Why folks keep trying to sell me Squires & Epi's for $900+ bucks ?

[JMP/HBE]

....... they're $150 guitars.

[Mr. 80's]

Fender and Gibson are only $200 guitars.

[GuitarDoc]

Well, it depends on which models you're talking about.

What Squires are $900+? The typical $200-400 Squires are pretty darn good for their price.

I know some Epis that are well worth the $900+ price tag. And generally much better than their Gibson counterparts which cost 4-5 times as much. Their Guitars in the $400-700 range are a bargain...almost a steal.

[hamerfan]

I would even pay 300 bucks for a 1962 Fender Stratocaster with an original case, papers, hangtags. Please only custom colours, I have too much bursts at the moment.

[GuitarDoc]

I would even pay 300 bucks for a 1962 Fender Stratocaster with an original case, papers, hangtags. Please only custom colours, I have too much bursts at the moment.

Yeah? You sure?

[hamerfan]

Yeah? You sure?

Okay, not a penny more than $299.99

[Mononoaware]

There must be a lot of uneducated consumers out there. I think of this as the "Reverb Effect"; seems like used prices have decoupled in the last few years from what things cost new and warrantied. You want $120 for a used 59 bridge? A MIM Strat for $950 plus $100 shipping? Okay, dude.

Why is this happening? Dunno, but I'd be interested in hearing theories.

[Mincer]

As a whole, Reverb is at least 20% higher than it should be. Maybe it’s the fees or shipping. But some people have strange ideas of what they think their stuff is worth.

[Ashurbanipal]

Well, the old Japanese Squiers from the 80s fetch the most $$, and they've been expensive for years, not just in the latest economic turbulence and price hikes. Sometimes it also depends on the model too - the 90s Venus XII is sought after; saw recently that prices on the older Stagemasters/Showmasters have gone up as well.

Reverb has some inbuilt costs for using the platform, afaik, so folk presumably bump up the price of what they're selling to offset that.

Anyway, everything's become expensive in the last couple of years *shrugs*, and people probably think they can recoup some life costs by selling stuff. Because of shipping/supply chain issues, this may have worked into the hands of sellers over the past two years, but we seem to be coming out the other end of that. Though wages aren't really climbing, hence the balking.

Still, I think we're past the days when you could get your MIM highway one Strat or Tele for $200-300. For Fender, certainly, the range has changed where Squiers have expanded so a CV is the highest spec, which can be in the $400s new, then the Mexican stuff follows on from that. Epiphone similar, there are (non-US) models which are 1k or a bit more. So this affects used prices too, I imagine,

Yet, I agree that some have an unrealistic idea of the value of their particular thing, then they find themselves sitting on it - often see listings that are months old.

If you want a good price, local classifieds are probably the way to go; the big sale platforms are generally the priciest.

[DCikes88]

^^Well said. I'll just add that I've seen Reverb listings 2 years old, that had 20-30 offers. Either some people won't budge a single penny, or maybe the seller died or something. I honestly don't know what's up with that.
But yeah, IME, local classifieds, some luck and a bit of patience, and you'll get the best deal you can.