Overpriced thrift store junk!

diggy_dude

diggy_dude

Now 169% diggier!
Now the thrift stores are taking a cue from greedy Fleabay sellers! :mad:

I saw a beat-to-hell TEAC Model 5 in a flea market this weekend. Not only is it missing knobs and fader caps, some of the pot and fader shafts are broken off. Dude is convinced he's gonna get $1200 for it in that condition. I said maybe if he spent a couple hundred fixing it up first. I may go back and swipe some knobs and RCA jumpers off of it for my Tascam gear. :laughings:

Then I saw a Tascam 488 for around $90 "as is" in a thrift store. The odd-numbered tracks wouldn't arm, and the play button didn't work. Give me a freakin' break! :rolleyes:
 
I can totally relate. There was a time, some years back, when my local thrift store had all sorts of electronics goodies for very reasonable prices, actually dependent on condition and such.... Not any more. I always leave thinking "overpriced junk". Yeah, somehow, whomever fixes the final price goes online and compares their dirty broken junk with some fine example on eBay. What irks me is that all of the stuff they get is donations, mostly garbage worthy stuff, fixer uppers or poor condition items, priced ridiculously. It's mostly the new immigrants that get had. I hear ya man.
 
Goodwill is the worst. Not analog equipment, but I saw a China stencil brand drum kit at the Roswell, GA Goodwill, missing about $100 (I checked) worth of parts. They would not budge from the $75 price. Now, a kit like that can be had, used but complete, for about $150. The manager would not drop the price, even a little, saying "Somebody's gonna buy it." I said to him "I feel sorry for the poor schumck who does. You are ripping folks off."

But, I do occasionally score. A few years ago, got a pair of very old-school home audio speakers that had EV 15's in them- happened to be the same width and depth as the Peavey Classic 30 amp I had at the time, even the grill cloth was a near-match. Got 'em cheap, but I don't recall what the price was. And, two weeks ago, scored a Washburn X-30 guitar and an interesting little Zoom amp- guitar alone is worth maybe twice the $125 I paid for both.
 
I think it just depends on where you're looking. But, I also think the internet has made the good old days of teh pawn shop guitar score long dead. Although, then again maybe not, I don't know. It is hard to compare prices in the good old days to prices today, even adjusting for inflation, I'm not sure real disposable income as kept pace with inflation.

I remember the awesome pawn shop on N. Memorylane. Had a Clavinet for $200 and a broken minimoog they were asking $500. But w/ pawn shops you could count on having to negotiate. My buddy bought this totally bitchen EKO bass for I think it was $150???? And I'm pretty sure they were asking $250 or so. EKO mind you, Italian accordian makers. It was really easy to play for a non-bass player like me, had a twangy sort of sound to it. Never seen another like it, and pieces from the same company go for $500+ ....

But I digress, my point with the internet is that there aren't really "local" sales anymore, some jackass on Craigslist is saying "These go for $xxxx on Ebay so I'm only asking $xxxy....."
 
Blue Jinn said:
...my point with the internet is that there aren't really "local" sales anymore, some jackass on Craigslist is saying "These go for $xxxx on Ebay so I'm only asking $xxxy....."
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HAHAHA!!! :D Yeeeaaah I've seen THAT one before. ;)

I still feel that craigslist is the best shot for steals, though that may be changing...

Recent deals I've seen:

Otari 1/4" 4-track fully functioning $50
Tascam 244 fully operational $30
Carvin 1608 mixer (16 x 8 x 2 semi-inline with real wood panels and 5532 opamps) $150
TWO Fostex Model 80's, a Model 20 and 4030/4050 synchronizer set with cables, $200

The most fun is when people start bashing each other's asking prices, making a post just to publicly roll their eyes at someone else's absurdity.

