Sold Horns with Prices Removed

[Doc]

I know the For Sale Forum is pretty loosely regulated (except for vendor rules and negotiating prices in public threads), but it would really help sellers and buyers know the going prices/asking prices/what the market is doing if sellers would leave their prices in their ads.

Many sellers simply remove the price and write "SOLD" in its place. That does a tremendous disservice to sellers who really want to accurately price the horns they sell and buyers who don't want to overpay. If I were moderator, I would mandate that prices be left in ads. This will help prevent unnecessary clutter on the board with posts asking about the value of horns, "what's this horn worth?", etc. It makes the Tubenet market experience much easier for all involved. Tubenet is generally user-friendly, but this could help folks conduct business easier and more efficiently, and it could help clean up the place a little bit.

Humbly submitted for your consideration,

Bill

[TubaTinker]

Hi, Bill!

I rarely advertise in TubeNet's 'for sale' section. However... on the 'for sale' page on my website, I normally remove the selling price from the listing and mark the item 'SOLD'. I'll leave the listing up for a couple of weeks so all can see that the item is sold... as a courtesy in case they have been watching the listing. All selling prices are negotiable and often there is a trade-in involved. I regard the final selling price as a private matter between me and the buyer and should not be taken as a matter of what something is actually worth. Heck... for all I know I sold the item for too little and the new buyer intends to make a profit on it.

I recall one thread here on TubeNet where a poster was questioned as to how a seller could ask much more for a horn than he paid for it at auction without there being any 'value added' by the seller. It REALLY irks me when I give someone a price and they have the nerve to ask what I paid for it.

One big thing The Internet has done is remove the 'local pricing'. Selling music instruments is now a World-wide activity and I have no idea what things are worth one day to the next... especially in overseas markets.

I respect your privacy. If I sold you a horn... there is no way I'm going to tell others how much you paid for it. You can tell 'em if you want... but I won't.

[Curmudgeon]

If I sell an instrument on TubeNet and I no longer own it, I think it's up to the new owner to share or not any info regarding that instrument, including the price they paid.

I always remove information regarding the new owner's instrument as soon as I can as a courtesy to them.

If they can resell it for more in a year or two, more power to them.

I look to retailers as well as current tubas for sale on TubeNet when setting a price on an instrument I'm selling.

[Doc]

I don't mean for sellers to post some kind of negotiated price, but whatever sellers already had out in public anyway could be left as a reference point for potential buyers and sellers. It was already public, so you're not divulging any secret information. Just leave up what you already had up, much as a retailer has its price list in public.

When I finish my tuba sales, I will leave up everything in my ad that was already there. People have a chance to see it now and right after the sale, so nothing private is being divulged. What's the problem in permanently leaving it up what you already had in public? I have never and will never come back and post what I actually sell those tubas for in a private transaction. But my asking prices are not a private matter at all. And anyone who sees my ads will have a general reference point for their own future transactions. If my buyer specifically requests that my asking price be removed, I will discuss that matter with the buyer. If a seller is overly concerned about the privacy issue, they can, as some do, post an ad to contact them privately to discuss price, pics, etc.

Dan,

If you sold me a tuba for $2000 that you actually listed for $3000, I would appreciate you not posting what I actually paid for it, but I could care less if you left up your asking price. That does not affect me negatively in any way. It only demonstrates the amount you would like to get for the instrument. (It IS a public listing, after all...) While you could argue that old ads take up bandwidth and cost money on your private website, substituting words for numbers in a Tubenet ad does not change the amount of bandwidth used here.

Similarly, if Tubenet decided to have sale ads disappear after a certain period (a year, for example) to save bandwidth, that could be beneficial. That way, at least, the ads with unedited prices are recent and relevant to the current market, and some bandwidth would be saved (although I don't know if that amount would be significant or negligible).

[bort]

I wouldn't really mind if anyone selling a simliar horn asked me what I sold it for (and what I originally asked). For me, as a person (and not a business), there is no "competition" and it's not like I'm trying to turn a profit on anything I'm selling, I know what my tubas are worth, and I'd be happy to help another private seller.

[TubaTinker]

....Dan,

If you sold me a tuba for $2000 that you actually listed for $3000, I would appreciate you not posting what I actually paid for it, but I could care less if you left up your asking price. ....

I think that would be a bit deceptive and would be counter-productive to producing the kind of information you might be seeking as a potential buyer. If I sold for less than I'm asking, wouldn't that be the REAL price? .... or at least what the market is willing to pay.

From my perspective.... NOT sharing the final sales information puts an end to lots of questions. There are just too many factors involved:
- did the buyer pick the horn up?
- what market did it go to? overseas? ... local? ... a school? ... an individual?
- how much of a pain in the butt was the sale?
- was there a trade involved?

In the final analysis... how much was the horn worth as opposed to the selling price? That's anyone's guess. Price is totally a reflection of how much someone is willing to pay

There are already plenty of places to gauge prices. The largest resource being (most likely) the primary reason why Woodwind/Brasswind chose to close it's showroom in South Bend.

I would rather be up-front than to simply tell someone it's none of their business.... even if it IS none of their business.

[Curmudgeon]

Sales ads will revert to:

Tuba XYZ For Sale.

PM or email me for pictures, price, and information.