Price preacher alert - weekend fun edition!

[edgie]

As some of you may know, I'm selling a Port City Amp Twelve which I priced at 1.2k which sells for 1099usd WITHOUT shipping and tax and being officialy sold here by Mr. Malcolm Tan. This is definitely a taxable item as it exceeds 400sgd. Those who have bought amps overseas will know that shipping for amps is most likely to be high because of their size and volume so it's only fair that Malcolm will have to charge a bit higher than the direct conversion.

Anyways, I received an SMS out of nowhere from this guy:
HIM: You know, 1.2k for a combo that goes 1.1kusd new is kinda ex..

**I usually ignore this kind of ppl(edit: and it's currently reserved anyway), but since I'm just lazing around taking a weekend rest doing some movie marathon, I decided to have some fun. My sent box got filled up quickly with sms to other ppl so I'm going by memory on my parts so the text might not be exact to what he received. I kept his messages though should you guys need some proof.: )**

ME: yeah? What makes you think so? Are you a soft member?

HIM: Yeah. Urs not new right? Its 2nd hand right? Usd 1.1k plus shipping maybe 200usd is sgd 1.6k. Ur selling for only 400 bucks cheaper

ME: How much do you think should it go for?

HIM: I could do a partial trade if ur willing. I have a hermida mosferatu and I can top up cash.

ME: How much are you willing to top up?

HIM: 800 top up max.

**At this point, I decided to feign ignorance about a Mosferatu. Of course most boutique pedal users know what a damn Mosferatu is. It's Alfonso Hermida's ugly middle child!! It's his baby that didn't get as popular as the Zendrive's popularity way back in 2006-2007. And it's still not as popular now.**

ME: What's a Mosferatu. How much does it go for in the market today?

HIM: A hermida mosferatu. It's an overdrive/distortion. Google it to find out. I got it for 240sgd. So I guess worth 220?

ME: You have some guts to preach prices to people boy! I've been trading for quite sometime now. U want people to lower their prices down for you but when you yourself sell, you don't follow what you preach. Saw ur Catalibread DLS, Fender 60th anniv strat, and 2001 Fender American Standard at g4c. What if I tell u now that used 2001 Standards only go for 500usd and a bnew Catalinbread is only 200sgd? Even if you add your suhr 54's to the strat, it shouldn't cost 1.2k if we'll follow your logic. Nice try kiddo but it won't work on me.

***As of this moment, no reply from him/her yet. We shall see how...: )****
For your reference--
His 2001 Standard ad:
Selling off my 2001 American Fender Standard strat to finance another guitar. Its a 3 tone sunburst guitar in good condition.Standard 5 way pu selector, rosewood fingerboard.

Been gigged before, and there is slight buckle rash on the back. Pickups have been changed to suhr v54s, i still have the stock pups if u want them.


His DLS ad:
Selling the above. Pedal is in mint condition, comes with velcro. The DLS is a v2, comes in purple. Price $220 firm. NO LOWBALLERS!! Pls sms if ur interested thx. Cheers


His 60th anni fender strat:

Selling the above. MIA 60th anni fender strat, comes with hardcase and case candies. Strat comes in sunburst, has a rosewood 60's neck. Really playable, just been setup by beez abt a month ago.

Pickups changed to seymour duncan cool rails(neck) seymour duncan JB jr (middle) seymour duncan hot rails (bridge). I still have the stock pickups if u want them. Guitar has been well maintained, selling to fund another guitar. Condition of guitar is 9/10, only some scratches on pickguard and around pickguard, no gaping holes or anything like that.


Asking around 2.1k (slightly neg)

 

[wck]

Thanks for the warning again bro. Don't know if this will be removed but I hope it helps others..

 

[edgie]

I won't really say it's a warning since the guy don't seem to be someone who scams people. But it's just that the manner by which he tells me how expensive my price is. Like I don't know how much it is bnew and I'm just a beginner with wealthy parents.

****guy texts back****
HIM: Sold my strat alr for 1k, sold the cbread dls for 220, i also sold a suhr riot for 280 awhile back, among other things. I've done my share of buying as well. I bought a openhaus, dd20, empress trem, ibanez jem 77, and a blackstar ht5 on soft. So I guess i've done abit of selling and buying as well. What I'm trying to say that I compared ur 2nd hand price with the brand new price and found it expensive. lol.

