Buying (then selling on) for profit?

[T-Bay]

[quote name='mcnach' timestamp='1492469586' post='3280587']


are you talking about other forums or BC specifically? Because if it's here, I don't agree... everybody here has the same opportunity, there's no 'early disclosure' for select members or anything.

It is frustrating when I've been after something fir a while, only to find I missed out by a few hours, but it is irrelevant whether the buyer is another regular member or somebody who is actively trading to make a profit: the person who gets there first has the advantage. If you want to improve your chances, then check often. I don't know, I never felt I had anybody else to blame despite my disappointment.

I do prefer to sell to a regular member as well, but in the end, if I have a buyer, I have a buyer and what they do with their stuff is not my business.
I did get annoyed once when I sold a guitar I had advertised on gumtree to a local guy. He came over, saying it was a present for his son, asked if I had any extras... he seemed nice and I loved the story he told me about his son wanting a guitar just like this one but not thinking he could afford it etc etc... I ended up bringing the price down a bit (it wasn't an expensive guitar, I went from £120 to £100) and added a gig bag, a nice strap, a decent cable... I had lots of spares.
Within the week, it was back on gumtree at a higher price. Birthday present my arse...
[/quote]
No not specifically about BC at all, in my first post I pointed out that I have found it an issue on forums generally. If I was to be specific about one in particular it would be a motoring one I used for a long time. Three characters used to continually watch the classifieds and jump on any interesting/ cheap items and then relist them within a day at vastly inflated prices. Most members refused to buy off them in public, but when you need 'that' part to finish a restoration there is a lot of pressure to PM them if no one else has it.

Someone else said that forums aren't 'utopias', I know that, but that doesn't mean we can't work together to make them as close as possible. My experience of BC has been 100% positive (I tend to nose around a forum for a while before I join so wouldn't be on here if I didn't like the atmosphere) and as such my comments should only be taken as general reference to previous experience and not specific to BC unless stated. Also in my experience forums are very much a sum of their members, good people make good forums and in the few months I have been on here I have had excellent advice from many members and have several people I now count as friends.

[Billy Apple]

If anyone thinks that a member they've done a deal with is not who they say they are then please PM the site admin and we can have a look.

[Dan Dare]

I appreciate what people are saying here, but buying and selling at a profit is the way the world works. If nobody makes a profit, nobody makes a living. Caveat vendor (the flip of the saying "caveat emptor" - buyer beware) applies. Do your homework regarding value, etc, when selling something. Sometimes, life dictates that we need money and have to take what we are offered, even if we know it's not ideal. As someone points out, forums are not utopias. There are members on here who are dealers - no names, no pack drill, but you'll see their names continually in the Marketplace section (if you want to be certain, have a look at their profile - their highest numbers of posts will be in items for sale). If one of them wants to buy from you, chances are they are looking to sell on.

[uncle psychosis]

I have two thoughts on it, really - the first one is that once you sell something, it's no longer yours and the buyer can do whatever they want with it. Chop it into firewood, sell it on for more, whatever. If I sold it for a price I was happy to accept then that's on me.

Secondly, there seems to be this perception that offering mates rates on gear is a good thing to do "for the community". The fairly obvious corollary to that is that the people offering mates rates devalue gear that belongs to other members of the community. Is it doing me a service to sell something, that I'm also looking to sell, for less than they "usually" go for? Add in the fact that you need to pay fees to sell here now and I'd say that these "community deals" just make the site less attractive to sellers.

Now, luckily I earn enough that I personally don't need to be overly mercenary about gear prices, but there's a lot of people out there for whom that's not true.

[ivansc]

I do offer mates rates when selling stuff, but only to my immediate circle of friends & then only the ones that I both REALLY like & who I suspect are not as comfortably off financially as the rest of us.

[Rikki_Sixx]

It's a bit different to OP's example, but I was once selling a guitar for £100. A friend was interested, so I sold it to him at "mate's rates" of about £75.

Days later, he'd sold it on for £100. He'd never had any intention of learning to play, just fancied himself a David Dickenson type. I did feel a bit offended at that one...

[Shambo]

[quote name='LukeFRC' timestamp='1492498902' post='3280639']
I've been lucky though and even though it wasn't my intention I have bought things that have tended to be more desirable when they've been sold a few years later than when I bought them - It's meant I've got to play some lovely instruments, I don't think that that is my fault!
[/quote]
I don't think the scenario you have described is the buying and selling for profit and no fault has been implied. That sounds like a very normal situation. Buy a 2nd hand instrument instrument, enjoy it (or not), then move it on... perhaps its gone up in value, hopefully it hasn't dropped.
Speaking personally and for nobody else, I wouldn't want to purchase an instrument here from another member of the 'community', who [b][i]only [/i][/b]bought the instrument to move it on quickly for a profit... and not even with the good manners to try and flog it somewhere else. I think such behaviour is damaging to the forum.

