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Judging by some of the reverb/ebay listings and forum classified ads I see.
"These go for a grand new but I'll take $850" LOL
"Pedal retails for $329 new, buy it now $300" LOL
"Buy my handwired no-name amp for 10 percent less than the insane amount I paid"
Unless you have something rare, vintage, or highly desirable you're SOL. There are a lof of pipe hitting sellers around these days. Worse is they are offended by "lowballs" i.e offering 60% of new value. Haggling seems to be a lost art now too.
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07-12-2025 11:14 PM
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Ah, it's the old thing about people believing guitars hold their value and never lose value- and that for guitars like the Gibson L5 the value is supposed to continually go up. Even rare, high-end guitars like original D'Angelicos fluctuate in value by 5-10% regularly. But people hate feeling like they've lost and not getting what they want for their equipment feels like a loss. If you buy a guitar up front with a focus on resale value and investment potential, you're probably more likely to feel that pain than does someone who buys an instrument as a tool of musical expression.
I particularly enjoy it when I look at eBay and Reverb to see somebody trying to flog some instrument, often towards the lower end of the spectrum, for more than retail. On our local craigslist there was a guy who routinely advertised"rare" PRS SE series guitars, often asking $150-$200 more than retail. He used to run ads for a dozen of these every week.The only people who buy are those folks who can't be bothered to spend five minutes doing some research online.
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A dealer in Auckland is offering a Brand New Fender Vintera '70s Telecaster Custom at four hundred NZ bucks more than retail.
But wait – there's more: it is not really brand new; it is 'used – excellent'.
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People can ask what they want. Thankfully. No one is obliged to anything. High asking prices never irk me. I don’t sell much myself but whenever I did I was immediately contacted by bargain hunters who gave me a hard time about my asking price. And most times they were just plain wrong and I sold the guitar for the price I had in mind. Sometimes that took a day, sometimes three months. Patience is a virtue.
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I bought an SGJ 2013 model in 2014 new. It's the stripped down version which a lot of people seem to hate (the finish and the 490s in emg looking plastic covers). It was £399 new. They seem to sell for more that that these days.
This one on ebay is pretty pricey.
https://ebay.us/m/6cAIB2
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This ^^^^. If the potential buyer doesn't like the asking price, either make an offer or move on. Sometimes things in life can be simple. Best to take advantage of that when you can because all too many things in life are not that simple.
Originally Posted by Oscar67
Tony
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Funny thing is sellers have the notion that a buyer is internet savvy enough to find sales ads, but not enough to find a decent price list. If you can research ads online you can research prices too.
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It can very well be new and unused. Originally Posted by Litterick
Reverb forces sellers to list items as used unless they are authorized dealers and able to provide manufacturer warranty.
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Used gear is worth whatever a buyer is willing to pay for it. Free advertising let's people ask stupid prices. Smart buyers don't pay stupid prices. It is as simple as that.
There are way better investments than guitars, but the right guitars hold their values better than most adult toys. And remember, he who dies with the most toys.....still dies.
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The Covid buying craze skewed the prices of everything but things are coming back towards normal.It's taking awhile for people to come to the realization that they can't get what they paid.That being said if i am selling a guitar in excellent to mint condition i'll be expecting more than 60 percent of what it sells for new.
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This is what I'm talking about. Going rate is still 60 percent of new value even if you never laid a finger on the guitar. Offers are going to be made with that concept in mind. Yes, I can see realistically getting maybe 70-75% of new value since it is mint condition and has all the case candy crap that only non-players and collectors care about but it's the same principle as driving a new car off the lot. It can have ten miles on the odometer and it's still a used car. The problem now is random piece of gear and dudes are wanting, no, expecting 85-90 percent of new value and are offended when your offer doesn't reflect that crack life. Originally Posted by nyc chaz
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Pretty sure that 60% metric is outdated.
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If I make an offer than offends a seller, that is his problem, not mine. If someone makes me an offer that I think is absurdly low, I either ignore it or sometimes (for some twisted fun) I counter them with a price that is higher than my asking price. None of it is worth getting bent out of shape over. Originally Posted by DawgBone
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Pricing on gear bought/sold locally through craigslist is still running in the 60-70 percent range of new. Reverb/Ebay have a semi choke hold on the used market but you are paying for the convenience of finding something that might be hard to find in your area and the hit the seller takes on fees, not actual street value of the instrument. It's artificial. There are some craigslist types who do the same things but unless they have something rare, hard to find, or especially desirable those ads sit for months and months. Originally Posted by AllanAllen
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So you’re paying for convenience on those sites — I’m not entirely sure that’s unreasonable. Originally Posted by DawgBone
Another thing is that I’ve had some weird experiences buying from small music stores. Not sure if buying something in “excellent” condition for 80% of new value from some random dude with 200 5 star ratings is actually worse than buying something new from a store I’m not immediately familiar with. (I’ve also noticed that a lot of the higher prices are brick-and-mortars selling on reverb)
Reverb has become less useful to me in recent years, though I’m not sure I can articulate why. Prices being steeper there than in the past is probably part of it. But I would say that reverb sort of opened up a third vein in the market — not new and not used but this sort of middle ground where something is used and sellers are verified and there’s recourse if the listing is misleading etc.
