Most outlandish prices

[Steve Browning]

2 hours ago, Burns-bass said:

 

Part of this comes down to how you view relationships online and with Basschat members.
 

As part of a community here I’d consider people to be friends and expect them to treat me that way.

 

(I remember when my band started. York5stringer gave me a £500 PA and told me to send him the money when I had it. That’s from a  person I’d never met and had only ever interacted with virtually.)

 

If you consider us all as individuals with a virtual relationship and no moral responsibilities to one another, then it’s fair game.

 

Each opinion is valid. I subscribe to the former if I’m honest, but I’m knowingly quite naive.

 

 

 

I am exactly the same. With one notable exception, I think of everyone here as a chum and hope I treat everyone accordingly. 

 

I'm reminded of a local store that was offered a wonderful old Hiwatt stack, by a widow, at a silly price but insisted on paying a fair one instead. 

 

I have PM'd sellers in the past to suggest their price is possibly low. 

 

As stated, we all have our own (valid) view. 

[Mrbigstuff]

52 minutes ago, neepheid said:

 

Or they're selling it because a family member died and they got it in a will, knowing absolutely nothing about it, and not wanting to.  There are more shades of grey than you think.

Admittedly there are. Even in your scenario though, how long has the instrument been left untouched? Theres risk involved in any second hand purchase and I choose to risk as little as I can.

[MichaelDean]

12 minutes ago, Mrbigstuff said:

Admittedly there are. Even in your scenario though, how long has the instrument been left untouched? Theres risk involved in any second hand purchase and I choose to risk as little as I can.

Could only be a few weeks/months. People die at different ages every day and sometimes family members are keen to liquidate assets. Sudden heart attacks, hit by a car. Heck, my cousin (early 40s) died within two weeks of a brain cancer diagnosis.

[Mrbigstuff]

44 minutes ago, MichaelDean said:

Could only be a few weeks/months. People die at different ages every day and sometimes family members are keen to liquidate assets. Sudden heart attacks, hit by a car. Heck, my cousin (early 40s) died within two weeks of a brain cancer diagnosis.

Firstly, sorry for the loss of your cousin, that is terrible that it was so short.

 

I agree with everything you said, but would add the caveat that it can also be the opposite scenarios.

[Burns-bass]

2 hours ago, Jakester said:

Well, my personal view is more nuanced than that; some people here I have met in person, some I haven’t; some I consider friends, some I most certainly do not (and BTW there’s no correlation there!). Most interactions here have been positive but some have not. 
 

I don’t generally expect anyone to do me any favours just by dint of our mutual BC membership, but then IME most people here are generally decent and I would try and help a fellow BC’er if I could. 
 

I have had some experiences over my time here which call that into question, including a recent fairly substantial purchase which was very much not as described, but like anything, there are risks and rewards. 
 

My view is that if someone parts with something without any express caveats or conditions applied to the sale, then I’m free to do with that item as I will. I’ve certainly seen items given away with the proviso its to help those in need, or to help education etc. 
 

Obviously in relation to this particular instance I’ve clearly been the beneficiary of good fortune, but equally I took a risk it could have been a complete nail and fit only for the bin and wasted £50. The seller could easily have done what I did, with the same result. Not sure why that is morally objectionable. 
 

(I spent a very pleasant afternoon with Hamilton at Bowspeed who talked me through the history of the maker, value, possible sale options  and recommendations, and I also talked it though at length with some orchestral string players I know before offering for sale, so it’s not a price pulled out of thin air. I’m also pleased to have been able to support Bowspeed as well - it was amazing spending the time in there and listening to the decades of acquired knowledge). 

 

 

Totally understand this, and as I said, I'm passing no judgement. 

 

I bought a bass here that was much lower than the shop value. When I decided to sell it I messaged the seller and explained it was valued by a shop for much higher. He shared your view and didn't want any extra cash because he was happy with the deal. 

 

Bowspeed are an incredible business. Not many like it left in the world. I'm due a visit soon...

[chris667]

Well, people can make their money however they like but the idea you can "flip" things and consistently make money is just delusional. It's like the idea of businesses that make "passive" income -nonsense.

 

I bought a bass on here just on the basis of feedback from other people. I have no idea about what I'm trying to achieve with my bass paying yet but I thought buying from someone who posts here a lot and said the instrument was well sorted  was better than relying on ebay. 

 

Business is people selling to other people. Flippers often don't get that.

[Lozz196]

2 hours ago, neepheid said:

 

Or they're selling it because a family member died and they got it in a will, knowing absolutely nothing about it, and not wanting to.  There are more shades of grey than you think.

Agree, back when I was starting to play - 1980/81 - there were two Gretsch guitars advertised in the local paper, £8 each. I didn`t know much about guitars back then, had never heard of Gretsch, but did have £8 and wanted to buy a guitar so rang the seller who said that she was selling them on behalf of her son who had joined the navy who was selling up as he wasn`t likely to play again anytime soon. She said they`d both gone very quickly and there had been a lot of interest. 

