Share your uke haggling experience

AustinHing

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This is a rant and I need to get this out of my system.

So the story goes like this, 3 months ago, I put up my Enya M6 tenor up for listing on a local buy/sell online platform. I’m selling it only for the reason that I’m just not a tenor player.

I put it up at 40% less (which is 60%) of the original retail price. I thought it’s a pretty fair price for a good quality instrument with no defect, no scratch no nothing and is merely played for a week. I would go as far to say the condition of the uke is as good as a brand new uke out of the box.

So I got plenty of offers, but almost all of the potential buyers started at 40% of the original price. And so the haggling war started and it’s tiring and time wasting. I stood by my price and need to justify it over and over again. Some are pretty rude and demanding, using 1 worded question or a talk down tone or both despite me answering in my best customer service oriented manner. And plenty of them simply left the chat dangling with no more further response when I said my price is firm. The only one that didn’t haggle simply stop conversation in the midst of arranging a meetup. I recognised that I’m in Asia (Singapore) and haggling is a part of the culture here. But some folks simply want it cheap. And is ridiculous cheap and expected to have all the bells and whistles as well. This applies to everything in Asia, not just ukes.

Anyway I’m now pretty jaded about the whole charade. I intend to take down my listing very soon. Perhaps it’s a sign that the uke god is showing me that I need to practice on a tenor scale as well.

End rant. :cool:

So you guys have any such stories to tell?
 
Well, I haven't had to sell a uke yet, but my best story comes from my work as a freelance translator. I'll paraphrase the conversation below.

Client: Could you please send us your resume and your rates?
Me: OK (sends requested information)
Client: That all looks to be in order. Can you take a test for us?
Me: OK (takes test)
Client: You passed the test, so we'd like you to work for $X per word (which is half my quoted rate)
Me: Why did you waste my time getting me to take a test when you already knew my rate if you knew you weren't willing to pay it? Goodbye and stop wasting my time.
Client: How about a slightly higher rate?
Me: No. Go away. Leave me alone.
Client: How about a slightly higher rate?
Me: How many times to I have to tell you to leave me alone?
Client: How about a slightly higher rate, but we can't go any higher than this? (FYI, the rate is now only slightly lower than my quoted rate)
Me: I give up. Sure. Whatever.
Client: Great!

Much later

Client: Will you do this job for us?
Me: No. I have other clients that pay better, and I would rather work for them.

After repeating that interaction a few times, I haven't heard from them in a while.
 
I mentioned this the other day, but when I am buying used, I am looking for 65% of the original retail price or less, unless it is a special ukulele. As a buyer, if I see something here, or on Craigslist, that I am interested in, I send the seller a note letting them know what I would be willing to pay, and let them know they have a guaranteed sale if nothing else works out. That way, if the instrument sells at their price, great--if not, there's no problem with arguing over a price.

As a seller, I sell with two prices in mind...a fair list price that is my ideal, and a lower price that I'm willing to accept. Some people enjoy bargaining, so that gives them the opportunity to do so, and also makes sure that I don't sell with a bad attitude about it.

To be honest, though, I have only sold a couple of instruments. I generally buy and keep.
 
For most of my life I've restored vintage motorcycles. I put the last one for sale this spring. I got a lot of that. Lots of people wanted to trade something. People would message me at midnight with questions. I told people that I had owned it for thirty years and I would keep it before I would sell it for anything less. I was not sure that I wanted to sell it. Finally a guy who collects and restores motorcycles bought it for my asking price, no haggling. He just sent me a message that said, "I'll take it."

