It'll cost you $3.99 to figure out how much your tuba is worth...
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Forum rules
This forum is for buying or selling your personal equipment. Sponsored selling is allowed as well. All ads are required to have the following information: Price (even for trades), brand, model, and location (City and State, for instruments, not accessories). It is acceptable to link to an external ad if you are promoting a sale of your personal equipment. No Ebay auctions, but "Buy It Now" listings are fine. Photos are HIGHLY suggested as well, and may be hosted on Google Drive, or elsewhere. If you see an ad that does not meet these criteria, please report it.
This forum is for buying or selling your personal equipment. Sponsored selling is allowed as well. All ads are required to have the following information: Price (even for trades), brand, model, and location (City and State, for instruments, not accessories). It is acceptable to link to an external ad if you are promoting a sale of your personal equipment. No Ebay auctions, but "Buy It Now" listings are fine. Photos are HIGHLY suggested as well, and may be hosted on Google Drive, or elsewhere. If you see an ad that does not meet these criteria, please report it.
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Mitch
- 3 valves
- Posts: 253
- Joined: Mon Jul 19, 2004 11:29 am
- Location: Chicago
Orion Blue Book
You can find out more at www.orionbluebook.com.
From their website:
"How did the Blue Books begin?
In 1973, Roger Rohrs, owned a chain of retail stereo stores along the California coast. Being unable to be in more than one store at a time, he was losing money if an inexperienced salesperson took a trade at too high of a price. Many times the salesperson would listen to the consumer who claimed what the product would be worth since he remembered what he had paid. The was also a problem with store's credibility if a customer brought the product in for evaluation on two separate occasions and was helped by different salespeople who each quoted a different price. To eliminate this problem, Mr. Rohrs wrote the original Orion Trade-In Guide. Not only did it eliminate costly trades, it worked as a training manual for new salespeople."
So it obviously began as a profit margin tool for a retailer, i.e., not to be trusted by Joe Consumer (works for the seller, not the buyer). Many guides like this have been written over the years, most of them entirely inaccurate as to market value, but rather reflecting what the retailer would hope to receive if an uneducated customer walked through the door. The highest end of musical instruments belongs to the string world, and at the higher end of that valuations are based on market history, rather than pie-in-the-sky prices. Instruments by a particular maker have received prices of (x) in previous auctions; a particular instrument is either a better or poorer example of that maker's work; that particular maker may or may not be in favor at the moment; where the instrument was made is important; the condition of the instrument is also obviously a factor. Honest businesspeople realize that many factors affect the value of anything, and hopefully don't use this Orion Blue Book as a guide.
From their website:
"How did the Blue Books begin?
In 1973, Roger Rohrs, owned a chain of retail stereo stores along the California coast. Being unable to be in more than one store at a time, he was losing money if an inexperienced salesperson took a trade at too high of a price. Many times the salesperson would listen to the consumer who claimed what the product would be worth since he remembered what he had paid. The was also a problem with store's credibility if a customer brought the product in for evaluation on two separate occasions and was helped by different salespeople who each quoted a different price. To eliminate this problem, Mr. Rohrs wrote the original Orion Trade-In Guide. Not only did it eliminate costly trades, it worked as a training manual for new salespeople."
So it obviously began as a profit margin tool for a retailer, i.e., not to be trusted by Joe Consumer (works for the seller, not the buyer). Many guides like this have been written over the years, most of them entirely inaccurate as to market value, but rather reflecting what the retailer would hope to receive if an uneducated customer walked through the door. The highest end of musical instruments belongs to the string world, and at the higher end of that valuations are based on market history, rather than pie-in-the-sky prices. Instruments by a particular maker have received prices of (x) in previous auctions; a particular instrument is either a better or poorer example of that maker's work; that particular maker may or may not be in favor at the moment; where the instrument was made is important; the condition of the instrument is also obviously a factor. Honest businesspeople realize that many factors affect the value of anything, and hopefully don't use this Orion Blue Book as a guide.
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MaryAnn
- Occasionally Visiting Pipsqueak
- Posts: 3217
- Joined: Fri Mar 19, 2004 9:58 am
Bloke,bloke wrote:I always avoid making offers on folks' stuff, because most of them are simply looking for a free appraisal.
When they ask me, "How much will you gimme for this?", I answer, "Possibly the amount you are asking for it, but you'll have to let me know how much that is."
Finally, I need to see an original receipt...or if not, I ask them to play it. If they can't play it, I tell them if I'm going to buy it, I need to see "their sister" play it - who alledgedly used it in school. I am not a "fence".
You may be grumpy but you are also smart.
MA
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Chuck(G)
- 6 valves
- Posts: 5679
- Joined: Fri Mar 19, 2004 12:48 am
- Location: Not out of the woods yet.
- Contact:
Re: Orion Blue Book
...and accurately identifying and certifying the pedigree of a violin is very tricky business, even to the extent that the "experts" are often fooled.Mitch wrote:The highest end of musical instruments belongs to the string world, and at the higher end of that valuations are based on market history, rather than pie-in-the-sky prices.
http://fdncenter.org/pnd/news/story.jhtml?id=75300012