Buying (then selling on) for profit?

[Fionn]

Don't you just hate it when you sell a bass and, only a few days later, notice it for sale somewhere else for £550 more than you sold it for.

Very recently sold a bass on here for £1100, and now seeing it for £1650 in Bass Direct ...

The bass I just sold, unmistakably ... [url="http://www.bassdirect.co.uk/bass_guitar_specialists/Wick_Streamer_1987.html"]http://www.bassdirec...eamer_1987.html[/url]

Might not be the case, but if it was ... Would this be common practice around here, to buy bargain basses, and sell them quickly for profit?

Edited August 23, 2016 by Fionn

[Number6]

Wow that's a big mark up.....

You must find it very frustrating.....i would

[Cosmo Valdemar]

[quote name='Fionn' timestamp='1471980439' post='3117465']
Don't you just hate it when you sell a bass and, only a few days later, notice it for sale somewhere else for £550 more than you sold it for.

Very recently sold a bass on here for £1100, and now seeing it for £1650 in Bass Direct ...

The bass I just sold, unmistakably ... [url="http://www.bassdirect.co.uk/bass_guitar_specialists/Wick_Streamer_1987.html"]http://www.bassdirec...eamer_1987.html[/url]

Is this common practice around here?
[/quote]

If it's being sold through the shop there won't be a massive profit after commision. Perhaps the buyer just didn't like it and couldn't be bothered with selling it themselves.
I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with buying cheaply and selling for profit, but it does go against the BC community spirit somewhat.

Edit: It would give me the hump too.

Edited August 23, 2016 by Cosmo Valdemar

[karlfer]

I'm about to (probably) put a bass in a trade deal with a shop as there hasn't been a deal agreed on here.
I will get the equivalent of around £1700. I'm happy with that

I would be VERY surprised it my bass isn't out at around £2300+ in the shop. I would be equally surprised if they struggle to sell it.

They have business costs and a profit to make.
And a global market.

[fleabag]

The Bass Direct page for Fion's bass is still there

[JTUK]

hmmmmmmmm

[Mudpup]

the shop has to charge vat as well remember......

[BassBunny]

If they bought the bass off you, didn't like it and then traded it at Bass Direct, they could easily have made a loss on the P/Ex value and Bass Direct have priced it at what they think the market will stand.

[mcnach]

[quote name='Fionn' timestamp='1471980439' post='3117465']
Don't you just hate it when you sell a bass and, only a few days later, notice it for sale somewhere else for £550 more than you sold it for.

Very recently sold a bass on here for £1100, and now seeing it for £1650 in Bass Direct ...

The bass I just sold, unmistakably ... [url="http://www.bassdirect.co.uk/bass_guitar_specialists/Wick_Streamer_1987.html"]http://www.bassdirec...eamer_1987.html[/url]

Might not be the case, but if it was ... Would this be common practice around here, to buy bargain basses, and sell them quickly for profit?
[/quote]

I can understand a bit of a "dang, I should have asked for more" feeling but... if you ask for the price you want, and you get it, then what's to be unhappy about? Once that bass leaves your hands is no longer anything to do with you and if the new owner sells it for a profit, good for him. Imagine somebody buys an amplifier head from you, and a couple of weeks later that amplifier drops in price to the point that you pretty musch sold a used amp for what it almost costs now new. Do you feel remorseful then?

I don't see the problem, frankly. It's the seller's business to ask for the price they want, and if I get my price I'm happy. If the new owner ends up selling it on and making money, why should it bother me?

[molan]

£1,100 to a list price of £1,650 isn't going to be desperately profitable.

Let's say the buyer haggles to get around 10% off and settles on £1,500.

That's an initial profit of £400.

VAT wipes out £80. Credit card or PayPal fees could easily be another £50 (there are operating fees over and above the base commission).

Now we're down to £270 profit.

May well have needed new strings, a professional clean and a set up to go with the strings. Including some time for labour that's another £50 gone.

Net profit now sitting at £220 without allowing any costs for time involved in photography and by a sales person in store looking after the customer.

Overall margin is just under 15% on the £1,500 sale price or a 20% mark up on the cost of purchase (all assumptions based on it coming in at £1,100).

In the long term that's barely break even for any sort of specialist retail business that doesn't have high volume of sales to offset against basic staff salaries, rates, rent, power, accountancy fees, phones, broadband etc etc.

Oh, and if there is any profit left after all of these have been paid then good old corporation tax can hit you for another 20% or so on the end of year net profits.

Of course - there's a lot of hypotheses involved here in terms of initial cost of goods coming in and any haggling on the final sales price but you can begin to see that selling pre-owned gear in a specialist retailer isn't desperately profitable a lot of the time

[Hobbayne]

There was a topic on here a while back about basschatters buying on here for a good price and then moving them on for a profit. Got rather heated IIRC

[dannybuoy]

If Bass Direct manage to sell it for that price, then good luck to them and the only person you should be pissed off with is yourself for letting it go for less than its market value.

If I buy something I consider underpriced I would have no worries putting it up for sale again at a higher price. If I manage to make a profit on it, it will help to balance out the trades where I ended up out of pocket.

Edited August 23, 2016 by dannybuoy

[wateroftyne]

Just shrug your shoulders and move on.

