Saxophones How to cure GAS. Well nearly.

Jamesmac

Senior Member
1,724
I think we in the UK have lost our ability to barter. In Medieval times it was a necessity. I have found that this small fact has helped me with GAS. ( or probably better described as changing something, not really better, just different) I have a Gear 4 music tenor which for unexplained reasons I feel the need to upgrade, for no other reason than to somehow fit in with my Custom Yamaha Alto and Yanagisawa Soprano. But this Tenor that i only paid £123 for is playing and looking more than adequate, but getting back to the point. To curb the GAS. I now look on eBay for Tenors with an offer along with a starting price. To illustrate my point, a YTS61 came up recently, price £1200 with offers, I submitted an offer of £800 which was accepted, I then arranged to try the instrument, with the idea that a well respected Yamaha tenor would run rings around my Gear4music instrument. Well this 61 was a real disappointment, in a condition that no top line horn should ever reach, and made my Gear4music Tenor seem like a top of the range horn. Now getting back to the barter question. I make an offer of about, just over half of the given price or starting bid, and find mostly a declined offer. Isnt it all about a counter offer, not closing the door. (BTW I am going to try the instrument to make sure it turns better than than the 61) but if I as a seller, get such an offer why don't I counter with a, or what I consider to be a fair price/offer in return, instead of getting sulky about the whole process. Now getting back to the point of curing the Gas. Simples, sellers who need to list there sax, a few times before they realise what the true value is ie. what someone will pay, and I as a buyer will go a long way to curing my need to change a perfectly good Tenor, until something appears on eBay that is worth changing for my current Tenor. GAS problem solved. But it's in our nature to never be content with what we have. So I suppose GAS will still rear it's head, but at least I will be comforted by the fact, that i will get a Tenor that is what I want for the price that I am prepared to pay to upgrade my present Tenor. I suppose you deep thinkers will be thinking. Well is it. !!!! !!!! Yes for sure, otherwise we would be still living in caves.
Jamesmac
 
Good points in this post. Several times I have been at the point where I thought I had found something better than I have now. But in the cold light of day that judgement didn't hold. At some stage the question arises: why am I doing this? Whatever the answer, it ought to be convincing.
 
I guess there are genuine 'barterers' out there and those who are just trying it on. Equally, a seller may list something either optimistically or at a very reasonable price to begin with. If the second gets an offer of just over half, then he may feel disinclined to counter. I think it's about combining being fair with trying to get the best deal.

When I recently sold some saxes, I was selling a sop that I'd bought new for £1600 three months earlier for £950. Someone asked me to accept £500. I have to say I didn't counter offer. He then emailed again telling me he could get a sop for £500 easily. So I told him to go and do just that! It sold at £950 and someone got a great deal.

Someone else offered me £750 for my Yani alto (advertised for £1100, a very fair price). It sold to a pro musician who handed over £1100 without question.

I had guy whose offer I accepted as a buy it now for a Mauriat tenor (three months old, 40% under retail price) and when he arrived to collect he tried to haggle more. I flatly refused. He bought it at the original agreed price, a fantastic deal for him.

Jamesmac, I am sure you are really fair when you barter, but I never use a 'mark-up' when I sell something to allow for bartering so if someone offered me significantly less than value, I wouldn't counter on the basis they were time wasters. I can see why you think it is closing a door, but I think they are either taking the mickey, or if they really are interested they will make a sensible offer.

I recently did a fantastic deal on ebay for a Yanagisawa T9932J. I was happy pay the buy it now as the horn was almost MINT and at a great price. The seller took off the cost of his ebay and paypal fees. I part-ex'd my Yani T901 and he gave me the price I was selling it for on the forum as it was also at a fantastic price. Both parties were delighted.


I guess it comes down to the fact as you say that there is no clear consensus on whether to barter or not in the UK. I guess I could make more money potentially (or lose less!) if I inflated prices expecting to barter. I'd rather just sell at a great price to someone who knows the value so I can move on. Others want to make sure they have something for the lowest they can get away with if buying or highest if selling. Loads probably hover between the two. If the buyer and seller have the same outlook, whichever it is, then there should be a mutually happy outcome.

as for GAS, I believe there is no cure. I love my two saxes to bits. Now tenor mouthpieces - there is the question......
 
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Oops - forgot to mention Jamesmac, if you fancy adding a Yani tenor (you have the sop, so you you may like it) to your collection, for a price most would be delighted to pay, mine in is the yard sale courtesy of its new owner who kindly took it from me in part-ex. He is a great guy.
 
Oops - forgot to mention Jamesmac, if you fancy adding a Yani tenor (you have the sop, so you you may like it) to your collection, for a price most would be delighted to pay, mine in is the yard sale courtesy of its new owner who kindly took it from me in part-ex. He is a great guy.