[T-Bay]

[quote name='Shambo' timestamp='1492509977' post='3280758']

I don't think the scenario you have described is the buying and selling for profit and no fault has been implied. That sounds like a very normal situation. Buy a 2nd hand instrument instrument, enjoy it (or not), then move it on... perhaps its gone up in value, hopefully it hasn't dropped.
Speaking personally and for nobody else, I wouldn't want to purchase an instrument here from another member of the 'community', who [b][i]only [/i][/b]bought the instrument to move it on quickly for a profit... and not even with the good manners to try and flog it somewhere else. I think such behaviour is damaging to the forum.
[/quote]
You have summed up perfectly what I was trying to get at.

[Thunderbird]

I sell stuff and try to get back the money it owes me so I may buy a bass for say £250 Spend say £50 on it and sell it for £300 but I have never bought basses or anything else to purposely flit straight away as a money maker. Once I bought a lovely travel bootsy bass in here from a great guy at a great price a few months down the line I sold the bass on ebay as I needed the money I think after fees I broke even as soon as the auction ended the guy put the bass back on ebay using my pictures and description of said bass for 3 times more than he bought it for bearing in mind I hadn't even sent the bass to him but anyway that bass still has not sold on ebay as the price is insane now but as long as I cover what a bass owes me I'm happy as it helps me try a few things out for nothing in a way it's a bit like rental lol

[synthaside]

If I sell anything " Mates rates " to real mates or a few well known basschatters im on excellent terms with
Unless I really want shot of an item that isnt working for me. I will sell it on the proviso that if they want shot of it I'll more than likely have it back for what I paid them,
barring some sort of massive price hike Its sort of a first refusal type affair , after all i'd not let it go for mates rates if they are looking to sell to make a buck .

[itsmedunc]

I see a post for a number of very cheaply priced basses for sale on here. I wonder if anyone who doesn't believe in making a "profit" has looked to buy one of these? Surely, equity is profit?

Personally, I've bought and sold on here. I may have made a grand sum of £25 profit once! 99% of the time I've made a loss. Sometimes huge losses. I never intentionally buy to sell on but circumstances change, especially when you are the only band member willing to buy any equipment needed. I may have sold something for a small profit that I've bought on here but have always added extras such as gigbags (which belonged to me), to the sale, that way at least I can recover some of the postage charges that I've paid. Packaging and time must be worth something too? Another point is, how many folk selling something on here actually get what they are asking? It either has to be cheap or they accept offers by PM. PM's are private and so the rest of BC do not know what the item actually sold for or what the deal actually entailed.

This brings me back to the original point of the "very cheaply priced" basses on here. I saw them and did not buy one as in doing so, I would have felt like I was gaining something by somebody else's misfortune. That doesn't change the fact that, the basses belong to somebody else and whatever he wants for them is his business not mine.

Edited April 19, 2017 by itsmedunc

[planer]

When I buy a thing (doesn't have to be a bass) I try to pay what I've decided is a good price for it. If I get the thing for the price I want, happy days.

When I sell a thing (could be the same thing), I try to get as much as I can for it, but still price it realisically, as the whole point is to sell it. If it sells for close to what I want, happy days. I sold a car recently. The dealer I bought my 'new' car from offered me £1000 for it as a trade-in. I decided that wasn't enough and sold it privately for £1450. Does that make me a mercenary money-grabber? Nope, it makes me sensible, not to mention £450 better off.

If I buy a thing cheaply then it belongs to me and, with respect, I can do what I bloody well like with it. If I want to sell it again for more money that's just dandy, and nothing at all to do with anyone else, including the person I bought it from.

If I sell something for a low price then get grizzly when it sells again for more, that's my own silly fault for not pricing or advertising it properly in the first place.

I have a mate who buys and sells aeroplanes. He said to me one day 'I'm only in it for the nick', meaning he will only buy an aircraft at the very lowest price he can get away with, because it maximises his margins and allows him to put dinner on the table. I agree this doesn't apply completely to private sales, but then again, why not? We're not buying and selling to do each other favours, are we? We are massively friend[i]ly[/i] to each other on this site, but that doesn't makes us actual friends.

Do your research, and go into a deal with your eyes open. Once it's bought, it's yours. Once it's sold, it's no longer yours, and there is nothing to be gained from following basses around getting shirty about what they sell for.

Edited April 19, 2017 by planer

[stingrayPete1977]

I hope the people that are upset about people selling basses previously owned by them for more than they sold them for are forwarding cheques on to other sellers to make up the short fall to any sellers selling them on for less?


No? thought not, back in your box

Edited April 19, 2017 by stingrayPete1977

[largo]

[quote name='planer' timestamp='1492599355' post='3281487']
The dealer I bought my 'new' car from offered me £1000 for it as a trade-in. I decided that wasn't enough and sold it privately for £1450. Does that make me a mercenary money-grabber? Nope, it makes me sensible, not to mention £450 better off.
[/quote]

Truth is, nobody wants a trade-in over a pure cash sale so nobody wins, hence the low value offered. On a trade-in the seller typically loses out, the shop loses out & any potential buyer usually loses out.

[Shambo]

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1492611811' post='3281627']
I hope the people that are upset about people selling basses previously owned by them for more than they sold them for are forwarding cheques on to other sellers to make up the short fall to any sellers selling them on for less?