Not haggling really, but last year I decided to buy a ukulele that I had been looking at for almost a year and I found one at Elderly. It was not a super expensive ukulele, $250. So I ordered it and a few days later an associate at Elderly called me and told my that he wanted to apologize but that the ukulele that I ordered could not be located in their warehouse. He said that there must have been some confusion in their inventory and they were sorting it out, but they did not have that ukulele and they could get a replacement for six weeks to two months if I wanted to wait. I told him no big deal and that I appreciated the call, but I would look around and see if I could find one faster. So the next day he called and told me to look at their inventory and that he would give me a 20% discount on any ukulele. So I didn't find anything that I wanted but I asked him if he could order a particular ukulele for me in the hopes that it would be quicker. He said he would see. He called back the next day and said that he was sorry but he couldn't get the one that I wanted any quicker than the first one. I thanked him for trying and said that I wasn't really looking that hard for a new ukulele anyway, no big deal. The next day he called me up and asked me to look at a particular ukulele that they had in stock. It was much like the first one that I had ordered, but it was several steps up and listed at twice the price, and retail was higher yet. I told him that I really liked it, but it was way out of my price range. He said that his manager felt so bad about all the run around that they were willing to give it to me for the $250. I told him that I would take it. He said I drive a hard bargain. I had to chuckle at that.
 
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If I don't want to haggle, I just say so, by posting it at the price I want to get (should be reasonable, and your 60% of original seems so), and specify no trades, price is firm. If lower offers come in, I just ignore them, as they ignored the particulars in my ad. Might take longer, but end of story.
 
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If I don't want to haggle, I just say so, by posting it at the price I want to get (should be reasonable, and your 60% of original seems so), and specify no trades, price is firm. If lower offers come in, I just ignore them, as they ignored the particulars in my ad. Might take longer, but end of story.

I did sort of inferred no haggle in the original listing but I have added explicitly “no haggle” to my ad yesterday. Well the platform I use have an indicator on my 100% response on queries. So would hate to see it drop due to not answering all the queries.
 
I did sort of inferred no haggle in the original listing but I have added explicitly “no haggle” to my ad yesterday. Well the platform I use have an indicator on my 100% response on queries. So would hate to see it drop due to not answering all the queries.

Seeing that everyone wants to offer you 40% less, start the listing at close to, and just ever so slightly off. Maybe they will haggle closer to your price.
 
My only question is whether the original retail was msrp or street value or ??? I’m not disagreeing with what is happening, but the Enya site has the M6 at $249, there is a EUT-M6 on Amazon for $275, and an EUT-M6 on eBay for $509. You may have one that is more deluxe, but buyers are seeing basic discount M6 prices and going from there.

It is a bit like a Kala or Ohana. If you can find one online for 30% less, that will be the starting price new and used will go for 40% less. At that point the actual price paid new is not relevant.

John
 
As a seller (I’ve sold mostly guitars on the used market) I would get emails saying they found the same guitar on eBay or craigslist for less, to which I respond that it must be a great deal and they should definitely buy it from them. When asked if would take less for instrument, I write back with the quoted price. It’s not that I’m unwilling to budge on price, it’s just I’m unwilling to budge on a price for one person. If I’m desperate to sell, then ten days later I drop the price.

If I’m buying, I’m way more likely to just pay what is asked. If it’s too much, I keep looking and I only offer less when there’s work that needs to be done. I bought a vintage amp that is in serious need of repair to the tolex and offered a little less. The seller said he would still try to get asking price from other people and I told him I wished him luck and hoped he sold it at a good price, but I’ll be here with less in case there aren’t any takers. Couple weeks go by and I get an email asking if I was still interested.

In general, I’m not a fan of haggling. I work with people who love it and look forward to it, but I avoid it like the plague.
 
I've never had anything like that happen to me. Asking 60% of the original price is very generous. I wouldn't even get into a discussion with people like that. The only time I "haggle" is when an ad says, "Make an offer," which you see on Reverb occasionally. Then I will make an offer, and we come to an agreement. I don't waste my time with nasty people.

Pricing a used uke can be tricky. People expect a great price just because someone already owned it. I have bought and sold ukes that were indistinguishable from new ones, but the prices were lower because they were used. There's little justification for demanding a very low price for a perfect uke.

Another thing to consider is that someone must want to buy what you're selling. I've had ukes listed for a couple of months with no interest in them, so I removed them. I waited a while and relisted them, and they sold in a couple of days. That always surprises me, but it's just a question of someone looking for what you have for sale. I have a couple of ukes in mind to buy, but no one is selling. If I see one listed for a decent price, I'll buy it.
 
