chris m.
Doctor of Teleocity
My wife says gas in Milan costs 2 euros per liter. Do the math on that!! $7.95 a gallon….
Am I going crazy? Or are used guitar prices plummetting in this economy?
- Thread starter johmica
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Skyhook
Friend of Leo's
... and this, as stated by others as well, is why the prices are dropping.
Currently about €2.90/l in Helsinki, Finland. Now put THAT in yer pipe, &c.
Assuming gear prices went up so high due to lockdowns, manufacturing/ shipping slowdowns, depleted stock, and for some of us bigger income combined with NO PLACE TO SPEND IT, now that incomes are more like normal and folks who havent been able to go on vacation are traveling again; why would used guitars bring even close to what they did a year or two ago?
FSRCustomTeleHHGT
Tele-Meister
If inflation stays high, the price of new guitars will go up, and the used market will reflect that. Of course one does have to adjust for inflation if one is comparing prices from one year to the next. On my end of the scale (Squiers), used prices haven't gone down at all. Nor do I expect them to.
omahaaudio
Friend of Leo's
I'm in France and it's €2 per liter here, but my car gets an easy 4.7 l/100km, or 50MPG, so as the average US car gets 25MPG I'm sort of only paying $3.98/gallon.
And that's for 95 octane, as they don't bother selling 87 octane here. It's 95 or 98.
mad dog
Friend of Leo's
This has little to do with value, and only secondarily about price. Inflation is hammering ordinary Americans. And with it comes threat. Most people realize that inflation is not just supply chain. It's opportunism, price gouging. That saps consumer confidence. As does stock market over reaction. Since there is nowhere else to stash savings, that rattles consumers. Whether or not there actually is a recession, the fear and loss of confidence is real. People hold back on optional items in stressful times. Used music gear is optional right now.
ricardo1912
Friend of Leo's
If the op is correct this is terrible news. I've stayed off ebay etc cos everything was too pricey. Now I'll have to go and have a look 
FSRCustomTeleHHGT
Tele-Meister
Unemployment is lower than it's been at any time this century. People are spending money on used guitars, vacations, new cars, clothing and everything else. Higher pay is a leading cause of this inflation, and that's why the used market -- at least for the items that I check all the time -- hasn't gone down at all. And if stressful times caused people to get wise and start saving, then why did COVID have exactly the opposite effect?
chris m.
Doctor of Teleocity
Raising prices to reduce demand and thereby be able to fulfill orders in a timely manner is not price gouging, it's good business. If I sell widgets and I just can't make them fast enough, and my customers are all upset because they're back ordered, it makes sense for me to raise prices 10% or 20% and reduce the frenetic demand a bit. I have less customers, but they're happy because when they pay they get their product/service right away. And that's in a flat economy. If my production and distribution costs are going up, I definitely need to raise prices just to maintain my profit margin.
If I am truly gouging, my competition will eat me for breakfast. The only time true gouging is possible is in an oligopoly or monopoly that limits or eliminates competition. Like your local cable provider or the oil cartels.
If I am truly gouging, my competition will eat me for breakfast. The only time true gouging is possible is in an oligopoly or monopoly that limits or eliminates competition. Like your local cable provider or the oil cartels.
Billy3
Tele-Afflicted
Regardless of the price, as lefty myself, I love that Tele. Sweet score my brother. I'm in envy. Looks like a keeper.
I keep seeing that word "inflation" used to identify the current world and US problems.
Of course prices are inflated, but inflation is not THE PROBLEM.
Many of us seem to wish and hope that the multiple catastrophic events are over or will be over soon and we can get back to tooling around in our Escalades or whatever the movers and shakers do, who create sound bites summing up life on used up planet earth.
Waiting for normal or hoping life will keep getting better as in we all get more luxuries at lower costs like Amazon ads suggest?
Not enough oil and gas, electric grid worn out, generation maxed out so rolling blackouts fix it, not enough houses to live in, not enough clean water for all developed lands that are being further developed as fast as possible by the dwindling blue collar workforce.
This is not "inflation" any more than a nuclear explosion is a structure fire.
But new normals described with old language is how we roll...
All better soon?
NOPE!
...sorry to rant...
radiocaster
Poster Extraordinaire
I was actually contemplating a guitar I saw on reverb that was 15 or 20 Euros less than at Thomann, although Thomann didn't have that particular finish. That dealer just raised the price to 50 Euros more, so screw them.
mad dog
Friend of Leo's
I'm not an economist, but I see significant flaws in your reasoning. First, higher pay is a factor. I've seen no one else but you claim it's the leading cause. No support for that statement in any of the articles - hundreds I have read, many from economists - on today's inflation. If you have evidence to back this up, please provide it.
Higher pay is certainly not the reason why "the used market -- at least for the items that I check all the time -- hasn't gone down at all." Higher demand drove the robust used gear market of the last few years. And now, with a return to full employment and higher pay, the used market IS going down. If you're seeing otherwise, than you're one of a lucky few. I've bought and sold many items over the last 3 to 5 years. At least where I live, selling has suddenly become tough. Items that sold fast two years ago, without discounting, are now not selling. I price fairly, and have been cutting prices. Not helping. It's all about demand. And demand is way down.
Then there's "... if stressful times caused people to get wise and start saving, then why did COVID have exactly the opposite effect?" Your generalization is impossibly broad. Are you talking inflation ... war ... economic collapse somewhere in the supply chain? Are all stressful times equal? Is it about saving, or are consumers fearfully not spending, going into less debt? (Very different scenarios.) COVID is a special case, with stimulus money hitting consumers and state/local governments. Somewhat like the WPA was in the depression, except our base economy was not depressed when the Pandemic hit. We did get a recessionary dip. But clearly, people at home, working at home had money to spend, and more of it they cared to spend, more time to fill with at home activities, than before. Which is where the demand that raised used gear prices came from in the first place.
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Fenderdad1950
Friend of Leo's
Used guitar prices wander all over the place
Lefty Addams
Tele-Afflicted
Idiot. There's always one.
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