Just read another post about annoying buyers on eBay and I would like moan about another aspect of eBay... And that is buyers paying near-to-new or more-than-new prices for current-model non-rare second-hand gear and robbing me of the chance to grab a bargain!
If I'm looking to buy, for example, an effects pedal, the first thing I do is look up it's new price (including postage and availability) and then figure out what would be a reasonable price to pay for a used one. If a new pedal is £200 online, I won't pay more than £140 for a used one. A used pedal may well have been mistreated, smoked, dropped, soaked, or otherwise abused so the £60 I save over the new one comes with a real trade-off: a risk, a compromise of longevity, a lack of warranty.
However, I regularly see used pedals, guitars etc being bought on eBay for the full new price! People will pay the same for a used item than they would for an identical but new instance!!! It literally makes no sense!
If you could spend just a little bit more, avoid any risk and get a brand new, boxed , guaranteed one, why wouldn't you?
(I'm a hypocrite because a couple of years ago I sold two rather ordinary, current model, freely available Boss guitar pedals for more than they could have been bought for, including postage, online - and probably received quicker!)
Thoughts?