[discreet]

Buy something, then sell it for a profit. Isn't that what our western capitalist system is based on? The one that we all live under and participate in, whether we like it or not? You know, competitive markets..? [i]Everything[/i] we buy has made a profit for many people down the line from production through acquisition to purchase. What's different about this?

The Basschat sale forums are open to anyone who cares to register and pay the necessary subscription to participate. Once something is sold here it becomes the property of the seller and they can then do what they like with it. The previous owner's interest at that point (if any) becomes irrelevant.

If you don't like it, move to North Korea!

Having said all that, if I sold a bass on here then saw it for sale at a higher price somewhere else, I might feel an illogical twinge of annoyance too, but I'm sure it would soon pass - it's not my bass any more, right..?

Edited August 23, 2016 by discreet

[Kevin Dean]

[quote name='Mudpup' timestamp='1471991916' post='3117578']
the shop has to charge vat as well remember......
[/quote] That's 20% the most unfair Tax

[12stringbassist]

If a buyer and seller agree on a price, then surely the seller is happy, or the bass would not have been sold?

If it turns up for sale again at a higher price, then maybe that's what the first seller should have asked for?

[neepheid]

Great, I was just thinking to myself, "That's what the forum needs - another episode of 'Death to the Capitalist Pigdogs' - where's my popcorn?"

Edited August 23, 2016 by neepheid

[Shambo]

[quote name='Hobbayne' timestamp='1471992284' post='3117587']
There was a topic on here a while back about basschatters buying on here for a good price and then moving them on for a profit. Got rather heated IIRC
[/quote]
I started a topic about that a few years ago, (there must have been more than one), and was shocked at the voraciousness with which I was shouted down for suggesting that flipping basses for profit on the forum wasn't good for the 'community' spirit. I think the forum was going through an unfriendly cycle at the time.

I still maintain that buying low here and selling high somewhere else is fair game, especially to a bricks and mortar establishment with their overheads. The forum marketplace was busier when it was free to advertise and seeing a bass go for a bargain price, only for it to return to the very same market a week later at a higher price was, IMO a dick move. It seemed I was in the minority for expressing such an opinion. It doesn't seem to be an issue these days because the marketplace has slowed down.

Edited August 24, 2016 by Shambo

[kodiakblair]

Saw a bass sell via FB for £50 last week, was back on sale this weekend at £100.

Initial feeling about this "flipping", as the Americans say, was not too good.
Then common sense kicked in.£50 was a daft asking price

[Grangur]

I can understand the OP feeling miffed but that's how the world works. Advertising here doesn't get you the top price. That's the truth.

That said £266 of the 1600 is Vat. Bass Direct will be marking up by 100%. So the OP can be happy that his buyer very probably made a loss.

I'm a salesman by profession. If I see a bass for sale anywhere and think I can sell for more I will do it. Very often I'll do work on it, such as levelling frets, fixing the electronics and polishing it up. Sometimes it's only a question of needing better pictures.

I don't see a problem. If I can find a way to get more for it then what's wrong?

Do you curse the Olympic runners because it's unfair that they run faster than you?

[lojo]

I believe if you buy on this site then re sell on this site you shouldn't look to profit (if you get a good deal but need to shift it on for whatever reason Then let another member have the same deal)

But if you wish to sell elsewhere , then fair enough do as you wish

[Grangur]

I've actually got 4 basses here right now in various stages of being done up. All bought with the intention of selling on. Some might stay for a while but time will tell.

I traded a bass into The Gallery once. I sold for £400. They priced it for sale at £1000. I'd bought it for £400. So I was happy. Profit is what makes the world goes round.

[lojo]

Yep, if you work on them etc , fair play that's different than just flipping it onto another member straight away for more

[Grangur]

So if all I'm doing is taking better pictures, or being prepared to ship it is wrong?

Have you ever thought about how a car mechanic sees the world? He's working on the cars and the garage owner buys his time at £15 (?) Per hour and sells for £150 per hour. That's life.

Sometimes I write to sellers on here and tell them how to make their bass more attractive to buyers. I can see ways to improve many ads selling basses to help it sell easier, or get more money. Is that evil?

[Fionn]

I never said I was pissed off.

I got the price that I asked for, and whoever buys the bass can do whatever they like with it (including burning the thing) once they've bought it. All that is correct.

It was just an unpleasant surprise, to see it for sale elsewhere, so quickly, at a greatly higher price. It wouldn't be entirely unreasonable to wonder if profit was being made with the price jumping from £1100 to £1650, would it? (I've taken Molan's breakdown on board). Anyway, that's why I asked the question. I want to know what I'm dealing with here. My original question remains, [u]even if it's not the case with my bass[/u] ...

[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Is it common practice around here, to buy bargain basses, with the purpose of selling them on for profit?[/font][/color]

[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]I would hope not. I've been using this forum for years, buying and selling stuff as I naturally go through it, and never for profit. Perhaps I'm naive, but I've always seen Basschat as having the closest semblance to community, as I've found in an "online community". A true bass players forum. Gear changes hands relatively cheaply here. I know this when I sell things, and I'm happy to buy things cheaply too. I would hate to think that folk might be exploiting that for personal gain.[/font][/color]

Edited August 24, 2016 by Fionn