Go onto Gumtree and type "Bass Guitar", location Ashton-under-Lyne

[Terry M.]

44 minutes ago, HeadlessBassist said:

Maybe the £525 one is either someone desperate for the money, or it's a cheaper TRBX-5?

As stated they are both Japanese TRB5ii model basses 😊

[Terry M.]

43 minutes ago, HeadlessBassist said:

 

A proper Japanese one, as opposed to the cheaper TRBX? They must be difficult to shift.

I'm no Yamaha expert but I know the Japanese ones when I see them 😂

[Terry M.]

 

 

Check the two listings yourselves chaps 😊

 

And my favourite colour happens to be the cheaper one. 

Edited yesterday at 13:14 by Terry M.

[Terry M.]

1 hour ago, HeadlessBassist said:

 

I think a lot of the pricing issue is down to how much people need the money. I always sell the bass for what it's worth.

A bass is only worth what someone will pay for it. I've seen basses in certain stores sit on the wall for literally over a year and counting based on that theory. There's been a Yamaha RBX765a on Ebay for the LONGEST time in fact it's still there. It's had simms led's fitted and the asking price is £1,260.00!!! Maybe I've missed something there 😅

[BassApprentice]

I occasionally look at Gumtree and always noticed that there was loads listed for Ashton-Under-Lyne, normally the Yamaha TRBs mentioned in the thread already

Edited Saturday at 13:22 by BassApprentice

[neepheid]

He's been trying to shift some of this stuff for months.  He's asking too much, at least for the one I was keeping my eye on.  A slightly rarer finish on a bass which normally can be picked up for around £150 second hand doesn't make it worth nearly £100 more.  A shame.

[Kev]

I'm sure if everything came down 10-20% he'd have an easier time of it, but if they've been up for ages then I guess he has the retailer mentality at the mo! 

[edstraker123]

I was interested in a bass he was selling some time ago and whilst doing research found the bass on here and it had previous serious neck issues which weren't mentioned in the listing. I had to ask and he confirmed this was the case. This really put me off as do some of the prices which are ridiculous. I also asked about a px on another bass and he wanted to give me nothing for mine yet charge top dollar for his - definitely dealer rather than bassist behaviour.

Edited Saturday at 17:07 by edstraker123

[80Hz]

Yes I've been eyeing some of this chap's stuff for a while. He has a nice G&L Tribute L-2000 in tobacco burst with colour matched headstock. Would need to be 20-25% less for me to inquire, but maybe he's factoring in some haggling. I guess if you can afford that number of basses, you can afford to have them around until they sell for the price you want.

 

I can also relate to being on a mission to try a wide range of basses...

 

+1 for get him on Basschat 😆

[jonno1981]

If I was him I’d approach bass direct or bass bros and negotiate a cheaper commission. Drop off 15-20 at a time and wait for the cheques to arrive.
Given the quantity of listings I can only imagine the number of tyre kickers and scam emails he must be dealing with. 

[edstraker123]

I don't think he'd take the commission hit tbh. Seems quite happy to hold onto them . Be interesting to know if Gumtree / FB marketplace now report people to HMRC as ebay now do ( I think after sales of > £1700 ) as it would look like he was a trader with so many for sale at one time and therefore potentially liable to tax,

Edited Monday at 07:28 by edstraker123

[HeadlessBassist]

2 minutes ago, edstraker123 said:

I don't think he'd take the commission hit tbh. Seems quite happy to hold onto them . Be interesting to know if FB marketplace now report people to HMRC as ebay now do ( I think after sales of > £1700 ) as it would look like he was a trader with so many for sale at one time and therefore potentially liable to tax,

 

You would only be liable to taxation if you earned a profit on belongings you sold. I suspect most of these instruments are being sold at a loss, or at the break even point just like the rest of us.

[Burns-bass]

7 minutes ago, HeadlessBassist said:

 

You would only be liable to taxation if you earned a profit on belongings you sold. I suspect most of these instruments are being sold at a loss, or at the break even point just like the rest of us.

It seems to me he’s buying stuff and selling it on. If he’s picking up basses here and selling them on, it suggests he’s a bedroom dealer and should be registered as such.

 

My brother used to sell records as a hobby and has now registered with HMRC as a dealer.

 

In the end, it looks like a lot of average stuff that’s priced higher than a specialist shop like BassBros without any of the benefits. If most definitely avoid.

[Kev]

1 hour ago, HeadlessBassist said:

 

You would only be liable to taxation if you earned a profit on belongings you sold. I suspect most of these instruments are being sold at a loss, or at the break even point just like the rest of us.

To be fair, if he's not making a profit on most of those, he's had a nightmare...

 

 

[Killerfridge]

It's not about making profit or volume of sales (although they are elements of it). If you're buying something for your own personal use, and selling it once you're bored/want something else, you aren't liable for income tax even if you made a profit. HMRC look for "badges of trade" to make a decision as to whether you should be filing self assessment:

 

https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/business-income-manual/bim20205

 

Assuming he's not just buying with the intent to sell, then he should be fine regardless of the throughput.

[neepheid]

11 minutes ago, Kev said:

To be fair, if he's not making a profit on most of those, he's had a nightmare...

