Don't you guys lose money buying and selling all the time?

I would assume that keyboards are like most other things....you buy new you sell for quite a bit less.....you buy 2nd hand you sell for a smaller loss, but still usually a loss.

I know that sometimes you may get a great deal when you buy and actually profit on the sale, or maybe there's even the odd few of you that are so savvy you often profit........but in general I assume most of the time a loss, great or small, is made.

A lot of you guys seem to be constantly buying and selling keyboards, so don't you end up losing a lot of money?

I buy low and sell high

The trick is to minimize turnover.

yes

nope

my girlfriends buy my keyboards

no, i think i've done pretty well over the years. well, most of what i've bought was used and in nice condition - i've of course lost more than a bit on the few new items i've bought (K-Station, Micro-Q, DPS-12i). if there's anything else that i didn't make out ok on it was because i traded it instead of selling it myself (i've left a ton of money on the table doing this).

So far I have only sold for a profit. However, I don't buy new gear and sell it right away. Normally when I sell stuff I price it on Ebay such that I will definitely make a profit.

I generally don't lose too much money on trading / selling because I take good care of my equipment, and most often I recondition it so when I do decide to sell it, it looks a hell of a lot better than when I got it. I can usually get back what I paid on items if I sell them - trading at the local places is different but I only do that if the opportunity arises to own something that they have there and I don't want it to disappear, forcing me to trade the item with them at whatever market value they have.

I haven't lost a penny. (Note to self: get more green ink.)

I prefer to think of any monetary losses as an agreeable cost of the experience.

That's the truth.

Most of the time I try to at least break even and I do make a profit oftentimes, depending on the product. I think the rental analogy is a good one, e.g. I buy a keyboard for $1500 and use the heck out of it for 2 years and then sell it for $1000, that $500 "loss" followed the market value of the keyboard and was a cheap rental...plus the keyboard probably paid for itself many times over in terms of gigs played with it. No big deal...it usually all works out in the end over time with many different sales.

Yeah, if you're gigging or selling records, man synths are almost free -- so it seems to me. Or, I guess I can think of other ways to make money that require larger investments.

I was a heavy drinker. I got sober and got serious about my composing, I make my living as a player but now the composing is paying the rent. Even if it wasnt, gear is a hell of a lot cheaper than getting drunk 365 days a year.

Yes. It's ridiculous really. That time could be better spent learning what one has inside and out. Fiscally, at least, music is a terrible investment.

I've never bought a new synth or piano (except a Yamaha PSR for my kids.) I have bought a few new guitars though. I've never lost money selling a synth, but I've always kept my ebay bids a little under market value so I can peddle them if they're not my cup of tea.

Ditto, but you can't put a price on discovery. You often have to pay to learn and GAS is a mother.....

I almost always buy used, and I only typically buy things when I can find amazing deals, so if I end up selling anything, I tend to make a profit from it.

If I buy new I take a loss on the sale, if I buy used I generally brake even or make a profit. I've made as much as 175% on the sale of used items.

I am a fulltime pro musician, so all of my music-related purchases are tax-deductable.

In other words, I didn't pay for my gear... you did.

Somehow I change keys every few years [1998 Roland G800 >> 2000 >> Korg Trinity >> 2001 Yamaha Motif6 >> 2003 Nord Electro] but I have never thought about the "losing money" part..... I mean, all keyboards have helped me to gig, to entertain the audience & more importantly, myself.......................

Anyway, most of my gear (except Motif & Electro) was bought used (thanks to the internet), so that didn't cost too much....

You just have to know you're selling... ......

And finally, I've never felt the urge to sell all my stuff....... until I played a MotifXS.....

(I'm going to the Messe on Saturday, so I'm gonna sell most of my gear soon;) )

[thanks Yoozer for reading carefully, and then checks train ticket]

I hope you mean Saturday

Don't mean to hijack, but.... The Pro -- where in Hilton Head do you play? I'll be down there this summer (have to check on the dates) for the 2nd time with the family. To me, Kenny B's alone is worth the drive from Cleveland!

Its difficult to "make" money on selling your equipment, Ebay or not. Anyone with any savvy knows the market for what gear is worth and would be foolish to pay too much for it. Some vintage synths have been going for some fair money the last year or so. I actually made money on my Moog Taurus pedals I sold, but they were in demand and getting rare. I found someone that really wanted them and sold them off. They were in great shape and worth the price to a collector. But that's the exception. Usually, I'm pretty certain of what I'm buying and how I'm going to make use of it before I pluck down any cash. If I keep a KB for 8 to 10 years and gig with it, it usually pays for itself over that time period. If it doesn't, I still had a good time playing it. Its cheaper than any of the girl friends I've had down through the years. My instruments have always lasted longer than the girl friends too.

Mike T.

Don't mean to hijack, but.... The Pro -- where in Hilton Head do you play? I'll be down there this summer (have to check on the dates) for the 2nd time with the family. To me, Kenny B's alone is worth the drive from Cleveland!

Anywhere is worth the drive from Cleveland.

- lives in Cleveland.