No? thought not, back in your box
[/quote]
I don't think that's the issue. Nobody has said they expect mates rates just because it's basschat, it's more of a problem when somebody wants to buy and sell basses on here like a tout sells tickets.

Edited April 19, 2017 by Shambo

[fleabag]

There is no issue

If seller A wants £500 for Bass X, and sells it for £500, result. Move on

If seller A wants £500 for Bass X, and gets offered £400, either sell it, or don't.

If seller A sold Bass X for £400 and sees Bass X back up for sale for £500 , get over it, or do not accept less than you want

[stingrayPete1977]

[quote name='Shambo' timestamp='1492612222' post='3281635']

I don't think that's the issue. Nobody has said they expect mates rates just because it's basschat, it's more of a problem when somebody wants to buy and sell basses on here like a tout sells tickets.
[/quote]

If a tout can sell them at that price there's nothing stopping you doing the same but it takes more effort or you could end up with a pocket full of tickets you can't sell on. (Warwicks )

[planer]

[quote name='largo' timestamp='1492611917' post='3281630']
Truth is, nobody wants a trade-in over a pure cash sale so nobody wins, hence the low value offered.[/quote]

True. And in my case, the dealer said as much, so I wasn't expecting too great an offer.

[Vinny]

[quote name='LukeFRC' timestamp='1492498902' post='3280639']
There's a couple of folk like that your way. One in leith and the other a big taxi driver from falkirk. Sold him a Warwick SS2 ages back, "too battered" for me mate, then kept trying to haggle via text. Told him to piss off. Came back the next day and paid the price I wanted. Up on eBay for £500 more within a week "selling my dream bass, played lots of gigs on it" (he couldn't play mind you)
What was mildly satisfying though when it went for less than he paid me for it.

[/quote]

I can't play the bass either, but I don't let that stop me gigging.

[Vinny]

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1492502961' post='3280664']
Ultimately it comes down to who you know. If you buy from / sell to a Basschat newbie with 37 posts then there's not much point expecting anyone to be "community minded".

[/quote]

I think it took me about 4 years to get up to 37 posts.





(yay...another one!)

[Grangur]

Have to say I'm guilty of selling on at a profit. That said most times it's been basses bought and sold on Gumtree or Ebay. Generally it starts off with me seeing what seems to be a bargain and I've seen buying as a good way to increase my experience of another bass. Many times I fix them up and have made a modest profit.

One sale was especially embarrassing though. Mrs G and I drove 150 mile round trip to see/buy a bass advertised on BC. When playing the bass I wasn't sure, but being green and lacking in confidence I still bought it.

A few days later I was certain it wasn't for me. The sound wasn't up my street. So, not wanting the good guy on BC to be aware that I was selling, as I was a bit embarrassed, I put it on ebay in an auction. The BC member saw it and contacted me. I was honest and told him the situation. The bottom line is I made a handsome profit that paid for the petrol and a little more. On seeing the profit the lovely BC guy contacted me with congratulations on the way it went. He was really need good about it.

On the other hand, I've also been known to drive 150 miles round trip to a BC member to try a bass. I really wanted to like the bass but found it not for me. I declined to buy. On getting back home I got a PM from the seller.

The PM said something like, "dealing with most people on BC is a real pleasure. Most people a a good bunch. You are the exception. I hope to never deal with you again."

Incidentally, one bass I didn't buy from him was one he asked, at the time, £700 for. I since have reason to believe he actually sold it for about £450. I was always polite through the meeting and can't see what I did wrong other than disappointed him in not buying.

Seems like you can't win sometimes.

[fleabag]

Well, you did waste his time. He could have been down the library reading " how to make friends and influence people "

It seems obvious even to my teddy that you suffered the most inconvenience - travelling, petrol, etc.

I suspect he was pissed off because he nearly had you for £700. He could almost feel that green pile of Queens being counted
out into his outstretched claw, only to be howibbly howibbly snatched away from him in the blink of a dollar sign in the eye

Edited April 20, 2017 by fleabag

[julesb]

1: You see a JV Squier Precision in the window of your local crack converters for £145. You know what it is, they obviously don't. You buy it. After a couple of weeks you realise you don't like P basses afterall and sell it for £145. NEVER. Guaranteed.

2: You intentionally sell your house what you paid for it 5 years ago. NEVER. Guaranteed.

Sell for what YOU think its worth. Buyer will buy for what THEY think it's worth. If they then decide to sell it, it's for what THEY think it's worth as it is now THEIR PROPERTY to do with what the hell they like.

Simple.

Edited April 20, 2017 by julesb

[largo]

[quote name='julesb' timestamp='1492672901' post='3282101']
You see a JV Squier Precision in the window of your local crack converters for £145. You know what it is, they obviously don't.
[/quote]
What, you mean nicked?

[largo]

Or, following the same analogy. You visit an 80 year old who's husband just died and she's moving his stuff on. A vintage Fender, been under the bed for the last 50 years and because it's so old, she's after fifty quid for it. Would you seriously give her the £50 and think it's fine because she's happy she got the money she wanted for it.