ME: That's your opinion, fine. But I suppose you're more educated than just texting out of nowhere with an unsolicited advice like I'm not aware of the bnew price and trying to be lucky on a deal. Mosferatu? I even had a hard time selling 1 for 180sgd. Your Suhr for 280sgd? It's only 200usd so that means you sold a used unit for a brand new price and I even see people selling at 250. But do I contact you that your price is ex and go offering a pedal that's already passe? Basic manners, man, basic manners.

 

[edgie]

HIM: What I did was to offer u a price. If you think it's too low you can always tell me, there's no need to do a background check on me -- u dint state in ur post that ur price was firm or not. So if the price I offered is too low for u, then fine, so be it. I'll retract my offer and leave u alone. And for the record, I bought the Suhr riot new for 300usd including shipping, so to sell it used for 280sgd is pretty much fair don't u think? anw the market for 2nd had goods is pretty much decided by demand and supply or buyers/seller opinion. In the end its pretty much ur opinion against my opinion. So if ur not willing to sell, fine by me.

ME: I did a background check so I would know if you practice what you preach. Well,... You can reason that you bought yours for 300USD with shipping. Pedal with a a 100usd shipping? Some pedal, huh?.. Also, Malcolm sells a bit higher than forex. So it's not only the supply/demand law, it's also the source of the item like your 300usd-Riot's.(follow up text)And yes, I didn't put neg or firm because I know people will still negotiate. But yours is not only low offer but done with a condescending tone that got me riled up.

--------
I shall end it here as it seems this guy has different standards depending on whether he's buying or selling. I apologize to guys here if I sounded too bitchy but I have encountered people like this for quite a number of times already(and I think a lot of you too have experienced this) and I'm hoping maybe to the new members, please be considerate on how to express your opinions and how to make fair offers. Some items just can't be directly converted from usd to sgd specially if they come from small-operation guys.

 

[guitarsan]

Another person "trying his luck"......haha!

 

[edgie]

Yeah man. Just a follow-up though: He already apologized for offending me so I guess at least he's still more straight-thinking than that arrogant price preacher at the Amazing Bargaining Skills thread who tries so hard to justify it.

 

[justheretolook]

I still dont understand, 2nd hand price should be at least 70% of what you pay for 1st hand. Thats of course imo and i think its fair rather than minus off a few dollars just because something is in 'brand new condition'. Nothing is 'brand new' if it comes frm someone else.

But there has been alot of good deals lately. Dd3 for $60? Wow! Too bad im saving for flashback

 

[cheesedaele]

Thanks for sharing with all of us. At least he seems to have remained civil throughout, no name calling or slurring. Nice also that he apologised.

On the other hand, going out of one's way to bait people in an attempt to catch them... not very nice either leh.

 

[tyzjames]

a simple "No thanks" would have sufficed.

 

[carboxymoron]

Regardless of who's right or wrong, both stink when airing dirty laundry.

 

[edgie]

@justtherelook: If you compute my price(which is actually negotiable to 1.1k hence the abscence of "firm"), it's less than 70% of the 1.6k computation that he himself estimated of the total price with tax and shipping included. I never attempted to sell something in its bnew price before specially if ppl can get it locally. He could have asked me first what is actually my last or best price for it. Believe me, there are a lot of times I sold for a loss specially to students.

@tyzjames: bro, I've done that a lot since joining soft at 2006. I've always turned down even the lowball offers politely. It's just that he somehow got in the tailend of my patience yesterday.lol. This is the only time that I vented out and I feel 5 years of waiting to say something like this after encountering literally hundreds of such cases is fairly reasonable, no?

@carboxymoron: Believe me man, it's not really that fun to do this despite of my thread title. I'm just somehow hoping that there will be some ppl, specially some of the new softies, who will learn something from this. That they can ask nicely first instead of being condescending.

 

[edgie]

@Cheesedaele:
Yeah, we managed to avoid vulgarities, etc.

