Now I know I’ve been guilty of this too, but, as soon as I realize I am, I stop. And, I try to be honest with myself from the beginning about it. Yes, I am talking about the “I know what I’ve got” people.
I was reminded of them today. I was surfing Reverb as I sometimes do. Today, I was actually jumping off the daily alert email I have setup. A piece of gear I have been looking for popped up. So I clicked it. After all, the condition said Very Good, and the price was fair for that piece of gear in that condition. The problem was, when I clicked on it and saw the condition of the item, I was very much underwhelmed.
It’s a speaker cabinet. I’m sure it probably plays fine, but the fact that the seller is calling it in Very Good condition just floors me. According to Reverb, “Very Good items may show a few slight marks or scratches but are fully functional and in overall great shape.” On the other hand, “Good condition includes items that are in find working order, but have significant cosmetic imperfections.”
This speaker cabinet has a big faded spot and a slight rip on the grill where somebody decided to removed the branding. The right side of the cabinet looks good. The back of the cabinet looks good. The left side of the speaker cabinet has torn tolex on one top corner, and looks like 3 good scratches and a rip that looks to be about an inch long. Then the top has two extra holes in it for some reason that look like nail holes, 4 small circular rips in the tolex that looks like where someone had set something on top of it and scratched it, and another rip on one of the front corners that’s big enough you can see wood through it (and actually looks kind of like a burn). Then there’s rust spots all over the handle.
All of that, yet somehow the condition is “Very Good.” Granted, I’m not going to message the seller about the cabinet because I don’t want one that is in that rough shape. I’m not wasting my time or theirs like that. Truth to tell, for the condition that it’s in, what they’re asking + their free shipping brings the cost of the amp down to where it really should be imho because it’s going to cost them $100 to ship the thing. Besides, with the amount of sales they’ve made, if I bought it, I’ve got a feeling that when they realized how much shipping is going to take out of their pocket, they’d cancel the sale anyways.
I’m just hung up on that “Very Good” condition thing. When I sell on Reverb, I try to be honest about the condition of the gear I’m selling. Truth is, I probably err to the side of worse than better. So, if there’s any question if the gear may not be “Very Good” then I tend to call it “Good” because I don’t want someone coming back and saying I lied. From what I understand, Reverb always sides with the buyer, and I don’t want someone buying something and being disappointed in the condition so that they contact Reverb and say it wasn’t as described. I’ve heard horror stories about that and folks getting back a piece of broken gear because the buyer either broke it or didn’t care to pack it back well.
Which brings me back to the “I know what I’ve got” people. They’re the ones that I blame for jacking the price of gear up and causing the overall prices to continue to climb like they have. Used to, you could get some really good deals on used gear. Because of these folks pricing their used gear at new prices, it seems like you really have to work to get a deal. Not too long ago, I used pedal could be gotten pretty easily for 1/2 the price of a new one. Nowadays, folks are pricing them so close to the new that, by the time you add in their shipping, you may as well buy it new because that’s how much you’re spending.
Then there’re the “I know what I’ve got” collectors that do this. By a piece of gear with the sole purpose of flipping it for an inflated price. I’ve bought gear (even some of that gear) thinking that, if I don’t like it, I could always flip it.
Heck, sitting right over there on my pedal board is a Germanium Tumnus from Wampler. I bought it on a whim and was lucky to get one. I wasn’t thinking “I’m going to buy this and turn around and sell it for twice the price.” I bought because I know that I like klones, and this one apparently had some of the magical diodes or capacitors or whatever is in it that none of my others have. So I thought “I’ll get one, and, if I don’t like it, I can always get my money back out of it.” It’s a great pedal! It’s on my board, and probably won’t be coming off anytime soon. I got it to use it if I liked it. I didn’t get with the intention of flipping it and driving prices up. That’s just stupid.
Neeways, I’m just ranting about the general state and prices of used gear. If you sell something, take an objective look at it before you do. Should you really be listing that guitar as Mint Condition when it’s had a questionable headstock repair, 3 tuning pegs have been jankily replaced and don’t match the others, and the jack is still mostly attached to the guitar but it’s half hanging out? Probably not. Also, when you realize it may not be in the condition that you think it is, price it accordingly. That 10 year old Epiphone that’s been beat to heck shouldn’t be priced at a Gibson level just because you replaced the pickups and had it professionally setup 5 years ago. It’s still a beat-up Epiphone.
Objectivity. When you’re selling something, it’s something you need to bring into play.