I'm done buying and selling instruments

[Diamond_Dave]

Famous last words, right?

But really. I just bought a Fender MIM and sold a Squier bass and an Epiphone LP, all online. What a pain in the rear. Taking all the photos and doing the listings and the waiting and the packing and the expensive shipping and ENOUGH. And then I had to inspect and set up the new-to-me Fender, which fortunately went very well and it's all in great working order. But you never know until you look under the hood what you've got when you've bought it online.

I've learned some lessons:

• Never buy new unless you're pretty darned sure it's a keeper, because you'll lose your rear end when you sell it. And don't tell me good instruments hold their values. ALL instruments lose their value immediately, unless they're some kind of collector's item.
• Never buy new and cheap. You won't get squat for Squiers and Epiphones, because people want Fenders and Gibsons.

But honestly, I'm pretty happy with what I have now--a Fender strat and a Fender jazz, a Seagull acoustic, two Fender amps and an old Crate bass combo sans the head that I use as an extension cabinet. I've reached the point where a) I play everything I own. It doesn't sit on the wall for weeks unused, and b) I can't afford anything nicer, because a USA Fender or a tube amp is simply more than I can justify paying for what is right now a hobby. I mean, my car is probably worth $1,500. Even if my wife let me I couldn't put down $1,500 for a USA Fender.

Thanks for reading.

 

[StevieMac]

It sounds good in theory, good luck!

 

[73BLow]

I'm the opposite. Buying stuff, using it for a bit, and then selling it online is fun for me. I like taking the photos and creating the listing. Do I lose money - yup, every single time. Especially since almost everything I have ever sold could be put back in a store and sold as new again. I don't think I have ever made a profit on anything I've sold. But, I'd be losing more if I let it sit in my house never to be used again vs. selling it to someone who will.

Sometimes I look at it like renting something that isn't available to rent.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

TBH I'd rather lose money selling to GC or SA than fooling around with listing them & shipping them. I've gone through the trouble of listing locally & weekly dropping the price until I'm virtually giving it away.
At the end of the day I consider my losses the cost of renting that instrument for whatever length of time I owned it.

Don't get even think about selling an amp at a profit or even breaking even, unless you got it hysterically cheap or bought it when you were 10 & now it's vintage.

BTW, only item I made money on is one I shouldn't have sold.
A U.S. Fender JP-90, sold it for double what I paid.
which was enough to pay for a used MIM Blacktop I bought immediately

 

[whatizitman]

Being a basement dad rock producer, I'm prolly in a different category than a lot of TBers here. I don't need great gear, and I'm not willing to pay for it. I just need things that work. That, and bass is not the only thing I play/do. So I have to cover a lot of gear territory, which has made me quite resourceful and creative over the years. I've all but given up the buy/sell cycle. It ate up way too much of my time and sanity.

I hate buying used or selling, both locally and internet. Not worth the piddling return or inevitable hassle most of the time for me. Time is money, IMO. I will buy new online, and then make whatever I buy work for me. Either keep or give away what I'm not using. Since I rarely buy expensive gear, and never "investment level" gear, this works out fine for me.

Some lessons I've learned along the way:
1. Don't just sell stuff to get something else. The return on cheap and crappy stuff is not worth it - not financially, nor in terms of hassle. If it's good and/or expensive gear, you will rarely get what you paid. And you just may regret selling it (learned that way too many times).

2. When fortune befalls, don't squander it. Use it. Don't just sell or trade that old amp Uncle Dave gave you to get that gear you really want. If it's good, keep it. Find a way to use it. A couple of good things have fallen into my lap this year. In the past I would have considered selling/trading to get "gooder" things. No way in h-e-double-toothpicks am I gonna do that this time.

3. Make do with less. Be creative and take advantage of what you have. Stop the buy/sell GAS cycle, focus on using your gear to its potential, and only buy or sell when necessary.

4. Make stuff and/or do simple repairs. I've been delving into electronic circuitry lately, and can make simple effects circuits. Yeah, making pedals does require investment in components and some tools. The point is that I can now make and tweak my own sounds, instead of just purchasing them, only to turn around and sell them if they're not "the" pedal. At least that's the goal, as I'm still new to that scene. I haven't "enclosed" any of my circuits yet. They exist only in breadboard land.