Oh the never ending comedy of Adverts' Instrument section

Ravelleman

Does anyone else think that adverts.ie is a bit like a cartel? Someone posts a guitar, the price really isn't that good all things considered, and everyone jumps in saying that it's the "ZOMG THE BEST TELE I'VE PLAYED EVAAARRRR, except for the one I'm selling which is actually the MOST AMAZING TELE EVER SEEN ON THIS ISLAND."

A lot of people also jump in to defend prices that are clearly higher than the new price for the instrument, or the price they paid for it used. It's madness. One recent example comes to mind where a Fender instrument was about €100 higher than the new price in Dublin city centre and upon seeing criticism of this, another regular user of the site jumped in to defend the ludicrous price, saying that we should believe this guy because it must be AMAZING!!!111!!one to justify the price, something which he did not doubt.

There's also an instrument that's currently up for sale there that has been sold about 5 times in the last year and half. Last time it sold for about €700 or so and now it's up for €1200... The seller claims that he only wants trades at the moment because he's seen these instruments sell for much less than they're worth. Well of course he's seen that, because he paid €700 for it and now wants €1200. It boggles the mind.

If we were to believe adverts as well, every single Les Paul ever made would be one of the good ones. We have the new ones with weight relief holes, the ones from before 2008 when they changed, the ones from before 2002 when they changed again, the ones from 1988, which weigh about 100kg and are apparently 'vintage'. No one on adverts ever has ever had any kind of Les Paul other than one of the good ones. I don't even know what that means anymore. It's just become a banality that everyone includes in their ads without realising that it no longer has any meaning.

I like adverts.ie - I've sold a few things there but I've never bought from it. For a country like Ireland it's a system that works quite well. Although, being an Irish site, it creates a great spectacle, which is very entertaining to watch.

8k2q1gfcz9s5d4

i agree, there are a lot of chancers on it!

I seen an add the pro audio section a few weeks ago, a guy wanted to trade a 3-4k watt active DAP pa system, for a Dynacord P5 with 4 bins and 4 tops

I buy a lot of adverts, but a refuse to pay OTT from something

quicklickpaddy

Well in fairness, you're not gonna put up your guitar and say "this isn't a very nice guitar, but please buy it anyway". And in terms of the high prices - I've found almost nobody on adverts is willing to pay the asking - regardless of what it is, unless it's a genuine bargain. In which case you get a rake of people coming in with their "next in lines". I think the high prices are just there for haggle room so they end up with what they actually want for it. It can be frustrating but with adverts, you just have to know how to play it.

If you don't want to end up paying over the odds for anything it only takes a little bit of research and probably the best thing about adverts is that (a lot of the time) you get to see what your buying before you hand over any money. So you can play the pre 88 Les Paul and determine for yourself whether it's "one of the good ones". In fact, I was going to check out a '64 DuoSonic off adverts a while ago. So I went up and checked it out before I decided to buy it. So I took it apart and checked all the date stamps and whatnot and it turned out that it was a MusicMaster converted into a DuoSonic (very common job btw). Now in all fairness, I think the guy selling it really did believe it was all original but either way, I ended up getting a guitar I really love for almost half what he was asking for it.

There's a lot of messers on adverts nowadays but all in all I think it's a far better system than any other that I know of

Rigsby

I agree with the OP's post. However, if a potential buyer has done their research home work, then they will have a good idea of what a fair price will be. They should then stick to that price, or allow for a little bargaining. If people know that they are not going to get an OTT price for their item, then they will post a more reasonable one. If they are left with lots of unsold gear, they'll get the message.

Another thing I have noticed concerns the way they categorise their basses. When you click on "Basses", it brings up "Electric," "Jazz," and "Other." Often, there are precision basses in both "Electric" and "Others." Why on earth jazz basses can not be under "electric," escapes me. It would make more sense to just drop the jazz category, put all non acoustic basses into the electric section, and keep "other" for acoustic bases and those with six or more strings.

I have emailed them about this. I got a reply, but not one that explained the above.

Savman

The adverts you refer to is more indicative of weirdo muso mentality than it is Ireland tbh. People bond with their guitars, fair enough, but then set a silly high value on this and can't let go. I think it's an emotional thing.

Offer what you deem a fair and reasonable price and walk away if the Seller is being a tool, simple really. You can bet the item will probably still be on sale in 3 months.

PaulieBoy

€250 for a secondhand harmonica was the best laugh I had in ages! I enjoy the madness that you talk about, as said above you just do your research and go with that.

dfkorg

My absolute favourite: Great pedal! Never used

darrenw5094

If i am looking on adverts, i would find the cheapest price new online, then offer around 40% less for a used item. But some gasons are asking the same price as it can be bought for new.

Parsley

the reshuffle put my bass amp into the power amps section...

MilanPan!c

darrenw5094 wrote: »

If i am looking on adverts, i would find the cheapest price new online, then offer around 40% less for a used item. But some gasons are asking the same price as it can be bought for new.

