What Percentage $$?

Very interesting - the shipping had been listed at $43.35 for expedited service. I didn't think shipping costs were negotiable after an auction was won on ebay, but I reckon you asked for a different method? Less than ten bucks to ship a well-packed tenor is pretty cheap. Had I known that I might have continued to bid a little higher!

Yes, that's ridiculously cheap. I saw one on ebay with a shipping cost of $85.50. There were no bids on that uke after running for two stretches.
 
First of all, congratulations to Crazyguitar! Sounds like you got an awesome deal.

I'm glad for the comments about dealers' practices, because they stress an important point: the generalization of a fix percentage to be deducted off the new price will never work with a musical instrument, as its condition and hence value may vary greatly. You can work with a rule of thumb at best, but the resale price of a specific instrument will almost always be significantly higher or lower from that, depending on how grave the playwear is, not to mention real damage.

For the same reason, I find it fair to delete the prices from old sale threads. Sure, they would be helpful to determine a general ballpark for other sellers. But in the end, what another seller has offered may have been in a much different condition from your offering. Also, I've seen the prices vary greatly over the past decade of playing and buying ukes, so it's irrelevant or misleading to see what someone paid ten years ago for the "same" model (which, again, wasn't exactly the same; makers may have changed and improved many things in the meantime, just look at the older bridges and tuners from Kanilea, or changes in their bracing system, or the finish, the logo and the fretboards from KoAloha).
 
As noted in many posts above, there are many many variables. Because of this, I don't care if the sold price is deleted or left alone. Of course, I usually just look at the current listings to buy or sell. I have had a sell listing up for a few days now with no comments of any kind. I have no idea why this is, but I'm just going to leave things as they are and wait. Is my price too high? Is this a seasonal issue? Are there too many items like this on the market? etc.. Who knows?




First of all, congratulations to Crazyguitar! Sounds like you got an awesome deal.

I'm glad for the comments about dealers' practices, because they stress an important point: the generalization of a fix percentage to be deducted off the new price will never work with a musical instrument, as its condition and hence value may vary greatly. You can work with a rule of thumb at best, but the resale price of a specific instrument will almost always be significantly higher or lower from that, depending on how grave the playwear is, not to mention real damage.










For the same reason, I find it fair to delete the prices from old sale threads. Sure, they would be helpful to determine a general ballpark for other sellers. But in the end, what another seller has offered may have been in a much different condition from your offering. Also, I've seen the prices vary greatly over the past decade of playing and buying ukes, so it's irrelevant or misleading to see what someone paid ten years ago for the "same" model (which, again, wasn't exactly the same; makers may have changed and improved many things in the meantime, just look at the older bridges and tuners from Kanilea, or changes in their bracing system, or the finish, the logo and the fretboards from KoAloha).
 
As noted in many posts above, there are many many variables. Because of this, I don't care if the sold price is deleted or left alone. Of course, I usually just look at the current listings to buy or sell. I have had a sell listing up for a few days now with no comments of any kind. I have no idea why this is, but I'm just going to leave things as they are and wait. Is my price too high? Is this a seasonal issue? Are there too many items like this on the market? etc.. Who knows?

I think your price is just fine...you just need to wait for the right buyer. If I were not in the process of paying off a recent purchase, I’d be adding that Mainland to my collection. It is a fine ukulele, priced to sell.
 
I have a friend that runs a musical instrument store that handles new and used instruments. Their rule of thumb for selling used is to start at 15 - 20% off it it is in MINT condition and increase the discount from there for damage.

I don’t doubt the above at all but one issue that I’ve found is the 15 - 20 % off of whose price. One large on-line retailer undercuts lots of other retailers and that can sort of distort things and upset the perception of what is a reasonable discount, etc. So many variables.

I find it’s a good rule of thumb, but of course you can’t account for selling something rare. I’ve seen hard to find used ukes go for more than their new price

That’s certainly something that I’ve seen too, though when I made my original comment (#16) I wasn’t thinking just about instruments.
 
I've sold a dozen or so ukes over the years, and online I usually start a listing at 75% of whatever I paid for it. If someone is buying from me in person and I don't have to pack and ship it, I usually offer it at 66% of what I paid. Depending on how long it's been for sale, looking at my records, I'll probably go down as much as 60% of what I paid.

Now, I have never bought any uke as a financial investment, so when I sell, it's because it's not getting played and it deserves a better shot with someone who might actually play it. And since I typically only ever buy higher-end ukes, those are the kinds I'm selling, so I don't think my percentages are crazy.

Lower end ukes, especially ones where the cost of shipping would be more than it's worth, I usually just donate or give away.

But my UAS has been in remission for quite a while. :)
 
I've sold a dozen or so ukes over the years, and online I usually start a listing at 75% of whatever I paid for it. If someone is buying from me in person and I don't have to pack and ship it, I usually offer it at 66% of what I paid. Depending on how long it's been for sale, looking at my records, I'll probably go down as much as 60% of what I paid.

Interesting. That sounds reasonable. I never buy for an investment, either. It's unlikely that ukuleles will increase in value. Except for some very old instruments, the all sell for less than the price of a new one.
 
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