unbelievable

I can say i can so cry right now. A Friend of mine who lives three countys south of me, sold his 1979 american Fender strat today.
$450 cash is what the music store gave him for it.
Now knowing he doesnt really play or know much about Guitars,this guy took him for a ride.

I told him why didnt you call me before you sold it. I would of bought it and if he ever wanted it back it would of been here. There selling on Ebay for $2,300.
This guy made out good. And it was in good condition because he never plays it. Case and all. Stuff like this kills me.im cringing at the moment...

Ugh, that sucks!

I should call up that music store and say I been looking for a vintage strat.
I wonder what its selling for. Thief , imo.

I've even seen Guitar Centers that are guilty of this. The people in charge of buying things are allowed to negotiate at their own discretion. I've seen an employee immediately start trying to pick things out that were wrong on a guitar just so he could low ball the guy. He even said, "Oh wow, this action is high. I don't even want it if we can't lower the action." The guy eventually got ripped off by only getting $400 on a brand new Gibson LP Studio.

I've even been overcharged for a setup from a guitar tech. He spent like 10 minutes on the guitar and tried to charge me $60. I told him I only had $40 and didn't know it would be that expensive.

My undergrad schooling was in economics and I've always been fascinated by the concepts of "fairness" and "fair market value (FMV)." To me, a "fair" transaction happens when a buyer is happy to pay what a seller is willing to accept at that particular point in time. Wikipedia's definition of FMV, which I think is a good one, is "an estimate of the market value of a property, based on what a knowledgeable, willing, and unpressured buyer would probably pay to a knowledgeable, willing, and unpressured seller in the market." Note the terms; 'knowledgeable' and 'unpressured.' Those attributes are different at any particular point in time too. On top of everything are external influences, e.g., the impact on used guitar prices by the Great Recession a couple years back and the slow recovery of those prices since. Another external influence is convenience...it's a lot easier to sell a guitar to a dealer than to try EBay or Craig's List...sorta like selling a car or a house on your own vs. a dealership or realtor.

In any case, there may be little difference between 'taking advantage' and getting 'a great deal' other than perspective, i.e., which side of the transaction you're on.

Anyhoo...given the poor reputation of Fender guitars manufactured from the mid-60's to the early 80's I'm also fascinated by the apparent collectors' prices of 70's Fenders that axe2 says he finds on EBay. But collectors' price gets into a whole different concept of "intrinsic value." :D

I kinda see things john's way.

Is $400 maybe a little too low? I suppose but a retailer also has to profit on the instrument. So, usually people think, well....mark it up $200 and call it a day.

This would be great if it were easy to sell something for $600 quickly. People don't always have that kind of cash around. Add to that if the retailer has to ask a higher price, the longer it take to sell.

On top of that, the economy ain't what she used to be and lots of people have just given up looking for work.

And.... inventory costs money to it around. You actually pay taxes on stuff just sittin' around. That's why you see 'INVENTORY REDUCTION SALE' stuff during the end of a business cycle. So, that guitar has a cost simply as inventory.

I think the store person was looking at from the prespective of how long they have to sit on it and the less they charge, the quicker they can move it.

Just some thoughts.

I understand what your saying here.
Now understand me for a moment.
I would of gave him ,say $600.for it thats two bills more then what he got.
And when the time comes when he says ok heres your money,i give him back his Guitar.
This breaks me,this wasent just a Guitar to him.
This was like his baby. Thats all he spoke about blah blah blah my strat ect.
So to help a Friend in need i wish he would of called me first. And he would know he can get it back,when he has the dough.and its not gone. Believe me that strat is sold already.
Period....