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Well, my uke is the M6 tenor with the active pickup, so it’s the one priced at 330 USD as on the enya website. With the tax, it’s about 360 USD when I bought it. So there isn’t any markup by the uke shop and at 40% less, it’s only 216 USD for a full solid triple A grade uke, pickup, inlays, radiused fretboard with a gloss finish.

I also had the same experience that a buyer told me that he saw that same uke store where I bought is having a sale for a new same model (but different Color) at 255 usd when my price at that time was $285. He asked if my price can lower, which I did lower to the current price of 216 usd. In the end, he didn’t buy from me. No surprise there.

Anyway, there’s a bunch of used high end ukuleles, kamaka deluxe, koaloha sceptre, iiwi, blackbird selling at 80% to even 90% of the MSRP in the same selling platform. I’m not even sure if the sellers really can close a deal with that kind of price. In the local buying market where I’m in, no one cares if your uke is highly playability, well maintained, well reputated etc if it is not dirt cheap enough in the first place.

This poor resale of used instruments at my side is partially curbing my UAS. Which is one good thing I see out of this.
 
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Anyway, there’s a bunch of used high end ukuleles, kamaka deluxe, koaloha sceptre, iiwi, blackbird selling at 80% to even 90% of the MSRP in the same selling platform.

This poor resale of used instruments at my side is partially curbing my UAS. Which is one good thing I see out of this.

The asking price for a used item is just that - asking. Go to eBay and search for anything. Then go down the left column and click on "Sold items." You will see how much those items actually sold for. Dealers have a good idea of what they can sell a used uke for. Of course, supply and demand come into play. If the market is flooded with a particular model, it's going to sell for less that a comparable uke that is hard to find.

I never buy with the intention of selling, so if I decide to sell a uke, I look online and decide on a reasonable price. I didn't get into this to make money. Losing money is a fact of life, unfortunately. It's the price of having fun. : )
 
I have bought and sold a number of used ukes......always here on the Marketplace forum. The vast majority of members are very knowledgeable and courteous so transactions go well.

I am a sales rep for a large international company and it is commonplace for my customers to try and beat me down. That is just a part of life when selling something. When selling ukes I expect to take a bit of a lose, especially on a uke I bought new. I consider it the rent I paid for the use of it and the cost of experiencing that particular ukulele.
 
When selling ukes I expect to take a bit of a lose, especially on a uke I bought new. I consider it the rent I paid for the use of it and the cost of experiencing that particular ukulele.

Good attitude. Occasionally, someone will offer me a lower price than what I am asking, and I have to give that some thought. Do I want to wait indefinitely to get a few dollars more, or do I want to sell it and make two people happy now?
 
That 60% selling price for a used uke sounds okay at first glance. But, it means a $100 uke only loses $40 in value while a $1000 uke will lose $400. Does the more expensive uke actually lose that much value?
 
The asking price for a used item is just that - asking. Go to eBay and search for anything. Then go down the left column and click on "Sold items." You will see how much those items actually sold for. Dealers have a good idea of what they can sell a used uke for. Of course, supply and demand come into play. If the market is flooded with a particular model, it's going to sell for less that a comparable uke that is hard to find.

I never buy with the intention of selling, so if I decide to sell a uke, I look online and decide on a reasonable price. I didn't get into this to make money. Losing money is a fact of life, unfortunately. It's the price of having fun. : )

Thats a good way to price sensibly. There’s also a lack of enough ukulele players as well at my side. I got this 1 in 1 out policy going on, so if I would have to sell the least play uke to make room for another.
 
That 60% selling price for a used uke sounds okay at first glance. But, it means a $100 uke only loses $40 in value while a $1000 uke will lose $400. Does the more expensive uke actually lose that much value?

That.. I couldn’t answer. I can’t imagine selling my kamaka at $600 unless it has serious marks and dents on it. I guess it’s a different kind of evaluation for higher end ukes. I would price at $750 and see where it will take me.
 
The asking price for a used item is just that - asking. Go to eBay and search for anything. Then go down the left column and click on "Sold items." You will see how much those items actually sold for.

They just say "best offer accepted" and the original price crossed out, they don't show the actual selling price. That is kept confidential to the buyer and seller, and only they have it show up in the sold section as to actual price paid.
 
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