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What are your buying habits like?
I've realised I seldom buy new stuff anymore, except when getting it straight from my fave (or smaller) pedalbuilders cause I really want to support them, or if it's cables/picks. Otherwise it's used and looking back I'd say 70% of what I've bought/own has been/is used.
So I guess my question is if you buy mostly new or used?
Does your preferences vary depending on the category of gear?
Do you prefer online or from shops?
Also, how often would you say you buy new gear? Are you sensitive to the "general hype"? How much does it affect you?
What makes you pull the trigger (or not) on something? Are you more of a spontaneous buyer or someone who researches stuff for a long time?
Is there a typical scenario or recipe for how/when/where/why you buy things?
Does this cross into other things you consume or is it unique for music gear?

Guitars, keyboard synths and stuff like that I like to buy in shops if possible so I can play them. Or buy used locally so I can play them first. Like you I'll buy new pedals from small companies I like, but mostly used if it's a big company.

I'm fairly spontaneous with pedals in terms of making the decision to finally buy things but I can research things quite a lot if I'm unsure. Anything big I'll research quite a bit

The only thing I buy new is severely discounted stuff. I prefer from shop/in person. I'm not affected a lot by hype, since I have a fairly antiquated sound, I suppose. I'm the "research everything heavily" type, who also tend to go like "ok if I want this in two weeks still, maybe I'll buy it", so I don't really do any impulse shopping.

Lately I've become so confident at what I want to achieve with my music, that I'll usually go in reverse order to back when I was exploring. I.e. I'll go "hmm... I need this thing that does this BZWEOISSSSSSCCCGGGXXXX sound when I use it like that", and then research to figure out what will do that, and then I'll optimally get my hands on it and try it, and then buy it.

I'm sort of like that with everything I've bought. I guess I like researching things. I'm an educated researcher, and work as a part-time researcher as well as part-time lecturer, so being prepared is kind of my schtick at this point...

I buy used whenever possible/practical. I only buy new when significant coupons, sales, or clearances are involved. The only time I've ever paid full retail was when I needed a tuner for a last minute gig. I don't pre-order shit.

Online is usually the most convenient and has the best deals, but I won't buy a guitar sight unseen anymore. Guitars are the only gear I feel like I need to try before I buy.

I never impulse buy gear unless it's a stupid good deal, which is usually like pedals under $50 that I feel like I could play with for a while and easily resell when I get bored of it. But I have very little space to fit gear so I have to be careful to buy things I'm going to get a lot of utility out of. Even when I know I want something, I still wait a while before buying, in case it's just a passing fancy and also in case it becomes cheaper.

I'm really out of touch with the new stuff. I'm only now learning about Red Panda shit, for example. I completely missed the modular hype. The hype stuff these days is seem pretty pricey, so maybe when everyone moves on to the next thing I'll check them out.

I pretty much only buy used from Craigslist or Kijiji. Or pawn shops. I have bought two new pedals in the last few years. My bass is used, my synth, drum machine all used. All my amp heads and cabs are from pawn shops. My mixer is used. I don’t really buy “boutique” pedals any more, my tastes are pretty trash - mostly old DOD and Boss. All my amps are 80’s Peaveys.

I did buy my recording interface - a Scarlet 18i8o new and my H4N new as well - something about that stuff I don’t want to to have been abused or dropped.

I buy things I need to do stuff I am doing.

For music and photo gear I buy (mostly used) stuff years after they have been released and the hype train has passed. I think I break the rule once with a Boss pedal that I even "pre order" LOL
In my defense, it had a 20% discount.

Regarding online/shops/etc. Whatever is cheaper.

Am I tempted by hype? Like 1 out of 100 times, and I still get the thing after buyers remorse hit some rich person on reverb.com (I want the SY-1000)


My other electronics are headphones, laptop, phone and coffee maker.
Always new.

Almost all of the pedals I buy are used. I have four (out of like 30ish) pedals I bought new (Keeley ECCOs because it does exactly what I needed at the time, Mood and CT5 because I needed some glitch pedals and they are two of my favourites, and EQD Life Pedal v2 because of hype).

Guitars and synths I am a little more split between new and used. At this point I have very specific goals for my guitar and synth acquisitions, so if I can't find something used, I will buy it new (preferably discounted from a local shop if possible).

Other than the Life Pedal (and maybe Mood to a certain degree), I don't usually succumb to hype. I still usually get caught on the hype train, but I usually talk myself off before I actually buy anything.

Also, I've been trying to buy more locally or at least from Canadian sellers. Partially because I'd rather help local economies and partially because our dollar is pretty shit and customs fees are getting a little ridiculous.

For pedals and synths I always first take a look on the second hand market.
Really often you can find gear in almost new condition for really cool prices!

In case I do not find what I want used or is a very new product which just came out, I start to look at online shops.

I tend to buy very specific things, so it really depends on whether there's a used market for it or not. I buy directly from the builder when possible.

However, for the whole synth/sampler thing, I decided that I'd rather wait until something pops up in my day-to-day life than actively look. Basically I'll leave it up to chance and intuition instead of spending time looking at stuff I have little experience with to begin with. Typing that out, I'm not sure how much sense it makes, but still.