 

 

 

You would hope he eventually gets haggled down?  Unless he's playing the long game waiting for gullible people who are too lazy to do any research to wander into his orbit?

[three]

I live in the town (utter dump) and don’t think there’s any connection between SUYG and Tony - other than optimistic pricing for quite ordinary basses. Perhaps oddly, I don’t know Tony though I think he offers lessons. I haven’t seen him playing locally either. The town’s once thriving music scene crashed dramatically in the late ‘80s (along with its economy as a whole). I might go and have a mooch but can’t see anything that appeals, especially given the prices

Edited Monday at 10:07 by three

[Hellzero]

On 08/03/2025 at 10:49, Beedster said:

This is what I call a collection.................

 

https://reverb.com/uk/shop/januszs-gear-depot-5

Some nice instruments there, but a lot of dire at delirious prices...

 

That Peavey Tim Landers fiver is an amazing bass at a quite correct price tag.

[Beedster]

On 08/03/2025 at 10:05, HeadlessBassist said:

Not bad, Beedster. Swedish prices are a little on the spenny side.

 

I'm not sure the same can't be said of the listings that are the topic of this thread, but at least the Swedish instruments are interesting 👍

[GrahamLeeds]

1 hour ago, neepheid said:

 

You would hope he eventually gets haggled down?  Unless he's playing the long game waiting for gullible people who are too lazy to do any research to wander into his orbit?

 

I bought a bass off him a few months ago, at the last minute I needed a specific bass type in the next few days for a first rehearsal with a new band and he had one.

In stock new was £1700, he had one for £1300, went down to £1200.

Bass Direct had the same bass for £1200 used but in a colour I really dislike otherwise I would have bought theirs.

So I bought his...was it overpriced for a bass from a private sale? Probably, but it was there, 45 minutes drive away, exactly the bass/colour I wanted and in mint condition. 

A month or two later one was on ebay for about £1000, but was 2 months too late for me 🙂

 

So very happy with my purchase, the bass is great and he seems a nice guy, let me have all the time I wanted to play and check the bass and went off to make me a cup of tea.

[neepheid]

6 minutes ago, GrahamLeeds said:

 

I bought a bass off him a few months ago, at the last minute I needed a specific bass type in the next few days for a first rehearsal with a new band and he had one.

In stock new was £1700, he had one for £1300, went down to £1200.

Bass Direct had the same bass for £1200 used but in a colour I really dislike otherwise I would have bought theirs.

So I bought his...was it overpriced for a bass from a private sale? Probably, but it was there, 45 minutes drive away, exactly the bass/colour I wanted and in mint condition. 

A month or two later one was on ebay for about £1000, but was 2 months too late for me 🙂

 

So very happy with my purchase, the bass is great and he seems a nice guy, let me have all the time I wanted to play and check the bass and went off to make me a cup of tea.

 

Fair enough - I'm a little far away to benefit from the 1:1 service and the cuppa though!  Maybe he's pricing it high because although he tentatively offers postage, he doesn't really want the hassle?  I can understand that - packing basses (in a courierproof way) for transit is a right royal PITA, but living as I do in the remote outpost of civilisation that is Aberdeen I generally don't have a choice - local market is very small.

[GrahamLeeds]

He said he does it to finance his bass habit and to get to try a load of basses he wouldn't otherwise have.

He wasn't bothered about it when I said his original price was higher than Bass Direct and wasn't at all pushy about selling.

He actually bought a bass off me about a year ago, I put the ad on Gumtree and he answered inside of 1 hour and bought it the next day.

I only realised it was him when I saw him to buy the new one.

To be fair if he was in Aberdeen I would have bought a different one, him being basically just down the M62 makes it easy. And the cuppa 🙂

[Beedster]

2 hours ago, GrahamLeeds said:

So I bought his...was it overpriced for a bass from a private sale? Probably, but it was there, 45 minutes drive away, exactly the bass/colour I wanted and in mint condition. 

A month or two later one was on ebay for about £1000, but was 2 months too late for me 🙂

 

I think many of us would have done just thew same 

[edstraker123]

4 hours ago, Killerfridge said:

ssuming he's not just buying with the intent to sell, then he should be fine regardless of the throughput.

 I understand that but where does the burden of proof lie ? If you have 30 basses for sale it doesn't look like you are just trying them and then selling them on - particularly at the prices he charges.

I was interested in a Cort he had up - he wanted nearly £400 more than it went for new for in Guitar Guitar - I sent him the link but wouldn't entertain dropping the price which he's quite entitled to do I might add !

I guess he's just hoping people aren't doing research or are happy to pay which some obviously are.

In his defence he did seem a very pleasant chap.

 

Edited Monday at 13:38 by edstraker123

[Killerfridge]

8 minutes ago, edstraker123 said:

 I understand that but where does the burden of proof lie ? If you have 30 basses for sale it doesn't look like you are just trying them and then selling them on - particularly at the prices he charges.

 

I think it's an argument to HMRC, they are the arbiters of this. Like I said, they look for these badges of trade, but it's not a hard and fast rule for any of them. I think ultimately they can chose to either believe him or no. Whilst he's not selling them cheap, it doesn't look like he's trying to "flip" them as such, just not selling at a loss