Im not sure it’s worth the premium on normal used stuff but I’m not opposed to the idea that it is.
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It’s not like that on Chicago Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace. Originally Posted by DawgBone
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As someone who suffers from GAS, I track a few guitar/amp brands on Reverb to see what comes up for sale. A guy recently put up a used ("mint") guitar by one of my favorite, boutique builders, so it shows up right next to the "new" models posted by the authorized dealer. The price of the mint guitar? As Dawgbone guessed, the same as the new one!!
Granted, it's a sweet guitar, but still ...
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It sounds a bit like sour grapes to me... You want a [insert piece of equipment] but don't want to buy new so then you look for "deals" and lo and behold, you realize people know the value of their equipment and/or are trying to make a buck Originally Posted by marcwhy
As someone who suffers from GAS, I track a few guitar/amp brands on Reverb to see what comes up for sale. A guy recently put up a used ("mint") guitar by one of my favorite, boutique builders, so it shows up right next to the "new" models posted by the authorized dealer. The price of the mint guitar? As Dawgbone guessed, the same as the new one!! Granted, it's a sweet guitar, but still ...
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I don't buy stuff to trade, but when it happens that I have no use for something, or the rare case I make a mistake, I always price my items to what I want. And guess what, it still sells. Yes, it takes a while, there may be the occasional entitlement tantrums from drama lamas (I always have fun with those) but I always sold at anywhere between 85-90% of new.
Case in point, one of my first ever pedals was the MS70CDR, bought during COVID when I tried experimenting with synths. Sold it a week before the new version came out at about 3 or 4$ over retail price cuz they were out of stock everywhere and the dude really wanted one. My very first bass guitar was sold at 85% of what my gf paid for it when she got it for me; weirdest part about that sale was that there were deals online to buy it new with warranty for the very same price I sold it for xD. Same thing with an MXR pedal, readily available, sold for 90% of retail value.
And then my biggest coup - I was doing a project for the consumer behaviour class, related to sentiment analysis, had no idea what to do with it when a friend suggested I look at music gear. I started with Amazon reviews, but then I found Thegearpage (what a goldmine for an advertising major!!) and long story short, Wampler Tumnus Germanium happens. Seeing all that silly frenzy, I asked the local dealer if they have it, was told it's coming and I can reserve one. I asked a good friend, my gf and my music teacher to each buy one (they had a 1 per customer limit... as if xD) and I ended up with 4 highly coveted pedals. It was also how I learnt what a Klon is xD!!! Sold the first one real quick for the equivalent of 780USD, the next ones took a bit longer but even after the Deluxe version came out I was still able to get 680USD for the last one. Was supposed to sell the 4th one 2 weeks ago for the equivalent of 690USD, but after hearing it the way it was meant to be used, I decided to keep it for now. My parents had a WTF moment when I had to explain why I needed money for 4 identical pedals, but after I sold the first one and almost covered my cost for all 4, they never once questioned my purchase decisions when it comes to my hobbies.
My advice to all those outraged by such practices - try it out for yourself and see what you can get away with.
We have a saying - it ain't stupid to ask, it's stupid to give
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Nope, no sour grapes nor outrage; I laugh and move on.
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'Ask a lot, then discount heavily if it does not sell' seems to be the convention on Reverb.
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Buyer: set your max, stick to it and suppress FOMO.
Seller: set your min, stick to it and enjoy the guitar if it doesn’t sell.
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In a recent UK auction, somebody was selling off a nice collection of archtops. Including (all Hutch era, all seemingly in decent condition) an L5CES, a Super V, and couple of Super 400s. They all sold for c.£5-6 (INCLUDING the various costs that are added to the hammer price).
This is interesting because one seldom finds these guitars listed for less than £10K in the UK
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For many reasons auctions are horrible gauges of the larger market. Within the last 10 years I’ve seen almost flawless vintage L-5s go for $2000 US and I’ve seen MIM Strats with nothing special about them go for well over $1000 when they were generally selling for $300-400. Originally Posted by lesyeuxnoirs
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My collector's rules are simple:
1. don't buy new - you feed the corporate hyenas. Thus no worries about crazy sellers playing with prices.
3. Buy vintage and wait min 10 years before you even bother to check current value.
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A lot of people would not consider buying anything second hand. I see them complaining on forums that they can afford only so much for the sort of thing they want. Try telling them that a really good thing can be bought secondhand for that much. They won't listen. They want case candy, and packaging.
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Recommandations for Hollowbodies for $600 and under?
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