If I hold out long enough I'm SURE I'm going to make millions on my three basket-case 234's. :rolleyes:
 
Yes it does seem a lot of folks have wild ideas they've got some sort of rare piece of gear... I'm guessing from watching one too many episodes of the Antiques Road Show on PBS. I remember when ebay was a fun place full of great deals. They were still calling it "the worlds biggest garage sale." Now I actually get chest pains while surfing eBay because of the absurd prices. I've even fired off a few messages to some of the sellers asking them WTF? And telling them what the thing is really worth. Surprisingly a handful have made changes after I contacted them. Others just list things over and over and it never does sell. I would send those guys an I-told-ya-so follow-up message, but it would take all my time. ;)
 
Beck said:
...Now I actually get chest pains while surfing eBay because of the absurd prices. I've even fired off a few messages to some of the sellers asking them WTF? And telling them what the thing is really worth...
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What it is 'really worth' and what is the 'fair price' for any piece of analog gear for sale is whatever the highest bidder is willing to pay. You can complain all you like but if someone is paying 500 dollars for something you would only pay 50 for... the fair price is still $500. If the seller makes the price too high, he won't be able to sell it so he will either be forced to lower the price until someone buys it or if he isn't in a rush (or doesn't care if it doesn't sell) he will just leave the price as it is and wait for someone to buy it.

In fact, sellers really should put a higher selling price because they might have underestimated the value of the gear.

We usually base a fair price off a similar piece of gear that sold recently but that price may have changed since, the gear may not be exactly the same condition and maybe that particular seller was in a rush to sell it so sold it for cheaper.
 
I agree a seller should get a fair price for gear in good working condition. But we're talking about broken, non-functioning junk that has obviously been abused and/or neglected. It's delusional to expect "vintage" and "collectible" prices for stuff that isn't even close to being in collectible condition.
 
Chilljam said:
What it is 'really worth' and what is the 'fair price' for any piece of analog gear for sale is whatever the highest bidder is willing to pay. You can complain all you like but if someone is paying 500 dollars for something you would only pay 50 for... the fair price is still $500. If the seller makes the price too high, he won't be able to sell it so he will either be forced to lower the price until someone buys it or if he isn't in a rush (or doesn't care if it doesn't sell) he will just leave the price as it is and wait for someone to buy it.

In fact, sellers really should put a higher selling price because they might have underestimated the value of the gear.

We usually base a fair price off a similar piece of gear that sold recently but that price may have changed since, the gear may not be exactly the same condition and maybe that particular seller was in a rush to sell it so sold it for cheaper.
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You make some good points, but I'm talking about something quite different... namely the fact that I know exactly what the "Reasonable" price range is for a given piece of gear, including any cosmetic or functional issues that will impact a specific piece, not simply the model as a species. So I see a lot of naivety and amateurism among many resellers. I get annoyed by both sellers and buyers. But mostly it’s when a seller comes along with an item you've been looking for and he's wasting everyone's time. It will never sell at the ridiculous price he's asking, and it never does. IF he were a reasonable experienced business person he may lower the price, but you can never tell with eBay, because there’re so many people on there who are just plain unprofessional. They don’t behave as one would expect a reasonable person to behave, so that person you expect to lower the price of something eventually, may not. Economics 101 supply and demand principles don’t work on ebay.
 
...and on EBAY your have to take the word of the seller on condition, in most cases unless its a local deal where you can check it out. And EVERYBODY thinks their stuff is 'mint'. Even the bs'ers who cant seem to come up with a $1.50 power cord for something they want a couple hundred dollars for. (worked last time I used it)

Craigslist is my main shopping arena, as I can still go look and touch and feel before I buy, and the prices only go DOWN, not UP like on EBAY.

>>>>> Some of my best bargains/ neatest finds have been when hauling my wife around to garage sales, and the sellers asks " are you looking for something in particular".

More than once when I replied "a reel to reel tape recorder", and then they went in the house and hauled one out of a closet. I've had people GIVE me stuff cause they thought it wouldnt sell and they didnt want to throw it away. Got a nice PR-99 that way.:)
 
If someone offers me a million $ for the studio, including the building, it's theirs.

Sounds fair to me.

Alan.
 
