EBAY

[MONGO]

It amazes me how many times i see guitar related items on this rock page and also listed on ebay.. i do find many times that these items are usually cheaper on ebay.. some people hate ebay but for me this is how i price my items when i buy or sell. like the auto nada book.. it is a gudeline across the usa for value of items.. when i see a guitar or amp here that i would like to buy and can find it on ebay much cheaper from a reputable seller then i get frustrated with rock page items for sale. i have listed many items over the years and really try to be less than ebay prices. when i buy or make an offer on an item i try to be close to what it should sell for on ebay. this is my story and am sticking with it. thanks for listening , mongo

[lonewolf]

Me too...however, I only get prices from items that have actually sold. You can't get a valid price from items still up for auction or items that ended and nobody bid or the reserve price was not met.

For Rockpage, I usually go lower than or match the lowest price I find on eBay.

For instance, I priced my Starcaster $650 less than the only one that sold in the past month or so because it wasn't in quite as good of condition:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Fender-Vintage-Star ... 0615800423

[T@rgetDrone]

Like it, love it or hate it, using ebay for a baseline price guide only makes sense. I also agree for the most part on using sold listings as the primary baseline. However, one can also get a good feel for an item's worth even if it didn't sell... didn't meet reserve, etc. Under those circumstances you could use a range based on the highest bids that fell short of reserve.

And then there are those less common items that just don't pop up (even on the bay) very often. They can be tough to price unless you have somewhat extensive knowledge of the product line. But we live in Podunk so that doesn't happen around here all that often. In that regard I feel somewhat alienated with a few of the pieces I own or have owned. "You've never heard of or seen Product X? Where the heck do you live, in a cave?" I know I am NOT the only one around here who has felt this way when holding or marketing (read put up an item for sale or trade) a higher priced piece of gear.

[lonewolf]

Like it, love it or hate it, using ebay for a baseline price guide only makes sense. I also agree for the most part on using sold listings as the primary baseline. However, one can also get a good feel for an item's worth even if it didn't sell... didn't meet reserve, etc. Under those circumstances you could use a range based on the highest bids that fell short of reserve.

Would you price a Squier Strat based on an eBay listing that didn't sell at $1000?

Or a 1976 Fender Starcaster whose reserve was $3999, but the 2nd highest bid was $2500 so the high bid of $3800 only showed as $2600 because of the bid increments? Nothing like a little $1200 discrepancy (this happened last week while pricing my Starcaster)

You can't use those numbers for anything--especially a reserve not met--you can't tell what the high bid is/was.

[Mysterytrain]

I have sold a lot of stuff on ebay.

I used to sell TEAC Reel-to-Reels Players. I would buy them LOCAL for $50-100. then sell on ebay for $300-500.

Plus I would get FREE blank tape reels ($10-15.) and aluminum empty reels ($45-50.) when I bought the unit.

The only problem was if one single light, meter or button was missing or broke then the item would only sell for half of its worth or not at all.

So... with old stuff it seems people will pay a good price if everything works.

[Mysterytrain]

What also happened was...

I bought 3 Mutron III's on ebay.

I paid $500. for the first one which was pretty beat up.

I paid $500. for the second one which was pretty damn nice and clean and sold it for $900. to Peter Frampton (seriously).

I paid $500. for a mint condition unit which sold for $1200.

To me, it really depends on the day, time of year, if it is a common item, and how many have been appearing lately.

[MONGO]

i sure do appreciate the feedback on this ebay selling.. for sure i only use the completed listing prices and beware of a sold item that had only one bid.. it could have been a but it now that was listed too cheap or a friend of the seller bid on the item and won it.. these you must be careful when pricing.. i also think that an item can be removed within 12 hours of the auction ending and the highest bid price is shown as a completed price.
and then there is the vintage guitar price guide that is a farce.. i have seen many items go half of the value and others go for more.. very hard to price things with this economy.. thanks

[The Shadow]

The fact of the matter is that people aren't using e-bay as much due to them stong-arming buyers and sellers into using pay pal as the only means of payment. Now couple in that sellers have to wait to get their money and can't leave negative feedback, and e-bay starts to lose what little luster it had in the first place.
It's rediculous that my item should be worth more or less just because a knuclehead in Dearborne Mi. overpaid for an item, or was lucky enough to be the only bidder and get something on the cheap.

[T@rgetDrone]

Lonewolf - I said "one CAN also get a good feel for an item's worth even if it didn't sell." I did NOT say one would certainly do so. More specifically, if it is important enough to do so, one could use the law of averages..... sample say, 50 to 100 listings of the item, toss out the top 10 and low 10 percent, then average out the middle 80 percent. That COULD give one a decent baseline of what something is worth on the current market. As for the extreme Squier example you mentioned, only if the hardware is solid 18K+ gold. Then I MIGHT hit it. I think most of us have some sort of a real world feel about such extremes. Otherwise, if one were to consider a $1000 bid on a Squier legit, sold or not, then they're clueless and probably should not be pricing guitars to begin with.

Bottom line is an item for sale or trade is worth whatever someone is willing to pay or give for it. The going rate fluctuates on a regular basis mostly based upon supply versus demand. Even in this crap economy, prized items that are harder to find are still fetching their more common rate or close to it.

I have not sold on the bay for a while. I'm more hesitant since the new seller rules have been put into place. I do not buy as often only because money is tight for me. Like many in my situation, fair trades are a more common method for gear acquisition.

[MONGO]

Excellent synopsis.