Pardon My Naïveté

I am the seller of the other MB listing today. I have sold an instrument here before by private negotiation after freely nominating a price and in general I think that’s what should happen. I just want to emphasise that I was upfront that I have not listed a price in this case because, seriously, I can’t say what price to put on it. The recent sale of an MB here would have guided me somewhat if the price had been revealed but it was removed. In any case, these instruments are top-level, they are few in number and there’s little to guide anyone by way of sales records. There’s no subterfuge going on and I hope no-one is suggesting that of me. The market price is what someone is willing to sell for and someone else is willing to pay.

Don't think the recent sale of the other MB would have necessarily helped. My memory is that the price was the original sale price from back when. But then when I went to look again, it was already sold. Just sharing that FWIW.
 
Ed1 the reply wasn’t aimed all at you. Sorry if it came out that way. The rest of the post was just my thought on the matter.. Just the part about UAS.. I never planed on owning 100 ukuleles either!! Haha
 
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Ed1 the reply wasn’t aimed all at you. Sorry if it came out that way. The rest of the post was just my thought on the matter.. Just the part about UAS.. I never planed on owning 100 ukuleles either!! Haha

Thanks for the comment. You're one of the folks whose posts I read to learn more. I can see people here are very happy having worked with you on a purchase.
 
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I don't know what all the drama is all about. If you have an ukulele to sell, list the price, post some pics, include seller info, simple. If you don't know what it is worth, start high and lower the price if no one responds. You know what you paid for it, right? Concerning scammers, unfortunately they are out there, buyer beware.
 
If people know what you paid there is a huge chance they will automatically assume you should sell it for less..

Oh well. The seller cannot be forced to sell for a price they find unacceptable. The buyer can always decline paying the asking price.

I knowingly bought a Kiwaya here for nearly twice the price the seller paid. And this I learned from searching the internet for the model because it was so rare. In fact, the only link I found to it online was to the seller’s old post here from when they posted an NUD after they bought it. Regardless, I thought the price was justified given the quality and rarity ( one of only ten made, I was to learn after purchasing it) of the uke.

I donÂ’t alter selling posts to remove any info on a uke IÂ’ve sold here and I would not agree to do that for any buyer. It just goes against my nature. I depend on my ability to research previous sale prices when figuring out what any instrument is worth, and I think itÂ’s a disservice to the ukulele community when others delete such info, post sale.

ThatÂ’s just my opinion, for sure, but if this were my site, it would be a strictly enforced rule that sellers cannot remove information unless the sale is withdrawn before itÂ’s been purchased by another. Once itÂ’s been purchased, they would not be allowed to edit the information unless itÂ’s to announce itÂ’s been sold.

In my opinion, if this is a site with a mission of sharing information about ukuleles, and I come here because I believe it is, then cutting out pricing information after a sale is contrary to that mission.
 
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I’m a Luddite ...

What’s a NUD?

“posted an NUD”
 
Sorry, NUD = new ukulele day. A post announcing the poster has just got a new ukulele. Which is something I should have done after getting that beauty of a Kiwaya you just sold me. ;)
 
Or, perhaps ... NUDE ...
New Uke Day Elapsed
Might be easier to recall.

Thanks, I never would have guessed the meaning of NUD.



It's never too late..it would be SNUD (Somewhat New Uke Day). Bring it on!
 
Oh well. The seller cannot be forced to sell for a price they find unacceptable. The buyer can always decline paying the asking price.

I knowingly bought a Kiwaya here for nearly twice the price the seller paid. And this I learned from searching the internet for the model because it was so rare. In fact, the only link I found to it online was to the seller’s old post here from when they posted an NUD after they bought it. Regardless, I thought the price was justified given the quality and rarity ( one of only ten made, I was to learn after purchasing it) of the uke.

I donÂ’t alter selling posts to remove any info on a uke IÂ’ve sold here and I would not agree to do that for any buyer. It just goes against my nature. I depend on my ability to research previous sale prices when figuring out what any instrument is worth, and I think itÂ’s a disservice to the ukulele community when others delete such info, post sale.

ThatÂ’s just my opinion, for sure, but if this were my site, it would be a strictly enforced rule that sellers cannot remove information unless the sale is withdrawn before itÂ’s been purchased by another. Once itÂ’s been purchased, they would not be allowed to edit the information unless itÂ’s to announce itÂ’s been sold.

In my opinion, if this is a site with a mission of sharing information about ukuleles, and I come here because I believe it is, then cutting out pricing information after a sale is contrary to that mission.
I respect that you hold this opinion about preserving pricing information on the forum, but I would not personally recommend this approach to someone who is seriously attempting to arrive at a "market value."
Putting aside all the issues related to the condition of the instrument and the (very important) motivation of the seller, there is a bigger issue to consider when using the forum information in the way described:
As someone who has lurked this forum for quite a while, and who has been closely watching the marketplace sub-forum for at least the last three months, I can objectively say that there are enough listings here that are not what one might construe as "market value" as to be statistically significant, i.e. some listings are higher and some considerably lower than market. If this were a scientific study, taking the marketplace prices at face value would result in your "data" giving you unreliable results. In order to prevent that and improve reliability, you would already need to know enough about the likely valid values for instruments in the same or similar class as the one your looking to sell, and take into account current market conditions. Then you would have to be able to select the right sales information to discard from all of that information you've collected. But that type of knowledge isn't something you would pick up just by searching for past sales price in a post. And I personally would be concerned about taking a position that might offer someone the impression that, without knowing anything about an instrument for possible sale/purchase, a quick search that results in a thread shows a price is in any way reliable. Prices are sometimes useful information, but they are also unreliable.
 