In fairness, it depends on the item... some things are worth more than when they were new... other things are very difficult to get in Ireland and therefore retain a bit more value...

other things ARE new, and haven't been played and shouldn't be 40% off, just because someone ones it, not a shop.

The flip of alllll of this is that, in the current economic situation, buyers will often offer much less than actual value, because they know people are desperate for cash...

Adverts is what it is, and it's no better or worse than the users that populate it...

Hayte

There general rule of thumb on adverts.ie is:

1) Sellers usually ask for way more than they expect to get. This way, a buyer comes along and offers less but the seller looks good since they are constantly seen to capitulate to prospective buyers. Buyers are expected to offer less than asking and alot less than they can afford with the aim being to meet somewhere in the middle.

2) There is a skill involved in setting your sale/offer price just beyond your own realistic expectation - it cant be too much beyond whats realistic because you will scare the other guy off, but you want it to be just enough that you can capitulate down to a price that is hopefully what you were expecting. The people who are good at bartering like this can even get slightly more than they were expecting.

3) It follows from (2) that there are some sellers on adverts.ie who are really bad at bartering and will set prices that scare everyone away (i.e. by setting their asking price higher than brand new). Conversely, there are also buyers who lowball the hell out of sellers whilst fishing for a mug. To get good at bartering takes time and effort, as it does with pretty much everything.

4) It follows from (3) that some people don't want to invest so much time and effort into becoming a milquetoast capitalist. They would rather, you know, play guitar and stuff. These people will find theres less wiggle room to get a bargain on adverts.ie. If you spend less time bartering and more time using your purchases then this is not a bad thing. Ultimately, if you can get the tools you need at a price you can afford, you are set either way.

Whatever type of person you are, you just need to be absolutely clear about why you are on adverts.ie since then you wont have a problem. If you are there to make a buck then you shouldn't get too attached to any of the stuff you purchase, because you'll miss opportunities to profit. If you are there to find something affordable that you can use, then the main thing is to get it now and start using it as soon as possible. If you don't get the best deal you can then so be it. If you are looking for a guitar to play then don't spend months haggling trying to pick up a bargain. Its better if you pay a bit more but get it sooner so you can start (or resume) practicing. It will end very badly for you if you take a couple months out to bargain hunt and let your technique and your momentum go to s**t in the meantime.

Bod1

Like everything in life, Adverts is a mixed bag, all of the comments above resonate. It is interesting that I've noticed that prices have gone up in the last three years for certain gear i.e. Fender 57 ri's were 750 - 800 and sellers are looking for 1200-1250 while Les Pauls are now around 1350 - 1450 compared to 1600 - 1800.

Certain sellers seem to be able to command a premium and a small fan base while recycling the same guitars endlessly.

I've had good experiences on the site with one exception and have 2 keepers I've bought on the site.

If it seems to cheap to be true it probably is, if it seems to expensive to be true it probably is !

rcaz

I've got a few really cool things from adverts with fair prices and sound sellers. Never had any really bad encounters.

The one thing that really bugs me is when you say "I could get this for X on Thomann, that's not a fair price" and they bring up the "Yeah but you'd have to pay for shipping then" argument - that isn't an argument!

Yakult

Re; over pricing. I can think of two reasons right away, one would be room to negociate seeing as you always have chancers and secondly, if purchased locally you will more than likely be paying more than t
he likes of a super store like Thomann and Music Store..

Thankfully now alot of these shops will price match which is badly needed because I'd rather support local shops and they appreciated the support.

love adverts, great deals now and again!

Keyzer

Some of the pricing is ridiculous, however, some of the offers from people are borderline offensive.

I think people put the prices up with the expectancy of a haggle.

8k2q1gfcz9s5d4

dfkorg wrote: »

My absolute favourite: Great pedal! Never used

or Marshall MG100......sounds amazing :P

There are some great bargans on adverts though, my best on was picking up a mint boss DD3 for 50 euro

Rigsby

Keyzer wrote: »

I think people put the prices up with the expectancy of a haggle.

I dont see any problem with this. If people have to haggle to get a fair price, then so be it. If the seller wont reach a fair price, then..."mission aborted!"

Keyzer

Rigsby wrote: »

I dont see any problem with this. If people have to haggle to get a fair price, then so be it. If the seller wont reach a fair price, then..."mission aborted!"

Agreed - but offering 20 quid for something thats advertised at 200 quid and the retail price is 400 quid is a bit on the ridiculous side.

Haggling is good though as long as each party respects the other...

Rigsby

Keyzer wrote: »

Agreed - but offering 20 quid for something thats advertised at 200 quid and the retail price is 400 quid is a bit on the ridiculous side.

I agree, that kind of offer deserves to be ignored....so that is exactly how it should be treated, i.e. "Dont Feed The Trolls."

MilanPan!c

It's kinda moot as about 75% of everything seems to be traded, not sold, in the current economic environment...



I've even been trading pedals with businesses in the UK... people just wanna shift stuff... it's a traders market...