't have as much spendy cash to go around. edit: I don't want to discourage you or anything, but I also don't want you to end up with a bunch of $350 guitars that you can't sell for $250, which is where a lot of folks are finding themselves nowadays. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jerry_picker Posted August 17, 2010 Members Share Posted August 17, 2010 Maybe you could become the campus luthier instead? Good idea. Doing decent set-ups for cash might be a good business on a larger campus. Flipping guitars can be a great hobby, but don't expect it to pay the bills. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Yarbicus Posted August 17, 2010 Members Share Posted August 17, 2010 Good idea. Doing decent set-ups for cash might be a good business on a larger campus. Flipping guitars can be a great hobby, but don't expect it to pay the bills. I put myself through grad school doing setups and installing pickups. That can work out really well particularly if you can hook up with a local shop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members twofoolsaminute Posted August 17, 2010 Members Share Posted August 17, 2010 I've had this same great idea before, but the thing that killed me is shipping. One shipping mistake can end up costing a lot. You have to be a little lucky nothing gets damaged in shipping. and finding shipping materials at a profitable cost is darn near impossible. I sold a great deal of gear earlier this year...in fact I sold everything I had. I couldn't justify buying 50 boxes new at a decent rate, so I was constantly dumpster diving and resizing bicycle boxes and such just to get shipping materials. Then shipping by UPS has gotten pretty expensive if you don't have a major account. And shipping by USPS is a pain because you can barely get a guitar box within the size requirement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Tollenaar Posted August 17, 2010 Members Share Posted August 17, 2010 If you can find trashed gear for next to nothing and have the abilities to spruce it back up to a shine, then maybe that could work. The problem is finding something for cheap enough that, when restored, can be sold for much more than that, but slightly less than the average market price. And you really have to put in the effort to bring stuff like that back to life. It's all a game of math and probability. I wouldn't bother trying to flip gear that isn't worth something in pristine condition, though. My advice is that if you come across something wrecked and can get it for a few bones, give it a shot. Otherwise just stick to set-ups and pup-swaps like suggested. I've actually been redoing a few of my guitars out of boredom and have taken some really interesting approaches to doing so - it's caught quite a bit of attention from a lot of my friends and I've actually gotten some inquiries about doing some oddball refinishes for cash. Any little thing you can do helps, but I wouldn't jump head first in to projects that require you to front all the cash in 'hopes' that someone is going to be interested. Customers first, work second. Not the other way around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Belva Posted August 17, 2010 Members Share Posted August 17, 2010 The luthier idea is a winner. I kinda fell into that when I did a setup for a friend. Now I have a small, but regular clientele. Another idea is to find broken guitars, fix them & flip those. But that is usually broken off headstocks, refrets and such. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members calclown Posted August 17, 2010 Members Share Posted August 17, 2010 I find it's a lot easier to make money on cheap guitars. It's a lot easier to sell $120 guitar than a $300 guitar. It's also a lot easier to get a good deal on a $120 guitar cause if you can talk them down to a $100 you got almost 20% off. The problem is if you buy and sell on the same neighborhood craigslist people will find out pretty quick that you're acting like an asshole. The thing that's made me the most money is watching the great deals thread and buying new guitars when they're at ridiculous prices and then selling them for a little above the average used value. The number of deals has died down a lot recently, but I consistently make 20-30 % reselling new stuff on craigslist. Again though, it has to be something fairly cheap or else not many people are in the market now, so you don't get the best gear to play with in the meanwhile. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SDshirtman Posted August 17, 2010 Members Share Posted August 17, 2010 It really just depends on how much work your willing to put into it and how good you are at making/finding deals. If you're scouring craigslist its not as easy to find great deals as it once was but they're still there if you look often and are fast to respond. You're also competing with pawnshops and everyone else out there trying to do the same thing you are. If you're doing it for the cash youd probably be better off just getting a second job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members NHLfan2010 Posted August 17, 2010 Members Share Posted August 17, 2010 I'm headed off to college in a few days...maybe that campus luthier idea is not too bad of one...hmmm... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members D Carroll Posted August 17, 2010 Members Share Posted August 17, 2010 Build custom parts guitars instead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RMT05 Posted August 17, 2010 Author Members Share Posted August 17, 2010 Hey guys, Thanks a ton for the responses. Definitely loving the feedback here I love the luthier idea. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it haha) there are not a lot of guys on my campus. This years freshman class has the all-time high % of guys at 30%. And its a small commuter college as well. This doesn't leave me much of a clientele to work with. In fact, I think only myself and two other guys even own guitars of any sort. One has an acoustic which I have no familiarity working with and the other does have an electric but is one of those guys that only uses it to try pick up girls. I really do love the luthier idea though. Just wish I had a better base for it. If I do get a chance though, what do you think is a reasonable price to charge for say adjusting the action and changing pickups or strings, anything like that? Keep in mind I have to also compete with local and proven shops. Kinda darting back to the whole guitar flipping idea, in my time looking at CL and such, I have only found maybe 1-2 that were good deals that could easily be making a profit with little to no fixup. I definitely am aware and approaching this NOT as another source of income, but rather as a hobby that will hopefully help me grow as a guitar player while also making some extra $ in the process. If I'm looking at this route and not expecting to make super quick turnover, what range of prices am I looking at to buy/sell guitars for? Lets take, for example, a Fender Squier Affinity. Retails for $180. Buying for $70 and less; selling for $90 and up. Is this a reasonable expectation for me? (Not sure how much "experience" I'll get from playing an Affinity, but who knows.) The main concern is that even though I've been looking at prices for a while now, I have never tried to sell guitars so I don't have firsthand experience how long a reasonable sale would take or what a good price to buy and sell would be. (Assuming I don't need to do major work like fitting a new neck or things like that.) Thanks for all the help fellas! Definitely love the advice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RMT05 Posted August 17, 2010 Author Members Share Posted August 17, 2010 bUmP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RickBeall Posted August 17, 2010 Members Share Posted August 17, 2010 Flipping guitars and making money from it requires a huge time investment. Being at the right place at the right time, all the time, with the right knowledge ... takes a lot of time. You might consistently make more money at a student job. Student jobs are pretty cool because they usually just require you to sit somewhere and deal with the occasional student that comes by. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members poolshark Posted August 17, 2010 Members Share Posted August 17, 2010 Flipping guitars and making money from it requires a huge time investment. Being at the right place at the right time, all the time, with the right knowledge ... takes a lot of time. You might consistently make more money at a student job. Definitely. I'm good at flipping guitars - God knows I do it enough - but rare is the occasion where it's actually worth your time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mrbrown49 Posted August 17, 2010 Members Share Posted August 17, 2010 This years freshman class has the all-time high % of guys at 30%. :eek:Sounds like you picked the right school! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members A-20 Posted August 17, 2010 Members Share Posted August 17, 2010 One problem I've encourntered with such endevours is buying a guitar with the intent of flipping it, then falling in love with it and have a hard time parting with it... Well... that's what usually happens to me. Flipping is fine once in a while with a really great deal - but those are hard to find. Using your cash to try out great hear on sale and then selling it and coming out slightly ahead is a wonderful feeling. Its not that you make that much money, but you get to try out stuff etc. I don't have time now to mess with ebay, potential problems, setting a guitar up, etc. etc. to make $50 in the end after all fees. If you have the time, and enjoy above said activities, go for it. You will soon learn if you were born to be a business-man or not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BG76 Posted August 17, 2010 Members Share Posted August 17, 2010 When I was in college I just let MARS and Guitar Center screw me. Example - I would build as close of a copy to a vintage guitar as I could. I would then walk in (or send a friend in) to the store and proceed to tell them I knew nothing about guitars but needed money. I would usually get $1000 - $2000 for something that may have cost me $200 or $300 to build. MARS in Natick had a seafoam green strat that I built up on the wall for $8500.00 for years. They gave me $1700.00 for it. Then I would also get to laugh at the store for having a copy on the wall for big money. People are a little more savy these days and I haven't done this in about 10 or 12 years. I flip a lot of stuff but in your price range it may be not worth the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Crunchtime Posted August 17, 2010 Members Share Posted August 17, 2010 Dude, this is the worst time in the history of the intraweb for flipping guitars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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