"On the other hand, going out of one's way to bait people in an attempt to catch them... not very nice either leh. "
May I know your opinion why? Reason why I did it is so that at least I know I'm not accusing other people. At first, I really thought it's that VENGEANCE guy at the other thread doing what he did to one softie. So I think in this case, at least I know it's not him and there are other people who actually do that. I'm just lucky though that the guy who did it to me does it to a lesser degree and civil enough to know when to back off.

 

[cheesedaele]

"On the other hand, going out of one's way to bait people in an attempt to catch them... not very nice either leh. "
May I know your opinion why? Reason why I did it is so that at least I know I'm not accusing other people. At first, I really thought it's that VENGEANCE guy at the other thread doing what he did to one softie. So I think in this case, at least I know it's not him and there are other people who actually do that. I'm just lucky though that the guy who did it to me does it to a lesser degree and civil enough to know when to back off.

True true, fair enough I guess. That VENGEANCE guy really one classic case.

Regardless of who's right or wrong, both stink when airing dirty laundry.

lol this is quote-worthy.

 

[justheretolook]

Bro i was speaking in general. There have been alot of ppl overpricing their items lately. Just recently i saw a dd3 for $150. I mean c'mon. Unless its a pedal/guitar thats hard to get in sg, then i understand.

 

[edgie]

Thanks for clarifying that. As I've told a friend before, there are ppl in the forums that still think they're living in the pre-recession period when it comes to pricing their used stuff.

 

[Dongara]

I think what is hard is that you cannot hold the hand of everyone when they are buying or selling gear. At the end of the day we are responsible for our actions and people will pay what they are happy with to buy the goods.

What is unpleasant and unfair, I agree, is the negotiating over the phone before you have even seen the item. At least trying the gear and evaluating it on the spot and giving a chance for the other party to explain their pricing would be a fairer method. I have only sold a few pieces of gear over the years and have not entered into any 'negotiating' over the phone. If the person doesn't want to meet face to face then I would rather not have their business.

One of the most memorable sales I made was of a 70's Mustang that I listed in the papers in Australia years back. I had a phone call at 7.45 am and the guy just asked is it still there and what my address was. He was there by 8 a.m. and started playing the guitar without the amp. I had a phone call 5 minutes later and the guy trying out the guitar yells out,'If that's about the guitar, tell hem it's sold!'. No fuss, no mess, no bother and NO negotiating! Thirty minutes and the whole thing is over.

May you all have deals like that!

cheers,

Mark.

 

[hub4thailand]

I think what is hard is that you cannot hold the hand of everyone when they are buying or selling gear. At the end of the day we are responsible for our actions and people will pay what they are happy with to buy the goods.

What is unpleasant and unfair, I agree, is the negotiating over the phone before you have even seen the item. At least trying the gear and evaluating it on the spot and giving a chance for the other party to explain their pricing would be a fairer method. I have only sold a few pieces of gear over the years and have not entered into any 'negotiating' over the phone. If the person doesn't want to meet face to face then I would rather not have their business.

One of the most memorable sales I made was of a 70's Mustang that I listed in the papers in Australia years back. I had a phone call at 7.45 am and the guy just asked is it still there and what my address was. He was there by 8 a.m. and started playing the guitar without the amp. I had a phone call 5 minutes later and the guy trying out the guitar yells out,'If that's about the guitar, tell hem it's sold!'. No fuss, no mess, no bother and NO negotiating! Thirty minutes and the whole thing is over.

May you all have deals like that!

cheers,

Mark.

i am looking for this type of buyers haha

 

[Dongara]

Well, if you are ever selling anything that I want, that's what you'll get.

Careful though, I may want the same service in return if I'm selling you something!

cheers,

Mark.

 

[Ratboy]

so is the port city sold ?
you should mark it as sold or reserved
cause everything you post in the classads is giving me gas !!!

 

[edgie]

The amp is still under reservation due for viewing this week. Depending on the items, I don't put a reserved status on types items where there will be less inquiries/interests like amps. I do that with pedals but not amps so that if the first guy who reserves it does not push through with the deal, I don't lose potential buyers who are also interested. I simply tell them that the amp is currently reserved and get them in the queue. For some reason, there are people who would not inquire even if they're interested once they see the reserved status.