I respect that you hold this opinion about preserving pricing information on the forum, but I would not personally recommend this approach to someone who is seriously attempting to arrive at a "market value."
Putting aside all the issues related to the condition of the instrument and the (very important) motivation of the seller, there is a bigger issue to consider when using the forum information in the way described:
As someone who has lurked this forum for quite a while, and who has been closely watching the marketplace sub-forum for at least the last three months, I can objectively say that there are enough listings here that are not what one might construe as "market value" as to be statistically significant, i.e. some listings are higher and some considerably lower than market. If this were a scientific study, taking the marketplace prices at face value would result in your "data" giving you unreliable results. In order to prevent that and improve reliability, you would already need to know enough about the likely valid values for instruments in the same or similar class as the one your looking to sell, and take into account current market conditions. Then you would have to be able to select the right sales information to discard from all of that information you've collected. But that type of knowledge isn't something you would pick up just by searching for past sales price in a post. And I personally would be concerned about taking a position that might offer someone the impression that, without knowing anything about an instrument for possible sale/purchase, a quick search that results in a thread shows a price is in any way reliable. Prices are sometimes useful information, but they are also unreliable.

I don't disagree that there are outliers in the marketplace, but even outliers help determine market value, especially in a niche market like second-hand ukuleles. Moreover, the advantages of knowing prices, including outliers, seem to outweigh disadvantages of not having them available. I don't see how being misled by an abnormally high or low price is more problematic than not having enough information.
 
I respect that you hold this opinion about preserving pricing information on the forum, but I would not personally recommend this approach to someone who is seriously attempting to arrive at a "market value."
Putting aside all the issues related to the condition of the instrument and the (very important) motivation of the seller, there is a bigger issue to consider when using the forum information in the way described:
As someone who has lurked this forum for quite a while, and who has been closely watching the marketplace sub-forum for at least the last three months, I can objectively say that there are enough listings here that are not what one might construe as "market value" as to be statistically significant, i.e. some listings are higher and some considerably lower than market. If this were a scientific study, taking the marketplace prices at face value would result in your "data" giving you unreliable results. In order to prevent that and improve reliability, you would already need to know enough about the likely valid values for instruments in the same or similar class as the one your looking to sell, and take into account current market conditions. Then you would have to be able to select the right sales information to discard from all of that information you've collected. But that type of knowledge isn't something you would pick up just by searching for past sales price in a post. And I personally would be concerned about taking a position that might offer someone the impression that, without knowing anything about an instrument for possible sale/purchase, a quick search that results in a thread shows a price is in any way reliable. Prices are sometimes useful information, but they are also unreliable.

:D
Clearly, the price the item fetched, even if only being useful sometimes, is more useful information to help determine an estimate than anything you will get from a post that has been edited after sale so as to exclude the prices.

Unless, of course, you’re new to the site, in which case, it might actually help you decide you’d rather not buy from sellers that revisit their posts to delete the selling prices after the sale.

That’s been a factor for me at least once when I considered buying a ukulele I really wanted. But I knew the seller had bought it here, a few months before, and the original listing was edited. I suspected that the original sale had included a very nice case, which was no longer included, though the price seemed not to have changed. Or so I thought. And though I could not verify this, I decided to pass on it, in large part because it all seemed needlessly sneaky.

So, as a newcomer, it would make me think twice about buying a ukulele here that I found to have been sold here, recently, to the latest seller, and I had no way to determine the price they paid.

But, by all means... delete your selling prices if you want. It’s not my site. But I do know sellers here that I will no longer deal with because they have misrepresented their items, posted photos that looked extensive but actually hid blemishes behind glare on the finish, and then edited out all the info and pictures of the item after I paid for it but before I received it.

In my opinion, it’s creepy and uncalled for in a market that is, or should be, doing whatever it can to foster trust.
 
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:D
Clearly, the price the item fetched, even if only being useful sometimes, is more useful information to help determine an estimate than anything you will get from a post that has been edited after sale so as to exclude the prices.
And there are newbies. Some of the posters' comments here have implied little knowledge to help them make such calls. Agreed it's always good to know pricing info.
Swamp Yankee said:
But I do know sellers here that I will no longer deal with because they have misrepresented their items, posted photos that looked extensive but actually hid blemishes behind glare on the finish, and then edited out all the info and pictures of the item after I paid for it but before I received it.

In my opinion, it’s creepy and uncalled for in a market that is, or should be, doing whatever it can to foster trust.
This is really, really sketchy. Wish there as some way to know that before taking the plunge. It was surprising to me that there are not other sorts of ratings systems in place at marketplace here.
 
There are some VERY interesting comments here!
I've been around ukulele for over 8 years, and I still cannot tell you the value of one, even in my hands.
I'm at the mercy of a seller (or buyer) being honest, or what my friends here can tell me.
 
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This is really, really sketchy. Wish there as some way to know that before taking the plunge. It was surprising to me that there are not other sorts of ratings systems in place at marketplace here.

I think marketplace self- regulation would improve with the increased transparency that would come around with banning edits post sale. But yeah, right now it’s kind of a crap shoot. Luckily, I didn’t lose that much money in the sketchiest transaction I’ve suffered through here. I sold off the uke in another venue, properly and honestly described, with pictures of the blemishes. And I kept the case, pricing the uke accordingly.
 
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