Craigslist Furniture Diagram Inspires Gear Thread...

[modernage]

I stumbled across this humorous diagram on the CL blog, and it got me thinking. I have b/s/t a lot of gear on CL, forums, Ebay, etc, and I really feel like there are a lot of people out there that needs to be informed a bit when they are getting rid of their stuff... especially when it comes to pedals. No, your gear from the 90's is not "vintage". An Epiphone Les Paul is not a Gibson. The Smashing Pumpkins did not us a Creamy Dreamer on Siamese Dreams. Electro Harmonix doesn't equal "boutique". And most of all... a "buy it now" price on Ebay usually isn't an accurate indicator of market value. Yeah I'm talking to you guy on the Nashville CL selling your Green Russian Muff for $400.

It was brought up here before, and I realize you can't create a price guide for gear. That's not what I'm thinking about. There are too many deciding factors when it comes to used gear prices. A builder could get the flu, and fall behind on his builds. Now he has a wait list, and the pedal now sells used for 30% more than the new price. I get totally get it, but there should be some guidelines to keep misinformation from spreading even more.

What do you think?

Here's that photo that inspired it all.

The tag on the bottom just kills me. It's so true.

[bob the r0bot]

lol wes anderson

[theavondon]

I love the "Is there wood? It's solid Oak". Just, any wood at all.

And, yes, most people who are selling things need to actually learn shit, ESPECIALLY on CL.

[delaydecay]

anyone have the code chart used to slyly buy hookers on craigslist?

"young man looking for a used tire with plenty of tread left on it."

[Gone Fission]

That's pretty good. The catchall puts it in heavy competition with the Ayn Rand flow chart.

[mauerkraut]

some site where users could enter how much they paid or sold their pedal for would be helpful

[Jero]

some site where users could enter how much they paid or sold their pedal for would be helpful

B/s/t could also be used for that very thing if people would leave prices posted

[modernage]

B/s/t could also be used for that very thing if people would leave prices posted

That's true. I've thought of that also. There has been a few times where I've wanted to sell something and couldn't figure out what I should price it at, and every time I would do research on a couple of forums I would only come up with prices removed and "sold" put in its place. I know I have been guilty of doing this myself, so I will be more mindful of that in the future.

some site where users could enter how much they paid or sold their pedal for would be helpful

I think some kind of website would be helpful. Even just a chart, or Excel spreadsheet. Something you could go through and answer a list of questions and tally up your points at the end to see a general range that would be fare pricing for both buyer and seller.

The list of questions could cover:

1) What is the condition of your pedal (then give examples of each (Analogman has a great piece about condition ratings))
2) Is your pedal a) mass produced (Boss, EHX, Line6, Digitech, etc) b) hand made (insert boutique names here)
The questioning would then be specially tailored based off of what you answered above.

Mass Produced:
3) Was the pedal released in the last a) year b) 2-5 years c) 5-10 years d) 10+ e) discontinued
4) etc.

Boutique:
3) What size is the company? (based not only on number of employees, but also number of units produced, and recognition by general public)
a) large (Keeley, Analogman, Moog, Barber, etc) b) medium (Empress, Skreddy, Wampler, etc) c) small (ILF builders, Lightfoot Labs, etc)
4) How readily available is the item? (can it be found at local shops and online retailers, it is sold only directly by the company, is there a waiting list (ie; PaulC, Analogman KOT, etc), no wait list, but built in small "first-come-first-serve" batches (DAM, Goatkeeper (used to be this way), etc)
5) etc.

Now that I'm typing all this out, I would assume that the people we would most want to direct this resource to would not know these kinds of details. They are either uninformed, misinformed or just don't care . This would probably be more useful if you enter in your make and model, and the condition of your effect and out pops the general worth of your unit. A lot like you would if you were trying to get the Kelly Blue Book value on your car. It would take a lot more research, data collecting/entering, programming, and upkeep to have it this way, but I think it would be a whole lot of useful.

I don't know how well it would work for vintage gear though. But then again, I feel like vintage prices are more stable and consistent.

[bigchiefbc]

B/s/t could also be used for that very thing if people would leave prices posted

That's true. I've thought of that also. There has been a few times where I've wanted to sell something and couldn't figure out what I should price it at, and every time I would do research on a couple of forums I would only come up with prices removed and "sold" put in its place. I know I have been guilty of doing this myself, so I will be more mindful of that in the future.

The reason why I blank out my prices once their sold is that I've actually had that held against me in the past over on Talkbass. I bought a pedal from someone at $XXX (which was severely underpriced). Then later on, when I tried to sell it, someone agreed to buy it, then found the old thread where I bought it and tried to say that since I paid $XXX dollars for it and used for X months, then he shouldn't have to pay more than $XXX - YY dollars for it. It's not like I was trying to make a ridiculous profit on it or anything, but that really pissed me off. I don't overprice shit as a rule and I don't try to screw people. But just because I get a screaming deal on something doesn't mean that you get that same screaming deal, either. Unless I like you

[modernage]

B/s/t could also be used for that very thing if people would leave prices posted

That's true. I've thought of that also. There has been a few times where I've wanted to sell something and couldn't figure out what I should price it at, and every time I would do research on a couple of forums I would only come up with prices removed and "sold" put in its place. I know I have been guilty of doing this myself, so I will be more mindful of that in the future.

The reason why I blank out my prices once their sold is that I've actually had that held against me in the past over on Talkbass. I bought a pedal from someone at $XXX (which was severely underpriced). Then later on, when I tried to sell it, someone agreed to buy it, then found the old thread where I bought it and tried to say that since I paid $XXX dollars for it and used for X months, then he shouldn't have to pay more than $XXX - YY dollars for it. It's not like I was trying to make a ridiculous profit on it or anything, but that really pissed me off. I don't overprice shit as a rule and I don't try to screw people. But just because I get a screaming deal on something doesn't mean that you get that same screaming deal, either. Unless I like you

Oh, that's a good point! Maybe that's why I usually don't leave the prices. Actually there have been a few times when I've purchased a pedal at a ridiculous price, and I always worry about posting it at a normal selling price if I decide to sell it later, but for a different reason. I worry that the person I bought it from is going to be all "hey dick! I didn't sell it to you for that much." Not that it would even happen. Most people don't care once they get the money they need. I usually don't end up posting it on the forum I bought it from though, and that forum is almost always HCFX. haha. I don't flip gear for a living, but like you said, you're not necessarily getting the same deal I got unless we're bros! When I decide to buy something I usually spend a lot of time finding the best price I can. I am patient. I feel like the time I spend (which is exceedingly more than most people) makes up for the money I don't have, so it evens out in the end.

[oldangelmidnight]

It would be great if someone would aggregate and anonymize the data.
Ampwares.com has a feature that keeps track of ebay auctions for Fender amps: http://www.ampwares.com/fender.asp
It'd be a lot harder with pedals and forum sales, though.

[hbombgraphics]

Just saw this today:
http://binghamton.craigslist.org/msg/2412775890.html

Apparently a 60's epiphone with a lifted bridge is mint.

[modernage]

Check out this vintage Fuzz Factor from 2007!!!!

[hbombgraphics]

vintage!

[Bassus Sanguinis]

yeah, I've seen a lot of this. It's funny as hell to see Zvex and Devi pedals sold as vintage, for example, or when old lawsuit copies of Rickenbacker are sold for just outrageous prices (like 700 USD for a copy that back then cost about 150 USD) with header VINTAGE 70's RICKENBACKER RICK BASS A COLLECTIBLE RARITY and later states it's from Japan and that the headstck doesn't say RICKENBACKER but simply RICK. As if these really were collectible artifacts