 

So I did a bit of research and found out that that was rather a a bargain to say the least. I also wonder what the son did when presented with his £16 for those two Gretsches........

[Lozz196]

4 hours ago, Terry M. said:

This is true. It was my first time using this rehearsal space and when I entered and saw it I rolled my eyes before even plugging in. Big difference to the 90s era 50 watt Peavey I've used in similar situations that weighed an absolute ton. I think for amps that remain static for long periods (rehearsal rooms for example) more solid amps are the way to go.

I think Peavey amps remain static as no-one can move them 🤣

[chris667]

The other thing about values of items you can genuinely have no idea what something you've had forever is worth.

 

I have a friend who is trying to get rid of his guitar collection. Lots of very high-end electric guitars from the fifties and sixties. They were cheaper and better than new ones when he bought them in the eighties. Probably not now! 

[Burns-bass]

36 minutes ago, chris667 said:

Well, people can make their money however they like but the idea you can "flip" things and consistently make money is just delusional. It's like the idea of businesses that make "passive" income -nonsense.

 

I bought a bass on here just on the basis of feedback from other people. I have no idea about what I'm trying to achieve with my bass paying yet but I thought buying from someone who posts here a lot and said the instrument was well sorted  was better than relying on ebay. 

 

Business is people selling to other people. Flippers often don't get that.

 

I think the best sale I've ever had was meeting @Happy Jack for a pub lunch (which he paid for!) and nearly getting thrown out by the non-bass loving landlord. 

 

Music is all about relationships.

[MichaelDean]

1 hour ago, Mrbigstuff said:

Firstly, sorry for the loss of your cousin, that is terrible that it was so short.

 

I agree with everything you said, but would add the caveat that it can also be the opposite scenarios.

Thanks. It felt like something that happens in a hospital drama, not real life.!

 

I was just meaning that it goes both ways after someone dies and it isn't always just old people with perhaps more complicated estates. 

[Mrbigstuff]

1 hour ago, Lozz196 said:

Agree, back when I was starting to play - 1980/81 - there were two Gretsch guitars advertised in the local paper, £8 each. I didn`t know much about guitars back then, had never heard of Gretsch, but did have £8 and wanted to buy a guitar so rang the seller who said that she was selling them on behalf of her son who had joined the navy who was selling up as he wasn`t likely to play again anytime soon. She said they`d both gone very quickly and there had been a lot of interest. 

 

So I did a bit of research and found out that that was rather a a bargain to say the least. I also wonder what the son did when presented with his £16 for those two Gretsches........

Well there’s a Fodera in the classifieds for £5! Same scenario maybe? 😂

[tauzero]

On 18/06/2025 at 14:31, binky_bass said:

eBay are really quite underhanded with their latest round of marketing...

 

The format used to be that a seller pays a fee to list an item and the buyer didn't pay a fee. Now the fee is transferred to the buyer under the guise of a 'buyers protection fee' and is charged at a higher rate than the old sellers fee. So now they market to all as 'free to sell' and mention nothing of the increase in cost to buyers. Legal sure, but very morally questionable. But hey, that's business for you! 

 

OTOH, I've just bought a bass from a bricks and mortar auction house. Seller's premium about 25%, buyer's premium about 25%. So if I bid £800 for a bass, there's £200 buyer's premium added so I pay £1k, and £200 seller's premium taken off the £800, leaving £600 for the seller. That's a rather bigger gap than the gap between £600 and £618.75 or £800 and £822.75.

[binky_bass]

22 minutes ago, tauzero said:

 

OTOH, I've just bought a bass from a bricks and mortar auction house. Seller's premium about 25%, buyer's premium about 25%. So if I bid £800 for a bass, there's £200 buyer's premium added so I pay £1k, and £200 seller's premium taken off the £800, leaving £600 for the seller. That's a rather bigger gap than the gap between £600 and £618.75 or £800 and £822.75.

Its not about the fee, its about the underhanded marketing. eBay provide a service so should be compensated, no arguement there. But doing it in such a way to hide their fees is my gripe.

[TorturedSaints]

21 hours ago, Jakester said:

@TorturedSaints I suspect that’s mine you're talking about. 
 

It is priced based on a valuation (which was considerably more than it’s offered for) by Bowspeed who also did the work. 
 

The valuation came as a great surprise to me when I’d dropped it in for the work to be done.  I’d assumed it was just a cheapy which would be good as a backup.
 

I’m a hack on DB so I thought a decent pernambuco bow in excellent condition for less than someone might pay new might be of interest to better players than me, but what do I know. 
 

I haven’t advertised it here because frankly I didn’t want to rub it in the seller’s face, but then, they could have had it repaired etc themselves had they wanted to. 

The original thread was about outlandish pricing Jake, of which I thought this was an example, hence my post.  Thanks for the explanation.