Beck said:
Economics 101 supply and demand principles don’t work on ebay.
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The point I am trying to make is that the price of old analog gear IN PARTICULAR is run by a supply and demand principle... since there is no RRP of a similar brand new item to go by.

They don’t behave as one would expect a reasonable person to behave

How so?
Are you suggesting that if the last 10 Tascam 388 (for example) have sold at an average price of $1500, but one buyer thinks the reasonable price is $500 that a seller should still be selling it for $500?

If you believe the item will never sell at the price asked by the seller... I'm sorry but it's their item and they can put whatever price they want and they suffer the consequences not you. As buyers, we are COMPETING against other buyers to buy an item. What you guys are complaining about is that either... a seller is trying to sell high (when you want him to sell low so you guys can buy low) OR that sellers are not listing their items at a price that may not attract any buyers at that current time (the SELLERS problem, not the buyers).

I believe this thread is choking on its own fumes.
 
Chilljam said:
The point I am trying to make is that the price of old analog gear IN PARTICULAR is run by a supply and demand principle... since there is no RRP of a similar brand new item to go by.

They don’t behave as one would expect a reasonable person to behave

How so?
Are you suggesting that if the last 10 Tascam 388 (for example) have sold at an average price of $1500, but one buyer thinks the reasonable price is $500 that a seller should still be selling it for $500?

If you believe the item will never sell at the price asked by the seller... I'm sorry but it's their item and they can put whatever price they want and they suffer the consequences not you. As buyers, we are COMPETING against other buyers to buy an item. What you guys are complaining about is that either... a seller is trying to sell high (when you want him to sell low so you guys can buy low) OR that sellers are not listing their items at a price that may not attract any buyers at that current time (the SELLERS problem, not the buyers).

I believe this thread is choking on its own fumes.
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Uh... no... thre are ethics involved. There's probably no one more than me that could take knowledge of recording and use it to make a killing on ebay. I won't do that.

After three plus decades in the recording industry and a decade buying and selling on ebay I know what items are worth.

It is just what I said it is... gets me frustrated watching sellers listing everything as "RARE." It pisses me off... the way I feel about it... end of story.

I watch sellers listing things over and over because to be frank they're probably not Mensa material. Of course it's annoying to see something you would like to buy in the hands of a moron... naturally.
 
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Chilljam said:
I believe this thread is choking on its own fumes.
Click to expand...

This thread was specifically about damaged, non-functional equipment in thrift stores. Not about Fleabay sellers. Thrift stores are supposed to sell cheap goods to lower income people. Now they're playing the Fleabay price gouging game - and playing it poorly.
 
Well that's just it, anybody with an internet connection can look up the recent prices on eBay and then set their prices accordingly. What they may not be doing is checking the *selling* prices versus the *listing* prices. That's where you see what something is really "worth" on the open market.

eBay has made the issue a bit worse lately by allowing users up to 50 free listings a month. So you have people throwing stuff up there, without any cost to them at all for listing it. So if it doesn't sell there are no normal marketplace consequences, as "the cost of selling".

If they were out of pocket a listing fee you'd probably see them start to try and find some actual buyers, rather than put it up over and over at the same or a slightly lower price.

Also, if someone is really interested in selling the item, they will indeed price their products reasonably in terms of being in line with recent prices. And if it doesn't sell the first time, you'll see them lower the price substantially when it is relisted. But those are the people that really do want to sell their equipment.

And yes, many sellers on eBay are not professional sales people, or stores. They sometimes have limited people skills, and more often aren't very good at packing. And the big issue with eBay in my opinion, is the items are usually in nowhere near as good condition as described. For this reason I have virtually stopped buying on eBay (although I do still sell). Sometimes what I've purchased has been non-functioning--like an expensive mixer I bought years ago where the chips had literally exploded. Sold as "mint" in perfect working condition.

On the other hand, there are some awesome sellers that are honest to a fault and will bend over backwards to make sure the item is as described and that you are happy when you get it. You just have to be very careful, and you can't treat eBay like you are shopping for new products at Macy's.
 
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