On one of the most important sites for the sale of musical instruments and components for studio and live use, we can say, specifically mercatinomusicale.com, there are punctually users selling used instruments at a higher price than the same instrument new.
Example... Studio monitors 1200 euros per pair new, used value 1300.
Driven by curiosity, I sent an email to the seller asking for what reason used studio monitors cost more than new ones. Was perhaps some artisanal improvement modification made? Were the air mass volumes of the bass reflex ports recalculated?
I received no answer...
In essence, a monitor that has been used, presumably with some signs of wear, perhaps even in an environment where smoking occurred and probably also without any remaining warranty, is being sold at a higher price than new!
I wonder how these people can think of selling? Are they normal? Especially since when you do a search, the searched products appear among the top positions, new with warranty from the major online retailers... To say that they don't even make the effort to have to search the internet for the price of the new one. Mah!
I know a thing or two about it, I often "clash" with these people, who to me are haughty, full of themselves and arrogant, because only an extremely self-important person can make requests like that, at L'Oreal "I am worth it," implying that what I sell is gold.
You also see synthesizers resold used at an absurd price, but not only that, on other sites there are also used cameras for 130/140 euros, while you can find new ones for 120 or less; maybe it's just me who isn't thinking straight.
As you say, they don't bother to look up prices on the internet, to make comparisons with the current market price (unless a change has been made such as to "justify" the price increase), an operation that only takes a few minutes, but there are also those who go looking for easy targets, so they try to cheat people who (in turn) do not inform themselves about the products they are looking for.
There are still people asking, in a rather ridiculous way because they think that by using marketing gimmicks one will fall for it, 999 euros for a Yamaha Sy 99, an absurd price even if it were covered in gold, because nowadays, as much as it is an excellent synthesizer (and if I could, I would buy it again), it has a value of around 350/400 euros, and these people resell it for 1000; then by writing 999 they act all clever, they might as well write 1000, because that's what it is.
Yes, but in this case there is also an aggravating factor. In these contexts, one does not buy common 5-euro items for which it isn't even worth inquiring; the average user looking for something on 'mercatino musicale' is a user who knows well the market prices of new products—they are sought-after and expensive items. Therefore, before spending 1000 euros or more, especially given the crisis, a buyer informs themselves well and goes looking for a bargain (by bargain I don't mean a used product that simply costs less; it might just cost 200 euros less than new, perhaps while still having almost all its warranty, being kept meticulously like new, and having been purchased very recently). I also find the used offers nonsensical in which the seller does not even remove the 22% VAT. Example: a pair of monitors that cost 1000 euros new should be sold used for at most 780 euros because the 22% is represented by the VAT. If I buy a brand-new car from a dealership, as soon as I sit inside and drive out of the dealership doors, it has already lost the VAT from the new price. A used object cannot be sold with separate VAT precisely because it is used; if a seller wants VAT to be paid, they must have a VAT number and issue me a regular invoice. This makes no exception for any used object sold. If I find 1000-euro monitors used for 900 euros, the seller is still asking for more than what they could actually ask for to be competitive in the used market. Buyers should know these things; it's not speculation—the speculator is clearly the one who sells a used object at a price higher than or even equal to the new equivalent. It's common sense... The used market price is not set by sellers, but by buyers. If I find a price unjustified, I don't buy; if everyone found prices unjustified, no one would buy, and the seller would be forced to lower the price if they want to sell, otherwise they will keep their little item on their back, and every passing day the market price imposed by buyers drops because the product ages and newer, higher-performing ones come out. These sellers, besides being scammers, are also not very intelligent.