Thanks for the offer, possibly not at the moment, I like the Yani,s mostly Altos that i have Tied, i owned a Black 901 that i sold on, a while back, but dont have any experience with the Tenors.The thread was mostly a light hearted look at curbing GAS, with some home truths. When a seller declines a low ball offer {usually very quickly} it tells me more about them. Personally i dont much mind what offers i get even after the auction has closed. usually i relist with a higher figure. In fact i had a pro quality mic and windbrealer on ebay that didnt sell, but i got a low ball offer after the listing closed, so i relisted it for 10 pound more and sold it. Go figure.
 
Some good points raised within this thread. I bought a Martin Handcraft from the USA (second Martin I have bought from across the pond) for $250 when the shop was asking for bids starting at $549. When it got here it was in worse condition than described so I contacted them and stated the facts as I saw them! They gave me a refund of $80. Not all of the guys out there are shysters!
 
To illustrate my point, a YTS61 came up recently, price £1200 with offers, I submitted an offer of £800 which was accepted, I then arranged to try the instrument, with the idea that a well respected Yamaha tenor would run rings around my Gear4music instrument. Well this 61 was a real disappointment, in a condition that no top line horn should ever reach, and made my Gear4music Tenor seem like a top of the range horn.

So first you make an offer, which is accepted and therefore it constitutes a contract to buy, then you try the sax, don't like it and backtrack on your offer? I am surprised you were allowed to do that, bet you're popular on ebay!
 
So first you make an offer, which is accepted and therefore it constitutes a contract to buy, then you try the sax, don't like it and backtrack on your offer? I am surprised you were allowed to do that, bet you're popular on ebay!

What we don't know is whether the seller of the YTS-61 accurately described it?
But I think not. The following is purely conjecture on my part, Mr Watson...

In the first listing the seller made no mention of any specific damage: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Yamaha-Te...D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

James made his offer of £800, went to "try" the sax, presumably with the cash to buy it, but was disappointed and argued that it was not as described, therefore the contract was void.

The seller, realising his overpricing due to the condition of the sax, then re-listed it at the much reduced buy-it-now price of £500 and it sold yesterday for this amount. This time he described the dents and tarnishing he had omitted in the first listing: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Yamaha-Te...D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Have I deduced correctly James?

:confused:
 
So first you make an offer, which is accepted and therefore it constitutes a contract to buy, then you try the sax, don't like it and backtrack on your offer? I am surprised you were allowed to do that, bet you're popular on ebay!

I bet he is very popular,maybe its best to try before an offer is made,and not the other way round.
 
I bet he is very popular,maybe its best to try before an offer is made,and not the other way round.

Maybe he tried to, we don't know. Although he does say "...then I arranged to try it" (after his offer was accepted).

When I bought my Buffet 400 off eBay and asked if I could try if first, the seller replied "I am afraid you will need to make payment via PayPal (for safety) in advance of collection. This is the only way I am prepared to go. If you want to you can bring a mouth piece and reed and test it out and if unhappy I will refund minus the selling costs. (Already £25) as I will have to resell."

Sellers aren't always as helpful as folks here.

;}
 
Maybe he tried to, we don't know. Although he does say "...then I arranged to try it" (after his offer was accepted).

When I bought my Buffet 400 off eBay and asked if I could try if first, the seller replied "I am afraid you will need to make payment via PayPal (for safety) in advance of collection. This is the only way I am prepared to go. If you want to you can bring a mouth piece and reed and test it out and if unhappy I will refund minus the selling costs. (Already £25) as I will have to resell."

Sellers aren't always as helpful as folks here.

;}
David i have to agree with you,i have only ever bought one horn from Ebay and luckily it was a gem.
At least with Ebay and Paypal buyers do have some protection but there are plenty of not so good sellers and equally some not so good buyers too floating around Ebay.
 
What we don't know is whether the seller of the YTS-61 accurately described it?
But I think not. The following is purely conjecture on my part, Mr Watson...

In the first listing the seller made no mention of any specific damage: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Yamaha-Te...D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

James made his offer of £800, went to "try" the sax, presumably with the cash to buy it, but was disappointed and argued that it was not as described, therefore the contract was void.

The seller, realising his overpricing due to the condition of the sax, then re-listed it at the much reduced buy-it-now price of £500 and it sold yesterday for this amount. This time he described the dents and tarnishing he had omitted in the first listing: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Yamaha-Te...D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Have I deduced correctly James?

:confused:

Couldnt have said it better myself David. If I would have had the Tenor delivered, and then opened a case as not described, and won, as you allways do on eBay as a buyer, that would have wasted everybody's time. The suggestion that you need to keep an instrument that you make an offer on is ludicrous. In fact I the buyer shoul be compensated for time and diesel wasted. All because the seller is not capable of describing his horn.
the fact he sold the sax for £500 tells the whole story.
 

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